Posts Tagged ‘spell animations’

Game Update 57 Notes

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Art, Appearance, Housing, Free-to-Play (EQ2X), Game Updates & Maintenance, Grouping, Itemization, Live Events, PvP/BG/Proving Grounds, Raiding, Tradeskill

Today marks the introduction of Game Update 57 to the live servers. Key features of this update include:

  • The EQ2 User Interface has received a facelift, with a new toolbar, a refresh of various windows, and a merged Character/Inventory/Profile window. The default theme is red, but easily switchable to blue by typing /loadui and choosing the Blue graphic set.
  • More character classes are now neutral and may start in either good or evil cities.
  • Spell animations and effects have been revamped.
  • Intrazone travel now supports path linking. Travel within Kingdom of Sky has been improved.
  • Erudin group instances (level 86-90) are now easier to reach.
  • New tradeskill quests have been added in the level 10, 20, and 30 tiers. These quests reward a mount as well as access to what have previously been overpriced Advanced recipe books.
  • Starting areas in Greater Faydark and Darklight Wood have received substantial revamps. Gorowyn has received further architectural rebuilding to improve navigation.
  • All classes have had some group-specific spells postponed until later levels to reduce the number of spells new players get in the first 20 levels.
  • Fighter heals will no longer critically heal.
  • The “Notable Norrathian” contest winning paintings are now available within Norrath but only during the monthly City Festivals (next is Sept 1-7). They are guild hall placeable.
  • Lucan D’Lere has returned to Freeport.
  • Today’s update contains no new dungeons or raid zones.

EQ2X

Also going live today is the public beta for EverQuest II Extended, the Free-to-Play alternative to a monthly EQ2 subscription. Game Update 57 will arrive simultaneously on both servers. EQ2X, as it’s being abbreviated, may be discussed on the separate EQ2X Forums.

   

GU57: Players Get Animated Over Spell Effects

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Art, Appearance, Housing, Game Updates & Maintenance

Gary Daughtry, graphic artist/animator on the EQ2 Team, set about to revamp the spell animations, specifically the particle effects, for Game Update 57, currently expected to go live tomorrow. The intention has been to reduce the number of “pyrotechnic”, “over-the-top” effects and create something more gradual, with larger effects based on the tier and level of the spell.

However players have been expressing their displeasure with the sometimes sweeping changes.

GU57: New Spell Effects Elicit Mixed Responses

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Art, Appearance, Housing, Game Updates & Maintenance

Between the avalanche of news about Free-to-Play, the new UI, and Guardian tweaks (coming approximately one month after GU57), it’s been easy to overlook the new Spell Animations which went to Test along with GU57.

In short, all particle systems and related animations associated with casting spells and combat arts have been revamped. This means every animation such as roots or chains coming out of the ground, explosions, streaks of light, glowing colors, and pyrotechnics for all of the spells and combat arts of all 24 classes have changed.

Artist Highlight – Gary Daugherty

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Art, Appearance, Housing, Raiding

From EQ2Players:

EQ2 Artist Gary Daugherty does the effects for everything you see in-game. Everything from spell effects to the nifty mists and sparkles on epic weapons. Gary was kind enough to sit down and answer some questions!

And the news that many players have been waiting for, regarding Spell Animations…

Do you have any special (or just super fun) projects you’re working on now for EQII?

I’m currently updating, optimizing and standardizing every class spell visual in the game.  My hope is that players won’t have to turn the FX off when they group or raid and will still be able to tell what is going on.  It is also my goal to help better visually identify what class a player is by what spells they cast.  In addition I’m setting spell visual tiers so an apprentice spell will have less bells and whistles than an adept or master spell visual.  This update has not been officially announced and no release date has been chosen.

Most folks who raid must disable spell animation particle effects as they otherwise dramatically slow down the client. This is primarily due to them being tied directly to the character models and thus rendered on the CPU. Hopefully they are being decoupled and moved to the GPU, which should allow players to use spell effects even during raids.


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