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HAWT HAWT HAWT test server patch

Should go live the week after easter IIRC

*** Headlines ***

- All EverQuest II subscribers now get two additional character slots!
- Stay in touch with your friends with our in-game mail system!
- Share house rent among multiple characters!
- Crafters can use new recipes to make enchanted weapons, armor, and items!
- Evaluate the potency of weapons easily with the new Damage Rating!
- See the level of quests when they're offered to you or listed in your journal!
- New level 50 heroic zone - Return to Nektropos!


*** The Bloodline Chronicles ***

- We invite our Test server players to venture into the new zones introduced for The Bloodline Chronicles! All characters on Test can access the new zones and /claim their D'Morte ring. Dare to venture into the Tombs of Night and let us know what you think!
- This Adventure Pack is intended for characters that are levels 30 to 45.
- New weapons, armor, spells, combat arts, and tradeskill recipe books are available in the new zones. Players who don't purchase The Bloodline Chronicles can buy these and other goods from adventurers who explore the caverns below Nektulos Forest.
- To download the files necessary for the Adventure Pack, run EverQuest II and click "Download Options" on the launchpad. Under "Optional Downloads," check the box next to "Adventure Pack #1: The Bloodline Chronicles." If you wish to receive the files right away, check the box next to "Download Immediately." If you would prefer to let the files download in the background while you use your computer for other tasks, leave the box unchecked.


*** Two Additional Character Slots ***

- All EverQuest II subscribers have been given two additional character slots. You can use them to try out different race/class combinations, or make characters on other servers to play alongside your friends.
- Subscribing to EverQuest II provides a total of six character slots, while our Station Access subscribers have a total of ten slots.


*** In-Game Mail ***

- Exchange messages with your friends via the new in-game mail system.
- You can send and receive mail at mailboxes located in East Freeport and Qeynos Harbor, as well as all districts and villages.
- If you have unread mail waiting for you, you will see a mail icon in your Spell Effects window. This icon will always appear in the first slot, and mousing over it will inform you that "You have unread mail."
- Members of guilds that are level 15 and higher can purchase their own mailbox through status merchants.
- Clicking on a mailbox will open the Mail window, which has two tabs: Inbox and Send.
- Mail will be deleted 3 days after opening it, while unread mail will be deleted after 30 days. The time remaining until deletion is shown to the right of each letter.
- Letters can contain money or an item, shown below the text of the letter. You can accept these parcels by clicking the Receive Gifts button.
- To reply to the sender, click on the Reply button.
- You can send along one item or any amount of coin with your letter. To send money, click the Give Coin button and enter the amount you wish to send. You can change your mind by clicking Give Coin again and clearing the amount. To include an item, drag the item you wish to send from your character's inventory onto the slot in the gifts area. You can change your mind by right-clicking on the item and choosing to remove it, or by dragging and dropping it onto an open section of the screen.
- You can only send gifts to another character that is a citizen of the same city you are, though you can send text-only messages to anyone.
- You can have a maximum of ten messages in your Inbox that include gifts from other players. There is no limit to how many text-only messages you can have at one time.
- Plain text letters cost 10c to send. Letters with gifts attached cost 50c. There is no charge to read mail that has been sent to you.
- You can send messages to your friends on other servers, or to those who play EverQuest and Star Wars Galaxies!
- To send mail to someone on another EQ2 server, enter the name as servername.charname
- To send mail to a friend playing EQ, enter the name as eq.servername.charname
- To send mail to a friend in SWG, enter the name as swg.servername.charname
- Players in SWG or EQ can send mail to EverQuest II players by entering the name as eq2.servername.charname


*** Paying House Upkeep ***

- Housing upkeep can now be prepaid and shared among characters. To prepay rent, just press the "Pay Upkeep" button before your next upkeep payment is due.
- To share rent, use the account that is now linked to each house. Any character with Friend access or higher can contribute coin, status, or both to the account. Characters with Trustee access or higher can pay the upkeep fees from this account.
- The account retains a history of who has contributed to it (up to 250 people), how much was contributed in total, how much was contributed in the last deposit, and the date of the last deposit. The account also retains a history of the last 52 rent payments made from the account, who paid them, and when.
- The housing menu is accessible from outside by friends and trustees when upkeep is due.


*** New Harvested Items and Recipes ***

- There are new types of uncommon harvested items to be found. They can be gathered from existing harvesting nodes and are identified as glowing, sparkling, glimmering, or luminous depending on their level range.
- New recipe books are available for purchase at the camps of the Hand of Marr and Brethren of Night. Those wishing to buy the books will need to first earn favor with the merchants.
- Using these new recipes and new harvested items, Alchemists can create magical extracts that other crafters can use to make new items or enhance existing goods.
- Armorers and Tailors can combine the magical extract with certain pieces of pristine armor and make new types of enchanted armor. When the wearer is attacked, chest pieces have a chance to proc a heal-over-time spell and leggings have the chance to proc a damage spell.
- Weaponsmiths and Woodworkers can combine the magical extract with certain types of pristine weapons and make new types of enchanted weapons. These weapons have the chance to proc a damage spell in combat.
- Woodworkers can combine the magical extract with certain types of pristine shields and make new types of enchanted shields that have a chance to proc a damage spell during combat. They can also use the magical extract to infuse wands with an activated damage spell.
- Tailors can use the magical extract to create hex dolls that cast a detrimental effect on an enemy. The dolls also provide a minor stat buff to the user.
- Jewelers can combine the magical extract with certain types of pristine rings and make new types of enchanted rings that provide activated buffs to strength, agility, wisdom, intelligence, or stamina.
- For weapons, armor, and shields, the quality level of the creation process determines the potency of the magical effect attached to the item. All quality levels of enchanted weapons, armor, and shields retain the stats of the pristine item used to make them.


*** Damage Rating ***

- Weapons now display a Damage Rating that makes it easier to judge the relative base damage of a given weapon.
- The higher the Damage Rating, the better a weapon's base melee damage output.
- The Damage Rating does not take into account stats, procs, or effects, so there may be circumstances where a weapon with a lower Damage Rating is more desirable.


*** Return to Nektropos ***

- Groups of high-level players can experience one of our most popular zones in a whole new way: Nektropos Castle!
- Those who have defeated Maltus Everling will encounter an old elf outside of the Nektropos gates who is seeking their assistance. He knows a dark secret: that this cursed castle summoned forth the cursed souls that were once defeated within.
- Be warned, this is a much more challenging place than most level 50 zones. The opponents will be tougher, but the rewards will be great.
- Experience a linear storyline progression, defeat scripted encounters, hunt for keys to go deeper into the castle, and find lots of new high-end treasure.
- Like the original Castle Nektropos, this version is intended for a single group. But be warned, the Return to Nektropos will test the mettle of even the most seasoned adventurers.

*** Mentoring ***

- The Target and Implied Target windows now only show the character's effective level when Mentoring.
- Effective level, actual level, and class name are shown in the Persona and Inspect Player windows.
- Mentors should no longer gain combat XP if they have it disabled.
- Players should now receive quest rewards correctly when Mentoring.


*** Gameplay ***

- Characters revived underwater will now appear with a full breath bar.
- Corpses and chests that were slightly out of reach should now be easier to loot.
- Attempting to swap items by dragging and dropping them should now work more consistently.
- Mini-dings now occur every gold XP bubble (10% of each level) instead of every other. Skill increases will still happen every other bubble.
- The Disarm Trap skill now has a 50% chance of going up anytime you disarm a chest regardless of the level of the encounter that dropped it.
- The red border around an aggro NPC's name should no longer change when the encounter is locked.
- "Find NPC" is now the default action when interacting with guards, and the guards will now tell you where an NPC is anywhere in the zone.
- Corrected an issue that caused low-level characters to display an inflated AC value that decreased as they gained levels. AC should start out lower and increase with level gain.
- When an enemy stops chasing you, it should no longer retain you as its implied target.
- Guild leaders and officers can promote and demote members if they are in another zone or not currently online.
- Guild leaders can now remove other guild leaders from the guild.
- Pursuit rules that NPCs follow have been changed:
- If you break an encounter and try to flee from an opponent, it will now follow you a set distance regardless of whether it was a stationary encounter or a wanderer.
- When the opponent reaches that set distance, it will immediately stop following you and return, at run speed, back to the point where it was aggroed.
- As the opponent runs back to its point of aggro, it will be invulnerable to attack and will not add any other player to its hate list.
- Jumping should be more consistent regardless of your framerate.
- Crusaders, Paladins, and Shadowknights can now use Axe and Great Axe weapon types. (very happy about this on my end)


*** Zones and Population ***

– The Niscanith encounter should now present a greater level of challenge.
- Guard Dirdra and Guard Virik in The Orcish Wastes should no longer attack each other.
- The roads in Nektulos Forest should be a bit safer to travel, and solo content should be more easily accessible.
- Mooshga now lives within the Commonlands.
- Bloodskull masons in the Commonlands will get back to work after being distracted.
- The Incubator has become more mobile.
- Doors in the Obelisk of Vul should open properly.
- Certain camps of the Dervish Cutthroats are now more suitable for solo play.
- Player housing can now be purchased in the Seafarer's Roost in East Freeport.
- "A Cave Slink" and "A Pustular Scout" in Fallen Gate can now be targeted more easily.
- Venekor and Vaz'Gok are now level 54 to be in line with other epic content.
- Some contested epic encounters that did not drop master-quality loot every time will now do so.
- Non-repeatable and challenging instanced encounters in the Draconic quest should now have treasure commensurate with their challenge.
- Ladon has an improved chance to drop rare crafting components.
- The levels of overland miners, overland woodcutters, and traitorous farmers in Antonica, as well as infected cows in the Commonlands, have been adjusted to better match the zones they inhabit.
- Tremblar the Behemoth's breath weapon will cause less item damage and he will use it less often. The Super Behemoth will also cause less damage, though players are advised to heed the coercer's warning. If Tremblar is defeated, he has a chance to drop certain items in which crafters will be very interested.


*** Items ***

- Examining an item will now give you an indication of its rarity. Certain items are labeled as Handcrafted, Treasured, Legendary, Fabled, or Mythical. Common items will have no label.
- Expendable or utility items (ammunition, potions, horse whistles) should no longer take damage, either through the effects of death or due to an NPC spell.
- The regenerative effects of certain very valuable items (including Prismatic weapons, Golden Efreeti Boots, and Robe of the Invoker) should now work whether the character is in or out of combat.
- You can no longer interact with an item that is being traded or sold, nor can you sell or trade an item that you are interacting with.
- Sharpscar and the Scorched Wood Staff are now attuneable instead of No Trade.
- The Fishgut Ring can now be equipped.
- There are now versions of faction reward armor that can be worn by any class. These are listed on the merchant lists as Ceremonial and will provide little protection to the wearer. For example, mages can wear a Ceremonial version of the Freeport Militia plate armor.
- Examining the Translucent Elixir of Vitality should give you the same information whether or not it is equipped.
- Baby dragon pets are now flagged as No Trade.
- Ghoulbane's examine text should reflect that it is extra effective against the undead. <3<3<3

- Bladewarder and Tonfa of Bladewarding should now proc a slashing resist buff on the wielder.


*** Quests ***

- The fifth stage of the Glowing Black Stone quest should now properly take the Palladium Torque.
- Sir Valinayle's intro quests should now correctly display their quota count on updates.
- J.P. Feterman in the Commonlands has some new quests to offer: "A Hunter's Tool" and "Grizzlefang's Mane".
- Those working on Bendik Jonkers' quest will now be able to enter the Murkwater Nook. Adventurers can enter the zone again after they have completed the quest.
- Varski will now allow players to complete his third and fourth quests out of order.
– A Tallon lugger in Oricsh Wastes has been changed to a Vallon lugger in order to allow completion of a quest.
- The Amazon Thunderbow quest now requires only ten crater fish to complete.
- The Bloody Fistwrap quest now requires only one metal stud and one metal clasp to complete. Instead of killing a ghost to complete one of the steps, you will now be tasked with killing orcs.
- The Giant Slayer now requires only one club head to complete. It also directs players to find the wire on a giant.
- Gnoll Weaponry now requires only one blade to complete.
- A Bloodstained Blade now requires you to kill a Dragoon lieutenant to progress the quest.
- The Veriche Maul quest now requires you to kill a Deathbone Savage to progress the quest. The target for stage three of the quest has been changed to an Infernal Rock Heap.
- The Rage will now direct you to kill ten Gul'Thex Rage.
- Strange Mutations will now progress when you kill mutated rats.
- Shadows of the Past can now only be progressed by killing undead within Nektulos Forest.
- A Heavy Lockbox now requires one set of keys to be found instead of requiring you to kill ten raiders.
- Something Sounds Rotten now directs you to inspect the item rather than seek another out.
- The following quests can now be properly completed:
- A Rat Divided
- Can't We All Just Get Along?
- Love Will Find the Byway
- A Man Hard to Please
- A Hunter's Tool
- Seer Stone
- Hyena Jerky
- Soup De Jour
- Wisp-er Sweet Nothings
- Rhino-rific
- O' Mugwump Where Art Thou?
- Overlord's Omelet
- Packyderm Punch
- The Giant Slayer
- Proof is in the Pudding now has more descriptive text in the quest journal.
- Far From Home now has the appropriate reward and dialog.
- Mooshga's Good Eats and The Bloody Fist Wrap are now listed in the quest journal under the Commonlands.
- Oversized Troubles can now be advanced by killing giants.
- Forgotten Enemies will now require you to kill Gul'Thex clerics instead of any skeleton in Nektulos Forest.
- A Bloodstained Blade now requires you to kill an arachneidae spiderling instead of an arachneidae widow.
- Veriche Maul now requires you to kill deathbone knights. It will also advance correctly when killing rock heaps.
- Trouble About should now be easier to complete.
- Grizzlefang's Mane is now a level 20 quest. When Grizzlefang appears, he will now lock to the player who is on the quest.
- A Hunter's Tool is now a level 15 quest.
- Encounters related to the access quest for the Chamber of Immortality should spawn more frequently.
- Completing the boat portion of the Feerrott access quest now completes all the "Save the ship" versions of the quest to account for players that may be still carrying the old versions of "Protect the LMS Intruder/QSS Bootstrutter."


*** Spells and Combat Arts ***

- Examining spell and combat art scrolls will now show the actual stats of the spell, not just the description.
- Casting single-target spells on an implied target (e.g. casting a heal on the enemy attacking you so that you get the heal) and auto-target spells (such as pet-only or caster-only) should now display where the spells are actually landing.
- Examining a spell or combat art will now tell you the skill name and skill level required to both cast and master the ability.
- Maintained hostile group spells (like the Coercer spell Dreadful Awe) should no longer drop from all target encounter members whenever one member of that encounter takes damage.
- Examining a spell's description will now indicate if its effects are suspended during combat.
- Resurrection spells can now be cast on fallen members of your raid party.
- Hostile spells that have a chance to break (such as root) should no longer break when someone in the group casts a beneficial spell.
- The pet window will no longer open when summoning pets that can't be controlled. Pets that do not accept commands will not verbally acknowledge them.
- Non-maintained pets can now zone with you.
- Crusaders should no longer get an error message when sitting after they dismount their holy or unholy steeds. THANK FUCKING CHRIST
- You can now recast/refresh a spell that uses concentration without needing to cancel it first.
- Toggleable maintained spells will now begin their reuse timer when cancelled. They should block any other spells that are upgrades/downgrades of the same line while active, and should begin the reuse timers on those upgrades/downgrades when the blocking spell is cancelled.

Assassin changes:
- Spitting Viper (Adept I) now has the correct name (Spitting Viper vs. Killer Instinct).
- Assassin's Shot and Head Shot no longer share a reuse group with Hager's Befuddling Strike.

Brawler Changes:
- Thundering Fists will now stun your enemy and display a message in the chat window.

Bruiser Changes:
- Shrug Off now mitigates a more appropriate amount of damage.

Defiler changes:
- Baleful Countenance will now display a chat message when the fear proc goes off.

Fury changes:
- Toxic Quills' description now indicates that it decreases the attack speed of the target.
- Savage Mask's description now indicates that it increases the caster's power pool.
- Feral Salve should now be functioning correctly.
- Seizing Brambles: the snare portion of the spell is now also AoE.

Mystic changes:
- Fading Spirit's proc should now go off 100% of the time.
- Runic Shield's description is now more accurate.
- Path of the Grey's description now indicates that it also regenerates the health of your ally.

Paladin changes:
- Ancient Wrath now inflicts a small slashing DoT effect.
- Holy Sunder now inflicts a small slashing DoT effect instead of heat.
- Judgment Strike now inflicts a small slashing DoT effect.
- Condemnation's slashing and crushing resistance modifiers now match.

Ranger changes:
- Longshank: If you turn auto-attack off before the attack lands, you will go into stealth mode. Your target will also be ensnared when this attack lands.
- Lunging Thrust will now appear in the maintained spells window.
- Raven Embers now has the appropriate duration.
- Natural Selection's icon background is now green to indicate that it is an AoE spell.

Shadowknight changes:
- Sorrow will now unleash an AoE disease attack in addition to the DoT.

Swashbuckler changes:
- Flight of Fancy now gives a greater amount of hate reduction.

Templar changes:
- Greater Intercession now adds AC appropriately and will no longer erroneously display the "No Eligible Target" message.
- Combative Faith's description now indicates that it also has a DoT effect.

Warlock changes:
- Aspect of Vul will now display the name of the caster in the chat window rather than the recipient.
- Paralyzing Fear and its related spells now have a chance to break when additional hostile actions are taken against the target.

Wizard changes:
- Surge of Flames no longer displays an interrupt message each time it is cast.
- Benumb will now appear in the maintained spells window.
- Enfeeblement will now appear in the maintained spells window.
- Distorted Visions' description is now more accurate.


*** Tradeskills ***

- There are now additional types of harvesting tasks available for alchemy and culinary components.
- There are now harvesting tasks available that call for items from level 30+ zones.
– Wholesaler society tasks will now be issued based on the character's highest harvesting skill rather than their adventurer or tradeskill level.
- New recipe books that make use of Fabled components will now drop from certain epic encounters. The items crafted from these recipes will be highly coveted.
- Tier 2 recipes have been added for daggers, great spears, war hammers, cudgels, and kite shields. These recipes can be found in Craftsman Essentials Volume 14, Outfitters Essentials Volume 14, Advanced Outfitter One Handed Weapons Volume 12, Advanced Craftsman Volume 14, and Advanced Outfitter Dual Weapons Volume 14.
- Changed the name of cinnamon, honey, and cardamom to raw cinnamon, raw honey, and raw cardamom.
- Changed the Ebon Vanguard Spaulders recipe to require 3 paddings and 1 pattern rather than 1 padding and 3 patterns.
- Corrected the recipe for Carbonite Vanguard Spaulders to require a Carbonite Sheet and a Carbonite Stud instead of a Canvas Padding and a Generic Canvas Pattern.
- Added minimum and maximum skill requirements on totems. They will require magic affinity that is equal to the level of their intended usage.
- Culinary reaction arts should now scale properly so that they grey out at the same rate that other reaction arts do.
- Reduced the level and difficulty of Teak Round Shield to match the book it is found in. It is now level 42 with 210 difficulty rather than level 47 with 240 difficulty.
- Rune of Killer Instinct was renamed Rune of Spitting Viper, and should be reflected correctly in the recipe book.
- Fixed several situations when crafting that could result in a blank tradeskill window after the message "The components you selected are invalid. Trade skill process halted." is displayed.
- Apothecary events should now display the correct icon so that congeal and liquefy events will now work properly.
- The following reaction arts were adjusted to be more consistent:

Weaponsmith
- Toughen: changed from +9 progress -3 success, to +18 progress -6 success
- Solidify: changed from +9 progress -6 success, to +20 progress -6 success
- Vitrify: changed from +5 durability -15 progress to +5 durability -10 progress
- Drawing Metal: changed from +10 durability -30 progress to +10 durability -20 progress
- Anneal: changed from +28 progress -6 success to +18 progress -6 success
- Indurate: changed from +10 durability -12 power to +10 durability -10 power
- Braze: changed from +15 durability -14 power to +20 durability -20 power

Provisioner
- Awareness: changed from +8 progress -6 power to +9 progress -5 power
- Realization: changed from +10 durability -12 power to +10 durability -10 power
- Foresight: changed from +18 progress -14 power to +18 progress -10 power
- Apprehension: changed from +15 durability -14 power to +15 durability -15 power
- Constant Heat: changed from +24 progress -9 durability to +27 progress -9 durability
- Slow Simmer: changed from +5 durability -12 progress to +5 durability -10 progress
- Rapid Boil: changed from +16 progress -6 durability to +18 progress -6 durability
- Reduce Heat: changed from +10 durability -24 progress to +10 durability -20 progress
- Seasoning: changed from +16 progress -6 success to +18 progress -6 success
- Spice Up: changed from +10 durability -6 success to +10 durability -3 success
- Pinch of Salt: changed from +16 progress -6 success to +27 progress -9 success
- Dash of Pepper: changed from +15 durability -8 success to +20 durability -6 success

Armorer
- Steady Heat: changed from +15 durability -9 success to +10 durability -3 success
- Stoke Coals: changed from +15 durability -9 success to +20 durability -6 success
- Angle Joint changed power cost to 5.
- Bridle Joint: changed from +10 durability -12 power to +10 durability -10 power
- Corner Joint: changed from +15 durability -14 power to +20 durability -20 power
- Hammering: changed from +5 durability -15 progress to +5 durability -10 progress
- Smithy: changed from +10 durability -25 progress to +10 durability -20 progress

Jeweler
- Mind over Matter: changed from +7 progress -3 durability to +9 progress -3 durability
- Precognition: changed from +14 progress -6 durability to +18 progress -6 durability
- Psychokenesis: changed from +15 durability -25 progress to +15 durability -30 progress
- Round Brilliant Cut: changed from +6 progress -6 power to +9 progress -5 power
- Square Cut: changed from +10 durability -12 power to +10 durability -10 power
- Oval Cut: changed from changed power cost to 10.
- Radiant Cut: changed from +15 durability -14 power to +15 durability -15 power
- Focus of Spirit: changed from +14 progress -3 success to +9 progress -3 success
- Center of Spirit: changed from +15 progress -4.5 success to +10 progress - 3 success
- Fixation of Spirit: changed from +14 progress -3 success to +18 progress -6 success
- Convergence of Spirit: changed from +5 durability -1.5 success to +20 durability -6 success

Tailor
- Knots: changed from changed power cost to 5.
- Binding: changed from +10 durability -12 power to +10 durability -10 power
- Cord: changed from changed power cost to 10.
- Tether: changed from changed power cost to 10.
- Dexterous: changed from +10 durability -6 success to +10 durability -3 success
- Ambidexterity: changed from +15 durability -9 success to +20 durability -6 success
- Stitching: changed from +14 progress -3 success to +9 progress -3 success
- Embroider: changed from +10 durability -25 progress to +10 durability -20 progress
- Braid: changed from +10 durability -25 progress to +15 durability -30 progress

Woodworker
- Measure: changed from +16 progress -6 success to +18 progress -6 success
- Weigh: changed from +10 durability -6 success to +10 durability -3 success
- Estimate: changed from +16 progress -6 success to +27 progress -9 success
- Appraise: changed from +10 durability -6 success to +20 durability -6 success
- Handwork: changed from +8 progress -6 power to +9 progress -5 power
- Crafting: changed from +10 durability -12 power to +10 durability -10 power
- Whittling: changed from changed power cost to 10.
- Detail: changed from +15 durability -14 power to +15 durability -15 power
- Cutting: changed from +8 progress -3 durability to +9 progress -3 durability
- Chipping: changed from +10 durability -24 progress to +10 durability -20 progress
- Chiseling: changed from +8 progress -3 durability to +18 progress -6 durability
- Carving: changed from +10 durability -24 progress to +15 durability -30 progress

Alchemist
- Experiment: changed from +6 progress -6 power to +9 progress -5 power
- Assay: changed from +18 progress -13 power to +18 progress -10 power
- Speculation: changed from +15 durability -13 power to +15 durability -15 power
- Reaction: changed from +14 progress -3 success to +9 progress -3 success
- Synthesis: changed from +10 Durability -6 success to +10 durability -3 success
- Results: changed from +21 progress -4.5 success to +27 progress -9 success
- Cessation: changed from +5 durability -1.5 success to +20 durability -6 success
- Theory: changed from +14 progress -6 durability to +18 progress -6 durability
- Assumption: changed from +14 progress -9 durability to +27 progress -9 durability

Scholar
- Lettering: changed from +6 progress -6 power to +9 progress -5 power
- Scribing: changed from +18 progress -13 power to +18 progress -10 power
- Penmanship: changed from +15 durability -16 power to +15 durability -15 power
- Notation: changed from +14 progress -3 success to +9 progress -3 success
- Record: changed from +7 progress -1.5 success to +18 progress -6 success
- Scripting: changed from +10 durability -3 success to +20 durability -6 success
- Spellbinding: changed from +21 progress -9 durability to +18 progress -6 durability
- Incantation: changed from +21 progress -9 durability to +27 progress -6 durability

Apothecary
- Stir: changed from +6 progress -6 power to +9 progress -5 power
- Agitate: changed from +10 durability -12 power to +10 durability -10 power
- Blend: changed from +18 progress -18 power to +18 progress -10 power
- Mix: changed from +15 durability -21 power to +15 durability -15 power

Weaving
- Cure: changed power cost to 5.
- Preserve: changed power cost to 10.
- Strengthen: changed power cost to 10.
- Reinforce: changed power cost to 15.

Geomancy
- Imbue: changed power cost to 5.
- Infuse: changed power cost to 10.
- Permeate: changed power cost to 10.
- Ingrain: changed power cost to 15

Timbercraft
- Carve: changed from +6 progress -6 success to +9 progress -3 success
- Whittle: changed from +10 durability -6 success to +10 durability -3 success
- Chisel: changed from +16 progress -6 success to +18 progress to -6 success
- Shape: changed from +10 durability -6 success to +20 durability -6 success
- Stain: changed from +8 progress -3 durability to +9 progress -3 durability
- Laminate: changed from +10 durability -24 progress to +10 durability -20 progress
- Enamel: changed from +8 progress -3 durability to +18 progress -6 durability
- Glaze: changed from +10 durability -24 progress to +15 durability -30 progress
- Sand: changed from +6 progress -6 power to +9 progress -5 power
- Furbish: changed from +10 durability -12 power to +10 durability -10 power
- Scour: changed from +18 progress -18 power to +18 progress -10 power
- Burnish: changed power cost to 15.


*** Commands, Controls, and User Interface ***

- The number of slots in the Maintained window has been increased to 30.
- When you are asked whether you wish to accept a quest, the quest's level is now displayed.
- In the Quest Journal, the quest's level is now displayed before its name. Within a given category (i.e. Collection, The Commonlands) quests are now sorted by level.
- The Inventory window now has an area that lets you drop items to be moved into your inventory.
- Added the /house_kick command which allows the owner of a house to remove an unwelcome guest. Just typing "/house_kick" will remove the targeted player, while "/house_kick NAME" boots a specific character. Only house owners can use this command. The kicked player will appear outside the home as though they had left normally.
- Using the /togglebags command or a hotkey to open all your inventory bags will no longer open containers inside other containers.
- A raid window toggle has been added to the default keymap options.
- Maintained spells now show Concentration used if applicable.
- Skill increase messages now show your character's current and max skill levels. The skill gain message stays on screen one second longer.
- If your target is immune to an attack due to weapon level or quality, a message to that effect will be displayed in the chat window.
- The option setting for "allow windows offscreen" will now save properly.
- "Druid Ring" is now spelled correctly on the Orcish Wastes map.
- The list of respawn locations should now be sized correctly within the window border.
- The right-click option to buy items from the Market window has been removed.
- The Guild window will now sort on the last online column and will remember the online only state.
- The map for Lavastorm should now work properly.
- The zone selection window is now better able to accommodate longer zone names.


*** Art ***

- Fixed the teeth on those nasty kholrats.
- Corrected some weighting issues with vanguard armor on human males.
- In-combat "ouch" animations should be triggered more consistently when you (or your opponent) are hit.
- Characters should no longer stand on top of their mounts when crouched.
- Created faster versions of all visual results used on AoE spells. The particles on the target visuals have been reduced but the spell itself has not been altered. - Fire effects on flaming creatures should look better from a distance.
- The catoplebas' name should now be directly above its head.
- Venekor's name should be higher over his head.
- Added missing cast and result visuals to many persistent spells.
- Optimized a result visual used in many Mage spells.
- Added missing result visual effects on the following Guardian spells: Do or Die, Return to Battle, Braksan's Desperate Rally.


*** UI Files Updated ***

images\widgets03.dds
images\icons\icon_is61.dds
eq2ui_ImageStyles.xml
eq2ui_mainhud_mail.xml
eq2ui_mainhud_openedmail.xml
eq2ui_popup.xml
eq2ui_popup_setprice.xml
eq2ui_popup_setpricestatus.xml
eq2ui_fonts.xml
eq2ui_loginscene.xml
UIWidget.cpp
Eq2GuiExperienceWindow.cpp
eq2ui_journals_active.xml
eq2ui_journals_quest.xml

===========================
Moorgard
EverQuest II Community Guy

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[ManaByte]

Just closed my WoW account for the last time. Sick of having to wait 3 hours to log on a server for a game I was paying $15 a month for.

 

[ManaByte]

The patch is live! WOOT! I have a bunch of stuff clogging up my bank for guildies so I need to log in and mail it to them!

 

[shoplifter]

The patch is live! WOOT! I have a bunch of stuff clogging up my bank for guildies so I need to log in and mail it to them!

Holy shit, that didn't take long.

 

[ManaByte]

Holy shit, that didn't take long.

:lol :lol

How many MAJOR EQII content patches will come out before the First WoW content patch? :lol :lol

I love this patch. I can finally use my SBH and it kicks ass.

 

[nubbe]

The best is yet to come... Auction House... or something like that

EQ2 is maturing veeeery well

 

[Suikoguy]

Hmm, now the question i'm wondering;
Which will happen first

WoW Servers will go back up from the patch
EQ2 Will bring down the servers for another content patch

The Mind Boggles!

But seriously, once they sort out the auction system and solo content.. i may just stay

 

[shoplifter]

But seriously, once they sort out the auction system and solo content.. i may just stay

ONE OF US

ONE OF US

 

[ManaByte]

But seriously, once they sort out the auction system and solo content.. i may just stay

The way they are doing the auction system is cool:
http://eq2vault.ign.com/View.php?view=asksoe.Detail&category_select_id=39

Steve "Moorgard" Danuser: One of the key reasons we launched with an online-only selling system is that we didn't want to flood the marketplace with items and make the economy grow too rapidly. We still believe there needs to be careful control over how goods flow through the marketplace.

At the same time, we don’t want crafters to feel like they have to sit in their house in order to earn a living, nor do we want players in non-US time zones to be especially inconvenienced by our vendor system. So in the coming updates, we're going to make some major changes that players should find appealing.

In phase one of these changes, you will be able to list items located in your house vault for sale on the market. This will give everyone more space to sell items, plus you will no longer need to clog up your personal inventory with stuff you want to sell. If you are online but not in your home, you will be able to leave your store open and the items in your house vault will still be up for sale. For instance, if you own a standard single-room apartment, you can buy containers and put them in your two house vault slots, then fill them with the goods you want to sell. Go out adventuring or crafting for the evening, and those items in your house vault will remain up for sale even though you aren't in your house.

Phase two is an even bigger change. If you are not online and you leave your store open, items in your house vault can still be purchased from the broker. That's right: we will be introducing offline selling.

You'll still need to remain online and in your home if you want to sell items from your character's personal inventory, but everyone will be able to maintain their store via their house vault regardless of whether they are online at the time. This will fulfill our goal of keeping the number of items in the marketplace under control while providing a lot more flexibility to our players.

As for solo content, I've completely soloed my last two levels.

 

[Suikoguy]

on test server now

- Help us test adjustments to outdoor zone populations!*
- Sell your merchandise when your character is outside your home or offline!
- New quest paths available for adventurers in many outdoor zones!
- Zone maps now show where other members of your group are located!
- Many instanced adventure areas are now even more accessible!
- Now you can raise your harvesting skills twice as fast!
- Lots of new UI improvements and customization options!
- Hundreds of spell/combat art fixes and updates!
- Breaking news: A terrible plague infects Norrath!

*For those who don't know what they are testing. They are experimenting with different allocations of solo and group and heroic mobs on the big maps like antonica. This plays in with the new overland quests I believe.

Edit:
I'll reactivate my account and try this out once it goes live.
Damn, SOE is making it really hard for me not to play EQ2

 

[Suikoguy]

The test patch went live today, except for the population adjustments which need more tweaking.

I wonder whats next for 7?

 

[shoplifter]

This patch is totally HAWT.

Managed to finish SBD and Sewn Bag of Evil Eye tonight too.

 

[Crimson Dragon]

Update 7 supposedly includes priest balancing. I'm almost afraid of what that is going to entail. Finished the same quests as shop last night - and got the Weavemaster too. So all I have left to do is raise my crafting to 9 and kill Varsoon and I'll be done with manastone

 

[ManaByte]

Update #8 is live:

*** Headlines ***



- Experience two new quest-based instanced adventure areas for soloers and small group players!

- Explore a new four-group level 50 epic raid adventure!

- Face danger when traveling on the high seas with new boat rides!

- Managing your guild is even easier with our new improved Guild window!

- Spirit shards absorb automatically when you get near them!

- Status upkeep reductions now visible when inspecting furniture!

- New treasures added to many epic boss fights!





*** New Quest Adventure Areas ***



Nektulos Forest – The Lair of the Necromancer

- An ancient power from before the Age of Cataclysms has been awakened in Nektulos Forest, and it's up to you to stop it!

- Sharhan, found near Behemoth Pond in Nektulos Forest, will give worthy adventurers a quest to explore a new instanced adventure area called the Lair of the Necromancer.

- This instance is best suited for soloers and small groups between levels 25 and 35.

- Once the quest is complete, adventurers can go back and battle within the lair whenever they like!



The Thundering Steppes - A Gnoll Cave

- Players who have completed the first series of quests on the new content path in Thundering Steppes can receive a quest from Tish Tickers that leads to a new instanced adventure area called A Gnoll Cave.

- Tish had some magical artifacts stolen by gnolls, and she needs you to retrieve them.

- This instance is best suited for soloers and small groups between levels 25 and 30.

- Once the quest is complete, players can return and fight the gnolls again whenever they like!





*** New Epic Adventure Area ***



- The Commune of K'Dal is a new instanced epic adventure area in Lavastorm for a full raid force of high-level characters.

- Adventurers will come upon a mining camp of dwarves under the control of a powerful Nightblood named K'Dal the Deceiver. Your conversation with the dwarves will determine how the fight with K'Dal progresses.

- This Nightblood has some powerful new abilities, and players will need to develop new strategies to defeat this fearsome foe. Those who do so will be rewarded with fabled treasures!





*** Adventure on the Seas ***



- Those seeking to make the journey to the Enchanted Lands, the Orcish Wastes, or the Feerrott now have another travel option available at a lower price.

- Gnomish entrepreneurs in Qeynos and Freeport are offering lower-priced boat travel to the destinations listed above, but adventurers will have to pitch in and keep their ship free of invaders.

- Speak to Gizrin Mimbles in East Freeport and Tocks Mimbles in Qeynos Harbor to learn the details of their new travel venture. Keep in mind that gnomes have been known to be unreliable navigators at times, so pay attention to what they say about the risks involved in booking passage aboard their ships.

- There are solo and group versions of these boat adventures, with multiple variations of each trip. Sometimes you may find your victory to be quite rewarding.

- Travelers booking passage must already have access to their destination.

- These tickets follow the same rules as the standard voyage tickets: they must be used before the purchaser zones or camps.

- Known issue: Group tickets are not currently transporting group members into the same boat zone. Please purchase individual tickets at this time. We will be fixing the group ticket issue in the next update.





*** Improved Guild Window ***



- The number of guild ranks has been expanded from 4 to 8, and guild ranks can now be given custom names. You can also see the number of members at each rank.

- Guild ranks now have flexible permissions. Guild leaders can customize the permissions at each rank to suit the needs of their guild structure. The order of ranks determines what actions can affect another player, i.e. you can't kick a player of equal or higher rank, even if you have kick permission. Guild leaders can still do anything to anyone, of course.

- Guilds now support shared notes. Each guild member can set a one line note about themselves that all their guildmates can see. There is a rank permission to allow modification of other players' notes.

- Guilds now support officer private notes. These are settable and viewable by those with the appropriate rank & permission.

- Guilds now have an event history. Events are generated for noteworthy actions such as leveling up, finding very good loot, and slaying epic monsters.

- You can now see the number of patrons in the guild on the main guild tab, and the tooltip for this control gives more information about the patron system.

- You can now see your guild rank, patron status, contributed status points, and guild join date on the main guild tab.

- You can now elect to be notified when guild members log in or out. You'll find this checkbox in the Main tab of the guild window.

- You can decide whether you want your member list to show tradeskill class, adventure class, or whichever is highest.

- Filters have been added to the guild member list. Instead of just a checkbox to show online members only, there is now a dropdown which lets you choose a filter such as: all members, online now, online today, online last 7 days, offline more than 30 days, etc.

- The tooltip on the guild XP bar has been fixed, and the bar has been enlarged to show progress more clearly.

- Known issues that will be addressed in the next update:

- The guild member count on the guild main page is currently affected by the filter setting on the guild member page.

- The guild log event for when a guild member gains a new adventure level is not being generated.





*** Gameplay ***



- Spirit shards will now automatically absorb when you get near them. You no longer have to click the shard yourself to absorb it.

- NPCs that cannot be attacked should no longer be able to aggro players.





*** Zones and Population ***



- Owlbears and spiders in Nektulos Forest can now drop a wider variety of loot.

- More Sabertooth Trackers can be found in The Thundering Steppes.

- Sullon assasins in The Orcish Wastes have decided to refer to themselves as Sullon assassins. Apparently orcs are making an effort to improve their spelling.

- There are now more dryads in The Feerrott near Murdunk's Fall.

- You can now double-click the entrances to Edgewater Drains from the Serpents Sewer.

- Gurndundl's size has been reduced to more closely match that of other giants in Nektulos Forest.

- Adventurers will now be able to repair damaged centaur faction in the Thundering Steppes. Settlers in Thundermist Village have grown alarmed by this announcement.





*** Epic Encounters ***



- The raid encounter with T'Haen the Lost will no longer spawn an unlimited number of adds.

- The Vision of Vox has returned to her roost in Permafrost.

- The melee resistances of epic bosses are now better balanced. An opponent that is immune to one damage type (such as slashing) should no longer have high resistance to another damage type (such as piercing).

- In addition to their normal loot, many epic bosses now drop new types of rare items unique to each encounter. Please note that these new treasures will be very rare and will not drop every time an encounter is defeated.

- The Vault of the Fallen epic encounter inside Fallen Gate has been modified to be both more challenging and more rewarding. The access quest for the Vault has also been made more accessible. Search the ruins of Fallen Gate for clues.





*** Quests ***



- Ceremony of the Fanged Necklace - Quest should now update in any zone which can fulfill the requirements.

- Tarby Boulderboom's dire wolf event will now provide an appropriate challenge.

- The "A Bow for a Beauty" quest in Antonica can now be completed.

- The Far Seas Requisition Desk in the Thundering Steppes will now give out the correct quests. The desk will stop glowing after all requisitions have been completed.

- The "Kouryick the Traitor" quest in West Freeport can now be completed.

- The "Sea of Mist," "Sea of Crossed Swords," and "Blackwater Seas" boat adventures are now listed as Access quests. This will allow players to delete the quests if they choose to do so.

- Obsid Boulderboom can now be hailed to get another Cracked Stone Hand Axe to start the Polished Granite Tomahawk heritage quest.

- Tish Tickers in The Thundering Steppes now requires all five of the coins to pay off her loan during the "Scrying Shame" quest.

- The "Haunted Helm" quest in Stormhold can now be completed.

- "They Stole My Food" in The Feerrott can now be completed.

- The "Feeling of the Fauna" quest in The Feerrott can now be completed.

- Bouncer Hurd has taken the place of Bouncer Prud as the target for the "Test Subjects" and "Feerrott Who's Who" quests in The Feerrott.

- Far Seas Requisition Special Contract #NF112-A will now update after surviving Death's Maw.

- The monks fought during the FBSS heritage quest will no longer knock their opponents back with quite as much velocity.

- Caius Callidus in West Freeport no longer asks adventurers to help with his problem, nor will he acknowledge adventurers who already agreed to help. In the future, he will require adventurers' help again. (Note: It would be prudent to delete this quest from your journal if you're currently on it.)

- Taskmaster Deldrin has sorted out his problems with requisition orders in the Thundering Steppes.

- Players must now choose one reward from the "Stop the Elementals" quest instead of getting all rewards.





*** Items ***



- Evol Machete is now lore.

- Bhorgeses Bracelet should now be more appropriate for players around level 27.
- Necklace of Fingers is now equippable in the neck slot.
- Glowing Fire Charred armor should now be attuneable.

- The Etheric Katar will now have a more appropriate appearance when equipped.

- Activatable items with multiple charges are no longer attuneable.

- A message in the chat window now indicates when poisons are applied or wear off.

- The buffs given by spirit totems had their duration increased from 3 minutes to 30 minutes.

- Goblin Rotgut now has the appropriate icon.

- The Bloody Claw of the Spirit Sucker now has an appropriate icon.

- "Rading" was changed to "Raiding" in the following items: Tallon Raiding Sword, Tallon Raiding Scimitar, and Tallon Raiding Dagger. Like we said before, the orcs are trying to improve.

- The following crafted poisons will now proc correctly:

- Anger of the Spirits

- Astonishing Visions

- Aura of Guardsmanship

- Aura of Salvation

- Aura of the Battlemaster

- Blessing of the Ages

- Bloodburst

- Bulwark of Shadow

- Circle of Sanctuary

- Disruptive Torment

- Enchanted Aura

- Influence of Hate

- Impenetrable Barrier

- Insufferable Anguish

- Irrepressible Vexation

- Malevolent Displacement

- Malignant Decay

- Noxious Regression

- Ravenous Incapacitation

- Retribution of the Sky

- Spirit of the Berserker

- Sting of the Beast

- Superior Protection

- Supernal Wave

- Untimely Concussion

- Ward of the Stalwart

- Wave of Protection





*** Spells and Combat Arts ***



- Spirit of the Wolf now lasts 30 minutes instead of 15, and can now be cast on those outside your group or raid.

- Enduring Breath can now be cast on those outside your group or raid.

- Feign death now works correctly against creatures that become aggro due to proximity without being locked.

- When charm wears off a creature, it can again be targeted with the "target nearest enemy" key.

- Hostile point-blank area of effect spells will no longer initiate a recast timer or consume resource pools or components when there are no hostile targets in the radius.



Brigand changes:

- Snarl will once again affect all members of an encounter.



Fury changes:

- Ferocity of the Eel's description now correctly indicates that it adds crushing damage over time rather than increasing the target's crushing skill.



Guardian changes:

- Iron Conviction will now improve as it is upgraded.

- Slate's Steely Resolve now lasts for 15 minutes.



Illusionist changes:

- Esida's Chromatic Deluge, Chromatic Storm, and Cerebral Tempest now provide a stifle effect.



Inquisitor changes:

- Conversion of the Soul will now heal more damage on a resurrected character than Reforming Soul.

- Dogmatic Healing and Intolerant Healing will now cast their haste effect on the target rather than the caster.

- Acts of Belief and Acts of Faith will now proc 5 times instead of 1.

- Unholy Fear should now have a more appropriate visual.



Monk changes:

- Goran's Slumbering Dragon can now be used in the same Heroic Opportunities as Swooping Dragon.

- Spider Stance will now provide a greater attack speed bonus as it is upgraded.



Mystic changes:

- Shadowy Attendants will no longer melee attack NPCs if they are hit with an AoE spell.



Paladin changes:

- Holy Sunder now requires a two-handed weapon to be cast, as described.



Predator changes:

- Blade Flurry will now only affect members of the targeted encounter.



Templar changes:

- Resurrect will now heal more damage on a resurrected character than Battle's Reprieve.

- Involuntary Healer and Involuntary Curate's healing effects should now work correctly.



Warden changes:

- Nature's Caress no longer has a fuel cost.





*** Tradeskills ***



- Wash, oil, resin, and tempers no longer share the same icon. Washes are now blue vials, oils are yellow oil cans, resins are green vials, and tempers are brownish-orange vials.

- Carpenter recipes for dowels, planed wood, and wood staves will now require sculpting/craftsmanship to produce instead of fletching/woodworking.

- The carpentry insight event will now return the technique buff properly, instead of consistently giving +150 progress and durability.

- The recipe for Ebon Vanguard Gantlets now properly requests fulginate studs instead of ebon.

- Harvestable objects used in trapping have been renamed to creature dens, critter dens, beast dens, and animal dens.

- Trapping dens within Nektulos Forest can now contain pig and lion meat.

- The following weapon imbue recipes have been added:

- Imbue Blackened
Iron Crescent
Axe - Advanced Weaponsmith Weapon Imbuing Volume 1

- Imbued Feyiron Spear - Weaponsmith Weapon Imbuing Volume 3

- Imbued Fulginate Short Spear - Weaponsmith Weapon Imbuing Volume 4

- Imbued Fulginate Claymore - Weaponsmith Weapon Imbuing Volume 4

- Imbued Fulginate Bastard Sword - Weaponsmith Weapon Imbuing Volume 4

- Imbued Ebon Sabre - Weaponsmith Weapon Imbuing Volume 4.

- Carpenters can now refine lumber using their own skills and reaction arts. These new carpentry recipes will appear in the following recipe books: Carpenter Essentials Volume 20, Advanced Carpenter Volume 20, Carpenter Essentials Volume 30, Advanced Carpenter Volume 30, and Carpenter Essentials Volume 40, and Advanced Carpenter Volume 40.

- The icon for bowstrings is now more appropriate.

- Credit will be given when harvesting Seafury Mackerels, Cauldron Blowfish, or Figs as part of a wholesaler task.

- Roasted Rye can now be created at level 20.

- Essence of Fury has been removed from Alchemist Essentials Volume 48 and Advanced Alchemist Volume 48, as the art no longer exists.

- Imbued Cedar Wands will now have greater intelligence bonuses as their quality is increased.

- Float Glass will now use 2 fuels instead of 10.





*** Housing ***



- All three-room houses located on
Freedom Road
in South Freeport now have appropriate costs and upkeep.

- All interior decoration options (walls, floors, trim, and ceiling) for each city are now available for purchase in all sizes of apartments and houses.

- The prices of Qeynosian interior decoration options now match those charged in Freeport.

- The cost of changing between decoration options that you already own has been reduced to 10 silver.





*** Controls, Commands, and User Interface ***



- The amount of Status upkeep defrayed by furnishings can now be seen when examining house items.

- Item tooltips now show in the quest reward, merchant, broker, and player store windows.

- There is now a confirmation box that appears when using the /lastname command.

- You will now see a message in the chat window if an enemy is immune to your melee attacks. These messages have been moved to the "Melee Warning" chat channel.

- There are now chat channels for harvesting messages so they can be filtered separately.

- You can now examine harvestable objects through their right-click context menu. This will indicate information such as what skill level an object requires to harvest, and when a harvest is trivial to you.

- You will no longer receive the "You gain experience" announcement at the top of the screen each time you receive experience.

- The shaped product of a recipe can again be examined in the recipe window.

- You can now examine the recipe byproduct in the recipe window.

- You can now examine the recipe products for levels you have previously created in the recipe window.

- If you change the orientation of your camera while riding a flying mount, the camera will remain in that position until you either move the camera or arrive at your destination

- There is now an option called "Free Look Controls" that determine how your character turns when holding down the left mouse button. "View Relative" is the new default, while selecting "Avatar Relative" will return the controls to their previous setting.

- Procs no longer clear the casting progress bar.

- The Enter and ESC keys should work correctly in the Delete Character confirmation window.

- Results from the /who command should work for characters that have not yet chosen an archetype from Garvin.





*** Art ***



- Changing your appearance while on a mount will no longer result in your character standing on top of the mount until you move.

- Erudites should no longer have disappearing waists when wearing certain outfits.

- Fixed an issue on the beach in the Enchanted Lands that made parts of the world seem to disappear.

 

[ManaByte]

Just finished running through one of the new instances they added today and it was cool. Basically the Dark Elves are being bad and dug up the lair of an old Necromancer from pre-Cataclysm days (EQ1):


Those four casters are guarded by four skeletons. After you kill the skeletons you have to fight the whole group of them:


Once you kill them the named Necromancer spawns with his pet and he's armed with this giant scythe. After you kill him, two demons spawn and you need to kill them. He drops some decent mid-20s caster items.

 

[Outdoor Miner]

Ok, peeps I'm done with WoW for what may be forever though I might get a taste when an expansion is released. I'm looking to rejoin, I had a blast with this game solo for the 2 months I had it, before realizing 2 mmo's is too much for my plate, so EQ2 went at the time.

So what significant changes have happened recently? Is it true Frogloks are in, what are the specifics on being able to get one? My gf and I are dying to play a Froglok tag-team!

 

[ZombieSupaStar]

im gonna reactivate my account also what server should I go to and can I get into any guild (mana? shoplifter?)

 

[BigGreenMat]

Ok, peeps I'm done with WoW for what may be forever though I might get a taste when an expansion is released. I'm looking to rejoin, I had a blast with this game solo for the 2 months I had it, before realizing 2 mmo's is too much for my plate, so EQ2 went at the time.

So what significant changes have happened recently? Is it true Frogloks are in, what are the specifics on being able to get one? My gf and I are dying to play a Froglok tag-team!

Frogloks are a quest that you must complete and access to creating them is given after its completion.

 

[ManaByte]

Ok, peeps I'm done with WoW for what may be forever though I might get a taste when an expansion is released. I'm looking to rejoin, I had a blast with this game solo for the 2 months I had it, before realizing 2 mmo's is too much for my plate, so EQ2 went at the time.

So what significant changes have happened recently? Is it true Frogloks are in, what are the specifics on being able to get one? My gf and I are dying to play a Froglok tag-team!

Taking a quick break from EQII to work on Jedi stuff in SWG, but...

Yea Frogloks are in. If a guild hasn't unlocked them on your server, there's a quest you can do that can be done by solo people above 30 or a group of 20s. The quest takes about four hours and once you do it you can create a Frog. If a guild has done it on your server you can automatically create one.

 

[MrAngryFace]

I just started my warlock *level 18 now* and WoW is still holding strong for me. I spend a lot of time goofing off tho and play pretty casually so that may be why I dont tire of it.

If I WERE to hope a mmorpg id probably go galaxies since it sounds a lot better now. Then again when would I ever quit wow again OMG OMG OMG

 

[nubbe]

My guild is so über. We were the first to unlock the frog for everyone on our server.

 

[shoplifter]

im gonna reactivate my account also what server should I go to and can I get into any guild (mana? shoplifter?)

Hop onto Mistmoore, and I can get you in as long as you don't act like a tard. Just don't plan on doing much grouping with guildies till you hit the 20s.

In other news, some pics:

I got nailed by an Ice Comet for over 5k about a minute after this. It hurt.

 

[ManaByte]

Station Exchange launches today.

 

[ManaByte]

Live Update #12. July 20th, 2005
Headlines

- Change your bind point to anywhere in your home city!

- Invite other players into groups, raids, and guilds when they aren't in the same zone!

- Quest journal now holds 75 active quests!

- Sort your quests by the current zone for each quest step!

- Explore the Shattered Lands with greater freedom and ease of travel!

- Earn experience for your guild by collecting status loot!

- Learning tradeskills is made even easier with new artisan quests!

- Gain coin and better loot from defeating creatures!

- Guilds no longer lose status when members leave!

- Add a new hotkey to toggle between your two most recent targets!

- Lots of user interface tweaks and improvements!

- The quest completion ding is back!

- Mysterious activities around the mines of Norrath introduce our latest live event!
Change Your Bind Point

- You may now complete a quest that gives you the ability to set your bind point to any location in your home city.

- Citizens of either Qeynos or Freeport can undertake the quest to gain this ability.

- Those seeking this new way to bind themselves to their hometowns need only learn the secret from either Ethurien in Antonica or Heilanna in the Commonlands.

- After you gain the ability to bind yourself to a new location, your Call of Qeynos or Call of the Overlord spells will return you to that spot.

- You can change your bind point as often as you like, to any location in your home city itself.
Cross-Zone Invites

- You can now invite other players into your group, raid, or guild regardless of whether or not they are in the same zone you are.

- To invite a player outside your current zone into your group, enter the "/invite X" where X is the name of the potential group member.

- When you receive an invitation to group, the confirmation window will display the name of the zone where the player inviting you is located.

- Commands such as /makeleader now work across zone lines as well.

- Guild commands such as promotions now work across zone lines.

- You will now be able to see the Health and Power of group members who aren't in your zone. Updates to their stats will occur every few seconds. The names of group members not in your zone are displayed less brightly.

- The tooltip for group members now shows which zone they are in.
Quest Journal

- The quest jounal now allows 75 active quests instead of 50.

- You can now sort your quest journal according to the current zone for quests rather than the quest type or starting zone.

- For example, if you are working on a quest you received in Antonica and the next step takes you to the Thundering Steppes, you can sort your quest journal by current zone and that quest will be listed under "The Thundering Steppes."

- To use this feature, just click the drop-down menu at the top of the quest journal. Change from the default of "Sort by Category" to "Sort by Current Zone."

- Note: When using this feature, some quests will be lumped together under "Unknown." This is because we are still in the process of assigning current zone information to some of our thousands of quests. There is no need to file a bug report or petition about such quests, as we will be adding that information in the near future.
Zone Access and Travel Changes

-There are no longer level restrictions or quest requirements on the following zones: Fallen Gate, the Orcish Wastes, the Enchanted Lands , Drafling Tower , the Feerrott, Everfrost, and Lavastorm.

- The access quests that were restricting travel to the Orcish Wastes, the Enchanted Lands , the Feerrott, Everfrost, and Lavastorm are now optional and provide item rewards. After you complete any of these quests (or if you have done so in the past), speak to Scholar Milnik on the docks of the Thundering Steppes to receive your reward. All boat rides associated with the overland access quests are now instanced adventures that can be repeated once you have completed the quests.

- Harbormasters in East Freeport and Qeynos Harbor now only sell tickets to the Thundering Steppes and Nektulos Forest . These two locations now function as travel hubs to the rest of the world. From the Thundering Steppes you can travel to the Orcish Wastes, the Feerrott, and Everfrost. From Nektulos Forest you can travel to the Enchanted Lands and Lavastorm.

- As Kizdean Gix's key is no longer needed to enter Fallen Gate, he has retreated from the Commonlands.
Status Loot

- In addition to completing writs that are assigned to you by city NPCs, you can now earn guild status by turning in new kinds of dropped items.

- Many of the NPCs around Norrath now have a chance to drop items that the major political factions in each of city are after. Be on the lookout for these new types of Scrying Stones, Amulets, Sealed Documents, and Relics. There are different varieties of each of these items for each level range.

- You can sell these new items for status points to the same NPCs that assign writ quests. This is a whole new way to increase your guild level and personal status.

- Regardless of whether or not you are in a guild, status loot can be traded to other players or sold to regular NPC merchants for cash.
Artisan Quests

- We have introduced a series of quests for new players to better explain how to become an artisan and to help them decide which style of crafting they prefer.

- Examining the note given to new players by Assistant Dreak on the Isle of Refuge (or obtained when they leave the island) will now grant a quest leading them to their tradeskill society.

- Once inside, budding artisans will be guided through the steps of making many different types of items. This will explain the benefits of each of the crafting classes.

- New players will learn how the crafting process works, plus earn tradeskill experience and cash through these quests. Each stage of the "Seeking a Profession" quest awards a different volume of the Artisan Essentials series.

- Completing the quest series provides a tunic that gives bonuses to artisan skills and will make the crafter a citizen of their home city if they haven't become one already.
Loot Improvements

- Sentient creatures now have a chance to drop coin when you defeat them.

- Various forms of wildlife will drop damaged pelts or hides.

- Creatures no longer drop random body parts and other gross items as loot. Who wants to pick up skulls or clumps of maggots anyway?

- Some creatures drop loot items that can be used in tradeskills. If an item can be used in crafting, examining it will explain how.
Guilds

- Guilds no longer lose status or levels when an established patron leaves the guild or ceases to be a patron. Thus, guilds never lose the levels they have already earned.

- Deguilding or removing patron status from someone who has been a patron for less than a week will result in a loss of that player's status contribution. The amount removed will vary based on how close to a full week that person has been a member. Guild leaders electing to remove a patron will receive a warning as to how this will impact their guild's status.

- Guild levels are now capped at 30. Additional guild experience cannot be earned until the guild level cap is raised.

- There was a bug causing many guild levels to show as one less than they really are. This is now fixed, thus guilds may notice their level increase by one.

- You can now (for a 5 silver fee) send an in-game mail message to every member of your guild. Address your mail to "guild." You cannot attach items to the mail, and you can only send messages to the guild of which you are a member. Guild leaders can decide which ranks have permission to send guild mail.

- You will no longer be able to complete two guild writs at the same time by killing the same NPC.

- You can now receive a new tradeskill writ every 20 minutes instead of every 30 minutes.

- The Tradesman gear bought from the City Merchants is now wearable by all classes.
Mysteries in the Mines

- Pale rat-like creatures, similar to ratonga but smaller, have been spotted in and around various mines in places like the Commonlands, Antonica, and the Orcish Wastes.

- Rumors abound of ancient artifacts these beings may be seeking.

- The creatures are said to be in the employ of some greater, more sinister power.

- Qeynos residents can find out more information from Pearl Honeywine in Qeynos Harbor , while Freeport citizens can learn details from Mareva D'iniv in North Freeport .

- The quests will lead you to different destinations depending on your level range.

- The quest for high-level players will lead them to a highly challenging new single-group dungeon instance. This zone will remain available even after the live event has been completed.
The Splitpaw Saga

- If you previously earned the trust of the gnolls in the "A Darkened Shard" quest but deleted or sold your shard, you will now be able to purchase another shard from Gumgullet in the Splitpaw Den. If you deleted the "A Darkened Shard" quest in attempting to acquire the shard again, the "earning the trust of the gnolls" stage of the quest should now update when you zone into the Splitpaw Den.

- To avoid confusion, "a glowing azure shard" with the Buoyancy effect is now named "a luminous azure shard." The version of "a glowing azure shard" with the Return to Splitpaw spell has not been changed.

- The Crawler's Nest should no longer lock cautious adventurers out of the final room. In addition, the queen has barricaded her lair more securely.

- Defeating Tesch Val Nurkal or Nisch Val Valkar no longer sets the success timer for their zone.

- The two-hour success timer for the solo arena will now only be applied after a reward is claimed.

- The Flammable Fur zone is now limited to a maximum of six characters.
Gameplay

- Food and drink effects will no longer disappear if you revive in a zone other than the one in which you died.

- NPCs were not properly receiving their innate spell effects (such as see invisible) when they spawned, although they did receive these abilities if they were engaged and reset for any reason. These NPCs will now have their innate abilities present when they arrive in the world. As a result, some creatures will now see invisible (or be invisible, for that matter) that didn't seem to before.
Zones and Population

- Certain instanced zones now have limitations on the maximum number of players that can be inside them at any one time. Any player characters who enter the zone and exceed that maximum will be kicked out to the parent zone after 20 seconds. Characters about to be removed from the zone will receive a warning that this will happen. If a different player leaves instead, the first player will be notified that they will no longer be removed from the zone.

- Guard NPCs should no longer go on a zone-wide killing spree after attacking a single target.

- Skulkers in the Forest Ruins no longer flee when low on health.

- Forest Flares in Nektulos Forest now have a new appearance.
Epic Encounters

- The area-of-effect range of large creatures now matches the range in which you can hit them.

- Most instanced epic raid zones now only allow the intended number of players inside. Anyone who exceeds this number will be kicked out of the zone after 20 seconds.

- Varanak the Everlasting will no longer immediately attack those who revive in the zone after being defeated by him. In addition, the statue has once again been reminded that his duty is to aid Venekor.
Quests

- The quest reward window is no longer blocked when you have character advancement options available every two levels.

- Heritage quests can be deleted from your journal, and now fall under the 75-quest maximum.

- Charly Ashlash in Lavastorm is no longer attackable, and thus no longer needs to hide from those scary adventurers.

- Priest Kelian will no longer offer the priest class quest to level 20+ priests that hail him. In addition, Kelian had decided to dress in a more priestly manner.
Items

- Stacks of arrows will no longer unequip and end up in inventory when zoning or logging in.

- Master chests will now decay 20 minutes after they become available for open looting.
Spells and Combat Arts

- The Apprentice IV version of the Swashbuckler's Gibe ability now has the proper effect.
Tradeskills

- The recipes for creating primary interim components using Apothecary, Geomancy, Timbercraft, and Weaving which required 10 fuels now require 2.

- You should now be able to complete and advance in quests to make Middling Thirst for Blood.

- The Yew Fighting Baton recipe now uses woodworking reaction arts instead of weaponsmith reaction arts.
Controls, Commands, and User Interface

- Chat windows and tabs should save their settings and channel information more reliably.

- Brackets now appear around item links in the chat window, i.e. [item name].

- You can now assign a key to toggle between your two most recent targets. To set a key, open the Options menu and click the Controls category, then click the plus sign (+) next to Targeting Keys. Click the box next to "Select Previous Target" and choose which key you'd like to use.

- The Raid window now correctly shows when raid members are dead.

- Mentoring information now fits properly in the Raid window.

- Typing /whoraid will send a list of all raid members to the chat window; /whogroup will send a list of group members to the chat window.

- The /wc command works the same as /whochannel, which sends a list of channel participants to the chat window.

- Mousing over a bag in your inventory now lists the contents of that bag in the tooltip.

- Bags in your inventory now say "Open" if you have them open.

- Locking a hotkey window will now prevent you from dragging hotkey icons from it.

- Stats and resistances now show up properly when examining an item that you aren't wearing.

- The Skills window now displays the Tracking, Fist, and Poisoning skills.

- Examining a weapon now lists its damage type (slashing, crushing, or piercing) under the Skill heading.

- Examining a piece of armor now shows whether it is Cloth, Leather, Chain, or Plate armor.

- Hitting a function key a second time will now target that character's pet. For example, hitting F2 once will target that group member. Hitting F2 again will target that player's pet.

- The Maintained Spells window is now much more informative about each spell's target. Mousing over an icon will show "Self" as the target if the spell is cast on you, "Pet" if the target is a pet, "Group" if it is a group spell, and the name of the target if it is someone other than yourself.

- Tooltips now update properly to show the number of charges remaining on an item.

- Group members are now visible on your map even when you haven't journeyed to that area of the zone yet and the map only shows black.

- Zoning with a buff active will no longer give you a message that you've lost the buff.

- The parental control timer now gives you multiple warnings before you are logged out.

- Scholar and spellcasting headings now show up properly in the Skills window.

- Double-clicking the quest helper window when it displays a quest update will now open the quest journal to the updated quest instead of the currently selected one.

- You can now show a time stamp on each line of text that appears in the chat window. To enable this feature, open the Options menu and click the User Interface button, then click the plus sign (+) next to Chat Window. Check the "Show chat message time" box.

- Bag labels will now persist when you zone.

- You can no longer delete a quest while the category name is selected.

- Sorting by name in the Tracking window now ignores con color.

- If you are typing a line of text and hit a movement key to run away from something (causing "wwwwwwwwwww" to appear in your chat line, for example), your character will soon begin running forward and the repeated character will be removed from the chat line.

- Bag windows are no longer resized when window positions are reset.

- UI modders will be pleased to find that group dynamic data now works properly. Mod away!
Audio

- Completing a quest once again triggers a nice little congratulatory jingle.

- Completing a heritage quest triggers a special sound that should be familiar to EQ veterans.
UI Files Updated

eq2ui_popup_bug.xml

eq2ui_mainhud_skills.xml

eq2ui_gamedata.xml

Reactivated my account today. Level 60 in WoW is so boring.

 

[ManaByte]

 

[Suikoguy]

The new patch appears to have fixed many of the bugs finally, and added some nifty little features.. shame I have no time to play

 

[ManaByte]

The new patch appears to have fixed many of the bugs finally, and added some nifty little features.. shame I have no time to play

Already finished the bind point quest and am going through Splitpaw right now.

 

[ManaByte]

Beta invites for the expansion are out.

 

[Torquill]

I'm on Grobb.
Killed Darathar and got my Prismatic months ago. We're trying to finish the high-end raid instance of Splitpaw Saga right now. It's a pretty interesting fight. Monologing villians and mobs runnin and and dropping exploding barrels next to people :lol

 

[Malakhov]

I've quit WoW and reactivated my EQ2 account, I'm on Toxxulia with some real life friends. It's fun so far though I'm only level 6, I'm planning on being a necromancer.

 

[ManaByte]

Yeah, been playing a lot lately. Most of my RL friends are on Unrest so I've been playing my Paladin there, but I started a Mage on Test to play with another friend who's there with his old EQ1 guild.

 

[Malakhov]

Are necromancers any good? I guess they're pretty good soloers like in EQ1?

 

[ManaByte]

Are necromancers any good? I guess they're pretty good soloers like in EQ1?

Necromancers/Conjurers are both really good soloers.

 

[Outdoor Miner]

So what did the combat revamp change? Was it for better or worse?

Details, if you can people.

 

[Malakhov]

I can't say, I didn't play EQ2 a whole lot before the changes, I had a level 14 character and that's it.

I played a few hours yesterday, made level 10 from level 6 and picked up my Summoner subclass, next up is Necromancer!

I tried my pet for a few minutes before heading to bed and I could take on groups of mobs 1 level above me, not too bad.

Any tips on where to level for an Evil aligned character in Freeport? Right now I'm roaming in the commonlands killing up wolves, beetles and such but I'm wondering if there is a better place for experience and loot.

Also, how do spells work? When do I buy upgrades? And where can I purchase better gear with the money I've made thus far? I've heard ot brokers that sell other player's stuff?

Oh and if you have any lowbie tips please feel free to share!

 

[ManaByte]

Also, how do spells work? When do I buy upgrades? And where can I purchase better gear with the money I've made thus far? I've heard ot brokers that sell other player's stuff?

You can buy Apprentice II versions of your spells from scribe NPCs. Anything higher than that is player made or dropped by mobs.

 

[shoplifter]

Yeah, in general avoid buying the app 2 scrolls if you have enough to purchase adept 1 books off the broker. It seems like the scaling is much better on a lot of stuff after the patch.

That said, I'm quitting again because even though I'm level 50 there's really next to nothing to do unless you raid. Grinding out levels would be fine if there were something worth doing, but as is SOE managed to break most of the raid encounters and the only multi guild raiding groups on the server usually start at 8 and 1am which pretty much is right out for me.

 

[Malakhov]

How do I use brokers? I'm in freeport and havent used one yet. I got a bit of money to spend.

 

[shoplifter]

Just go to East Freeport.

On the south end of the zone there's a broker that sells things on sale from Freeport, and in the middle of the bay on the island there's one that sells things from Qeynos at a higher markup.

Just do a search by item type and level range for things you can use. I'd advise buying things that are closest to your current level since they'll be more useful for a longer period of time.

Due to the shitty market (which reportedly is across nearly all servers) in Freeport, usually you'll end up buying more stuff from Qeynos.

 

[siege]

Whoa, I tried out the trial version on a whim yesterday and was pleasantly surprised at how fun EQ2 is. Picked up the full version today along with the expansion and I'm loving it. I'm not in a position to comment whether or not it's a better game than WoW in the long run, but I'm defintely enjoying it more than when I last played WoW.

The community of players is a hundred times friendlier, which is a huge plus for me.

 

[ManaByte]

Whoa, I tried out the trial version on a whim yesterday and was pleasantly surprised at how fun EQ2 is. Picked up the full version today along with the expansion and I'm loving it. I'm not in a position to comment whether or not it's a better game than WoW in the long run, but I'm defintely enjoying it more than when I last played WoW.

The community of players is a hundred times friendlier, which is a huge plus for me.

Yea, don't listen to the WoW trolls about the game.

All this talk about Necros made me decide to roll a Dark Elf one. Currently a Summoner and it's a VERY nice change of pace from a melee class like my Paladin. He'll be my secondary character.

And yes, there is actually a community in this game.

 

[Malakhov]

If anyones wants someone to play with come on over on Toxxulia, my soon to be necro (level 17 now) is there. Name is Morbide.

 

[ManaByte]

If anyones wants someone to play with come on over on Toxxulia, my soon to be necro (level 17 now) is there. Name is Morbide.

All of my characters are Unrest. Easier to pass items between them.

 

[Malakhov]

Finally got my necromancer subclass and hit level 21 today. I went to Nektulos forest and I'm slowly killing my way through 21 on the mobs at the zone entrance.

 

[ManaByte]

Haven't played in a few days due to the Trials of Obi-Wan beta. I really want to get my Summoner to 20 to hit Necro though.

 

[ManaByte]

Had the last two days off so I played my Pally pretty hardcore:

37 The Feerrott November 10, 2005 303 8,623
38 The Feerrott November 10, 2005 288 8,136
39 The Enchanted Lands November 11, 2005 273 7,733
40 Runnyeye November 11, 2005 257 7,400

 

[ManaByte]

http://eq2players.station.sony.com/...Name=prodletter_frostfell&section=development

Player vs Player

PvP has been a topic we've been discussing quite a bit on the team for the past few months, and it's time we start talking about it openly.

While it's true that we wanted to focus purely on PvE for the launch of EverQuest II, PvP has always been a direction that we've wanted to expand into when the time was right.

We've had a number of ideas for ways we could introduce PvP. Some weeks ago, we ran a poll on the boards asking what kind of action would interest people the most. The majority indicated they'd first want to see us bring PvP to separate servers containing a distinct ruleset.

One of the potential plans that we were fond of fit well with that sentiment, and we've been expanding on it for the past few weeks.

We think it's the best choice for EverQuest II, and we're glad to see that most everyone agreed. After all, EverQuest II has the perfect setting for it. A post-cataclysmic world with factions bitterly divided. Qeynos vs Freeport . Good vs Evil. We couldn't ask for a better setting for this kind of gameplay.

Expect more details to surface soon in the PvP Forums. For now, here are some of the concepts we've been developing:

* There will be two new, separate PvP Ruleset servers to begin with. One will most likely be Exchange-Enabled, the other will not. We will have the ability to add more of either kind when the need arises.
* One huge concern is that no one wants PvP balance to ever impact PvE balance. There will not be PvE combat nerfs because of PvP. We have separate controls for what goes on in PvP. Since this is a piece that we knew we'd need no matter which direction we went, this is something we've already implemented.
* This is strict good vs. evil. You're only grouping with others of your alignment, and opposing aligned PCs highlight to you the same way that NPC encounters would. If you're betraying or don't have a city to call home, you're an Exile, and a target for everyone.
* PvP will not be restricted to specific zones. It will take place all across the world of EverQuest II. Fight in dungeons, fight out in the wilds, defend your town, or attack the opposing side.
* EQ2 will be introducing the concept of Honorable, Neutral, and Dishonorable victories. Honorable victories are where the rewards lie.
* The first of the rewards for defeating your city's enemies include: Status and Standing with your PvP faction.
* Additionally, we would like to include adventure experience rewards. While exceptionally difficult, it would be theoretically possible to level up purely by defeating other players in combat. This is a concept that we are working hard to be able to include, and hope that we are able to prevent friend-farming enough to where it is a concept that can see the light of day.
* Once you earn PvP standing, you can buy valuable and useful items from your faction's merchants. This is real, desirable equipment, not just tokens, trophies, and trinkets, though we will be trying to include these as well for flavor. You wouldn't be able to dress yourself head to toe in them, though, as Adventuring and Crafting still play an important role in this ruleset.

Stay tuned to the forums in the coming weeks for more information on both the ruleset and how you can help playtest it on the PvP beta server.

It's time to heat up the cold war.

 

[icecap]

I also play on Mistmoore

Icecap Lvl 41 Wizard/43 Sage
Rotetch Lvl 32 Monk/32 Provisioner

My guild is Soul Harvest.

Im just working on some HQ's right now.

 

[Suikoguy]

Started the game up again after about 4-5 months

Anyway, far more balanced and such, really enjoying it now. I might actually let it rebill me for once! There is now a decent amount of loot for once, even some interesting!

The new newbie zones are on the test server, along with the first part of the new class (1-20) system.

SOE has turned this into a really good game

 

[ManaByte]

The new newbie zones are on the test server, along with the first part of the new class (1-20) system.

Oh shit!

:::loads up test::::