The EverQuest crew has sent us some new information on the release of their latest expansion; Underfoot! The new expansion is now available for pre-order and is scheduled to launch on December 15th. The pre-order costs $39.99 and should provide EQ players with unparalleled excitement!

Here's a look at some of the features in the new expansion:

• All Previous Expansions - Includes the new expansion pack and all 15 previous expansions and content
• Amazing new zones – Players can dig into 12 new zones throughout the realm of Brell Serilis
• New Alternate Advancement Abilities - Optimize your character's power and strength with all new alternate advancement abilities
• New weapons and armor - Outfit characters with hundreds of new options
• Master Tradeskilling – Players can create powerful new weapons, armor and more with thousands of new recipes
• Extended Target Window - Track friends and foes with greater accuracy
• Achievement System - Display and manage your progress through the world of Norrath
• Mark of Brell in-game item – Users can teleport directly into the Underfoot zone (one per account, non-tradable)
• Legends of Norrath™ - Includes digital card game client and game scenario
• 500 Station Cash™ - Select unique virtual items from the in-game EQ Marketplace (no trade/non-transferable; no cash value)
• 30-day subscription included for New EQ Accounts - Included with valid purchase for new EQ accounts only (excludes existing EQ and Station Access accounts)

EverQuest Underfoot presents a mysterious world unlike anything previously experienced in Norrath, providing the ultimate MMO gaming experience for players. This all-in-one compilation is the next volume of Norrathian adventure following last year’s success of EverQuest® Seeds of Destruction™. Now in its unprecedented tenth year, EverQuest takes its tradition of exciting worlds, challenging dungeons, inventive new creatures and thrilling monsters underground!

For more information visit the official Underfoot Expansion pre-order page!

We've received an update today letting us know that Legends of Norrath Card game has released it's latest expansion: Travelers! This is the eight release for the Legends of Norrath franchise and introduces all-new challenges for players, complete with new characters and storylines that send players to the Planes themselves.

In Travelers threats from the Void continue to surface. As a player you must walk the planes in Travelers and stop the Voidmen from cutting the people of Norrath off from their Gods!

Travelers Features:

• New Cards: Exciting new game cards add fresh strategies and game play.
• New Starter: An all-new 200 card starter can be used to create four different starter decks, one for each of the four new avatars.
• New Loot: Incredible loot cards, including exclusive new encounters in EverQuest^® and EverQuest^® II that open all-new chambers and rewards of loot and XP. In EQII, players can combine several key cloaks to create the game’s first wearable, a visible backpack. In EQ, three new collection items will grant players the Frozen Skull of the Cursed which equates to a unique mercenary.

For more information on the game and this new expansion visit: www.legendsofnorrath.station.sony.com

SOE today released another game update for EverQuest. Included in this update are modifications to the classic missions which unlock early access to the game's next expansion, as well as new hot zones and a number of general fixes. Check out the notes in full below for more details.

---

Game Update - October 8th, 2009

*** Highlights ***

- Many of Old Man McKenzie's items have faded from memory.  If you have one of these faded items, give them to the Old Man in Plane of Knowledge and he will return your Brews.  If you had augments in these items, be sure to put them in bags before you zone.

- Most items from Old Man McKenzie's group missions have been upgraded in power.  They have also had their required levels reduced to 80.  These items do not need to be turned in to see the changes.

- You will now have to impress Old Man McKenzie with your accomplishments before he will allow you to start a Nagafen or Vox raid or see items that come from them.  People who have completed more than seven raids from Solteris, Meldrath's Mansion, Crystallos, or all but the first tier of Seeds of Destruction raids will impress him.  You must request a Nagafen or Vox raid from him or attempt to join one in progress for him to check your accomplishments and allow you to see the raid items.

- New Hot Zones are now available.  Speak to Franklin Teek in the Plane of Knowledge to see what new tasks he has in store for you. 

*** Items ***

- Many of Old Man McKenzie's items have faded from memory.  If you have one of these faded items, give them to the Old Man in Plane of Knowledge and he will return your Brews and an additional reward.  If you had augments in these items, be sure to put them in bags before you zone.
- Most items from Old Man McKenzie's group missions have been upgraded in power.  They have also had their required levels reduced to 80.  These items do not need to be turned in to see the changes.
- You will now have to impress Old Man McKenzie with your accomplishments before he will allow you to start a Nagafen or Vox raid or see items that come from them.  People who have completed more than seven raids from Solteris, Meldrath's Mansion, Crystallos, or all but the first tier of Seeds of Destruction raids will impress him.  You must request a Nagafen or Vox raid from him or attempt to join one in progress for him to check your accomplishments and allow you to see the raid items.
- The new Orb of Tishan's click effect has been repaired.
- The Frost-Strung Bow now offers a bit more protection.
- Replaced the missing AC from the new Thick Banded Belt.
- Tobrin's Mystical Eyepatch can not be activated as often.
- The new Staff of Forbidden Rites has had its recast time raised and will only have one augment slot.
- The Barbarian Hunting Spear, Staff of Forbidden Rites, Warhammer of Divine Grace, and Staff of Ankexfen have had their ratios increased to match other weapons in their tier.
- The familiar summoned by the new Scimitar of the Mistwalker has become faster but weaker.  The scimitar itself has become slightly less powerful.
- The Improved Dodge effect on the Idol of Many Hands, the Silvery Trinket, and the Frost-Strung Bow has been reduced to level VI to match the focus on other items in its tier.

*** Quests & Events ***

-  Classic Missions have undergone a careful bug fixing pass resulting in the following changes:
     - Harm Touch has been changed to remove an exploit allowing the use of unintended higher level versions of the ability. In addition, the ability will no longer refresh upon the death of the Shadow Knight. This affects the Classic Mission ability as well as the normal version of the ability.
     - Paladins should now be able to create a Lay On Hands hotkey.
     - Shaman have been granted the haste spell Alacrity.
     - Lady Vox will now leash to her spawn point should she find herself outside of her room. This has been changed to provide an encounter more in the spirit of the event.
     - Lowered the hand to hand damage on each of the classic mission characters to be more in line with their previous values.  Monks of course still have much higher unarmed damage then other classes.
- The classic raids will once again drop items instead of brews.
- Old Man McKenzie no longer remembers encountering the Corrupted Gnome Explorer in Guk.
- Old Man McKenzie's group tasks now require a minimum of three adventurers to obtain and all three must be present to open the chests.  The raid events will still require 12.
- Fixed an issue that caused the classic mission task to end when players were added or removed from the task.
- Fixed an issue that caused players to be able to use AAs in the monster mission that the shrouds were not intended to have.
- Fixed an issue that caused players that were dead and in hover mode to sometimes not receive rewards when the chest was opened at the end of the classic mission.
- Sulgar now promises the correct reward for Tarton's Wheel.
- Fixed some spelling errors in Blackfeather Roost tasks.
- The Dark Tower: Fallen Guard task now specifies the correct zone in its description.

*** NPC ***

- Modified the placement of some Rallosian Shocktroopers in Korascian Warrens.
- Increased the chance for Library Director Eslisar to spawn in the Keasora Library.
- Fixed a placement problem with an Elder Air Wyvern in Crystallos.
- The Pixxt Deathbinder's spell Consuming Flames now takes significantly longer to cast.

*** AA ***

- Glyph of Angry Thoughts should now always give you the full hate bonus as described.
- Harm Touch 1 – 10 will no longer refresh upon the death of the Shadow Knight. This is to make the ability consistent throughout the entire level range.

*** Zones ***

- The following zones are now Hot Zones providing new challenges and increased experience. Speak to Franklin Teek in the Plane of Knowledge to see what new tasks he has in store for you.

   - Level 20 – South Karana
   - Level 25 – Lake of Ill Omen
   - Level 30 – The Twilight Sea
   - Level 35 – Kedge Keep
   - Level 40 – City of Mist
   - Level 45 – Howling Stones
   - Level 50 – Veksar
   - Level 55 – Grieg’s End
   - Level 60 – Plane of Nightmares
   - Level 65 – Kod’Taz, Broken Trial Grounds
   - Level 70 – The Buried Sea
   - Level 75 – Thalassius, the Coral Keep
   - Level 75 – Ashengate, Reliquary of the Scale

   - Apparently while performing some end-of-the-summer cleaning, the doors within Howling Stones were left unlocked. It may be some time before a maintenance crew can be sent there again to lock the doors up tight. Use this knowledge as you will.
   - In addition, the spells protecting the entrance to Howling Stones have weakened, and adventurers of lesser skill and strength may find its halls now accessible.

*** UI ***

- Changed -

EQUI_Animations.xml - new dragitems
EQUI_CharacterListWnd.xml - minor alignment fixes
EQUI_CharacterSelect.xml - minor alignment fixes

*** Miscellaneous ***

- Fixed a bug that was causing chat messages sent to your guild to sometimes be lost.
- Fixed a problem with sound effects stacking that caused many sounds to play incorrectly.
- Fixed a problem that caused you to lose all the money on your shroud when removing the shroud and upgrading a mercenary.

*** Previously Updated ***

- Both the classic raid tasks and the zones they take place in have been set to their intended maximum of 42 players.
- Removed the ability for mercenaries to accompany you on Ancient Heroes missions.  It seems that they don't much like being taken to a time when adventurers didn't carry coin around.
- The chests in the "classic" missions offered by Old Man McKenzie will now hang around a while longer once opened. 

 

- The EverQuest Team

Today EverQuest released their latest live update for the game, as they prepare to launch EverQuest Underfoot later this year. Some of the content added in this game update will allow access to content introduced in the expansion, so be sure to read the notes carefully!

One of the coolest bullet points in this relatively sizeable patch is the fact that you can participate in special monster missions that allow you to raid old game content as it was intended -- on temporary characters at that content's gear and experience level.

Ancient Heroes Game Update

*** Highlights ***

- Ancient Heroes: Old Man McKenzie, a frequent patron of the taverns in the Plane of Knowledge, thinks you adventurers have it too easy these days! Back in his day they didn't have all this fancy armor and magical weaponry, they relied on their wits and not a little luck to survive! Think you've got what it takes to survive in McKenzie's Gold era? Now's your chance to prove it! Enter McKenzie's world and take on the denizens of Nagafen's Lair, Permafrost, and Guk as they were originally meant to be played, at level 50!

Transform yourself into a character built to mimic the classic EQ experience before even the lands of Kunark had been discovered. Prove your mettle by besting the Undead Frogloks of Guk or the Kobolds of Nagafen's Lair, with up to 5 friends. Or if you're feeling especially gallant, gather a raid force and take down Lord Nagafen or Lady Vox! With all new rewards you'll want to conquer them all!

Below level 80? Seek out Franklin Teek who's hiring adventurers to slay creatures in the 'Hot Zones' of Norrath. Some say he is a 'fixer' for some unknown party, while others think he seeks to live vicariously through the escapades of others. All we know for sure is he always seems to have work for those in need, and he's willing to pay well to have it done! Completion of any one of Franklin’s ‘Hot Zone’ quests by December 1, 2009 will qualify you for the Ancient Heroes Road to Underfoot event. Get to the Plane of Knowledge to see if he has work for you!

Participate* in all three of the Road to Underfoot events and pre-order and purchase the expansion by December 1, 2009 and you'll be one of the first to experience EverQuest® Underfoot™!

- Giants Giants Giants!: Haven't participated in the Giants, Giants, Giants even yet? Don't fret, you now have a little while longer to fight against the greatest "big" foes of Norrath. Seek out Tzudani, Emissary of Veeshan in the Plane of Knowledge and heed the call while there's still time. Good Hunting!

- Character Transformations Potions on the Marketplace: We've added two new potions and a combo pack to the marketplace that permit you to transform your characters.

• *Potion of Amnesia - Using this item will allow you to change your character's name. Once you change your name the change is permanent.
• *Potion of Disgenderment - Using this item will immediately change your character's gender to the opposite of what it currently is.  This is a permanent change.
• *Witness Protection Pack - This pack contains a Potion of Amnesia and Potion of Disgenderment. Using the Potion of Amnesia will allow you to change your character's name.  Once you change your name the change is permanent. Using the Potion of Disgenderment will immediately change your character's gender to the opposite of what it currently is.  This is a permanent change.

- Norrath's Timeless Heroes Winners:  Tomeseeker Salkien in Plane of Knowledge has a new book with some interesting recipes celebrating Norrath's Timeless Heroes - Tharkis (Luclin), Acceber (The 7th Hammer), Jyve (Antonius Bayle), Merlu (Maelin Starpyre), Oriaas (The Tribunal), Rouan (The Tribunal), Souldor (Erollisi Marr), Straha (The 7th Hammer), Terminat (Maelin Starpyre), and Tnexus (Prexus).

*** Items ***
  
- Existing poisons from Chalandria's Fang will start rotting.  The new poisons it creates will last longer.
- Changed the icons on poisons to differentiate them from potions and inks.
- Obliteration ornamentations sold in the marketplace now have a particle effect.  This will affect items you currently own with that ornamentation.
- The wedding bands from the wedding pack can now be traded on the Firiona server.
- Tomeseeker Salkien in Plane of Knowledge has a new book with some interesting recipes.
- The reward augmentations from the Giants, Giants, Giants event have been rebalanced to have a smoother progression curve and to allow for a more usable group-level reward.  - At low levels the augment has lost power, but it now ramps up much more quickly.  The end reward for the raid remains the same.
- Geomantra effects are now usable by non-mana using classes.

*** Quests & Events ***

- Fixed an issue with the Tainted Beast that was causing it to despawn too quickly.
- The groups of Ritualist NPCs in the War of Bloody Kithicor raid will no longer wither the storyline NPCs so long as all the NPCs in that group have aggro on players.

*** Spells ***
  
- All spells, disciplines, and AA's that buff a player or pet with invulnerability effects will now count down in the guild hall and guild lobby.
- Divine Barrier has been returned to the normal buff window pending further review.
- Corrected an issue that was preventing Magicians from using Promised Recovery scrolls.
- Bard DoT chants have had their debuff portions split into a separate spell that is automatically triggered when the chant is cast.  Multiple instances of the base DoT from different casters will now stack, but the debuff portion will not.

*** AA ***

- The spell "Blood Pact" can no longer be added to the blocked buffs list.

*** Miscellaneous ***

- Fixed an issue where removing an item from a trader's satchel did not update on the trader's merchant window.
- Fixed an issue that was preventing the raid window from saving its settings.
- Removed restrictions on using general channels when dead and in hover mode (again).
- Fixed an issue that was preventing NPC height changes from working properly.
- Fixed an issue that could cause a player to become "ghosted" in their guild (in the guild, but not in the guild, and not removable from the guild by player or GM).
- Fixed an issue that caused your LFG tag to drop if you zoned with a mercenary.
- Fixed an issue causing non-attuned attunable items to not be sold to a someone with a buy line open on them.

*** UI ***

- Buffs with limited procs now display the number of charges remaining on the buff icon.
- Fixed a problem that caused buff icons and labels to get out of sync. The buff timer display is now more accurate as well.

- Changed Files -

EQUI.xml
EQUI_Animations.xml
EQUI_CastSpellWnd.xml
EQUI_NameChangeWnd.xml
EQUI_OptionsWnd.xml
EQUI_VoiceActionBarWnd.xml
SIDL.xml

- The EverQuest Team

SOE and The Jace Hall Show have teamed up to create a new documentary on EQ called "EverCracked!" The documentary will highlight the trials and tribulations leading to the development of the game, launch, and the rise to success as EQ just celebrated a 10 year anniversary in March. The full length film will debut at the Fan Faire in Las Vegas at the end of June. We've got an exclusive trailer of the series and the original story attached below:

 

 

Here's the official notice from SEO about EverCracked:

Sony Online Entertainment and The Jace Hall Show Bring the Epic Tale of EverQuest^® to Life in Documentary

EverCracked! The Phenomenon of EverQuest Film to Debut at Fan Faire 2009; Trailer Available Now Online

SAN DIEGO, CALIF. – June 10, 2009 – Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE) and The Jace Hall Show are pleased to announce the creation of the epic documentary based on the monumental entertainment property, EverQuest®. EverCracked! The Phenomenon of EverQuest chronicles the trials and tribulations leading to the development, launch and success of the hit massively multiplayer online game which celebrated its tenth anniversary in March 2009. The full-length film will debut at the 2009 Fan Faire in Las Vegas, NV on June 26. The film’s trailer is available for download online at: www.soepress.com.

“When we began mapping out ideas for EverQuest, we never anticipated it would endure to create such a powerful cultural impact over the next decade and beyond,” said John Smedley, president of Sony Online Entertainment. “As part of the continued 10th anniversary celebration, this film does a fantastic job at revealing the story behind the game and how the team created a franchise that forever changed the landscape of online entertainment.”

EverCracked! celebrates EverQuest’s legacy by taking a look at the past, present and future of the franchise. The film, hosted by veteran video game developer and personality Jace Hall, includes never-before-seen footage and interviews with industry moguls and longtime players. EverCracked! details the events, products, personalities and art that graced the world of Norrath over the years, with many tongue-in-cheek moments that befit EverQuest’s own sense of fun and humor.

“EverQuest was such an influential title; many people don’t realize just how daunting of a task it was to create,” said Jace Hall, President of HD Films. “With this documentary we were able to tell the epic story of the game and the people behind it while incorporating the light-hearted signature of the Jace Hall Show.”

In addition to the film’s premier screening, SOE will host numerous EverQuest 10th Anniversary activities throughout Fan Faire in Las Vegas, NV from June 25-28. Online registration is open now. Please visit http://www.soefanfaire.com for more information.

It's hard to believe it's already been 10 years.  I started playing EverQuest in 2000, a few months before its second expansion, Scars of Velious, and played up until just before the beta for World of Warcraft began.

The game is what got myself, and many players like me, into MMO raiding and guilds in general, and SOE -- while they may receive flak for changes made or development processes -- definitely deserves recognition for creating something extraordinary.

Going back will never be the same, but memories will last a lifetime.  Enjoy the video, and congratulations on 10 years, EverQuest.  If you'd like to share some of your memories of EverQuest, please do!

Yesterday SOE patched EverQuest and included something that has been a long time coming.  EQ veterans will remember the annoyance of having a buff stripped in certain zones if it had a levitate component, but that's all changed as of the update!

EverQuest Update Notes - February 11th, 2009

*** Highlights ***

- Buffs that have a levitation effect are no longer stripped when you enter zones marked as no-levitate. When you enter a no-levitate zone, you will receive a message that the levitation effect has been disabled. Additional effects provided by the buffs (if any) will remain enabled. This means that levitation buffs that have other effects connected to them (i.e. Spirit of the Eagle's speed boost effect) can now be used in a no-levitate zone.

- The armor sets for Seeds of Destruction have been modified to improve the balance of stats for the individual pieces while adding more consistency within the sets. Some of the changes include an improved consistency between chaos" and "order" sets, the addition of Focus Effects to Tier 3 Raid breastplates, the addition of Slot 15 to Tier 3 and 4 for group and raid armor, and the improvement of the Heroic stats.

- Tradeskilled Pure Powersources can now be unlocked with many of the flagging SoF and SoD raids. Past kills will work to unlock these items.

*** Items ***

- Added a potion slot to appropriate SoD belts.
- Added Backstab Skill mod to Inured, Elegant and Stalwart Daggers and Short Spears.
- The armor sets for Seeds of Destruction have been modified to improve the balance of stats for the individual pieces while adding more consistency within the sets. Some of the changes include an improved consistency between chaos" and "order" sets, the addition of Focus Effects to Tier 3 Raid breastplates, the addition of Slot 15 to Tier 3 and 4 for group and raid armor, and the improvement of the Heroic stats.
- Added the correct parry/block effect to the Attendant's Collar.
- Altered the merchant price of the Class XIV Distillates sold by NPCs.
- Armor Emblems will now increase with SoD armor as you have more armor of the same tier, instead of same set.
- Fixed the level limit on the focus and click spells on the SoD breastplates that were set too low.
- Raised the bard focus on the Concordant and Discordant boots and helm.

*** Spells ***

- Cast times on enchanter and cleric nuke Spells have been reduced, and their recast times have been increased.

*** AA ***

- Adjusted the stacking order on Combat Frenzy and Battle Frenzy to better stack with other spells, specifically certain Shaman spells.
- The AA Vehement Rage now has an instant cast time.
- Added 1 additional rank to the Extended Ingenuity AA.

*** NPCs ***

- Borskar might show up while you are dealing with the Hiding in Plain Sight mission.
- Eliowie Dawnheart and Groomb Mystseer will be guarding their respective camps in Bloody Kithicor.
- Fracture will now have a limit to how many times he can fracture. He will also now drop some loot if you break him up enough.
- Merchants that sell class XIV Distillates now also sell Distillate of Spirituality XIV and Distillate of Replenishment XIV.
- The Bear Denmother will now show up in Oceangreen Hills to avenge the death of her kin.
- The creatures called Malign and The Blight Wisp can now show up at night near the Village of Oceangreen.
- Veltarik has been seen roaming the halls of Korafax.

*** Quests ***

- Ostorm in the Temple of Solusek Ro will properly reset your specializations regardless of how high your skill is.

*** Raids ***

- Discord Raids no longer require discord missions to participate, only the requester must do the missions.

*** Tradeskills ***

- Added a recipe for making Timeless Hunter’s Sausage that uses Rock Salt instead of Coarse Salt.
- Created research recipes for the following missing spells, tomes and songs: Song: Denon's Dirge of Destruction Rk. II, Song: Fermata of Preservation Rk. II, Song: Staccato Rhythms Rk. II, Spell: Challenge for Honor Rk. II, Spell: Challenge for Power Rk. II, Spell: Claw of Selay Rk. II, Spell: Concussive Blast Rk. II, Spell: Consumed by the Hunt Rk. II, Spell: Demand for Blood Rk. II, Spell: Ethereal Conflagration Rk. II, Spell: Eyes of the Owl Rk. II, Spell: Malis Rk. II, Spell: Mass Elemental Transvergence Rk. II, Spell: Patient Harvest Rk. II, Spell: Potameid Salve Rk. II, Spell: Promised Renewal Rk. II, Spell: Remorse for the Fallen Rk. II, Spell: Remorseless Demeanor Rk. II, Spell: Spinning into the Void Rk. II, Spell: Talisman of the Panther Rk. II, Spell: Thundering Blades Rk. II, Spell: Bloodcurdling Shriek Rk. II, Spell: Wilting Foliage Rk. II, Tome of Assassin Discipline Rk. II, Tome of Berserking Discipline Rk. II, Tome of Blinding Flash Rk. II, Tome of Clawstriker's Flurry Rk. II, Tome of Final Stand Discipline Rk. II, Tome of Guide of Toxicity Rk. II, Tome of Impenetrable Discipline Rk. II, Tome of Jolting Kicks Rk. II, Tome of Last Breath Rk. II, Tome of Lithe Discipline Rk. II, Tome of Moment of Calm Rk. II, Tome of Scowl Rk. II, Tome of Unsettling Scream Rk. II, and Tome of Vortex Blade Rk. II.
- Tradeskilled Pure Powersources can now be unlocked with many of the flagging SoF and SoD raids. Past kills will work to unlock these items.

*** Zones ***

- Banners can no longer be used to teleport into Discord Raids. They can still be placed for stats.

*** Mercenaries ***

- Fixed a problem with the tank merc AI that caused the merc (when set to main tank) to get in a loop trying to bazu bellow its target, - when a number of other targets nearby are mezzed cause it to not actually attack.
- Mercenary healers will now be much more interested in healing you when you are out of combat.

*** Miscellaneous ***

- Bard instrument mods are now using the focus system. All bard instruments now have a focus effect that amounts to the same bonus the instrument was getting previously. The display is somewhat different. As an example, prior to this change, a percussion mod of 28 was a 2.8x multiplier on effects. This will now be displayed as a focus effect like "Percussion Resonance 18" that gives a 180% boost to percussion. This is equivalent to the original 2.8x multiplier.
- Bard songs can now be capped individually and a system has been put in place to allow much better scaling of bard song effects and focuses in the future.
- Fixed an issue where players were getting kill credit even though they did not out-damage NPCs that were attacking the mob.
- Eye of Zomm can now be cast while on a mount.
- Fixed some issues with players being unable to get out of water when they have low swimming skill.
- Recast shader should now be visible in the potion belt window.
- Fixed a few bugs dealing with corpse targeting using the group window.
- Added a hover over "percentage" tooltip to the AA Exp bar in the inventory window.
- Made some changes to the code introduced in the last live update that reset your spell timers when a spell fails to land.
- Fixed an issue where pet buffs would appear to be counting down while in the guild lobby.
- Some versions of Zebuxoruk will now sell Temporal Polymorphic Cells. These cells will transform a Luminescence to an Incandescence and vice versa.
- Tavid Dennant in the guild lobby has a limited amount of items that players can use to alter their Seeds of Destruction Armor. He does not sell these like the quest items he holds, but will give them to you if you talk to him about [items].
- Zebuxoruk now sells purity augments for chronobines.
- Fixed a problem with shared banks that caused items to be lost on the Firiona Vie server (mostly).
- Buffs that have a levitation effect are no longer stripped when you enter zones marked as no-levitate. When you enter a no-levitate zone, you will receive a message that the levitation effect has been disabled. Additional effects provided by the buffs (if any) will remain enabled. This means that levitation buffs that have other effects connected to them (i.e. Spirit of the Eagle's speed boost effect) can now be used in a no-levitate zone.
- Fixed a problem with reagent preservation focuses that cause them to only preserve one reagent instead of preserving all the reagents requires for the spell if it required more than one. This specifically fixes the problem with Axe of the Eradicator.

*** UI ***

- Made some significant changes to the way buffs are sent to the client to fix a slew of bugs and commonize things with the target buff window.

- Changed -

EQUI.xml
EQUI_CastSpellWnd.xml
EQUI_OptionsWindow.xml
EQUI_PetInfoWindow.xml
EQUI_RewardSelectionWnd.xml
EQUI_TargetWindow.xml

 

- The EverQuest Team

For fans of EverQuest, the Station Cash Marketplace has gotten a bit bigger this week with the introduction of seven new items that players can purchase with SOE's recently announced Station Cash.

The aim of these items is a convenience factor above all else, but some of them are pretty cool.  Check out the images below for details, or hop in-game and check them out for yourself in the Marketplace!

SOE has launched a brand new beta participation system for the famous MMORPG EverQuest, and they are also accepting sign-ups for the beta pool:

Sign up for the EQ Expansion Beta

For those of you who may have missed the update on the EQPlayers website, Lower Guk has been revamped as of today as part of the special Living Legacy promotion, and we have an update direct from the front lines via fearless reporter Roks Madness on some of the happenings!

As you can see, there are quite a few players checking out the newly updated content in Lower Guk; it's been ramped up substantially in difficulty, with the trash frogloks hitting for around 1300 damage on tanks. However, the loot is very rewarding for the difficulty, as you can see in the screenshots below. Many of the old favorites from the zone have been buffed up to the quality of level 75-80 group content drops, to coincide with the increased difficulty of the dungeon.

If you've been taking advantage of the Living Legacy promotion, it's your chance to relive one of the early favorites for dungeons in MMOs. If you haven't been taking advantage of it, maybe it's time you did! The Living Legacy Lower Guk update will be running from July 7th, 2008 to August 4th, 2008, so be sure to give it a try while it lasts!

Screenshots of the Loot

So, what are some of your memories of Lower Guk? Did you prefer the Live Side, or the Dead Side?

Today SOE posted in their developer blog that they are working on details for the upcoming beta test of the new expansion. Almost nothing is known so far and many are (yes me too!) awaiting further information. Where will the next expansion take us? Who will we face? There are many questions and the EQ development team has done a great job at capturing player’s attention for so many years. Whatever it is, it's most likely going to be quite big, considering they've had a long time to work on it!

EverQuest has switched to releasing one expansion per year. This gives SOE a lot more space to ensure higher quality and more bug-free content to enjoy. Fairly recently we interviewed the new Lead Designer of EverQuest and also several in the EQ team answered some of the questions we presented them with.

In the blog entry SOE mention that the beta will begin next month sometime and they would love to have players and guilds who can commit to a schedule, make sure to follow the beta instructions which will be posted in August if interested. In return you'll get a much more detailed interaction with the development team, which pretty much means you'll help out balancing the encounters, among other things. Real-time balancing is a possibility SOE says.

Next expansion beta news blog entry.

One of the most popular EverQuest zones recently had an article published on the official EQ Players site. There's a lot of interesting information to read, including lore.

Overview of Blackburrow

Nestled between Qeynos Hills and the peaks of Everfrost to the north, Blackburrow is the present day home of the Sabertooth Gnoll clan. The Sabertooths are known for the constant raids upon the city of Qeynos. The city of Qeynos and Surefall Glade continue to send out hunting parties to try to purge the threat.

Background Lore

In the past, over 500 hundred years ago, the original excavation of the deepest level was done by a group of dwarves long since forgotten to time. Evidence of their superior stonework is still be found in sections of the complex, although their purpose within this region of Norrath remains as mysterious as their fate.

The Sabertooth Clan originated in the Jaggedpine Forest, but migrated to the hills just beyond the evergreen woodland's borders. There they found the abandoned Blackburrow complex at a time when then-nomadic people of Jaggedpine were inexorably driving them out of the forest. The Sabertooths retreated to the complex and made their stronghold as conflict with the human settlers began to reach dangerous levels.

The Sabertooth clan has remained active in the area now known as Qeynos Hills since before the construction of the great human city of Qeynos. It was around the time that Antonius Bayle, the Great Unifier and the patriarch of this famed namesake, united the coastal settlement of Oceangreen with human clans in the regions of the Karana plains and the Jaggedpine Forest that the construction of Qeynos began.

When Oceangreen was first created, the yet to be named, Qeynos Hills was home to several different clans of gnolls. The largest of these clans, the Sabertooth clan, was the only clan violent towards human settlers. However, this violence would not hinder the construction of what would become the jewel of the human race.

One generation later, Antonius Bayle II, the Great Defender, appointed Gynok Captain of the Tower Guard. Captain Gynok Moltar would order small units of his guards to slay the gnolls in Qeynos Hills, unbeknownst to his superior and commander. It was well know that Gynok despised the gnolls, who had slain his parents years before. Gynok would later cut off High Shaman Opalla's hand during the elder gnolls' attempt to make a treaty of peace with the humans. This led to the eternal war between the citizens of Qeynos and the Sabertooths.

Want to read more about one of the most "legendary" MMO zones ever? Go here.

The lead designer of EverQuest since 5 years back announced in the EQ dev blog that he is moving on.

It’s amazing how fast time can pass. It feels like just a few days ago when I first walked through the doors here but now, more than 5 years later, it’s time for me to move on. I’ll be leaving SOE at the end of the month and wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of you, the EverQuest players, for your dedication and friendship over the years.

Looking back over everything that EverQuest has done in the last 5 years is enough to make my head swim, but the one constant throughout that time has always been the fans. Between fan faires, community summits, and the forums, I’ve met more dedicated and knowledgeable players than I could ever count and many of you have become good friends. That level of interaction with players is something you don’t often get to experience in this industry and I’m certainly going to miss it.

EverQuest has always been a pioneer in the MMO industry and it has been a distinct honor to be part of that legacy and work with the wonderful team behind the game. I leave EverQuest in the very capable hands of Ryan “Rytan” Barker and I have no doubt that he’ll continue its success long into the future.

Thanks you all for the great memories and I hope to run into everyone again in the future.

Travis “Rashere” McGeathy

Lead Designer

EverQuest

Sony Online Entertainment have been releasing tons of lore articles surrounding Planes of Power (a previous expansion to the EverQuest world)

• The Fabled Planes of Power Lore – Part 1: The Planes of Power
• The Fabled Planes of Power Lore – Part 2: The Plane of Knowledge
• The Fabled Planes of Power Lore – Part 3: The Plane of Tranquility
• The Fabled Planes of Power Lore – Part 4: The Plane of Disease
• The Fabled Planes of Power Lore – Part 5: The Plane of Innovation
• The Fabled Planes of Power Lore – Part 6: The Plane of Justice
• The Fabled Planes of Power Lore – Part 7: The Plane of Nightmares
• The Fabled Planes of Power Lore – Part 8: Lair of Terris-Thule
• The Fabled Planes of Power Lore – Part 9: Ruins of Lxanvom, Crypt of Decay
• The Fabled Planes of Power Lore – Part 10: Ruins of Lxanvom, Crypt of Decay - Additional Lore
• The Fabled Planes of Power Lore – Part 11: The Plane of Storms
• The Fabled Planes of Power Lore – Part 12: The Plane of Valor
• The Fabled Planes of Power Lore – Part 13: Torden, The Bastion of Thunder
• The Fabled Planes of Power Lore – Part 14: The Halls of Honor
• The Fabled Planes of Power Lore – Part 15: Drunder, Fortress of Zek
• The Fabled Planes of Power Lore – Part 16: Solusek's Ro Tower
• The Fabled Planes of Power Lore – Part 17: The Plane of Torment
• The Fabled Planes of Power Lore – Part 18: Doomfire, the Burning Lands
• The Fabled Planes of Power Lore – Part 19: Eryslai, the Kingdom of Wind
• The Fabled Planes of Power Lore – Part 20: The Reef of Coirnav
• The Fabled Planes of Power Lore – Part 21: Vegarlson, the Earthen Badlands
• The Fabled Planes of Power Lore – Part 22: The Plane of Time

SOE just released a video of EverQuest to celebrate it's 9th Anniversary. It's showing many different areas throughout the massive world of Norrath and beyond.

View the video below!

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EverQuest is now 9 years old with 14 expansions. That time moves by so fast is quite amazing. I remember when I started out playing EQ -- it was back in 1999, before the first expansion, Ruins of Kunark was released.

Checking out the timeline image that SOE has made of EverQuest brings back a lot of memories and you can really tell how big the game has become. I quit EQ in 2004 and since then seven (7) more expansions have been released.

In the mood of some nostalgia? Check out the awesome EverQuest timeline image below. Anything from GM events to Expansions being released is listed and more.

EverQuest servers were taken down for a patch this morning. The game update includes quite a few fixes for Secrets of Faydwer content -- the game's most recent expansion, which was released in November. There were also some tweaks to Alternate Advancement abilities, Tradeskills, and a few legacy content changes. You can read on for the patch notes, or head over to the EQPlayers Game Updates section for the official source.

Items

• Retuned portions of the "Tinmyn's Oil Can" task to be more in line with the reward.
• The enchant Palladium and Dwerium scrolls will do more checks before allowing you to scribe them.
• Increased the drop rates of the "global" Rank 2 spell drops in Secrets of Faydwer zones.
• Removed parry focus from several items when no classes could use it. It will remain on any items where some classes can use the effect.

Quests & Events

• Fixed an issue with the Golems in Crystallos that would sometimes have them hitting too hard.
• Increased the number of items that drop from the raids in Meldrath's Progression Quest from 6 to 12.
• Gridbar Galund will no longer eat items given to him allowing warriors to continue along their epic quest line.
• Fixed an issue with the Shaman Epic in West Freeport. Talking to the greater spirit should work now.

NPC

• The respawn time on Shei Vinitras has been changed to be persistent through server downs instead of having her spawn up to a day after the zone comes up.
• Increased the respawn time of Meldrath's Majestic Mansion's base population.
• The shadows created for the tradeskill quest in hills of shade should now be less dangerous to the rest of the zone.
• Increased the respawn time (time between NPC respawns) in many SoF zones.
• Merchant Sele has set up shop in Shar Vahl and sells some tailoring supplies found in other home cities.
• Increased the power of the pets summoned by the beastlord spell Howl at the Moon.

Tradeskills

• Cultural metal drops have been adjusted to drop in the proper content now.
• The level 60 to 64 spell parchments should now be properly dropping.
• Legacy Shimmering Nihilite will no longer twist the tools when it is cut.
• Eron now give the rewards for his quest in a less confusing manner.
• Elegant charms have had some mod effects added.
• Fixed a bug with the Elegant charm that prevented it from gaining stats properly from elegant armor.
• Fixed the naming issue with Legacy Pale Nihilite Recipes.
• The new shimmering Nihilite can now be used to make the old weapon components.
• Legacy pale nihilite can be cut the same way as crimson nihilite. This gemstone will undergo an odd transition from the cutting and turn crimson in color.
• The thickener needed to make enchant metal spells via spell research has been changed to invigorating thickener.
• High level humanoids no longer value tin and ruined pelts. Instead they value titanium and flawless animal pelts like they should have.

Tasks

• The quest to save the scout clockwork in the guardian has been updated to update the whole group. Because of this, the scout will now only repop at the rate of other NPC's in the zone, instead of the five minute repop he was on.

AA

• Removed the Mana cost from the Call Hither AA.
• Additional ranks of the Druid AA Nature's Boon should increase in healing as the description states.
• Origin and Silent Presence are no longer on the same timer.
• Fixed a number of text and description issues.
• Set all ranks of Steady Hands and Burst of Power to ignore delevel (IE: You keep the value of the AA if you lose the level you need to purchase the AA) to be consistent with other AAs that raise skill caps.
• Shaman were incorrectly left off the AA Hastened Call of the Wild and this has been fixed.
• The AA Foraging will now not be revoked if you fall below the level needed to purchase the AA.
• Modified the timers for Arcane Whisper and Fortify Companion so that they do not conflict.

- The EverQuest Team

EverQuest servers were taken down today to prepare for the launch of the game's 14th expansion - Secrets of Faydwer. In the update today was the revamp of Steamfont Mountains, as well as new Hot Zones and some Item and Tradeskill changes. You can check out the notes in full below.

*** Highlights ***

- Steamfont Revamp: The sounds of gnomish cheers and clockwork gears echo across the continent of Faydwer as the Steamfont Mountains transforms its appearance.

- Halloween Events: Citizens and denizens of Norrath and beyond will encounter new and old ghoulish tasks and fiends as the spirit of Halloween takes over EverQuest this eerie season. Visit the EQPlayers website for more information about the Haunted Activities.

- Hot Zones: New Hot Zones have been created! Be on the lookout for new items and content in the following zones:

Level 20 The Castle of Mistmoore
Level 25 The Permafrost Caverns
Level 30 Trakanon's Teeth
Level 35 The Warsliks Woods
Level 40 The Dawnshroud Peaks
Level 45 Velketor's Labyrinth
Level 50 The Deep
Level 55 The Temple of Droga
Level 60 Nobles' Causeway
Level 65 The Halls of Honor

*** Items ***

- Improved several Rogue usable 1HP weapons from TSS and TBS.
- The last stage of the smithing trophy has become easier to evolve.
- The cultural and template books are now also not tradable on the Firiona Vie server.
- Cultural items should now have a tribute value.
- The Elegant Ogre Cultural Smithing books now include the Warborn armor recipes.

*** Tradeskills ***

- The clockwork tailor near the loom in Ak'Anon should now be carrying the proper items. Additionally the high elf and wood elf merchants have fixed the problem with their deliveries and are now carrying their own items instead of each others.
- Some secrets to making Mistletoe Cutting Sickles and the Inferno Scepter have been discovered and they have become less difficult to make.
- Disabled the water of terror recipes, the rest had already been disabled.
- Duskwoven armor now uses the correct thread.

*** Previously Updated ***

- Gretamog in Ogguk, and Zok Drup and Zok Gleeup in Rathe Mountains should now be carrying the proper items. Additionally, the Tanner family in Freeport welcomes their daughter Josephine to their business. She offers the human and half elven cultural threads.
- Gralbug and Puglala in Ogguk, Frankle Ironhair in Rivervale, Draan N'Ryt in Neriak 3rd Gate, and Garren D'Vek in Neriak Commons should now be carrying their cultural items.

- The EverQuest Team

Fans of Sony Online Entertainment got some amazing news on Friday when IGN.com revealed that ex-Marvel Studios honcho, Avi Arad, would be working with SOE on a game-to-movie adpatation of EverQuest.

Avi Arad, a long time employee of Marvel Studios, has worked on some big titles over the years including the Spiderman series and the X-Men series and has also had his name penned against future releases such as Iron Man and Captain America.

While plot details are being kept under lock and key the fantasy epic will be based on an original idea by Gordon and feature some well known characters of the game.

EverQuest is set in the world of Norrath, a realm inhabited by 14 different races including humans, ogres, elves and animal-human hybrids and its moon Luclin. Other planes of reality also exist within the game's universe. Players create avatars that can slay monsters, embark on quests or acquire treasure.

This represents the second game-to-movie adaptation to come out of the MMO genre of gaming, with World of Warcraft being penned for release in 2009 as well.

The fine members of the FoH forum community have started a movement geared toward people returning to EQ. Granted, it's just a return to recapture some of that nostalgic feel, as Tuco puts it. He's the mastermind behind the excursion on the progression server - "The Combine," but everyone who has (and even those who haven't) played EverQuest would do well to take a look at the thread.

There are quite a few folks turning up to participate (including myself; I'll be leveling a necromancer named "Kody") in the leveling sessions, and the next one is on October 3rd. Worry not, though - the maximum level Tuco is requesting everyone to reach before the session is 10, so you can catch up fairly quickly by going through the EQ tutorial.

If you've ever thought about making a return to EverQuest, now is a great opportunity to do so, even if you're planning to stop at the point where the game "began to suck" - as so many ex-EQ players bluntly put it.

Head over to Tuco's forum thread to read more about this visit to the years of yore and maybe even toss your name into the hat as a participant!

For those of you that still play EverQuest(yes - I know you're out there - don't be shy), the game's patching process was changed this morning from the traditional patcher it's used since release some 8 years ago, to the Station LaunchPad - a multi-game platform SoE now incorporates into its game releases. It's a single patcher solution for every game they offer.

The switch over to the LaunchPad should be seamless for players, so simply log in to your EverQuest account like normal and it should download and run the LaunchPad.

To read more, head over to EQPlayers.

Highlights

Welcome to the Station LaunchPad!

EverQuest is now officially on the Station LaunchPad. No game files were changed for this transition, however, here’s a helpful guide to learning your way around.

Why the change? One of the main benefits of having EverQuest on the LaunchPad is that the scans and downloads will be faster. However, please note that the first couple of times you log in the scan may be very slow because the LaunchPad has to build a new patch cache. Future runs will be VERY FAST!

Login Screen

This page allows you to explore options before logging in with your station account.

• Update: Opens the Game Updates page from EQPlayers.
• Latest News: Opens the main news page from EQPlayers.
• My Account: Allows you to log into the Station to make changes on your station account, including adding subscriptions and updating your email address.
• New Account: Allows you to log into the Station to create a new station account.
• Support: Takes you to the customer support pages. Please remember that you never need to give an SOE employee your password.

Update Page

Once you log in, you’ll be directed to the update page. A scan of your game files will automatically be done and it will download any new files. Once the download is completed, the world Play will appear and the words Update Complete will appear below it.

On the right you’ll see a list of the Game Update Notes. On the left, you’ll see additional options that you can adjust.

• My Account: Now that you have logged in, this option will automatically display information about your EverQuest subscription and give you options to make changes to it.
• Game Options: This option will let you set up your video card, select which detailed character models you want displayed, and select engine settings based on your computer’s memory status. You do not need to make these changes unless you experience problems running the game.
• Preferences: This allows you to enable Background Downloading. This will download files for future large publishes (such as a new expansion) in the background a little bit at a time while your machine is idle so you never have to wait for a huge patch on release day again.
• Purchase Expansions: If you do not own all of the expansions, this option will take you to the Station Store page so that you can purchase them for download.
• Full Scan: This option runs a full scan of your files to make sure that they are all updated.
• Update Log: This displays a log of the files that are downloaded with the current update.
• Upgrade Textures: This will upgrade the textures for some of the old world zones. This will result in approximately a 600MB download and the act is irreversible. You will only see this button if you currently do not have the upgraded version of the textures.

Play and Enjoy!

- The EverQuest Team

Highlights

• AA Window Changes: The AA window has been revamped and many of the AA lines have been consolidated to make them easier to find.

The biggest change you'll notice when you first open the AA window is that there are only 4 tabs now - General, Archetype, Class and Special. The first three tabs are fairly self explanatory and the Special tab will hold any AA that doesn't fit into other tabs. For example, the "Glyph" (expendable) AAs will be on the Special tab and various AAs that have been used for progression for several expansions will live on this tab as well.

With the new UI, there are a series of drop down menus you can use to view only certain sets of AAs. Additionally, all of the column headings can be clicked to order the visible AAs by that column in either forward or reverse alphabetical order. Finally there is a "Can Purchase" button in the new UI that will narrow the list down to only the AAs that you currently qualify to purchase.

In the past, new AAs have been created that were pure upgrades to existing AA lines from previous expansions. These added many ranks of similar abilities, each with its own name. To cut down on the amount of data that each of the new tabs holds, many of those types of AA lines have been consolidated into a single line. This should make it easier for you to see where you are in a line without the need to search through multiple tabs. You will still have all of the AAs you had previously, but their names and ranks may have changed and you may need to recreate hotkeys for some of the abilities in order to ensure you are using the highest rank's effect.

• Item Window Changes: The Item Window has a new look and some helpful new functionality. We've changed the window to be easier to read and you will now find a button in the middle of the window that will let you toggle between the item's base stats and its stats with augmentations. In addition, the name of the item will change colors depending on if you can use it or not.

• Triple Attack has been implemented as a skill for those classes that had it innately before. You will automatically receive the appropriate skill for your level with this patch. Characters becoming eligible for triple attack after the patch can receive it by visiting their guild master.

• Misty Thicket Revamp: Halflings across the world of Norrath rejoice as the hills of Misty Thicket flourish into a new paradise.

Recently Reported Issues

While some of the other issues that were resolved in this update were reported via bug reports, here are a few we'd like to highlight this update.

Issue: Guilds not able to send guild wide emails with text in the body.
Summary: All of the players in the guild are able to send in game mail messages to the entire guild that have text in the main body. The email is sent, there is a subject line, but none of the text entered in the body of the mail.
Status: In-Game emails should now send correctly to guilds. The maximum message size is now set to 4500 characters. The address list will display "Too many addresses to display" if it is longer than 500 characters but the message will still be sent.

Issue: Enchanter Epic 1.5
Summary: The Cryptic Page in Ocean of Tears could no longer be located after the zone was revamped.
Status: The note was moved to an island to make it easier to find.

Issue: Task - Pepe's Got a Brand New Bag
Summary: NPC Rion is not giving the correct item for the task 'Pepe's Got a Brand New Bag'.
Status: If you ask Rion "Where is Pepe?" after you receive the poison sac back from Rion, he will now properly give you the doll.

Issue: Black Wolf Tooth
Summary: Players are unable to find the drop 'Black Wolf Tooth' for an armor quest.
Status: The black wolf tooth was added to other black wolves throughout the newbie areas of the game.

Items

• Jagged Claws of Rending have returned to being weapons built specifically to destroy Draz Nurakk.
• Staff of the Hiveslayer and Wingcrusher now have a type 4 socket type, instead of type 7.
• Darkfell Bow is no longer bard useable.
• Twisted Staff of Temporal Paradox is now useable by beastlords.
• Paza's Cursed Remains can now be equipped in the ammo slot and cast time is reduced to 2 seconds.
• Type 13 and 14 Purity augments are available for purchase from Trader Vallarines in Katta Castrum.
• Augmentation solvents to dissolve (destroy) the purity augments are available for purchase from Trader Difius in Katta Castrum.
• Bulwark of the Firebringer and Buckler of Corruption are now monk and beastlord useable.
• Twisted Staff of Temporal Paradox is no longer dwarf useable.
• Increased stats on several Solteris items.
• Increased spell effects on Solteris items.
• Increased mods on most Solteris items.
• Added one extra potion belt slot with Solteris belts.
• Solteris items vendors will temporarily buy back equipment for 100% of the cost.
• Changed augments in TBS from Katta Castrum and the habitats to be useable in socket type 8 in addition to socket type 7.
• Re-added the spell focus effect back to Valorium Belt of Devotion that was mistakenly removed.
• Increased the number of items summoned by Ton Po's Mystical Pouch and by Dusty Worker's Soriz Pouch from 20 to 100.
• Slightly increased charge amount on Pure Energeian Orbs.

Quests & Events

• Lowered the minimum players required to attack Rallos Zek's final form in Plane of Tactics to 1 people.
• Updated the valid zone for some older Ocean of Tears quests to the new Ocean of Tears.
• The Goblin Dojo event can now be started with 6 players instead of 12.
• Added faction adjustments to several raids in Ashengate.
• The Monk epic event in the Ocean of Tears will again spawn a reward chest.

Spells

• To help balance the way healing items work from class to class, healing-based AAs no longer work on heals cast from items. Items that cast healing spells that are not castable by normal players and were previously affected by healing AAs have had their healing amount increased accordingly.
• The 30 second global cool down on the bard song Brusco's Boastful Bellow has been changed to a 30 second spell cool down.
• The spell cool down on Bind Affinity has been removed.
• Long term heal-over-time (HoT) spells will now display their messages after zoning.

NPC

• Made Jala and Lyjak in Shar Vahl less greedy in their merchant dealings.
• The Hatchet and Redfang events in Demi-Plane of Blood will now drop back flag items.
• Bark at the Moon and Rampaging Servant pets will now enrage properly.
• Mage pets from The Serpent's Spine will now spawn pre-equipped with a full set of Phantom Plate armor.

Tradeskills

• New Cultural Symbol QUESTS have been implemented. At this time it is only the quests, and not the other upcoming cultural drop changes. If you still have one of the old quests they can still be completed. The NPCs will still respond. The target NPCs are still up and still dropping the items as they were before. You just will not be able to get the old quests any more as the NPCs will now only give out the new quests.
• The recipe for making the unfired runed potion vials used for throwing have changed. There are no new items, just a reorganization of what is used in order to make them less expensive to create. The Art of Delicate Throwing Things books have been updated with recipes that match the changes.
• The alchemy potions Distillate of Antidote X, Distillate of Immunization X, and Distillate of Regeneration X now require Hypericum instead of Wormwood. You can find Hypericum where you would find Wormwood.
• Fixed the naming on the pattern books to match the patterns they make.
• Fixed the failure return on some Fishy brewing.
• Fixed the Additive in the spell research recipe for War March of the Mastruq.

Missions

• The task leader should no longer change when the leader zones.
• Zhisza - Counter Attack: All 3 major (named) mission targets will now return home when idle if they have moved from their spawn location.

AA

• Consolidated many AA lines. AAs that were logical extensions of previous abilities have been consolidated into single lines. For example instead of 5 different AA lines to increase critical spell hits, there will now be 1 AA line with more ranks.
• There are 4 new expendable AAs available:
• Glyph of Stored Life - Stores some of your heath in a protective shield around yourself. Your health is returned when your protection fades or is lost.
• Glyph of Frantic Infusion - This ability increases the damage done by your pet in three steps. The first step will increase your pet's minimum damage by 10%, the next by 15% and the final step by 20%.
• Glyph of Angry Thoughts - This ability increases the hate you generate by 30%.
• Glyph of Courage - This ability increases many forms of damage.
• There are now additional ranks of the AA "Mastery of the Past". Ranks 4 through 9 will allow you to increase the maximum level of spells that are immune to fizzling to the following levels: 61, 63, 65, 66, 68, 70. Note that the new Mastery of the Past AAs are tied to the level cap increase expansions. Ranks 4, 5 and 6 are Omens of War AAs and Ranks 7, 8 and 9 are Serpent Spine AAs.
• Added Mastery of the Past to all casting classes which did not have the AA previously.
• Corrected issues with Touch of the Cursed in certain instances.
• Spell Casting Deftness, Quick Damage, and Quick Buff now work on spells with a minimum casting time of 3 seconds instead of 4 seconds so they are consistent with how spell casting foci work.
• Alternate Abilities that are interrupted by player death will now have their timers reset appropriately.

Zones

• Misty Thicket Revamp: Halflings across the world of Norrath rejoice as the hills of Misty Thicket flourish into a new paradise.
• Buffs will no longer count down while you are in the Guild Lobby.
• The entry orb into Solteris now allows 85/15 entry into the zone.
• The Kerra Catfish, thought to recently be extinct, have been found again and are breeding strongly.
• Characters should no longer get stuck in the geometry when Level of Detail is set to minimum in The Buried Sea zone.
• The Ghost's Vengeance spell will no longer cause the Ghost, Guardian of Razorthorn event to crash.
• The Atlas entry for Ocean of Tears should now point to the new map.
• Moved one of the fights with King Odeen away from the hot springs. Hopefully this will improve performance for some players. Also reduced the number of NPCs in the zone by about one third.

Miscellaneous

• A long and outstanding projectile weapon problem has been fixed. Previously, if you shot an arrow or a projectile spell such as a firebolt, the visual representation of the projectile would actually hit its target after the player was notified of the hit. Now it is syncronized such that the output to the player's chat window is appropriately updated with the projectile hit information when the visual representation of the projectile actually hits its target.
• The /who command should now process quicker.
• The Tip Window for Dragons of Norrath merchants should now show correctly.
• Solvents that destroy augments now display a destroy message instead of safely remove message.
• Drakkin should now receive the level up messages directing them to new zones at level 20, 25, and 30.
• /melody now terminates for bards when they get silenced. They should no longer get spammed with "You can't cast now, because you are silenced" messages.
• Loot permissions are now passed as part of corpse messages and are updated to the world when loot permissions are changed except if a corpse is ported to another zone.
• If a merchant has no items to sell, it will now use the welcome that contains no item names.
• Armor should no longer disappear after using illusions.
• Updating the price of an item without changing the price will no longer increment item count in the bazaar search.
• After attempting to invite a player that does not exist or is not logged in, an error "Player soandso was not found." is now displayed in red text.
• The Link All button will now wrap links onto the following chat line. This will allow a list of items spread over multiple lines to be sent over chat channels. If the amount of text is long enough that a link can't fit on the line without exceeding the text limit, only the links that fit will be shown.
• You can drag corpses through teleporters once again.
• When auto attacking an NPC, characters will no longer lose a fraction of a second from the delay on each swing.
• Faction losses/gains while shrouded (not in a monster mission) will now affect your main character appropriately.
• Players that camp out on a boat and use the Return Home button should now get sent back to their home city.
• Reduced the amount of push generated by melee-based attacks.
• Corrected the error that was causing some items to incorrectly display Damage Shield Mitigation.

User Interface Changes

• A problem has been addressed and fixed regarding full screen mode. Previously, users would experience "bleed through" where background applications would sometimes draw through the EverQuest window in full screen mode, and where the mouse cursor might periodically change to the background application's mouse cursor. This mouse issue appears to have been fixed, and the "bleed through" of background application drawing has been significantly reduced.
• GUI handling of containers with an odd number of slots has been changed. The last slot will be aligned with the container icon if it exists. This could affect some custom UI skins.
• Using the escape key to close the petition window should no longer cause a crash to desktop.
• Froglok characters should now appear with their selected look after character creation.

Changed

EQUI_PotionBeltWnd.xml EQUI_AAWindow.xml EQUI_ItemDisplay.xml EQUI_OptionsWindow.xml EQUI_DynamicZoneWnd.xml

Previously Updated

• Lowered the hit point value for all of the adds spawned in the mission "Counter Attack" in Zhisza.
• Reduced the hit points of several of the adds in the mission "Confront Emperor Vaakiszh."

- The EverQuest Team

EverQuest's next game update, coming this month, is going to include an update to one of the fabled EverQuest zones released with the original game: The Misty Thicket. This outdoor area was a leveling ground for new Halfling characters that players created to begin their EverQuest career. It's now gotten a complete facelift - using updated EverQuest graphics - while still keeping the nostalgic feel of the zone.

You can check out the full article on the Misty Thicket revamp on EQPlayers, but while you're here, take a look at some of the comparison screenshots below.

Nodyin - the designer in charge of Alternate Advancement Abilities - has posted an overview of the changes to the AA window on EQPlayers.

If you want to check it out in full detail, including images, click here to read more.

Ever looked back on the old days of EQ and wondered just who it was that participated in a special event or Best of the Best? Well wonder no more! EQPlayers now contains an EverQuest Hall of Fame. It's a very large list of players who have achieved special titles throughout the history of the game, including those Best of the Best winners from 2000-2001.

Head over to the EverQuest Hall of Fame page to see which players are forever immortalized in this new addition to EverQuest history.