The EverQuest II team might have an expansion coming, but that isn't stopping them from pushing out live content like their usual game updates. Game Update 53: Shards of Destiny is no different, and is a very big patch in and of itself, adding two new raid zones and an achievement system, among a plethora of changes you'd expect from a content patch.

Check out the patch notes below for all the details!

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FEATURED

Achievements

• The new achievement system gives players a fun new way to track their accomplishments! Most achievements will award players with achievement points that can be used to compare their progress against other players. Some harder to complete achievements will offer non-stat item rewards. The basic categories are General, Dungeons, Exploration, Player vs. Player, Quests, Raids, Tradeskills and Triumphs. Triumphs are large scale achievements that combine multiple achievements into one large one. An example of this would be to do all of the combat, quest, and exploration achievements in a specific area.

Chronomagic

• A number of mysterious erudites have set up in Qeynos, Freeport, Neriak, Gorowyn, and Kelethin. Any player level 20 or higher can speak to them and for a small fee temporarily lower their adventuring level.
• This works similarly to mentoring except:
  • You do not need a mentoring target.
  • You can only choose levels in increments of 5 (10, 15, 20, etc).
  • You do not receive the bonuses granted from mentoring other players (currently you receive a very large bonus to AA gain while mentoring another player, this is not granted by the Chronomagic system).
• The chronomagic will last until cancelled (right-click on your nameplate or /unmentor). Once cancelled, you must return to any Timeless Chronomage to reactivate the effect Additionally, 37 new missions have been added that work similar to The Shadow Odyssey’s daily doubles. They task players with slaying various bosses within zones of all levels throughout Norrath And, of course, these missions reward players with an array of exciting new items!

Chronomagic works the same on PvP servers as it does on PvE servers. However, it also has all the same restrictions as mentoring—namely that you cannot engage in PvP combat while the chronomagic effect is on your character. This makes it quite a bit more dangerous on PvP servers, so good luck and be careful!

Bosses and Events

• As part of the chronomagic initiative, a pass was made through old-world overland and contested dungeons to greatly increase the frequency with which bosses and events spawned or occurred. Many placeholders and placeholder ring events were either removed or weighted much more heavily toward actual bosses spawning. Some of the notable highlights include placeholders being removed from: (Note: These are all from forum feedback)
  • Crypt of Betrayal – Specter of Ire
  • Enchanted Lands – Chomper
  • Everfrost – Chieftain Iceburn
  • Feerrott – Screaming Mace HQ targets Agony, Hukulan, Kaxor, Xilarga, and Tzugaax. Also Bouncers Prud, Hurd, Fug, and Flerb who were also changed to no longer despawn
  • Greater Faydark – Crushbone Expedition Leader, Chef, Weaponsmith, and Planner
  • Lavastorm – Fire Toad, Magolemus
  • Nektulos – Dannian Blackleaf – removed respawn time and despawn time, should always be up now
  • Obelisk of Lost Souls – Mediums of Dyrt, Cron, Iza, Odris, Norrath, and Lysys, Soul Harvesters Kul, Na, Gron, and Zej, Avulsor
  • Old Telescopic Lens (quest starter for The Staff of Observers) drops much more frequently
  • Zek - the Orchish Wastes – Sentry Goorlux
  • Palace of the Awakened – Skylord Stormclaw, Advisor Soliddar
  • Rivervale – Willowmaw the Rotting
  • Ruins of Varsoon – Weavemaster Esh’rax, Tome of Life, Tome of Death, The Creator
  • Solusek’s Eye – Enforcer Maj’Fahd, Soulslaver Djar’veh, The Speaker of Fates, The Castigator, Lord Crana, Onyxlam
  • Steamfont – Bulka Bloodhorn, Digmaster Pechpooka, Slave Pechmooka, Scout Pechyooka
  • Steppes – Stiletto, Bloodtalon
  • Stormhold – a caveroot horror, Battlepriest Alexandria
  • Stormhold – The Scions – Archiovianix, Hephinntari, Qelinatias, Tumarinan
  • The Vestibule - The Medium of Hykor
  • Tombs of Night – The Leucous Maw
• There are a large number of ring events that work similarly in these zones: Antonica, Commonlands, Everfrost, Sinking Sands, Enchanted Lands, Feerrott, Nektulos, Zek - the Orcish Wastes, and Thundering Steppes. They had a very high chance to spawn a placeholder, a small chance to spawn a boss, a small chance to spawn a shrine that buffs the player, and a small chance to spawn a number of different merchants. The chance to spawn a placeholder was greatly reduced and there is now a very high chance for one of the ‘events’ to occur. The merchants were all combined into the ‘rare’ merchant, who will now always spawn for that event. They also have a much larger merchantlist, and will buy, sell, and repair your gear! Contested Epic spawns in lower level zones were lowered to spawn every three days (with a large variation) instead of once a week.
• A number of x2 and x3 contested mobs were downtiered because they had a 0% chance to drop fabled gear. They were lowered to triple-ups and their spawn times were adjusted accordingly. The contested epic mobs who did have fabled loot were given a 100% chance to drop at least one fabled item each time they are slain. Some of the mobs changed include:
  • Allidax the Ancient
  • Alrendi Thoughtsong
  • Broog the Banished
  • Commander Nagrat
  • Cragshell
  • Cyenadros, Lord of the Sanctum
  • Doomsquall
  • Equestrielle
  • Grimfeather
  • Haraghur the Deathless
  • Haywire Opticron (lowered to one-up and added loot)
  • Lavin Dusk
  • Mangler
  • Meathooks
  • Scytheclaw
  • Spiregazer
  • Ssilth Rageclaw
  • The Unseelie JumJum Thief
  • Vox
• In general, most named mobs (with some exceptions) changed by this pass have a very high chance to drop treasured. Those with rare fabled items had their chances to drop raised significantly as well.
• Named mobs in New Tunaria should have a 100% chance to drop legendary gear, and a much higher chance to drop Cloak of Flames pages now!
• A new boss has found his way into Sebilis.
• Bosses in Sebilis and Chardok should match Karnor’s Castle and spawn every 45 minutes + variation.
• The despawn timers from all of Kylong Plains’ rare mobs have been removed.
• The Fiery Apparition in Lavastorm should spawn once again

Miragul’s Planar Shard

• Has Miragul himself returned to Norrath? Perhaps the answer can be found within in Miragul’s Planar Shard, a new raid zone connected to Everfrost. The zone features a variety of encounters, some of which can be completed in regular mode, or for those seeking additional challenge and rewards, a more challenging mode.

Shard of Love

• The Sisterhood of Erollisi has returned to Antonica with grave concerns! Adventurers interested in helping them should seek out a Disciple of Love in Antonica, Kelethin or Gorowyn. Those with more devious intentions should seek out Disciples of Hate within The Commonlands, Neriak or Gorowyn.

Teleportation Spires Event

• The Quellithulians are hard at work reactivating the Ulteran Teleportation Spires across Norrath! They may be found in Antonica, Commonlands, the Thundering Steppes, Nektulos Forest, the Enchanted Lands, Zek, the Orcish Wastes, the Feerrott, Everfrost, Lavastorm and Loping Plains. A wide variety of rewards is available for players who assist their project.

GENERAL

• Illusions cast from petamorph wands will now last for two hours or until your pet dies, and will persist through zoning.
• Melee, defense and casting skills should now be easier and more straightforward to level up.
• Swimming will now skill up faster.
• You can now buy the Translocate and Druid Portal spells from the trainers.
• Racial choices have changed. As a result, your character development choices have been reset.
• Adventure writs are now offered to a player’s effective level, so that mentored players can complete adventure writs at any level!
• You can now put adventure experience into the achievement pool from level 10 and higher by adjusting the slider in the achievement window.
• Examining a ranged combat art will now display the ranged critical bonus properly.
• Fixed an issue where items might trigger when they are restricted to a certain damage type.
• The /auction channel is now server wide!
• You will now receive chat feedback for dispels and cures.
• Scouts will automatically disarm chests now when attempting to open them. As a result, the disarm verb will no longer display.
• Pets will no longer be hit by aoe autoattack unless they are considered in front of the attacker. This should in turn make it easier to position pets to avoid it since the avoidance range for them is now flanking or behind instead of just behind.
• Beneficial Poolburn effects will now display to the chat log.
• Target locking abilities will now terminate if the locker is no longer a valid target.
• Triggered Spell based effect tooltips will now update appropriately if your intelligence or strength change.
• Player-written books will now be editable when transferring to another server.
• Fixed a bug where when sometimes editing a very large player written book some text would be lost when closing and reopening the book.
• Zoning into a new raid instance will no longer clear your raid looters.
• Turning the avatar autoface option ON and the camera autoface option OFF will keep your character facing the target regardless of what direction your character is moving while autoattack is turned off. Toggle autoattack off to toggle off autoface if you just need to turn and run and toggle it back on again to make a final stand.
• You can now right click individual house items and place them into a moving crate one at a time. Excellent for storing your holiday decorations!
• A mysterious new merchant has appeared in the Moors of Ykesha with a stash of powerful items!
• Runic Deflection should proc slightly more reliably.
• You may now fly from Dreg’s Landing to The Highton!
• Shooter Shamia should give AA now.
• Enforcer Maj’Fahd and Soulslaver Djar’veh in Solusek’s Eye now require far fewer kills to spawn.
• A number of bosses in Antonica and the Enchanted Lands flagged to now give AA.
• Added AA and better loot drops and removed placeholders from Thing of Shattered Iron, Runnyeye Chef, and Gorehorn Butcher
• Collector Rattalis is visiting the Legends of Norrath Museum and is interested in making an offer you cannot refuse!

CHARASIS

• Players who leave Charasis: Vault of Eternal Sleep and return later will no longer find their progression blocked.

GOROWYN

• Players will find that Gorowyn has become a good deal easier to navigate.

KURN’S TOWER

• Ilenee’s Despair and Betrayal have fewer HP now.

MUNZOK’S MATERIAL BASTION

• Umzok and Ozyk now drop the less specialized cloaks and charms more reliably.
• Certain items in Munzok’s Material Bastion have become slightly more desirable.

NEKTULOS

• The Nerius pirates camping along Nektulos beach are now armed (and still) dangerous.

THUNDERING STEPPES

• Turgen Bremhurst now offers a more interesting way for you to earn the key to the gates of Bridge Keep.

ALTERNATE ADVANCEMENT

(formerly Achievements)

• Ooze Crawler will now benefit from Wrath of the Undead Servant

Mystic

• Spirit of the Ancients will apply properly to Ancestral Sentry when another player is targeted.

Summoner

• Pet Achievement Spells now have a higher priority when casting.

Warden

• Fixed Shattered Infections to cure the correct person.

Warrior

• Cry of the Warrior will be resisted less often now.

ITEMS

• The Heirloom flag has been added to a large number of items in the game with the exception of quest items, heritage items, PvP items, and items gained from patterns (but the patterns themselves were flagged as Heirloom). This will allow players to join groups with the character that can help the group the most without the worry of not being able to gear up the character of their choice! As a side effect, items affected by this change will unattune and be sent to overflow initially upon first login.
• Fixed a case where some item based triggered effects would begin to critical.
• The Brethren of Night quartermaster by Soul Eater Falls in Nektulos Forest has improved the appearance of the armor and robe he sells. (Existing armor purchased from him previously will not be affected.) The Hand of Marr quartermaster in the nearby camp has also begun stocking a robe.
• The Cudgel of Obviation’s Spirit Tap Effect is now unresistable.
• Old Telescopic Lens (quest starter for The Staff of Observers) drops much more frequently
• Volcanic Knight’s Tempered Helm now has spell and heal crit chance to match its melee crit.
• The ‘Deception’ effect on the Bracelet of the Trickster no longer affects fighters.
• Unbound Elemental Essences from Lavastorm are now heirloom and the items that are purchased with them are now easier to obtain.
• Balanced Ayr Stones may now be applied to fist weapons of any damage type.
• Saita’s Glowing Gem will automatically cast on the user when activated. Amazing Presence now shows up in the Maintained Spells window.
• The Bangle of the Spiteful now slightly increases spell crit bonus.
• Anashti Sul and Ykesha now have a chance to drop new items for Mages.
• The descriptions on petamorph wands and their spells now declare that they will only affect combat pets and not cosmetic pets.
• Rare Dungeon Drop Tradeskilled items have been flagged as Lore-Equip Attuneable Heirloom.
• A large number of the Station Cash and LoN items are now Heirloom.
• House items placed in moving crates will now stay in those moving crates, even when you are not looking!
• The Earring of the Void Transfer is no longer sold by the Black Market Shard Merchant.
• Stats and effects on many avatar items have been modified.
• Robe of the Undying now uses the same appearance as the robe Varsoon himself wears. Owners that wish to revert it to the former void appearance may exchange it at the merchant Umbral in the Moors of Ykesha.
• The Belt of the Desolate One from Anashti Sul has been replaced by a choker with the same stats. Players who have already acquired the belt may exchange it for the necklace at Umbral.
• Many items dropped in Shadow Odyssey raids have received a boost to their critical mitigation.
• Shadow Odyssey raid bosses that drop armor patterns other than chest and legs now have a high chance to use smart loot.
• The Shield of Rainbow Hues from Shard of Fear is now a buckler. Its healer stats have been increased to make up for the lost protection.
• The set bonuses to Prismatic Chaos V on the TSO and RoK illusionist raid armor no longer stack.

MAIL

• Going linkdead while accessing your mailbox will no longer cause your mail to be inaccessible if you log back in before your character leaves the world.
• After sending a guild mail or ranks mail the “to” text box will no longer have a random guild member name in it.

PVP

• The Priests of Discord have returned. Reports state that they are currently teaching young adventurers the path of discord. 
• New Shattered Lands, Faydark, Kunark and Void Discord tokens have been created. The Discord tokens will now replace all previously used currency.
• Faction merchants have agreed to reduce their status and faction costs! In return, their items have been enhanced to be more desirable to prospective buyers.
• EoF, RoK and TSO Faction items have been enhanced to be more desirable by prospective buyers. All previously purchased items have gained the attributes as well.
• Writ givers are eager to see more adventurers in battle and are willing to ignore previous requirements for their job completion. 
• Spawn location near Dreg’s Landing and Teren’s Grasp have been moved to be favorable for all factions.
• The Kylong Plains writ giver has moved to Teren’s Grasp from Dreg’s Landing.
• The dirge epic triggered effect (Intrepid Strike) will no longer force an attack to inflict maximum damage while in PvP combat.
• Hate will now age faster while you are on a server controlled mount.
• You will no longer gain immunity while on balloon platforms.
• Reactive should no longer trigger incorrectly. 

PLAYER HOUSING

• Player houses have been given an extra room!
• Players can now save and restore their house item layouts. Use the commands save_layout <filename> and load_layout <filename>. Loading a house layout works on the type of item, so some items that are unique but share the same type, like player-written books and guild hall teleporters, might be restored in different locations.
• House layout files can only be loaded in houses of the same type. This also works in guild halls!

QUESTS

• Adventure writs for all cities now check a player’s effective level instead of actual level. This means that you can now mentor or chronolock and do lower level writs!
• Creature mastery quests now use a system of progressively increasing luck that eventually guarantees an update.
• The third scout for "Connect the Dots" in Kylong Plains is now easier to find.
• The quest "A Strange Gem" Has been re-introduced into Antonica.
• The quest "The Final Report" From the Qeynos Claymore progression in Kingdom of Sky should now allow citizens of all evil and good aligned cities to obtain the quest.
• The quest “Aelia and the Butcher” can now be completed properly in North Freeport.
• The respawn time on a named needed for the Screaming Mace quest within Temple of Cazic Thule has been shortened.
• The difficulty of the waves of orcs that spawn at the beginning of Bloodskull Valley has been lowered to be more in line with the difficulty intended for Return of the Light Heritage quest.

SPELLS

• Cheap Shot will now last the full four seconds on single up arrow NPCs. Higher difficulty NPCs will remain at two seconds since they are not typically used for solo encounters.
• Group and self targeted buffs which do not expire will persist through death. This does not apply to pet spells.
• Deity Spells now have a two second casting time.
• Ranges have been adjusted to many spells to more consistent.
• Maintained spell descriptions from cast items will now look like if you examined the item directly.
• Spells that are hostile and beneficial will now apply their beneficial effects to anyone in the group with an AOE avoidance spell on them.

Conjuror

• The Earthen Avatar line will now break invisibility spells when cast.
• Communion should inherit the proper names from Fiery Magician now and use the appropriate Hydromancer appearance.

Druid

• Druid Portal spells have been consolidated into one spell and now work similarly to the druid guild hall amenity.

Inquisitor

• Inquisition will now overwrite existing copies of the spell properly on a target.

Paladin

• Amends 3 has been removed from the Paladin Training choices like it was prior to GU51.

Shadowknight

• Miss your old skeleton pet? Then visit your local Shadowknight trainer and get your new skeleton pet today! Scrolls are going fast so hurry up and get yours today!

Sorcerer

• Sorcerer translocate spells have been consolidated into a single spell that works similarly to the druid guild hall amenity.

Warden

• Faerie Ally will no longer attempt to save dead people.
• Tunare’s Watch will now scale by level since it is not upgraded at higher levels.

Wizard

• Rays of Disintegration will no longer interrupt the group and is now only cast by the wizard. The casting time is slightly less while doing a bit more damage now.

TRADESKILLS

• The tradeskill society tutorial books now have an improved appearance. If you do not have a copy and would like one, visit your local tradeskill society merchant.
• The recipe for the Flame Tapestry found in Najena’s Forge is no longer limited in uses.
• Carpenters can now provide a few essentials for those stabling their mounts in their homes.
• Byproducts from tradeskilling will no longer have the crafter’s name on them.
• Tradeskill level will now count for purchasing racial traditions.

USER INTERFACE

• The recipe window now auto adjusts to fit very long recipe names.
• The claim window has been revamped and now functions similar to the marketplace window.
• Title lists on the Details tab of the Persona window are now sorted.
• A new user-interface has been wrapped around the mentoring system. 
• Type /mentor to display the mentoring window. 
• You can also use the /unmentor command to cancel mentoring.
• The mentoring window will be displayed when you join a group if your level is too high to allow all players to earn XP.
• The welcome screen now shows the number of unopened LoN booster packs you have.
• The examine recipe window will now use multiple lines for very large recipe names.
• The threat window now has an improved tooltip and will only show when it is relevant.
• Timers on quests in the group quest window will now have correct times.
• Double clicking an item in the marketplace section of the welcome window will now open the marketplace window with that item pre-selected.
• You can now alter the hotkey for the zone reuse timer window in the options window.
• The confirmation box for destroying a player written book with special characters in the title will no longer display gibberish.
• Tooltips for books inside of packing crates will now look correct.
• The threat window now resizes properly.
• The welcome screen now displays the name and zone of the daily mission.
• Hotbar windows no longer have as much empty spacing around them making it easier to stack them close without overlapping.
• There are now save layout and load layout buttons on the /house window to help make it easier to manage your house layout setups!
• The raid window has been put on a diet and is now slightly more compact.
• The raid window progress bars are slightly larger and more readable.
• There are now placeholder icons for the detrimental icons on the raid window.
• The quest journal details text and quest helper will be clear if you have no quests or complete the last quest in your journal.

EQII PLAYERS

• Critical damage will once again be tracked properly.

EverQuest II, in collaberation with Curse, is giving away 5000 14-day free trial keys! Using one of these special Curse trial keys will result in certain benefits and rewards that you can only get here! Curse users who signup for the 14-day trial will receive:

• Blue Journeyman Cloak which will increase run speed in-game 25%
• Potion Bundle that will increase experience 10% for 4 hours
• A special title if you're able to level up to level 20 in 14 days time
• A booster pack for the EverQuest franchise-based online trading card game

There's only 5,000 keys in total; and they will go very quick, so be sure and take advantage of this limited offer!

Click here to claim your Everquest 14-day Trial Key!

Here's the official post from the Curse Keys Giveaway Page:

Everquest 2 has released the Elements of Corruption and given the LavaStorm Solo Content a huge make-over. The beach areas at the entrance have been extended, there are more than 20 new quests for players level 45-55, players have the ability to earn extra rewards from the goblin clan, Najena has conjured elemental horses to speed travel through the zone, and eight new collection quests. Checkout some of the screen shots:

The beach areas at the entrance have been extended as the Void creatures try to encroach on Najena's territory. In her efforts to fight back, it appears that Najena, decked out the elementals in Lavastorm with some snazzy new armour!

Click here for more screenshots and to see some of the new items that will be available.

 

Researchers hit a virtual gold-mine recently when they asked Sony for backlogs of data for Everquest 2. Much to their surprise Sony handed over over 60 Terabytes of textual data regarding player interactions, chat, and character behavior. The end result is a log that includes four years of data for over 400,000 players that took part in the game, which was followed up with demographic surveys of the users.

From the original article:

Thanks to a partnership with Sony, a team of academic researchers have obtained the largest set of data on social interactions they've ever gotten their hands on: the complete server logs of Everquest 2, which track every action performed in the game.

Researchers ranging from psychologists to epidemiologists have wondered for some time whether online, multiplayer games might provide some ways to test concepts that are otherwise difficult to track in the real world. A Saturday morning session at the meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science described what might be the most likely way of finding out. With the cooperation of Sony, a collaborative group of academic researchers at a number of institutions have obtained the complete server logs from the company's Everquest 2 MMORPG.

 

As the researchers who are dealing with this new resource describe it, it's one of those "be careful what you wish for" situations—with nearly 60TB of data, the standard procedures for tackling social data sets just aren't up to the job.

Dmitri Williams introduced the project and described how researchers have been approaching various game developers over the years. He paraphrased the conversation with Sony as:

"What do you collect?"
"Well, everything—what do you want?"
"Can we have it all?"
"Sure."

 

So if you thought someone was watching you this whole time...well...You were right...Tom. You were right. (Obvious ploy to scare the crap out of any Tom's who read this)

SOE is the latest to incorporate a reward program for recruiting friends to play with the EverQuest II Recruit-A-Friend Program.  Check out the basics below, or head over to the Recruit-A-Friend page to find out more.  Free game time, in-game mounts, LoN Booster Packs, and bonus Station Cash... what more could you want?!

What is EQII Recruit-a-Friend ?

The EverQuest II Recruit-A-Friend Program is a unique promotion which rewards you with free gameplay time (to be added to the end of your then-current subscription) and exclusive in-game items for each new player you bring into the game who becomes an active subscriber of EQII. If you have ever held a paid EQII subscription that is currently in good standing, whether active or inactive, you can take advantage of this amazing opportunity to have fun playing with your friends and earn exciting rewards for it.Where do I go for more info?

All the details regarding the program are available at http://everquest2.station.sony.com/recruit-a-friend.vm. Monthly email updates will be sent to the newsletter members providing new information and details on upcoming events. All the terms and conditions of the programs are located on the site as well.

Bruce Ferguson has posted his monthly comments about some of the recent happenings in EQII.

This month he's detailed Fighters managing their own aggro, and possibly including a Hate Meter. He's also begun to mention the next expansion for Legends of Norrath.

From the Desk of Bruce Ferguson:

Hello there! Hard to believe it's the end of January already; it still feels like we just shipped The Shadow Odyssey just last week. And here I am again, with a brief update for all of you folks who love EQ II so much.

First, let me thank you for your support on The Shadow Odyssey. It truly was a labor of love for the entire team, and we've been enjoying your comments about it, and watching you devour the content we toiled so long over. But now that we've got that out the door, we're looking ahead. Last summer, at Fan Faire, we discussed making some changes to the Fighter classes, in order to bring them back in line with our original vision, where all fighters manage their own aggro, instead of relying on other group members to channel them some hate. Making some of these changes will broaden the desirability of all fighter classes, and help increase their role in groups, without altering others.

We released the first part of these changes last year, and placed the second group of them out on our Test Server several weeks ago. The response has been tremendous, on both sides of the coin. Chris Kozak, who has been shepherding these changes, has been communicating with folks on our forums about what he has been looking at, what changes he wants to make. He has also been doing some ad-hoc testing with players on the Test Server, where these changes are currently implemented. The whole team has been taking feedback from you, both from our in-game /feedback function, as well as the posts in our forums, and even information posted in other forums.

There are still some things we want to make sure that we address properly, and we recognize that there are some people who don't quite understand what our goals are. With that in mind, we're going to postpone releasing these changes to the live servers, while we continue to evaluate the feedback that you are giving us. We truly appreciate all of the data that you provide, and most particularly from those who have joined the excellent folks on the Test server in running through these changes, both on their own, and in conjunction with the devs. In fact, if you play a fighter class now, and haven't been on the Test Server to experience these changes yourself, we'd certainly encourage you to do so, as your informed opinions are very valuable to us. Once we're more comfortable with releasing the second part of the fighter revamp, which will include the Hate Meter, we'll certainly let you know, but in the meantime, please keep play-testing, and continue to give us your thoughts.

In the meantime, we've got some other exciting things coming up in the next several weeks. Everyone's favorite love holiday, Erollisi Day starts on February 10, and will run for a week, with an exciting new quest line. We've also got the next expansion for Legends of Norrath, Against the Void, which will expand the epic journey of the Ethernauts.

Just around the corner, we've got some hotly anticipated releases coming in our game updates, including some new solo content, more x2 content, some more x4 raids, additional tradeskill content, and a revamp of an old zone...all this and more coming your way soon! There's not a doubt in my mind that you're going to be blown away throughout this year in EverQuest II.

Article Source.

In the most recent game update to EverQuest II a new dungeon called Veksar was introduced. View the official trailer showcasing the zone below!

Shortly after the Shissar were run out of Kunark, a resort by the name of Veksar was built by the Kylong Iksar Tribe. After standing upon a lake in the middle of Kunark for nearly 1,000 years, Veksar was destroyed by a dragon, Garudon, and sunk to the bottom of what then became known as the Lake of Ill Omen. After Veksar's destruction, it was said to be inhabited by sealife and the spirits of those killed in the incident. It was also said that the spirit of the dragon Garudon also resided somewhere in the ruins. Post-shattering, the ruins of Veksar were rediscovered in the Fens of Nathsar.

Zone-in is located at (631, -179, 290).

Sony Online Entertainment was sneaky and released the latest Game Update 48 for EverQuest II without much prior notice.

SPECIAL EVENTS

The Guild Hall building projects for Qeynos and Freeport have begun to run dangerously low on resources! Director Jasmine at the Antonica docks and Director Hezreal at the Commonlands docks are eagerly seeking workers willing to help alleviate the situation.

During “Breaking Ground” (GU48): The Prophet of Healing, Seeress Ealaynya Ithis, has been murdered and Antonica appears to have been affected! Theories abound as to who performed the deed and towards what end. You may start your own investigation at the Temple of Life in North Qeynos. Meanwhile Evdokia, one of the Plaguebringer’s fervent followers in Gorowyn, has tasks for those willing to help the Disciples of Disease. Won’t she be delighted by the news of the Seeress’ demise!

VEKSAR

Once thought lost to the waters of the Lake of Ill Omen, the ancient iksar city of Veksar has once again been discovered by the adventurers of Norrath! What has happened in the ancient theater of this once thriving resort city since it disappeared after the Age of Turmoil, and what secrets and treasures does it hold now? Make your way to the outpost of Omen’s Call, and see if you can begin to unravel the mystery of this risen ancient monument to the pride and power of the Sathirian Empire.

GUILD MEMBER POINTS

Guilds can now assign and track points for guild members. Points can be assigned in many different ways. New guild permissions determine which members can manage points and which members can receive points. For more information, check out the Guild Member Points help topic in-game by clicking on the help button (“?”) on top right of the the Guild Window (U).

GAMEPLAY

Fixed the camera position on Griffins and Sokokars in 3rd person mode.

First person view as a winter wolf is no longer disrupted by winter steam effect.

The barrier holding the doors of the Godking’s temple have weakened with the onset of the void storms, allowing entry even without the sacred eyes!

ZONES

Everfrost

• Everfrost has had a facelift! Adventurers will find dozens of additional quests, four new hubs, and a population friendlier to various playstyles.

South Freeport

• The alchemy merchant in South Freeport has begun stocking kindling as a sideline.

Firemyst Gully

• Wood in Firemyst Gully is now fully harvestable.

Veeshan’s Peak

• Adventurers in Veeshan’s Peak will now find that defeating certain bosses will earn various respawn points in the zone.
• Pattern drops in Veeshan’s Peak now use the Smartloot system.
• Milyex Vioren has switched strategies against invaders in Veeshan’s Peak, and is now much more aggressive and much less defensive.
• Xygoz, Nexona, Hoshkar, and Druushk will now drop two set pieces to match Silverwing, Phara Dar & Trakanon’s drop rates.

TRAVEL

Mariner bells have been added to the Thundering Steppes and Nektulos Forest docks to take players back to Antonica and Commonlands, respectively.

There is now a bell on the Nektulos Forest dock to take Neriak citizens to the docks in Neriak.

Mariner bell appearances have been added to the Neriak dock to help those who play on lower settings and couldn't see the portal glows.

There is now a carpet to Sinking Sands on the Neriak dock.

Neriak citizens can now use the carpet in Sinking Sands to fly to the docks in Neriak.

There is now a carpet to Sinking Sands in Kelethin near the Greater Faydark ramp.

A bell has been added to the left hand dock of Kylong Plains to take adventurers to Gorowyn.

A bell has been added to the Gorowyn dock to take adventurers to the Kylong Plains.

The level restriction on the Gorowyn portal to Kylong Plains has been removed.

QUESTS

You can now speak to Ulgofar Wisme in Mara and get another Geomancy book if you no longer have your first one.

Special Agent Froak in Kunzar Jungle now gives another copy of the item “Reet Marching Orders” to those that are on the quest “Save the Reets” but have lost their original orders.

Rotten Chestwraps of the Guilty will now give credit to the priest who triggered it.

Assassins working on their epic who are not on stage 11 will no longer get quest credit for killing Rhylinil.

The "Dwarven Ringmail Plans" is now removed from inventory upon the completion of "In Honor and Service".

Captain Vrondell in West Freeport will now update "Bandit Sash Bounty" for non-Freeport citizens.

Those who have finished ‘Deception’ will now have access to Darathar’s island.

General goods merchants Ilmira T’Oziarn and Ilztaonar V’Setiate in Neriak, and Sage Navarius Orvalis in North Freeport now sell creature cataloging quest starter tomes previously unavailable to evil aligned players.

ITEMS

The artisan's tunic reward for the tradeskill tutorial quest no longer has the adventuring stats.

In-home crafting stations are no longer flagged as Lore.

The Diamond Rod from Shard of Hate now says “In Combat Run Speed” instead of “Speed at all Times”.

The focus effect on the Robe of Nexus disruption has been changed from a 600 point hate reduction on Blip to a 20% chance to lower the caster’s hate position by 1 upon casting Blip.

The Crystal of Dark Energy should now stack to 100.

Illusionist Shimmering Hues 4 piece bonus should now function properly.

Troubador Magnetism 4 piece bonus should now function properly.

Fury Stormbringer 4 piece bonus should now function properly.

SPELLS

All non expiring class based spells should now gray out when cast and remain that way until cancelled.

Master Strikes should work correctly with implied targeting now.

Damage Over Time ticks, double attacks and flurry will no longer trigger damage shields and similar spells which trigger off of taking damage.

Sathirian Scroll of Benediction and Smoldering Pontiff’s Second Sight will now stack.

Certain spells like Rescue which are common to the classes will no longer be reset while betraying.

Moving players between groups in a raid should no longer cause non stacking group spells to cancel.

Assassin, Brigand, Ranger and Swashbuckler self buffs should now be toggleable.

Berserker

• Juggernaut and Adrenaline have had their descriptions updated to match how they work while berserk.

Defiler

• Yoppa’s Rodent Form should work correctly now.

Fury

• The Savage Feast proc should now apply properly when a dumbfire pet gets the kill.

Warlock

• Gas Cloud and its upgrades are now maintained.

ACHIEVEMENTS

An issue has been fixed which allowed players to use more than one achievement mirror. If you were using more than one, the system will take the first one as your valid mirror and wipe the profiles from any extra mirrors.

Assassin

• Obfuscation should no longer appear to work with Concealment.

Ranger

• Conservation will now apply properly to power, heal and thorn potions.
• Enhance: Snare will no longer reduce the effectiveness of the Wood Elf racial Light Footed.
• Enhance: Fettering Poison will now increase the trigger chance of Fettering Poisons.

TRADESKILLS

Tradeskill writs now award 300 faction (for timed work orders) or 200 faction (for regular work orders) on completion.

Handcrafted and mastercrafted armor (levels 1-69) has received an upgrade. Existing pristine items will automatically receive the improvement.

Outfitters are happy to announce there are no more incomplete armor sets craftable at any level -- not all sets are available at all levels, but if a set is available, every piece can now be made.

All available crafted armor sets from level 10 up can now be imbued.

The appearances of cloth and leather crafted armors are now more consistent, more varied in shape and tint, and should provide a much-awaited wider range of appearance options for the fashion conscious.

A wider variety of crafting stations are now available in Qeynos Harbor.

STATION VOICE

Voice Channels with over 100 players are now considered "high-user channels" and will only display active speakers.

PLAYER VS PLAYER

You can now betray and play the good classes in the evil cities and the evil classes in the good cities. In other words you can have a templar in Freeport or a brigand in Qeynos.

Hypnosis can no longer be canceled by the target of the spell.

It should now be possible to cure charm spells cast by hostile players.

Inquisitor

• If you cast Inquisition on a player, the spell will only heal members of the inquisitor’s group. Due to the nature of this spell, casting it on a hostile NPC will still cause it to heal nearby enemies. This is due to the fact that the NPC is casting the area of effect heal not the Inquisitor.

USER INTERFACE

World chat channels such as the Level channels can now be properly turned off on the main chat tab and moved to other tabs.

FAN FAIRE FEEDBACK

Neither good nor evil players should spawn directly next to the docks in Kylong Plains anymore.

None of the PVP respawns in the Fens of Nathsar should be threatened by creatures wandering too close.

Several creatures in Veeshan’s Peak and Shard of Hate now drop fabled deity altars.

The “Clear All Hotkeys” option now displays a confirmation dialog before clearing your hotbar.

Guild halls in EverQuest II will soon finally be reality.

Find out more here!

Sony Online Entertainment has posted a preview of the upcoming Game Update #47 for EverQuest II called Storm Break.

What can you expect from update number 47? Well, one of the major features is in-game voice chat which will have the following features (and more):

• Create your own password-protected custom channels
• Automatic channels for Guilds, Raids and Groups
• Group and Raid windows have speaking indicators
• Leaders can invite any other players into Guild, Group and Raid channels
• Moderator controls (kick, ban, mute, etc.)
• Logitech G15 keyboard integration
• Ability to individually mute and set volume per user that you can hear
• Troubleshooting tools to get you chatting instantly!

Another big part of this update is a complete revamp to old world items between levels 1 to 59. These are only some of the things "Storm Break" will add to the world of Norrath; tomorrow SOE promise to post a second preview, stay tuned!

You can read more about the first preview at EQ2 Players.

A new person by the name of Christie Renzetti (Kiara) takes the role as the new Community Manager for the EverQuest II community. Kiara has been around for a long time, ever since EQ II was in beta and she's been part of the flourishing fansite community.

The existing EQ II Community Relations team consists of three people – however, with the addition of Kiara they are now four: Amnerys, Gnobrin, Grimwell and Kiara.

Welcome Kiara over at the EQ II forums

Something that many players think is hard about an MMO is to find the class which suits them. For example in EverQuest I personally went from a Rogue then to a Cleric later on. It's a big change of pace to go from damage dealing and stealth class to paying a healer that has the primary objective of keeping people alive instead of doing damage and stabbing stuff!

As for EverQuest II you have 24 classes to choose from. Not exactly easy to make up your mind and it would take awhile to test all of them, especially if you want to discover what each class can do at higher levels. Fortunately, you won't have to do this, thanks to the extensive "choosing a class in EQII" guide which SOE released very recently.

Do you have any classes to recommend in EverQuest II? How about if you want to be part of the "holy trinity" at damage dealing or healing for instance? Or if you want to be the master at crowd control? With 24 classes, there has to be certain classes that excel over the rest.

Read the full choosing a class in EQ II article

Sony Online Entertainment has published part I of the lore behind Asharae. It's a captivating read if you're into knowing more about the lore behind EverQuest II's world and inhabitants.

From the pen of Eylee Zephyrswell --

You can never know what destiny will demand of you. If you had told me only a year ago that I would be called upon to travel with a dark elf, fighting along side one rather than against one, I would never have believed you, but fate has no room for niceties.

Of the party, only Kruzz was more friendless than Asharae, and though she might have been charming enough, I think in the end if you were to put a dagger in the hands of anyone in the party and go to sleep before them, most would choose Kruzz over Asharae. But it is this bard's duty to tell a story as true as I can tell it no matter what I may think of the subject, and so I will bring to you as best I can the story of Asharae.

EQII Lore: Asharae – Part I

An extensive beginner’s guide to the economy in EverQuest II was very recently published on the EQ2 Players website. Its goal is to help out those of you new to the game and several tips and tricks and covered, not to mention ways to acquire money in an effective and consistent way. As with all MMOs, things end up getting expensive now and then – and if you’re new to a MMO, there’s always a lot to learn on how to get money the best.

New to EQ2 and need advice on how to obtain money? Look no further.

EverQuest II developer Noel Walling has been interviewed by EverQuest II Players.

Noel used to work as a Game Master for the classic EverQuest before he got his position on the EQ II development team. He joined the team a year before EQ II launched. Currently his main tasks are to work together with the design team. He's done a lot of different things throughout his time, though. Some of his tasks has included, system design, level design and raid & group instance encounters.

One of his favorite things with his job is to put together group instances. I would probably feel the same way about that, using all your creativity and imagination in order to come up with a great experience for the players, in form of a dungeon. That must be a blast. The only downside as I can see from that probably would be how some of the ideas might seem great in your mind or on paper -- but is a lot harder to put into motion and reality.

The interview is rather lengthy and contain some great information about Noel and EQ II as a whole, read it here.

We previously posted about “Gathering Tempest” Game Update 46 for EverQuest 2. It's now live and SOE has released new screenshots and a video, which you can check out below.

Game Update 46: "Gathering Tempest" sounds like a lot of fun, it's great when Game Designers decide to put in live events that make the whole server participate and work together for a common goal. It's also quite social and you're likely to meet a lot of interesting people and who knows, perhaps you'll find several nice people that you end up grouping with in the future.

Remember to check out our preview of Game Update 46.

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Brand new "Gathering Tempest" Screenshots

For more screenshots go here.


Previous recent news

• EverQuest II Producer’s Letter, June 2008
• Preview of “Gathering Tempest;” The next EQ2 Update
• Artists make it into annual digital art book, Expose 6

The producer of EverQuest II, Bruce "Froech" Ferguson just had his June 2008 EQ II Producer's Letter published.

In this letter he's going through what the summer will have in store for all EverQuest II players and there's quite a bit to be excited over. How about the 'Gathering Tempest' event that is designed for players of all levels to be involved in the storyline which will eventually lead to the next expansion. We recently wrote a Preview of “Gathering Tempest;” The next EQ2 Update.

He go on and tell us how Gathering Tempest is only one of multiple live events that will happen up till the new expansion is out. As previously mentioned by yours truly, I went over that Runnyeye will be out in the same game update. Bruce calls this "a completely invigorated experience".

Extra experience weekends, special offers to those who's playing Legends of Norrath the trading card game and later in July the second part of the "Gathering Tempest" event will take place, all citizens of Norrath are called to arms to defeat the beasts who are trying to leave the Void Storms and come through to Norrath.

Furthermore, in August Veksar will be added to the world of Norrath! This is exciting news, I loved the Veksar zone in EverQuest Classic. It was a great and dark, mysterious and very fun to explore zone with interesting lore to uncover and mini bosses to slay. There were a rumor of a bigger boss as well, which might have been uncovered, but I never did due to being too busy raiding. EQ2's Veksar will introduce a big questline which involves a murder, you are encouraged to solve it through a new line of quests.

Sony Online Entertainment have posted in-depth details about their next game update, number 46: "Gathering Tempest" for EverQuest 2. The preview they've published tell us about many of the features in development and which should be coming to us players not too far ahead in time. One of the major features SOE seem extra proud of is a live event which is aimed at players of all levels and abilities.

There's more, how about returning to Runnyeye? Or increased rewards for fighting some of your favorite bosses in some of the group instances that exist; while this might not sound special, SOE have made changes so there's increased rewards for some of said bosses.

Nathan 'Kaitheel' McCall, Game Designer of EverQuest 2 comments on the new live event and explain how there will be mysterious and dark storms erupting across Norrath. Both Freeport's Academy of Arcane Science and Qeynos' Concordium are investigating the cause for this and this is where you as a player comes in. According to Game Designer "Kaitheel" a third faction will appear that both evil and good aligned players can work together with to uncover the mysteries of these storms. It's also going to last the whole length of Game Update 46's existance, the name Gathering Tempest makes more sense now!

"Katheel" have put a great deal of effort into making sure players of all levels can attend to this event and investigate the dark storms which will certainly be hard to miss.

Many rewards can be acquired depending on your actions. How about a new title, new weapons, new armor, new robes, new torches, new house items and there's even going to be a brand new pet.

Game Update 46: "Gathering Tempest" sounds like a lot of fun, it's great when Game Designers decide to put in live events that make the whole server participate and work together for a common goal. It's also quite social and you're likely to meet a lot of interesting people and who knows, perhaps you'll find several nice people that you end up grouping with in the future.

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For more information, check out the article posted by SOE.

The new screenshots that show you what's to come in Game Update 46 can be viewed here.

Useful links:

• EverQuest 2 official website
• EverQuest 2 portal at Curse
• EQ2 Players

Artists working on EverQuest and EverQuest 2 have six of their pieces showcased in the well known EXPOSÉ 6 digital art book. I've always found artwork like this quite amazing and not being an artist myself, I can't even begin to imagine the effort put into art like this. Quite breathtaking and I respect artists so much for being able to come up with such visual eyecandy.

EXPOSÉ is known for showcasing the very finest digital art in many different fields, including games of course. There's also illustrations, television and 3D.

The Director of Artistic Development at Sony Online Entertainment, Joe Shoopack, is very happy with SOE's artistic talent and he feels it reflect nicely on the several pieces of art featured in the book. To quote him: “We are flattered that some of our art is being viewed as some of the world’s best,”.

Several thousands of entries were sent in to get reviewed, with all artists hoping to get chosen. The committee that review and chose the art all have professional backgrounds in a variety of fields and it's an impressive feat to see Sony Online Entertainment get six of their artworks picked.

The co-publisher of Ballistic Media is very pleased that SOE allow their artists to promote their, as he say, amazing work. If you're curious about art and would like to get your hands of this book, you can order EXPOSÉ 6 online here. Alternatively you could buy it in a retail store, you can find all locations here.

The six pieces selected for EXPOSÉ 6 are:

• Legends of Norrath “Mayong Mistmoore” by Derek Herring
• Legends of Norrath “Oathbound” by Clint Langley, Rob Tepper, Deanna Dolph and Lagi Apostolou
• Legends of Norrath “Gnoll High Shaman” by Patrick Ho
• Legends of Norrath “Play Dead” by Roel Jovellanos
• Legends of Norrath “Queen Cristanos Thex” by Derek Herring
• Legends of Norrath “Ariseph, Mistress of Verse” by Derek Herring

Full press release

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Having played a lot of EverQuest when I was younger (a good 5 years) I use to follow the amazing mysterious lore that kept players curious. There were many unsolved mysteries and one of the biggest one was regarding a vampire named Mayong Mistmoore. He had his very own castle and during beta he use to appear randomly and killed all of brave adventurers that ventured too deep inside his castle. There were also GM events held where Mayong appeared and some were given a special title and what not. Sadly, the whole myth and story surrounding Mayong did not get revealed until much much later..

..After my time, they introduced Mayong Mistmoore with updated graphics as a raid boss and to be honest, I followed all the raids by visiting different guild websites, but I couldn't find the lore around it. I'm hoping more was shared and all those players hungry for some information, finally got some.

Now you might ask, "what's the need for this semi-long story", well I wanted to share with you dear reader some of the mysteries behind this vampire, since he's showcased in EXPOSÉ 6. Derek Herring is the artist and he made an excellent piece of art showing Mayong Mistmoore in all his glory. Bloody glory, that is.

Useful links:

• EverQuest 2 Official website
• EverQuest 2 Players
• EverQuest 2 Mini portal at Curse

SOE have published a preview of what is to come in Game Update 45 for EverQuest 2.

There are a great many changes coming with Game Update 45! There's interesting changes coming for some casting and healing classes (Coercers and Priest classes, mainly), new world events, ways to get achievement experience from quests far under your level, bank additions, tradeskill revamps, and even a little more breathing room for the bigger encounters you may come across in your adventures! You had better get ready, there's a good chance that regardless of what you do across Norrath, you'll be affected by this Game Update in a very positive way!

• Coercers will see a great amount of changes in this Game Update to help in possessing the essences of others as well as many other changes to your abilities! The "possession" spells of Coercers will see changes to harness your pet's essence for better control. In other magical news, Thought stones, Essences of Anguish and Nil Crystals are finally obsolete! Thanks to the respective magical guilds of Qeynos and Freeport, Coercers and Necromancers and Warlocks will no longer have to deal with spell components. There's far more then this that's mentioned here for our casting friends, so if you're a caster and your class hasn't been mentioned yet, you may yet see some changes too!

• Priest classes, you're nowhere near left out of this Update! Cures for Inquisitors and Templars will see a huge change to help stem the feeling of "whack-a-mole" when you're dealing with diseases, physical ailments, magical afflictions and elemental scourges. Coming with Update 45, all four of the priest single-target cure spells will be funneled to one all-purpose cure that'll deal with what's afflicting you (or whomever you're helping). Again, this change only affects those of the priestly classes, so magical cures from casters won't see this change.

• Have you ever been so overloaded with your hard-earned prizes (or tradeskilled items) that you didn't know what to do with them? Well, with Game Update 45, you'll have 4 (yes, that's right... FOUR!) more bank slots to work with! For those that choose to play on PvE (Player versus Environment) servers, you will get to use these as four extra bank slots as well as see your shared alternate-alignment bank slots too, so you can then exchange items from not only characters within your same alignment, but of opposing alignments! For those that are counting, that does indeed result in 8 new bank slots! If that's not enough for you, how about sharing coin too... that's right, you'll be able to even exchange coin from one character to another, even across alignment! If you're exiled at the time being, you'll not be able to exchange items nor coin between characters until you choose an alignment. For our PvP (Player versus Player) enabled server adventurers, you'll still be unable to share items and cash to your differing aligned friends (and foes) since shared banks are still alignment based, but you'll have 4 additional bank slots over what you have presently and another 4 more shared slots (for a total of eight shared bank slots per alignment)!

• If you're one of those adventures that likes to hoard quests and cling to them through your adventures until they "gray out", first you need to admit you have a problem... and then complete them for achievement experience! Yes, you heard right, with Game Update 45, you'll be able to get benefit from those older quests (quests that are over level 10) to add to your achievement point total! It's time for some quest Spring Cleaning!

• By decree of the weaponsmiths across Norrath, there has been a total overhaul to weaponcrafting! With Game Update 45, you'll see a change to all crafted weapons from the ground up. Too, you'll have more choices to further "imbue" or to add "bless" procs!

• Coming soon, corpses and chests from our more powerful creatures will stick around for 20 minutes before vanishing into the ether. If you give it your all in your fight and that last swing of your weapon ends the life of the creature you're fighting, you'll have a little more breathing room to get back there to claim your prize!

This is only a glimpse of what's coming with Game Update 45! If you want to read more about it, check the test update notes to see what may be coming to an update near you! Until then... get ready, because it's on its way!

The patch notes for EverQuest 2's Game Update 44 (also known as the Shard of Hate patch) have been released.

HIGHLIGHTS

• The Shard of Hate is now open for high level raid groups willing to try their mettle against the Maestro. The influx of hatred into the world is affecting many throughout Norrath with increased hostility clearly evident.
• You can now choose to show off your equipped bow by displaying it in place of your melee weapons.
• Two new armored wargs have been discovered. Potential owners should look for the new beasts in Kunark.

GAMEPLAY

• Entrances to the Shard of Hate have been activated in Neriak and Nektulos Forest.
• Not to be outdone by their Qeynosian counterparts, the Coalition of Tradesfolke in West Freeport have refurbished their headquarters to provide more convenient facilities for crafters.
• You can now choose to display your equipped bow instead of your melee weapons by going to Persona->Options and checking Display Ranged Weapon.
• The Village of Shin's monk challenges will now scale to provide experience for players above level 70.
• Several avatar encounters have been rebalanced to provide a better play experience for players.

LOOTING

• Raid Leaders can now create designated raid looters by right-clicking their names in the raid window and choosing add/remove looter.
• Designated raid looters are able to assign loot as if they were a raid leader when the group loot method is set to "Leader Only".
• It's now easier for the group leader to loot an item with the Leader Only loot method.

MOUNTS

• There are two new armored wargs now available in Kunark.
• Mounts will automatically be removed while climbing a wall and should return once you have reached a flat surface.
• Shallow water will no longer scare away your horses, rhinos and wargs.

COMBAT

• Ranged ammo has been adjusted to have a minimum level that represents the start of the tier. Ranged weapons will no longer scale down to that level unless the ammo is significantly lower than the weapon. For example, all ferrite ammo is now level 70 to use. Level 80 ranged weapons will use level 80 for calculations now instead of scaling down to level 70. Overall damage of current level 80 items will stay the same.
• Combat text will now display if you double attack, flurry, ranged double attack, etc.
• Melee hit rates should now be slightly better against orange con mobs.

ITEMS

• Strength Imbued rings will now proc from ranged attacks.
• Mitigation has been increased on all low fabled raid armor sets. Boots, Gloves, Bracers, Shoulders and Helms have a higher chance of dropping.
• Di'Zok Ceremonial cloth armor is now more comparable to tranquil swiftcloth. The poisons Rilissian Vital Stirke, Di'Zok Mental Strike, and Regimental Elixir of Combat are now more effective.
• The Collapsible Fishing Pole can now be used from inventory slots.
• Collection items that you don't need will now con grey.
• The Fabled Eagle's Talon should do slightly more damage .
• The Di`Zok Bow of Flame is now a 7 second delay and should do slightly more damage.

QUESTS

• The number of initiates need to update "The Trial of Tynnonium" has been reduced to four.
• Increased the drop rate on pages 8 and 9 in "An Old Memoir".
• The Pirate Jones encounter for the Swashbuckler Epic quest should be a little easier.
• Those participating in the quest "Once a Marine, Always a Marine!" in Jarsath Wastes should no longer be mislead by quest icons to speak with Necromancer Corporiss at the beachfront.
• Deputy Hopple in the Enchanted Lands is no longer trying to take twice as many apple muffins as he had asked for.
• Players on exchange servers can now obtain three quests previously unavailable on those servers because they are given out by guides. Seek out NPCs in the Commonlands, Antonica, and Everfrost.
• Those that switched sides during the Bloodline Chronicles quest series will now be able to continue on and get the 7th quest in the series from the side you last chose.

TRADESKILLS

• Harvesting tool buffs are now activated by using the tool, and can be cancelled. The effects will now persist through death.
• The Tradesman Service quest from each crafting society's Grandmaster now also awards a simple cloak (those who have already completed the quest can purchase it from the Grandmaster).
• Grandmasters in the five starting cities now offer some new quests for tradeskillers who have assisted them previously.
• All handcrafted and mastercrafted chest and leg armor from 50-59 can now be imbued.
• A lost recipe for a tynnonium stool has been recovered by carpenters.
• Tradeskill Introduction handbooks for each city faction now include information about where to respec crafting professions.
• Effects from the provisioner-made drinks The Jester's Cap and The Queen's Masquerade now follow you through zoning
• The recipe book can now be filtered by classes that can use the final product of each recipe.

SPELLS

• Froglok
  • Fervor of Marr should now apply properly to the player.
• Priest
  • Priests will receive a new level 80 spell automatically called Cure Curse. Be on the lookout for certain encounters to have special effects that are only curable with this spell.
• Guardian
  • Call to Arms line now includes ranged skill.
• Templar
  • Redoubt line now includes ranged skill.
• Ranger
  • The hawk will no longer break stealth.
  • The Focus Aim line now has a group component which buffs the groups melee weapon skills and weapon accuracy.
  • Improved the damage on the offensive stance proc, melee based combat arts and faster reuse ranged attacks.
  • The Bleeding Cut line has had its duration lowered to 24 seconds.
  • Trick Shot, double Shot and Leg shot lines have had their casting times reduced to .5 seconds
• Troubador
  • Harmonization should no longer increase the immunity of Jester's Cap.
• Dirge
  • The Cacophany of Blades line will now proc from ranged attacks

ACHIEVEMENTS

• Summoner
  • Minion's Warding should no longer break invisibility after zoning.
• Guardian
  • The icon on Lay Wastes was altered so that it's more apparent that it shares a reuse timer with the Assault line. The prose should mention this as well.

ZONES

• Antonica
  • Evil players should now evacuate near Thundering Steppes all the time.
• Commonlands
  • Good players should now evacuate near Nektulos all the time.
• Chelsith
  • All five boss NPCs in Chelsith now spawn, an increase over the 2 out of 5 that would spawn previously.
• Kaladim
  • A number of Kaladim patrols have had their respawn time increased.
• Fens of Nathsar
  • The Tangrin has been retuned.
• Chardok and Sebilis
  • Adjustments have been made to Chardok's and Sebilis' named NPCs Those that were level 85+ were lowered to 84, had their health increased significantly and DPS slightly. Additionally, certain nobles had abilities added to their repertoire. They also have a chance to drop master spells between 71 and 75.
• Veeshan's Peak
  • The personal treasure of many inhabitants of Veeshan's Peak has been increased in power.
  • All Veeshan's Peak item sets have been given additional focus effects and increased stats.
• Venril Sathir's Lair
  • Venril Sathir now has a chance to drop first tier armor set breastplates in addition to existing drops.
• The Templr of Kor-Sha
  • The Overking now has a chance to drop first tier armor set breastplates in addition to existing drops.

CLIENT DETAILS

• The client will automatically enable a low-memory mode when you are running low on memory. The low-memory mode will downsample far away textures and unload geometry that hasn't been drawn in a while. The low-memory mode should generally be invisible.
• Performance settings were adjusted slightly for better rendering at lower qualities without significantly impacting performance.
  • Flora will now only be rendered on High Quality settings and above.
  • Objects will not disappear as quickly on lower settings
• The client is Large Address Aware, meaning that you are much less likely to run out of memory if you have 3GB or more of RAM and are running either the 64-bit versions of Windows or have modified your boot.ini to support 3GB user address space.
• Color Profile changes:
  • If you have a desktop color profile configured (or your gamma ramp changed), the client is better about restoring your settings when it exits.
  • The client no longer overwrites your color profile settings with its own. Instead, the gamma values in the Options -> Display -> Color Correction modify the desktop color profile settings. This means that if all of the client's Color Correction settings are left at defaults (brightness at 0.0, contrast at 1.0, gamma values at 1.0) the client will use your desktop color profile settings.
  • Crashes should be better about restoring your color profile.

UI

• Spell icons should no longer tint during casting or recovery.

Not long ago we posted the EverQuest 2 Shard of Hate video that SOE released. View it below!

var FO_184 = { movie:"http://dev.curse-gaming.com/static/flash/flvplayer.swf", width:"500", height:"350", majorversion:"7", build:"0", bgcolor:"#FFFFFF", allowfullscreen:"true", flashvars:"file=http://videos.cursebeta.com/stream2/premium/1349.flv&autostart=true" }; $("#flvplayer_184").click(function(event) { UFO.create(FO_184, "flvplayer_184"); $(this).unbind('click'); });

Check out this all brand new EverQuest 2 Shard of Hate Video Trailer below!

var FO_194 = { movie:"http://dev.curse-gaming.com/static/flash/flvplayer.swf", width:"500", height:"350", majorversion:"7", build:"0", bgcolor:"#FFFFFF", allowfullscreen:"true", flashvars:"file=http://videos.cursebeta.com/stream2/premium/1349.flv&autostart=true" }; $("#flvplayer_194").click(function(event) { UFO.create(FO_194, "flvplayer_194"); $(this).unbind('click'); });

Update 44 to EverQuest 2 have been under development for awhile already. The folks of EQ2 are now presenting us with a visual preview of the upcoming update.

Check out the full preview here!

A poster at a EverQuest 2 fansite called eq2flames have gotten his hands on several screenshots of Shard of Hate - the new raid instance being scheduled to come out with the next Game Update. He also have some information that he's happy to share. We have all the screenshots uploaded to Curse for your viewing pleasure below.

Two weeks ago we posted about some ancient lore in EverQuest 2 - Escape from Guk. Part 3 has now surfaced and is ready for you to check out. If you've ever enjoyed EverQuest and/or been curious about the lore behind Guk.. keep reading!

Check out the full article.