Fan Faire Finally Announced, Given Name Change

Danicia, SOE Community Relations:

Mark your calendars for October 18-21! Sony Online Entertainment is bringing all the fun of Fan Faire back to Bally’s Las Vegas with a new name, SOE Live!

The official web site is www.soe.com/soelive

Prestige Tag Bugged / Too Low Level?

From Elidroth, EQ Developer, on the SOE forum:

From what I understand, the major cause for problems were a bug with powersources causing all your armor to be labeled as Prestige even when it shouldn't have been.

The level at which the Prestige flag is set is going to be a topic of discussion at our weekly meeting tomorrow morning, but nothing that comes out of that meeting will be in the Thursday patch. That will have to wait until the next patch.

Patch Scheduled Thursday, March 22, 2012

From the SOE forum:

All EverQuest Live Servers will be coming down on Thursday, March 22, 2012 at 2:00 am US Pacific* for a Game Update. The servers are estimated to be unavailable for approximately 6 hours. Keep an eye on the EQ Players website and the forums for status updates and for news if additional downtime is needed.

*Time Zone Converter

Some Augs Marked Prestige By Mistake

There are about 5,000 threads on the SOE forum complaining that far too many items are marked "Prestige".  The Prestige tag means that you must be a Gold member to use the item.

While the main issues have not been addressed by SOE, Elidroth, SOE Developer, did mention:

A lot of the augs were mistakenly flagged as Prestige. It's something I'm going to bring up in our weekly systems meeting.

I'll let you know where we're going with this as soon as I can.

Double Station Cash in EQ for 24 Hours

From the SOE forum:

In celebration of EverQuest’s 13th anniversary and transition to Free to Play. Your. Way. We will be offering double Station Cash! Hurry, only valid March 16, 12pm PDT to March 17, 12pm PDT*

*Excludes purchases of Station Cash by SMS

Note that you have to buy your Station Cash through EverQuest at http://everquest.station.sony.com/shop.

If you already have SC cards you can redeem them through http://everquest.station.sony.com/shop or in-game to qualify for the double Station Cash.

New 13th Birthday Anniversary Celebration Quests to Be Around Longer, Old Ones Shorter

From this SOE forum post:

The 13th anniversary events this year last for 13 weeks.  The older events should last 1 month.  The usual reason for the extension is when there are gating [sic] bugs.  Those were fixed for previous ones.  We of course hope we have none for the new ones.

In previous years the anniversary events lasted for six weeks, so the older events will actually be around for two weeks less than previous years.

EverQuest's 13th Birthday: Two Weeks of Bonus XP, Increased Rare Spawns, and More

From the SOE forum:

To help celebrate EverQuest's 13th birthday, there will be bonus experience, an increased spawn rate on rare mobs and a special 13 themed marketplace sale. These specials will run 3/16/2012 through 3/31/2012.

Yet to be answered, the percentage of bonus xp and if the dates are for the bonus xp and spawn rate or just the marketplace sale.

UPDATE: It appears that the bonus xp will be an additional 30% and that both the bonus xp and rare spawn rate increase will be from 3/16/2012 through 3/31/2012.

EverQuest's 13th Birthday Anniversary Celebration Begins March 16

From EQ Players News:

We're celebrating EverQuest's 13th birthday! Beginning at 12:01 AM PDT on Friday, March 16, 2012, we will be launching EverQuest Free to Play. Your Way. This year we are combining it with one of the most exciting things to happen in the history of EQ. Mark your calendars and get ready for one huge celebration, with 13th Anniversary events and the transition to free-to-play both coming on March 16!

To celebrate EverQuest's 13th birthday, players will be able to embark on anniversary missions and quests. Stop by the Plane of Knowledge to join the celebration. Just look for the festive anniversary décor to get started.

There are thirteen new themed quests, including a spectacular mission as some of the greatest villains of EverQuest, a raid to stop a familiar face from gaining ultimate power, and over 40 events from past anniversaries.

Events will be updated as they are discovered at Fanra's EverQuest Wiki Anniversary page. Naturally, expect sites like Allakhazam to also have info.  Checking several sites as well as the official SOE forum tends to work best if you want to know about the latest info.

EQ To Be Down All Day Thursday For Free to Play and Anniversary Patch

From EQ Players News:

On Thursday, March 15, 2012, at 12:01 AM PDT* (midnight) the EverQuest servers will be taken offline in preparation for the launch of EverQuest Free to Play. Your Way. Downtime is expected to last until Friday, March 16, 2012, at 12:01 AM PDT (midnight).

This year we are combining the Anniversary update with EverQuest going free-to-play, so the servers will be down for a full 24 hours. More information about the 13th Anniversary will be posted later this week.

While the servers are down you can join us on the EverQuest forums, the EverQuest Facebook page, and on the EverQuest Twitter feed for updates, games, and more! We will also have an EverQuest Anniversary webcast on Twitch.tv starting at 4:30 PM PDT, and we will release an EverQuest themed podcast.

Mark your calendars and get ready for one huge celebration, with the 13th Anniversary events and the transition to free-to-play both coming on March 16th!

*Time Zone Converter

There is some confusion as to whether this is Thursday or Friday, as the statement by using the word, "midnight", makes it unclear.

Currently, no one at SOE has clarified the issue.  However, from posts by players on their forum, it appears that the game will be down on Thursday and the use of the word, "midnight", by SOE was a mistake by them and it should never have been added to the statement.

UPDATE:  Assuming that SOE got it correct, the latest information on the Anniversary Celebration states it begins on Friday, so we can assume that the downtime will be all day Thursday and the servers are planned to be up on Friday.

EQ Down Again (March 7), Hopefully Back in an Hour

From the SOE forum:

The EverQuest US servers will be taken offline for a quick server re-start at 12:45 PM PST. The downtime is expected to last one hour. Antonius Bayle will be taken offline for a quick server re-start at 16:00 PM PST. The downtime is expected to last one hour.

All US servers will be down from 12:45 PM PST until 13:45 PM PST. Antonius Bayle will be down from 16:00 PM PST until 17:00 PM PST.

We apologize for this interruption and will open the servers as quickly as the maintenance is completed.

*Convert to your local time

EQ Down March 5-6 for Maintenance - EXTENDED

From EQ Players News:

Maintenance Notice: Monday, March 5, 2012

Important: We will perform maintenance beginning at 11:00 PM Pacific* on March 5, 2012. Login for all games will be unavailable starting at 11:00 PM on March 5, 2012, to approximately 5:00 AM Pacific* on March 6, 2012. There will be extended downtime for account management and commerce transactions, and the forums will be read only, until approximately 7:00 AM Pacific* on March 6, 2012.

EverQuest will also have server maintenance during this downtime. Povar and Antonius Bayle will be taken down at 03:00 AM. Once the login maintenance is complete, Antonius Bayle and Povar will be open for play. Players that log into the Test server before the maintenance starts should not be impacted.

All of the other EverQuest servers will be taken offline at 12:00 AM Pacific* on Tuesday, March 6, 2012. The estimated downtime for this maintenance is 12:00 AM to approximately 04:00 PM Pacific* on March 6, 2012. If the maintenance is completed early the servers may be opened up before the estimated time.

We apologize for this interruption and will resume all affected services as soon as the maintenance is completed.

*Convert to your local time

UPDATE:

All of the EverQuest servers (except for Antonius Bayle) were taken down at 12:00 AM Pacific* on Tuesday, March 6, 2012. The servers are being moved to a new location and having all of their hardware upgraded. This downtime has unfortunately taken a little longer then planned. The new estimated time for completion and reopening of the servers for play is 12:00 AM PST March 7, 2012.

We apologize for this interruption and will keep you informed if this information changes.

*Convert to your local time