Free Braxi Mount is Yours to Claim

SOE has given all EQ players one free Braxi mount (Lava Braxi):

Congratulations! You have completed the third month of the Facebook Quest! Your new Braxi mount has been awarded. All players who have logged in to EverQuest from the conversion of free-to-play through Monday, August 27 have received this prize. Log in to game and “/claim” your mount today!

Details about the fourth and final Facebook Quest will be revealed in the coming weeks. Keep an eye out and get ready for that final push to the finish!

The mount appears to grant 300 HP, 250 mana, 250 endurance and an unknown amount of AC when ridden.  It also appears to be runspeed Run2, which is not the fastest speed.  It is unknown if it will increase its speed to match a faster mount, if you own one.

Double XP for Labor Day Weekend

From EverQuest Community News:

Double Experience in EverQuest this Friday to Monday!

Starting at 10:00 am Pacific on Friday, August 31, 2012, and lasting until 11:59 pm Pacific on Monday, September 3, 2012, we'll offer a Double Experience in EverQuest! Take advantage of this Double Experience Weekend and watch those XP bars skyrocket!

Expansions No Longer Purchase-able with Station Cash Beginning August 27th, 2012

From EverQuest Community News:

Starting Monday, August 27th, 2012, we will no longer accept Station Cash as a payment method for Expansions and DLC Packs. Real-world currency will be the only way to purchase these products.

The reason for this is simply that these products require a high level of development resource and are therefore a substantial cost. We want to continue to run aggressive Station Cash promotions, which we know our customers love, but cannot continue to do this and protect the revenue that we need to offset these costs.

In consideration of our players who would like the opportunity to purchase current Expansion and DLC Packs with Station Cash, we are running a 50% discount on them from Friday August 10th until Sunday August 12th*.

As always, if you have questions about your Station Account or Station Cash Balance, please contact customer service at http://www.soe.com/support.

Veil of Alaris Half Price August 10 - 12

From EQ Community News:

Get 50% OFF when you buy any expansion pack. Hurry, sale ends 8/12/12.

• Veil of Alaris™ (was $39.99 NOW $19.99)
• Veil of Alaris™ Collector’s Edition (was $89.99 NOW $44.99)

Offer is valid from 12:01AM PDT 8/10/2012 to 11:59PM PDT 8/12/2012.

Patch Scheduled Friday, August 3, 2012

From EQ Community News:

All EverQuest Live Servers will be down on Friday, August 3, 2012 at 6:00 am US Pacific* for a Game Update. The servers are estimated to be unavailable for approximately 2 hours. Keep an eye on the EverQuest website and the forums for status updates and for news if additional downtime is needed.

*Time Zone Converter

UPDATE:  The patch notes state this patch is to fix the server lag issues:

*** Emergency Update ***

- Corrected an issue that was causing server CPU use to spike and adversely affect game performance.

Raid Lag Issue To Be Addressed

On the SOE forum, Piestro, EverQuest Community Manager, commented in the thread about the lag been seen lately on raids:

We're hard at work on this issue, no announced fix yet though.

UPDATE: The Friday, August 3, 2012, patch noted above will hopefully fix this issue.

New Armor Graphics System Coming in August

From the SOE forum:

Introducing Hero's Forge!

Hello Norrath!

I am excited to announce the newest feature for EverQuest launching in August: Hero’s Forge!

Hero’s Forge is a new armor system that allows you to dramatically change the appearance of your armor. Working similarly to our augment system, which has also received upgrades, Hero’s Forge is an add-on system that will be sold per character.

Once you purchase this new system for a character, you will be given one set of armor that you can use immediately. You will receive a Plate, Chain, Leather, or Cloth Armor Set, depending on your class preferred type. Any character that has the feature will also be able to obtain a selection of armor, including multiple color variations and different styles through all sorts of different activities within EverQuest.

We plan on continually adding new armor and color variations after this brand new system goes live. In addition to the armor found in game, we plan to offer additional sets, colors, and pieces through the Marketplace in the future, though the finest pieces will be available all over Norrath through normal game play.

We can’t wait to see your reaction to this amazing new apparel available in EverQuest. Good Hunting!

Thom “Phathom” Terrazas, on behalf of the EverQuest Team

So far it looks like you have to purchase the initial system (for real money and/or Station Cash?) for a yet unannounced amount per character. You get one set of armor and can get others through both in-game and out of game (Station Cash) ways.