EverQuest House of Commons Dev Chat - July 18, 2007

Click here for log.

This chat mentions they are aware that the "West" bug began a new breeding season after the last patch. They also mention that the most hated "feature", expendable Power Sources, are going to be in the next expansion and will be increased in power. So get used to even more boring grinding in crappy missions just to have your gear not suck.

House of Commons Dev Chat Log - June 20, 2007

I've been slacking with EQ lately but here is the chat log for June 20, 2007, click here.

Knight Summoned Steeds Bug, Fix Due Next Patch

Knights have three separate steeds which they can call up. With the new AA window, they were combined into one.

I'm going to fix that. Next patch all 3 lines will be separated out again.

- Nodyin, EQ Designer

The full post is here.

Mage Fire AAs Bugged, Fix Due Next Patch

Mages have AAs that permit them to increase their fire damage. One requires you to assume Fire Elemental form, the other does not. The one that does not require Fire Elemental form appears to be bugged.

Both the "Heart of" and "Core" AAs still exist. The Mage correspondent alerted me that the requirements were set incorrectly on both of them (Requiring rank 3 of the "Elemental Form: X" line instead of the previous rank 1 requirement. I've corrected that bug and it will be fixed in the next patch.

- Nodyin, EQ Designer

Read the full post here.

Careful, or Your Face Will Stay That Way

Making faces really can cause problems. And you thought your parents were just trying to scare you!

i changed my facial features and whenever i zone they revert back to something else. anyone else have this problem? it seems to only happen when i try to use no facial hair and have a bald head.

It's a bug and should be fixed with our next patch.

Rashere, EQ Lead Designer

Read about it here.

New Expansion Release Dates and More

Clint "Jourdian" Worley, EverQuest Producer, has posted a letter about SOE's future plans for EQ. Among other things, he says:

In this Producer letter I am proud to announce that we're changing our tactics so we can accomplish what we have set out to do and do it with the quality we know we can deliver. Our next expansion will be released in November. This will give us more time to polish the game content and features. I am also happy to announce that November will be the month for all future expansion releases as well.

Read his letter to players here.

Upcoming DoT Hate Change

In the near future, we're going to make a change that will reduce the amount of hate generated by DoTs so I wanted to give a head's up. For most damage spells, they generate aggro based on the base amount of damage they do. DoTs do this as well, generating hate based on their damage every tick, but they also generate initial aggro worth one tick of damage when they first land. This means that they basically have one extra damage tick's worth of aggro at all times.

We're changing things so that you won't gain aggro based on the DoTs damage until it actually does its first tick of damage which will bring them in line with other damage spells for the amount of hate they generate.

- Rashere, EQ Lead Designer

The full thread is here.

DoT Shielding Still Broken

Although the April 18 patch message reported some fixes to DoT shielding, it appears there are still a few problems with it. It seems that while it works now for DoTs cast on you, when the mob that cast it dies, it stops working.

Just checked with code and they've got a fix for this already.

- Rashere, EQ Lead Designer

No word on when the fix will go live.

The full thread is here.

Frostcrypt Trash Mobs on Steroids

Normal mobs in Frostcrypt have been taking steroids, according to reports. Norrath Mob Anti-doping officials have begun an investigation after hearing they were hitting for upwards of 10k.

We've been able to reproduce this problem (as was stated in the Maximum Redfang!!! thread) and it has been given to the coders so they can look into it.

Thanks for the heads up on this issue! - Maddoc, Assistant Lead Designer

The full thread is here.

Massive Changes Coming for Cultural Armor and Tailoring / Smithing

SOE has announced that they will be making some huge changes in Cultural Armor as well as the skill up paths for Tailoring and Smithing.

The changes are too large to detail in this post so you should check out the announcement here.

More Skin to Vines Changes Due

The druid spell Skin to Vines has never worked properly. After several fixes, SOE has announced that they will be making another change. Hopefully, with this change, the spell will finally work properly.

Since Skin to Vines now turns undead and summoned creatures into plants and stops other abilities from working, it seems the cure was more harmful than the affliction. With some new functionality we received a few days ago I was able to change Skin to Vines such that it works on everything except undead and summoned creatures. This should go live in our next major patch. Let me know if you have any questions. Thanks!

Prathun, EQ Designer

The full thread is here.

Additional information:

Good point. Changed it to affect everything but Summoned, Construct, and Undead. Thanks! - Prathun, EQ Designer

DoT Shielding Fixed?

Fast updates on this one...

Code has found and fixed the issue. DoT Shielding was only working if you cast a spell on yourself or in a PvP situation. After the fix, DoT shielding will properly work on any spell NOT cast on you by yourself and will continue to work in PvP.

Rashere, EQ Lead Designer

The full thread is here.

SOE was not clear it is already fixed in the game or if it will go out in the next patch.

Progression Servers To Merge

On March 28, 2007, we will be merging the EverQuest Progression Servers. Characters will be moved from The Sleeper server to The Combine server and The Combine server will retain its name. The Sleeper server will then be closed.

We will not be doing the low level character wipe at the time of the merge. We will re-evaluate the situation after the merge and determine if the character wipe is needed.

The scheduled downtime is from 4:00 am Pacific Time to 12 noon. We will provide the answers to other questions as needed before the merge as needed.

The full article is here.

Fabled Augments Bugged

The fabled augments can't currently be inserted, but they should be fixed in the next patch.

The 35 AC aug from a 55ish level NPC was a mistake, the 35ac is meant to be 35 endurance and it will be changed in the next patch.

- Merloc, EQ Designer

The full thread is here.

8th Anniversary Events Live

SOE has announced a number of things to commemorate the eighth anniversary of EverQuest. Of main concern is the Fabled mobs and a new scavenger hunt.

Anniversary In-Game Events - We have introduced dozens of Fabled Luclin NPCs, we brought back all the fabled fiends of years past and there is a new scavenger hunt! Speak with Tyla Filinav in the Nexus if you are interested in helping her collect a few things. These Anniversary Festivities will be available from March 16, 2007 through April 16, 2007.

Read all about it as well as some messages from current and former developers here.

EQ With All Expansions for $19.99

Apparently SOE has secret plans to release a new edition of EQ with all expansions. I call the plans secret since the press release seems to only be found on Casters Realm and no where else. EverQuest.com and EQ Players have no word on this.

EverQuest® The Anniversary Edition includes all expansions ever created for EverQuest® making it the largest compilation of MMO expansions ever

EverQuest The Anniversary Edition will only be available at participating retail locations and is scheduled for release on April 23, 2007, for the suggested retail price of US$19.99.

Go here to read the full press release.

Allegedly, this was sent out in the Station Newsletter. Since I subscribe to the EverQuest Newsletter (I still haven't received any yet) and not the Station Newsletter (since I have zero interest in their other games), I was unaware of this information.

Developers' Chat March 21st

Click here for a log of the chat.

No Reward for The Domes Are Cracking Mission

Yes the reward is missing. I don't know how it happened but I'll take the hit for this one. We'll need a patch to get this fixed but I've already made the change on Test. As soon as I know when we can fix this I'll let you guys know. - Nodyin, EQ Designer

The full thread is here.

Bazaar Items Lose Pricing

In a stealth 'update', items placed for sale in the bazaar must have their prices input again.

Due to the method for storing bazaar prices, any prices on bazaar listing has been removed. You will need to relist your bazaar items with new prices. We apologize for the inconvenience this causes. Going forward there should be no further issues with pricing being removed from items. - Kytherea, EQ Community Relations Manager

The full thread is here.

Note that the prices should be saved in your bazaar log file, so check your Log folder and you should be able to find them there. However, you have to manually input them into EQ.

Some people have created some programs to automate fixing this. Go here to read the thread.

Melee Bind Coming to Katta Castrum

Currently, melee types can't bind in Katta Castrum, even though it is a city.

I'll change it so you can bind there.

- Rashere, EQ Lead Designer

The full thread is here.