Other People Crashing When You Zone In or Get Rezzed?

It's been noticed that rezzing someone (or even someone just zoning into a zone) has been causing other people to have their EverQuest game crash.

It appears the cause is the rezzed or zoning person having a Sepulcher ornament on their gear.  Removing the ornament seems to fix the problem.

Beyond an off-hand remark in this forum thread, I've found nothing else on the issue.

Double Station Cash Game Stop Weekend

From the SOE forum:

Buy SOE Pre-Paid Game Cards at participating GameStop locations now and redeem between Feb 24th and Feb 26th* to get Double Station Cash! Redeem in-game or at www.soe.com/gamecards

*Redeem between 12:01am Pacific Time 2/24/2012 and 11:59pm Pacific Time 2/26/2012.

President's Day DOUBLE Experience Weekend (oh, and Marketplace sale)

From EQ Players:

This weekend only*, we’re giving you up to 30% off services available in the EverQuest marketplace. (Check out the list below to see the items that qualify for this sale)

Spend your three day weekend filling up your experience bar! From 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time on February 17, 2012 through 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time on February 20, 2012, we'll dramatically increase experience gains from mob kills to make your holiday weekend extra special! Make sure you log in during Bonus Experience** and enjoy the extra ding!

*Promotional offer valid from 4:01AM PST 2/17/12 to 11:59PM PST 2/20/12 only

**Experience awarded per kill will increased by up to 50%; please note that other modifiers and caps will still be in place and will affect experience gain normally. As a result, total experience gains may vary slightly, depending on each individual's situation.

UPDATE:

Double experience has now started. Enjoy!

-Piestro
EverQuest Community Manager 

SOE Still Silent Regarding 2012 Fan Faire

Except for a poll created in August 2011 and a post in the poll thread explaining the reasons for the dates in the poll, SOE has remained silent on information regarding the 2012 Fan Faire.

Right now, it is unknown if there will even be a 2012 Fan Faire, as the lack of information does not bode well for it.

Many people have to request vacation days well in advance for their jobs and every day of SOE delay means less people will be able to attend.

Fanra's EverQuest Wiki now has a Fan Faire page which will be updated as (if) SOE posts more (any) information.

UPDATE:  In this SOE forum thread, Where Art Thou Fan Faire Info?, Piestro, EQ Community Manager, replied:

...As to not having dates and such announced this early, there are many more constraints we face that are not transparent to the players. Getting contracts signed, buy in from all internal and any external partners that need to be involved, etc. We understand people's desire for this information and will get it out as soon as we can.

EQ Mac To Continue, For Free

From the SOE forum:

After announcing our intention to sunset EverQuest (EQ) Mac in January, the response we received from the passionate EQ Mac community has resulted in our decision not to sunset the game at this time. Moving forward, we will be removing subscriptions from EQ Mac so that it will be a free game that everyone can continue to play and enjoy. We will look closely at Mac for our future titles.

Linda "Brasse" Carlson Director, Global Community Relations, SOE

Anchors Away!

Currently houses and plots (including guild) are limited to one Primary anchor and one Secondary anchor.

In response to player requests, Chandrok, EQ Developer, announced:

Good news everyone! The restrictions limiting the number of anchors that can be placed will be lifted next patch.

For those who don't know, an anchor allows any character to port to their anchor once every 72 minutes.  Anchors can be placed in your house or yard, or guild house or yard.   Anchors and the device to port to them are sold by the Loyalty vendors for Loyalty Tokens (Crowns) .

In addition, Druids and Wizards get spells that allow them to port themselves or their group to their own anchors, as well as to TL group members to either the caster's or the member's anchors.

EQ Players to Work?

Although SOE refuses to give an ETA, they are working on a new and improved EQ Players site.

What will it be like?   So far only SOE knows.

It can be expected some time after the March Free-to-Play update goes into effect.

The only answer received as to exactly when is: Soon™.

Many Questions Remain on Free-to-Play, Some Answered

The biggest controversy surrounds the "Recruit-A-Friend" (RAF) program, which promised bonus experience "forever" if you or your friend created a linked account.    With Free-to-Play (f2p), SOE announced that "forever" really means, "until we change our minds".

Since a number of people opened new accounts, spending hard earned money to do so, solely on the basis that they would gain the bonus experience, they are rather upset.

SOE's current response seems to be "caveat emptor" (let the buyer beware).

They also claim that code limitations prevent RAF from working with EQ once they enable f2p, even on paying accounts.   They continue to refuse to refund money spent by those who were deceived into thinking "forever" means what dictionary.com claims.

In addition to the RAF issues, Piestro, EverQuest Community Manager, also commented on some other questions:

Game code and mechanics. We're still looking into ways around the code limitations [preventing RAF from working]. Our goal is the middle of this week for an update on the situation, even if it will be "still trying".

Veteran Rewards: Free and silver accounts will accrue time.

Fellowship XP sharing: I'll defer to the devs on this one, I suspect yes to at least join and share xp. I'd expect them to be able to create fellowships as well but am not sure.

Loyalty: The maximum earning rate (velocity) for free and silver accounts is capped at a significantly lower value, but they will still accrue loyalty points. Bags of plat will not be exploitable under the system though.

Character and Server Transfers: As far as I am aware these will be allowed as normal. It hasn't specifically come up in any meetings I've been a part of.

*These statements are a reflection of my understanding at the current time. During the final phases of implementation they may change.

All this and far, far more than you want to read of people complaining is in this thread on the SOE forum.

The Traitor Revealed Mission Bug To Be Fixed

The Erillion, the City of Bronze group mission The Traitor Revealed has been shown to have a bug where the first step, "Let Archon Xalvir escort you", refuses to update.

Upon the bug being reported on the SOE forum in this thread, Chandrok, EQ Developer, replied:

Your conclusion appears to be correct. I'll be changing area update coordinates so it works properly.

Monk Suppressive Strike Limited, To Be Fixed "Soon"™

From Elidroth, EQ Developer in this SOE forum thread:

Just a heads up.. The team has decided that Suppressive Strike is too powerful to remain in game. So I'm going to be removing/refunding the ability.

To fill the void/problem of monk pulling casters, I'm going to be creating a new ability that effectively works like the SK's Hate's Attraction, flinging the NPC to you. This resolves a number of issues that came up with the way Suppressive Strike works. Yes, I'm aware of the possible issues the fling can have and does have with the SK ability, but this is really the only solution the team came up with.

You can expect this for the February patch.

Later he amended his post with the following:

The HA type ability got held up due to other things which took priority. Nothing I could do about it. Sometimes, when your boss comes in and says "Do this.. now" you have to drop what you're working on and do it.

UPDATE (post by Elidroth, EQ Developer):

It's pretty simple.

The silence caused the NPC to not be able to cast spells, but it didn't stop it from TRYING to cast. So basically, it would just stand there and do nothing at all. It was possible to completely stop an NPC from doing anything at all while you beat on it mercilessly.

As for the cost, I completely agree 15aa is too high. For march [sic], I'll refund this version of Distant Strike, and create a new one at a more reasonable cost. I'll also have the HA type ability in place. That one might cost a bit more

EverQuest Patcher / Login Down For Some

For some players, attempting to log into EQ gets a network error.  In addition, they can not reach the SOE EverQuest forums.

Since some people have no problems, while others had the problem but it disappeared, while others still report being unable to log in, it appears that it is somehow related to SOE's network as it connects to various ISPs and/or geographical locations.

Bypassing the LaunchPad and patcher and directly logging in seems to enable everyone with a problem to log in.

How to bypass the LaunchPad and patcher:

1. Go to your EverQuest folder (if you aren't sure how to get there, the LaunchPad has a "gear" icon on the lower left side, press the gear to bring up the Advanced settings menu, then click on Open Game Directory) . 
2. Find the file "eqgame.exe" (it may be listed as just "eqgame").
3. Make a shortcut to desktop for it by right clicking it, choosing Send to, and picking Desktop (create shortcut). 
4. Right click the new shortcut on your Desktop and choose Properties. 
5. Change the Target to: C:\whatever is here leave alone \ whatever is here leave alone \eqgame.exe patchme.  

In other words, leave the Target exactly how it was, just add patchme to the end (leaving a space between eqgame.exe and patchme).

NOTE: If the Target is in quotation marks you need to add a space and patchme after them. For example: "C:\whatever is here leave alone \ whatever is here leave alone \eqgame.exe" patchme. 

See this link if you want pretty pictures.

Remember to only use this for now. Don't use it after SOE fixes the problem. Because you need to have an up-to-date patched EQ to play after they patch.

Patch Scheduled Wednesday, February 8, 2012

From EQ Players:

All EverQuest Live Servers will be coming down on Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 3:00 am US Pacific* for a Game Update. The servers are estimated to be unavailable for approximately 5 hours. Keep an eye on the EQ Players website and the forums for status updates and for news if additional downtime is needed.

Merc Healer Fixes Coming Soon(tm)

Currently on Test Server:

*** Mercenaries ***
- Several changes have been made to Healer Mercenaries:
- After level 85, healer mercenaries no longer cast the Promised or Elixir lines of spells. These spells may return in the future when mercenaries learn to cast them more effectively.
- After level 75, healer mercenaries no longer cast Complete Heal.
- When at full health and mana, healer mercenaries will no longer sit.
- Healer mercenaries now respond more quickly when the main tank in their group enters combat.
- The power of the healer mercenaries' spells have been slightly increased.
- The Reactive stance has been modified to favor constantly casting direct heals without regard for mana cost.
- Note: At the moment, mercenaries have trouble healing players that have high-HP regen buffs on them. Until this changes, avoid using spells such as Splendrous Guardian, Spiritual Enrichment, or Promised Renewal if you want your mercenary to heal you. [Bold added]

In addition, from Elegist, EQ Developer in the same thread:

In general, the healer mercenaries have trouble handling most regen buffs or deferred heals. The code fix for this appears to be relatively simple, but we have to make sure our changes don't adversely affect other aspects of mercenary behavior. We are trying to put in a fix for this by the time Free-to-Play goes live. Until then, though, if you are having trouble getting your mercenaries to heal you, try dropping some of your regen buffs or not using deferred heals. If you can, experiment with different healing spell combinations and post your findings. [Bold added]

EverQuest Going Free to Play

The biggest news in years, EQ is going F2P (free-to-play) sometime in early March 2012.

What does this mean?  For hardcore players there will be little change, as a paying subscription is still needed for the full game.  The main change is that the game can get new players to "try out" EQ without cost.

The free game is very limited and will not be something considered by the vast majority of current players.  The best thing for current players is the hopes for new blood in the game as well as monthly free Station Cash to purchase game extras.

Although the F2P status is still with many questions and subject to change at any time, currently it appears that for "Gold" members (those with an auto-pay $14.95 per month account):

Any player with a recurring membership will receive 500 Station Cash per month as long as they stay on an auto-renew payment plan. If you have a recurring membership but you cancel or purchase a non-recurring membership, you will no longer be on an auto-renew payment plan and you will immediately stop receiving the monthly Station Cash bonus even if you have time left on your existing membership.

There are still a lot of questions and everyone should expect some changes as SOE attempts to roll out EQ F2P  over the next few months.

Read the announcement from EQ Producer Thom Terrazas here and the details here.

New LaunchPad Coming Week of January 30, 2012

From EQ Players News:

During the week of January 30, 2012, EverQuest will be upgrading to LaunchPad 4! LaunchPad 4 offers many advantages over previous versions of our LaunchPad software, in that it handles data quicker, more efficiently, and takes less time to update your game.

So what do you need to do to get LaunchPad 4, you ask? It’s very simple. Just continue to use your current launcher for EverQuest as normal, and when EverQuest upgrades it will be automatically downloaded to your computer and installed.

Check out this link for the full information and answers to some questions.

Patch Scheduled Wednesday, January 11, 2012

From the SOE forum:

All EverQuest Live Servers will be coming down on Wednesday, January 11, 2012 at 3:00 am US Pacific* for a Game Update. The servers are estimated to be unavailable for approximately 5 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

All Characters To Get Origin AA Automatically At Level 5

From the SOE forum post by Elidroth, EQ Game Designer:

I'm moving Origin to level 5, auto-grant with the January patch. It's also getting the reuse timer reduced to 30 minutes. The idea of not being able to get back to bind is an outdated concept and basically is just annoying.

Increased Rare Spawns for Frostfell and Double Experience for New Years

From the SOE forum:

Increased Rare Spawns December 23, 2011 to December 26, 2011

Who do you want to see coming down the chimney of your Guildhall this year - Santug Claugg? Only if he’s dropping phat loot! The rare mobs of Norrath have decided to make the rounds this year and will appear quite a bit more often for a limited time!

From 11:00 a.m. Pacific* December 23, 2011 until 11:59 p.m. Pacific* December 26, 2011, we’ll turn up the spawn rate, so get out there and work on your Hunter Achievements!


Double Experience** December 30, 2011 to January 2, 2012

New Year’s Eve is the time to make resolutions… and great experience gains! From 11:00 a.m. Pacific* on December 30, 2011 through 11:59 p.m. Pacific* on January 2, 2012, we’ll dramatically increase experience gains from mob kills to help start the new year with a ding! Make sure you log in during Double Experience** and reap the rewards of EverQuest at New Years!

*Convert To Your Local Time Link

**Experience awarded per kill will be doubled; please note that other modifiers and caps will still be in place and will affect experience gain normally. As a result, total experience gains may vary slightly, depending on each individual’s situation.

Frostfell returns to Norrath December 8, 2011

From this SOE forum thread:

It’s that time of year again, when Santug Claugg gets ready to give presents to the deserving, and sometimes less than deserving, adventurers of Norrath. Starting December 8, 2011 and running through January 8, 2012, Frostfell will be upon us!

All your old favorite quests will be returning this year, whether it be aiding the Frostfell Goblins in saving Santug or commencing Operation: Jolliness to keep Santug in good spirits. There are also a number of New Year’s Adventurers available, so don’t forget Pizimp Nobbletod.

As an added bonus, starting on December 14, 2011, a brand new Frostfell quest will be released! Santug Claugg has become obsessed with the Braxi and wants them to pull his sleigh. Unfortunately there has been an incident with the ship transporting the Braxi to Santug and as a result, Braxi and Gigglegibber Goblins are scattered on beaches throughout Norrath. Make sure to seek them out!

Mercenary Rosters To Come For Real Life Cash Only

Well, the long awaited ability to have several mercs and swap them out as needed arrives on Test Server. However, in a surprise (although it shouldn't be, considering SOE actions lately) it was announced that they will only be available for Station Cash.

One of the most anticipated features we planned to implement this year for EverQuest is now on the Test Server: Mercenary Rosters! No longer will you have to settle on just one Mercenary, but instead you'll be able to maintain a full roster of mercenaries and switch between them as needed. Log on to the Test Server today to see this feature in action and give it a whirl

When Mercenary Rosters travel to the Live Servers, they will be available for purchase via the in game Marketplace in various sizes depending on your personal needs and desires. We can't wait to hear what you think of this new feature and see how you all use it!

See you all on Test!

Follow the flames as players let SOE know how they feel on the issue on the SOE forum thread.

UPDATE:

As I mentioned yesterday, we were still discussing the options and/or availability of obtaining Mercenary Slots via game play methods. Today, we finished up those conversations and have this information to share with you.

There will be two methods (two slots) that you will be able to obtain an additional mercenary slot:

• One will be given for doing VOA content
• & another will be given for tradeskilling

In addition to this, we are also considering having rentable mercenary slots obtainable by numerous ways (not just by means of the Marketplace). Something similar to a 2 hour rentable mercenary that you can either pick the race/class OR...we may have the race randomized.

We're still discussing/considering these final details but at minimum, we will have the first 2 methods available to you by our January update.

As we get closer to the release, we will update you with more details.