Daybreak, All EQ, Down Due to Attack

All Daybreak websites are either down or extremely slow. EverQuest is down. The reason? It appears to be an attack.

• Lizard Squad lashes out after Daybreak Games CEO threatens cyberattacker group
• Harassed Dev Tells Lizard Squad Hacker “I’m Coming For You”

Since the EQ forums are inaccessible, the only news is coming from social media.

Daybreak has posted very little information, only a few posts such as this post on Twitter:

EverQuest retweeted

Daybreak Games ‏@DaybreakGames 1:00 PM - 9 Jul 2015

We are currently investigating reported issues with connectivity both in-game and on our websites/forums. Thank you for your patience.

It appears likely that the game and EQ forums will be down for a while.

UPDATE July 10 11am EDT:  Two hours ago Daybreak announced that service was restored but then four minutes ago they said they are experiencing issues.   Access to Daybreak assets and games is still unreliable if not impossible.

UPDATE July 10 6:49pm EDT: It appears that Daybreak websites and games are up and running.

Crushbone and Permafrost Hardcore Heritage Extended Until July 1

Due to a bug with the raids, Crushbone and Permafrost Hardcore Heritage have been extended.

Yes, this issue is being addressed in the patch on Wednesday 6/17 and we're extending the end date on these Hardcore Heritage zones by a week so that they'll end on 7/1 instead of 6/24 and be available for a full two weeks. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Broken Anniversary Missions to Return Fixed in June

The 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, and 13th Anniversary Missions were reported as having issues with not working (see posts below). Daybreak has announced they will return (fixed) in June.

We've extended the 5th-13th Anniversary Events to July 15th (7/15). They should re-enable after the June update next week [June 17].

"Anniversary" Bug Affects Hardcore Heritage

The same bug reported for Anniversary missions (see post below) is also affecting Hardcore Heritage.

It has been reported that the Hardcore Heritage Crushbone raid is sending people to the normal Crushbone zone instead of the raid instance.

A fix is on the Test server to go live sometime in the near future.

- Corrected an issue causing players entering mission instances of some zones to be teleported to the non-instanced versions.

Still no word from Daybreak if any of the broken missions will be returned this year or extended (for those currently live) due to this bug or if players will have to wait another year before being able to complete them.

Some Anniversary Missions Bugged, No Word If Time To Be Extended

While the anniversary missions are due to end today, some have been reported as being bugged for a while.

When you speak to the quest giver and request to be sent to the mission instance, they instead send you to the normal (non-quest, non-instanced) zone.  This, obviously, makes it impossible to do the mission.

While Daybreak has confirmed these bugs and that they are working on a fix, they have not mentioned whether they will be offered again this year or whether players will have to wait until 2016 to complete them.

"Daybreak Week" Bringing 50% Bonus XP

From "It's Daybreak Week! Help Us Celebrate!":

EverQuest
Want to level up a bit quicker than normal in the game that started it all? Hop in to EQ for 50% Bonus XP, starting at 12AM PDT April 27th and running through 11:59PM PDT May 4th. 

Mercs Reported as Not Working on Balanced

Reports are coming in that, since the patch of April 22, mercenaries do nothing when placed on the Balanced stance.

DBG responded on April 22 to the reports with this post:

Regarding the caster mercenaries, the dev team has been looking into it since the initial reports on test but since none of the changes that were pushed to test/live from beta are directly related to the mercenary systems it's proven to be a bit of a mystery.
Regardless, we'll be poking at all the things until its fixed.

UPDATE:

(Professor's voice) Good news, everyone!
We've tracked down the cause of the mercenary weirdness and are working on the fix now.

A temporary workaround until we patch out a fix is to re-sort the stance list by clicking the blue 'Stance' text at the top of the Manage Mercenary window and then selecting the stance you want the mercenary to take.

Essentially the bug is causing the first option in the stance list to put the mercenary into 'Passive' mode regardless of what stance is listed first.

Thank you to all the players who reported the issue and mentioning that re-ordering the stances fixed it for you, that helped immensely in tracking this one down. 

FURTHER UPDATE:

*** Hotfix ***

- Addressed an issue where the first stance in the Mercenary Manage window would not take effect when trying to set it as the active stance. 

SOE Network Issues Continue into Second Day

Coinciding with the release of SOE's new game H1Z1, SOE began experiencing network issues on Thursday, January 15.   Issues continue into Friday, with the SOE forums still unreachable at times.

Players have reported being unable to log into EverQuest.  The SOE forums are intermittent.  Gameplay is also affected, with lag spikes and players being kicked out of the game.

SOE response to these issues has been very limited, with only a few posts stating they are aware of issues.  On Thursday night, SOE posted a thread, "Continued Login Issues", on their forum, however, accessing it is problematic.

The EverQuest Facebook page, which would seem a good place to update people since the forums are intermittent, has little to say other than a post made yesterday saying they are investigating.

The EverQuest Twitter account also has the same message, with no update.

The best public response from anyone at SOE is SOE President John Smedley's Twitter account, which is stated to not represent SOE and seems to be focused only on H1Z1.

It appears that the launch of H1Z1 is the cause of this problem, since most or all of SOE's games share the same network and login servers.  However, SOE's lack of communication makes it difficult to know for sure.

Arx Mentis Ornament Prices to Drop, Will Appear in Raid Chests

From a post by Roshen, EQ Community Manager, on the SOE EQ forum:

Hey all,

Thanks for your feedback on the Arx Mentis Ornaments. We do want these to be exclusive and a neat bonus for raiders, but we don't want them to be so rare that you never see anyone wearing them.

The price on the Arx Mentis Ornament pieces are being adjusted on Researcher Orbiana. We're bringing Arx Energy Crystals prices down on these cosmetic items, and scaling them a bit. For example boots will be cheaper than a chest or robe.

We're also adding these to Arx Mentis raid chests. : )

Additional information:

 The current plan is to add this as an additional drop to the raid chest for Arx Mentis raid encounters.

Wizard Mercenaries To Be Fixed Next Patch

SOE forum post by Elegist, EQ Developer:

The issue with caster DPS mercs not attacking NPCs with high HP has been fixed. Also, the issue with the caster DPS mercs not moving into casting range if they are too far away has been fixed. These changes should go out with the next patch.

Level 101+ Pre-CotF Content XP Nerf and New Lockouts

From a post by Roshen, SOE Community Relations, on the SOE forum:

As we move into The Darkened Sea, we've made a few changes to ensure that adventuring in the newest content will be the best way to gain experience to advance their characters in both levels and AA points. Playing in the newest content should always be the most attractive, and demolishing content from several expansions ago should not be the fastest way to advance your character.

Once you hit level 101, content released prior to Call of the Forsaken will grant less experience. This includes tasks, rewards, and farming NPCs. If you’re currently planning on banking rewards and tasks from pre-Call of the Forsaken content to help level through The Darkened Sea, you will likely find the rewards to be less-than-awesome once you ding 101. We encourage you to participate in the newest content, and find places in The Darkened Sea to adventure with your friends.

Each Heroic Adventure Will Have a 6-Hour Lock Out

Heroic Adventures are great because they offer scaling content to players of a variety of levels. This content has a long shelf life for players since it can be accessed by players of a wide range of levels.

It’s not really a fun experience to sit in one Heroic Adventure for hours and days at a time, grinding experience to advance a character. Adventure is all about going out into the world of Norrath and doing things! To address this, once The Darkened Sea launches we have placed a lock out of 6-hours on each Heroic Adventure. Our goal is to reward players that explore more of the content, without punishing the players that prefer running a few Heroic Adventures a day with their friends.

We wanted to let you all know about this prior to the launch of The Darkened Sea, so you can start planning how to spend your time in this expansion. We’re excited about the 21st expansion to EverQuest launching on November 11th, 2014 and we hope you are too!

If you’re an All-Access member, you can purchase and play this expansion two weeks early (starting on Tuesday, October 28) and you can take 10% off your purchase of either the Standard or Collector’s Edition of The Darkened Sea!

A number of questions remain on this issue.  See the post to give your feedback and see any replies by SOE.

Note: Roshen updated his initial post to clarify some things.  I have changed the quote above to match.

SOE Network Issues (10/15/14)

SOE forum and logins are not functioning.  Also, some game servers are down.

SOE is aware there are issues.  You can see their updates on it on EQ's Facebook page and their Twitter account.

Some Items to Get Increased Focus Level with TDS

From a SOE forum post by Chandrok, EQ Developer:

The Bloodstained shoulders focus will be upgraded to 105 with the launch of TDS [The Darkened Sea expansion]. CotF [Call of the Forsaken] top tier focus effects will also be extended to level 103.

Large Currency Item "Nobles" To Be Added

Nobles are a new alternate currency type expected to be added in the game in September 2014.  The purpose of Nobles is to enable large money transactions, where the Platinum piece is not enough.  They will be worth the equivalent of 100,000 platinum and Nobles will stack up to 20. They're intended primarily as a way for players to transfer larger amounts of money than the system can currently allow otherwise.

Details on Nobles may change before or after being added to the game.  SOE is currently seeking player input on them.  See this thread on the SOE forum for more information and to give feedback.

No More Pre-Order for Expansions?

It appears that SOE will not have pre-orders for The Darkened Sea.

From this SOE forum post by Elidroth Renato (Doug Cronkhite), Asst. Lead Designer:

Pre-orders actually come from the days when we made a physical box that went on brick and mortar store shelves. We needed to get some idea of how many to manufacture so we didn't have thousands of customers without product, or have thousands of boxes sitting on shelves taking up space that places like Target, Gamestop, and Wal-Mart charge you money for.

Since we've moved to a completely digital product, there is no reason for pre-orders, AND it resolves the account issues that invariably happen every year of someone pre-ordering, our systems giving access to things, only to have their credit card fail processing for whatever reason (typos, denials, etc) and then losing ALL access to their account due to the system backing out the pre-order.

So this year, we've moved to a different system, with All Access members having the opportunity of getting in 2 weeks ahead of FTP players. Oct 28th, All Access players buy the expansion, and are in, immediately. FTP players can then buy the new expansion on Nov 11th. At least I think those are the dates.. I'll check again in the morning when I get to work. End result is a MUCH cleaner system and process with much less chance of problems. 

Call of the Forsaken Tier 2 Raid Loot Tables Changed

For Call of the Forsaken Tier 2 raids:

• Tower of Rot: Lord Kyle Bayle
• Argin-Hiz: Burn Out
• The Void (H): The Journey Home 

"One of the changes that was made in CotF Tier 2 was that only the 5 most used gear lines will drop now. The other lines are still available to purchase on the merchant."

— Chandrok, EQ Developer

The quote is part of this thread on the SOE forums.

Crashing? SOE Wants To Know

From the SOE forum:

Hello Norrathians!

We are currently looking into a potential issue with the game client that is causing crashing and client freezing for some players. If you are currently experiencing this kind of issue, we would like to collect some information from you in order to have these problems addressed. To do this, please open a support ticket with us at http://help.soe.com and include the following:

1. A dxdiag and msinfo file from your system (instructions on how to create these files can be found here: http://help.soe.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/28973 )
2. Are you currently using any custom user interface (UI) add-ons?
3. What zone are you currently encountering these issues in?
4. What server do you currently play on?
5. How long have you been experiencing these issues?

Once your ticket has been submitted please either send me a private message with your ticket number, or post the ticket number as a response to this thread.

As always, if you have any additional questions in the mean time, please let me know and I'll be happy to help.

Thank you!

Memorial Day Weekend Double XP

From a post by Roshen, EQ Community Relations, on the SOE forum:

Get ready to enjoy a 3-day double experience weekend and discounts on some great cosmetic items from the Marketplace!

Starting on Friday, May 23, 2014 at 12:01 PM PDT* and running until Monday, May 26, 2014 at 11:59 PM PDT* players will earn double experience! There will also be an up to 30% discount on the following categories in the Marketplace: Mounts, Armor Visuals, and Character Illusions.

15th Anniversary The Plane of War Raid Permanently Added To Game

From a post by Ellrya, EQ Game Designer, on the SOE forum:

Just a quick update:

The raid is arguably the most difficult in the game right now. It may take some learning, some dying, and some strat adjustment to beat. That being said, we want to make sure that those who invest the time to learn and attempt the event aren't let down if the event goes away while they're making progress. To ensure that doesn't happen, we're going to make the Plane of War raid a permanent part of the Plane of War.

Additional raid tuning won't be happening anytime soon (since it's been Live less than a week!), though we're always happy to have feedback on how the raid can be improved. There's no reason why we wouldn't adjust tuning in the future if the raid ends up being mostly unbeatable, though we'd like to give those currently attempting it a chance to beat it at its intended difficulty.

Double XP: Friday, May 2 through Sunday, May 4

From the SOE forum:

Thank you for your patience while we work to resolve matters surrounding the launch of SOE’s new All Access Membership - read all about it at this link! The implementation of this new membership plan across SOE’s game portfolio has been one of the most complicated updates to our billing system to date. As fellow gamers, we know that this has been frustrating and we sincerely regret any inconvenience this has caused.

We’re working around the clock to ensure these account issues are resolved as quickly as possible. In the meantime, to show our appreciation for your patience and understanding, we offer the following:

• EverQuest® – Double XP from Friday, May 2, 12:00 noon PDT to Sunday, May 4th, 11:59pm PDT
• EverQuest II – Double XP from Friday, May 2, 12:00 noon PDT to Sunday, May 4th, 11:59pm PDT
• Landmark – Adding 7 additional days to any 7-day Closed Beta keys that were active during the downtime. This will be applied on Friday, May 2, 12:00 noon PDT
• DC Universe™ Online – 50 Replay Badges will be granted to all DCUO players who logged in between 12:01am April 24 - 11:59pm April 30, 2014. The grant will occur after DCUO's regular 4:00am PDT downtime on Friday, May 2, 2014.
• Dragon’s Prophet – Douple XP from Friday, May 2, 12:01am to Monday, May 5, 11:59pm
• PlanetSide 2 – Double XP from Friday, May 2, 12:01am PDT to Sunday, May 4, 11:59pm PDT

NOTE: All times are given in PDT. Click here to convert to your local time!

Thank you for your continued support, from all of us at SOE!

Mark Tuttle
SOE Director of Ecommerce

EverQuest To Go All Access April 29

On or about April 23 April 29, all Gold EverQuest members will have their plans changed to SOE All Access memberships.

There should be just three changes:

• In addition to being a Gold EQ member, you will also have equivalent access in EverQuest II, DC Universe Online PC, PlanetSide 2 PC, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, and the upcoming EverQuest Next and Landmark.
• Instead of just receiving your monthly 500 Station Cash automatically, you must now log in each month at least once to receive that month's Station Cash.   Upon logging in, it will be granted.
• All Access members will receive a 10% discount on most Marketplace purchases.

SOE also plans to include Dragon’s Prophet in some form in the future.

There is also some mention of "exclusive promotions and offers throughout the year".

There should be no changes in your cost to play EverQuest, you just gain additional access to their other games.

For full information and a FAQ list, see The Revised SOE ALL ACCESS PROGRAM FAQ!

UPDATE:  Roshen, EQ Community Relations posted:

 Dear Players,

In an effort to ensure that the transition to the new All Access membership plan is as seamless as possible, we are going to be taking a little more time to test. So, we will be pushing the launch date of All Access to Tuesday, April 29th. Because of the portfolio-wide nature of this plan, this may prevent us from doing any individual game updates in EverQuest, EverQuest II, Planetside 2, and DC Universe Online. These updates will resume normally after the All Access launch. We appreciate your patience and you’ll agree that our new membership offering is worth the wait.

Sigil of the Blade and Sigil of Thokk Augments Wrong, To Be Fixed

The Sigil of the Blade and Sigil of Thokk damage augmentations have their values reversed.  Sigil of the Blade should have the 16 damage (as a 2 handed weapon aug) and the Sigil of Thokk should have the 10 damage (as a 1 handed weapon aug).

They were mistakenly reversed.

They will be changed in the next patch.

SOE statements here and here.

Heroic Stats to be Added to Rain of Fear Weapons

From a post by Chandrok, EQ Developer, on the SOE EQ forum:

I had overlooked the fact that RoF weapons did not have heroics when these items were made. Heroics will be added to RoF weapons in the next update.

"Part 3" of Call of the Forsaken Expected in May

From the Happy Birthday EverQuest! post on the SOE EQ forum by Thom Terrazas, EQ Producer:

 Call of the Forsaken Content

We are planning our next set of content that ties into the Call of the Forsaken expansion for May. That is our current plan - It shouldn’t change but if it does, we will keep you posted.

Double XP and Lockout Reduced Weekend Friday, March 14 to Sunday, March 16 [March 20 for Lockout]

From the Happy Birthday EverQuest! post on the SOE EQ forum by Thom Terrazas, EQ Producer:

Bonus XP Weekend!

Starting on Friday, March 14, we will have a Bonus XP weekend that runs through Sunday, March 16. Remember that Bonus XP will vary for some players with all the XP modifiers in game and with XP Potions available. While we call it bonus, it will be double XP for most players.

Lockout Timers Reduced!

Also starting Friday March 14, Lockout timers will be significantly reduced through March 20th! More loot for everyone! Stay tuned for messaging about rare mobs spawning more often in the next week.

UPDATE: SOE announced more details:

Bonus XP will start in about 30mins (~noon Pacific time [Friday]). It'll end Sunday at midnight.

Lockout Timer Reduction will reduce lockouts by 30%. This will also start in about 30mins (~noon Pacific time [Friday]) and end at midnight at Thurs, March 20.

UPDATE AGAIN:  SOE announcement (same info as above in a direct statement).

Patch Scheduled February 19, 2014

Not officially announced but 99% likely.  From the February 13 Developer Chat:

JenarieEQ: easy question piestro - is there a date for patch or is 'sometime next week but not monday' still the best guestimate  :)
Piestro [EQ Community Relations]: Patch will be on the 19th Jenarie *99%*

EQ Developer Chat Transcript

On February 13, 2014, SOE had a EQ Developer chat where players could ask the Devs questions.  Here is a link to the transcript of the chat:

EQ Resource: February 13, 2014 - EverQuest Developer Chat Transcript

UCS Stability Change

The Universal Chat Service (UCS) has been unstable, failing, and causing massive spam for about a month or more now.

SOE has finally addressed players regarding the issue by posting:

As may know, we have been occasionally running into UChat issues where for periods of time the chat service will continually reconnect. We are continuing to investigate these issues and in an attempt to help with the stability of this server we will be switching the server back to a limit of 200 players per channel.

This change will go into effect later this afternoon.

We will also continue to monitor the servers and continue reviewing our diagnostics tools to see where we can address the stability issues.

We understand how important UChat is and we're asking that you please let us know in this thread if you see anymore issues (or if the problem persists).

Jenn Chan
Technical Director, EverQuest

Gold Member Monthly Free Station Cash To Change

From the SOE forum:

Dear EverQuest Gold Members,

We regularly evaluate our offerings at SOE to ensure we are consistently delivering great games and products, while also offering exceptional value to our players. Given that we just started a new year it seemed like the perfect time to add more value!

The week of February 3rd, 2014 we will be making a very important change to the Gold Membership level in EverQuest The current benefit of receiving 500 Station Cash (SC) monthly will be replaced with a new program that allows you to select one single item valued up to 2000 SC each month. Nearly all items within the games’ Marketplace will be available for this selection. Players Studio, bundles and additional exclusions may apply. This new benefit must be claimed each month that you are a member as it will not carry over to subsequent months.

We appreciate our customers, especially our valued members, and therefore are excited to bring you this additional value.

Thank you for your continued support and we look forward to seeing you in game soon.

Best,

Sony Online Entertainment

UPDATE: In response to player complaints, SOE has changed it back to 500 SC per month. However, you must log in each month to receive it.

Hate Rising Beta Opens, Some Details Revealed

SOE has opened the Beta for Hate Rising. In addition, they have revealed some details on what to expect:

• No new zones.
• More Heroic Adventures.
• "There are no new spells / AAs for the Call of the Forsaken: Hate Rising."

As more details become available, Fanra's EverQuest Wiki's Hate Rising page will be updated.

SOE Announces EQ New Year's Events

No details, but there will be some New Year's events.  From the December EQ Producer's Letter in the SOE forum:

 That’s next year [Hate Rising], but before this year ends, we have some exciting Quests and Missions as part of our New Years [sic] events that kickoff on December 26th and last through the middle of January. You can speak to several friends in the Plane of Knowledge to get started on the 26th!

UPDATE: Unfortunately, it appears there are no new quests or missions this year.

Call of the Forsaken Part 2 "Hate Rising" to Come in January

From the December EQ Producer's Letter in the SOE forum:

 Just around the corner in January, we will be launching Call of the Forsaken: Hate Rising. In Hate Rising, you will be able to continue your adventure with all new Heroic Adventures, new raids and missions; new equippable gear across group and raid content, and a nice set of rare items you’ll hardly believe.

Also, a big change will be coming to our Heroic Adventures. We have scaled our existing Heroic Adventures by level, so you can play this exciting content earlier. So that means if you are level 85 and you haven’t played Call of the Forsaken yet, you will now be able to receive the tasks and quests from the quest givers. A little side note on level spread for missions: stay tuned for some more information from Prathun in the very near future on what we’re hoping to accomplish!

Call of the Forsaken: Hate Rising will go into an Open Beta early January. If you participated in Beta for the expansion, you will be able to enter as soon as we launch. If you did not participate beforehand, don’t fret. We’ll have a timeframe in January that you’ll be able to apply and get in very quickly, and soon discover how an iconic EverQuest character will play a large role in Norrath over the next year.

As we learn more, the Fanra's EverQuest Wiki Hate Rising page will be updated.

SOE Live 2014 Announced

From SOE Live news:

SAN DIEGO – Dec. 12, 2013 – Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE) today announced that its annual community fan event, SOE Live, will take place at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas on Aug. 14 – Aug. 17, 2014.

...

Additional information will be announced in the upcoming months.

SOE Live tickets will be available for purchase in early 2014.

What's To Come In 2014

Here are some things that SOE has announced to come in 2014. EQ Producer Thom “Phathom” Terrazas has posted his November Producer's Letter which says:

• Heroic Adventures will be opened up to lower level characters.
• Explains more about how mercenary AA experience works.
• Journeyman 5 Mercenaries: Changing some of the aspects of the quest to smooth out how you achieve them and possibly have another means of obtaining this tier.
• More content, all free, but some will require Call of the Forsaken.  Including more Call of the Forsaken storylines.
• EverQuest’s 15th Anniversary in March:
• New Race/Class combinations - Froglok Monk and one other to be announced.
• Plane of War
• Player designed missions - missions designed (well, actually, just the concept was designed by players, the nuts and bolts are being done by SOE) at SOE Live by participants there.
• Heroic Characters -  In EQ2, returning players can create a Level 85 Character.  Something similar to, but slightly different, will be coming to EQ.

Read the entire letter if you want more details.

Patch Scheduled Wednesday November 6

Lots of bug fixes in this patch.

From SOE forum:

All EverQuest Live Servers will be brought offline on Wednesday, November 6, 2013 at 5:00 am US Pacific*. The servers are estimated to be unavailable for approximately 3 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

Patch Scheduled Thursday October 10

From the SOE EQ forum:

All EverQuest Live Servers will be brought offline on Thursday, October 10, 2013 at 6:00 am US Pacific*. 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

SK Merchant, Wizard Mercs Among Bugs To Be Fixed

From the SOE forum:

It's a bug [wizard mercenary low dps]. We've identified the cause of the bug, haven't tested the fix yet. Once we're ready we'll let you folks know when we're patching in the fix.

 Also from the SOE forum:

It's a bug [no Ethernere Tainted West Karana Shadow Knight spell / disc vendor], we have a fix incoming for this.

Patch Scheduled Monday Night for Call of the Forsaken Release

From the SOE EQ forum:

All EverQuest Live Servers will be brought offline on Monday, October 7, 2013 at 8:00 pm US Pacific* for the release of EverQuest: Call of the Forsaken! The servers are estimated to be unavailable for approximately 14 hours. Keep an eye on the EverQuest forums for status updates and for news if additional downtime is needed.

*Time Zone Converter

Call of the Forsaken: October 8

SOE has announced a date for CotF:

Hello my Norrathian Friends!

Since SOE Live, the team has been cranking away at the Expansion, Call of the Forsaken. It gives me extreme pleasure to work on EverQuest right now with such a creative team, delivering to you, the 20th Expansion this Fall.

Beta for Call of the Forsaken started soon after SOE Live and we are now extending Beta through October 7th. That also means we are moving the launch of the expansion a couple weeks as well to October 8, 2013. If you haven’t jumped into the Beta yet, there is still time to adventure through some of our new zones like Bixie Warfront and Neriak Fourth Gate before they go live! We are flagging accounts daily and we welcome everyone to check out the expansion and send us feedback while we finish with polish and tuning. More information on Beta Sign Ups

If you have been following the expansion details, then you will know that one of the biggest features for Call of the Forsaken is the customization with Mercenaries with their own AAs and power-added Armor. To give everyone a taste of what to experience with the new Mercenary Armor, we are giving everyone that Pre-Orders Call of the Forsaken before October 7, an exclusive piece of Mercenary Armor. We hope you will check out the expansion on Beta and take advantage of the Pre-Order exclusive item! More information on Pre-Orders and In-Game Rewards

Our Big Bags bring all the boys to the yard! That’s right, last Friday we started a Super Sonic Sack Sales Spectacular with Big Bags back in the Marketplace. They will be available for a couple weeks so be sure to get yours before they are gone.

I want to thank all of you checking in and reading my letter. The EverQuest team is excited with much anticipation to bring you the 20th expansion in just two weeks from today. If that isn’t rewarding enough for us, we are already discussing ways we can continue the storylines in additional game updates that tie into the expansion throughout the year.

See you in game soon!

Thom Terrazas
Senior Producer, EverQuest
Sony Online Entertainment, LLC.

What we've got here...

...is failure to communicate.

Currently seen as a patch note for the Test Server, no word from SOE on the following:

 - The Hardcore Heritage events in Nagafen's Lair and Castle Mistmoore have been extended by one week. They now end on Monday, September 30th.
- Giants, Giants, Giants and Dragons, Dragons, Dragons return! They will be available from September 27th, 2013 to October 28th, 2013.

So we don't know for sure if this is going live or not.

SOE Fires People, Stifles Discussion

From the SOE EQ forum:

Today we announced a reduction in our workforce at SOE. As a company, our goal is to focus on our core expertise of MMO games and as part of these efforts, we had to make the difficult decision to eliminate positions to help reduce costs, streamline our employee base and strategically align resources towards our current portfolio of games and upcoming slate of MMOs, including EverQuest Next Landmark and EverQuest Next. We deeply value our employees and are grateful for all they’ve contributed to our company and games. They will be missed by colleagues and friends, and we wish them well in the future.

Out of respect for our employees, we request that you do not discuss personnel matters on our forums. Thank you for your understanding.

What does it mean? Who knows, we are not allowed to ask.

I can understand not wanting 500 forum posts of rumors flying asking who was laid off and what it means for the future of EQ, but we are left with nothing but questions.

How will it affect EQ?   We don't know.  Only SOE knows and they aren't talking.  But it sure doesn't look good.

Hardcore Heritage Lord Nagafen Raid Due, Soon™

Posted by Prathun, EQ Developer, on the SOE EQ forum:

Hello,
The Nagafen HH raid has been taken offline temporarily until we are able to address a zone crash bug. We're sorry for the inconvenience. It should be back up early next week, and we'll extend the duration of the event to make up for the downtime.
-Prathun

UPDATE: The raid is back but it still has problems:

Here's the thing.. The event isn't crashing. In reality, the zone isn't crashing either. Something is causing the static zone AND the instance to freak out so badly that the world server disconnects the zone. It's still up, but not responding to anything because the CPU is running at 130% and is just going NUTS. It's hung, but never actually explodes.

Worse.. because the zone never actually crashes, there is no crash log, so chasing what's going on is that much harder. We've found ZERO repeatability on this. In fact, neither myself, nor QA has EVER been able to make it do this. We literally can't make it happen. I've looked over every single element of this raid, regardless of how small or big it might be. I can find nothing wrong with my event. We're still trying though. Today was obviously a rough day though all around. I wish I had a better update.

As for the duration of the event, we're going to leave it up longer. We're going to make sure you guys get plenty of time to play with it. I've also reduced the lockout timer on the event to 2.5 days (something we're eventually going to do with ALL limited duration events).

Call of the Forsaken Beta Begins

From a SOE EQ forum post by Phathom, EQ Developer:

Hello all!

Tomorrow [August 21], we will be launching the Call of the Forsaken Beta and we will be sending out notices to let you know when you can download and help test the new expansion. Beta will last for approximately 4-6 weeks. We have a lot of people signed up ready to test things out so to keep the numbers steadily trickling in, we will be steadily flagging accounts into Beta. If you not get an invitation to join the beta tomorrow, keep on the lookout for an invitation over the next couple of days or next two weeks. Everyone that signs up for beta within this next week, will get into the beta before it ends.

Thank you for helping us test this expansion, the 20th expansion for EverQuest!

See you in Norrath!

Patch Scheduled Wednesday August 21, 2013

Still lacking details, but from a post on the SOE EQ forum by Prathun, EQ Developer:

We are updating on the 21st. The changes to the Creep Reaper toilers should be in place when the servers come back up.

Tier 4 Progression Charms Bugged, To Be Fixed

The Rain of Fear tier 4 charms that improve as you progress are currently not giving the stats they should. Posted on the EQ forum by Chandrok, EQ Developer:

There was an error with the stat calculations of tier 4 progression charms. They will be working correctly next patch.

Heart of Fear Live

From the SOE EQ forum:

Heart of Fear Launches Today!
We're excited to bring you the conclusion of stories you have been experiencing for the past three years with the Heart of Fear today!

Three years ago, new mysteries began with the House of Thule expansion. These mysteries have extended into the next two expansions, Veil of Alaris and Rain of Fear and the highest drama concludes within the Heart of Fear launch today. You can experience the final stories as you adventure deep within the Heart of Fear and discover the final questions focused around Cazic Thules remaining power.

Access to Heart of Fear
With your purchase of the Rain of Fear expansion, you recieve content released with the Rain of Fear in November 2012, the Shadow of Fear released in April 2013 and ultimately the Heart of Fear released today.

Enjoy your adventures in Norrath and thank you for checking out the Heart of Fear!

Patch Scheduled: July 16

From the SOE EQ forum:

All EverQuest Live Servers will be brought offline on Tuesday, July 16, 2013 at 4:00 am US Pacific*. The servers are estimated to be unavailable for approximately 4 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

It is expected that Heart of Fear (Rain of Fear Tier 4) will be released with this patch.

Stone Tear Changes in July Patch

In a SOE EQ forum thread about the Stone Tear evolving item, Dzarn, EQ Developer, announces some changes to make things a little easier for those working on it, as well as an increased final item.

I found some time to work on the tear.

First the bad news. The evolving item system does not function if the item is an augment. The way the system is coded requires that an evolving item be in an equipment slot for it to work. So you have my apologies that that item is still eating your ammo / charm / face slot. [Note that once it fully evolves to level 20 you can change it to a Type 3 augmentation]

Next, the less bad news. I've again dropped the experience scale required to level the tear from 1-20, somewhat dramatically. Halfway through what used to be level 17 will now be level 20...

[He posts a chart displaying the changes]

Finally I've adjusted the relative experience given by the Fragments of Legendary Alaran history so running the task is an even more rewarding endeavor than it has been...

[He posts a chart displaying the changes]

Another change I've sneaked in. Alaran and Undead Alaran NPCs in Veil of Alaris and Rain of Fear non-raid zones that are at least level 90 now have a small percent (1% in VoA and 1.5% in RoF) chance of dropping a Fragment of Legendary Alaran History.

Finally I've added some additional stats to the tear as it progresses, which is mainly moot because only the defense skill mod will benefit you if the item is equipped in the ammo slot, but it adds an extra incentive to reach level 20 for the augment version of the item.

Double XP: July 4 to July 7

From the SOE EQ forum:

It’s a Double XP Weekend! Starting at 12:01 am on Thursday, July 4th you’ll enjoy earning twice the XP as you adventure in Norrath. But don’t miss out! This bonus will go away Sunday, July 7th at 11:59 pm PDT.

Heart of Fear Beta Officially Opens

From EverQuest - Community News:

Well, that moment is now. We are opening up Beta today – Officially! If you have signed up for Beta with Rain of Fear and/or Shadow of Fear, you can get into the last saga of the Rain of Fear, the Heart of Fear.

The Heart of Fear is a story that started with the House of Thule Expansion in 2010. It continued with the Veil of Alaris in 2011 and has carried through the Rain of Fear expansion in November. We have subsequently delivered the final chapters of this plot in the Shadow of Fear Game Update in April and you discover the climactic ending within the Heart of Fear coming this July.

All Extended Target AAs to be Auto Granted in July

Elidroth, EQ Developer, posted on the SOE EQ forum:

Just a heads up.. I'm auto-granting these AA starting with the July game update. This is a UI feature and really doesn't belong locked behind gameplay.

No AA points will be refunded if you've already purchased these in the past.

Before anyone asks, we want to do the same with Leadership AA, but this is something out of my control, and will require code time to implement properly. It IS however, on our to-do list.

Beta Server for Rain of Fear Tier 4 Update Up, Unofficially

From the SOE EQ forum comes the news that the Beta Server is up, but not officially.  Those who were in the Beta for Rain of Fear / Shadow of Fear should be able to check it out.

The usual rules and cautions apply, nothing is set in stone yet.

The Beta forums will be up for those in the Beta, once SOE officially opens Beta.

Important Ssraeszhian Armor Bug Fix Coming In July

Posted by Elidroth, EQ Developer, on the SOE EQ forum:

As many of you know, the Hero's Forge Ssraeszhian Armor was mistakenly flagged as being usable by all classes for all armor types. While this is a situation we need to fix, at the same time we don't want to penalize those of you who have already acquired some of this armor. As a result, the following solution will go into effect with the release of the July game update:

All existing pieces of armor will be renamed, and will no longer drop from NPCs in Norrath. We will NOT be removing these from the world, and anyone who has these pieces now may keep them. A new set of identical looking, but correctly flagged armor will begin dropping in its place. Achievements will also be revised to point to the new replacement armor.

Double XP Weekend - May 24-27, 2013

From the SOE EQ forum:

It’s a Double XP Weekend! Starting Friday, May 24th you’ll enjoy earning twice the XP as you adventure in Norrath. But don’t miss out! This bonus will go away Monday, May 27th at 11:59 pm PDT.

Emergency Server Downtime: Friday, May 24, 2013

From the SOE EQ forum:

All EverQuest Servers will be brought offline on Friday, May 24, 2013 at 6:30 am US Pacific* to address a pressing issue. The servers are estimated to be unavailable for approximately 1.5 hours (90 minutes). We apologize for the inconvenience.

But good news! During this downtime, we will also activate the Memorial Day Weekend Double Experience Bonus a few hours early! Enjoy the boost throughout the long weekend.

Keep an eye on the EverQuest website and the forums for status updates and for news if additional downtime is needed.

*Time Zone Converter

Patch Scheduled Tuesday, May 14

From the SOE EQ forum:

All EverQuest Live Servers will be brought offline on Tuesday, May 14, 2013 at 5:00 am US Pacific*. The servers are estimated to be unavailable for approximately 3 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

SOE Discusses Content Release Plans

In a SOE forum thread, Piestro, EQ Community Relations, discusses SOE's plans to release content:

We've changed the way we release content. For the last couple years we released an expansion with a big chunk of content. Then we waited another year and did it again. This created a system of content glut followed by content drought. It wasn't a bad system, but it didn't accomplish all our goals.

We've moved to Expansion + Game Updates. This was intentional, and is meant to address the issues that arose in the system above. Rain of Fear is the first time we've done this, but it's our plan from this point on*. This way we can continue to provide people with new things to do at different times of the year.

This is going to take a little work, before things run as smoothly as they did with the old model. We were used to the old model, you were used to the old model. Change can be a little difficult sometimes. Definitely give us your feedback on what you'd like to see.

*Normal caveat that this can change in the future, and 10 years from now you can't hold this post up as evidence that we've promised to do this forever and ever. If we find better solutions, we may change the way we release content again, and again, and again.

Patch Scheduled Wednesday April 24, 2013

From the SOE forum:

All EverQuest Live Servers will be brought offline on Wednesday, April 24, 2013 at 5:00 am US Pacific*. The servers are estimated to be unavailable for approximately 3 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

Patch Scheduled April 17, 2013

From the SOE forum:

All EverQuest Live Servers will be brought offline on Wednesday, April 17, 2013 at 3:00 am US Pacific* for the Shadow of Fear Game Update. The servers are estimated to be unavailable for approximately 5 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

EverQuest Forum Downtime: Thursday, April 11, 2013

From the SOE EQ Forum:

We will be doing some work on the EverQuest forums on Thursday, April 11, 2013. The forums will be inaccessible from 12:00 pm (Noon) to 4:00 pm PDT*. We apologize for the inconvenience, and look forward to chatting with you again once the forums are back up and running!

During the forum downtime, you can find news and updates on our website, Facebook, and Twitter.

*Convert to local time

Double Station Cash - March 29 to March 31

From the SOE forum:

Starting tomorrow, get Double Station Cash between March 29th-31st when you buy Station Cash or redeem an SOE Pre-Paid Station Cash card.*

Stock up on Pre-Paid Station Cash cards now to take advantage of this special offer!
Be on the lookout for special deals on the Marketplace, too!

*Offer valid from 12:01 AM PDT March 29, 2013 to 11:59PM PDT March 31, 2013. Double Station Cash offer excludes purchases made via SMS.

Game Patch Wednesday, March 27, 2013

From EQ Community News:

Server Downtime – Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Posted On 03/26/2013

All EverQuest Live Servers will be brought offline on Wednesday, March 27, 2013 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

Shadow of Fear Beta Signups Open

From the SOE EQ forum:

If you did not participate in the Rain of Fear Beta but you would like to help us test the Shadow of Fear Game Update, please sign up for Beta using this link: https://account.station.sony.com/authenticated/beta/betaRegistration.action?betaId=17&theme=eq

Once you sign up, we'll try and get your account flagged as quickly as possible.

Thank you and see you in game!

Shadow of Fear Beta Opens

The Shadow of Fear Beta has begun.  Also, Piestro confirms that the name is "Shadow" of Fear and not "Shadows" of Fear.

Hey folks,

The EverQuest Game Update: Shadow of Fear Beta is now live! Currently everyone flagged for the Rain of Fear Beta has been allowed access to the Shadow of Fear Beta and Beta Forums. We will be opening up signups for the Beta for those who are interested sometime in the fairly near future.

This Beta is different in several ways from our recent Betas, so I wanted to call these changes out specifically.

• Universal Chat is still active
• There is no NDA on the Shadow of Fear Beta

While there is no NDA for the Beta, we do ask that you still limit discussion of Beta to the Beta forums. Our developers are going to be very active in reading feedback in those forums specifically; if you post feedback elsewhere, it will be missed. Similarly, discussing Beta contents with people who aren’t in Beta isn’t very productive. If you want to discuss Beta, it’s much better to get involved in the Beta yourself. Once our signups are open we will be very quick in handing out invites, so don’t worry!

For those of you who need to download the Beta Client, it is available here. Old Man Thorren in the Plane of Knowledge is happy to help you journey to the new zones.

Thanks, and I’ll be seeing a lot of you in Beta!

Piestro
Community Relations Manager - EverQuest

Special 14th Anniversary Stuff Beginning Now

From the EQ forum:

• From March 8, 2013 to March 17, 2013 Rare Mobs and Faction Gains/Losses will be dramatically increased. Grind faction and get loot!
• Starting March 11, 2013 and going till March 17, 2013 Lockout Timers will be reduced by 30%. Do more of what you want, when you want!
• From March 15, 2013 through March 17, 2013 it’s Double XP time! Whether it’s getting your main some levels or AA, or leveling up a new alt, everyone loves Double XP!
• Starting on March 13, 2013 and lasting until April 26, 2013, all our previous Anniversary Quests and content will be turned on. Don't miss any of these oldies but goodies!
• Starting on March 13, 2013 and lasting until May 26, 2013, all our new Anniversary Quests and content will be turned on. This party isn’t just going all night – it’s going for two months!

Virtual Blood Drive in Celebration of Wars Sheol

From EQ Resource:

In Everquest and Everquest II he played a dark elf warrior named Wars Sheol, but in real life he battled cancer his whole life.

Wars was born with Xeroderma PigmentosumPigmentosum (XP)(Xeroderma Pigmentosum (XP) http://www.xps.org/), a rare form of skin cancer. Later, he was also diagnosed with Accute Myelogenous Leukemia (http://www.clevelandclinicmeded.com/medicalpubs/diseasemanagement/hematology-oncology/acute-myelogenous-leukemia).

He beat the odds and lived longer than the world of medicine expected. As a child he participated in a research project that has helped children born with cancer have better lives. He fought hard against the diseases that stalked him. But Wars' fight ended on 2/9/2013.

His in game greeting was always "WARS!!" He was willing to help other players do a raid, camp a mob, get experience points, or farm for trade skill ingredients. His home in EQ was a castle and was featured in the Norrathian Home Show.

He did not just play EQ and EQII - he was involved in making the game better; volunteering to serve on the Community Round Table and he helped beta test several expansions. At a Fan Fair, he was part of a group that suggested explaining Fippy Darkpaw's suicidal run.

Always soft spoken but outgoing, he met everyone as a friend. He also loved pictures - he really enjoyed posing with the Firiona Vie models and all of his friends.

When the doctors told him that he only had weeks to live, in typical Wars fashion, he looked for a way to reach out and help others. Having had a lifetime of transfusions, he knew that a pint of blood could make life better. In lieu of flowers, he asked his friends and family to donate blood at the American Red Cross. Those of us who are his friends are calling on the gaming community to join the drive.

If giving at the American Red Cross, please ask the American Red Cross for a card and write that you are giving for "EQ-WARS!". Those cards will be directed to his family. If you prefer to donate directly to a local community blood bank or cancer center, that is good too. No matter the venue, if you donate blood in Wars' honor, please send an email to eqwarsblooddrive@gmail.com with the state in which you donated. His family will be kept informed about the number donations reported to the email address.

Feel free to spread the word about this virtual blood drive to your guild and any gamer friends. Let's make the expression "going viral" mean something good!

In game he chose to be warrior; in real life he showed grace, courage and nobility while facing a really big boss mob. Whether you personally played with Wars, met him at a Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) gathering, or just want to help, please consider donating blood to help us build a positive living legacy in honor and celebration of a gentle giant who called himself WARS!!

Thank you,
Adisson - EQ, Xegony Crystilla, EQ, Erollisi Marr
Cleranee EQ Xegony Dulcolax, EQ, Xegony
Guilian Rumrunner, EQ, Xegony In Via Damnum Guild, EQ Xegony
Jmorgana EQ Xegony Jethal Silverwing, EQ II
Kalbit EQ Xegony Larksong, EQ, Xegony
Maddoctor EQ Xegony Majandra, EQ, Xegony
Moltok, EQ, Xegony Mrizx, EQ, Xegony
Muffinstalker, EQ, Xegony Raeril, EQ, Xegony
Senwars, EQ, Xegony Teodor Aurora, EQ, Xegony
Tekilla, EQ, Xegony Wolana Phoenixfyre, Xegony
Xensothertoon on Xegony Zanzemara Aurora, EQ, Xegony
Zoraab, EQ, Xegony

14th Anniversary and Shadows of Fear Announced

SOE has announced plans for the 14th Anniversary celebration and for part two of RoF: "Shadows of Fear".

The 14th Anniversary will begin March 16 and will bring back all the old anniversary quests and have new ones.  Included will be some 2012 SOE Live player created quests.

Also, the Epic Weapon Ornamentation quests will finally go live for the anniversary.  If you have an epic weapon, you can do quests to get an ornamentation to make your current weapon look like your epic.

We knew that there were pieces missing from Rain of Fear.  Well, they are scheduled to arrive in April and are entitled "Shadows of Fear".  It will be free for all those who purchased Rain of Fear.

Read more about this and other news in the forum post by EQ Producer Thom Terrazas.

Signs of More RoF Content To Come...

In a thread on the SOE forum, player Axxius goes over the signs that more Rain of Fear content (tiers 3 and maybe 4) are on the way:

The facts:

1. RoF was released Nov 28. There were 3 portals in SL with nothing but the base, and the NPCs at them saying that they were building them. The big shard in the middle was askew and not really big.
2. Exactly 30 days later, on Dec 28, the 3 portals became 1/3 built, the NPCs near them started giving hints about their destinations, the big shard became bigger and vertical, and a new NPC appeared near it talking about the Heart of Fear.
3. Exactly 30 days later, on Jan 27, the 3 portals became 2/3 built and gained emotes for trying to enter them, the big shard became even bigger and also gained an emote for clicking on its supports.
4. Feb 26 is 30 days after Jan 27. (what? it IS a fact! )
5. In the podcast after the release of RoF SOE producer mentioned that there will be additional content releases between the expansions.
6. RoF T2 contents ends in a mystery: an entity named Lupex steals the fear shard that was used by King Xorbb and disappears. The lore text suggests that we will soon meet Lupex again. King Xorbb doesn't have any of the endboss attributes, that whole ordeal was just a story of 2 halfings getting into something much bigger than they intended. The main storyline of the expansion (assembling the crystallized essence of Fear to bring back Cazic-Thule) remains unresolved.
7. The main artwork for RoF depicts Terris Thule, Morell Thule, Brell and Tunare fighting against an army of what appears to be Alarans in a place that looks similar to Plane of Fear. None of the content of the T1 or T2 zones relates to that in any way. None of those 4 gods appear in T1 or T2.
8. Multiple SOE devs mentioned on twitter/facebook that they are working on new zones. When asked about letting players test it, the answer was 'we'll consider it'.
9. EQ client supports 5 new zones that are not patched in yet (1 of them was patched to Beta near the end of RoF beta testing): Chelsith Reborn, Plane of Shadow, Plane of Mischief (new), The Heart of Fear, and Burned Woods. The first 4 of them are perfect match for the destinations suggested by the NPCs at the incomplete portals and the big shard.
10. Shard's Landing uses Terris Thule, Shissar Emperor and some other models that currently do not spawn there.
11. New focuses higher than T2 and new spells with names and descriptions suggesting new boss fights have been added in the last patch.

The speculation:

1. New content is most definitely coming.
2. There will be tier(s) higher than T2.
3. Portals to at least 3 new zones should open on Feb 26.

SOE declined to comment at this time.  They often don't like to announce things until they are "ready".

I do consider it highly unlikely the new zones will open on February 26. I expect it to be March at the very earliest and more likely May (March and April are usually busy with anniversary stuff).

Berserker Usable RoF 2Handers To Get Boost

From Chandrok, EQ Developer, on the SOE forum:

All 2h weapons that are usable by berserkers will be retuned to the correct ratios for their tiers. Obviously T2 weapons will be better than tier 1. Here's a list of the weapons that are changing. Although some of these are slower than a berserker would want to use, these will all be adjusted up.

Meljeldin, Bane of Giants
The Frozen's Grudge
Kreztik's Blistering Judgment
Strength of Valor
Dragoncold Lance
Shadeblade
Frosthewn Greathammer
Unspoken Deliverance
Draining Ire of the Glen Liege
Weight of Duty
Enkindling Pike

Hero's Forge To Go On A Diet

So far only seen on the EQ Producer's Twitter account, news that at least some of the Hero's Forge armor graphics will someday not look like you are wearing five sets of underwear underneath them.

 From Thom Terrazas' Twitter account:

Human female, Current plate - Future plate

Current chain - Future chain

Iksar female: Current plate - Future plate

"Splash" Spells Broken, Enkindling Pike Nerf Intended, Collection Spawns Look Different

All "splash" type spells appear to be broken.  From a post by Elidroth, EQ Developer, on the SOE forum:

It's actually looking like all free-target spells aren't working. We're looking into it.

The WAR PAL RNG SHD BER weapon Enkindling Pike was nerfed.  The damage was changed from 265 to 257.  From a post by Chandrok, EQ Developer, on the SOE forum:

This was an intentional change that happened at the same time as the change to Meljeldin, Bane of Giants. It was my error that this was not mentioned in the patch notes.

So far the February 13 patch seems to have fixed most Collection items.  The spawn points of them now look different:

Some Collection items are still bugged.  This thread on the SOE forum covers most of the issues, if you don't mind searching through a (currently) 12 page thread.

Patch Scheduled Wednesday, February 13, 2013

From the SOE forum:

All EverQuest Live Servers will be brought offline on Wednesday, February 13, 2013 at 4:00 am US Pacific* for a Game Update. The servers are estimated to be unavailable for approximately 4 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

Server Downtime: Thursday, January 17, 2013

From the SOE EQ forum:

Server Downtime - Thursday, January 17, 2013

All EverQuest Live Servers will be brought offline on Thursday, January 17, 2013 at 7:00 am US Pacific* for a hot fix to fix instability related to commerce servers. The servers are estimated to be unavailable for approximately 2-3 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

Art Imitates Art?

I was going to call this Life Imitates Art, but this isn't real life .

I'm wondering if someone at SOE is also a fan of The Noob comic or they just got the idea independently.

Because here is Fred the Dread from The Noob:


and here is what I discovered in today's patch:


Coincidence? Either way, it looks like I've spoiled the surprise coming soon. I like the hats a lot. I just hope they also don't hide your eyes like too many EQ hats do for some strange reason.

Patch Scheduled Wednesday, January 16, 2013

From SOE EverQuest Community News:

Server Downtime – Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Posted On 01/15/2013

All EverQuest Live Servers will be brought offline on Wednesday, January 16, 2013 at 4:00 am US Pacific* for a Game Update. The servers are estimated to be unavailable for approximately 4 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

Bugs and Fixes To Come

Several bugs have been reported over the past few weeks and SOE is working on fixing them.  In addition, some changes are coming to the tracking skill (no, druids and bards still won't get to sort, the Devs think a basic UI function is a "class skill").

Collection achievements have been giving far less experience than designed:

You will receive approximately 20% of the XP that would be necessary for the level each collection is intended for, as well as another 20% for completion of the entire zone. Some collections also come attached with items and titles!

Collecting the Collection items is often impossible.

I totally understand how frustrating it is to have the items slip right through your fingers and disappear into nothingness right when you think you've got it. This is the most critical issue for Collections, and we're working to get to the root of what's causing this bug ASAP.

Ancient Wurm Hide Robe item has incorrect focus.

This was an error with the focus. It will be fixed in a future patch. 

 

 Pets and Mercs will be able to be hidden from tracking results sometime in the future.

Druid / Shaman Paralytic Spores AA Rank 2 is broken.  If you have Rank 1, it is recommended that you do not buy Rank 2 until it can be fixed.

<@Elidroth> Paralytic Spores is on my list to fix already

The Charm of the Crystal Circle, reward for doing the Shard Experiences task, is bugged.

Yes, the charm is broken. It was looking at quests unstead [sic] of faction. It will be fixed next patch.

Double XP Extended on Bertox Server Until Midnight January 2

From the SOE forum:

Double Experience has been extended on the Bertox server until 11:59 PM on January 2nd, 2013.

Enjoy!

Double XP December 30 - January 1

From SOE EQ Community News:

Ring in the New Year with Double Experience!

Posted On 12/21/2012

Ring in 2013 with Double Experience in EverQuest! Starting at 12:01am (midnight) Pacific on Sunday, December 30, 2012, and lasting until 11:59pm Pacific on Tuesday, January 1, 2012, we're offering Double Experience in EverQuest! Take advantage of this limited time offer and watch those XP bars fill up!

Triple Station Cash Friday, December 21

Triple Station Cash beginning immediately and ending on Friday, December 21 at 11:59 pm PST.

From SOE EverQuest Community News:

12 Days of Holidays – Triple Station Cash!

Posted On 12/20/2012

 

This offer is only valid through December 21, 2012!

Celebrate the holidays with Triple Station Cash! Buy Station Cash in-game, via your Station Account or redeem an SOE Pre-Paid Game Card and you'll get Triple Station Cash!

But hurry, this offer ends December 21, 2012 at 11:59 pm PST!

Plus, don't forget to login to participating games throughout the SOE 12 Days of Holidays to see what the daily special offer, sale or activity is!

*Station Cash offer valid to 11:59 PM PST on 12/21/2012. Excludes mobile/SMS purchases.

Emergency Patch December 12, 2012

From the SOE EQ forum:

All EverQuest Live Servers will be brought offline on Wednesday, December 12, 2012 at 12:45 pm US Pacific* for an urgent fix. The servers are estimated to be unavailable for approximately 1 hour. Keep an eye on the EverQuest website and the forums for status updates and for news if additional downtime is needed.

*Time Zone Converter

Patch Scheduled Wednesday, December 12, 2012

From the SOE EQ forum:

All EverQuest Live Servers will be brought offline on Wednesday, December 12, 2012 at 4:00 am US Pacific* for a Game Update. The servers are estimated to be unavailable for approximately 4 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

Quest Experience Rewards "Slider" Bugged

From Ngreth Thergn, SOE Developer, on the SOE forum, regarding quest experience rewards:

There is a bug with the AA slider. That EXP is ONLY level EXP and will not apply to AA exp, unfortunately the slider can make that system work less than optimally. If you had your slider at 100% AA, then you would receive 0 exp

We will be fixing it so that this type of EXP (level only exp) will ignore the slider.

This will be fixed in the patch currently scheduled for 12/12/12

It is recommended that you make sure your experience slider is set for 100% regular experience before claiming any regular experience rewards until this bug is fixed.

Group Mission "Calling Phantasm" Chest Bugged, To Be Fixed

The Shard's Landing group mission Calling Phantasm currently is bugged.  The last step where you open the chest sometimes has the chest unable to be opened.

The mission is able to be completed but the loot items inside the chest can not be accessed or looted.

SOE is aware of the issue and has developed a fix.  It is not known if the fix will be ready in time for the expected December 12, 2012 patch or will have to wait beyond that date.

Should you do the mission and encounter this problem, it is suggested you /petition for redress.

Bug Fixing Patch Expected December 12, 2012

Not yet confirmed, but widely hinted, is a patch to fix a number of bugs.  The "monthly" patch is due December 12.

Gold Member Free LoN Decks Now Require LoN Login

In order to receive the five free Legends of Norrath card packs that Gold members are awarded, you must log into LoN at least once a month.

This change was announced here:

There's been a slight change to the free packs that we award monthly to the Gold Members in EverQuest and EverQuest II. Starting with the launch of Debt of the Ratonga, free member packs will be awarded on the member's first log in that month. We've completely removed the "anniversary date" which confused a lot of players. Furthermore, the Gold Member MUST log in during a calendar month to get that month's worth of packs. Packs will no longer accumulate from month to month. Unopened packs and unredeemed Choose A Pack loot cards from previous months and prior to this change will not be touched. To get your packs moving forward, just log in each month! The Choose A Pack cards awarded in December may be redeemed for any regular LON booster pack from sets 1 – 14.

Fix Offered for Windows Taskbar Stacking Issue

In this thread, the issue of multiple EQ instances and taskbar stacking is discussed.  One fix offered is the following:

Copy the following into a text file and name it "eq.reg". Then run it from where you saved it.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\eqgame.exe]
"IsHostApp"=""

Dev IRC Chats Scheduled on AA Issues / Suggestions

From a post by Elidroth, EQ Developer, on the SOE forum:

This is the schedule for the IRC chats for the new AA development. I'm going to be doing things a little differently this go around to be more flexible with people's schedules.

A new IRC channel has been created on the Stratics IRC Network.
Server: stratics.frws.com
Channel: #EQAAChat
Time - 10am - 7pm PST (+8 GMT)

The chats will be a little different in that I'll be discussing things all day in the channel (except if I need to leave/focus my attention elsewhere for some reason). For example, on Dec 10 (WAR & PAL) we'll be discussing things for both classes. While I'd LIKE to do Warrior first and then Paladin, I'm ok doing both at the same time.

It's EXTREMELY important to keep the noise and idle chatter to an absolute minimum. This is not the place for class warfare, calls for nerfs, complaining about another class or anything of the sort. This is the place to lobby for new developments in the AA system that you'd like to see. This is YOUR chance to shape your class. While I can't force people out, I will not tolerate people trying to derail the discussions to topics not related to the classes of the day. People who test me on this will find themselves banned from the discussion permanently, including on their class' day.

Dec 10 - Warrior & Paladin
Dec 11 - Shadowknight & Ranger
Dec 12 - Cleric & Shaman
Dec 13 - Druid & Beastlord
Dec 17 - Monk & Rogue
Dec 18 - Bard & Berserker
Dec 19 - Necromancer & Wizard
Dec 20 - Magician & Enchanter - Hopefully Ellyra will be joining us here as well.

Dec 21 will be a open forum kind of day where anyone is free to discuss anything AA related they'd like. This includes adjustment to existing AA, bugs, etc. The previous days are for NEW DEVELOPMENTS ONLY.

Thanks all.. Hope to see you there, bright and early(ish) each day.

If you don't know what IRC is or don't have an IRC chat client, you can go to http://chat.stratics.com and click the IRC Java Client button at the top.  This does require that you have Java installed on your computer.  If you do not have Java on your computer, you can get it from http://www.java.com.

Level 96+ Mercs Healing Bugged, To Be Fixed

From the Mercs became useless thread on the SOE forum:

Thanks for all the extra information. We've discovered what the problem is: Some focus data did not make it to Live servers. We'll be working on a patch to correct this, and we'll try to get it out as soon as possible. I'll post again when we narrow down the time for pushing out the fix.

UPDATE:

We're working on a patch to fix this for tomorrow morning (Friday the 30th). Test will also be updated.

UPDATE:  The Friday patch should have fixed this.  If you still have problems, report them to SOE on the SOE forum in the Update Bugs 11/30/12 thread.

 

RoF Ports Locked Behind Server-Wide Portal Quest

Guild portal, druid, and wizard ports to Shard's Landing are all waiting for each server to complete a server-wide quest.  Once enough people have turned in Fear Shards to Magus Burlshin in Shard's Landing, he will complete the druid ring there and:

• Guild portals will be able to port to Shard's Landing.
• Druids will be able to purchase their port spells.
• Wizards will be able to purchase their port spells.

Read more about this on the SOE forum here.

Shrouds Disabled Due to Exploit, No Return Date Known

From the SOE forum:

There is an exploit with shrouds we deemed unacceptable. It has to do with the shrouds themselves and not the quest. I will not give details on the exploit. We are unable to fix it in the time available before launch, so we disabled them. You can continue to petition for shroud removal if you are stuck and want to un-shroud. They will not be available immediately post launch either.

- Adam "Ngreth" Bell, Lead Designer, EverQuest

Rain of Fear is Go For Launch!

Final confirmation from SOE that RoF is ready to go for Wednesday:

EverQuest: Rain of Fear launches Wednesday, November 28, 2012

All EverQuest Live Servers will be down on Wednesday, November 28, 2012 at 12:01 a.m. US Pacific* for the EverQuest: Rain of Fear Game Update. The servers are estimated to be unavailable for approximately 10 hours. Keep an eye on the EverQuest website and the forums for status updates and for news if additional downtime is needed.

While we're down tomorrow don't forget to keep an eye on the Official EverQuest Forums, Facebook, and Twitter pages to get up to the minute news and behind the scenes looks at what it's like to be here at SOE on launch day!

*Convert to your local time