"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).