Take a look at the newest items that are coming to the Station Marketplace! These items will be available on June 16, 2009.

Read more!

It's that time again, ladies and gentlemen! Time to warm up those pipes and get ready to sing on stage in front of hundreds (maybe thousands!) of your most adoring groupies with a live band backing you.

That's right! Live band karaoke is back for a fourth year at Fan Faire 2009. We'll provide the musicians; you bring the rock star attitude and vocals.

Read more!

GENERAL

• Field Lieutenant Randeil now respawns reliably when the proper conditions are met.

EMPEROR’S ATHENAEUM

• Curator can no longer be pulled outside of his room.
• The Vault Door behind Drago should remain closed until he is slain.
• Master of the Embalmer’s Repulsion does significantly less damage.
• Drago no longer shuffles his hate after knocking players down and cheering to the crowd. Also cleaned up his script quite a bit, hopefully the fight is much more stable now.
• The spectators in Drago’s room respawn after 5s and no longer award loot if killed.

KURN’S TOWER

• Haggle Baron Klok’s adds are lower tier and depop when his encounter resets.
• The two Ilenee’s now have a smaller AoI and cast Overwhelming Despair/Blind Rage less frequently—which should correctly show up as debuffs now instead of buffs.

VOICE CHAT

• Station Launcher will soon have a new release with voice capability.
• Station Launcher will allow you to start voice chatting as any of your EQII characters before running the client or while patching.
• Going into game while voice chatting in Station Launcher will be seamless. If you're already chatting, the client will detect this. If you're voice chatting as a different character than you're playing, a new button will appear on the voice bar allowing you to switch (or you may switch in Station Launcher).
• Station Launcher will keep voice chat active after the client closes.

Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE) and The Jace Hall Show are pleased to announce the creation of the epic documentary based on the monumental entertainment property, EverQuest®. EverCracked! The Phenomenon of EverQuest chronicles the trials and tribulations leading to the development, launch and success of the hit massively multiplayer online game which celebrated its tenth anniversary in March 2009.  The full-length film will debut at the 2009 Fan Faire in Las Vegas, NV on June 26.

Read more and see the trailer!

In Monument and Might, a new service will be available to Norrathians! It seems that the scholars of Norrath have improved their research techniques and wish to use this knowledge to help adventurers.

Research Assistants will be popping up in cities near you (or in the case of Frogloks... hopping!).

Read more!

GENERAL

• Health, power, and regen values have been modified on several mount buffs. The Djinn Master Carpet ward now refreshes much more frequently.
• Combat animations have been tuned for when running side to side and away from your target while in combat.

KUNZAR JUNGLE

• The stoneleer eggs harvested for the Order of Rime’s egg basket quest “Putting Them in One Basket” are laid more frequently and in greater numbers.

WARD OF ELEMENTS

• Najena’s Ward of Elements lock out timer has been reduced from 5 days to 3.

From 4:00 AM PDT until 6:00 AM PDT on Thursday, June 11, 2009, we will be conducting back-end maintenance that will affect the in-game chat and mail systems for SWG, EQ2, and possibly EQ.  SWG and MXO worlds will be offline entirely for the 2-hour duration.

We apologize for this interruption and will resume all affected services as soon as the maintenance is completed.

QUESTS

• The green puffball mushrooms needed for Elder Shaman Tibler’s quest “Blessing Components” are easier to spot.

YKESHA’S INNER STRONGHOLD

• Ykesha’s Whirling Blades has had its mid and long range damage reduced and its mid and long range distances decreased. 

GENERAL

• Attribute modifiers like those on the ranger and templar epics should now update appropriately when the underlying attribute changes.

ITEMS

• The wounding effect on Precision Flightrift Leggings will now base its critical chance off of the player’s ranged crit chance.
• The Hate’s Fate effect on the Cord of Innoruuk’s Favor now adds deflection chance in addition to shield effectiveness.

Fan Faire is quickly approaching and so is the deadline for pre-registration! Pre-registration will be closing at 11:59 PM PDT on Tuesday, June 16th.

After June 16th, you will need to register at the door. Attendees who register at the door will enjoy all the same benefits as those who pre-regsiter, but the process may take a bit longer and their badges will not be pre-printed.

Read more!

A well worn traveler of the lands known as the Town Crier journeys lands near and far seeking out the latest in EverQuest II news and information. Join us once again as the Crier returns from her latest journeys, filled with news and information from all around those strange lands. One never knows what new secrets her stories will hold!

Read more!

That's right!  Get your insult on right here!!

Please note... This is just for the funny of the website... Not an actual invitation to rampantly insult each other in actual ouchie ways.

As promised, we're tackling the server forums next!

In the interests of streamlining things a bit, I'm going to remove the server forums completely.  This part of the plan is non-negotiable.

The part that is negotiable and on which I would like your feedback, are the forums that we'll create to cover the purposes served by the individual server forums.

As it stands now, the server forums serve the function of guild recruitment, guide event notifications, and player run event notification.

Do you guys think that these three (Guild Recruitment, Guide Events, Player Run Events) will cover everything?  Is there anything that was left out?  Do you think there are other functions that will need their own forums?

I know everyone has probably already seen it, but this just slays me.

Feel free to post your favourites, just make sure they're clean-ish please

GENERAL

• All Order of Rime NPCs should now drop corpse loot and coin.
• Illusions should now persist through zoning.

<3 !!

Discuss!

Our community of players is filled with passionate and talented men and women! From time to time they share their abilities with us and we, in turn, want to share them with all of you! This week we have several talented artists and an Erollisi Day story from a member of our community who is a published author!

Read more!

We are proud to announce this year's Players of the Year!

The team had the torturous task of trying to choose the best out of all the entries that were submitted. It's always a tough job, since we've got so many deserving and creative players.

Read more!

GENERAL

• The Order of Rime illusion now grants even more Rime Faction!
• Awnya Infernoblaze on the Lavastorm Docks is now Awnya N’Kval and has lowered her fee slightly.
• The items sold by Awnya N’Kval are now part of their respective jewelry sets.

ACHIEVEMENTS

Conjuror

• Unabate will now gray out when properly when used.

FENS OF NATHSAR

• The cursecleaner claw Pudge provides for his quest "Dragonbone Weapon Parts" continues to work even after you have slain the dragonbone larva.
• Shaman Tibler's quest "Blessing Components" now specifies that green puffball mushrooms are needed not dragonbone stones.

ITEMS

• The Desecrated Wristguards of Darkness will no longer prevent other ward procs from triggering.

JARSATH WASTES

• Pylemea Stoerki is now willing to reward those that have helped provide the Order of Rime with provisions.
• Magmatic Crystals can now be harvested for the quest “Hot Crystalline.”

QUESTS

• Beth Littlefort's quest "Chilled to the Bone" should now update correctly.

TRADESKILLS

• Wasps around Tupta are now building their nests in somewhat easier to reach locations.

From 9:00 PM PDT until 10:00 PM PDT on Thursday, June 4, 2009, SOE Account and Commerce flow, Station Store and the Station Marketplace will be unavailable due to maintenance. We expect this maintenance to take approximately 1 hour.

This might also cause some forum accounts to temporarily lose permissions, due to the inability to verify account status while the maintenance is taking place. This is only temporary and normal permissions will return automatically once the maintenance is complete.

We apologize for this interruption and will resume all affected services as soon as the maintenance is completed.

A Rime of War
A dirge’s personal tale by Elna Tsernin

The waves rocking this vessel as we cross the Timorous Deep should be lulling me into a deep sleep, instead I find myself examining my actions and the tide of events that swept me here. I had been a successful dirge, and a beautiful one at that, I had always been proud of my unblemished scales and frills. A young Iksar blessed with talent beyond her years known throughout the Sebilisian Empire. I had been entertaining barons and officers with the same old collection of historical songs and tales of the Iksar nation for years; from Sebilis to Jinisk, Torsis to Charasis. When I had grown tired of those tales I looked toward the rest of Kunark. Over the next several years I trekked from one end of our isolated continent to the other learning tales of other societies and their myths. My native tongue was Sebilisian, like anyone born within the empire, but I learned enough common in these years in order to unlock stories from other cultures. But I was still young. A few stories of the drachnid learned here, a song about Chelsith there. I grew bored quickly, too quickly. Always believing the big song eluded me. Skorpikis, burynai, sarnak, Yha-Lei, even goblins. I was certain that I had heard all there was to hear and my catalog of songs and stories had become rather impressive, but I had been arrogant and foolish.

Read more!

In Monument and Might, GU #52, Kurn's isn't the only place the mysterious stranger will lead you... Your new "friend" will send you to the Emperor's Athenaeum to uncover more secrets.

Read more!

We are planning to patch the Test servers this evening, if all goes well.

If the plan changes, we will let you know!

Thank you.

GENERAL

• Camping to an alt without shutting down the client will no longer cause the welcome screen to display.

ITEMS

• Illusions cast from petamorph wands will now last for 2 hours and persist through zoning.

VEKSAR

• Garudon will now only grant status when the entire encounter is defeated.

Greetings!

Welcome to the Monthly Dev Question Thread!! 

Rules refresher:

• On or near the first Monday of each month, a new Question Thread will be started.
• Reply to this thread with 1 question you have for the team. 
  • Please ask only 1 question per Q&A session. If you ask more than 1, your submission(s) may be deemed invalid.
  • Do not comment on anyone else’s question in this thread.  If you would like to discuss one of the questions with other members of the community please create a thread for it in the appropriate forum.
  • Keep the wording of your question simple and to the point.  If an explanation is needed, please keep it brief.
  • Remember our forum rules of civil, mature and constructive feedback.
  • You may include links to other posts, especially if you’re asking a follow-up question to a previous months' answers.
  • You may include screenshots, if needed, to clarify your question.
• Do your best not to duplicate questions.
  • Please read through the questions to see what has been asked before you post.
  • If someone has asked your question, asking it again will not increase the chances of it being answered, even if it's asked slightly differently.
  • If your question was asked in a previous month and it was not answered, you may ask it again, but understand that the team may not have an answer at this time or ever.
• Question Threads will run for 1 week.
  • Generally this will be Monday to Monday, but may differ on holiday weekends or under special circumstances at our discretion. These Question Threads may be ended at any time as well, for any reason.
• This thread will be locked at the end of the question session time.  The questions will then be collected and submitted to the team.
  • If you miss submitting your question, please save it for the next month's Q&A session.
  • Once the thread is locked, do not start new posts for additional questions.
  • Please do not post new threads asking when answers will be given.
• The team will try to pick 10 questions they are able to answer and will return their answers in about 2 weeks.
  • Please understand that due to the volume of questions and the nature of some questions, your question may or may not be answered, ever.
  • The actual number of questions that will be answered may be more or less depending on what the team can answer at the time.
• Answers will be posted in a new Answer Thread, and a link to it will be posted at the end of the original Question Thread.
  • If you have follow-up questions, please ask them in the next month's thread.
  • You may discuss the answers in the answer thread, but do not expect further feedback from the dev team in that thread.
• The next Question Thread will be posted on or near the first Monday of the next month.  Rinse and repeat.
• All dates are subject to change due to holidays and unforeseen events.

Q: When will you make LoN loot heirloom only, cards and booster packs non-tradable, and ensure that you can only 'sell' loot-slots to those standing within a few metres of the chest being sold, and being in the original group/raid?  No more selling No-Trade loot please.

A: There are a lot of questions here so I’ll answer the first one.  We don’t plan to make LoN (or Station Wallet) items heirloom.  For the bonus question, we don’t have any plans to change the trading status on any cards or booster packs.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Q: Is there any current plans to re-evaluate the TSO set bonuses on the x's 4 raid sets?

A: While the balance is never perfect, the x4 set bonuses are about where we want them right now, and we do not have plans to tweak them any further. We’re always keeping an eye out for any large imbalances, so some bonuses could change. I would encourage anyone with specific issues to (diplomatically) bring them up on our forums so that we can discuss them.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Q: Do you have any plans to address the issue where extremely high stats can lead to the player coming down the opposite side of the diminishing returns curve (actually losing power/hp/avoidance when buffing related stats)?

A: Some of these equations are deeply imbedded in our code, and attempting to use a quick fix on them could have unplanned results. We’re aware of this issue, and have been discussing ways to fix it.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Q: Will something be done to address the huge disparity that is ever-growing between those that raid and those that do not? [more]

A: Item-wise, we’re attempting to narrow this gap some in the coming expansions. Some of the items available this expansion interacted in ways we had not foreseen, giving raiders an enormous power boost. Given the difficulty of acquiring their raid gear, we want raiders to remain powerful, but not at such a wide gap as was created during this expansion.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Q: Some carpets (i.e. Carpet of El'Khazi) allow racial featherfall (i.e. fae fall) while mounted, but other carpets do not (i.e. lava-threaded flying carpet).  Can the other carpets please be modified to allow racial featherfall pass-thru?

A: We’re aware of the inconsistency here and we’re still deciding how we want to handle it, but it is a possibility that other carpets will see this bonus. No promises just yet, however.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Q: Is there any plan on adding more fabled cloak drops from raid encounters? There are absolutely 0 cloaks that are dropped from TSO instances. I'm tired of hoping that Trakanon decides to drop a cloak....

A: There are quite a few more than 0 already available.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Q: Would it be possible to add a way to show or not any piece of gears? like we can for the hood/helm but also for all the other one. or at least create a recipe book for the crafter containing the transparent apparence gears from erolissis day.

A: Finding those rare pieces of armor with no appearance is part of the fun of collecting appearance gear. Most slots have at least one piece that does not show up; asking around in the Items and Equipment section of our forums can yield a wealth of information in this area.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Q: Are there any plans to add new Void Shard items to the game? some nice gear that costs 50-100 shards but is a worthwhile upgrade would be greatly appreciated.

A: Yes, we’re planning on adding in new shard-purchased items. We have plans for both the expensive variety you’ve suggested, as well as the possibility for some inexpensive expendables.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Q: Are there any plans to include more "Attuneable" items from dungeons and raids? 

A: Some new attunable dungeon and raid items should be available soon, and we’ve gone back and changed the status on many of the currently available TSO dungeon items to allow for more trade. While we’d like players to earn their more powerful gear by adventuring, we do want to give you the chance to sell and trade some gear as well, and to this end we’ll continue including attunable items in future zones.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Leather Skirts: 

The length on some races has been updated to be longer/wider and will go out with the next  patch.  Not everyone was updated, although I am not opposed to adjusting them once I get a chance.  The speed of our updates has been slower as of late so my fixes tend to lag behind a bit from when I actually get to fixing/adjusting them.

The original edit was to address bugs related to the skirts, it was just a bit too draconian in the fix approach.

The Ice Cream Hat

I just fixed that hat, Hopefully I can get it to go out with our next patch, otherwise it will be a while before it gets updated.

Hats and Hair:

The trick here is that this solution has to work for every race/gender for any hair choice.  Our wearable system is sort of a once size fits all approach so it is very difficult to make hats have hair and not have the hair show up on people who are bald or do not even have hair choices.  Now I believe that it is possible to do this, but would be extremely time consuming for my small team to do.  So effectively we chose make more hats instead of one or two hats that can accommodate hair.  So I guess overall it is possible, but not feasible with the current staff and work load.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Q: Can we get some incentive added to encourage grouping, not jsut at level cap but through out the levels? Adding an acheivement bonus to all levels based on the number of players in your group (added to experience gain, so only for green 'con' or higher content, or even limited to white + only). Possibly an acheivement bonus (added to experience gain) for certain heroic dungeons. The key thing, though, should be for ALL levels, not just for capped content.

A: This is something we will be adding some features for in a future update, but we don’t have anything to announce just yet! =)

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Q: Why does the inside of the houses in Qeynos and Freeport not always match up to what is on the outside? Was there going to be more options? If so could we ever get them added if they are still able to add them?

A: The actual interiors are quite a bit bigger than the exteriors you'll notice. When we added the exterior facades to the zones, we realized that if we were to try and make them fit perfectly, the interior space would suffer just for the sake of lining the two up. We chose function over form and accepted there would be a visual difference in order to not box in every layout. This then allowed us to hook up homes in more places throughout more zones so people could choose an address they preferred. It also allows us to make changes to the interiors without feeling obligated to tweak the exteriors every time which would be time intensive (i.e. adding a floor to the Kelethin homes or upscaling the Neriak homes far beyond what their exterior shells imply). There's more planned for all homes in the not too distant future, but that's all I can say for now!

A well worn traveler of the lands known as the Town Crier journeys lands near and far seeking out the latest in EverQuest II news and information. Join us once again as the Crier returns from her latest journeys, filled with news and information from all around those strange lands. One never knows what new secrets her stories will hold!

Read more!

GENERAL

• Several fixes have been made to doors and elevators within Kurn’s Tower and Charasis West, they should work as expected if players leave a saved zone and return later.
• Awnya Infernoblaze on the Lavastorm Docks now offers upgrades to some Ward of Elements items for a small fee.
• The Scale Yard inn room no longer traps players when they try to exit.
• Disabling combat experience will no longer convert combat experience to achievement experience.
• Camping to an alt without shutting down the client will no longer cause the welcome screen to display.

ACHIEVEMENTS

Assassin

• Poison Mastery has changed slightly since poisons no longer critical.

Templar

• You can no longer cancel Disable Smite Wrath.

EMPEROR’S ATHENAEUM

• Emperor’s Athenaeum PoIs grant XP now.
• Master of the Embalmers knocks players back less frequently (and with less force).
• The Athenaeum Curator AoE’s less frequently.

FENS OF NATHSAR

• Revliss Dru'shyv‘s quest “Clothes Off Their Backs” now correctly identifies Sliza Xarezia as the NPC you must speak with in order to complete the quest..

KUNZAR JUNGLE

• The number of illusive ice constructs within Jinisk for Zikana Sly'ssar’s quest “Elementals Amongst Us” has been increased.
• Those seeking ice creatures for Khassp Xivvix’s quest “Dry Ice” should examine ice shards found upon the ground near the City of Mist.
• Slixin Drusar now offers replacement wards for those on the quest “Swamp Fire Defense.”

KURN’S TOWER

• Many of the control effects have been removed from the mobs within Kurn’s Tower: Breaching the Void! In other news, some of the bosses have developed some new abilities!

PALACE OF THE ANCIENT ONE

• The Void handlers with Pentaclypse and Ultaclypse now do slashing damage. 
• The Nether cloud that Pentaclypse/Ultaclypse now cast on players debuffs only crushing mitigation, not slash/crush/pierce as before. 

The Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3, is an annual trade show for the computer and video games industry, and it's underway right now in Los Angeles! It's a pretty big deal, and lots of companies use the occasion to make big announcements, show previews of their upcoming games, software and hardware, and talk with convention attendees and the media about their products.

SOE has a booth again this year where we'll be showcasing some of our games that are in the works, as well as some of our tried and true games that we all know and love. It's located right next to the Playstation 3 booth, so if you're one of the lucky ones who gets to attend the conference, be sure to stop by and say hello!

We'll be hosting an incredible event on Tuesday, June 2nd at 4:00 p.m. PDT! The Dares will do a live concert from our booth, which will also be streaming live in Free Realms on the stage at Snowhill! Join us at the booth or in game. It's a world first...you don't want to miss it!

The Sony E3 Keynote Press Conference will also be streaming live from gametrailers.com on June 2nd. Just follow the link to watch it at 11 a.m. PDT.

If you couldn't make it to E3 but you're interested in keeping up with the latest SOE news from E3, we have several folks up there on the scene that will be using Twitter to share what's going on. You can follow our official tweets at the addresses below. We'll be using the hashtags #soe and #e3, if you want to check in on those tags or add your own tweets to the list.

• @sonyonline
• @the_agency_game
• @freerealms

For updates from individual SOE team members, check out who's following @sonyonline and follow familiar faces you see.

Rumor has it there might also be some blog posts from our company insiders while they're at the convention. If we get wind of any SOE blog entries, we'll post them over on our Connecting the DOTS blog throughout the week.

Of course there will be lots of news on the official E3 Insider website, and all over the web at your favorite gaming, tech and industry websites, too. So keep your eyes and ears open for all sorts of news about what's coming soon to a PC, Mac, console or handheld near you! Happy gaming!

The regularly scheduled Tuesday hotfix is being postponed until Wednesday (barring any gnomes dropping a wrench in the gears).

We'll post a reminder about the downtime tomorrow!

Thanks

There are a ton of decorating options available in EverQuest II. With those options come endless ways to use them to create amazing homes in-game. We are blessed with many creative and innovative players in our community! This week: Brethren of Honor in South Qeynos on the Nektulos server.

Read more!

Take a look at the newest items that are coming to the Station Marketplace! These items will be available on June 2, 2009.

Read more!

There's still time to register for Fan Faire 2009!

We'll be giving folks in-game items this year, like we have in the past. What's new, though? Attendees will get in-game items for every game they have an account for! So no more having to choose between your EQ and EQII character getting the goods. Have a SWG account and a Vanguard account? They can both claim the Fan Faire item!

Read more!