Latest EQII Test Notes

A huge array of changes coming to EQII, the ones that interest me most I’ve put in bold. You can read all test update notes here. A thank you to Rao for his post that made me want to go peek and see what else we were getting.

GAMEPLAY

• The time limit between repeatable faction quests in Sinking Sands has been removed.
• Damage that can not be resisted or mitigated will now be referred to as “focus” damage instead of crush/pierce/slash/poison/heat/cold/etc in combat chat messages.
• Corpses of powerful creatures will now stay locked for twenty minutes.
• Respawning near Jarsath Wastes in the Kylong Plains is slightly less dangerous.
• Mounts should now suspend while feigning death or riding on a griffon, sokokar or cloud.

QUESTS

• Grinash the Vicious and his pack will now trigger in the Steppes for players on “Vicious Assault”. Previously he would only trigger while on “The Cove of Decay – Kraughl’s Request”.
• Squire Kivan in Antonica will now give out the quest “Getting the Axe” to characters that he previously thought were too advanced for his quest.
• The No-Trade flag has been removed from a large number of book pages that were dropped from mobs or harvested from page spawns. Check your inventories!
• Clay golem hearts for “The Heart of Fear” quest in Cazic-Thule now drop as corpse loot instead of chest loot. They also will only drop while you are on the quest now.
• Multiple players should now be able to receive an update from killing Pawbuster when on that portion of the Conjuror Epic quest.
• Both the dropped and tradeskilled pristine fashioned nacre earring will now update the quest “Dukaris, Hero of the People”.

ITEMS

• The Nox Noctis Sword will no longer fit in the primary weapon slot.
• Deathfist Citadel crafted armor stats have been improved. Existing armor will automatically receive the upgrade.
• Duplicates of numerous books in the game that currently count toward one’s total house items are now available on Navarius Orvalis and Indis Surion for purchase if you fulfill the original requirements for having received the book (ie, if you completed the quest it was a reward on).

SPELLS

• The Karana deity pet and the sokokar pet should now stack together.
• Swindler’s Gift should now overwrite itself properly rather than giving an error about having a more powerful spell already.
• Coercer
  Possession has been renamed to Possess Essence. It now takes control of your target’s essence and makes them into a pet that you can control.
  Thoughtstones are no longer required as components for spells.
  The Despotic Mind line will now trigger off player based spell attacks. In addition there is a new level 80 version called Tyrranous Mind The other reactive lines have changed to be based on taking damage from when a spell hits the NPC.
  Puppetmaster has received an additional puppet.
  The Harmonious link line now reduces hate position when the player takes a melee hit.
• Conjuror
  Golem pets have now mastered the skill of walking silently.
• Crusader
  The Paladin and Shadowknight squires should no longer look differently after zoning.
• Enchanter
  The stun and stifle lines will now do damage rather than drain power.
  Enchanters will now also receive Call Servant and Shrink Servant at level 10.
• Illusionists
  The Personae line of pets should now nuke instead of attempting to power drain just like their owners do.
• Mystic
  The Ancient Balm line will now grant short duration immunities to any control effects it cures.
• Necromancer
  The Siphoning of Souls (Master II) will now also grant Master II abilities when it triggers on the death of an NPC.
  Essences of Anguish are no longer given out nor required as components for spells.
• Priests
  Cure Noxious, Elemental, Trauma and Arcane have been consolidated into one spell called Cure.
• Shadowknight
  Despoiling Mist line should once again apply the same number of mitigation buffs as members of the encounter.
• Warden
  Tranquility will now last 1 minute and attempt to cure impairments on the target several times.
• Warlock
  Nil Crystals are no longer required as components for spells.
  The Abhorrent Shroud line now has a power cost to replace the nil crystal requirement.
• Wizard
  The Surging Tempest line should now work as a dot with a triggered knockdown. This will make the spell work with Freehand Sorcery and Harmonization.

ACHIEVEMENTS

• You can now gain Achievement Experience from gray con quests that are level 10 or higher.
• Enchanter
  Volatile Magic will now be a 15% boost that is always on.
• Coercer
  Tashania will now debuff all magical resistances but slightly less than before.
  Coercive Healing will now give additional bonuses to reactive heal amount, beneficial casting time and beneficial reuse time.
  Manaward now acts as a true ward with a ratio of 1 health to 1.5 power.

BROKER

• You can now search the broker for items which give double attack, critical chance and damage additions.

PVP RULESET

• Executioner’s Fury should no longer put you into combat when it triggers.

BANK

• On all servers:
  Banks how have four extra slots for a total of twelve bank slots per character.
  Shared banks now have four extra slots for a total of eight shared bank slots per account.
  Shared banks now allow you to share coin between characters on the same account.
  Exiled characters continue to be unable to use shared banks with other characters on the same account.
• On PVE servers:
  Shared banks are now shared between good and evil characters on the same account.
  If you have all four slots filled in both good and evil shared banks currently, they will be combined into a new eight slot shared bank.
  Both coin and items can be shared with characters on the same account regardless of alignment.
• On PVP servers:
  Shared banks are still alignment based. However we have added four extra slots to each alignment’s shared bank (for a total of eight shared bank slots per alignment) and the ability to share coin between characters of the same alignment on one account.

TRAVEL

• If you have a Sokokar, flight posts in Chardok will now allow you to fly to any post that a group member has access.
• The “mysterious portal’ in Gorowyn now allows level 65+ tradeskillers to pass through, as well as level 65+ adventurers.

TRADESKILLS

• Weaponsmiths and woodworkers have learned to create recipes for new, more desirable crafted weapons with a choice of new effect.
• Geomancy arts should now appear in the crafting window in an order consistent with the other tradeskill reaction arts.
• You should no longer get less status for doing a level 70 tradeskill writ than you would for doing a level 69 writ.
• Ferrite throwing daggers are now correctly described as handcrafted.
• Advanced Artisan volume One is now available from tradeskill recipe book vendors around Norrath.
• Crafted shurikens can now be made at lower level ranges. Weaponsmiths have also rediscovered where they left their recipe books for throwing ammo.

UI

• You can now choose to show quest-giver icons for quests you have out leveled.
• Under Options -> User Interface -> Name and Chat Bubble -> NPC Overhead Quest Icons for Outleveled Quests
• The command “/inventory unequip all” will unequip all of your gear except food, drink and appearance items.
• Setting the option to now show third party damage combat bubbles will now also apply to third party heals
• Detailed arrows on implied target window are no longer cut off.

The most important ones to me out of the whole compilation – is the choice to be able to turn on quest giver icons even when you’ve out leveled the quest, and the bank ones. So many times I’ve wondered how much content I’ve out leveled and never done the quest for. I am very happy with this change, and even happier because I’ve /feedback it quite a few times now. Someone out there listened.