August 21, 2008

GU 48 TEST notes

stargrace August 21, 2008 0Comment

You can of course read the notes in full here, and they’re subject to change! I’m looking forward to these going live!

LIVE EVENTS

The Guild Hall building projects for Qeynos and Freeport have begun to run dangerously low on resources! Director Jasmine at the Antonica docks and Director Hezreal at the Commonlands docks are eagerly seeking workers willing to help alleviate the situation.

During “Breaking Ground” ( GU48 ): The Prophet of Healing, Seeress Ealaynya Ithis, has been murdered and Antonica appears to have been affected! Theories abound as to who performed the deed and towards what end. You may start your own investigation at the Temple of Life in North Qeynos. Meanwhile Evdokia, one of the Plaguebringer’s fervent followers in Gorowyn, has tasks for those willing to help the Disciples of Disease. Won’t she be delighted by the news of the Seeress’ demise!

VEKSAR

Once thought lost to the waters of the Lake of Ill Omen, the ancient iksar city of Veksar has once again been discovered by the adventurers of Norrath! What has happened in the ancient theater of this once thriving resort city since it disappeared after the Age of Turmoil, and what secrets and treasures does it hold now? Make your way to the outpost of Omen’s Call, and see if you can begin to unravel the mystery of this risen ancient monument to the pride and power of the Sathirian Empire.

GUILD MEMBER POINTS

Guilds can now assign and track points for guild members. Points can be assigned in many different ways. New guild permissions determine which members can manage points and which members can receive points. For more information, check out the Guild Member Points help topic in-game by clicking on the help button (“?”) on top right of the the Guild Window (U).

GAMEPLAY

• Fixed the camera position on Griffins and Sokokars in 3rd person mode.
• Removing equipment which grants additional effects for a spell will cause that spell to cancel.
• First person view as a winter wolf is no longer disrupted by winter steam effect.

ZONES

• Everfrost
  • Everfrost has had a facelift! Adventurers will find dozens of additional quests, four new hubs, and a population friendlier to various playstyles.
• South Freeport
  • The alchemy merchant in South Freeport has begun stocking kindling as a sideline.
• Firemyst Gully
  • Wood in Firemyst Gully is now fully harvestable.
• Veeshan’s Peak
  • Adventurers in Veeshan’s Peak will now find that defeating certain bosses will earn various respawn points in the zone.
  • Pattern drops in Veeshan’s Peak now use the Smartloot system.
  • Milyex Vioren has switched strategies against invaders in Veeshan’s Peak, and is now much more aggressive and much less defensive.

TRAVEL

• Mariner bells have been added to the Thundering Steppes and Nektulos Forest docks to take players back to Antonica and Commonlands, respectively.
• There is now a bell on the Nektulos Forest dock to take Neriak citizens to the docks in Neriak.
• Mariner bell appearances have been added to the Neriak dock to help those who play on lower settings and couldn’t see the portal glows.
• There is now a carpet to Sinking Sands on the Neriak dock.
• Neriak citizens can now use the carpet in Sinking Sands to fly to the docks in Neriak.
• There is now a carpet to Sinking Sands in Kelethin near the Greater Faydark ramp.
• The carpet to Sinking Sands in Butcherblock has been removed.
• A bell has been added to the left hand dock of Kylong Plains to take adventurers to Gorowyn.
• A bell has been added to the Gorowyn dock to take adventurers to the Kylong Plains.
• The level restriction on the Gorowyn portal to Kylong Plains has been removed.

QUESTS

• You can now speak to Ulgofar Wisme in Mara and get another Geomancy book if you no longer have your first one.
• Special Agent Froak in Kunzar Jungle now gives another copy of the item “Reet Marching Orders” to those that are on the quest “Save the Reets” but have lost their original orders.
• Rotten Chestwraps of the Guilty will now give credit to the priest who triggered it.
• Assassins working on their epic who are not on stage 11 will no longer get quest credit for killing Rhylinil.
• The Dwarven Ringmail Plans is now removed from inventory upon the completion of “In Honor and Service”.
• Captain Vrondell in West Freeport will now update “Bandit Sash Bounty” for non-Freeport citizens.

ITEMS

• The artisan’s tunic reward for the tradeskill tutorial quest no longer has the adventuring stats.
• In-home crafting stations are no longer flagged as Lore.
• The Diamond Rod from Shard of Hate now says “In Combat Run Speed” instead of “Speed at all Times”.
• The focus effect on the Robe of Nexus disruption has been changed from a 600 point hate reduction on Blip to a 20% chance to lower the caster’s hate position by 1 upon casting Blip.
• The Crystal of Dark Energy should now stack to 100.
• Illusionist Shimmering Hues 4 piece bonus should now function properly.
• Troubador Magnetism 4 piece bonus should now function properly.
• Fury Stormbringer 4 piece bonus should now function properly.

SPELLS

• All non expiring class based spells should now gray out when cast and remain that way until cancelled.
• Master Strikes should work correctly with implied targeting now.
• Damage Over Time ticks, double attacks and flurry will no longer trigger damage shields and similar spells which trigger off of taking damage.
• Sathirian Scroll of Benediction and Smoldering Pontiff’s Second Sight will now stack.
• Certain spells like Rescue which are common to the classes will no longer be reset while betraying.
• Moving players between groups in a raid should no longer cause non stacking group spells to cancel.
• Assassin, Brigand, Ranger and Swashbuckler self buffs should now be toggleable.

• Berserker
  • Juggernaut and Adrenaline have had their descriptions updated to match how they work while berserk.
• Defiler
  • Yoppa’s Rodent Form should work correctly now.
• Fury
  • The Savage Feast proc should now apply properly when a dumbfire pet gets the kill.
• Warlock
  • Gas Cloud and its upgrades are now maintained.

ACHIEVEMENTS

An issue has been fixed which allowed players to use more than one achievement mirror. If you were using more than one, the system will take the first one as your valid mirror and wipe the profiles from any extra mirrors.

• Assassin
  • Obfuscation should no longer appear to work with Concealment.
• Ranger
  • Conservation will now apply properly to power, heal and thorn potions.
  • Enhance: Snare will no longer reduce the effectiveness of the Wood Elf racial Light Footed.
  • Enhance: Fettering Poison will now increase the trigger chance of Fettering Poisons.

TRADESKILLS

• Tradeskill writs now award 300 faction (for timed work orders) or 200 faction (for regular work orders) on completion.
• Handcrafted and mastercrafted armor (levels 1-69) has received an upgrade. Existing pristine items will automatically receive the improvement.
• Outfitters are happy to announce there are no more incomplete armor sets craftable at any level — not all sets are available at all levels, but if a set is available, every piece can now be made.
• All available crafted armor sets from level 10 up can now be imbued.
• The appearances of cloth and leather crafted armors are now more consistent, more varied in shape and tint, and should provide a much-awaited wider range of appearance options for the fashion conscious.
• A wider variety of crafting stations are now available in Qeynos Harbor.

STATION VOICE

Voice Channels with over 100 players are now considered “high-user channels” and will only display active speakers.

PLAYER VS PLAYER

• You can now betray and play the good classes in the evil cities and the evil classes in the good cities. In other words you can have a templar in Freeport or a brigand in Qeynos.
• Hypnosis can no longer be canceled by the target of the spell.
• It should now be possible to cure charm spells cast by hostile players.

• Inquisitor

If you cast Inquisition on a player, the spell will only heal members of the inquisitor’s group. Due to the nature of this spell, casting it on a hostile NPC will still cause it to heal nearby enemies. This is due to the fact that the NPC is casting the area of effect heal not the Inquisitor.

The Million Goblin March

stargrace August 21, 2008 0Comment

Yesterday I managed to complete the Thuuga chain of quests for the fourth time, this time Silhouette being the one to earn the fancy fabled wrist piece. The spell crits are really nice, not to mention the health and power on the item. I adorned it, and bought a few other adornments to try to ensure a little more survivability. I’m not certain yet if it helped that much, but they were just treasured adornments that are easy to obtain.

The screen shot is Silhouette being trained (by the handy shadowknight of course) through the mines to reach the final named that she needed. Sure, I could have killed my way there but what fun is that? The quest is very easy for players to complete, and can be solo’d at least by the classes I’ve completed it with thus far. I wouldn’t want to solo it with a healer since it would probably take all day just to kill through the mines.

Clockwork Gamer created this amazing little guildhall cost calculator, be sure to check their site out and figure out how much status and coin (maybe even someone’s first born thrown in there from the looks of things) your own hall will cost you. I worked out the details for Nostalgia – and was surprised that we will at least be ready by the time the halls go live. The total initial cost to purchase the hall itself as well as our five chosen amenities will be:

121p and 14,000,000 status

The weekly upkeep will only be 1p95g and 130,000 status which is really not too bad at all. The amenities I picked were fairly simple. We obviously need the recall to guild hall item, as well as the banker, a fuel merchant, rush order writs, and I went with an npc who will port to the druid rings since that gives us a variety of areas to head to without splurging on bells and spires and what not. Once we hit guild level 35 (we still need to hit level 30 first, we’re creeping up on 23) we can add two more amenities, again for a cost.

I’m actually not upset about the cost. I know players and guilds who can afford the T3 halls plus amenities. Maybe not the status, but one has to remember that these guildhalls are supposed to be extravagant, they’re supposed to be for those who worked hard and the longer your guild has been around, with dedicated people, the better. Nostalgia has only been active since April, and the EQ2 branch only since May. What we’ve accomplished in the few months has been great, and had we been active since the release of EQ2, we’d be even further along. Incentive for players, I hope.