September 2008

GU48 goes LIVE on EverQuestII

September / 03 / 2008
SPECIAL 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.

First person view as a winter wolf is no longer disrupted by winter steam effect.

The barrier holding the doors of the Godking’s temple have weakened with the onset of the void storms, allowing entry even without the sacred eyes!

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.

Xygoz, Nexona, Hoshkar, and Druushk will now drop two set pieces to match Silverwing, Phara Dar & Trakanon’s drop rates.

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.

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.

Those who have finished ‘Deception’ will now have access to Darathar’s island.

General goods merchants Ilmira T’Oziarn and Ilztaonar V’Setiate in Neriak, and Sage Navarius Orvalis in North Freeport now sell creature cataloging quest starter tomes previously unavailable to evil aligned players.

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.

USER INTERFACE

World chat channels such as the Level channels can now be properly turned off on the main chat tab and moved to other tabs.

FAN FAIRE FEEDBACK

Neither good nor evil players should spawn directly next to the docks in Kylong Plains anymore.

None of the PVP respawns in the Fens of Nathsar should be threatened by creatures wandering too close.

Several creatures in Veeshan’s Peak and Shard of Hate now drop fabled deity altars.

The “Clear All Hotkeys” option now displays a confirmation dialog before clearing your hotbar.”

A few Levels, and a Lot of Pictures

As much as I’d like to say that I took full advantage of the 20% bonus experience this weekend, and accomplished all sorts of things – I really didn’t, so my post today may be quite short (depends on whether or not I start rambling, though I suppose this counts). I did get level 37 on the alchemist with no vitality (I used a potion, I know how bad is that at such a low level) and the guild did manage to ding level 25. That means we have another five to go by the end of the month. I’m hoping we can do it.

I probably would have tried to get a few more alchemy levels but rough opalines (the common) for T4, are going for a whole 20s each right now. I’m not sure why there was a sudden increase in price, but it hurts. I bought 100 of them just to finish up my level and left it at that.

I did some questing in Kunzar Jungle with Stargrace, who has been inching her way through level 77 for the past few months. It seems to be a hump for me. You’d think that getting to 80 would be motivation to quest, but after completing the same quests on various other characters I’m just not inspired to do it any more. I joined up with Kasul, Bloodpact, Kattareena, and Lanerian for the quests, then started sneezing and couldn’t stop so I spent most of the evening on the couch.

Early in the morning however, I headed to Gatineau Hills for some pictures – bright and early before the crowds got there. Below are two of the pictures I took – if you’d like to see them all you can check out my DeviantART site, here.

Pink Lake – named after a family who settled there and discovered it. The water is actually dark green, and it was very beautiful. There’s basically no sounds except for a random car driving up heading to the hills, and there’s a very nice walking trail that goes all the way around the lake. On the right hand side you can see one of the little lookout areas.

Champlain Lookout is one of the most amazing views from Gatineau, and yesterday was a crystal clear day with not a single cloud in the sky. I’ll be headed back up to the hills in late September early October in order to get shots of the leaves changing colours. Hey, I think I can see my house!

I love areas like this. The best part, is it’s not even 30 minutes away from my house, and I live in the city. Good for when I need my tree fix.