March 12, 2011

EverQuest 12th Anniversary Events #EQ

stargrace March 12, 2011 No Comments

• Monday March 14 to Wednesday March 16 we will be activating Double Experience as well. Now you have twice as much Double Experience time to plan, so spend it wisely! (this does NOT include the two progression servers)
• Tuesday March 16, 2011 and lasting until Saturday March 26,  we’ll celebrate our 12th Anniversary in game! Not only will we have everything from our previous anniversary celebrations (including quests, fabled spawns, and raids) but this year brings all new challenges to the lands of Norrath!
• March 25, 2011 to March 27, we’ll also offer Double Experience throughout Norrath
• Wednesday March 16,  at 4 p.m. Pacific we’ll host a talk with John Smedley on the EverQuest franchise and its prestigious position in the history of MMOs as well as a plethora of other topics.
• Thursday March 17,  at 4 p.m. Pacific join members of the EverQuest team for a talk about EQ from its beginnings up until now.
• March 14 to March 16 and March 25 to March 27, you’ll be seeing a lot more rare mobs too! During the periods of Double Experience, we’ll be increasing the spawn rate of rare mobs as well.
• March 16 and lasting until March 27, we’ll have a deal every day on the Marketplace.

In Other Norraths

• Grand events are afoot in EverQuest II starting later this month, where mysterious apparitions have been sighted! Portals through time have been appearing around Norrath, linking this age to an age before the Shattering. Journey through these portals to find the ancient heroes and villains of an age gone by. Reminisce about them. Then kill them and loot them for the really cool items they possess. There may be a connection between them; perhaps you should investigate them all…
• EverQuest Online Adventures and EverQuest Mac have their own special events planned, and will be celebrating the Anniversary as well. On March 17th, Naylie will be in game on the Al`Kabor server to honor EverQuest’s 12th anniversary. Join her in the Plane of Knowledge to celebrate. She may be talked into going to the Arena and calling forth some monsters to fight! In EQOA, Naylie and Zatozia will be hosting a Community Meet and Greet on the Castle Lightwolf server on March 18th. Zatozia has heard rumors that the Sandswiss family of dragons may be making a return for the occasion to attempt to take another bite at adventurers.

If more events get added to this list or you find one that I’ve forgotten to add let me know and I’ll include it! Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself.

Morell’s Castle, Sanctum Somnium (and Ding 86) #EQ

stargrace March 12, 2011 No Comments

Ah, there’s nothing quite as satisfying as having to deal with your old school camps and players. Yesterday was one such day. Sanctum Somnium is “the” zone to hang out in when you’re level 90 and properly geared, and it showed. Although there were raids passing through we saw anywhere from 22-78 people within the zone and frequent calls for “cc” (Camp Check) with cries of outrage if trains wiped through. The zone is popular for a number of reasons, number one it drops the lucrid pieces needed for T4 armor combines (the best you can get without raiding) aside from some very awesome level 90 required gear. Pieces often rot if you get there at the right time and hang out at the right camp. I picked up a few tasks (that I haven’t turned in yet) and simply had a blast doing the experience grind that I remember from days gone by.

In order to get to SS first you have to walk through Morell’s Castle – Zam says this about the zone:

“This is Morell Thule’s home. On the outside it appears to be a normal structure. Inside, it reflects the nature of its master. The inner sections of Morell’s castle are malleable and shift to suit the beings who live there.

The Lord of Dreams’ castle exerts its influence on the surrounding areas. Adventurers will see evidence of this as they explore, seeing displaced interiors in places they wouldn’t usually appear… “

This zone is (like all of the HoT zones) simply amazing. There are so many details everywhere, and everything is so well designed I could just sit in a single room for hours absorbing all of the sights.

One of the most interesting tasks of the night was called Morell’s Challenge. You have entered Morell’s Challenge, a deadly but possibly profitable race through the castle. Follow the green beacons to stay on track, but beware that some areas do not have green beacons and you will need to find your way through those locations on your own. Just make sure not to let the purple cloud of ultimate darkness catch up to you!

NOTE: The death touch “mob” and teleporters in this task can only be seen if you have NPC spell particle effects turned on. These are in the Options-Display menu and must be turned on before you zone in.

This zone is exactly how it sounds. It’s a crazy race against a random clock (or in this case, a random cloud of purple smoke) where you try to accomplish the goals and not die. First you’re sent running through a crazy maze of coin chests and leprechauns (invis works best here) then you have to pull four named and make sure not to enter any rooms with purple mist in them as it will kill you instantly. The zone slowly fills up as well, so if you die the best thing to do is just to start over. After you’ve defeated the named you’re off to find five beacons – and that’s it. That’s the end of the challenge.

It SOUNDS easier then it is though. Such is the case with random death-touching mobs and clouds of purple smoke!

There were also a bunch more announcements made yesterday about the anniversary events and I’ll be posting a quick run down in the next post. I’m really hoping to hit levle 90 within the next two weeks, with the two experience bonus days upcoming. We’ll just have to see how it goes. Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!