Most of these changes are already on Live (sans the Rank III turn-in). Please let me know if you have any questions!
A vendor named The Quiet Wanderer has moved into Sunderock Springs. He offers spells and abilities of the calming persuasion, including several which were not previously available: Song: Whispersong of Veshma, Spell: Drifting Fog, Spell: Dulcify, Spell: Nature’s Placidity, Spell: Quiet Mind, and Tome of Phantom Silhouette.
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Based on feedback from the Druid community, Wildskin and Blessing of the Wild have been replaced on a one-for-one basis with Blistering Sunray and Sunscorch. The old spells will be replaced with the new ones.
Based on feedback from the Cleric community, Rectitude and Cure Corruption have been replaced with Blessing of Purpose and Ward of the Dauntless. Rectitude was swapped on a one-for-one basis with Blessing of Purpose. However, because Cure Corruption is used by multiple classes the spell could not be swapped directly with Ward of the Dauntless, so clerics can simply no longer use the Cure Corruption spell. Turning in a Rank III spell rune while you have Cure Corruption Rank III scribed will result in a copy of Ward of the Dauntless Rank III and a return of the spell rune. Aside from that, Cure Corruption can be deleted from the spell book.
The statistics on the items created by Summon Aenda’s Trinkets have been improved.
The number of “procs” that Steeltrap Jaws can fire before fading have been doubled.
Skin to Vines will now work on a wider variety of NPC targets.
You can read comments from players about these changes here.
Fun Thread: No More Internet[ Comment ] Print News | Mail News What would you do if suddenly the internet was gone? Well you wouldn't be reading this, that's for sure. Anyway, the peeps who posted on the SOE temporary board had some fun ideas about what they would do if the internet was no more.
Check it out now, before the temporary boards go away just like the internet on this thread!
"We will be updating ... to fix some spell issues. Servers will be coming down at 6am PST and the estimate is they will be down for 4 hours.
No, beta rewards will not be given out tomorrow during this update. If you were on my list to receive rewards today and were missed due to servers coming up early and scripts not completed in time, I will be manually fixing those 36 accounts (about 1/3 are done already)."
The servers are now up, and she should be fixing the beta rewards.
If you are experiencing issues, you can check out the problems with the patch thread on the SOE boards.
Kwill's Quill[ Comment ] Print News | Mail News Vanguard: Saga of Heroes will soon be part of the SOE gaming community on January 31. Some of you may already be trying the beta, since with an all-access account came an invitation to try out the beta in the last two weeks of testing.
In this Kwill's Quill I talk about the decision by the Vanguard staff to discard the model of official forums and let the fan sites do all the work. And interesting idea, don't you think?
Patch Today[ Comment ] Print News | Mail News All EverQuest servers will be coming down at 4:00 AM PST (-8 UTC) on Wednesday 01/17/2007 for a game update. Estimated downtime is 8 hours.
"It will be hot when and where we have Fan Faire and there is the possibility of a price decrease. That's all I am saying until I have more official news,"
The Buried Sea Makes Waves as the Thirteenth Expansion for the Successful EverQuest Franchise
SAN DIEGO, Jan. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE), a global leader in the online games industry, today announced EverQuest® The Buried Sea(TM), a new expansion for the Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG), EverQuest. EverQuest The Buried Sea will only be available via digital download beginning February 13th, for the suggested retail price of U.S. $29.99.
"As the new producer on EverQuest I am very excited to have this tremendous opportunity to work on such a storied franchise, as well as be part of a development team that has delivered successful expansions time and time again over the past eight years for our many loyal EQ players," said Clint Worley, Producer, Sony Online Entertainment. "As the thirteenth expansion for EverQuest, The Buried Sea will continue to challenge players with two new worlds to explore, ship-to-ship combat on the open seas against swash-buckling pirates, and a variety of new missions created especially for this expansion."
"The success of EverQuest is both a tribute to our devoted player base and our very committed development team," said Christopher E. Sturr, Senior Global Brand Manager, Sony Online Entertainment. "EverQuest continues to deliver innovation, new features and challenging new content, which will be evident in The Buried Sea."
The Buried Sea will also feature the ability for guilds to create a unique Guild Banner from a large selection of symbols and colors. The banner becomes the mark of the guild and when enough guild members are in the same zone, the guild leaders or officers can plant the banner in the ground. Once the banner is placed, members of that guild are able to teleport directly to that banner. In addition to the banners, players will have the ability to acquire Energeian items, utilizing ancient Combine technology; they can gain access to a new inventory slot that can be fitted with an Energeian power source and armor that can tap into the energy held within.
Endeavour is a raiding guild with a family atmosphere. Our current raid schedule is 3-5 nights a week at 8:30 PM EST until roughly 11:30-12:00 PM EST. Currently, our goals are Anguish and Tacvi. We have just recently become Txevu flagged, and are a couple weeks out from Tacvi. We have completed 3 MPG raid trials and are close to Anguish access as well. Endeavour uses a DKP loot system. We are seeking the following classes:
Our High priority classes are as follows:
Enchanters, Monks, Rogues, Wizards, Bards
We require level 70 minimum for high priority classes with a minimum of 150 AA. All applicants must maintain at least a 50% attendance to raids in order to make full member. All classes are welcome to recruit, however there are higher level and AA requirements for other classes than those listed above.
Feel free to visit our website Endeavour Guild for more information and videos of our recent kills. We look forward to raiding with you!
"Join the EverQuest Developers on Friday, January 19th from 4pm-5pm PST in the Pirate's CSG Online "Deserted Isle" main lobby for an EverQuest Developer Chat. To attend the chat you will need to download Pirate's CSG Online which is free to all users. We look forward to seeing you there!"
The 75% Solution: Raider versus Non-Raider Gear[ Comment ] Print News | Mail News The gap in statistics on gear for raiders and non-raiders has always been a point of contention for those players who want to play but not raid. The non-raiding players ask that they be allowed to have a chance at some good armor and weapon upgrades; the raiders counter with the argument that because they work harder at defeating encounters, the rewards should reflect their greater commitment and their need for better gear.
Developer Merloc stated in a thread on EQLive that he felt that non-raid gear drops should be at 75% of the average raid gear. Rashere agreed:
"Merloc and I have chatted about where we'd like the gap between raider and non-raider gear to fall and the 75% figure for stats is what we're shooting for (focus effects are a different metric). He has the support of the design team to make that happen."
The problem arises in what is "average" raid gear is. That isn't clear, since some raid content drops amazing gear, and other raid content gear is very comparable to current groupable content drops.
Some folks feel that groupable gear already is almost at 75% of raid gear, and this isn't nearly the problem that people are making it out to be.
Other non-raiders argue it's not the gear that needs the upgrades, it's the weapons they have access to.
Deciding the direction of the game, and making equitable decisions for players who want to choose their own path, are some of the most difficult decisions the development team has to make. In other words, keeping everyone happy and interested is a pretty tough job. The 75% change hasn't happened yet, but with the lead developer in agreement with the itemization guy, it's probably something that will happen eventually.
Guild Progression Website[ Comment ] Print News | Mail News Ever wonder what the raiding guilds on your server are doing? This Guild Progression site lists all the expansions and shows where the top raiding guilds on each server are in defeating the content. The encounter progressions also note the amount of time it took to finish each one, and relative rankings.
Currently, many guilds are working on the Serpent's Spine Ashengate and Frostcrypt encounters. Here is the most current progression data from the site:
Ashengate:
2007-01-08 Guild Fama Volat defeated Lethar (The Rathe)
2007-01-08 Guild Silent Resurgence defeated Lethar (The Nameless)
2007-01-08 Guild Silent Redemption defeated Sothgar (Cazic Thule)
2007-01-07 Guild Elysee defeated Vergalid (The Rathe)
2006-12-30 Guild Fire and Fury defeated Lethar (Firiona Vie)
2006-12-29 Guild Silent Redemption defeated Stitch (Cazic Thule)
2006-12-20 Guild Final Door defeated Vergalid (Stromm)
2006-12-19 Guild Fama Volat defeated Dyn'Leth (The Rathe)
2006-12-17 Guild Darkwind defeated Dyn'Leth (Antonius Bayle)
2006-12-17 Guild Shadows of Doom defeated Sothgar (Antonius Bayle)
Frostcrypt:
2007-01-09 Guild Tide defeated Beltran the Shade King (Antonius Bayle)
2007-01-07 Guild Tide defeated Harfange the Black (Antonious Bayle)
2007-01-04 Guild Raging Fury defeated Harfange the Black (Antonius Bayle)
2007-01-03 Guild Crimson Tempest defeated King Odeen (Maelyn Starpyre)
2007-01-03 Guild Cestus Dei defeated Beltran the Shade King (Luclin)
2007-01-02 Guild Echoes In Eternity / Dol Amroth defeated King Odeen (Quellious)
2006-12-21 Guild Raging Fury defeated Lorekeeper Grenwald (Antonius Bayle)
2006-12-20 Guild Club Fu defeated King Odeen (Bristlebane)
2006-12-20 Guild Tide defeated Lorekeeper Grenwald (Antonius Bayle)
2006-12-17 Guild Dark Horizon defeated King Odeen (Xegony)
EQ Raid Movie[ 1 Comment ] Print News | Mail News A very nicely done movie of various EQ raids from guild In Via Damnum from the Druzzil Ro Server. Made me quite nostalgic for all those Time raids! I found myself saying, "yep, died there a lot, stood over there for this one, there's the AOE part ..." Much fun. But there's lots more on the movie that highlights this guild's accomplishents over the past year. This movie features good music and well-done cinematography.
Originally posted on EQPlayers.
"As we roll into a new year, its always a time to look back at all that has been accomplished. Other guilds have posted their movies, so I figured I would post the one I made of what our guild has been up to.
Nameless Guild Recruiting[ 2 Comments ] Print News | Mail News "Immortalis Kruoris is looking for more people to join our ranks! We are a family guild on The Nameless (RIP Inny) that raids 3x per week, but encourage our members to put RL before EQ. We are ‘family’ in the sense that our guildies look out for each other and enjoy grouping together. We do require a RL age of 18+ because our guild chat tends to be adult oriented.
Currently we’re farming Theater of Blood, Circle of Drakes and Rikkukin among others. Epic 1.5’s and DoN Tier 4 are also being worked with Kessdona and MPG Trial Raids in the very near future.
We are looking for people that enjoy a challenge. Our typical raid force is in the mid 20’s with approximately 40 active members. While we are more interested in the person behind the keyboard than the toon itself, there does have to be a certain level of competency in playing your class and general EQ knowledge.
Applicants must be unguilded and not actively applying to other guilds during their app process with us. Our typical application period is between 2 to 6 weeks depending on how well you get to know our members, who each get to vote on new applicants. The guild is
mostly East coast based, but we do have some members on Pacific time and in between.
Our raids start at 7:30PM Eastern Tuesday and Thursday and at 4PM Eastern on Saturday. The –only- requirement we have for raid attendance is if you are online when we are raiding, you must attend.
Universal Requirements:
- RL Age of 18+
- Level 70
- 100 AA's
- The ability to find a way to any zone from the PoK
(without a port & without causing drama)
- A sense of humor and the ability to be teased
- A stable internet connection
- The ability to play for a decent amount of time
without bailing on raids or going on extended AFK
If you’re interested in being more than just a blip on the raid tool, check us out at:
LFG Website[ Comment ] Print News | Mail News A new website has launched with the sole purpose of helping players find a group. The new site is called mmopug.com and helps players find groups in their time zone and at an appropriate level for each server. The site is not only for EQ, but helps players find groups in EQ2 and WoW as well.
PUG stands for "pick up group" and as most players know, there's nothing more frustrating than not being able to find one when you want to play. This new idea puts people together in the right place at the right time.
Video Games Aren't All Bad: Study[ Comment ] Print News | Mail News News you already know: video games give you a positive social life. Results of a study released from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign concludes what gamers have known all along, that it's fun to hang out with other people in MMOs:
Virtual Interaction
Video games may actually boost sociability.
In the past, the typical hangout spots for kids were playgrounds and street corners. But today, they’re just as likely to be hanging out at castles or on battlegrounds.
In this case, the castles and battlegrounds are virtual environments in what are known as “massively multiplayer” online video games, or MMOs. But contrary to the common perception that video games isolate people and stunt sociability, some of these MMOs “promote sociability and new worldviews,” say Dmitri Williams, a speech communication professor in LAS, and University of Wisconsin researcher Constance Steinkuehler.
MMOs draw in millions of players worldwide to interact with each other online in 3-D computer fantasy worlds. Williams and Steinkuehler claim that by providing places for social interaction and relationships beyond the workplace and home, MMOs function not like solitary dungeon cells, but more like virtual coffee shops or pubs where “social bridging” takes places.
They even liken playing such games to dropping in at the famous Cheers bar “where everybody knows your name.”
“Spending time in these social games helps people meet others not like them, even if it doesn’t always lead to strong friendship,” says Williams, who combined survey research with interviews and even played the games.
However, he and Steinkuehler caution that heavy game-play might not be positive in the short-term for people who need strong connections, since it could take the place of healthy offline relationships.
“It’s really a question of what kind of balance the person has in their life,” Williams says. “For that reason, online spaces are not a one-size-fits-all phenomenon that can simply be labeled as ‘good’ or ‘bad.’”
.....
It's good to see that someone is saying something besides "video games are bad!" Of course, your friends in EQ are much like the strange people that hung out in the Cheers bar .... my friend Ignatious the monk comes to mind here .... However, I do wonder what "healthy offline relationships" are, and even more interesting, what are "unhealthy offline relationships?" Is it better to play EQ than go hang out with your crazy cousin who asks you for money all the time? Just thinkin'.
Our Culture:
Vallis Aspectus is a family friendly guild whose members have chosen to dedicate themselves to the progression through EQ content. We have a diverse population of members from many nations around the world. Although we are focused on advancing into end game content we are not as fast paced as some other guilds. Real-life interests remain priorities as we pursue our in game goals. Members of Vallis Aspectus frown on immature or inappropriate in-game behavior, and take great pride in maintaining the traditions and values of the guild. Many of our members enjoy tradeskilling and developing new characters. In short, we have a guild of diverse members who have many in game and out of game interests who support each other in meeting individual and guild goals.
Our Current Goals:
Vallis Aspectus is currently farming the Citadel of Anguish, and exploring new DoDH and TSS content.
Raids are scheduled to occur five to six nights a week. Raid attendance is not compulsory. Most raids have scheduled start times of either 8pm or 9pm EST. Vallis Aspectus uses a DKP system to manage the distribution of raid loot. Raid attendance and loot obtained by each member is tracked in the DKP database. Probationary members are not eligible for loot except under special circumstances.
Who We Are Looking For
Vallis Aspectus is interested in recruiting mature and knowledgeable players of all classes. Please visit our recruitment forum at www.vallisaspectus.org for information relevant to each class. After posting an application to the guild in the required format, you will be contacted by one of our guild recruiters for an interview. A decision whether or not to accept your application will be made by the Vallis Aspectus officer for your class. If accepted, you will be given our guild tag and enter a 30 day probationary period. Following your probationary period, the members of VA will vote whether to retain you as a full member or pass on your membership. While raid attendance is not compulsory, as described above, many members use a recruit's raid participation percentage as a gauge of their interest in becoming a full fledged member of VA.
