..................................................................... ------------------------------ February 3, 2000 8:00 am ------------------------------ The following changes have been implemented on the live servers: *Spells* - Lay On Hands: Enhanced to heal more hitpoints per level. - Enveloping Roots: Casting time reduced to match Immobilize - Skin Like Nature: Small Damage Shield added. This will stack with other shields. - Insidious Fever: Casting time reduced. - Insidious Malady: Casting time Reduced. - Burnout series: Negative HP component removed to bring it in line with the Necromancer's Intensify/Augment death series. *Songs* - Syvelian's Anti-magic Aura: Potency increased. - Shauri's Sonorous Clouding: Now also grants See Invisible. Party members can now see each other while under the effect of this song. Additionally, the following songs have been given a slightly larger radius: - Selo's Accelerando - Agilmente's Aria of Eagles - Shauri's Sonorous Clouding - Tarew's Aquatic Ayre *PvP-Teams Change* Customers on the PvP-Teams servers have been plagued by a tactic known as "Bind Rushing". Casters would bind themselves in a hostile area or dungeon, and attack everyone of an opposing race in the area. Sooner or later the caster would die. They would then respawn, memorize a few spells, then jump back in to attack their wounded opponents. As a first step in combating this practice and improving life for those on the PvP-Servers, casters will now respawn with zero mana after being killed by another player in a duel or open combat. This code is new for those on Tallon and Vallon Zek. It has been in place for some time on Rallos Zek and works very well there. *The Plane of Sky* All spells that grant levitation will no longer function in the Plane of Sky. This affects spells cast by Wizards, Enchanters, Shamans, Druids, Necromancers, and Bards. The Plane of Sky is designed to be completed in certain fashion, and the existence of these spells allowed the islands to be completed out-of-order. A teleporter will be placed on the first island in the next patch to allow people access to the room below. - The EverQuest Team ..................................................................... ------------------------------ February 17, 2000 7:00 am ------------------------------ ***Announcements*** The City of Paineel, home to the infamous Heretics of Erudin, is now available via the Optional Patch. In addition, Erudites may now also be Shadowknights in addition to the other classes available to them. All Erudite Necromancers, Shadowknights, and Clerics who worship the God of Fear, Cazic-Thule, now start in the City of Paineel. As such, if you wish to create a character of this type from this point forward, you *must* download the Paineel zone-files via the Optional Patch. Please note that if you downloaded the Paineel zone files recently, you must run the Optional Patch again to insure you have the correct version of the files. In related news, all of the entrances to the Qeynos Catacombs have been fixed. Enjoy! The following changes have been implemented on the live servers: *Spell Changes* - The recast delay for many of the Shaman buff-spells have been reduced. - "Reoccurring Amnesia" has had its casting time reduced. - "Yaulp" and "Augmentation" should now stack. - "Solidarity of Vision" has had its duration increased. - The Druid spell, "Skin Like Nature", has been returned to its former status due to popular opinion. As such, the damage-shield component has been removed and the regeneration component has been re-applied. - "Sense Magic" has been replaced in all cases by the "True North" spell. If you have already inscribed the "Sense Magic" spell, the spell icon will now automatically reflect "True North". - A bug that existed with several damage-shield spells, causing their damage to be subtracted rather than added when stacked, has been corrected. The spells will now stack properly. - The "Feign Death" spell, when cast by a Necromancer, will now have a fixed duration. The Necromancer will receive several warnings prior to the spell wearing off. This change was necessary because some Necromancers found a way to gain experience through their pet while being AFK for an extended duration, such as being in bed for the night. Note: This does not affect Shadowknights or Monks. - New Necromancer spells are now in game. Check your spell vendors. - Alchemy has been revamped. Check with your local Shaman. - DOT (Damage Over Time) spells will no longer hinder camping. *General Changes/Fixes* - The dungeon of Paw has again received a minor update to slightly reduce the difficulty of the zone. - All known issues with the SBLive soundcard have been corrected. - From this point forward, deleting a character will cause all corpses belonging to that character to likewise be deleted. This change was made primarily to stop a no-drop transfer bug. It also has the added effect of cleaning up corpses for characters that people no longer intend to play. - Crippling Blows will now display the correct damage in the "You have scored a Crippling Blow (###)" line. *Corpse Looting Exploit* Recently, an exploit was discovered that allowed certain unsavory individuals to loot the corpses of other players without their consent. The precise symptom of this is that the owner would find their corpse stripped of everything except for no-drop items, and items in a bag with no-drop items. This exploit was fixed in this patch. If you were affected by this exploit recently, you are entitled to a reimbursement of your lost items assuming that we still have a record of what you had. Please contact a GM in-game to arrange for an investigation. During the course of the investigation, people who have exploited this bug will be subject to disciplinary action by our GM staff up to and including item wipes, suspension, and/or banishment. *Rogue Enhancements* Rogues received several enhancements as part of this patch: - The chance to score a critical hit with a throwing weapon has been increased significantly. - When throwing a weapon from behind the NPC in question, a rogue now has a chance to score a "Deadly Strike", for enhanced damage above and beyond that of a critical hit. - A new rogue-specific ability has been added to the "Hide" skill. It is called "Evade". This skill has the effect of lowering the amount that the targeted NPC hates the rogue, and has the potential of making the engaged NPC switch to another target (preferably a tank) within the rogue's group. It is essentially a "reverse taunt". This ability helps mitigate the negative effects of the rogue's exceedingly high damage- output potential. It also will in-turn help the rogue do even more damage as the NPC is much more likely to expose its back. It is engaged by targeting the NPC you wish to "Evade" and pressing the "Hide" button. As a note, you must not be in combat mode in order to use this ability. *Mistwalker* The Mistwalker will once again cast its spell as often as it used to prior to the last patch. However, the resulting pet will now automatically "dissipate" after one combat round. The change that reduced the "proc" percentage on the weapon was made due to an unintended interaction between the pet and the target when several users of this weapon were attacking the same target. Since the new pet now automatically dissipates after one round, the reduced "proc" percentage was no longer necessary. *Class-Specific Armor Quests* Class-Specific armor quests, especially those belonging to Clerics, Paladins, and Shadowknights, have been reduced in terms of how long it will take the average person to acquire the armor. These classes, and others that found particular pieces of their armor exceedingly difficult to obtain should find it much easier now. In addition, a bug that hindered completion of the Bracer of Ro quest for some races has been corrected. *Tallon Zek* Loot rules for PvP deaths on the PvP-Teams server, Tallon Zek, have been changed from "Coin + 1 item" to "Coin Only". This change was made to study the impact of loot-rules upon server population in reference to the loot/efficiency disparity between caster and melee characters. This change is a test, and may or may not be retained or rolled out across the other PvP servers, pending the results of the server population study over the next few weeks. *Plane Changes* Several changes have been implemented in the Planes as part of this patch: - Characters will now lose all enchantments upon entering the Plane of Sky. - Due to the fact that the levitate-series no longer works within the Plane of Sky, a teleporter has been placed to allow entrance into the quest room. - A teleporter has been placed within the Plane of Hate in order to give non-casters a way out of the zone besides death, potion, or group teleport. *Loot Messages* Messages indicating what has been looted from a corpse will now be broadcast to everyone within the looters group. This change was made due to public request and to encourage trust within the group. We may, in the future, employ filters to allow people to choose whether or not they wish to receive loot messages. *Fiery Avenger* The greatly anticipated defining blade of the Paladin, the "Fiery Avenger", is again available within game via a quest. The *first* devout Paladin to wield this blade and be validated by a GM in-game will be publicly congratulated within a patch message and on the Official EverQuest web-site at www.everquest.com. - The EverQuest Team ..................................................................... ------------------------------ February 23, 2000 ------------------------------ Today's patch was primarily comprised of server-side changes in preparation for the release of EverQuest: The Ruins of Kunark. Only one gameplay-affecting issue was updated as a result of this patch: - Being killed by another player in a duel will now cause you to re- spawn with zero mana. This change was implemented to counter a strategy used by casters where they would duel to reduce downtime between fights, thus allowing groups to engage creatures that they normally would not be able to. - The EverQuest Team ..................................................................... ------------------------------ March 29, 2000 ------------------------------ This morning's update consisted primarily of server-side changes to improve performance of the game engine in general. No items, spawns, spells (with the exceptions below), etc., were changed as a result of this patch. Area Effect "Fear" spells will no longer work in PvP. This affects a bard song, as well as the Cleric "Wave of Fear" spell. Corrected a bug with some of the Resurrection spells that caused them to return too little experience. We plan on publishing data and item changes next week if all goes well on the Test server. We apologize to those who are inconvenienced by having to wait for the expected changes. - The EverQuest Team ..................................................................... ------------------------------ April 10, 2000 ------------------------------ ***Patch Day*** The following is a list of changes that were implemented on the Live EverQuest servers today: *Spells* - You will now receive a message when attempting to mesmerize a creature that is immune to that type of spell. - You can now right-click-and-hold on bard songs to determine what instrument skill is used by the spell. - Dyn's Dizzying Draught has had its casting time lowered significantly. - Corrected a bug in the Druid root + damage spells (Enveloping roots series) that caused the spell's damage to have a chance of breaking the spell. They work much better now. - The Magicians Phantom Armor series now grants HP regeneration. - The Druid spell, dance of the fireflies, has been changed from "Outdoor only" to "Night only". It may now be cast in dungeons. - Corrected a typographical error that allowed high level magicians to inscribe the Malosi spell. It was not intended for magicians under level 50. *General Changes/Fixes* - Items have gained the ability to be restricted by Deity. If a deity restriction is placed upon an item, it will show when you right-click- and-hold on the item. - The AC on the mid-level cleric quest armor has been increased. - The Terror Mask will now cast "Fear" instead of "Call of Bones" as previously announced. The "Call of Bones" effect was placed on this item by mistake. - The Mempo of Likato now grants AC. - The Quest for the Short Sword of Morin has been fixed. - Some spawn-time problems in Mistmoore have been repaired. - Five spawn-time problems were identified in regards to the Armor of Ro (Paladin) quests. They have been fixed and Paladins should have a much easier time of obtaining their armor. - Pets should now attack Willowisps on command. - Many spell-gems and icons have been changed to reflect the appropriate action of the spell. Be sure to reacquaint yourself with your spell line-up. - Fixed a bug that caused targetable bard songs to ignore the instrument in use. *Kerra Ridge* Kerra Ridge has been completely revamped. The target level-range for the zone has been slightly increased. In addition, many new quests have been added to the zone. The faction for Kerrans has been changed so that those who killed them indiscriminately before today's update can take part. Be warned that the Kerrans still do not like everyone. *Paw* Paw has received another minor difficulty adjustment. In addition, item drop percentages have been increased. *The Plane of Hate* The Plane of Hate has received an item-drop/spawn-time revamp. Take care in your exploration of this zone as many things have changed. - The EverQuest Team ..................................................................... ------------------------------ April 17, 2000 4:00 pm ------------------------------ EverQuest: The Ruins of Kunark (upgrade) should now be arriving on doorsteps around the world. Please note that attempting to create an Iksar character will not work until the expansion zones are officially opened within the next week. We ask that if you attempt to create an Iksar character out of curiosity that you do not proceed past the "History" page (the page that speaks of your lifestyle) in the character creation process. Once at this page, please use the "Back" button to get back to the character creation screen. Pressing "Next" on this screen will cause the name you have selected to go into the "used name" list, making it unavailable for future use. We appreciate your cooperation. - The EverQuest Team *Today's Patch* Today's patch consisted of preparations for the launch of Kunark, as well as some new art. The following spell changes were also included: - Corrected a bug with a new bard song that allowed them to charm anything, such as deities and dragons. - Added a lesser included wisdom effect with "Brilliance" as well as a lesser included intelligence effect with "Insight". These spells will no longer stack. - The EverQuest Team ..................................................................... ------------------------------ April 19, 2000 4:00 pm ------------------------------ As part of the emergency update completed last night, a change was implemented that increases the amount of damage done by someone wielding a 2 handed weapon. This change was made due to a statistical imbalance in the way that damage is calculated at the mid-to-upper levels. A person wielding a one-handed weapon of a given ratio was able to do more damage than when wielding a two-handed weapon of the same ratio. We would like to stress that no change has been made to the amount of damage done by people wielding one-handed weapons. The net result of this change is that people choosing to wield two-handed weapons will now do more damage than they did before. -The EverQuest Team ..................................................................... ------------------------------ April 21, 2000 7:00 am ------------------------------ Greetings everyone! This morning's update is one of the final updates necessary for the EverQuest: The Ruins of Kunark launch scheduled to take place on Monday. As part of this update, a new EverQuest Patch Program was sent to your system. For those who have installed the Ruins of Kunark, this update has added a button labeled "K-Patch" to the patch program control panel. Within these patch messages, Ruins of Kunark players may be asked from time to time to press the "K-Patch" button following the download of the regular patch. This will allow them to download Kunark- related updates when they are required. If you have not installed EverQuest: The Ruins of Kunark, you will not see a "K-Patch" button. In addition to the Kunark-related changes made today, a bug that lowered the maximum damage of two-handed weapons that was introduced earlier this week in the Emergency Update was also corrected. Finally, the art update yesterday implemented a solution that we've been promising: Male barbarians can now see their shields. We continue to appreciate everyone's patience while we get the servers ready for Kunark. Thank you. - The EverQuest Team ..................................................................... ------------------------------ April 24, 2000 3:00 pm ------------------------------ Hello All, Due to the unfortunate problems we have had with our order processing system, it doesn't look like every person that ordered Kunark will receive it in a timely fashion. We sincerely apologize for this unanticipated problem. We expect that roughly 90% of the people who ordered will be receiving their orders by today. Because of the problems we have had we will be refunding anyone who ordered Ruins of Kunark on or before Wednesday April 19th and does not receive their orders by today for their shipping costs, as well as crediting their accounts for one month of gameplay. This applies to International orders as well. We'll be taking care of these refunds via email at kunarkrefund@verant.com, and it will be necessary for anyone that wants to take advantage of this refund to send us your Station Name, billing name and address on the account and the date you placed the order. Please also include "Kunark Refund" in the subject line. We are very sorry for the problems that have come up. The EverQuest Team ..................................................................... ------------------------------ April 27, 2000 ------------------------------ Hello all, I wasn't able to get this in the patch message this evening, but I'd hope you'd help spread it around. I'm also having new /MOTD's put on the servers to be sure that people get the word. /movelog registered accounts from Veeshan and Bristlebane will be moving to Saryrn, Xegony and Bertox to The Seventh Hammer. I'd like to remind everything that corpses will not follow the account, so everyone will want to make sure that there corpses are looted, or they will be lost. I'd also like to note that more people requested the move than we will be able to accommodate, and we appreciate everyone's understanding in this matter. -Gordon ..................................................................... ------------------------------ May 16, 2000 10:00 am ------------------------------ ***Patch Day*** *General Changes* - Sounds have been updated for NPCs in Kunark. Your Iksar should no longer sound like humans. - Dark Elven worshipers of Solusek Ro and Bristlebane will no longer be natively KOS to the outpost in the Overthere. Take care that if you have taken actions allowing you to be judged sufficiently by your deeds, you may still find yourself KOS. - Increased the number of frightfingers in the Plane of Fear. Previously only 3 frightfingers would pop per respawn. - Several problems with the guards that were buffed up last week have been addressed. Some guards that should not have been buffed have been fixed. In addition, due to the level of the new guards, they all gained the ability to innately see-invisible. The level of those guards has been reduced so that they no longer automatically get this ability, making it a bit easier to sneak by them. - Many quests have been updated and/or fixed, both in terms of ease of completion and reward. *Item Updates* - Corrected a typo that had the Canyoneer's Pike marked as NO RENT, causing it to disappear on logout. - Corrected the model for the Axe of the Iron Back. It was showing as a 2H sword when equipped. - The Halcyon Broadsword was mistakenly marked as an artifact. This has been corrected. - Corrected item icons for various pieces of Burynai Hide Armor. It was displaying improperly in the inventory slots. - The Skull Mask of Innervation has been changed so that it must be worn to activate its effect. - Corrected a problem with the Scourgetail Whip whereby the damage and delay figures were transposed yielding a 30 damage, 5 delay weapon. - The "Illusion: Iksar" spell scroll is now droppable/tradeable. - The Goblin Eye Poker now looks like a dagger instead of a small sack. - The Cone of Mystics, which incidentally also looked like a small sack, now looks as intended. - Corrected a typo that had the Goblin Skull Crusher's effect set to the "Lull" spell, which is not appropriate for a melee weapon. The "Lull" effect has been replaced with an appropriate effect. - The Pouch of Mistletoe Powder will now impart its effect on the targeted character. - Mosquito Wings are available in game once again. - Many items had incorrect usage restrictions, and have been repaired. As always, we strive to avoid making negative changes to items that already exist in game. However, there are cases where a particularly unbalancing error has been made, such as with the Scourgetail Whip mentioned above, where the item in question must be fixed in interest of maintaining game balance. We will continue to repair problems, add content, and enhance gameplay in both Kunark and EQ proper. We appreciate everyone's support. Thank you, The EverQuest Team ..................................................................... ------------------------------ May 25, 2000 8:00 am ------------------------------ *Patch Day* Greetings all! The following changes have been implemented on the Live servers: *Spells/Songs* - Voltaic Draught, a high level wizard direct damage spell was improperly saving versus resistance to cold. It now appropriately saves versus magic. - The higher level bard song by Brusco was improperly healing the target instead of damaging it. This has been corrected. *Items* The Shadowknight class-specific quest armor, Darkforge armor, has had its weight decreased substantially. The Runed Fighter's Staff, previously useable by Monks and Warriors, has been restricted to Monks only. The statistics on this staff are much more powerful than normally allowed for warriors. This change is retroactive and will be reflected on items currently in inventory. Though we strive to avoid negatively adjusting items after they have been earned, this item presented a balance issue, making the change necessary. We apologize to warriors that currently own this weapon. A data error with the Symphonic Saber, causing it to report "Item out of charges", has been corrected. Due to the dynamics of this particular issue, current owners will need to contact a GM to trade this item out for a new, properly working version of the item. The Burning Rapier (rogue weapon) has been enhanced. In addition to an increase in statistics, it received a stronger spell effect. The lightsource effect on the weapon has been removed due to an aesthetic rogue desire to be "sneaky" :) The effect on the Hangman's Noose will now work properly. *General Changes* - Some NPCs in Dalnir were casting spells much too powerful for their level. They have been adjusted. - Pathing information has been updated in Highkeep. NPCs and pets should have a much easier time of navigating the zone. - Some Quest-NPCs were not spawning properly in Rathe Mountains. These issues have been corrected. - A handful of problems reported with research practice via the Concordance of Research have been corrected. All practice-rune recipes should now work correctly. - Gorilla's in Burning Wood now have a new texture set that properly reflects their undead status. - Fishing should now work properly in Kunark zones. - /yell now reports the proper direction to people hearing the yell. - Corrected a bug that gave some races the impression that they were allowed to start their character in Cabalis. They were never actually allowed to create the character there, however the indication that they could has been fixed. - Corrected sound issues that were causing some crashes to the desktop in certain cases. We are in the process of patching music files (*.XMI) for zones in which music does not currently work. There are 55 small files (around 2K each) that will be patched over the next couple of days to enable music in all of the affected zones. The zone of Timorous Deep has been tuned and itemized. Certain aspects of the changes have made certain areas of the zone more dangerous, but the reward should be well worth the risk. Feel free to visit this zone and search out its treasures at your leisure. Note: These changes went in on Monday. Upon investigation, we discovered a deficiency with the amount of experience being rewarded in many Kunark zones (mostly dungeons). The affected zones have been updated, and adventurers should notice the greater experience reward in return for the increased risk and challenge associated with these zones. - The EverQuest Team ..................................................................... ------------------------------ June 6, 2000 8:00 am ------------------------------ *Patch Day* Greetings! The live servers have been updated to reflect the newest data on the Test Server: *General* - Some new spells are available for the hybrid classes. Check your Kunark spell vendors. - Found and corrected a problem causing people to fall to their deaths upon zoning. The majority of these issues should no longer occur. - Corrected outstanding issues with several quests, including the Brain Bite, Shackle of Rock, and the Barnal Flamehands quest. - Increased treasure in many Kunark zones including The Emerald Jungle, Sebilis, and the Frontier Mountains. - Upon review we've increased the drop-rate of level 51+ spells in Kunark. They should be more plentiful now. - Updated pathing information in many zones, making it easier for pets and other NPCs to get around the zones. *Items* - A problem with the spell effect for the Luminary Two-Handed Sword. Current owners of this weapon will need to contact a GM to trade their sword out for a working one. - The Gunthak Harpoon is now rentable. It will remain in your possession when you leave the game. - A couple pieces of Blood Ember armor have been reduced in weight. - Reduced the weight on several Monk weapons found in Kunark. *PvP Teams Servers (VZ/TZ) and Illusions* Due to an outstanding bug that allowed a player to permanently mesmerize or stun opposing team members when coupled with an illusion, illusions will now automatically cancel when the person wearing the illusion casts an offensive spell upon any player-character. Players should keep this in mind before attacking with spells in an area where their faction standing is less than desirable. Illusions are defined as any spell that makes a character look different than they actually are. This includes all racial illusions, as well as other illusions such as Treeform, Wolfform, and the Call of Bones series. *Risk and Reward* The concept of risk and reward is very important to the game of EverQuest. Ideally, situations that provide a greater reward should also provide substantial risk. Over the past several weeks, we've been identifying areas in game where risk and reward are at a disparity, and making necessary adjustments. In most cases, those adjustments are in favor of increasing the reward for a specific action. For example, we recently increased the experience awarded in many Kunark zones to offset the sometimes- considerable risk associated with adventuring there. We also do this quite frequently by increasing the reward associated with a quest by enhancing the item, as we did last week with the Burning Rapier quest. However, in some cases there are instances where reward is far in excess of the risk involved, and we will be correcting these issues like those above as we come across them. For example, there are many cases where a solitary and stationary outdoor creature has a "fast spawn", yielding the reward of fast experience-gain without the commensurate risk. Though it is not our policy to announce changes to individual NPCs, we did want to let you know that you will see risk/reward disparities corrected over the next several weeks. *PvP Teams (VZ/TZ) Character Transfers* As many people playing upon the PvP-Teams servers are aware, Vallon Zek and Tallon Zek have different rules regarding looting rights from PvP combat. Vallon Zek allows the victor to loot all coin plus one item from the fallen, whereas Tallon Zek allows only coin-loot with no right to loot items. Due to the fact that the looting rules were changed on Tallon Zek post- production, we've decided to allow characters on both servers a one- time character-move. Registration for the move will open at 6:00pm PDT on Friday, June 9th, 2000, on both servers, and will be open through 12:00pm PDT on Monday, June 12th, 2000. You can register for the move by executing the "/movelog yes" command during the registration window. There is no limit to the number of people that we will allow to move between Tallon and Vallon Zek, so there is no reason to rush to enter the command. Please remember that once you register for the move, your decision can not be rescinded. The actual character-move will take place sometime next week, at a time to be announced later. Please keep in mind that corpses are not moved in a character-move, so we'd recommend against leaving unclaimed corpses around after Monday of next week if you've asked to be moved. Questions about the move process will be addressed in the Gameplay Message Forum available via www.everquest.com. - The EverQuest Team Updates Not Included in This Patch Message: * Banshee Aura has had its duration increased. * Scale of Wolf and Spirit of Scale will no longer be canceled by being the target of a melee attack. Ranged attacks and spells will still cancel the spell. * Shaman can now cast Charm Animal * Some enchanter and shaman spells have had their casting times/mana costs altered. * Augment, Glamour of Kintaz, Rapture, and Clarity II have had their mana cost lowered. * Root spells that cause damage (Druid roots, Hungry Earth) now work properly. ..................................................................... ------------------------------ June 15, 2000 8:00 am ------------------------------ *Patch Day* Hello everyone, Over the past few weeks, a portion of the EQ team has been working on The Hole, in preparation of its release in the near future. Even so, a number of changes and additions were made in today's patch. Most of the changes are in regards to quests: - The "Fleshy Orb" quest has been completed - We've received word that "Fabian" has been spotted somewhere on Norrath. - Froglok Foragers and Hunters should been seen more regularly. - Lord Grimrot should be seen more frequently. - Skill in tailoring is no longer required to craft The Robe of the Lost Circle. A few items have also been changed this week: - The Robe of the Lost Circle has been enhanced. - The Staff of Temperate Flux and the Rod of Insidious Glamour now have a short casting time associated with their activatable effect (See Below). - The Gunthak Harpoon is again NORENT, meaning that it will disappear when you log off (See Below.) *Casting Times on Staff and Rod* We received word a few weeks ago that some people were using these items to "spam" other players with their spell-effect messages, causing them to disconnect. Though /ignore will allow you to filter out text messages caused by people on your /ignore list, it will not allow you to filter out spell-effect messages for spells cast upon you. The short casting time should prevent the problems associated with the targetable and activatable effect on these weapons, however you will have to stand still to use them now. *Gunthak Harpoon* In the last item patch, we made the mistake of making this weapon "rentable", meaning that it does not disappear upon logoff. Basically, one of our game designers heard that the weapon was NORENT, concluded that it must be a bug, and took the initiative to fix it. Unfortunately, the stats on this weapon, despite its disadvantages of weight and its non-magical composition, make it much too powerful for its location and difficulty in obtaining it. For these reasons, the weapon is once again NORENT, and will disappear the next time that you log out. This is a retroactive change and will affect weapons already in possession. We do apologize to those who acquired it within the last week expecting that it would be a permanent weapon. *Chat / Login Process* The Chat and Login server components are now completely separate, meaning that players will no longer have difficulty logging in due to an excess of people in the chat server. - The EverQuest Team ..................................................................... ------------------------------ June 22, 2000 9:00 am ------------------------------ ***Today's Updates*** *The Hole* We are pleased to announce the opening of The Hole, a high-level dungeon on the continent of Odus. The Hole is a complementary addition to EverQuest, available to all subscribers regardless of their Kunark status. The files necessary to enter The Hole are available via the "Optional Patch" button at the bottom of the patch program interface. The files are quite large (about 9MB total), so if the download is going slowly, you may want to postpone downloading the files until later. As mentioned above, The Hole is a high-level dungeon, designed to support characters starting at about level 40. It should be regarded as extremely dangerous. As a note, jumping in The Hole from Paineel is NO LONGER A SHORTCUT TO TOXXULIA FOREST. The GMs will not recover corpses for people who fall, or jump, or attempt to levitate into The Hole. *Vallon Zek is now Coin-Only* As we announced earlier this week, due to the number of people specifying interest in "coin-only" loot on Vallon Zek, versus those wishing to retain item- loot, we have implemented "coin-only" looting rules for PvP combat on Vallon Zek. *Resurrection* Previously, players had to be resurrected within two hours after death in order to receive any experience back as part of the resurrection. Due to the increased size and difficulty associated with Kunark zones, we've raised this limit from two hours to three. This should assist players and make it easier for them to obtain an experience-returning resurrection within the time limit. *Warping* We put in some code that should help decrease the "ghosting" (NPCs appearing to be some place they aren't) being reported in some of the larger Kunark zones. Please let us know how this goes. *Locked Doors* We noticed few weeks ago that it is common practice to use NPCs to open locked doors rather than by using the services of someone that is able to pick locks. In order to protect and increase the value of the abilities of the lock-picking classes, NPCs have gained the ability to walk through locked doors without opening them. *Vox and Nagafen* Over the past couple of weeks, we've received more and more reports of these dragons being bested by smaller and smaller groups of higher- level (high 50s) adventurers. As we've always felt that Dragons should be special encounters that require a large number of people, we were left with some choices. One choice available to us was to increase the power of the dragons to a level where the level 60 folks would find them challenging. This would have the disadvantage of forever placing them out-of-reach for those who did not buy Kunark, and place them further out-of-reach for those who did, but are just now approaching the levels where they could go on Dragon raids. Another possible solution was to make the dragons flee (depop) when engaged by a more powerful group of people. This would have the undesired effect of allowing some people to deny others the experience of fighting a dragon. Instead of raising the bar as mentioned above, we've instead decided that dragons, or at least these two dragons, should have the magical ability to pick their own fights. Players of level 53 or above will now encounter some difficulty when attempting to assist in combat with these dragons. This should help 40s and low 50-level characters with their chances to encounter a dragon without worry of getting forced out by much higher level players. In addition, it also has the added effect of creating a natural progression from the younger dragons of Antonica to the elder and more formidable dragons of Kunark. -The EverQuest Team ..................................................................... ------------------------------ June 29, 2000 7:00 am ------------------------------ ***Patch Day*** Though today's patch is primarily comprised of fixes to various bugs that have been reported by the players, we're also pleased to announce a few enhancements: - Ranger spell "Jolt" now has a lesser casting time. - Many new recipes for the "Make Poison" skill are now in game. Features include: Several new poison books, stackable components, new suspensions, some purchasable components, and players now have the ability to purchase vials. Please check your vendors. - Increased spell-drop percentages in three difficult Kunark zones where drops were less than should be expected. - Corrected an error in the drop rate for a couple cleric spells making them unavailable. *Quest Fixes* - Fixed the "Minotaur Horns" Quest - Fixed a misspelling in the guild-note for Erudite clerics worshipping Cazic-Thule. - Fixed a misspelled keyword in the Trueshot Longbow Quest. - The guild note for gnome clerics now states the appropriate gender for the guildmaster. - Fixed the "illegible cantrip" Quest. - Fixed the "Hunt for Meat" Quest. - Removed Jinkus Felligan's doppelganger from Halas. - Fixed the "Travis Twostring" quest. - Fixed the "Algthin Dasmore" quest. - Fixed the "Gather Components" quest. - Fixed the "Lion Meat" quest. - The Fleshy Orb quest and "Fabian" should really be fixed now. These were not correct after the last patch due to a data export issue. *Item Fixes* - Fixed spelling of "Basilisk Egg" - The Brass Ring is now worn on the finger, instead of the waist. - Fixed the "Broken Minotaur Lord's Horn" - Fixed race/class restrictions listed for the "Bullsmasher". Item listed some inappropriate classes. - Fixed race/class restrictions listed for "Patchwork Armor". Items listed some inappropriate classes. - Fixed the model for the "Cast Iron Rapier". - Fixed Race/class restrictions for the "Crushbone Belt". Item listed some inappropriate classes. - Fixed the mundane "Electrum Peridot Bracelet" so that it would equip in the proper slot. - The "Bloody Mantle" may now be equipped. - Fixed the effect on the "Canyoneer Pike". Current owners of this item will need to trade it out with a GM in game. - Fixed the "Howling Harpoon". Item was previously casting its spell upon the wielder, rather than the target. The fix will be automatically applied to existing items. - Fixed the icon for the Degenerated Guk Weed. - Fixed the icon for the Enshrouded Veil. - The Splitpaw Hide Tunic will now look like "Leather" when equipped. - "The Crusade of 1312AG" and "The Forbidden Tome" will now remain with the character after logout. - Fixed race/class restrictions listed for the "Mortificator Staff". Item listed an inappropriate class. - Fixed the icon for the Spectral Bow. In addition, removed "BRD" from the class listing since Bards do not have the Archery Skill. - Removed excess classes listed on the "Silk Lined Steel Helm". - Fixed the effect on the "Theurgist Mace". Current owners of this item will need to trade it out with a GM in game. *Miscellaneous* - Fixed bug that caused NPCs to say "cant open politethnks.txt" - Fixed bug that caused NPCs to say "Can not open file NERDRGATT.txt" - Fixed "cannot open file guards.txt" bug with Butcherblock dwarves - Fixed "Cannot open item2monster.txt" problem with goblin whelps in Butcherblock. - Lizardman Mystics no longer think that the Feerrott belongs to the Sabretooth Gnolls. - Fixed a ghost in Field of Bone who was inappropriately labeled as living, causing "undead only" spells to fail. - Improved pathing in Sebilis. - Improved pathing in West Freeport. - Fixed the color of several spell-gems. - Fixed recipe for a "Block of Clay" in the Basic Pottery book. - Stone Skeletons in Lake Rathe can now be affected by "undead only" spells. - Fixed several merchants who did not have wares to sell. - Fixed several dozen spelling and grammar errors in NPC text and the spell database. - "Folded Sheet Metal" may now be crafted via blacksmithing. - The "Unfired Urn", "Onyx Encrusted Urn", and "Small Bowl" may now be crafted via Pottery. - The EverQuest Team .....................................................................
