.....................................................................
------------------------------
January 9, 2003
------------------------------
** Demise of the Classic/Velious Interface **
Over the last six months we have been keeping the Classic EverQuest
interface as well as the Velious interface working through all of the
features that we have added (built-in MP3 player, item links, compass,
enhanced /bug reporting tool, and others). However, with the release of
some of the new features in this patch, such as running EQ in a window,
we must now say goodbye to the older interfaces. They have been
disabled as of today.
They served us well.
** EQ in a Window **
EverQuest can now be run in a window. To place EverQuest in a window,
simply press Alt-Enter. You can also switch out of EverQuest to another
program by using the familiar Alt-Tab. It is important that you do not
do this until you are in-game, do not do this during the login process.
It is important to note a few things. Running the game in a window may
reduce game performance a bit. And, as always, the more programs you
have running at the same time the more resources they use.
At this time, due to some changes that need to be made on the front
end, it is not possible to run two instances of EverQuest. We will be
working to make the necessary changes over the next few weeks.
** Songs Window **
We have added a new window to the interface along with new game
functionality. The Songs window is a new buff window that holds up to 6
bard song buffs. This increases the potential maximum effects that a
character can have to 21 (15 standard and the 6 new ones). The new
window only holds certain bard songs (generally the 3-tick songs). Only
beneficial songs will qualify for the new buff box, and not all of
those. Any buff in the new Songs window is considered temporary and
will not be saved when you zone.
Songs that qualify to go into the new window will go into that window
first. Any qualifying songs over six will be rerouted to the main
Effects window. Cancel Magic effects will see these new buff slots as
buff slots #16-21.
Note for User Interface skin creators: The Label EQTypes 80-85 are the
Songs window song names.
- Some magical effects on Planar class armor have been altered. In most
cases the effects were upgraded, but a few items were given weaker
effects that were more in line with the difficulty of obtaining them.
- Fixed a bug that was causing a few Planes of Power NPCs to take too
long to respawn.
- Wu's Attack should now work correctly.
- Incoming damage now interacts with Wrath of the Wild and other rune-
type spells in their proper order.
- Pact of Shadow and Shadow Compact will once again heal player
characters.
- Charmed Pets will no longer remain charmed after the owner dies.
- Sending special characters via EQIM will no longer
freeze the game.
- Hitting Autoattack when in explore mode at Character Select will no
longer cause the game to crash.
- The Loadskin window will now load skins other than the default
properly.
- Fixed and issue that caused some NPC's text to be cut short.
- Fixed (but did not rename) the Broken Golem. He should no longer be
hated in Fear, just feared...
-Lowered the duration of calm-type spells that effect creatures level
50 and over.
** User Interface File Changes **
ShortDurationBuffwnd.xml - NEW
EQUI.xml
BugReportwnd.xml
Lootwnd.xml
Selectorwnd.xml
PetInfownd.xml
Window_ Pieces04.tga
.....................................................................
------------------------------
January 15, 2003
------------------------------
*** Announcing The Legacy of Ykesha ***
The Legacy of Ykesha will be the first download-only extension for
EverQuest. This product will not be available in stores. This extension
will include some great new gameplay features, as well as new zones for
characters ranging from level 35 up to level 60.
Legacy of Ykesha Features include:
A new playable race: Frogloks
Enhanced Looking For Group Tool
New Cartography System
New Magic Item slot: Charms
Armor Dyes
Dozens of new creatures
Expanded bank capacity
New zones
New spells
For more information, please visit www.legacyofykesha.com
** Gameplay/Features **
- With our last patch and the patch today, we've significantly reduced
the amount of bandwidth that EverQuest needs to use, even in large raid
or extremely-crowded-zone situations.
- Fixed a problem with tints not properly updating when armor is
removed.
- Fixed a bug with character faces displaying incorrectly to other
players when you zone in after them.
- Fixed resurrection timer that was counting down against the 3 hour
limit when player was not logged in.
- Corrected a problem with health and movement updates being delayed.
** Spells **
- NPCs will now notice Druid and Shaman Percentage Heal spells in a
manner similar to traditional healing spells.
- Removed the chance for slow spells to be reversed from the 17 NPCs
that had this ability.
- Fixed a bug that was preventing Curses, Diseases, and Poisons from
being removed.
- Raised all recast times below 2.25 seconds up to 2.25 seconds. This
is a change in the spell data as the first part of a two-part change
needed to correct the "Recast time not met" problem. More information
is available at the Developer's Corner at www.everquest.com.
** Alternate Advancement/Special Abilities **
- The range on the Bard Ability "Boastful Bellow" has been increased
slightly.
- Fixed a bug with Harm Touch that was not allowing it to increase the
standard amount per level over level 60.
** User Interface **
- Fixed a bug with effects in the Songs window. They were not getting
removed on the client when the bard was dispelled.
- Introduced new Story window. The purpose of this window is to provide
story updates in a readily available location. ALT-N toggles the
window. You can select to have the window pop up when new story
elements are added if you wish.
- Item Links are once again creatable from Items and from other Item
Links. Please do not attempt to "mine" the servers for undiscovered
items. Links now have a built-in mechanism to prevent those who would
go on fishing expeditions by sending up many bad links in an attempt to
discover new items. These invalid links are logged, as are the accounts
of those who create them.
- Added an optional confirmation box before spending AA points. To turn
on this confirmation box, please check the Options window.
** Miscellaneous **
- Sage Quests in Plane of Knowledge have been fixed.
- The event to fight Bertoxxulous in the Crypt of Decay will reset 4 to
6 hours after the event is failed. It will respawn normally if the
event is won.
** New/Changed Interface Files **
- EQUI_StoryWnd.xml (actually added with the Jan. 9th patch)
- EQUI_OptionsWnd.xml
.....................................................................
------------------------------
January 28, 2003 3:00 am
------------------------------
** ANNOUNCEMENT **
The response to The Legacy of Ykesha(tm) extension has been
overwhelming; we want to thank all of you who have pre-ordered.
In order to better serve ALL of our customers, including those who do
not have a credit card, we've decided to make a relatively small number
of The Legacy of Ykesha CD-ROMs available at retail as well. Please
note, though, that The Legacy of Ykesha CD will likely not be available
at retail in the US until as much as a week or more after the "live"
date; the delay may be longer for our international customers.
If you have already pre-ordered from us, but you would prefer to wait
for the retail CD, you can cancel your pre-order by following these
instructions:
1. Go to the Station Store (https://store.station.sony.com/)
2. Go to Billing Info and sign in.
3. View Current pre-orders.
4. Click Cancel button; you will receive a cancellation email.
You may still pre-order the digital download version of The Legacy of
Ykesha from the Station.com Store (the download version only - we will
not be selling CDs through pre-order) for the special pre-order price
of $17.99.
** Gameplay and User Interface **
- Further optimizations to reduce bandwidth and 'lag'. It is difficult
to describe the value of this change, but it should show a noticeable
improvement for many. We've also resolved many of the hit point update
and movement issues that occurred recently.
- Made an improvement to the animation code that may reduce the slight
delays that can occur when a new player enters a zone.
- Spells on spell book pages 33 to 50 can now be deleted for those who
were having troubles.
- Corrected a bug that could cause a crash if a character tried to
purchase an item or close the merchant window just as he was leaving
the trading range of that merchant.
- Players should no longer get out of range message when trying to
target a player on a horse just because the horse has moved a little
(but is still in range).
- Corrected an issue in Fungus Grove that was allowing some ranged
attacks to land unnoticed by NPCs.
** Spells **
- Lull, Soothe, Calm, Pacify, Harmony, Calm Animal, and Rest the Dead
should no longer give the: "Your spell did not take hold," message.
- Bard Songs with a "Rune" component should be working properly.
- Sha's Advantage and Savagery are now available on vendors in the
Plane of Knowledge.
- Illusion spells used with Luclin models should now show the
appropriate hair.
- Infusion of spirit should no longer overwrite Speed of Vallon.
- Sense Summoned will now sense elementals of most types.
- Eye of Zomm and Stalking Probe cast from a horse will now be able to
look up and down.
- Call of Rizlona now has casting text for the person that procs this
spell.
** Alternate Advancement **
- Monk discipline Resistance should increase resistances properly now.
- The Shaman AA ability Spirit Call should now finish casting if you
regain concentration after interruption.
- Corrected a problem where right-clicking on an AA hotkey would
highlight the wrong ability on the list in the window.
- There will now be a confirmation window available when spending AA
points. There is a new selection in the Options menu called Fast AA
Purchase for toggling this confirmation.
** Items **
- Spirit of Snow and Spirit of Flame will be dropping more frequently
now.
- Merchant's Crate of Supplies will now fit into containers that can
hold giant-sized items.
- Removed Paladin and Ranger from the list of characters that could use
the Hateful Balanced Zweihander. It is only usable by worshippers of
Innoruuk, and was never meant to be used by these classes.
- The Resplendent War Maul now has a more appropriate inventory icon.
- Crypt Master's Conjuring Stone is now more valuable to NPC vendors,
and they will not sell it as cheaply as they did in the past.
** Quests **
- Killing Kazen Fecae is no longer a viable path to the completion of
the Necromancer Epic quest.
- Tibrinn Ember now gives a faction modifier for the completion of his
quest.
- Hanns Krieghor will no longer grant faction increases just by talking
to him.
- There are now a few Iksar in the Plane of Knowledge that are
interested in your Iksar racial armor.
** Bazaar **
- Corrected a bug in the Bazaar that caused price changes made by
traders to only affect one stack of the same item.
- Target Group Buff and the AA ability Mass Group Buff can no longer be
used with levitate spells to push traders out of their stalls in the
Bazaar.
** NPCs **
- The specters and shades in Velketor should no longer be dropping
cloth armor.
- Centi Dators should no longer spawn inside walls.
- Oozing Flesh in the Tower of Frozen Shadow should no longer drop
Sabretooth hides. It was determined that these creatures are too slow
to catch a Sabretooth, and that they do not have the ability to skin
them nor the desire to wear (or eat) their hides.
- Elder Spiritualist Grawleh will now respond properly to hails.
- Fittorin Bladespur will now respond properly to hails.
- A Frost Giant Sentry will now respond properly to hails.
- Tanik Greskil will now respond properly to hails.
- Kozyn Gigglephizz will now respond properly to hails.
- Pit Guard Retaj will now respond properly to "What grunts?"
- Lendel Deeppockets now knows how to spell "rogue".
- Corrected text for Arinna Trueblade, she now tells you how to make
armbands instead of helmets.
- Prime Patriarch Vuzx should be less likely to leave his usual spot.
- Gindlin Toxfodder should be less likely to be out of his usual spot.
- Deputies Budo and Drebo should no longer get stuck under the
floorboards of their tower.
- The River Source in the Warrens can no longer be attacked.
- Moved Mignar Mi`Draskch a little bit so that newly created enchanters
would not try to appear on top of him.
- Lorekeeper Zorik is now properly described as a female in text
referring to her.
- Peras Glickon will now tell you that he sells food and drink (which
he does) instead of spell components (which he does not).
- Fantoal Geabaran should now offer the inventory for sale that he
claims to have.
- Old Gourdhead should no longer be disliked by the other natives of
Misty Thicket (fixed a faction bug).
- The Muglwump will show up less frequently now.
- Dark Huntress in Mistmoore will now use the correct model and is on
the correct faction.
- Corrected the models for elementals in the Plane of Earth.
- NPCs in the "pit" area of Plane of Tactics will now respawn properly.
- Removed Sarnak Slaves from Nurga, since they had no models there to
use and looked like the base model human (Doug).
** Character Appearance **
- The bald head can now be selected during character creation by
clicking the left arrow button (was only available by clicking the
right arrow).
- Beard color selection now works for dark elf male, high elf male,
half elf male, and dwarf female during the creation of new characters.
Note: Dwarf female only has one style of beard.
- The ability to pick a wode is now available at character creation for
Barbarians.
- Choosing the "random" button at character creation will now randomly
choose a face rather than always using the initial selection.
- Changing from a male to a female character or from a bald character
(such as Iksar) to one that should have hair will no longer make the
new character appear to be bald.
** Miscellaneous **
- Intelligence and Wisdom should now update properly after character
becomes drunk/consumes alcohol.
- Fixed a number of doors in Freeport that were opening incorrectly.
.....................................................................
------------------------------
January 29, 2003
------------------------------
- Corrected a bug with the Xegony encounter. Please be aware that this
may change the event slightly.
.....................................................................
------------------------------
February 4, 2003
------------------------------
Note: Some folks have had trouble getting the elves' beard colors to
work properly. In order to get them to show up, you may need to set
DoProperTinting=TRUE in your Eqclient.ini file. You can do that by
typing /dopropertinting in game.
ALSO NOTE: We have changed a lot of UI Files. Here's the list:
** UI File Changes **
EQUI.xml
EQUI_Animations.xml
EQUI_CharacterCreate.xml
EQUI_FacePick.xml
EQUI_NoteWindow.xml
EQUI_OptionsWindow.xml
window_pieces04.tga
EQUI_JournalCatWnd.xml - NEW FILE
EQUI_JournalTextWnd.xml - NEW FILE
EQUI_JournalNPCWnd.xml - NEW FILE
EQUI_BigBankWnd.xml - NEW FILE
** Interface and Gameplay **
- The melee button for Ulaks, Martial weapons and Two-Handed Piercing
weapons should appear to be depressed when attacking.
- Increased the size of the Notes window in the new UI.
- /viewport fixed.
- Fixed bug where action and hot-buttons for innate abilities would
revert to numbers (1-6) instead of their name when a skin was loaded
using /loadskin. It now reloads the names too.
- Fixed a bug that could cause a client crash if too many full
containers were open and the ALT key was pressed.
** Spells **
- Lowered the mana cost of Yaulp I, Yaulp II, Yaulp III, and Yaulp IV
to increase the value of these spells
- Theft of Thought works properly now, it was draining all of the
caster's mana, no matter who the target was.
- Damage over Time type Area of Effect spells will no longer do damage
when player character resists the spell.
- All pet spells will now get focused from any pet focusing spell/item.
This means, for example, that summoning haste will work on Beastlord
and Necromancer pets.
- Fixed a bug that caused pet health bar to disappear if when trying to
charm when a pet already exists.
- Divine Barrier now does all of its healing in a single burst instead
of as regeneration.
- Removed the erroneous message "Returning to your own perspective"
that occurred when a character was changed into something using an
illusion.
** Quests **
- Dillon the Drowned should now respond properly when hailed.
- Corrected a problem with a 'quest' for the hermit in South Karana.
- Animist Poren now gives the correct recipe for his Handwraps Quest
(shadeling silk instead of shade silk).
- Noirin Khalen now gives out the proper jewelry book.
- Supreme Loachsmith Psorin now returns items that he does not need or
want.
** Items **
- Removed Rogues from the list of classes on the Elegant Darkwood
Katana, since it is a two-handed slashing weapon.
- Removed the "secondary" tag from the Flametongue, as this item is for
Int. casters only and they can't equip this item in their secondary
slot.
- The Nathsar Greatsword and Fester now have the proper inventory icon.
** Tradeskills **
- Added new potions for Vah Shir Shaman (and all other Shaman):
Shadeweaver Portal.
- Renamed one of two items called Figwort. The Figwort sold in Shar
Vahl has been renamed Ground Figwort to reduce confusion.
- Renamed one of two items called Drachling Silk. The Drachling Silk
that was once no drop is now tradable and named Drachnid Silk.
- Adventurers have learned new techniques for fighting Cyclopes. These
great beasts are now much more likely to have their eye intact when
killed.
- Fixed the recipe for the potion "Soul of Incorporeal" to use a
"feather".
- Fixed the recipe for the potion "Troll's Essence".
- Fixed the cast time on any 5 and 10 dose potions that were
inconsistent with their single dose versions.
- General Bragmur in Iceclad should now avoid ice flows that he was
having a problem crossing in the past.
- Terrorantula Silk, Feather, branch of sylvan oak, branch of planar
oak, Drachnid Silk, and Drachling Silk are now stackable.
- Silicorrosive Grease is now tradable and stackable.
- Potions Aquatic Haunt and Serpents Drink no longer require reagents.
- Grandmaster Alchemist will now have a way to prove their ability.
** Alternate Advancement **
- Extended Notes now works on area of Effect songs as well as group
songs.
** PvP **
- Fixed a bug with Root and Snare spells that prevented the target
player character from being affected until they zoned.
- Fixed a bug with mesmerization spells being unbreakable by normal
means.
** Zones **
- Fixed some text and grammar errors in Skyshrine.
- Ikurenm the Sly should no longer disappear when trying to chase his
enemies.
- Repaired some "safe spots" in Echo Caverns, Paludal Caverns and
Grieg's End.
- Fixed a pathing issue in Kurn's Tower that was causing some NPCs to
disappear.
- The Golem Master in Charasis now looks like a golem.
- The Orc Arsonist will no longer have his torch disappear when looted
(as long as he had it to begin with).
- The Sands of Fire event will now be restricted to the intended four
groups. Alternate methods of getting characters into the event have
been removed.
- Corrected doors in Kaladim, Blackburrow and Erudin that opened the
wrong way and one door in Kaesora that was way off its hinges. Also,
the Dwarves have installed a door in one of their guard huts to prevent
drafts.
- Moved an oven in North Freeport that was poking through a ceiling.
- Wraith of a Shissar should no longer attack its compatriots, so they
should no longer be killing it in retaliation.
- Corrected some respawn issues in the Plane of Air.
- Rallos Zek is much less likely to need to leave the arena in order to
deal with his enemies...
** Miscellaneous **
- Changed "wode" to "woad" in the face picker.
- Corrected a spelling error in the text of the Purify Body ability
(affect to effect).
- PCs under illusions should appear with hair if the race can have
hair, even if the PC's race can't have hair. Fixed a few other bugs
with illusions and their effect on hair and eyes.
- Vah Shir will now see "punches" when punching instead of "hits".
.....................................................................
------------------------------
February 6, 2003 3:00 am
------------------------------
** Interface **
- All settings for the Songs window should now be saved properly when
the player logs out.
- Fixed a bug that could cause the Bit Depth and Refresh Rate setting
to not save properly upon exit.
- Users of Windows XP should no longer be seeing their Windows mouse
cursor or other windows 'bleed through' into the game.
** Gameplay **
- Changing from an old model character to a Luclin model character at
character select should no longer result in the character having no
hair.
- Fixed a bug that caused merchants to charge a little extra or less (1
copper).
- Merchants will no longer claim that they will pay 1 copper for
starting equipment (they have never actually purchased such items).
** Spells **
- Fixed a problem with the Giantsbane Spell quest NPCs not spawning in
Skyshrine.
- Failing to hide while invisible will now make the invisibility icon
disappear.
** Trade Skills **
- Many Planar Recipes can now be used in collapsible containers. Some
Planar Tailoring can only be done in the Tanaan Loom as opposed to the
Planar Sewing Kit. Nothing that was previously made in the Loom was
added to the collapsible tailoring kit. Skills changed were Baking,
Sewing, Jewel Craft, and Fletching.
- Added gnome cultural recipe book to Ak'Anon.
- Changed the weights on Spiritstones to be more in line with
Faithstones.
- Changed Collapsible Jeweler's Kit to 6 slots from 4.
** Zones **
- Grummus is much more likely to stay in his home.
- Fixed the door to the Ak'Anon zoo, by request of the Zookeeper's
Union #23.
- Newly created Wood Elf Druids will now make their first appearance in
the world much closer to their guild master.
- Fennin Ro is now more durable, more in line with the other elemental
plane gods.
-Rallos Zek now moves considerably faster then before, as do his
cohorts. He will also become very, VERY angry should he be removed from
his lair(s).
- Skyshrine will once again require a key for exit into the Cobalt
Scar. The fact that the key was not needed was a bug. We do understand
that few people actually walk through this area considering the other
methods of transport available, but the dragons aren't leaving their
doors open.
** Items **
- Corrected the inventory icon for the Acrylia Studded Legs and the
Two-Handed Practice Sword.
.....................................................................
------------------------------
February 24, 2003
------------------------------
As the afternoon heat grows, a trickle of adventurous folk can be seen
moving through the rocky vales of the mountains called Stonebrunt.
These quiet lands, normally inhabited by panda bears and kobolds, are
slowly becoming a throughway for heroes, mercenaries and adventures of
all races. Are you one of them?
And in Gukta tadpoles are growing into young Frogloks. There is no
doubt in the minds of the conquerors of Grobb that the new generation
of their people will grow into strong and steadfast servants of
Mithaniel Marr, worthy of his respect. Will you be one of them?
OOC: Have fun with the new features, the new race and the new zones.
Thank you for playing EverQuest.
Gameplay
We've adjusted the entry requirements for some Planes of Power zones.
Several of these zones required each character to complete a quest
before gaining entry. We've relaxed this requirement somewhat as
follows:
A raid with 32 or more members can enter a locked plane provided that
85% of the raiders have finished the entry quest. This means a raid
group can bring along some friends who haven't completed the quest.
Characters who haven't done the entry quest must stay with their raid
while they are in the locked zone. If these characters leave the raid
for more than three minutes, they will be transported out to the Plane
of Tranquility.
Using this method does not grant permanent access to the locked zone.
If a character wants permanent, unescorted access to a locked zone then
they must still complete the quest. The goal of this change is to allow
raiding groups to bring along a few friends who haven't been able to
complete the quests, but still wish to help with the raid.
Several of the flagging events will now only give out a maximum of 72
flags each time they are completed.
The dialogue boxes for resurrection and translocation will remain for 5
minutes instead of 1 hour.
Increased the maximum number of members on ignore and friends lists to
100.
Made some adjustments to the Halls of Honor alternate entry quest that
should make it more friendly.
The horse buff icon will no longer show up for characters using non-
Luclin models.
Interface
Containers now close after zoning. This prevents a bug that was causing
the same container to be opened twice.
The rogue hide message "You have moved and are no longer hidden!" is
filtered as a "skill" message and not an "other" message.
Fixed a bug that was causing the spell effects opacity slider to always
return to 0% when logging out to the desktop.
Items
Happy Dragon should no longer use a charge when the target is out of
range.
The inventory icons for Trydan's Greaves of Nobility, Deathwatch Sword
and Wetfang Steak have been corrected.
Corrected the name of the Drakescale Covered Tunic (was Drakscale
Covered Tunic).
The Manicle of Disruption has been renamed Manacle of Disruption.
See above for Vorshar's Manicle of the Blight.
Corrected the spelling of Golden Idol of Rodcef Nife.
The Rantho Rapier is now a piercing weapon, not a two-hand slashing
weapon.
The Wand of Mana Tapping is no longer labeled as usable in the
secondary hand (since it is Enchanter only and could not be used there
anyhow).
Quests
Made a change to the way Planes of Power spell quests work. All spells
usable by more than one class are now obtained from the same level
quest. If a spell is level 61 (Ethereal) for one class and level 65
(Rune Word) for another, both will have it as a reward on their
Ethereal quest.
Corrected issues with the quest from the Iksar Hermit.
Corrected a grammatical error in some of Bolli Hillfoot's text.
Marshal Anrey should be more responsive when talked to.
The "Bag of Troll guts" is now dropping off of the correct NPC.
Zones and NPCs
Removed the ability for PCs to bind in the upper tier Planes of Power
zones. Binding is allowed in Plane of Knowledge and Plane of
Tranquility.
The entrance to the Plane of Fire now requires the appropriate keys for
entry.
Gods in the elemental planes now have fixed respawn regardless of zone
outages. If the god in an elemental plane is up when the zone comes
down it will still be up when the zone comes back up. If it has two
days left before its respawn when the zone comes down it will still
respawn in two days.
Prior to this patch Rallos Zek was changed, he no longer allows anyone
he dislikes to stand above the arena.
Removed a "safe spot" from the Plane of Disease.
NPCs in the Plane of Justice can no longer be affected by Fear spells.
Fixed an issue with some level 10 NPCs in the Karanas having about 400
times the hit points that they should.
Denizens of Aerin`Dar's lair will no longer be getting angry at folks
just because they are stomping around on the ground above the lair.
Puslings now understand how to "enrage" properly.
Creatures in Fungus Grove will be less likely to ignore people shooting
them from a distance.
Mature Arboreans are now plants. Just don't call them that to their
faces.
Giant Whiskered Bats in the Qeynos area no longer drop rat skulls.
Dalin Greskar has given up his hobby of trying to sell blacksmithing
gear that he doesn't have and has gone legit with pottery supplies.
Corrected a typographical error in some of Tarnic McWillows speech.
Firon Dernkal will no longer add a random "t" to the end of people's
names when talking to them.
Corrected an error in Eirod Haerod's text.
It seems as though the troll sent to retrieve the Forge from fallen
Grobb has returned with Forge in hand.
Corrected an issue with the respawn of Fennin Ro.
A Kromzek spy will no longer give a "beta neutral" faction hit when
killed.
Spells
Fixed a bug that prevented the owners of charmed warders from
controlling or re-summoning their warders after the charm breaks.
Disinfecting Aura has been changed to no longer cure poisonous effects.
It will now cure disease effects with much more potency.
Fixed a bug that was causing Bind Sight to fail to land if the
recipient had exactly 15 other buffs.
Convergence should not eat its component as often on some types of
spell failures.
Corrected the spell book icons for several Enchanter spells.
Shadeweaver port should no longer place you beneath the world.
In a previous update, we added a message when a person recasts a charm
spell on their charmed pet. Recasting charm on an existing pet did not
actually re-charm the pet, it just failed silently and appeared to
succeed. The new message is now displayed intentionally in these cases.
This is not a bug.
Miscellaneous
Attack text for the Vah Shir when punching now says, "punches" instead
of "hits"
Fixed a bug that was causing the reduced statistics to not update
properly when the character has low hit points or is encumbered.
Fixed a bug that caused some sale prices for items in the Bazaar
(mostly those with a lot of 9s) to be invalid.
The /guildmotd command has been modified. Guild leaders and officers
can now use this command to set or clear the guild Message of the Day.
There is a new command, /getguildmotd, that can be used as an
alternative to viewing the Guild MOTD in the Guild Management Window.
New and Changed UI Files
Animations
Bodytintwnd - NEW
Cart01.tga - NEW
Cart02.tga - NEW
Cart03.tga - NEW
Cart04.tga - NEW
dragitem25.tga
dragitem26.tga - NEW
EQUI.xml
Editlabelwnd - NEW
Gemicons01.tga
Gemicons02.tga
Groupsearchwnd - NEW
Groupwnd
Guildmgmtwnd - NEW
Inspectwnd
Inventorywnd
Maptoolbarwnd - NEW
Mapviewwnd - NEW
Selectorwnd
Shortdurationbuff
Windowpieces04.tga
.....................................................................
------------------------------
February 26, 2003 12:00 pm
------------------------------
- Corrected a problem that occurred with Charms. They should be working
properly now.
.....................................................................
------------------------------
March 13, 2003 4:00 am
------------------------------
** Spells **
- Added the ability for any caster to research dropped priest spells
using the research books found in Gunthak. The research notes for these
spells can be found in the Plane of Knowledge. Wizards, Enchanter,
Magician, and Necromancers are able to create any of the researchable
priest spells.
- The recipe to create Familiar Enhancement will now actually create
Familiar Enhancement instead of Firetree's Familiar Augment.
- Beastlord pets can now be summoned in the Plane of Sky.
- Changed the recipe for Form of the Great Bear, both in text and in
practice. Please read the appropriate research book for the new recipe.
- Removed the chance to fail on the two combines for the Pureblood
quest.
- Modified the Pureblood quest to return Blood of Nadox for Shaman
characters. In addition, any Shaman who has previously done the quest
and received Pure Blood will be able to obtain the Blood of Nadox
scroll simply by hailing the quest NPC.
- Increased the drop rate significantly on the quest items for the
ShadowKnight and Necromancer Legacy of Ykesha spells.
- Added an NPC to the list of monsters that can be summoned by
Magicians in the Torgiran mines.
- Force Shield will now stack with the Spiritual Purity line no matter
what order they are cast in.
- O'Keil's Levity will no longer be overwritten by other damage
shields.
- O'Keil's Levity will no longer claim to be piercing people with
thorns.
- Shaman of Mithaniel Marr will now be able to scribe the Imbue:
Diamond spell
- Changed Strength of the Diaku to a single target strength and
dexterity buff.
- Changed Talisman of the Diaku to a group strength and dexterity buff.
- Replaced the shaman spell Aim of the Ginda with Talisman of Alacrity,
which is a group haste spell.
- Replaced the shaman spell Talisman of the Gindan with Tiny Terror,
which is a group shrink spell.
- The Darkness line of spells should now have their sounds back.
- Winged Death now has its particle effects back.
- Song of the Deep Seas now says: "The fury of the deep sea fills your
arms" when sung (changed "see" to "sea").
- Changed the spelling of Malise to Malaise.
- Boneshear spell messages changed to make more sense.
- Iceflame of E`Ci now gives a message when it wears off.
** Items **
- The Potion of Corpse Retrieval is now NO DROP.
- Added required level to many Legacy of Ykesha items.
- Lowered the damage on Swampblade of the Dar to make it more
appropriate as a newbie sword.
- Frogloks can now use the Frostweaver's Shield.
- Frogloks can no longer use Scaled Hierophant armor, Scaled Mystic
armor and Spiritstone of Cabilis.
- Corrected an issue with foldable medicine bags and foldable bearskin
potion bags. Items should now combine properly.
- Clockwork Observer legs and boots should now recharge.
- Class 3 Wood Point Arrows now have a range of 5 instead of 0.
- Changed Blessed Scout Arrows, Blessed Warrior Arrows, Mithril Scout
Arrows, Mithril Warrior Arrows, Mithril Champion Arrows and Blessed
Champion Arrows to be ammo instead of ranged.
- These pottery sketches are now stackable: Barbarian Template, Gnome
Template, Troll Template and Animal Template.
- Rune Smudged Bone Spear now looks like a spear in inventory rather
than a rapier.
- Totemic Gauntlets, Dull Metallic Gloves and Black Wolf Leg Plates can
no longer be worn around the neck.
- Added Shaman to all small patchwork and tattered pieces.
- Frogloks can now use the Jaundiced Bone Boots.
- The Black Handeled Bonebreaker has been renamed to Black Handled
Bonebreaker
- The Ivory Horn now increases wind skill instead of singing.
- Corrected the recipes for Journeyman Rune Beza
- Fixed bugs in the text of Toharon's Memoirs.
- Hope Fire Opals will no longer appear to be Baling Hooks.
- Chunk of Unidentifyable Bile is now Chunk of Unidentifiable Bile.
- Corrected the spelling of Robe of the Primoridal Ritualist.
- Corrected the recipe for Tae Ew Chain Bracer to use a Bracer
Sectional Mold instead of a Plate Bracer Mold.
- Smithed Silver Weapons will sell to merchants at a lower price.
- Corrected spelling errors in the names of Ultor's Gauntlets of Faith
and Tranquilius' Tempest Ward.
- Changed the inventory icon for the Fier'Dal Fletching Kit and Knuckle
Dusters.
- Swirling Shadows are no longer NO RENT.
- The Taskmaster's pouch should be dropping normally again in
Ssraeshza.
** Alternate Advancement **
- Purify Soul now removes a larger number of poison, disease and curse
counters.
- Changed Frenzy of Spirit to stack better with haste spells.
** Quests **
- Performed surgery on Ragefire to remove his extraneous heart.
- Verina and Drozlin will also only be dropping one set of items.
- Omat Vastsea will now summon Jhassad Oceanson if hailed by a
character in possession of the Orb of Vapor. He will summon the Avatar
of Water if the character has the Orb of the Triumvirate. But he will
not summon either if one of them is already around.
- Corrected issues with Shaman quest for Stoicism. The impassive sea
spirit was giving out the wrong item.
- Brohan Ironforge's search for his daughter can now be completed.
- Gimlik Cogbobble should now be more reliable.
- Sentry Rotiart now enacts his role in his quest properly.
- Tilbok Furrunner will now recharge the Mask of Espionage.
- Firiona Drixies now have a chance to drop Firiona Drixie Dust.
- Heretic Drahur no longer gives out Greater Immobilize for a Spectral
Parchment, only for an Ethereal Parchment.
** Interface **
- Added a command to allow you to toggle your target between your two
last targets (unlike Tab which toggles between your character and your
last target). To set the key that activates this feature, just open
your options window and select the Keyboard Tab. If you select all
categories, the entry will be the last one on the list, called Toggle
last two targets. This was actually added with our last patch.
** NPCs **
- Undead will begin to spawn again at night in Kithicor.
- Shin Master Grubbus in Gukta will now be more selective about who he
allows to do tasks for him, and he'll be speaking directly to folks
(using /tell). His chatty nature was raising the volume in Gukta to
levels that were considered unacceptable. He will also be a bit clearer
about what he wants.
- Shar Vahl guards will now defend their city against Loda Kai
poachers.
- A Grimy Owl Bear Cub in Paludal now "screeches", not "screetches".
- Eirod Haerod in Mistmoore will no longer have a square showing in the
word "don't" in her text.
- Mangler will no longer spawn on top of a table.
- Porra, one of the Enchanter spell vendors in Felwithe, will no longer
spawn inside of a wall. This was hurting her business.
- Hutyn L`Lozz will now appear in his place of business and be less
likely to leave to go sightseeing in Neriak.
- Cleet Miller Jr. will now emote "Grumbles and looks up at you"
instead of saying it.
- The Goblins in Solusek's Eye are no longer wearing cloth armor.
- Junth McMannus will now be properly affected by movement reducing
spells.
- You should only see one Rodrick Tardock, his clones have been dealt
with.
- Duplicate Brenzl McMannus's (McManni?) have also been removed.
- Waltor Felligan of Halas will now cast the spells he says he will
cast.
- Xlixinar Arcut and Drixiv Arcut will now respond properly to their
quest texts.
- Corrected some text errors for Jortreva and Grendish the Crusaders as
well as Sage Xelrin, Sulgar, Warlord Gligoth, Bryce McFadden, Serna
Tasknon, Welno Tanlonikan, Lorekeeper_Einar and Master of Elements.
- These NPCs will now be asking for the correct items for their quests:
Gazoon Noihzog, Liteema Agner and Bolli Hillfoot.
- Kodiaks in the Rathe Mountains should be friendlier to Druids and
Rangers.
- Undead Frogloks and Skeletons in Sebilis no longer have an extreme
dislike for each other.
- Groflah Steadirt's corpse will no longer disappear when he is killed.
However, he is also no longer a merchant.
- Moved the Planar Projection for Rallos Zek so it can't be interfered
with by the zone exit.
- Corrected the spawn times for the Minotaur Hero.
- Half elven female bandits will now give experience, leave corpses and
be aided by other bandits.
- A Coerced Iiksar will now be known as A Coerced Iksar.
- Merchant Nora in Felwithe will once again sell her jewelry supplies.
- Equestrielle the Corrupted will no longer be able to sense and get
angry with people all the way on the other side of the zone.
- Niola Impholder now teaches Brewing, Begging and Alcohol Tolerance.
- Jusean will now give the proper quest reward when given the proper
item(s).
- Plaguebone Thieves no longer flee.
** Zones **
- Fixed some broken doors in West Freeport that were opening
incorrectly.
- Fixed a door that was opening into a wall in Highkeep.
- Fixed some doors in Kaesora that were opening the wrong way.
- Fixed a door that would not open in Solusek's Eye.
- Removed the ability for characters to consume more than one key given
for access to the lower parts of the Crypt of Decay.
- Added new sounds to Shadowhaven.
- Removed safe spots in Katta, Solusek's Eye, High Keep, Echo Caverns,
Paludal Caverns, Crystal Caverns, Siren's Grotto, Plane of Valor, Plane
of Torment and Plane of Water.
- Fixed a pathing problem in Gunthak that was causing Shaman pets (and
perhaps others) to disappear.
- Entrance to Bertoxxulous's lair is now restricted to those that have
the proper flag.
- The pylons on the end of the pier in Timorous deep no longer rotate
like doors when you left click them.
- Placed rocks over a spot in Western Wastes that characters could get
stuck in.
- Updated some of the pathing in Torgiran Mines to reduce the chances
that NPCs will "poof" in that zone.
- Removed a box out in the middle of Skyfire that turned when clicked
but had no real purpose.
- Fixed a place in Burning Woods and the Plane of Knowledge where NPCs
would get stuck while wandering around.
- Also fixed a place in Erud's Crossing where sharks were getting
stuck.
- The Veeshan's Peak zone in from Skyfire can no longer be triggered
from above.
- Moved the Koada'Dal Forge so that it does not extend into the hallway
on the second floor of the building.
- The teleporter from the Great Divide to the Plane of Knowledge will
now work during Coldain Ring War.
- The exit from the Plane of Justice to the Plane of Tranquility has
been moved to place characters next to the Plane of Justice entrance.
- A black ravenger should no longer be spawning right next to the
Cabilis entrance in the Swamp of No Hope.
- Trying to enter the Qeynos sewers will no longer take you to Ak'Anon.
We hope the citizens of Ak'Anon can forgive the mess...
- Fixed a problem in the Warrens that was causing the Kobolds to gather
under the water near the river source.
** Miscellaneous **
- Corrected a spelling error ("hass" instead of "has") in the text
given for adding the Ring of Marr to the keyring.
** Special Deals **
Prices at the Station.com Store have been cut on a whole trove of
EverQuest treasures in our Hot Specials! Plus, we've bundled some of
the best software, guides and posters into great packages for players.
There's never been a better time to upgrade to that next expansion. And
there's more available right now at the Station.com Store
(https://store.station.sony.com/). Stop in and see!
** Become a Guide! **
Greetings citizens of Norrath,
Hear Ye, Hear Ye, for we bring before you news of great importance!
Have you ever scoured the lands in search of adventure? Do you still
yearn to discover new places and new people in the Lands of Norrath?
If so, then we have for you perhaps the greatest adventure the Lands of
Norrath could ever offer. It is a mission of great proportions, and the
journey will be a challenge to even the bravest adventurers in the
realm. But hear me friends when I say that the rewards are well worth
the perils of the journey.
The path is that of the volunteer EverQuest Guide Program. If you are
strong of will, kind of heart, have a positive attitude, and are at
least eighteen years of age, the volunteer EverQuest Guide Program may
be for you.
The members of the Guide Program provide front line customer support
and service to the players of EverQuest. The Program offers a unique
opportunity for you to become a part of the behind the scenes action,
and to be a direct contributor to the greatness of EverQuest. As a
Guide you will interact as a representative of both the Program, and of
Sony Online Entertainment by delivering critical help and assistance to
the players on your assigned server. Your role as a Guide will also
provide you with the opportunity to present a variety of creative
dynamic content (Quests) and events.
If you feel that the EverQuest Guide Program community is something you
wish to be a part of, then we heartily invite you to point your browser
to: https://guide.everquest.com/guideapp/
Come one, come all - help us to make the lands of Norrath better than
they already are... come be a part of something great!
.....................................................................
------------------------------
April 8, 2003 3:00 am
------------------------------
** So You Want to Design Games? **
The EverQuest team is expanding and we currently have openings for
experienced game designers. If you have professional game design
experience, at least one level 60+ character and regularly play
EverQuest, then we'd love to see your resume. Please go to
http://soe.sony.com/corp/employment.jsp and submit your resume online.
Please include information about your current characters and your level
of knowledge concerning EverQuest.
Thanks,
- The EverQuest Team
** New Plane of Hate **
The new Plane of Hate is now available on Stormhammer. Enjoy!
** Mitigation Change **
We have evaluated the mitigation abilities of cloth and leather
classes, and have made changes as appropriate. For the most part, this
change is a reasonable improvement to the ability of monks to absorb
damage. At some point in the future we may re-examine the mitigation
abilities of chain and plate classes. At this time, and with this final
round of changes to cloth and leather classes, we believe that
something very close to the appropriate balance is in place.
** Pathing Update **
The first part of our work to update the pathing system for EverQuest
is complete. NPC and pet pathing should be much improved.
** Charm Changes **
- Healing a charmed pet now generates an appropriate amount of hate for
the healer.
- Charmed pets now take up to one third of the experience for each NPC
killed. This amount scales down based on the percentage of damage to
the target that the pet does. Dire charm pets still take the same
experience they always have.
- Charmed pets are no longer selected as a monster's preferred target
if there are many players available for the monster to attack instead.
- ALSO (we forgot to mention this before), the resist modifiers on
several charm spells (such as Beckon, Call of the Arch Mage, Command of
Druzil and Word of Terris) have been removed, making them a bit easier
to resist.
** Windowed Mode for the EverQuest front end **
This patch introduces the ability for players to enter windowed mode at
the EverQuest front end (from the time you log in until you get into
the game). With this addition, players will be able to run EverQuest in
a window from the moment they click on the EverQuest icon to the moment
they log out.
In order to switch to windowed mode on the front end, just hit Alt-
Enter. Note that there are no settings in the eqclint.ini file for
this, you just have to hit Alt-Enter.
Use Alt-R to release the mouse from the EverQuest window (note that
once in the game, you need to use Alt-Shift-R to release the mouse).
And, obviously, Alt-Tab will switch between open programs.
We have also added a Tech button that will take you to our Tech Chat.
This only works in windowed mode, as it opens up a new window to
display the chat.
** Spells **
- Stoicism now follows the same restrictions as Torpor.
- Trickster's Augmentation and Boon of the Garou can now be cast by
characters on horseback.
- Fixed a bug that was causing spells with levitation effects to lose
levitation if cast over a spell that also had a levitation effect.
- Bards now receive their first level song at creation.
- Changed the spelling of "Corpal Empathy" to "Corporeal Empathy".
- Changed the hit by message for Torrent of Fatigue recourse to "Your
vitality grows."
- Changed the wear off message for Song of Sustenance to "Your hunger
returns."
- Adjusted the shaman spell Disinfecting Aura to be in line with Pure
Blood.
- The Necromancer line of heal-over-time spells should no longer
overwrite Transon's Phantasmal Protection.
- Augment now overwrites Augmentation.
- Brell's Stalwart Shield now has a casting time of 4 seconds.
- Spiritual Vigor now has a casting time of 5 seconds.
- Resurrection no longer gives the "Your strength returns" message two
times when the negative effects wear off.
- Fixed a bug that would cause other players to see a character with
default face/hair for their race when they turned off an illusion.
- Fixed bug that could cause beards to fail to reappear when an
illusion wears off. This may also fix some other appearance bugs as
well.
** Illusions/Shape Change **
We have changed the way that Illusions and Shape Changes work with
respect to faction. The new system is a lot easier to understand than
the old one, so we'll just explain the new one. When changed into the
form of a playable race, characters are treated as if they were a
member of that race. When changed into a non-playable race, characters
retain their own racial factions.
** PvP **
- If a player is moving when using archery against a PvP target, they
have a reduced chance to hit their target.
- Archery in Player vs. Player combat in now reduced to 66% damage.
- Direct Damage spells in Player vs. Player combat can only do up to
75% damage of the target's maximum hit points in a single hit. This
modification is done before resists are taken into account. For
example, if a player has 1000 hit points when fully healed, no single
direct damage spell will do more than 750 damage to him in a single
hit.
** Alternate Advancement **
- Alternate Advancement abilities that grant Stamina gains should now
update the character's hit points automatically when trained.
- Dire Charm isno longer "used" when trying to affect an NPC under the
power of a Dictate spell. It will not work, and the power is not
expended.
** Interface **
- Using the "/book" command with no page argument now closes the
spellbook if it's already open.
- Added a "Dump" button to Guild Management window. Pressing it creates
a text file in the EQ directory containing a comma-delimited text dump
of the Guild Management window. The file name will be the guild name
with _ instead of spaces, so a guild named "Legacy of Ykesha" would be
a file called Legacy_of_Ykesha.txt.
- Cross-server tells are now filtered under the "tells" filter like
same-server tells, and in the same colors.
- Music Player volume no longer decreases when zoning.
- The Journal window and Journal Categories window now close when
hitting Escape.
- The Map window no longer pops up after zoning if you used Escape to
close it in the previous zone.
- Hot button names are once again restricted to eight characters. Being
able to make them longer was a bug, and was causing issues with
displaying more than eight characters.
- The scrollbar for the Notes window should now update properly when
the window is resized.
- Added multi-select capability to the Friends List, Music, Journal
NPC, Journal Text and Journal Category windows. Shift-click selects
groups of items, Control-Click selects individual items.
- Fixed a bug that was causing the Journal window to lose all
information since the last save when logging was turned off.
- Confirmation Dialog window now remembers its position.
- The third person camera view #3 no longer resets when zoning or using
the armor tinting feature.
- Fixed an uncommon crash caused by the Music Player window.
- The LFG button in the Group window now toggles the LFG window.
- Fixed a bug that prevented the attack button from working properly
when a Centi Warspear was equipped.
- The dialog box for confirmation of a change in video modes now
remains open for 30 seconds instead of 15 seconds.
- Added a "Show Offline" button to the Guild Management window. This
determines whether or not you want to show offline people in the
window, and the setting is remembered when you log out.
- If you sort by anything other than Name in the Guild Management
window, the window will sub-sort your list by name.
- Changed the promote button in the Guild Management window to only be
enabled when eligible guild member is targeted (not just selected in
window).
- Fixed a problem that caused a few people to have the spell particle
density revert to default off when they logged off.
-Fixed the Map window to remove a method of avoiding the map
restrictions in certain zones.
- Added /getguildmotd. This command allows you to see your guild
message of the day at any time.
- /guildmotd now sets or clears the guild message of the day. If used
with no text, it clears the existing message of the day. Only leaders
and officers can use this command
- Fixed a bug that could cause a crash when pressing the U key while in
explore mode.
- When under the effects of invisibility, a character that hides and
then moves and breaks their hide also breaks their invisibility. The
invisibility icon will now disappear under this circumstance so that
the player knows he is no longer invisible.
- Closing the AA window no longer causes the resurrection notification
box to disappear.
- Updated the category lists in the Bazaar window to be alphabetical.
- Characters will no longer be prevented from being a trader if you
quickly click on Begin/End Trader.
- Fixed a bug with the LFG tool that may have been causing some people
to crash when zoning.
- New colors should no longer be moving from the armor dye column to
the item tint column when a character is saved.
- Hand to hand weapons now "greys out" the melee attack button.
- For those that type quickly, typing %t1 now has the same effect as
typing %t 1.
- Fixed a bug that prevented you from purchasing a lore item if you
have just purchased that item and destroyed it.
- Setting loot split color now changes the text color when others loot
and autosplit, as well as when the player loots.
- Language skills now update in the skills window immediately, and the
message given upon skill up includes the name of the language improved.
- Default chat channels should now be saved properly.
** NPCs **
- Corrected an issue with trainers that sometimes caused them to kick a
character out of the game.
- Tin Soldiers no longer give stun immune messages to color flux when
they are already stunned.
- Sollari Bekines now asks for two vials of Gnoll blood instead of one.
She has always wanted two for her quest.
- Corrected some text errors for Avir Sterbla.
- Fixed a spelling error in Paralin Notion's text. "Other" now reads
"Others".
- Corrected a spelling error in the Stonefist Clansman's death text.
Deafening was spelled incorrectly.
- Fixed a problem that may have been causing various Brutes to spawn
under the world in Warsliks Woods.
- Corrected an issue that could cause multiple NPCs related to the ring
war event to appear in Eastern Wastes.
- Also corrected an issue with the ring war that was causing some of
the NPCs to disappear too early.
- Undead Sebilisian Lich is now undead. He just didn't realize it
before. Feel free to send cards and flowers.
- So is the Fading Specter in Tox.
- As is the Failed Apprentice.
- Lifestealer Mosquitoes no longer give a message that makes them
appear to be drinking their own blood.
- NPCs in Stonebrunt won't be wandering into the ocean and getting
lost.
- Merchants no longer sell containers to any character that have no
main inventory slots free.
- Corrected a spelling error (changed "to" to "too") in Morgalanth
Tal`Raeloen's text.
- Aid Garuuk now knows that Bregna has moved out of Grobb.
- Oracle Balek and Grave Lord Vizurik now speak the appropriate text.
- Coriante Verisue should no longer talk about Miragul all the time.
- Cobi Frostbeard should no longer refer to himself as "she".
- A ghoul in Neriak shouldn't be banging his head on a wall due to a
pathing error. If he does it now, it's out of frustration about the way
his Dark Elven masters let stinky Trolls into their city.
- Corrected a spelling error in Elial Brook's text.
- Frist Furtun now accepts all Upheaval scrolls for his quest.
- The invisible, untargetable NPCs in the elemental planes that were
attacking people have been evicted. Absor is now using them as avatars
in PlanetSide, and his scores have gone way up.
- Corrected a spelling error in the agro text of an Enthralled
Underbulk (changed "lungs" to "lunges").
- Corrected a grammatical error in the text of Animist Poren (added the
word "you" where it as needed).
- Corrected a spelling error in the text of Elder Animist Dumul
(replaced "lose" with "loose").
- The new Tailor in Neriak now asks what you [want], not [what] you
want.
- Raewyth Velanor now knows the difference between viscous and vicious.
- Corrected the text for Wevek Redforge, changed "were" to "we're".
- Corrected the punctuation of a Grimling Prisoner. Changed
"scuttle's" to "scuttles".
- Corrected the spelling of the word "privilege" for Tax Collector
Khugra.
- Corrected the spelling of Incantator Stevak. Changed "and" to "any".
- Quartermaster Grik in Gukta now responds appropriately when
confronted about the list for the Tavern NPCs.
- The Ranger trainer Warder Elwysaie now trains Disarm.
- Fixed several errors in text on Guard Aerryn.
** Items **
- Added a Brass Instrument modifier to the Horn of Shadows.
- Made Saltwater Seaweed stackable.
- Due to a drop table error, all existing instances of the Market
Signet have been changed to have no stats. If you received one
legitimately through the quest, you can give the old item to Aid Grimel
for a new one with all the correct stats. If you do not meet the
requirements, Aid Grimel will not reimburse you.
- Changed the spelling from Mythril to Mithril on Mithril Knuckles and
Mithril Edged Skull Splitter.
- Removed the ability to be used in the secondary slot from Club of the
Secretive. This is a Cleric, Druid, Shaman only item.
- Removed Bards from being able to equip a Combine Acrylia Halberd and
Combine Acrylia Two Handed Sword. These weapons are two-handed slash.
- The name of the Holy Order of Mithanial has been correctly spelled.
- Darksight Dagger is no longer listed as being equipable in the
secondary hand. It is a caster only item.
- Barbed Rubicite Coif has had its name change to Barbed Rubicite
Pauldrons, since it is a shoulder item, not a head item.
- Kagazz's Box now combines four scorpion legs to create a Box of
Scorpion Legs.
- Removed Bards and Rogues from the list of classes on Greatstaff of
the Four Winds, since they could not use the item.
- Sample Chest is no longer No Rent.
- Mushroom Bread now looks like bread in inventory rather than a bowl.
- Corrected the spelling of venomous on a few items.
** Miscellaneous **
- Modified checklist flags to make them a little easier to understand
(checklist flags are the flags that you obtain for doing PoP events out
of order that allow you to complete the final flag quest by gathering
all the checklist flags and talking to a Seer). Now when you receive a
checklist flag you get a different message than the one that you get
when you receive a normal flag. Ask the seer to unlock memories and she
will tell you which checklist flags you have.
- Corrected a problem that was causing PoP raid flag mobs to not give
out flags to anyone if the associated boss was killed by someone not in
the raid group. Now if someone not in a raid gets the kill, only people
not in a raid can get flagged. This means that people may have to leave
a raid to get flagged, but it means that raids should no longer miss
flags if someone outside the raid gets the kill.
- Modified several of the Planes of Power alternate entry quests to
make completing them faster. Also, all of these quests will now give a
"key" to everyone in the group of the person that completes it.
- Corrected a spelling error in the text message given when you can no
longer add unflagged people to your raid ("to" is now "too").
- Fixed a bug that would sometimes cause helmets to seem to disappear
off a character that was dealing with a merchant or casting an
illusion.
- /Consent no longer gives both a success and fail message to player
consented.
- Frogloks wearing robes no longer lose the color on the bottom portion
of their robes when they zone.
- Fixed some issues with alchemy not combining into dose potions.
- Fixed a bug that could cause invalid and unchangeable numbers to
appear in spell-casting specialization skills if the skill was trained
up after level 50.
- Merchants no longer claim that they will pay 1 copper for newbie
items that they can't actually buy.
- The player's first person perspective now changes correctly if the
height of their Froglok is changed.
- Removed an unneeded door in High Keep.
** INTERFACE FILE CHANGES **
GuildManagementWnd.xml
BugReportWnd.xml
Spellsnew.eff
Spellsnew.edd
.....................................................................
------------------------------
April 11, 2003 3:00 am
------------------------------
- Fixed a problem with "burst" damage causing too much aggro. Attacks
that do a lot of damage in a short time no longer cause more aggro than
they should.
- Feign Death has been restored to the functionality it had before the
patch.
- Fixed an issue that caused aggro from damage shields to be assigned
incorrectly.
- Removed a bug that could cause certain types of encounters, such as
the Rallos Zek encounter in the Plane of Tactics, to crash a zone.
- Fixed a bug that could cause a crash when you tried to bring up the
item display window for bags and notes.
.....................................................................
------------------------------
April 14, 2003 1:00 pm
------------------------------
We have removed some communications debug code that inadvertently went
Live on the 11th. Our apologies for the downtime.
.....................................................................
------------------------------
April 23, 2003
------------------------------
** Tip of the Day **
When you first log in you will be presented with a Tip of the Day
window. We've added this window to provide helpful insight to new
players, and perhaps a few tips for experienced players as well.
** Gameplay **
- Any character 10th level and under that attempts to attack a
'red' /con NPC will receive a warning about the danger of such an
action.
- Low level characters now memorize and scribe spells much faster.
- Guards in Steamfont, Misty Thicket, Butcherblock, Nektulos, East
Freeport and West Freeport should be less likely to run through the
newbie zone destroying the wildlife
- Improved the respawn rate for monsters in Steamfont, Misty Thicket,
Butcherblock, Nektulos, East Freeport and West Freeport. In these zones
they were respawning less frequently than in all other newbie zones.
- Added food and bag merchants to the newbie yards of Steamfont, East
Freeport, West Freeport, Butcherblock and Nektulos.
** Spells **
- Fixed a bug that was causing damage shields to assign the credit for
their damage to the wrong person.
- Fixed a bug that caused a short delay in the hit point updates from
healing spells.
- Removed Beastlords from the list of classes that can use Strength of
Stone. They were never intended to get it, as they have a better spell
of the same type at the same level (Furious strength).
- Pets will no longer disappear when the pet owner casts a cancel magic
type spell on the PC that the pet is attacking.
- Fixed a bug that would allow PC's to be attacked by PC controlled
pets (in non-PvP situations).
- Talisman of Alacrity now works on the group and not just the caster.
It also has the proper icons now.
- Modified the text messages on many stun spells to prevent some
confusion with their effect on stun immune mobs. The message has been
changed from "You have been stunned" to "You are struck by a sudden
force."
- Torment of Argli no longer overwrites Torment of Scio.
- The Lich series no longer conflicts with other DoT effects. This
affects Dark Pact, Allure of Death, Call of Bones, Lich, Demi Lich,
Arch Lich, Deathly Temptation, Pact of Hate, Ancient: Master of Death
and Seduction of Saryrn.
- The Flame Lick line of spells no longer overwrites hit point buffs
such as Valor and Skin like diamond. This affects Flame Lick,
Immolation, Breath of Ro and Immolation of Ro.
- Changed the name of the druid spell Fury of Ro to Immolation of Ro to
avoid confusion with the focus effect Fury of Ro.
- Changed the icon for Kragg's Mending to a heart icon to match other
Heal spells.
- Froglok illusion now changes the character's perspective to the
proper height.
- Night's Dark Terror has regained its Scarecrow illusion.
- Added sounds to several spells that were lacking them.
- The cost of the Fuligan Soulstone of Innoruuk has been cut in half.
** Zones **
- Acrylia Caverns, Hollowshade Moor and Grimling Forest have been
revamped. We have updated the content in these zones to more accurately
represent their design intentions and to address concerns voiced by
players.
- If you have had an issue with your Plane of Earth B keys, please
speak with Muzzrap again and he should be able to straighten things
out. Please make sure that you have the raid group that you want to get
keyed set up and by your side when you do this.
- The Trial of Fire event will be much less likely to damage people not
actually in the trial.
- We've made a pretty extensive pathing update to the Lake of Ill Omen
and Beholder, along with several fixes to specific cases in several
zones.
- Fixed a bug with the Xegony encounter in Plane of Air.
- The spires in the Dreadlands are once again sending folks to Luclin.
- Protectors of Growth now actually protect the Plane of Growth again.
Beware.
** The Hollow Acrylia Obelisk **
Do not destroy the Hollow Acrylia Obelisk! Due to the revamp of the
Acrylia Caverns, this key will no longer serve its original purpose. We
do understand the difficulty of obtaining this key, and we don't want
to see that effort lost. We will be looking into a way to allow this
key to retain its value, so don't destroy it.
** Items **
- Items with recommended levels now display any reduced AC component
value in red.
- Changed the usable race to Froglok on several of the Shin initiates
armor quest intermediate pieces.
- Giant Field Rat whiskers are about twice as common as they were.
- The Ivory Hilted Cleaver can now be used in the secondary slot (for
those that can dual-wield).
- The Ornate Broadsword is no longer listed as usable in the secondary
slot, since it is Paladin only and can't actually be used there.
- These items can no longer be worn by Frogloks (they were never
intended for use by Frogloks): Fright Forged Helm, Mundane Helm,
Mundane Shield, Mundane Mask, Dread Forged Shield and Terror Forged
Mask
- Murph's Minin' Pick no longer lists Clerics as a class that can use
it, since they could not.
- Bone Bladed Scimitar no longer lists Beastlords as a class that can
use it.
- Cracked Bone Shinguards now have a visible graphic when worn.
- Sharkbone Plated Shoulderpads effect is now "worn" rather than
"combat".
- Stone Etched Mace now displays +135 mana instead of 1135 mana
- Extended Affliction III now works on spells with a 30 second duration
(lowered from 36 seconds), so it now functions with Sermon of
Penitence.
- Fireworks have casting sounds and Gnomish fireworks will no longer
cause zones to crash.
- Compasses once again display the direction you are facing when you
right-click and hold.
- The Hammer of Exoneration can now be used by Erudites and Dark Elves.
** NPCs **
- Half-Elf bandits are no longer treated as merchants (so they will now
leave corpses).
- A Feral Amalgam is now a plant.
- Now only one Natasha Whitewaters can exist at a time.
- Bloodmaw is a little more attentive to his surroundings.
- Pets no longer attack Tylis Newleaf when he teleports your group.
- Corrected a bug with AE rampage that caused it to not attack everyone
it should.
** Quests **
- Fixed the drops for the Comatose spell quest.
- The Planar Projections for Bertoxxulous and Terris should no longer
be able spawn in a location where they can't be reached.
- Fixed several issues with the 8th cudgel quest.
- Increased the drop rate on some quest items in Hate's Fury.
** Alternate Advancement Abilities **
- Made the Servant of Ro AA pet much more potent.
** Miscellaneous **
- Hit points gained from items are now display with the right value,
and should help to prevent a few deaths from Cannibalization
- Bind Wounds no longer uses up a bandage for attempting to use the
skill when it is not available.
- Fixed a bug that was not allowing players to link to containers
unless they linked to something else first.
- /book with no arguments again closes the spellbook as it should.
Note: We have also made several spelling and grammar corrections and
fixed a door here and there.
** UI File Changes **
EQUI.xml
EQUI_TipWnd.xml
EQUI_HelpWnd.xml
EQUI_OptionsWindow.xml
.....................................................................
------------------------------
April 30, 2003
------------------------------
We've taken the opportunity while the servers are unavailable for
maintenance to update a couple of things.
- Increased the difficulty of the mini-bosses in the Planes of Fire and
Water to bring them in line with the reward they give.
- Added a 12% backstab modifier to the Reinforced Mephit Talon and the
Gold Runed Mithril Knife.
.....................................................................
------------------------------
May 14, 2003 3:00 am
------------------------------
** Hate Plane **
The new Plane of Hate is now available on all servers!
The Plane of Hate is an old favorite of many players, and we were
careful to retain as much of its old charm as possible (and all of its
old quests). At the same time we created all new geometry for the zone
using our newer tools and newer design ideas. Old and new players
should find this zone to be a lot of fun and a fair challenge.
Remember, the price for the Fuligan Soulstone of Innoruuk has been cut
in half.
** Veksar **
Veksar opens on Stormhammer!
Yes, the long-lost ancient city of the Iksar has been discovered. If
you're brave enough, foolish enough, and if you can hold your breath,
you may be the right hero to explore Veksar. Good luck!
** Changes for New Players **
- Maps for Newbie Zones for all Players - One of the biggest hurdles
that a new player has to overcome is learning their way around. For
those of you that may have started your first character in Neriak,
youll know what that was like. In order to help out the new player,
weve enabled the Map window to make it available to all players if they
are in a "newbie zone.
- Context Tips - In order to provide helpful information at the time a
player needs it, we have added several context tips. These tips will
pop up when a player uses a certain feature or a specific event occurs.
We hope this will help our new players to more easily understand the
gameplay and controls for EverQuest. These tips may even be useful to
long time players. However, if you wish, you can choose to turn off
any specific tip, or turn off all of the tips using the check boxes in
the Context Tips window.
- Improved Help Information - The in game help files have been
improved. They now contain much more information. Hopefully most
questions you have about the game can be answered using help.
- All New Characters now start with a weapon skill - In order to help
the new player that might forget to train with their weapon before
heading out to defeat their first enemy (and even for those of us that
have been playing a while and still forget to do this), all new
characters now start off with a skill of 5 in their primary weapon.
- Taunt no longer requires training - Similarly, Taunt now works
without being trained. Characters still start out with a skill of 0,
but the skill can increase with use.
- Packet Loss Meter is now Off by default - Due to the fact that the
packet loss meter is often confusing to new players, it will be off by
default. You can toggle the packet loss meter using the F11 key.
- New Message to prompt new players about the Help button - Weve added
a chat message that appears when a level 1 through 10 character logs in
that tells them to click the "?" button on the Window Selection toolbar
if they need help.
** Spells **
- Divine Intervention Fix - Players have been reporting that Divine
Intervention was not updating the hit points for the character every
time when cast, causing characters to die even though the spell seemed
to have saved them. We have been unable to reproduce the issue
specifically, but we have made some changes that should fix the
problem. Please use /bug with details of the incident if you continue
to see this problem.
- Bard Epic Animations - Bards will no longer play instrument
animations when they have their epic equipped. No more stabbing
yourselves in the head with your sword instead of playing a flute.
- Healing Messages now include the name of the healer - In order to
make it clearer who has healed you, we have changed the message that
you receive when healed. It will now include the name of the character
casting the healing spell: "Bob has healed you for 300 points of
damage.
- Call of the Hero works in PoW - We have removed the restrictions to
Call of the Hero in the Plane of Water. In this particular zone we
dont believe that the use of this spell needs to be restricted.
- Fear Spell bug fix - Players have reported that when a player
character was affected by a Fear spell cast by an NPC, they would see
the character running away but the person affected would not actually
flee.
- Snare Line bug fix - Fixed an issue that was causing the Snare line
of spells to fail on an NPC that is under the effects of a Fear spell.
- Tricksters Augmentation group only - We changed Trickster's
Augmentation to be group only to prevent folks from using it to grief
other players.
- LD Enchanters no longer cast Mem Blur - Enchanters that go linkdead
were sometimes casting Memory Blur and similar spells on their enemies.
This could cause rather unpleasant results for his group or raid when
the NPC suddenly had a fresh hate list. Linkdead enchanters will no
longer cast Memory Blur spells.
- Blizzard animation fix - Blizzard was causing a casting animation to
go off with every wave, even if the caster was sitting. Now Blizzard
works like most rain spells, and only triggers a casting animation when
first cast.
- Locked Spell Gem fix - We fixed a bug that was causing the use of a
right-click item to refresh the spell gem in the first slot instantly,
but if that spell had a long recast it would render it useless until
the spell was forgotten and memorized again.
- Mark of Kings upgrade - In order to make this spell more appealing
then its lower level counterpart, Mark of Karn, we have: increased the
duration from 3.5 to 4 minutes, reduced the casting time from 3 to 2
seconds, reduced the mana cost from 170 to 75 and made the spell
slightly less resistible.
- Gravel Rain can now be cured - With its very long duration (30
minutes) it was a bit difficult that this spell could not be removed
before the duration was over. This is now a curse and can be cured.
- Summoning a horse in bear form no longer causes you to lose the
ability to cast spells for a while.
- Rathes Son - The innate ability of the focused version of this pet is
now less resistible.
- Child of Bertoxxulous - This 65th level Necromancer pet has been
given a boost. Its offense has been increased to be in-line with that
of the Legacy of Zek, and it now has the ability to use a power that is
essentially the same as the spell Banshee Aura.
- Spirit Call - These pets were running away from enemies when at low
health. Pets should be far more loyal and willing to risk themselves
for their Shaman friends, so weve fixed it so that Shaman pets will no
longer run away.
- Vampiric Embrace - Weve corrected a bug with this spell that would
prevent the character from casting for a couple of seconds after the
proc went off.
- Stun Spells - The message on many stun-type spells have been changed
to more accurately portray their effect on stun immune creatures.
- Mana from Buffs - we have increased the maximum amount of mana that
can be gained through the use of buff spells.
** Items **
- Zoning and losing your buffs - There has been a long-standing problem
that could cause all of the buffs to be stripped from a character if
they zoned with fewer hit points than they had bonus hit points granted
by items. For example, if your character had only 10 hit points left
when zoning, and had an item that granted +15 hit points, all of your
characters buffs may have been stripped when you completed zoning. We
have fixed this bug. You should now retain your buffs in this
situation.
- GM Baking Spoon - On Firiona Vie, the Grandmasters Baking Spoon was
not no-drop. This allowed players to give out an unlimited number of
100% weight reduction bags. This obviously was not the intention for
that item, so we have made the Grandmasters Baking Spoon no drop on
Firiona Vie.
- Wooden Medicine Totem - This item can now be equipped. It couldnt
before.
- Adjutant Saber - We removed the secondary notation on the item, since
it was only usable by Shadowknights and Paladins, who couldnt use it in
their secondary slot anyhow.
- Cloak of the Dar Khura Hero - The effect on this item was listed in
the database as the wrong effect type. The effect is now permanent.
** NPCs **
- NPCs returning bags empty - NPCs that return items that they do not
need were returning all containers empty, regardless of what was inside
the container. NPCs that refuse unusable items will now also return
bags with their contents intact.
- NPCs returning multiple items - If a character gave an NPC multiples
of the same item, the NPC would only give back one of them if he did
not want them. We have fixed this so that now those items will be
returned. Such items will be stacked on your cursor. Just click the
item that is on your cursor into your inventory and the next one will
appear on your cursor. Keep clicking them into your inventory until
you have them all back. BE WARNED that any of these items that you
have not returned to your inventory will be lost if you zone or go
linkdead before you get them back into your inventory.
- The Spirit of Rage - This undead gorilla is now flagged as undead.
- Solusek Ros Guards - These guards will be much more attentive to
their lord and will aid in his defense.
- NPCs healing too much - We have corrected a bug that was causing some
NPCs to regain hit points when they turned to run away. The affected
NPCs will be of all sorts and in many zones.
- Giant Yellow Jackets - The chance to find a thorax on the corpses of
these creatures seemed too low, so we have increased it.
** Zones **
- Veeshans Peak - We have changed this zone to make it more appealing,
particularly for those playing with one or two groups. We have removed
the restriction against using gate in this zone and modified the zone
population. Over all, the zone will be better to play in.
- Acrylia Caverns - We have fixed an issue with the first two seals
that was causing the door to the 3rd seal to open without the 3rd seal
spawning, and without the events being completed correctly. Now the
door will only open under proper win conditions, and whenever the door
opens the 3rd seal should be available.
- Plane of Nightmare - We have changed the logic for entry to the
Thelin Poxbourne event in Plane of Nightmare. When you talk to Thelin,
he will now remember your raid and only allow those of the same raid
into your maze. Only three groups maximum will be allowed through the
portal into any one maze. If your group is not in a raid, he will allow
three non-raided groups through into the same maze. If there are three
non-raided groups in the maze and you try and get a fourth through, he
will act as any other raid would and tell you that he has already let
enough people in the maze.
- Planes of Water and Fire - We have changed some of the spells used by
the mini-bosses in these two zones. They should be a little easier to
resist now.
- Halls of Honor - We have removed a recently added summoning ability
from NPCs. We have introduced a less intrusive method of preventing the
ability to use area of effect abilities on huge groups of NPCs in the
zone.
- Bastion of Thunder - The tower bosses will now be dropping some loot
every time (rather than sometimes not dropping any) like the other
Planes of Power bosses.
** Quests **
- Added Honey Mush Bread to Cabilis Vendors - This is an item needed
for a quest that was unavailable.
- Officers Cloak - If you have combined your Officer's Cloak in the
Security Satchel or you wish to upgrade to the new Officer's Cloak of
Service, speak with Scout Derrin in Grimling Forest.
-The Skull of Torment quest - This quest, in Kurn's Tower, should now
work.
** Alternate Advancement **
- Elemental Form - In order to make the Magician Elemental Form
abilities a bit more useable, weve reduced the reuse time from 72
minutes to 15 minutes.
- Alternate Advancement timers - We fixed a bug that allowed AA timers
to be reset early.
- Mass Group Buff - We have made this ability available to Beastlords.
** Miscellaneous **
- Characters getting stuck in the world - We have fixed a bug that
would cause a character to stay in game for extended periods of time
after going linkdead. This bug was causing people to receive a 1018
error because their character was still in the world and could prevent
them from logging back in for a long period of time.
- Big Dwarves - Fixed a bug that was causing Dwarves that had their
size increased twice to start to see the insides of their faces while
attacking. This was making even the stoutest Dwarves a bit
uncomfortable and self-conscious.
- Tread water animation fix - We corrected a bug that would
occasionally cause the treading water animation to stop animating.
** Interface **
- Hit Point percentages display in windows - The Target window, Player
window and Group window now display hit point percentages. This is
something that many player created interfaces use and, considering the
popularity of this feature, we've decided to add it to the default
interface. In the Target and Group windows, the hit point percentages
will disappear if the appropriate target/groupmate does not exist
- /report - We updated the text message given when you use the /report
feature to better reflect what text is actually attached to the report.
- More Tips of the Day added - Weve updated the Tips of the Day with
more tips and cleaned up a few spelling errors with the existing tips.
- Combining Stacks of items - Attempting to combine stacked items in a
container will no longer work. The items must be separated first.
This change will prevent items from being lost due to accidentally
combining with them stacked. A dialogue will pop up, warning the
player to separate the objects.
- Bankers no longer take items - In order to help prevent people from
losing items by giving them to their banker instead of putting them
into their bank, players can no longer attempt to trade with bankers.
A message will tell you to right-click the banker if you wish use your
bank.
- Guild Management - The Guild Management window will now take your
setting for "show offline" into account when first displaying the
window. The delimiter used in the file created when the "Dump" button
is pressed has been changed to a [Tab] from a comma, as commas were
causing confusion when used in the public and private notes.
** Interface File Changes **
Targetwindow.xml
Playerwindow.xml
Groupwindow.xml
.....................................................................
------------------------------
May 22, 2003
------------------------------
Paladin AA Act of Valor
Fixed a problem with Act of Valor. Use of this AA ability was causing
zones to crash. That shouldn't happen any more.
.....................................................................
------------------------------
May 27, 2003
------------------------------
** Experience System Change - Grouping **
We've made some improvements to the way experience is rewarded in all
of EverQuest. At its core, the idea is to positively reinforce
grouping. There should never be any penalty to adding "that sixth
person over there," whatever class they may be, into your group. That
is exactly the type of behavior that should be rewarded.
In a massively multi-player game, any mechanic that penalizes those who
group is one that we need to take a serious look at. While there are
definite benefits to forming "well balanced" groups in terms of damage,
tanking, healing, and support, there shouldn't be an active penalty to
those who cannot find groups of "optimal" balance.
As it stands in EverQuest, groups gain a 2% to 20% experience bonus,
which we refer to as the "group bonus", for having two to six members.
In practice, however, this has never been much of a bonus, even in the
case of a full group, given that the experience was already being
divided six ways.
In the past, we had also attempted to reward people for adventuring in
the more challenging Planes of Power zones by making those zones give a
better rate of experience.
As of this update, groups now gain 20% to 80% "group bonus" experience
for having two to five members.
Full, six-person, groups now see an additional bonus. Their experience
is only divided five ways, yet they still gain the 80% "group bonus."
For those who think in terms of pie charts, it amounts to a larger
piece of a larger pie.
Accordingly, the bonus inherent to Planes of Power zones will be
decreased slightly. However, as long as person is grouped with at least
one other, they will see an improvement in experience gain over the old
system. The one down side to the new system is that there will be a
slight decrease in experience for those who do not group, and only for
those who do so in Planes of Power zones.
We realize that we are, essentially, "manufacturing" a new type of
experience after a kill. As players, we also understand it is the
people who spend time in full groups who have to deal with the most
interruptions and setup time caused by organizing the extra people. It
simply makes sense to reward that extra time, especially if it means
bringing more people together. After all, that's the whole point.
We look forward to seeing how these changes play out on Test Server.
** Experience System Change - Level 60+ **
In addition to the above changes, we have increased the range of NPC
levels that give a person experience after they reach level 60. The
"blue to 65" range has been increased as far as level 50, with the
"light blue" range extending to level 45. The best benefits, however,
are still for fighting things around and above your level.
The world of EverQuest, at this point in its history, is truly immense
and full of the best and most interesting content and visuals out
there. Ideally, when a person logs on they should have a wide array of
places in which to adventure. The addition of new content shouldn't
entirely obsolete what already exists. Hopefully these changes will
once again make that the case.
.....................................................................
------------------------------
June 2, 2003
------------------------------
We are looking for some help solving an issue with Linksys BEFSR41
routers.
If you have a Linksys BEFSR41 router at home, are using it as a NAT
device (where multiple computers share a single connection), live in
the San Diego area, and you are experiencing frequent and easily
repeated disconnects while playing any of our games, please contact us.
We know that our games are having issues with some versions of this
hardware, and we'd like to get it fixed.
Send us an email at: eqtesting@soe.sony.com
Subject: Linksys BEFSR41 Assistance Request
We appreciate your help. Thank you.
- The EverQuest Team
.....................................................................
------------------------------
June 11, 2003
------------------------------
** Experience System Change - Grouping **
We've made some improvements to the way experience is rewarded in EverQuest.
These improvements are aimed at positively reinforcing the
act of grouping. After all, this is a Massively Multiplayer game.
Prior to this update groups gained a 2% to 20% experience bonus for
having two to six members.
As of today this bonus has increased to range from 20% to 80% for
having two to five members. When a group adds a sixth member, the 80%
bonus remains, but the experience gained is only divided by 5 before
being distributed. The sixth group member no longer causes the
experience gain to be divided by 6.
Planes of Power zones had an increased experience award above and
beyond those of most other zones. Because of these new dramatic
improvements to group experience gains, we will be reducing the zone-
specific experience bonus for Planes of Power zones a bit. As long as
character is grouped with at least one other in these zones, they will
see an improvement in experience gain over the old system. The one down
side to the new system is that there will be a small decrease in
experience for those who do not group, and only for those who do so in
Planes of Power zones.
** Experience System Change - Level 60+ **
In addition to the above changes, we have increased the range of NPC
levels that give a character experience after they reach level 60. This
will open up many of the "old world" zones to players previously
restricted to Planes of Power zones for experience gain. The range of
NPCs that will be "blue" to a level 65 character has been increased as
far as level 50, with the "light blue" range extending to level 45. The
best experience gains, however, are still for fighting things around
and above your level. This should open up areas for high level
characters in groups and solo.
** Interface **
- Shared Bank Vault - We've added two shared bank slots to the
interface. These extra bank slots can be accessed by any character on
the same account and server. No-Drop and No Rent items can't be placed
in these bank slots, and only one of any specific Lore item can exist
in the shared bank at any time.
- Spell Context Menus - This is a new interface menu that will make
memorizing spells less tedious. To access the spell menu, just right-
click an empty spell gem. This will open a list of spell categories.
Point your mouse at a category and a list of spells will be displayed.
Select a spell from that list to memorize it in that slot. Your
character will sit down, memorize the spell and stand back up.
- Spell Favorites - Spell favorites are an easy way to memorize a full
set of eight spells without the tedious book searching. Right-clicking
on the spellbook icon in your spell window will open up the spell
favorites menu. You will be able to save your current spell lineup as a
favorite, delete a favorite or memorize all the spells in one of your
already saved spell sets. You can save as many as ten sets of spell
favorites. As with the new spell context menus mentioned above, this
will not replace the spellbook, it is meant to make memorizing large
numbers of spells more convenient.
- Spell Descriptions - We have expanded the spell description window.
Along with the information that has always been available, we have
added an explanation about what the spell does in general that includes
damage and duration when appropriate. You can see these new
descriptions by right-clicking and holding on the spell scroll, the
spell gem in your Spells window, or the spell icon in your spellbook.
- New Camera - We've added a new camera mode to the game. Lovingly
dubbed the EQ Cam, it uses the mouse wheel to allow you to zoom away
from your character into a "chase" camera. This only works from first
person mode (the default view). Using the mouse wheel you can determine
the distance of the camera from your character, or to zoom back into
first person mode. When in the chase mode, mouselook turns the
character and camera together and you can change the pitch of the
camera using the mouse.
- NPC Names - Many NPCs will be displaying additional titles to make it
clearer what their job is. For example, an NPC that sells tailoring
supplies may have the title [Tailor Supplies] under their name. This
will help folks find the proper merchant. It's analogous to them
hanging out their shingle.
- Rare Character Select Crash - Using the arrow keys to try to change
the selected character at the character select screen when there were
no characters on the account was causing people to crash out of the
game. That's fixed now.
- Guild Message of the Day - Using certain HTML codes when setting up a
Guild Message of the Day was causing all members of the guild to crash.
While this may have been amusing for pranks on your guild, we still
decided to fix it.
** Spells **
- Spell level limits now enforced - Some high level spells cannot be
cast on characters under a certain level. In the past a caster could
get around this level restriction when casting a group version of a
spell by targeting a higher level group member, and the spell would
take effect on the whole group, regardless of their level. That
loophole has been closed. We're sorry if you have grown accustomed to
the system working this way, but those level restrictions are important
to the integrity of lower level gameplay.
- Incineration and Conglaciation of Bones - Both of these spells should
now crit and stack (when cast by different casters).
- Divine Intervention - This spell should now be reporting the amount
of healing it delivers.
- Healing Messages - The target of a healing spell will now get a
message telling them the caster's name and the amount of healing they
receive.
- Reporting Damage Over Time - Damage over Time (DoT) done to NPCs will
now be reported to the caster every time it does damage. These messages
can be filtered in the Options window.
- Boon of the Garou - The level restriction for this spell has been
removed. We have also fixed a bug with the spell that would prevent it
from being cast on target that are not on a horse if the enchanter is
on horseback (spell still cannot affect those on horseback).
- Wake of Karana - To improve the usefulness of this spell, we have
lowered the recast time from 90 seconds to 15 seconds.
- Beastlord Warders - Beastlords will once again be able to summon
their warders in the Plane of Sky. Sorry for the delay in getting this
one fixed properly.
- Familiars - Familiars will no longer attempt to equip items. This was
causing them to try to wear weapons inside their heads, which probably
isn't a good thing for them to do.
- Spirit spell line - We have added +75 dexterity to the effects of
Spirit of Flame, Spirit of Rellic, and Spirit of Snow.
- Spell stacking and blocking - Changed the following spell lines to
cause them to bounce off of each other. Each line should block
everything from the other line, but still be overwritten by spells of
the same line.
Spiritual Strength
Spiritual Brawn
Spiritual Vigor
Strength of Tunare
Strength of Nature
Brell's Mountainous Barrier
Brell's Stalwart Shield
Brell's Steadfast Aegis
- Translocation spells - Fixed a bug with translocation spells. If a
second translocation spell was cast on a character before he had
accepted the first, both would fail.
- Spell casting pets - In the past, pets were restricted to casting
spells of level 20 and below. We have given them access to higher level
spells. You may want to be careful with them until you get used to
their new abilities.
- Drunken Riders - We fixed an odd bug that allowed people who were
extremely drunk to cast spells without mana cost while on a horse. Yes,
crazy bugs like that actually happen. :)
** Zones **
- Droga and Nurga - The mines of Nurga have been inhabited by crafty
Goblins and stolid Burynai for many long years, digging and slaving
away under the earth. It's time to shake them up! The redesign for
these zones are now on the Legends server, Stormhammer. The mines of
Nurga are a fun zone for characters of levels about 40 to 55. The
Temple of Droga accommodates characters around 50th to 65th level. Both
zones will have some new events and quest, while retaining the distinct
feel of the zones.
- Veksar - Since the rediscovery of the lands of Kunark, there have
been rumors springing from the ancient lore of the Iksar. Most of those
rumors remain unfounded, as gaining access to the lore of the insular
Iksar is no easy task. One of the most persistent legends is about a
city that lies buried under the Lake of Ill Omen. That city was called
Veksar, and it is up to you to discover the tale of its fate.
- Planes of Power access - Planes of Power has provided us with
valuable insight into the group and guild dynamics that are involved in
large scale games. The way that we had expected guilds to advance
through the story of Planes of Power has become a problem for some
guilds as some members have fallen behind and found it difficult to
catch up. Obviously this was not our intention. We want people to play
with their friends and guild mates.
To correct this issue, we will be allowing characters to enter the
following Planes of Power zones by meeting a simple level requirement:
Level 55 and over
Plane of Storms
Plane of Torment
Plane of Valor
Crypt of Decay
Level 62 and over
Bastion of Thunder
Halls of Honor
Characters that don't meet the level requirement may still enter these
zones using the existing flags, and raids may still bring additional
unflagged or lower level characters with them. All other planes with
flag or story requirements for entry will still require those flags,
and those flags can still be obtained as they always have.
This will make the majority of Planes of Power zones available to
characters over the minimum level, and will allow their guilds to
travel and adventure together in the planes. We understand that those
that have already earned the entry flags for these zones have put some
effort into that accomplishment. We will be giving a reward to those
that have done so, though you'll have to wait to see what that reward
is.
If you have completed the requirements for flags for these zones, you
may wish to visit Gram Dunnar. Part of the reward for gaining entry
flags is in the form of experience.
+++ Before speaking to Gram Dunnar, be sure you have your experience
distribution set as you'd like it between standard and alternate advancement experience. +++
- Great Divide - The Plane of Knowledge portal in the Great Divide will
now be available when the Ring War is in progress.
- Bastion of Thunder - We have upgraded the loot available from many of
the mini-bosses in the Bastion of Thunder to make the reward more
inline with the risk.
- Sol Ro's Tower - They look like frogs, hop like frogs and now they
even react to spells like frogs. Flame Frogs are now flagged as
animals.
- Rallos Zek encounter - Rallos Zek will remove anyone from the zone
that attacks him if they are not part of the raid that has him engaged.
Even in war, there are rules to be followed.
** Items **
- Tradeskill item flag - There is a new flag on items. When viewing the
information about an item, if you see that it has a Tradeskill flag, it
is an item that can be used in a tradeskill recipe. This isn't to
clearly spell out every item that is used in every tradeskill recipe.
The intent is to assist those who are finding items that do not already
have an obvious use, by letting them know that the item is used in a
tradeskill recipe, somewhere.
- LoY "Fine Steel" - Many of the more commonly dropped weapons in the
Legacy of Ykesha zones were a bit too powerful for the ease and level
needed to get them. Some of the most out of line items were the
Harpoon, Luggald Trident, and Luggald Dagger. We've decided that it is
necessary to tune them down a bit.
- The Hollow Acrylia Obelisk - This is the old Acrylia key. It has been
changed into a charm. This charm can be used by anyone, not just those
that own LoY.
- Bows - The Longbow of the Grimlings and the Bow of Gloaming have both
been given ranges. They can now be used properly.
- The Burning Flame Shield - This item had the wrong resist modifiers.
It now has a +30 fire resistance and a -10 cold resistance.
- Bazaar Search - Non-instrument items with instrument modifiers will
now show up in instrument type searches in the Bazaar.
- Ornate Stone Medicine Totem - This item can now be equipped.
- Storm Reaper Thorn Machete - This newbie Halfling quest weapon is now
flagged as magical.
- Charm of the Brotherhood - This item will now give a bonus when
grouped with others of either the same class or race.
- Dagger of Distraction - This item can no longer be used by Monks.
- Edge of Eternity - Beastlords and monks can no longer use this item.
- Veil of Lost Hopes and Orb of Clinging Death - The casting times on
both of these items has been lowered.
- Magi`Kot's Pants of Convergence - The effect on this item has been
changed to summon a Rod of Mystical Transvergance.
- Cloak of the Falling Skies - The focus effect this item has changed
to Preservation of Solusek
- The Wristguard of Keen Vision - This item is now useable by int.
casters.
- The Mask of Conceptual Energy - This item is now useable by priests.
** Alternate Advancement **
- Lifeburn - This ability would cause an undue amount of aggro to be
generated because it would bring the caster to an extremely low number
of hit points, making them look like tasty targets to enemies nearby.
To lessen this problem, Lifeburn will no longer reduce the caster to 10
hit points, but to about one fourth of the caster's hit points. This
should prevent the additional agro generated while retaining the risk
for using the ability.
- Feigned Minion - The Child of Bertoxxulous pet will no longer cast
buff spells to break his feign when under the Feigned Minion effect.
** Quests and Tradeskills **
- Bankers - There were a few quests that required giving an item to a
banker. When we recently removed the ability for characters to give
items to bankers to help prevent mistakenly losing items, those quests
became unavailable. We have moved those quests to new NPCs. If you see
any other quests that ask you to give something to a banker, please use
/bug and report it to us.
- Newly Stackable Items - Valor Crystals, Ceramic Linings, Holgresh Fur
and Casks are now stackable. Also, Valor Crystals can be sold to
vendors.
- Sewer Catfish - These unappetizing fish have begun to appear in
Cabilis.
- Klok Foob - Will now accept a Catfish Croak Sandwich.
** Changes for New Characters **
- Newbie Starting Locations - We've modified all locations where new
characters start to make them a bit more convenient for the new player.
They should all start very near their guild masters.
- Nudging - New characters will be given a text message to encourage
them to hand in their newbie note to their guild master. For new
players, this is one of the key things to get them involved in
gameplay, and one of the easiest to overlook.
- Guild Masters - To help guide new characters, Guild Masters now take
a more active role in helping out new recruits by directing them to
some starting points for quests.
- Quests - There are even more quests in the newbie zones, most of them
revolving around the pests that seem to inhabit even the grandest
cities.
** Miscellaneous **
- We are working on an update to the Luclin player character model
animations. This will not be a complete revamp of all the animations,
but will address some of the most common concerns. However, in the mean
time you may see some unusual animations, particularly when shorter PCs
are running.
** UI File Changes **
NOTE: In order to see the new Shared Bank slots, you will need to use
the default bank window, or modify your custom bank window to include
the new slots.
EQUI_Optionswnd.xml
EQUIhelpwnd.xml
Bankwnd.xml
BigBankwnd.xml
Help.html
Noted Later: The reward for planar progression has been added. If you
have completed the requirements for flags for the newly opened Planes
of Power zones, you may wish to visit Gram Dunnar in the Plane of
Knowledge.
.....................................................................
------------------------------
June 12, 2002 News Story: Prexus Server Crashes Entirely
------------------------------
Last night at about 1:00 in the morning Prexus had a severe breakdown.
Our Operations team has been working to get it restored and back into
service. Our hope is that we'll have it back up and running some time
this evening.
That's the bad news. The worse news is that we will have to recreate
all of the characters on the server from backups that are perhaps more
than 24 hours old. Anything those characters have earned in the last
day or so will be lost. Unfortunately, we will not be able to restore
items or experience lost to the roll back.
There is some potential good news, though. If you have deleted a
character in the last year or so, that character may return. So if you
see a character that you deleted a few months ago on your character
select screen, that's why.
Important Note: The restoration of these characters may leave you with more
than eight characters on Prexus. In cases like this, the character
select screen will list your characters in alphabetical order, and only
show you the first eight of those characters. This may make some of
your characters appear to be missing. They are not missing. All you
need to do is delete one or more of the visible characters in order to
see the ones that are not shown.
We are extremely sorry that this has happened. We are doing everything
we can to restore the server.
Alan
.....................................................................
------------------------------
June 17, 2003
------------------------------
We have updated the Run, Walk and Turn animations for the Luclin
models. As you can tell, new animations require a lot of data. We're
sorry for the size of the update, but we think you'll like the changes.
Thank you.
.....................................................................
------------------------------
June 24, 2003
------------------------------
Stability - we have made some changes that should increase server
stability.
Pathing issues - Corrected some issues with pathing that were causing
warping in the Halls of Honor and allowing NPCs to teleport to places
that they shouldn't have (in Highkeep, for example). Also, creatures
should no longer spin after returning to their spawn points (this was
most noticeable with dragons and wurms).
.....................................................................
