May 11 2005 Test Update (9a)

[Anya]

per moorgard's post, in its entirety.. here (http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/eq2/board/message?board.id=tup&message.id=52#M52)

Note: Due to the EverQuest II team's preparations for E3 next week, we will have a somewhat different schedule for Live Update #9. The first portion of this update, which we will call 9a, is going to the Test server today. The second portion, called 9b, will be moved to Test server next week. The combined update, Live Update #9, will arrive on the live servers the week of May 23.


*** Headlines ***

- Experience a new instanced adventure area in Everfrost!
- Solo writs available for level 45+ players!
- You can now customize your in-game music!


*** Everfrost - The Forbidden Sepulcher ***

- A barbarian cult has invaded a tomb in Everfrost with the intention of raising their dark mistress.
- Search for a fallen barbarian in the Jagged Plains of Everfrost to begin this new adventure.
- The Forbidden Sepulcher is best suited for small groups and soloers in their low 40s.
- When your quest within The Forbidden Sepulcher of Everfrost is complete, you can go back inside and experience the adventure whenever you like!


*** Customize Your Music ***

- You can now customize your in-game music without moving or removing existing EverQuest II music.
- Create a folder called "custom_music" in the EverQuest II directory.
- Put MP3 files in the new "custom_music" folder and give them the same names as the MP3s in the "Music" directory.
- Music within the "custom_music" folder will be played instead of music in the "music" folder.
- For example:
- Put an MP3 of a song you like in the "custom_music" folder and name it "eq2theme.mp3".
- Start EverQuest II, and you will notice that the MP3 file you just renamed will play instead of the default theme.


*** Writs for Level 45-50 Adventurers ***

- The majority of the writs for level 45+ adventurers now target solo encounters instead of group encounters.
- New NPCs have been added to both Everfrost and Lavastorm to be sought out for completion of these writs.


*** Guild Window ***

- Added a "Show Guild Name" permission, which allows guilds to have probationary ranks that don't display the guild tag to non guild members.
- Added a privacy option to the events area of the guild window that allows a character to elect not to generate guild events.
- Added "Purchase Status Items" permission which allows guilds to control which ranks can buy status items from city merchants.
- Guildmate login and logout notifications will no longer be sent to alternate characters that are not guilded.
- The guild progress bar will now appear correctly when partially off screen.


*** Gameplay ***

- Linkdead players should now return to their last known location when logging back in.
- NPCs should be less likely to get stuck or fall out of the world when trying to get somewhere (especially when chasing adventurers who have made them angry).


*** Zones and Population ***

- Many creatures that could not be attacked after their encounters were broken will again be attackable. This applies to creatures such as Vallon Builders in The Orcish Wastes.
- Many NPCs will now be hailed by default instead of attacked. This applies to such NPCs as sentries in Antonica, scouts in The Commonlands, villagers and defenders in Thundermist Village, and deputy halflings in The Enchanted Lands. In order to attack these NPCs, you can still right click them and attack, turn on autoattack with them targeted, or use a spell or combat art against them.
- The Swornloves can no longer be found in The Commonlands or Antonica.
- Nightfall creatures in The Commonlands have recovered from the plague.


*** Epic Encounters ***

- Darathar's breath weapon is now slightly more deadly.


*** Quests ***

- The levels of many quests were adjusted to be more appropriate.
- The journal text in "The Fate of Karg Icebear" quest has been modified. Additionally, Karg Icebear, in Icespire Summit, will now speak to and reward players for successfully completing the epic encounter.
- Homebound readers can now enjoy their copy of Rise of the Orcs: Three.
- A house version of The Trials of Sir Morgan is available upon completing this quest. Those who have previously completed this quest may purchase a home copy for a nominal fee from their local sage.
- General Fandrak in The Feerrott will now offer "Hearts of Ice" again if you did not accept the quest the first time he offered it.
- The "Kouryick the Traitor" quest in West Freeport can now be completed correctly.
- The libraries in both Qeynos and Freeport carry a new book talking about the spires.
- The wolves that attack in the first part of the "Little Tarby Lost" quest may prove to be more of a challenge.
- Cythan, in the quest "The Teachings of Yoru," will spawn at the appropriate interval.
- Challenging Sartar in "The Teachings of Yoru" will no longer result in Sartar backing down.
- Quests that are part of the Birchbark quest series in The Orcish Wastes will now appear in the correct category in the quest journal.
- The item reward for "Mystail Tails for Fevalin" is now of more appropriate quality for the challenge of the quest.
- The item reward for "The Sweet Taste of Fairy Dust" is now of more appropriate quality for the challenge of the quest.
- While obtaining citizenship in The Baubbleshire, there's now a waypoint leading to the docks when the player is tasked with going to The Caves.
- When using the forge in Runnyeye for the Bone Bladed Claymore quest, it will only consume one ebon cluster rather than all ebon clusters in your inventory.


*** Items ***

- Item effects that stun, mesmerize, stifle, or fear will no longer affect epic raid targets.
- The power increase of the Gift of Cristanos will now target the caster instead of the enemy.
- The icon for palladium bangles has been corrected.
- The small cabinet furniture item now has the correct appearance.
- Owlbears in Nektulos Forest will now drop web-covered armor.
- Goblin Rotgut will now grant health regeneration instead of power regeneration.
- The broken military pick now has the correct icon.
- Baubbleberry Pie will now provide the correct icon in the spell effects window when consumed.
- Several crafted accessories that were equipping in the wrong slot have been fixed.
- The Feywood Nunchaku now has a more appropriate appearance.
- The Snake Hoop now has the correct icon.


*** Spells and Combat Arts ***

Berserker changes:
- Infuriate will now be automatically granted to Berserkers at level 48.
- Battle Chant will now improve as it is upgraded.
- Coup de Grace's berserk effect will now trigger if you kill the NPC within 5 seconds instead of 3.
- Nehron's Stunning Barrage will now have a visual effect when it is used.

Brigand changes:
- Plead for Mercy is now more effective than Beg for Mercy.

Bruiser changes:
- Merciless Stomp's secondary buff effect will now trigger if you kill the NPC within 10 seconds instead of 5.

Conjurer changes:
- Taneranthalis' Shuddering Ground will now snare your opponent correctly.
- Phogiston, Pullation, and Embers will no longer stack with Gift of the Magi.

Defiler changes:
- Putrified Balm's proc effect will now apply to the target rather than the caster.
- Tierbold's Pestilent Miasma will now deal extra damage against beings of Shadow.
- Keigwyn's Corruptive Anathema is now known as Keigwyn's Deadly Anathema.
- Tendrils of Fear should now proc more frequently.

Fighter changes:
- Intervene will now improve as it is upgraded.

Illusionist changes:
- Scorching Beam now has a heat damage-over-time effect associated with it.

Mystic changes:
- Touch of the Grey will now snare your opponent correctly.

Ranger changes:
- Hidden Fire is now more effective than Hidden Shot.

Scout changes:
- The Tracking window can now be toggled between sorting by distance and by name without logging out.
- Sneak will now improve as it is upgraded.

Shadowknight changes:
- Unholy Aura scrolls are no longer named Unhallowed Aura.
- Cursed Sacrament's description now includes the correct reagent component that must be used to cast the spell.

Templar changes:
- Nomsoe's Blessing of Transal and Jusagta's Rune of Just will now increase strength properly when the Symbolic Faith effect goes off.

Troubador changes:
- Graceful Avoidance's intelligence buff will increase as the spell is upgraded.
- Bria's Entrancing Sonnet will now appear in the maintained spells window.


*** Tradeskills ***

- The progress required to craft many drinks has been adjusted to make drink creation difficulty more consistent.
- Carpenter Essentials recipe books now contain recipes to create racial furniture that used to be available at NPC merchants:
- Gukta Bucket (Artisan Essentials 5)
- Troll Chair (Artisan Essentials 6)
- Troll Wooden Crate (Artisan Essentials 7)
- Freeport Bedside Table (Craftsman Essentials 11)
- Gnome Resting Chair (Craftsman Essentials 11)
- Gnome Thinking Chair (Craftsman Essentials 12)
- Gukta Ironwood Shelf (Craftsman Essentials 12)
- Halasian Bucket (Craftsman Essentials 13)
- Halfling Drum (Craftsman Essentials 13)
- Kaladim Bucket (Craftsman Essentials 14)
- Kaladim Wall Chain (Craftsman Essentials 14)
- Plain Gukta Vase (Craftsman Essentials 15)
- Simple Dresser (Craftsman Essentials 15)
- Small Wooden Table (Craftsman Essentials 16)
- Oggokian Chair (Craftsman Essentials 17)
- Erudin Ornate Urn (Carpenter Essentials 21)
- Crafted Vase (Carpenter Essentials 21)
- Coalition Ornate Rug (Carpenter Essentials 21)
- Faydark Chair (Carpenter Essentials 22)
- Faydark Tavern Table (Carpenter Essentials 22)
- Erudin Warding Orb (Carpenter Essentials 22)
- Faydark Vase (Carpenter Essentials 23)
- Faydark Wooden Table (Carpenter Essentials 23)
- Lab Flask (Carpenter Essentials 23)
- Fine Landscape Painting (Carpenter Essentials 24)
- Freeport Coffee Table (Carpenter Essentials 24)
- Oggokian Rock Table (Carpenter Essentials 24)
- Generic Wall Sconce (Carpenter Essentials 25)
- Gnome Simple Tale (Carpenter Essentials 25)
- Oil Painting of a Knight (Carpenter Essentials 25)
- Halfling Wooden Table (Carpenter Essentials 26)
- Kerran Chair (Carpenter Essentials 26)
- Open Chest of Skulls (Carpenter Essentials 26)
- Painting of the Sun God (Carpenter Essentials 27)
- Thexian Chair (Carpenter Essentials 27)
- Ornate Halasian Chest (Carpenter Essentials 27)
- Thexian Table (Carpenter Essentials 28)
- Thexian Wine Rack (Carpenter Essentials 28)
- Ornate Vase (Carpenter Essentials 28)
- Antonican Rug (Carpenter Essentials 29)
- Embellished Rug (Carpenter Essentials 29)
- Erudin Globe (Carpenter Essentials 29)
- Fine Painting of a Stone Building (Carpenter Essentials 31)
- Oil Painting of a Brick Castle (Carpenter Essentials 36)
- Oil Painting of a Sea Shore Cliff (Carpenter Essentials 37)
- Paladin Brazier (Carpenter Essentials 44)
- Oil Painting of a Castle (Carpenter Essentials 45)
- Oil Painting of a Stone Castle (Carpenter Essentials 46)


*** Controls, Commands, and User Interface ***

- You now stay closer to groupmates when you /follow them.
- The arrow on the map will now point in the direction your avatar is facing rather than your camera.
- There is new mouse control option available for use: Options > Controls > Mouse Settings > Auto Run Off When Both Mouse Buttons Down (default is yes). If you turn this off, autorun will no longer be canceled when you press both mouse buttons at the same time.
- The store window now shows coin gain per session as well as total coin gain for offline sales.
- Bags will now default to being non-sellable when they are first created. You can still sell bags by clicking the "not for sale" checkbox in the merchant window.
- The mail window will now show the total number of messages as well as the number of unread messages you have in your mailbox.
- Examining spell scrolls in the merchant window will now display its effects correctly.
- There is now a "cancel" button in the waypoint window.
- The waypoint window should now clear when you reach the end of the waypoint path.
- Quests with long names should no longer have their names cut off in the quest journal.
- Spell scrolls that are Lore or No Trade will now indicate this when moused over.
- Mousing over an item in the merchant window will now show its tooltip.
- The "Default Access" level in the housing window has been renamed to the "Public Access Level" to prevent confusion.


*** Art ***

- It no longer rains underwater.
- Female elf hair should no longer show through robe hoods.


*** UI Files Updated ***

eq2ui_mainhud_letterboxframe.xml
eq2ui_mainhud_mail.xml
eq2ui_mainhud_waypoints.xml
eq2ui_playerhousing.xml
eq2ui_popup_rewardpack.xml
eq2ui_mainhud_tracking.xml
eq2ui_mainhud_openedmail.xml
eq2ui_examine.xml
eq2ui_mainhud_guild.xml
eq2ui_gamedata.xml
===========================
Moorgard
EverQuest II Community Guy

[Anya]

I am stuck at tier 2 carpenter forever but a couple observations for things that seemed fishy.

-I believe the 'sun god' painting among MANY other things were already duplicated in the carpenters rep. so hopefully they've done some art/skinning changes.
-freeport counters and many of the other 'really in demand' items are missing completely :(
-items that are still being sold such as buckets, the paladin brazier, etc. will be yet still duplicated in local stores.

[Astarelle]

I too noticed that there weren't any counters. That is probably the most in-demand product out there. But the note said that carpenters will be able to make the racial stuff that had been sold by npcs (personally I think they should restrict that by race because it would make sense). The counters were all "freeport" just like I think there are a couple of qeynosian pieces missing as well (a dresser I think).

Maybe those will be in the second part of the patch or perhaps those will be faction based (that would make even more sense - not sure a qeynos based aritsan should be able to make a freeport counter). Or perhaps they will rework those so that there is a freeport and qeynos version of those recipes.

ETA: Ok either I'm wrong about the freeport/qeynos thing or two recipes slipped past them - I see a freeport coffee table and a freeport bedside table. I was kind of hoping they would do freeport/qeynos versions of things just because it really doesn't make sense to have people of opposing faction making and selling things with the other city's name on them.

[dkubicek]

I too noticed that there weren't any counters. That is probably the most in-demand product out there. But the note said that carpenters will be able to make the racial stuff that had been sold by npcs (personally I think they should restrict that by race because it would make sense). The counters were all "freeport" just like I think there are a couple of qeynosian pieces missing as well (a dresser I think).

Maybe those will be in the second part of the patch or perhaps those will be faction based (that would make even more sense - not sure a qeynos based aritsan should be able to make a freeport counter). Or perhaps they will rework those so that there is a freeport and qeynos version of those recipes.

ETA: Ok either I'm wrong about the freeport/qeynos thing or two recipes slipped past them - I see a freeport coffee table and a freeport bedside table. I was kind of hoping they would do freeport/qeynos versions of things just because it really doesn't make sense to have people of opposing faction making and selling things with the other city's name on them.

Remember this is only part a of the patch

[Niami DenMother]

Yup, this is only part of the patch *and* this is the reason they patch to Test first.

If anyone can chase down a carpenter on Test to a) figure out which new recipes make graphical duplicates of existing items we can make (i.e., burlap portrait = portrait of the sun god), and b) list any of the totally missing high-demand items (i.e., counters), I'll see if I can get a ping in on them all so they don't get missed. (In-game /bug reports on Test are also a good thing as you find things, but can't hurt to submit a master list as well.)

[Zendaken]

Niami, there are a couple of threads in the carpenter section with links to the official boards that have what you're looking for. I think that the thread for this update on the main thread have some of this information as well.

[Dreadalus]

Innkeeper Uglar Splinterthumb in Big Bend still sells freeport wooden counters.

[Niami DenMother]

Niami, there are a couple of threads in the carpenter section with links to the official boards that have what you're looking for. I think that the thread for this update on the main thread have some of this information as well.

The issue is that the lists over there are from Live, and sifting through the miles-long posts to find someone who has actually verified this stuff on Test since the patch to the Test server is an exercise in frustration. We need someone on Test to verify that these items do, indeed, still have matching graphics, etc. For all we know, some of the names may have been linked to new graphics. (They may have not changed a thing, and there are dupes all over, but without someone actually verifying it on Test, there's no way to know.)

[Cavel]

I am pleased to see that test is getting these changes and cannot wait to see them go live... I am hoping that all of the old items come back as things that Carpenters or other Tradeskill classes can make.

One thing that I disagree with is what Astarelle suggested. The idea of having one race make one certain kind of item is, in my opinion, very bad. That also holds true of faction restricted items.

All you need to do is look at EQlive for an example, the armor and weapons that were racial caused horrid arguments on the boards, some of it even bled over to these boards.

The way I look at it is the the "Guktan bucket" or what ever you want to use as an example was first created in the city it is named for. Just like you can have Cathedral cellings and not be a church, or Gothic Pillars...

Just my thoughts
Cavel

[Astarelle]

One thing that I disagree with is what Astarelle suggested. The idea of having one race make one certain kind of item is, in my opinion, very bad. That also holds true of faction restricted items.

All you need to do is look at EQlive for an example, the armor and weapons that were racial caused horrid arguments on the boards, some of it even bled over to these boards.

The way I look at it is the the "Guktan bucket" or what ever you want to use as an example was first created in the city it is named for. Just like you can have Cathedral cellings and not be a church, or Gothic Pillars...

Just my thoughts
Cavel

I don't know what the arguements were over racial armor in eq1, but there are a lot of differences between tradeskilling in eq1 and here. 250 plus smiths, tailors, etc... in eq1 were not that common before the AAs that let you specialize in more than one skill came along with quests that needed those skills.

Here there are hundreds of tradeskillers in every sub-class and it won't be long before there will be a couple dozen level 50s in every sub-class. We all make the exact same things. There is a very good chance that there will always be more supply than demand for every product out there (some classes are hurt more by this than others).

Racial and/or quest recipes most likely won't create a strangle hold on any one market. Instead it would just allow someone to be one of ten instead of one of a hundred. While there are people who will complain every time any artisan makes a couple of silver, I can't imagine this would create any huge problems in the game.

Additionally, players might actually like the look of racial armor, swords, furniture, etc.... It could be a very good things if the design department got creative.

[kieroth_whiteleaf]

IMHO -

The main problem with racial armor in EQ1 is the sheer amount of discrepancy to it.

For the MOST PART, the armor itself was reasonably well balanced when compared to other cultural armors (I.E., dark elf armor wasn't statwise much different than ogre armor) - IMHO, the armor should all be close to the same with a few key stat differences (erudite ought to have more int, ogre maybe more str) to reflect racial tendencies. OVERALL they should be pretty similar though... maybe the erudite has +12 int +8 str and the ogre has +8 int +12 str (In eq1 terms.. numbers would seem to be considerably lower in eq2 from what I've seen since the base is so much lower).

The problem occured because MANY race/class/diety combinations didn't HAVE racial armor (such as dark elves NOT worshipping inny) or worse yet OTHER cultural armor was actually better (my def war worshiping rallos actually did better with human cultural than def cultural because I could get imbued). Kind of embarassing when I had a GM smith and I was wearing someone elses' armor.

Vah Shir and Frogloks couldn't make any (although frogloks could wear most). The Barbarian (from my understanding) actually sucked, and classes such as gnome warriors really didn't have anything they could use. Sometimes (wood elves come to mind) even the "plate" armor was made by tailors and wasn't always as good as the smithed cultural plate.

Since religion isn't an issue in EQ2, if you gave every race a medium and heavy armor in armoring and VL/Light armors in tailoring you'd be fine. Make them MOSTLY comparable statwise.. Give the wood elves a point or two of AGI extra but a point or two less on str, maybe toss some of the typical tank races a few extra AC or STA.. but make them *CLOSE*. It'd all be good.

Oh, and make it *worth wearing*. For the most part the devs have done a decent job with crafted armor in making it worthwhile to actually wear. Put cultural maybe slightly worse than rare, and rare cultural (if included) slightly better than rare and you'd be good to go.

I *LIKE* the idea of metals/tempers specific to the individual races. MAYBE (don't know if this is a good idea or not, I'd rather NOT have it, but it's a thought) make the temper/tanning agent only creatable by alchemists of the appropriate race.

If you put in racial recipes for each tier (would be awesome, but I can see logic for not doing it 'cuz it'd be a LOT of recipes - 7 slots x 16ish races x 4 armor classes = 450ish recipes per tier) you could add uncommons to the harvest node for the racial metal(s). That would also solve the problem that armorsmiths currently have in that they only have 1-2 recipes per level for skillups. Using uncommon components would be too expensive to skill up on, but at least they'd get some discovery XP.

I'm looking at it mostly from an armorsmithing perspective, but you could also make a range of weapons (not all of them, that's a bit extreme, but maybe a decent chunk) and jewelry out of it. Weaponsmiths need a kick in the pants so they have some sellable stuff (although they aren't in *dire* need of the extra discovery xp) and while jewelcraft does okay I'm all for giving everyone some love.

And sure - racial furniture for the carpenters too. You can't possibly tell me that design asthetics for wood elves, dark elves, gnomes and halflings are all the same. We won't even discuss the differences in design philosophy between high elves and trolls.

And if there's any devs reading this thinking "yeah, but we don't have the time for this" - I'll do it. Pay me and I'd be HAPPY to 'cuz I hate my job and I want a new one :) Designing tradeskill stuff (even the boring parts like data entry) would kick. Yeah, no chance there, but never hurts to give it a shot ;)

Just some thoughts...

SFG

[Haidara]

I'd to too see craftable class specific armor, (i.e. Raven Scale, Lambent, Spirit Weaver's)

Can't remember all the names, they were pre-kunark, I think. I do recall hiding in from the Lich in Everfrost while I waited for a giant bear to spawn so I could have that +5 wis Spirtweaver's Helm for my Shaman.

Anyhoooo... my reasoning is I don't want my Erudite Bruiser to have more int...I want str/agil/sta