*** Highlights ***

- EQ’s 10th Anniversary celebrations continues. All the raid events will remain until May 25th. Lower Guk and Unrest group encounters kicked off on the 11th and end on the 25th as well. Enjoy the rest of the celebrations!

*** Items ***

- Added a missing heal focus to the Protective Gorget of the Deep.
- Added Improved Parry/Block to several neck items that were missing it.
- Applied new icons to the Beastlord epic 1.0 (Claws of the Savage Spirit).
- Changed the displayed solvent on many destroyable augments to make it clear that they can be dissolved by the Augmentation Solvent.
- Irae Faycite Shard: Ethereal Enhancement, Irae Faycite Shard: Klixcxyk’s and Icesheet Casc., Irae Faycite Shard: Ethereal Burn and Irae Faycite Shard: Inizen’s and Glacial Collapse should now properly focus the intended spells. A change has been made to all similar foci that should prevent a similar problem in the future.

*** Spells ***

- Triggered PC spells with large dummy values in cast time have had that time reduced or removed.

*** AAs ***

- The Berserker AAs Blur of Axes and Precision of Axes have been increased in power.
- The Shadow Knight AA “Cascading Theft of Life” has been renamed “Cascading Theft of Defense” to better fit its function.
- Harmonious arrow now correctly assigns hate to its user.

*** Raids ***

- Added Fractured Coeval Luminessence and Fractured Coeval Incandessence as a chance to drop from the chest that the mini bosses in discord tower drop. This also reduces the chance for stat and weapon augments from this chest.

*** Tradeskills ***

- The first set of changes to poison have been made. Strike of Ssraeshza poisons have a 10 second recast on them. Bite of the Shissar, Strike of the Shissar, Solusek’s Burn and E’ci’s Lament Poison remove about half the hate they give on each strike. Quellious’ Trauma removes about half the hate it did before. Quellious’ Trauma, Myrmidon’s Sloth, Messenger’s Bane, Fighter’s Bane, Warlord’s Bane, Archer’s Bane and Monk’s Bane have had their “proc count” increased so they last longer.
- Messenger’s Bane poisons will properly snare their target rather than giving them a speed boost.
- The recipe for Thundering Blades Rk. II has been disabled. It should not yet be able to be created.

*** Pets ***

- Fixed some typos in the pet help window.
- Fixed some problems with hot-keyed commands not displaying their state correctly.
- A new “regroup” command has been added. This command is very similar to “stop” except when using “regroup” the pet will not only stop attacking, but will revert to either follow or guard depending on what is selected. This essentially mimics the old “hold” behavior. “Regroup” and “stop” are mutually exclusive. If you use “regroup” both sit and stop should turn off. If you use “stop” then “regroup” should turn off.

*** Miscellaneous ***

- Campfire summoning has been turned on for the following zones (note that all usual restrictions apply): Crystallos, Mansion, Qinimi, and Tipt.
- Guild Banner summoning has been turned on for the following zones (note that all usual restrictions apply): Uqua, Tacvi, Qinimi, Tipt, Anguish, Demiplane of Blood, Deathknell – Tower of Dissonance, Crystallos (both normal and raid), Mansion (both normal and raid), Discord Raid and Discord Tower Raid.
- Fixed a problem that was causing voice chat volume sliders to get stuck on the screen.
- Revamped the way guild information is stored on the server to get around limitations on the maximum number of guilds. Some servers were hitting the max.
- Fixed a problem with raid dumps that were made when the raid window was not visible.
- The voice chat bar is now visible on login if your voice chat is active.
- Fixed a problem with bard focuses that caused Singing and Instrument mastery to not work if the song was otherwise not focused by any item or effect.
- Fixed a problem with guild creation that was causing it to fail when you tried to create a guild with a name whose beginning was a subset of an existing guild (e.g. creating “Killer” when “Killers in the Mist” already existed).
- Fixed an issue with displayed ordering of marketplace items.

A couple months ago I became very bored with Everquest II – my desire was like a light bulb that just burned out. I found myself bored of all the questing to level up. Honestly, it reminded me a lot of how WoW does it…go kill 10 of creature x and come back. Then go kill another 10…it drained me.

I occupied my free time with some Starcraft – I became half-way decent. I was really enjoying my time away from MMOs; I think the break was exactly what I needed.

Eventually the MMO bug got me again. To change things up, this time I decide to reactivate EQ1…there is just something about that game that keeps bringing me back in. I think it is some combination of it being my first MMO, the hardest one I have played, and good game play. Despite how much I like EQ, Rawrzor didn’t feel quite the same way. It took some convincing for him to reactivate – I had to level a Druid to 70 for him. All of the EQjunkies kick in and we got him a 70 Druid, Lulz, in a week’s time.

We spent a month or so exploring SoF and some of the other zones we missed while we were gone. I then started to do the SoD progression stuff, which is coming a long…but taking some time.

I also got the linux bug again…I installed Ubuntu 9.04 and began to play EQ in Linux (using wine). It was really easy to setup, the wine HQ page for EQ gave me all the info I needed. I also moved away from Ventrilo and started to use mumble because it works across all platforms…something that Ventrilo can’t claim. The sound quality is good and also the push to talk actually works in linux. The only disadvantage linux has to windows is that 4 boxing on an old P4 isn’t as smooth in Linux, but that should be expected…EQ wasn’t developed for Linux.

This morning I finally got EQ2 working in Ubuntu under both wine and crossover games.  I haven’t had a chance to see if the voice chat works correctly since none of the other junkies were online.

I will post a comprehensive guide once I get the voice chat working!

I just wanted to remind everyone that we do have forums at EQjunkies – we just rarely use them.

Feel free to stop by the forums and see what is going on.

It seems like a lot of people like the previous post about EQ3 and what I would like to see out of it.  (It even got mentioned on the EQ2 site!)

That being said, I apologize for the lack of consistent posting.  I had been busy with my graduate courses late last semester and then was traveling over break.

I should be back in the EQ2 posting groove now…

The major thing that I am working on now is a comprehensive guide to getting Everquest Two working in Linux.  I have seen several posts on Cedega’s website, the EQ2 players website, Crossover games support site, and also on the wineHQ site.  I plan to merge all of the different tips and make one walk through that will get you up and running.

I gave crossover and wine a shot the past couple of days, and of course nothing worked immediately – what else can you expect?  Hopefully over the next week or so I will have things working stablely and be able to help others get things working…I will keep you posted.

To give you an idea of my rig:

P4 3.0

1.5 GB RAM

7800GT video card

USB Logitech Headset

—

I plan on writing the guide for Ubuntu Linux since that seems to be the most popular for the user base.  I will explore getting EQ2 to run consistently as well as getting voice chat to work well.

I will keep you posted – keep checking back for updates!

As I mentioned before, Landuran and I returned to Everquest Two over the summer.  In theory, so did Myclawz and Greldor, but we haven’t seen them online…at all.  Anyways, over the past few months I have found myself wishing that Everquest Two was more popular than it is. The reality is that a success of an MMO is determined by its launch (and maybe the following month).

Everquest Two had a horrible launch.  On top of that – the game was horrible.  Sony spent so much time making sure that the trade skill system wasn’t trivial that they made it so complex it wasn’t even fun.  The graphics were out of this world.  The combat was ok, but it was lacking that EQ1 feeling we were all looking for.

Everquest Two, as it exists today is a completely different game than it was at launch.  They completely redid the trade skill system to make it a little less painful, added guild housing, improved the solo and small group quests.  Also, they actually go out of their way to have events and seasonal things in the game, which makes it fun.  The graphics continue to improve as systems become more and more powerful. They even have in game voice chat that works (unlike WoW – which is horrible)  …I haven’t seen any of the raid content yet, so I can’t comment on that.

The problem is no one wants to buy a game that is 5 years old and start playing it (unless you are an EQjunkie, of course).  I understand that – I don’t blame you.  This brings me to the point of this entire post – what about Everquest Three?

With all of the lessons learned from making Everquest One and EQ2 image what they could do with Everquest Three.  I realize Verant actually made Everquest One, but Sony supported it long enough that they know the ropes.

Here is what I propose for EQ3:

OS independence:

With consoles basically acting as computers today I don’t think it is unreasonable to support EQ3 on the Playstation 3, OSX, Windows, and Linux.  In reality, the first three I think could happen, but for whatever reason no one likes to develop games for Linux (Thankfully, there is Wine).  With OS independence Sony would have a larger pool of people to buy their game – that is never a bad thing.

Graphics:

Keep the Everquest Two style.  I really like the realism that comes with the graphics.  I also like how the graphics evolve as hardware becomes better and better.  I hate how cartoon like WoW is.

Basic Classes:

Steal this from Everquest One and WoW.  The more classes and specialization you add into the game the more complex balancing, gearing, raiding…everything becomes.  Go back to the original classes in Everquest One and try to revamp them.  Make things more simple and straightforward.

Solo and Group Content:

Continue upon what Everquest Two is doing.  Create solo and duo versions of the group dungeons so casual players will have a chance to experience most of the world.

Scale the loot and difficulty of dungeons dynamically based on how many people are in a group.  This will make things reasonable no matter how many people are in their party, while encouraging people to group together to get better loot…this is an MMO after all.

Keep currency the same.  Everquest one had LDONs and other dungeons that used special crystals to buy things.  It was annoying that each time a new expansion came out your old currency was worth nothing.  At the very least have an exchange NPC that will let you convert one currency to another.

Raid Content:

Make things difficult.  Raiding is not for the casual player and never will be.  Raiding is about putting in lots of time to develop a strategy and coordinate with many other people to defeat an epic monster.  If the fight isn’t epic, it wouldn’t be believable.

Bring back open air raid content.  Everquest One was well known for having dragons in the middle of a low level zone.  This was really cool for a couple of reasons:

1. It brought us back to low level zones we haven’t seen in awhile.

2. It gave everyone a sense of community – the low level players needed us to kill the dragon to make the zone playable.

Quests:

Make quests change.  Nothing makes an MMO more boring than following a guide from Alla or EQ2i.  Imagine if quests were dynamically created and there was no guide.  This is the most complex of all of the proposals, but it is still manageable.  At the very least have a few thousand versions of a quest that are randomly assigned.

Zones:

Create a set of zones for each tier of players 1-10,10-20, etc.  Once you have a set of zones stop.  When you release expansions only release content for higher level players.  Everyone will get a chance to work through the low level stuff if they keep plugging.  By limiting what they can do you push more people towards the level cap which will make finding a group easier on everyone.

Trade skills:

I like the harvesting on Everquest Two.  I would definitely keep that.  I would add a request system into the game so players could create their own writ and place it on the auction house.  Anyone with the right trade skill could fill the writ to earn coin and experience.  I think this would relieve some of the repetitiveness of trades skilling as it exists today.

Events:

Have events going on in game as much as possible.  Best of the Best tournaments, Seasonal quests, anything.  Events are the polish that makes a good MMO great.

Difficulty:

Raids should be hard.  They should make you want to pull your hair out.  They should require lots of communication and dedication.

The solo and group content should be manageable.  Things should be challenging (so it doesn’t get to boring), but not insanely hard.

What suggestions do you have for Everquest Three?

My girlfriend sent me an email a few days ago that was amazing.  I won’t bore you any more with the intro, here is the email:

WORLD OF WARCRAFT

VS.

MY GIRLFRIEND.

BY TYLER CURRY

- – - -

I’ve had a lot of time to think about our last conversation, particularly since you ended it by ramming a keyboard through my monitor. I understand that we were both upset at the time and perhaps we said some things we didn’t mean. Well, maybe you more than me, considering I mostly just listened to you shriek and cowered in the corner.

I do not think I am, as you so eloquently screamed, “addicted to World of Warcraft.” I have, however, made a number of unfortunate mistakes, for which I would like to apologize.

I’m sorry I was so late picking you up from the library. I didn’t know they locked the doors at 8, and I’m sorry you had to stand outside alone for two hours. If it makes you feel better, despite its reputation to the contrary, that portion of the city does not have a violent-crime rate significantly above the national average.

You have to consider the position I was in. I was healing for a party with five players in it, all of whom were counting on me to help them defeat Mekgineer Thermaplugg and liberate the Gnomish city of Gnomeregan. Those are the needs of five people, in contrast to just yours, alone. (Note that I’m not even counting the needs of the Gnomish people here, Ashley.) As Spock once famously said, “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. Or the one.” You were that one.

Had I looked outside and noticed the freezing rain, I may have made a different decision. Probably not, though.

I’m also sorry I posted those pictures of you on my guild forums, the ones I took when you were passed out. I had no idea they could Photoshop your bra off. That was poor judgment on my part, and I freely admit it. I also should have told you before the chain letter went out. On the bright side, you hated working there anyway.

I also have some things to say that I think you should hear, and, since you forgot to pause long enough for me to speak before your charming little bout of property damage and subsequent stormy departure, I would like to say them now.

Ashley, you have never been willing to accommodate my World of Warcraft needs, or even to compromise the slightest bit.

Last month, when your mother was in a car accident, you called and not only demanded I drive you to the hospital but insisted I stay there to provide “emotional support”—despite knowing full well that I had booked that evening off to fight forest trolls in Zul’Aman. When I suggested you take a cab and that I join you in three to four hours, you unleashed a string of expletives that even my therapist found disturbing. You also refused to wait until we finished off the eagle boss, the one who drops the helm piece I have been trying to get for months.

For the record, she turned out fine anyway. Many paraplegics lead rich and rewarding lives.

Also, what you stumbled upon me doing with that Level 64 blood elf in the back room of the Silvermoon City Inn was neither “sick and perverted” nor “cheating on you.” We were role-playing. That I called you by her character’s name later that evening was just a weird coincidence. I do not wish your body looked like that. You and I both know that it’s physically impossible for humans to have those proportions, at least while retaining all of their internal organs.

However, in the midst of your raging diatribe, sandwiched between the curses and the flailing limbs, you made some very good points. In fact, the words you spoke about commitment, loyalty, and “being there when someone needs you” have sort of inspired me.

Ashley, when I gave you that ring and pledged to spend my life with you, what I didn’t mention was that, eight months prior, in the Level 10 quest “For the Horde,” I had already pledged eternal fealty and service to Warchief Thrall.

Now, with the gates of Ahn’Qiraj opening and the threat of the Silithid invasion looming over Azeroth, the call has gone out for all able-bodied members of the horde to band together in the great war effort. An event like this only happens once in a server’s life, and I cannot honorably abandon my online brethren in this hour of need. I understand that you need me to be there for you, but, Ashley, the truth is, right now, the horde just needs me more.