April 20, 2016
_____________________

*** Highlights ***

– Hot Zones now randomly rotate between three possible zones for each level range and are currently set to rotate every 3 months.  Talk to Franklin Teek in the Plane of Knowledge to find your Hot Zone and earn bonus loot and experience!

*** Items ***

– Changed the parcel system so that when sending items with LORE augmentations they are checked on the recipient to ensure they don’t already have the augmentation. The item and its attached augmentation will be parceled back to the sender in these situations.
– Vander’s Bane can now summon imps at full power every four seconds. Any imps summoned within the next four seconds will be lower level and smaller.
– All visual ornaments will now change the icon of the item they modify into the icon of the ornament.
– It’s now possible to complete the achievement for wearing a set of the Golden Hero Hero’s Forge ornaments, regardless of how the character acquired that set.

*** Quests & Events ***

– Ancient Heroes – Lady Vox – Corrected a bug that prevented the task from updating when opening Lady Vox’s Hoard.
– Made the medallion pieces used for entry into Veeshan’s Peak ‘no destroy’. The Priest of Discord, however, will still accept these items if you want to be rid of them.
– Wither and Decay and Anashti Sul, Damsel of Decay (Raid and Group) – Bimbly Ironstein can help you to [leave] the instance and return to the static version of Sul Vius: Demiplane of Decay.
– Wither and Decay and Anashti Sul, Damsel of Decay (Raid and Group) – All chat messages for these events will now use the Event Messages color and filter.
– Anashti Sul, Damsel of Decay (Raid and Group) – Gift of Endless Life and Gift of Living Death now block Gifts of Anashti Sul. This should prevent being struck by the damage component of Gift of Living Death multiple times within the same volley.
– Anashti Sul, Damsel of Decay (Raid) – Being inside the area of effect of a Tendrils of Pestilence aura will now change the screen color to indicate the imminent danger. Make sure to enable post effects if you wish to see this visual warning.
– Anashti Sul, Damsel of Decay (Raid) – The Tendrils of Pestilence hazards will despawn after a few minutes.
– Anashti Sul, Damsel of Decay (Raid) – *Entering* the Tendrils of Pestilence aura will no longer result in damage, though standing in one still will. This should prevent being struck by the Tendrils of Pestilence multiple times within the same second.
– Anashti Sul, Lady of Life (Raid) – Curse of Health will now block the effects of most healing spells triggered by passive AA abilities. This applies to: Recourse of Life, Healing Light, Cascading Theft of Life, Tunare’s Grace, and Vehement Recompense.
– Wither and Decay (Raid) – The titular bosses, Wither and Decay, have had their health lowered by 10%.

*** Spells ***

– Added special messaging so that spells which fail due to a caster or target requirement check will now tell you why in most cases.
– Enchanter – The Mind Shatter line of DoTs has been increased in power and efficiency. Levels 80 and above now return mana via resource tap rather than a separate buff.
– Enchanter – The Strangle line of DoTs has been increased in power and efficiency. It will no longer stack with itself above level 62 when cast by the same caster.
– Enchanter – The Baffling Constriction line of DoTs has been increased in power and efficiency. It will no longer stack with itself when cast by the same caster.
– Cleric – Increased the damage dealt by the Sermon of the Righteous line significantly. Spells in this line will no longer stack on a single target when cast by the same caster.

*** AA ***

– Corrected an issue where spells that deal damage as a percentage of the target’s health as well as Mana Burn spells were not reporting the damage dealt to anyone but the caster.
– All fade abilities will now make the caster the last possible target of their attackers’ rampage attacks regardless of whether the caster successfully escapes from combat.
– Consolidated the purchased versions of the following glyph AA abilities to be the second rank of the previous tier glyph to which they logically upgrade:
– – Glyph of the Master is now rank 2 of Glyph of Dragon Scales
– – Glyph of Lost Secrets is now rank 2 of Glyph of Arcane Secrets
– – Glyph of Genari Might is now rank 2 of Glyph of Draconic Potential
– – Glyph of the Cataclysm is now rank 2 of Glyph of Destruction
– Consolidated the 5 Dragons of Norrath progression AA abilities to a single line with 5 ranks.
– Wizard – Adjusted ranks 13-16 of Mana Burn so that the damage added to incoming spells is applied as a static amount.

*** Progression Servers ***

– Corrected an issue that was causing NPC Harm Touch to deal more damage than is intended.
– Chloroblast and Nature’s Touch are available for purchase from Rushka Deklamoor in the Commonlands tunnel and Srendon Gladetender in Greater Faydark when Velious has unlocked.
– Hybrid discipline tomes are available for purchase from Bakrav Uramis in Commonlands when Velious has unlocked.
– Pathing for Veeshan’s Peak 1.0 has been restored to its original version. This should prevent the wandering NPCs from all piling up in a bad location.
– Derakor the Vindicator is no longer visiting Skyshrine on progression servers. This guy no longer thinks he owns the place.
– The classic version of Plane of Mischief has been repopulated by many inhabitants that had previously gone missing.
– Nortlav the Scalekeeper can be found in the Hole once Velious has been unlocked. He uses the Velious version of Mitigation of the Mighty.
– Buffed bosses that use spells now have an aura that applies the Presence of the Mighty effect. Presence of the Mighty increases damage from spells. The damage increase from their spells should roughly match the increase from their melee max hit.
– All buffed bosses will regenerate less health in combat.
– Velious era buffed bosses will mitigate less incoming damage.
– The object from Skyshrine that leads to Cobalt Scar will now display a message if you attempt to use it and do not have the key.

*** Collections ***

– Moved an inaccessible collection location in Fate Rewards the Bold.

*** Miscellaneous ***

– Hot Zones now randomly rotate between three possible zones for each level range and are currently set to rotate every 3 months.  Talk to Franklin Teek in the Plane of Knowledge to find your Hot Zone and earn bonus loot and experience!
– A number of adjustments have been made to the Alcohol Tolerance skill:
– – A higher Alcohol Tolerance skill will now have a bigger impact on how intoxicating a drink will be.
– – A higher Alcohol Tolerance skill will now result in a quicker recovery from the effects of intoxicating drinks or spells.
– – Alcoholic drinks now have varying degrees of potency that can be viewed when inspecting an item.
– In the spirit of the anniversary we’ve applied a bit of polish to the merchant/banker theme music.
– Group chat, raid chat, and fellowship chat messages are now queued for display while zoning similar to tell messages and guild chat.
– Reduced the rate that NPCs hit by melee combat will emit sound.
– Adjusted the animation system so that attack animations take priority over taking damage animations.
– Improved the message displayed to group and raid leaders when a member of their party requests an instance while a member of that party already belongs to an instance.
– Corrected an issue where buffs that have an endurance upkeep cost but are not a combat ability would not fade when the caster ran out of endurance.
– Many Luclin zones will spin up new instanced versions when they are populated by enough adventurers.
– Velious zones with open raids no longer have a maximum player limitation.
– Temple of Veeshan will no longer load balance.
– Removed the embedded Legends of Norrath (LoN) client from the EverQuest client.  If you wish to continue playing LoN, please download and use the standalone client available at www.legendsofnorrath.com.
– Corrected an issue that prevented the Plane of Knowledge book in Blightfire Moors from showing up on the find list.
– Made a number of adjustments to the classic Dracoliche model to improve targeting and melee combat with these NPCs.
– Addressed an issue that was causing some parts of the Hero’s Forge Tipsy Gnomework armor sets to not properly appear.

*** UI ***

– The AA window now has a sort-able timer column.
– There is a new setting in the raid options window for the raid leader that, when checked, will automatically fill people into groups.
– You can now save over existing hot button sets, spell sets, and extended target sets by selecting them in the save menu.
– – This new menu works like load and delete.
– – The new save menu has an option ‘Add New Set’, which works as before.
– Fixed a graphical UI bug which would happen when you have multiples of the same illusion in your key ring and one is removed.
– Made room for heroic stats to show numbers greater than 999.
– Added a Collected / Not Collected status on collectible items. This will show as Not Collected if any of your achievements can be incremented or completed by collecting the item.
– The Parcels tab will now properly sort chronologically instead of alphabetically when sorting by Sent date.
– Alerts associated to events will now disappear when the event has ended.
– Cleaned up some missed references to EQ Players when support was removed for it.
– Converted the options window to have its General tab layout its elements using a vertical layout box to ease adding / removing options.
– Added an option called ‘Auto Show Rewards’ that will control whether or not the rewards window will appear when you’ve been granted a reward or when logging in with pending quest rewards. Please note that if you have pending rewards over the cap, it will still show the rewards window regardless of the setting.
– Added a ‘Clear Note’ button to the Parcels window.
– Added an option to the ‘General’ tab to control whether or not to randomize the selection of the loading screen music.  The default setting is randomized.

– Changed –

EQUI.xml
EQUI_AAWindow.xml
EQUI_Inventory.xml
EQUI_ItemDisplay.xml
EQUI_MerchantWnd.xml
EQUI_OptionsWindow.xml
EQUI_RaidOptionsWindow.xml
EQUI_TCGStartupWnd.xml
EQUI_TCGWnd.xml

*** Previously Updated ***

– Corrected Shield of the Dark Waters to function as a shield.
– Corrected the descriptions for collection items found in Crypt of Sul to properly match their achievement names.
– Enchanter – The icon for Dichotomic Reinforcement has been changed to help differentiate it from other  spell effects.
– Shadowknight – Corrected a timer conflict with Mindless Hatred and Reaver’s Bargain.
– Captain Krasnok (Raid) – Corrected an issue that would prevent you from entering Krasnok’s chambers after he is defeated.
– Captain Krasnok (Raid) – Corrected an issue where Krasnok would not reset properly after defeating unworthy raiding parties.
– We have reduced the time needed to gather the keys to Veeshan’s Peak in the following ways:
– – Reduced the respawn timer on the Top Shard of the Jarsath Medallion by half.
– – An ancient Jarsath is now about three times as likely to spawn rather than a placeholder.
– – The bloodgill marauder will respawn twice as fast.
– – Verix Kylox’s Remains is now almost twice as likely to spawn rather than a placeholder.
– – The shard of the Kylong medallion that spawns in the Kaesora library will respawn twice as fast.
– – The rotting skeleton has had its chance to spawn instead of a placeholder slightly increased.
– – The pained soul has had its chance to spawn instead of a placeholder slightly increased.
– The broadcasts for the tipsy gnome run that occur before midnight PST will now occur on the correct days.
– Corrected the issue that prevented the Agent of Change from functioning properly in /pick zones.
– Blumblum Swigwater can now be found in Cobalt Scar.
– Yelinak can now be found in Skyshrine.
– Narandi will now spawn correctly at the end of the 10th Ring War in Great Divide.

– The EverQuest Team

So Qindaar has been at this game for Seventeen years.  He has met a lot of people, enjoyed the guilds he has been in and enjoyed the world that Sony created.  Daybreak games owns the rights to EverQuest now and all its associated games.  I don’t play the others although I do have accounts with them.  Qindaar is 35% into level 105, the cap, all there is now is achievement points to get, but its the same old stuff day after day.  The game needs a fresh new idea.  I do not see how Daybreak can maintain the game much longer without breathing some new life into it, something more rewarding than kill or be killed for experience.  EverQuest and Qindaar may be coming to an end sooner than later.  Come on Daybreak, make this a lasting legacy and breath some new life into it.

Qindaar level to 105 this morning.  This is the first time in the 17 years of playing that Qindaar has managed to hit the cap.  He still needs to complete level 105, but just being there is a thrill for the time being.  Some shots are included of the final moments of the big 105…

This is my first attempt to add a video to my blog, hopefully it will work.

In the meantime Qindaar has been making good progress to level 105.  He is currently 37% through level 104 thanks to Daybreak games added XP for the 17th Anniversary.  Qindaar may make 105 by the end of the weekend.

The 17th Anniversary for EQ is upon us with many different things to accomplish over the next couple of weeks.  Today Qindaar was fortunate enough to Ding Level 104. With all the events and the extra XP being offered by Daybreak Games there is hope that Qindaar will get to 105 and the cap for the first time in his 17 years.  This is the closest he has ever gotten to the cap level.

On a different note, Daybreak released a letter discontinuing the introduction of EverQuest Next.  I know a lot of us were looking forward to a new game with better graphics and all the bells and whistles that go with it.  Sadly they dropped the ball.  I don’t know how much longer the original EverQuest will be around but there is a new and upcoming game that look promising and it has my attention.

It is called Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen https://pantheonmmo.com/ it looks promising and still in development but worth the watch.  You may see a see blog on this game here in the near future.

March 16, 2016
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*** Highlights ***

– The Mechanical Fortune Teller in the Plane of Knowledge has information for you regarding the 17th Anniversary events!
– New rewards are available on a jubilant merchant for Commemorative Coins! Look for her in the Special Celebratory Goods section of your find window in the Plane of Knowledge!

*** Items ***

– Corrected an error that allowed some items to ignore recast timers when they were placed in a key ring.
– Fixed an issue with the Dragonscale Skystrider Scales familiar that allowed more than one of these to be summoned at a time.
– Corrected the spells attached to the Fabled Ball of Golem Clay so that it stacks better and obeys the recast timer.
– Transmogrification Scroll is now named Race Change Scroll. Hero’s Forge Armor Crate is now named Hero’s Forge Suit Consolidator.
– A lore conflict has been resolved with augs inside of key ring items and the parcel system.
– The Bottles of Adventure that are offered when claiming your monthly membership bonus are now Heirloom items.

*** Quests & Events ***

– The Mechanical Fortune Teller in the Plane of Knowledge has information for you regarding the 17th Anniversary events!
– Keep an eye out for the 17th Anniversary tipsy newbie gnome race across Faydwer!
– New rewards are available on a jubilant merchant for Commemorative Coins! Look for her in the Special Celebratory Goods section of your find window in the Plane of Knowledge!
– Anashti Sul, Lady of Life (Raid) – Corrected some typos in the names of the achievements.
– Anashti Sul, Enslaver of Souls (Group & Raid) – The Dance Dance Retribution achievement can now be failed if a member of the raid is struck with Mortal Decay.
– Wither and Decay – The All Retch and No Vomit achievement will no longer be failed if a pet enters a vomit aura.
– Wither and Decay – The Third Time’s a Charm achievement can now be acquired.

*** Spells ***

– Fixed a bug with the Shadow line of no effect spells being overridden by spells with AC in the first slot.
– Beastlord – Changed Scorpion Venom, Turepta Blood, Chimera Blood, Diregriffon’s Bite, Malaria, Festering Malady, and Fever Spike to instant cast like the rest of their spell lines.
– Beastlord – Converted poison DoT lines (Scorpion Venom), disease DoT lines (Malaria), and cold DoT lines (Edoth’s Chill) to a new system. All spells will now do more damage per tick, but a single caster can no longer stack other spells in the same line on the target. This change will increase DoT damage overall while using fewer debuff slots.
– Druid – Changed the particle effects on the Frostfell Aura and Wildfire Aura lines so that they no longer make a sound when applied.
– Enchanter – Changed the particle effect on the Mana Reiteration line so that it no longer makes a sound when it is applied.
– Monk – Increased the skill damage percentage and minimum damage amount added by Eye of the Storm.
– Monk – Increased the damage amount added to attacks by Dichotomic Form.

*** NPCs ***

– The Keeper of Lost Things in Shadowrest has retired, permanently.
– Fungusmen across Norrath, celebrate by squishing your hands together! In original and Kunark zones, Fungusmen have reverted to their classic appearance.

*** Progression Servers ***

– After some historical review, we have changed the expansion at which the Temple of Cazic-Thule becomes the Accursed Temple of Cazic-Thule from Velious to Luclin.
– Removed the requirement to wake the Sleeper in order to start the countdown to open the Shadows of Luclin.
– The version of Mitigation of the Mighty on Kunark bosses will have a less severe Spell Threshold damage reduction. The version of Mitigation of the Mighty on Velious bosses will have no Spell Threshold damage reduction.
– Bosses on progression servers will now regenerate more health, especially while idle.

*** Tradeskills ***

– Tharkis’ Select Reserve Catnip will no longer consume two items from the stack when used.

*** Miscellaneous ***

– PvP is now disabled in most instances on the Zek server.
– In raids, you can now set all items to automatically be marked as free grab when using the advanced looting system.
– – This is done by setting the loot type in the raid options window to ‘Entire Raid’.
– – The other settings in this window are currently ignored when using advanced looting.
– Added the ‘Increase Windowed Gamma’ option to the advanced display options window.  This setting is off by default.
– – This setting will apply dramatically increased brightness when the client is in windowed mode with ‘Windowed Gamma’ disabled.
– – This is intended to correct the brightness of the game for desktops with relatively dark default settings.
– The music that plays between launching the game and entering the world from character select is now randomly selected and will change each time you return to character select.
– The following sound settings will now be saved on a per character basis. If a character does not yet have their settings saved they will default to the values already set by the last character that was logged in:
– – Sound Volume
– – Music Volume
– – Sound Realism
– – Combat Music Enabled
– – Environmental Sounds Enabled
– Cleaned up how all INI files are handled in the client to use a more efficient method.
– Corrected a zone crash that could occur when players were under the effects of Fear.
– Unusual precipitation isn’t just for the Plane of Fear any more. You may notice strange rain in other zones as well.
– Found and corrected many zones that had never had their experience modifiers reset from when they were Hot Zones. The following zones have had their Zone Experience Modifier lowered to match other zones in their era:  Acrylia Caverns, The Burning Woods, Crypt of Dalnir, Dragon Necropolis, Dreadspire Keep, The Great Divide, Iceclad Ocean, Mons Letalis, Nagafen’s Lair, The Overthere, Ssraeshza Temple, Stonebrunt Mountains, Valdeholm, Wall of Slaughter
– The following zones have had their Zone Experience Modifier increased to match other zones in their era:  The Temple of Cazic Thule (both versions), Chardok, Dranik’s Scar, Frontier Mountains, Grieg’s End, Kurn’s Tower, Najena, Riwwi, Coliseum of Games, The Ruins of Sebilis, Solusek’s Eye, The Estate of Unrest, Velketor’s Labyrinth

*** UI ***

– You can now opt out of the automatic master looter calculation for grouping and raiding in /advloot’s loot settings window.
– – This will not prevent you from being designated the master looter by the group or raid leader.
– – If everyone in your group or raid deselects the master looter candidate check box, the master looter will be chosen as if everyone has the candidate checked.
– When a zone repops due to a scripted event, items in the advanced loot window will now properly clear out instead of remaining until they expire.
– The color and filters tabs of the options window have been replaced with a single Chat Settings tab which can now be sorted and filtered.
– Removed support and UI for the old EQ Players service.
– The Max Results Per Trader field in the bazaar window will no longer reset itself between opening and closing the window.
– Fixed an issue causing Drakkin player characters of any heritage other than Atathus the Red to show as that heritage to other player clients.

– Changed –

EQUI_AdvancedDisplayOptionsWnd.xml
EQUI_KeyRingWnd.xml
EQUI_LootSettingsWnd.xml
EQUI_OptionsWindow.xml

*** Previously Updated ***

– Anashti Sul, Enslaver of Souls (Group & Raid) – Added messaging to the Aura of Pain mechanic. The characters struck by the auras will see a custom message and a raid-wide message will also indicate which two characters were targeted.
– Anashti Sul, Enslaver of Souls (Raid) – The event will now reset properly.
– Anashti Sul, Enslaver of Souls (Raid) – Corrected a bug that would cause Anashti Sul’s corpse to vanish on success, again, for real.
– Corrected an issue that caused some early-game raid bosses to spawn without their loot.
– Bosses in Phinigel instances have regained their Mitigation of the Mighty buff.

– The EverQuest Team

Happy Anniversary EverQuest.  I cannot believe I have been playing for so long.

-Qindaar