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"To those of you worrying that we're going to make changes to the PvE game in the name of this new form of combat, you can rest easy. None are necessary.

How can that be? Well, I can't give you all the details yet, except to say again that this kind of PvP is quite distinct from the PvE game.

There is more to be said, of course, that I must leave to your speculation for now. You'll have to wait for E3 to find out more details. :)"

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Quote Cao :

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"In an expanded experiment, we've enabled the downtiering of mobs on the Unrest server in the following zones: Antonica, Commonlands, Thundering Steppes and Nektulos Forest. This change will affect a portion of the creatures in each zone by lowering the challenge they present. Loot and xp for these creatures will also be modified to adjust for the new difficulty level.

This is a temporary change.

If you are on the Unrest server and you've had a chance to try out these changes, please post your feedback here."

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"In an upcoming update, Peerless Predator will turn you into either a male or female lion depending on your character's gender."

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"Everquest 2 fans just got a taste of the first "Adventure Pack," an add-on package that provides new game content for a minimal fee. When SOE announced the concept of the Adventure Pack, a lot of people threw up their arms and complained. Some folks complained on the basis of simply not wanting to pay for extra content. They felt like other MMOGs provided similar additional content for free. Other folks complained because they felt like SOE was "nickle-and-diming" them to death.

The complaints are valid, of course. I�m not going to dispute that. But after seeing The Ring 2 it really put things in perspective for me...."

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*** Encounters ***

- Many named and epic encounters were not receiving the proper bonuses to their stats, health, power, or damage output. This oversight has been corrected, which means certain raid targets will now present a greater challenge.

*** Zones and Population ***

- The entrance to the Rumbler Caves is no longer floating above the ground in the Thundering Steppes.

*** Quests ***

- Deputy Stoutgut will no longer brush off those who are trying to complete "I Hate Old Plans."
- The text of Landwyn's quests is now a bit easier to understand.
- Attack of the Killer Bear should now provide its reward when the quest is completed.
- There is no longer a level requirement for beginning a language quest.....

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Quote Moorgard:

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"I can't go into features of the expansion just yet, but I want to stress that this is *not* open PvP. The kind of PvP where you run across Commonlands and gank somebody isn't on our development radar at this time.

This will be a totally voluntary, totally consensual form of PvP competition that introduces a new type of combat to the game. I can't say more just yet, but I want to be clear that this isn't about PvP servers or full-on PvP in the way some people have been used to. This will be a new addition to the game, not a conversion of existing content."

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"A couple of notes on how this fix will affect you:

1. If you already have the quest and are stumped, when you examine the broken shield in your inventory, you'll be prompted to review whether you should keep the old quest information in your journal or delete it. You are NOT required to delete the old quest because the reward will be different from the new quest. If you want to have both the old (requiring rhodium) and the new (needs other stuff instead) you may do so.


2. As you can complete either quest, the original broken shield will not pooft from your inventory; you'll need to manually select and destroy it once you've completed your quest(s).


3. Why didn't I just adjust the old quest so that there wouldn't need to be a second parallel quest? If I'd done so, you'd be reset entirely and have to start over. Granted, if you are aiming to get the shield repaired, you will need to accept the new quest and will essentially be starting over but at least you will be able to complete the old quest and receive a different compensation. Essentially, 2 quests from one item. If you're not interested in repairing the shield for whatever reason, you don't need to take on the new quest and can complete the old one at your leisure. With rhodium...."

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Read More...

-- Sassee @ Thu 07 Apr 2005


Moorgard Talks Scout Balancing
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Moorgard made a lengthy post about Scout balancing you may be interested in checking out.

Quote Moorgard:

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"Scout classes aren't being ignored. The fact that we haven't made a lot of specific changes to them yet, other than lots of bug fixes, does not mean we never intend to do anything about them. But we can't address every single class at the same time, so there has to be some that are looked at first and some that are examined later. Generally speaking, there were other classes more direly in need of attention than scouts have been, but scouts will have their time under the magnifying glass soon.

Some people want to take my quotes and fashion them into absolutes, when in fact most of my statements are intentionally free of such pitfalls. It's not because I want to string players along or avoid issues, but because of the fact that this is a game that will change. If I were to say that ClassX will always do more damage than ClassY, then for the rest of time people would be clinging to that post as a legal binding contract. MMOs don't work that way. All I can tell you is what we intend for the near future, and everything--EVERYTHING--is subject to change...."

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Read More...

-- Sassee @ Thu 07 Apr 2005


Epic Mob Fix Incoming: Tommorow
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Moorgard posted the following message about epic mobs:

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"We have fixed a bug that was introduced with Live Update #5 which prevented certain bosses and epic mobs from receiving their correct stats, health, power, and melee damage output. A fix is going out in the morning to make these boss fights offer the level of challenge we intended them to provide.

This won't change the special attacks they do, such as AoE breath weapons. It will give certain encounters a larger power pool, for example, or greater autoattack damage.

Just providing a heads up."

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"John Smedley�s Letter to the Community: April 7th, 2005


Hello Everyone,

First off, I'd like to say thanks for all of the wonderful ideas we received from you after my last posting. Having this ongoing dialogue is something SOE is committed to in a major way, and it's one of the biggest things you all asked for. So you'll see an increase in our public presence, not just on our boards, but on a lot of the fansites, as well. And we've created a new position within our ranks, the Director of Community Relations, specifically to prioritize you, the community, within our service offerings. Alan Crosby, previously EQ Community Relations Manager, will be stepping into this role, and all of SOE's community managers and representatives will report to him, while still maintaining close ties to the game teams, of course. Under this new structure, we will become even more responsive, even more dedicated to customer focus!

I'd like to give you a general update on our games this posting:

Since my last post , we launched our first Adventure Pack for EverQuest II � "The Bloodline Chronicles" � and over half our player base is already playing it! We are committed to releasing new content between Expansion Packs that goes beyond our live updates, and so we'll continue to release these Adventure Packs on a regular basis -- a first for our industry...."

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Read More...

-- Sassee @ Thu 07 Apr 2005


Update Notes: 4/7
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There is a patch today to deal with a few issues associated with Live Update #6 which took place yesterday.

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*** Offline Selling ***

- Items inside containers flagged for sale in a character's house vault will now remain on the market when the seller logs off.

*** Gameplay ***

- Due to a protest filed by Sgt. Quackers, potions that turn players into ducks are no longer available.

*** Quests ***

- The drop rate for language quest items has been increased significantly. In addition, the items can now be sold to NPC vendors.
- The journal text for "Hyena Jerky" was clarified....

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"The Plague Infects Norrath

Players of Sony Online�s EverQuest II are experiencing a nasty case of the plague today after the release of our 6th update to the game since our November launch. While the plague is highly contagious with a visible affect, it is not believed to be life threatening. The source of this disease is unknown and only the joint efforts of adventurers and artisans will be able to cure the people of Norrath. Unlicensed salesmen are expected to offer �remedies� but players are advised to be wary of both their prices and the effects. A universal cure needs to be found!

Other exciting updates in Norrath include:

• Characters can sell items from their house vaults while away or even offline through brokers and fences.


• Mailboxes are now in all city zones for in-game mail.


• New quest paths are available for solo players and groups in outdoor zones.


• The benefits of food and drink will no longer disappear when your character dies.


• Group members in the same zone as your character will now show up on your zone map.


• Crafting is even more rewarding with new tradeskill reaction bonuses.


• Crafted food now gives handy stat buffs.

Over 700 Exploiters? No Thanks.

Sony Online has continued efforts since launch to keep the EverQuest II game world free of players who use exploits to gain an unfair advantage, especially with bots and macros. Over 700 accounts were banned for various forms of cheating and exploiting during the past 2 weeks alone. It is our goal to continue investigations into suspicious in-game activity and ban accounts with violations.

"We'd like to thank our EverQuest II customers for all of their reports in rounding up these crews, and helping us show them they're not welcome in Norrath," said EverQuest II Senior Producer Scott Hartsman. "A few hundred 'bot subscriptions just aren't worth the money when compared to keeping the game fun for hundreds of thousands of people."

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"Currently items located in bags stored in your house vault will not stay on the market when the seller logs off. They will remain for sale if the seller is outside his or her home, until the point of logging out.

This issue will be addressed in a fix scheduled for tomorrow morning, at which point the offline component will work as stated in the update notes. We apologize for the inconvenience."

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"The Steamfont server will be undergoing maintenance this morning while the servers are down for Live Update #6, and as a result will be down for slightly longer than the other servers. We expect Steamfont to come back up around 10:30am PDT."

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*** Headlines ***

- Sell your merchandise when your character is outside your home or offline!
- New quest paths available for adventurers in many outdoor zones!
- Crafting even more rewarding with new tradeskill reaction bonuses!
- Zone maps now show where other members of your group are located!
- Crafted food now gives handy stat buffs!
- Many instanced adventure areas are now even more accessible!
- Now you can raise your harvesting skills twice as fast!
- Potions now give you longer-lasting benefits!
- Lots of new UI improvements and customization options!
- Hundreds of spell/combat art fixes and updates!
- Breaking news: A terrible plague infects Norrath!

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