The EQ game update has been postponed until next week.

September 04, 2009 - Game Downtime Next Week

I yoinked this from the EQ2 forums, since it is already posted over there.

SOE Games (EQ, EQII, Freerealms, Planetside, Pox Nora, EQOA) will be down for an estimated 12 hours this coming Wednesday.

There will be maintenance on the Session databases across all games on Wednesday September 9, 2009. It will begin at 12AM PDT and is estimated to last until 12PM PDT. All game worlds will be unavailable for the estimated 12 hour maintenance, as well as the Station Store and all commerce avenues. This may affect the performance of the forums and any or all accounts’ abilities to log in.

July 17, 2009 - Brief Site Outage Expected

Racknine is performing server upgrades this weekend and has informed us that they expect a quick 30-minute downtime this evening for our sites, sometime between 10 and 12 p.m. (PDT/MST)

June 27, 2009 - Hello from Fan Faire!

Halfling greetings from the SOE Fan Faire in Las Vegas! {waves a furry foot} I will not be presenting any in-depth report until after we are safely home again, but I wanted to drop a quick note with the news from the community address last night by John Smedley and others.

The next expansion for EQ will be Underfoot, which is the realm of Brell (Further details will not be released until panels later today). In addition, Fan Faire attendees are getting an exclusive first look at the newest server to be released - a 51/50 server. Players on this server start at level 51 with 50 AA and some pretty sweet gear.

I will put up further details in a couple days. (Attendees are more than welcome to post more information on the forums whenever, I just know I am going to need a bit of time -- and sleep -- to get things organized before I put anything more up!) For now, it is time to crawl into the rest of my costume, package up more of my Trail Mix and go down to the con!

April 29, 2009 - Free Realms Launches!

With a twirl and a quick change that would make Wonder Woman green with envy, a sweatsuit-clad adventurer changes jobs and is clad in a cooking apron and fast food hat as they whip up some tasty stir fry. Another quick twirl-n-change, and they're ready to rumble in a brawler outfit. Another twirl, and the suspender-wearing hero or heroine is ready to use their trusty mining pick on the nearest node of silver.

April 07, 2009 - Patch Day

The patch notes today contained the following bits of note to tradeskillers:

• A series of Rogue-only quests are now being offered by the Rogue Guilds of Norrath. Seek out the Poison Masters in your starting city for more information.
• Created a method for converting the original roboboar to the shiny roboboar and vice versa. The polishing and rusting devices can be found on the Geerlok Clockwork Merchant in Crescent Reach.
• The Brell's Party Plans book gives a bit more information about how to make the woven basket.
• Wood strips recipe will now return the planing tool on success and failure. Additionally wood strips will now stack to 20, allowing the recipe to give you 4.
• Make poison has new recipes and items. You will find the instructions on new vendors, some hidden, some in plain sight.

March 17, 2009 - 2009 Fan Faire Announced!

Fan Faire once again returns to Las Vegas, June 25-28. Niami and Ngreth plan to be there, and hope to see some of you there! Further details can be found on the SOE Fan Faire page.

December 23, 2008 - Tradeskill Patch Notes

The patch today included several things, including the following of tradeskill note:

• The Master Artisan Satchel should no longer display haste effect information when a haste item is placed inside it.
• Made more tradeskill-created spells tradable on Firiona Vie.
• Swapped the Earthen Embrace and Serpent Vines spells back to their proper items.

December 09, 2008 - Frostfell and Patch Notes

Wheee! It is that time of year again and Frostfell activities have begun throughout Norrath! Visit your favorite major city in Norrath and/or Plane of Knowledge to see how you can help make the holidays merry and memorable! (Frostfell will run from Dec. 9 through January 8.)

In addition to lots of other things going on in the patch today, the following tradeskill notes were included:

- "Fine" Inured one handed, non-piercing weapons, and Exalted Nimble symbols had a change in their damage to fix an upgrade path issue. The damage will be very close to what it currently is, just distributed differently.
- Added Paladins and Shadow Knights to the "Fine" maces made via tradeskills.
- All "fine" elegant and stalwart weapons, along with their corresponding sublime and venerable symbols, received an upgrade in overall damage.
- All spells and tomes that are tradable on regular servers should now be tradable on the Firiona Vie server.
- Altered the recipes for Wishka's Favor Rk. II and Tome of Aura of Draconic Runes Rk. II.
- Baublie Diggs, outside of West Freeport, now will give a quest to any researcher, no matter their class.
- Changed Faceted Blue Diamond to Mounted Blue Diamond in the recipe for Fizzlesprocket's Forceful Discharging Apparatus.
- Chronal Resonance Dust has become more common.
- Created a new instruction book for research that can be found on some research vendors.
- Immaculate Silk is now tradable on Firiona Vie.
- Made appropriate changes to the following research recipes: Spell: Aura of the Grove, Tome of Crippling Strike, Spell: Summon Aenda's Trinkets, Spell: Summon Plate of the Elements, Spell: Summon Elemental Armaments, Spell: Nectar of Pain, Spell: Spear of Ro, Spell: Rathe's Strength, Spell: Grave Pact, Spell: Death Rune, Spell: Dark Rune, Spell: Spirit of the Stoic One Rk. II, Spell: Ancestral Bargain Rk. II, Spell: Blacktalon Bite Rk. II, Spell: Terror of Vergalid Rk. II, Spell: Venin Rk. II, Spell: Elemental Symbiosis Rk. II, Spell: Shield of the Crystalwing Rk. II, Tome of Tendon Cleave Rk. II, Spell: Silent Piety, and Pack Shrew (added prayer writing kit to shaman version)
- Modified the recipe for "Spell: Tortugone's Drowse Rk. II" to make it more properly fit the spell research system.
- Some "fine" simple weapons received an upgrade in damage.
- The Drink of Timeless Energy is now made with simmering fairy drake dust, and can also be made with any of the elemental spirit dusts (earth, air, fire, water).
- The level 69 Dragons of Norrath spells and tomes created through research are now tradable on all servers.
- The Researcher Charm can now be used by all classes.
- The slot 12 seals from Crystallos have been made to fit in the seven visible armor slots, and are no longer agnostic only.

You can find a complete copy of the patch notes in this post.

November 03, 2008 - EQTC and Political Ads

With the U.S. elections less than a day away, at least one political group has purchased multiple Google ad banners that are displaying to at least the California residents browsing our sites. Mum would like to remind folks that politics and tradeskills don't mix, and that the positions espoused in such ads may have nothing to do with EQTC's political views. As able, we are blocking any and all political ads as we find them, but such blocks take time to be filtered by Google. We apologize to any who have been offended by such ads - much like the plat selling site spam, political spam is something we have to put up with long enough to see it, grab links and try to block it. ~Mum

October 27, 2008 - EQTC is recruiting!

Applications are now closed! Thanks to everyone who applied!

--

We're looking for more database volunteers! See my message board post for details.

October 21, 2008 - Seeds of Destruction

EQ's newest expansion, Seeds of Destruction, launches today. Full patch notes will be linked in sometime later in the day. Meanwhile, here is a bit of silliness from Mum for a bit of lighthearted patch day reading: Building a Better Sausage

Update: Patch notes can now be found here

August 19, 2008 - Bits and Pieces from Fan Faire

I know I am pretty quiet over here most of the time, to make sure that I resist the urge to meddle and step on ogre toes, but the EQ side of things is definitely in my thoughts quite a bit.

I put together a quick list of tradeskill-related stuff that you can expect with the next expansion. Also, I have a couple entries in my personal blog that you may or may not be interested in. I know it isn't a huge flood of information, but it will at least give you some idea of what is coming in a couple of months.

Edit: I just received email that states that the EQ Seeds of Destruction expansion is beginning open beta today! Check out this article on EQ Players for further details.

August 07, 2008 - Fan Faire Prep Guide!

Are you headed to the SOE Fan Faire next weekend? Mum has put together a few helpful hints that might make the trip, and the Faire, a bit more enjoyable.

I hope to see some of you there!

July 23, 2008 - SOE Block Party!

Are you going to be at Comic-Con in San Diego this weekend and/or do you live in the San Diego area? If so, don't forget to check out SOE's 3rd Annual Block Party, with special guest, comic book artist Jim Lee. I hope to see some of you there!

April 17, 2008 - Fan Faire 2008 Date Announced

The date and location for the 2008 Fan Faire have been announced. Mark your calendars for August 14-17 at the Las Vegas Hilton. Those of you wishing to get rooms on-site should do so immediately, as they tend to sell out quickly, (Of course, there are plenty of other lodgings in the area, but the reserved block of rooms at the Hilton is likely to go quickly.) We hope to see some of you there!

April 17, 2008 - Patch Day!

*** Highlights ***

• The 10th Veteran Reward, Summon Resupply Agent, is now available!
• Alternate Advancement experience has been accelerated significantly for those with fewer AAs spent and will scale back down to the normal rate as more AAs are earned.
• Many keyed zones from the Ruins of Kunark, Scars of Velious, Shadows of Luclin, Planes of Power, Gates of Discord, Omens of War, Depths of Darkhollow, and Prophecy of Ro have had their key/flag requirements modified. All players that have obtained the key/flag will still be allowed entry into the zones, as will players that have met minimum level requirements for the zones. The zones and minimum level requirements are as follows:

• Required Level 46 -
  • The Howling Stones
  • Old Sebilis
  • Skyshrine to Cobalt Scar
• Required Level 55 -
  • Sleeper's Tomb
  • Veeshan's Peak
  • Vex Thal
  • Locked areas of the Temple of Ssraeshza
• Required level 57 -
  • Bastion of Thunder
  • Halls of Honor
  • The Temple of Marr
  • Tower of Solusek Ro
  • Drunder, The Fortress of Zek
• Required Level 60 -
  • Plane of Water
  • Plane of Air
  • Plane of Fire
  • Plane of Earth
  • Ikkinz
  • Uqua
  • Yxtta
  • Kodtaz
• Required Level 62 -
  • Plane of Time
  • Inktuta
  • Qvic
• Required Level 65 -
  • Txevu
  • Tacvi
• Required Level 68 -
  • Anguish
• Required Level 70 -
  • Dreadspire
  • Demiplane of Blood
• Required Level 72 -
  • Theater of Blood
  • Deathknell

• The Season of the Fabled has come to an end. The Fabled NPCs have packed up their camps and are riding off into the sunset for another year.

*** Items ***

• Added new spell drops to Meldrath's Majestic Mansion.
• Increased the drop rate slightly for some spells in Crystallos.
• Added recommended and required levels to some trade skill drops to help clarify their use. This does not change their actual use as trade skill containers do not pay attention to the recommended and required levels of items put in them.
• Added a set of new vendors that sell many of the spell research components. The cost of these have been adjusted so that they sell to an NPC closer to the price it cost to make them, but merchants will sell them at a premium. This means that you can save money while gaining skill. Also when you make spell combines you can choose between saving money, or saving time. You save money by making the sub-combines yourself, you save time by buying them.
• Chromatic focus is now available for slot 12 augments for Cultural armor.
• The engineer steamworks that work within the guardian have developed devices that help them move within the beast. Fortunately for adventurers they can be a bit absent minded about them and adventurers can find them lying about.
• A vial of raging heartblood is not as vile as it was previously.

*** Quests & Events ***

• Rylin Coil will now show and give all three tinkering mastery books for the tinkering mastery quest.

*** Spells ***

• The Shadowknight spells Touch of Kildrukaun and Touch of Severan that were linked together to share the reuse timer with a previous Game Update have been unlinked.
• Secrets of Faydwer's Talisman of the Puma has been renamed to Talisman of the Cougar.
• Cast time on Quellious' Word of Tranquility has been reduced from 4 to 2 seconds.
• The Adrenal Boost focus effect has been changed to Life Line, which is a mana cost reduction on Pure Life.
• The Closefisted Claw focus effect has been changed to Ethereal Breath, which is a damage increase on Ethereal Conflagration.
• Breastplate worn effects that enhanced one rank of a spell or discipline now enhance all three ranks.
• Reuse time reduction bonus on Assassin's Efficacy, Impenetrable Body, and Fit of Berserking Rage have been set to 25%.
• The Rage of Tri'Qaras effect triggered from Bulwark of Tri'Qaras is now a damage bonus that stacks with other effects.
• The recourse from the Challenge for Honor line will now appear in the bard buff box.
• The Vinelash Ensnare effect triggered from Vinelash Cascade will no longer overwrite the highest version of Entrap.
• The efficiency of Secrets of Faydwer direct damage spells now scales up on higher ranks of the same spell.
• Improved Block and Improved Parry have been merged. Any item that previously had Improved Block or Improved Parry will now have Improved Parry / Block.

*** NPC ***

• Halima in Crescent Reach can now be found in the find window.
• Henrik O'Danos no longer sells Hypericum twice.
• Ralfin in Bloodmoon keep will now cast his heal spell less frequently.

*** AA ***

• Added Rangers to the Critical Affliction line of AAs.
• Increased the range of the Wrath of the Wild AA line to match other Damage Shield spells that Druids have.
• Increased the hitpoints and resists of all "Wards" for all classes to make them better able to resist ambient damage.

*** UI ***

• The tracking window can now be sorted alphabetically and reverse-alphabetically. Also, there is now a check box to set whether you want the tracking window to auto-update every six seconds.
• Our UI xml schema has changed. If you are using a custom UI you may need to update this file in your custom UI directory.

Changed

SIDL.xml
EQUI_FindLocationWnd
EQUI_TrackingWnd.xml

*** Miscellaneous ***

• Situation where double length timer was given on events has been fixed. This occurred specifically to people who dropped out of the expedition and hadn't been kicked out of the zone yet.
• Changes have been made to the way the client is notified about other entities (players, NPCs, etc.) in the zone.
• Changed NPC summon behavior to summon the player right in front of their current heading at 1/2 their melee range. Calculations used to determine when the NPC should summon have been made a bit more accurate.
• Iksar and Wood Elves should be able to increase their forage skill caps after purchasing the forage AA.
• Corrected a problem with hate generation from skill attack abilities such as Hail of Arrows and Decimator's Volley. They were generating considerably more hate than they should and have been returned to their previous, lower hate generation.
• Zone-wide /who commands now use a similar code path to server wide /who all commands. Note that this will impose a similar time limit to how often it can be used.
• The bobbing effect of levitation has been removed. A new effect that pushes you off the ground about a foot and a half has been introduced.
• Fixed an issue with the "Public if Usable" permission in the guild bank.
• Fixed an issue that could place levitated players below the world when entering certain zones.
• Fixed an issue that would cause levitate to fail if a player's mount was hit by a spell (usually an aura).
• Stacks of two items in the guild bank can now be split.

*** Previously Updated ***

• Fixed an issue with the reset of the Kildrukaun event in Crystallos.
• Lockout timers linked on many similar long-reuse spells of the same line.

The EverQuest Team

April 11, 2008 - Email from EQTC

By now, many of you who have registered for our forums have found email originating from the EQTC forums board admin.

We did not send it, nor do we ever plan on sending out mass mailings to our community.

Feel free to toss said email, wave to all the old-timers who have stopped in to confirm that they got it, too, and continue on with your weekend plans.

March 27, 2008 - Nine Years!

Has it really been that long? This month celebrates the 9-year anniversary of both EverQuest and this site. In celebration of this milestone, EQTC has some 30-day Game Card keys to give away.

Anyone who submits valid additions or corrections to site content, and/or contributes a tradeskill guide between March 1 and April 10 will be included in a random drawing for these cards. The winning contributors will be notified via private message on these forums on April 12.

(Yes, I'm perfectly aware that I'm announcing this several weeks after the start date. However, I not only want to reward fresh contributors, but I also want those who have recently contributed without thought of reward to have a chance at these cards.)

By "Valid" information, I mean that folks who simply re-post information already on the site, or that is already posted in either of the Database Updates forum will not be considered eligible. We're looking for real contributions of information here, not just keen copy/paste skills!

March 06, 2008 - Downtime Next Wednesday

Here is early advanced warning about downtime for all SOE products (games, forums, etc. next Wednesday:

Beginning at 1am PDT/8am GMT on Wednesday, March 12th all SOE services including game servers, forums, game websites, and subscription services will be unavailable due to system maintenance. We expect this maintenance to take approximately 4 hours.

We apologize for this interruption and will resume all affected services as soon as the maintenance is completed.

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