The FIRST thing you should do is change your password on your Station account, of course ... then go forth and have fun!

SAN DIEGO, May 14, 2011 - Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE) announced today that restoration of its game services will begin today. The phased restoration will include the return of nearly all of SOE's portfolio of online games, the reinstatement of SOE's game forums and websites, and added functionality to require players to reset their passwords.

As the result of a criminal cyber-attack on the company's network, SOE shut down its game services in order for the company to undertake an investigation and incorporate rigorous enhancements to the overall security of the network infrastructure. SOE worked with several outside respected security firms during the course of implementing significant security measures that strengthen safeguards against unauthorized activity and provide customers with greater protection of their personal information.

SOE made enhancements to overall data security as well, including updating and adding advanced security technologies, additional software monitoring, performing new penetration and vulnerability testing, and increased levels of encryption.

"Our main priority is the safety and security of our customers' personal information," said Kazuo Hirai, Executive Deputy President, Sony Corporation. "We are making consumer data protection a full-time, company-wide commitment, and have applied enhanced security technologies so that our customers can feel protected and confident about playing our games."

Hirai added, "We are committed to delivering secure and entertaining games for players of all ages and thank each of our players for their patience and support during this difficult time."

SOE will also be offering its customers a "Welcome Back" program that includes special game content and services to all registered Station Account holders. As part of this program, players will receive 30 days of additional game time plus one day for each day SOE's services were down. The details of this program are available at www.soe.com/securityupdate/welcomeback. For more information about the SOE network intrusion and restoration, please visit http://www.soe.com/securityupdate.

May 12, 2011 - Meatier Updates

This evening, we have a couple new updates from SOE:

Today, SOE released more information about our services and the “make good” program here: http://www.soe.com/securityupdate/recentupdates.vm

We also wanted to let you know that we just announced our complimentary Debix “AllClear ID PLUS” identity theft protection program in the United States. For more details, click here: http://www.soe.com/securityupdate/debix.vm

May 11, 2011 - May 11 Update

Hopefully we will be hearing more very soon:

All SOE games and sites are still offline as of May 11th and will not return today. Thank you again for your continued patience and support as we diligently work on these issues. More information on SOE's "Make Good" plan to come!

May 10, 2011 - May 10 Update

Today is a good day for other projects:

We thank everyone for their continued patience as work continues on SOE services. They will not be up today, May 10th, but we are working as quickly as possible to resolve this.

May 09, 2011 - Still No-Go

Posted a few minutes ago:

SOE services will remain offline today. We continue to work diligently to bring things back as quickly as possible and appreciate your continued patience.

May 06, 2011 - Friday Update

Still no ETA - hang in there!

Regrettably SOE services are still offline and will remain so the rest of the day. We are working as quickly as possible to resolve this issue and appreciate your patience.

UPDATE

We wanted to let you know that our games will not be up this weekend. We are working around the clock to get our services back up and running soon. Thank you for your continued patience and support.

May 04, 2011 - Wednesday Update

SOE has posted an update here. For those who cannot access that site from their place of employment, but can read our site, here is the announcement:

We want to thank you again for your patience as we work to get the SOE services back up and running. We received several questions and comments relating to the criminal attack to our network and would like to address some of the most common questions today. We are also going to continue to post updates to this website with new information as they become available.

We appreciate your continued patience and feedback. Thank you, Sony Online Entertainment

When will SOE's services be back online?

We have been working around the clock to restore operations as quickly as possible, and we expect to have some of our games and services up and running soon. However, we want to be very clear that we will only restore operations when we believe that the network is secure.

How is the SOE intrusion related to the PSN/Qriocity intrusion? Was this a second attack on SOE?

While the two systems are distinct and operated separately, given that they are both under the Sony umbrella, there is some degree of overlap in design. The attacks were similar in nature. This is NOT a second attack; new information has been discovered as part of our ongoing investigation into the criminal attack in April.

How is SOE planning to notify customers whose data may have been stolen?

We are sending out customer service notification emails to the email addresses we have on file for the accounts that were affected. These emails will be sent by Innovyx, our third party email distributor, and contained either 'soe.innovyx.net' or 'soe.sony.com' in the sender field.

SOE initially thought no data was extracted, what changed?

Essentially the perpetrators used sophisticated means not only to access the data, but also to cover their tracks. We committed to continue the investigation and in doing so, uncovered further information that we did not have when we initially believed the data was not stolen.

May 03, 2011 - Updates

The last word from SOE was that they are

working as hard as we can to get the servers up as soon as possible, but have no ETA at this time.

Update:

Hey folks, in response to many inquiries, we wanted to reassure you that all of your characters and items are safe and awaiting your return. We continue to work on the issues as fast as we can, but unfortunately the servers will not come up today. Thank you for your continued patience; we expect to be back up very soon.

May 02, 2011 - SOE Press Release

SOE has put out a formal press release explaining the current downtime and the security issues involved (You may also be receiving information in email from them shortly. ) You can read the full release HERE, but here is a summary of the most important pieces:

We are today advising you that the personal information you provided us in connection with your SOE account may have been stolen in a cyber-attack. Stolen information includes, to the extent you provided it to us, the following: name, address (city, state, zip, country), email address, gender, birthdate, phone number, login name and hashed password.

Customers outside the United States should be advised that we further discovered evidence that information from an outdated database from 2007 containing approximately 12,700 non-US customer credit or debit card numbers and expiration dates (but not credit card security codes) and about 10,700 direct debit records listing bank account numbers of certain customers in Germany, Austria, Netherlands and Spain may have also been obtained - we will be notifying each of those customers promptly.

Added Update:

We regret that our game servers and websites will not be online tonight (Monday, May 2, 2011.) We apologize for the inconvenience.

March 16, 2011 - Everquest's 12th Anniversary!

From EQLive

Almost 12 years ago the first truly 3d massively multiplayer online role playing game was awaiting its release to the public. To celebrate this momentous occasion, we here in EverQuest are celebrating and we want you to join us!

In Game Events – Excitement throughout Norrath!

The stern glare of the ancient Efreeti, while not an uncommon sight in the temple, still carried enough weight to strike unbridled fear into the Koada`Dal's heart. The young elf looked up toward Tazgar, trembling as he nodded, "I understand. I shall ensure their safe delivery with my life." This moment haunted the young seeker, consuming his every waking thought. He looked around the novel scenery of Sunrise Hills. It was a far cry from the Temple he had grown so accustomed to. Adventurers would come and go, passing him by without saying a word. If only a friendly adventurer could offer the seeker some assistance…

Starting on Tuesday March 16, 2011 and lasting until Tuesday April 26, 2011 we'll celebrate our 12th Anniversary in game! Not only will we have everything from our previous anniversary celebrations (including quests, fabled spawns, and raids) but this year brings all new challenges to the lands of Norrath! It gets even better, since from March 25, 2011 to March 27, 2011 we'll also offer Double Experience throughout Norrath*! We know you are excited about all these events. How will you spend EverQuest's 12th Anniversary?

*Double Experience will not be available on the Time Locked Progression Servers Fippy Darkpaw and Vulak'Aerr

Livecasts, Livecasts, Livecasts!

With all our excitement here, we wanted to share some of it directly with you! So on Wednesday March 16, 2011 at 4 p.m. Pacific we'll host a talk with John Smedley on the EverQuest franchise and its prestigious position in the history of MMOs as well as a plethora of other topics. You won't want to miss this one; you never know what you might hear!

That's not all though, on Thursday March 17, 2011 at 4 p.m. Pacific join members of the EverQuest team for a talk about EQ from its beginnings up until now. Hear about their personal journeys with EverQuest and some of their expectations for the future. This one will be truly fascinating and have some great anecdotes from the history of EQ!

Anniversary Deal Bonanza

It wouldn't be a celebration without some discounts in the EverQuest Marketplace and boy do we have some deals for you! Keep a close eye on the EQPlayers website so you'll be amongst the first to find out which of your favorite items will be on sale!

So happy 12th EverQuest Anniversary, see you all at our Livecasts and in Norrath!

February 22, 2011 - Back At Last!

Sorry about that several-hour downtime folks. It seems our hosting provider crashed (their main site was down, too). ~Mum

February 16, 2011 - Double Exp Weekend And More!

A double exp weekend is on the way along with a special President's Day Marketplace sale. Here is the word from EQLive:

The EverQuest news just keeps getting bigger! Starting on Friday, February 18th and continuing through Monday, February 21st, we've got not one but two exciting EverQuest events going on. Whether it's the deep discounts available on some of our most popular items (and a few brand new ones!) from the Marketplace, or the doubling of Experience gain while adventuring in EverQuest, you definitely don't want to miss this!

Starting on Friday, February 18th and running through Monday, February 21st we'll be having a Double Experience Weekend* in EverQuest. Take this opportunity to get rewarded twice as much for doing what you love. Whether it's getting a few extra Alternate Experience points for your favorite character or using this boost to start off on a brand new adventure, it's hard to say no to bonus experience.

February 10, 2011 - Free Play for Former Players! February 10th to February 21st!

If you're a former player, it's a good time to check out EverQuest again! All inactive accounts (in good standing) have been reactivated for free and will remain that way through February 21. Here is the word from EQLive:

Welcome back to EverQuest! To help celebrate the launch of our upcoming Time Locked Progression Server, we would like to invite all former players (as of January 15th) to play EverQuest for free from Thursday, February 10th, 2011 to Monday, February 21st, 2011!

It's time to get back into the swing of things. Starting February 10th, all accounts in good standing will be reactivated, for free! That's right, we're inviting everyone with a lapsed account to log on and check out all the exciting things going on! Take this opportunity to visit old friends, see the new sights, or roll a new character on our upcoming Time Locked Progression Server: Fippy Darkpaw, launching February 15th!

February 09, 2011 - Patch Notes for February 9, 2011

Here are the patch notes for today's game update (taken from the patcher):

*** Highlights ***

Server Transfers

You can now transfer your character to Firiona Vie and Zek for free! This is a one-way server transfer and your character will not remain on the original server.

Housing Layouts

Housing layouts allow for the saving and loading of entire sets of placed items. When you create a look for your yard, your house, or your entire plot that you want to keep, you can save it as a layout. You are then free to modify the plot's appearance, because at any point in the future you can easily load the layout and all available layout items will be restored to their saved positions. There are a number of options available when loading a layout:

• You can store all currently placed items that aren't used in the layout or keep them where they are
• You can use items from your inventory while loading a layout
• You can choose to load only the house or yard portions of a layout

Whenever a layout is loaded, an Auto Save layout is created of the plot's placed items right before the load was done, allowing you the ability to undo a mistaken load. Also, in case you forget the items that went to a particular layout, there is a layout details window. This window tells you all of the required items for a specific layout and whether or not you have enough of them available to fully load the layout with your desired settings.

A New Face in the Neighborhood

An uneasy tension fills the morning air of Sunrise Hills. Garik, the recipient of five consecutive losses at Orcakar glares around the room irreverently before speaking, 'I don't much care for their kind waltzing into our home and bandying about their authority like they do...'

Darix, the cynical antagonist, smiles, 'You sound worried, little man. You should keep your focus on the game at hand. He's not a concern to us; let him wander about crafting his knickknacks and going on about his brother...'

Ragthar slams a small Orc figurine down on to the table and lets loose a roaring laugh, 'Me win again!' The surrounding trio sighs. Perhaps a new face in the neighborhood will introduce a bit of luck in their efforts to best the Ogre savant...

Tremors and Premonitions

The rumors started, as they usually do, with the gnomes. The Eldritch Collective buzzes with activity, and even the students are excited by something they can feel in the air. A flurry of messages zips from sage to sage, each returning confirmed - the Order of Three, the Academy of Arcane Scientists, the Keepers of the Art, and even, surreptitiously, the Heretics - they all feel the same subtle change in the fabric of reality.

The barrier is weakening.

*** Zek ***

Zek server - The zoning protection has been changed. A new spell called Runes of Zek now protects players as they zone. This spell will last 18 to 24 seconds. If the player with this spell on them moves more than 1 unit, the spell drops. The server will not cast this spell on a player if they have already received the buff within the last minute.

*** Items ***

• Fixed some issues with heirloom items and augments.
• Fixed an issue that was not properly showing the description on augments.
• Item stacks now work properly in real estates.
• Dwerium jewelry now properly and immediately adjusts your stats.
• Corrected several items that could mistakenly be traded on the Firiona Vie server.

*** Tradeskills ***

• Cultural Treasurer Foiwom will now store/retrieve illustrious patterns.
• Cultural Treasurer Siofra will now store/retrieve extravagant charm patterns.
• Cultural Treasurer Siofra will now offer a cultural book task for illustrious books.

*** Quests & Events ***

• Cazic's Final Stand - Lowered the damage of several of Cazic's spells.
• The Stone Warden - The warden can no longer be stunned with House of Thule spells. You'll now have to resort to charm and good looks.

*** Spells ***

• Fixed an issue that was causing your mana and endurance to drop when zoning while under the effects of revival sickness.
• Ranger - Increased the Tempus Faycite Shard: Heartrend effect and adjusted the description for accuracy.
• Rogue - Increased the Tempus Faycite Shard: Pinpoint Flaws effect to match the description.

*** NPC ***

• NPCs will no longer enrage at 10% life. Pets are not affected by this change.M/li>
• Returned the heralds of Druzzil Ro to their rightful places.
• Straggling New Years NPCs should no longer be spawning and attacking unsuspecting travelers.

*** AA ***

• Shadowknight - Removed the spell casting restriction on Visage of Death.
• There are significant changes to the way Headshot, Anatomy, and Finishing Blow function:
• Assassinate, Headshot, and Finishing Blow now increase the damage delivered with each new rank.
• Anatomy and Headshot now increase the maximum level of NPCs affected by 2 per rank.
• Headshot has 3 new levels to bring it equal with Assassinate to 19 ranks total.

*** Achievements ***

• Underfoot meta achievements now list the correct achievements you need to complete in order to earn them.

*** Miscellaneous ***

• Corrected Randall of the Fellows' misconceptions about the new fellowship size.
• Pagus Nonad has joined the other merchants in Sunrise Hills.
• Increased the number of objects you can place in your real estate plots by 50 percent.
• Modified the real estate zones so that players not owning House of Thule are now allowed to enter them but not own or manipulate them.
• The Loyalist merchants have changed their inventory. They no longer sell Surefall Satchels and now they sell some 3 room houses with a 300 item limit, 200 of that vault space, and no continuing upkeep. These will also only be available for a limited time.
• Matched the hail range for NPCs to the same distance as the say range and corrected several visual errors with the distance check:
• You will no longer get a "too far away" message if the NPC did not have a hail task step for you to complete.
• Hailing outside of 100 feet only prevents task step completion. It does not affect normal hail responses.
• The error message now uses the proper formatting of the name.
• You can now use SMS and Paypal to purchase Station Cash through the EQ UI.
• Fixed a couple of issues where if a player equipped or unequipped a primary or secondary item slot and then camped, used /exit, or /quit, the character select screen would show the wrong weapons equipped for the character. If the slot was previously equipped and had become unequipped, when entering the game, a ghost item would appear in the character's hand initially. These issues should no longer occur.
• Fixed a server disconnect that could occur when entering the tutorial with a newly-created character.
• If you have no credit cards on file in the Marketplace the credit card on file button is now disabled with a tool tip explaining how to add a credit card. Also fixed a bug that could cause your credit cards on file to be inaccessible.

*** UI ***

• Added the ability for buttons to have a custom "text on pressed" color. See the Real Estate Items window for usage.
• Implemented custom text colors on buttons in the Real Estate Items window.
• Added a button template for blue buttons.
• Added the ability to use a defined template for the ButtonDrawTemplate instead of needing to define the template in the button. See the Actions window for usage.
• Implemented the button templates in the following windows: AA, Achievements, Actions, Marketplace and Real Estate Manage.
• Fixed multiple issues that occasionally caused text clipping and resizing issues for windows using horizontal or vertical layout boxes.
• The PvP stats window will now remember that it was closed if the done button was used to close it.
• Added a layout tab to the Real Estate Items window to allow for layout management.
• Converted the EQ button menu to read from the CascadeMenu.txt file in the UI folder.
• Added Placeable option to "select by type" menu of bazaar's search window.
• Clicking arrange left in the Extended Target window now works properly.
• Fixed a bug that was causing valid claim items to disable the claim button when selected in the claim window. Also fixed a bug that caused the claim button to be enabled the first time you opened the claim window even if the first claim item was not valid.

Added

• EQUI_RealEstateLayoutDetailsWnd.xml
• EQUI_VoteResultsWnd.xml
• EQUI_VoteWnd.xml
- Changed -
• EQUI.xml
• EQUI_AAWindow.xml
• EQUI_AchievementsWnd.xml
• EQUI_ActionsWindow.xml
• EQUI_Animations.xml
• EQUI_MailAddressBookWindow.xml
• EQUI_MarketplaceWnd.xml
• EQUI_RealEstateItemsWnd.xml
• EQUI_RealEstateManageWnd.xml
• EQUI_RealEstateNeighborhood.xml
• EQUI_RealEstatePurchaseWnd.xml
• EQUI_ServerListWnd.xml
• EQUI_Templates.xml
• SIDL.xml

*** Previously Updated ***

• Changed the various new wisps in multiple zones to a model that pets will not ignore.
• Cazic's Final Stand - Cazic will no longer overlap his elemental spell casts.
• Cazic's Final Stand - Players will have more time to avoid Cazic's Quailing Spirit and Fearful Awareness spells.
• Cazic's Final Stand - Cazic no longer becomes invulnerable when the adventurers successfully attack him.
• Cazic's Final Stand - Cazic will no longer increase his attack power over time and will no longer use his AE melee ability.
• Cazic's Final Stand - Corrected bugs that introduced a "hard timer" and caused some players to go linkdead when feared.
• Cazic's Final Stand - Cazic's commands should no longer target the main tank.

January 13, 2011 - EQ Patch - 13 Jan 2011

Game Update Notes – January 13, 2011

*** Highlights ***

• Fellowships can now have up to 12 members.
• Several enhancements were made to the Firiona and Zek rule sets. Please see the details below.

*** Items ***

• Tradeskill trophies can now be rotated on any axis when placing them in your house.
• Tradeskill trophies will now default to a standing position when initially placing them on your property.
• The Gold Trimmed Tree With Lights and Globes and the Red Trimmed Tree With Lights and Globes will now have the correct appearance when placed on your property.
• Corrected a timer issue with several items that have Guardian Circle and Geomantra effects.
• The Child's Play Cardboard Tube can now be used by Berserkers.
• The Gift: Child's Play Cardboard Tube Ornamentation can now be traded and will grant the correct item.
• Legacy class-specific spell research kits (Tomes and Grimoires) now function as regular containers.
• The Obsidian Scale Bow Ornamentation now correctly names the weapon types it can be applied to.
• The Worn Old Rabbit's Foot effect can now be used in combat.
• The focus effects on the Plaguescale Rod have been changed to be more useful to all casters.
• The entire Terror Infused armor set is now attunable.
• The Doll of Character will now be returned to you if it fails to grant its reward.
• The focus effects on Esoteric Sleeves of the Thaumaterge, Enigmatic Gloves of the Sorcerer, and Esoteric Wristguard of Finality are now correctly named.
• The Esoteric Wristguard of Finality and Esoteric Sleeves of the Thaumaterge now have a level 90 focus instead of level 85.
• The Ribbon of Bleached Shark Teeth has a new charm effect which is more reliable than the previous one.
• Brightforce is now usable in the primary hand only.
• Distillate of Clarity XIV and XV now have the proper effects attached. The benefit from Distillate of Clarity XV is significantly improved.
• Ferocity X now has a triple attack bonus and a minimum damage bonus of 200% to match the previous effects in that line.

*** Tradeskills ***

• Baking and brewing recipes for House of Thule should now produce items with effects.
• Removed the lore tag from Dream Seals that had it.
• The crafted portable tradeskill stations are now unusable once they reach zero charges. They may still be recharged.
• Lower level spell research hide components now drop on rats in addition to their existing sources.
• New spell research merchants are available in starting cities.
• Corrected an issue that prevented melee classes from researching their Secrets of Faydwer tomes.

*** Quests & Events ***

• All shared tasks with unlimited durations have been set to a maximum of six hours, which is the maximum amount of time a task instance will remain active.
• Curse of Rot, Curse of Fire, Curse of Poison, and Curse of Frost in the Welcome to My Nightmare mission can now land on mercenaries and pets.
• Corrected the spawn point of an undead shadowknight in the Miragul's Vendetta mission. This should make the Bone Breaker achievement possible.
• The Suspiciously Sweet Treats quest should no longer become gated if players die before filling the jug with water.
• Abandoning the Miragul's Vendetta mission should now eject players normally.
• Cazic's Final Stand - Cazic will properly name the individual he intends to make suffer.
• The Essence of Dreams - Shadow of the Heart's out of combat regeneration has increased substantially.
• The Essence of Dreams - Raid will completely reset if left idle for a period of time.
• Elements of a Dream - Avenger Essences have developed a dangerous interaction with some other spells.

*** Spells ***

• Druid - Corrected the spelling of Nature's Incinerating Wrath. It's not nice to misspell Mother Nature.
• Druid/Shaman - Added an attack increase to Mammoth's Force to allow it to completely supersede Champion and increased the mana cost.
• Enchanter - Illusion: Polka Dot Bunny can now be used in combat.
• Enchanter - Corrected the name of the Mana Reiteration scrolls and spell rewards. Renamed Mana Recursion Aura to Mana Reiteration aura.
• Enchanter - Corrected an issue that was causing enchant (metal) spells to not be able to be memorized if you had different enchantments memorized.
• Magician - Lowered the recast time of Bolt of Rhyolite.
• Magician - Lowered the casting time and increased the recast time of Strike of Sand.
• Magician - Lowered the casting time and recast time of Fickle Flare.
• Magician - Lowered the casting time and mana cost of Ruinous Servant and increased the recast time slightly.
• Paladin - Reworked Righteous Indignation into a skill attack buff to serve as more of a burn ability. It now will add more skill attacks for a brief period with a longer refresh time.
• Paladin - Righteous Indignation should no longer interfere with Ageless Emnity.
• Ranger - Corrected the AC cap values on Protection of the Vale. It should now give the same amount of AC as Cloak of Quills.
• Ranger - Reworked Called Shots so that the debuff portion of all three ranks can be used on the same target. Lowered the innate attack damage and debuff values (for ranks II and III) slightly.
• Necromancer - The Night Orb summoned by Dunkelnacht Orb is no longer lore.
• Warrior - The Weapon Affiliation and Flash of Anger abilities should no longer prevent memorizing each other.

*** NPC ***

• A new bag is available from Alerynril the Loyal.
• Alerynril the Loyal will now also display the marketplace if you speak with her. She still offers loyalty items if you click on her as before.
• Choleric unicorns in the Morell Ascendant mission will now give experience when killed.
• Players should now be able to break the seal protecting Khati Sha's inner sanctum and hold audience with the elusive demigod.

*** AA ***

• Rangers - Headshot now only affects your current target.

*** Achievements ***

• New achievements have been added to track the usage of the Rusty Gate Key, Tremulous Key, and Sanctum Key.

*** Zek ***

• Players will now receive a divine aura effect whenever they zone on a PvP server.
• Removed forced respawn in Shadowrest when killed in PvP (or due to a DoT in PvE) on PvP rulesets.
• Fixed an issue with PvP leaderboards not appearing.
• Added in a system of PvP event announcements with their own channel, text color, and filter.
• The player or players (if there's a tie) with the highest infamy currently online is broadcast to all players. If someone logs in with a higher infamy than the current highest, it will be broadcast. Likewise if the highest infamy player logs out, the next highest is broadcast.
• Player kills are broadcast to all players. This includes an indication of whether the kill was solo, solo with merc, group, or group with merc.
• Killing sprees of multiples of 5 kills or more are broadcast. When a killing spree of more than 5 is ended (by the player being killed) it is broadcast.
• Death streaks of multiples of 5 deaths or more are broadcast.
• Increased infamy gain slightly.
• Infamy decays 5 times more slowly than it did before.
• Fixed a bug that caused the PvP stats window to not remember that it was closed if the done button was used to close it.

*** Firiona Vie ***

• Removed the special bind restrictions from the roleplaying ruleset.

*** Miscellaneous ***

• Fellowships can now have up to 12 members.
• Fixed several memory leaks that can occur when switching from full screen to windowed mode (or vice versa).
• Fixed a bug that caused flickering ground textures in some zones when in least memory mode and client memory usage is high.
• Fixed an issue that could cause the client to run out of memory while zoning.
• /assist group will now properly auto-attack if the option is set.
• The "Plot Launcher" will now function properly if the user is under the effects of a levitate spell.
• Corrected an issue causing auras to affect pets differently than their owners.

*** UI ***

• Added Placeable option to "select by type" menu of the bazaar's search window. - Changed - EQUI_Animations.xml

*** Previously Updated ***

• Sig can now send you inside Miragul's Phylactery whenever you are [ready].
• Terror in the Dark - The number of spider adds in The Well raid have been reduced.
• Elements of a Dream - Enemies will stop spawning after their respective puzzles have been solved.
• The Mature Juniper Tree will no longer appear as a black box when placed.

- The EverQuest Team

December 23, 2010 - Free Frostfell Wreath

Looking for a bit of decoration for your EQ home? SOE is giving away a free Frostfell wreath in the Marketplace from now until January 31. (Details here)

December 16, 2010 - Double SC Weekend

There will be a double station cash weekend this weekend, December 17-19. Keep an eye out for additional details from SOE at this link.

December 08, 2010 - Patch Notes - 08 Dec 2010

Game Update Notes – December 08, 2010

*** Special Ruleset Server Changes ***

• The first round of changes for our special ruleset servers are complete - stay tuned for more to come:
Firiona Vie
• This server will have a permanent 50% experience bonus.
• We have removed the character slot limit - you are now allowed the same number of characters on this server as you are on standard servers.
Zek
• This server will have a permanent 50% experience bonus.

*** Highlights ***

• A new set of Hot Zones have been created. Visit the zones below for additional experience and items. Franklin Teek and Skal Nethus in the Plane of Knowledge will have new tasks for you as well.
• The City of Guk
• Solusek's Eye
• The Crystal Caverns
• Kaesora
• The Ruins of Old Guk
• The Howling Stones
• The Crypt of Nadox
• Ssraeshza Temple
• Bastion of Thunder
• Drunder, the Fortress of Zek
• Vergalid Mines
• Zhisza, the Shissar Sanctuary
• Toskirakk
• Kaesora Library

*** Items ***

• Fixed an issue where items added to the limbo buffer as a result of a canceled trade were having their contained items destroyed.
• Corrected errors in several item names.
• Quentin's Outfit has a more appropriate icon.
• Cosgrove Powder and Dream Dust are now flagged as all/all.
• Antheia Bloom Seed is now flagged as all/all.
• High Priest's Leggings, Soulmage's Leathers, Warden's Vest, Chestplate of the Manipulator, and Guardian's Greaves now have focus effects.
• Corrected the focus effect description on mage robes in House of Thule.
• Changed the name of Isabeaux' Ring of Dark Tidings to Isabeaux' Loop of Dark Tidings.
• Hardened Dragon's Tear, Chipped Shard of Appeasement, Shard of the Deep Blue Sea, and Venomous Shards of the Damned should now fit in bows as intended.
• Tier 1 caster armor for House of Thule had its AC lowered to bring it in line with the intended values.
• Cultural Charms in House of Thule should now have the appropriate sockets and grant stats for wearing cultural armor.
• House of Thule raid shields now have type 3 augmentation slots.
• The majority of mounts and familiars are now placeable as house pets.
• Most belts from House of Thule will now increase potion slots.
• Enigmatic Gloves of the Sorcerer now have the proper cold damage focus.
• Some House of Thule Soloist seals have had their focus effects properly updated to level 90.
• The Perfected Augmentation Distiller should now be available to all classes when using the "Show only items I can use" filter while browsing Alerynril the Loyal's wares.
• The Nighttime Nostrum drink now has an effect associated with consuming it.
• Corrected the damage bonuses on the Death and Decay Nimbus and the Path of Fire Nimbus.
• Abstruse Stealthinfused Leggings and Enigmatic Leggings of the Swift will now properly summon Consigned Bite of the Shissar XV.
• Removed the deprecated tradeskill flag from Desiccated Dust.
• Added the tradeskill flag to Goblin Parts. Many parts are useful.
• Ferocity VIII and IX have had an additional triple attack chance added to their normal effects.
• Items with limited charges that summon pets will no longer use a charge if you have a pet when you attempt to use the item.
• Added a cap of level 86 to some Underfoot mana proc augments that were missed earlier.

*** Tradeskills ***

• The Unexpanded Tailored Legendary Backpack is now a large size item instead of giant.
• Spell Research: Added in the ability for players to craft Charta Arcanum Solutions.
• Tradeskill trophies can now be placed in real estates as tribute-trophies. They will grant you the option of activating a tribute effect equal to the power of the placed trophy.

*** Quests & Events ***

• Fixed a bug where players were only receiving experience and not the full task reward if they leveled up when they claimed their reward.
• Corrected text errors in several House of Thule quests.
• Noble Sivrn in Atiiki will be more honest in his approval of your ability to speak the names of the mighty Sphinxes.
• Corrected the entry requirements on the missions Catastrophic Power, Redemption, and Miragul's Vendetta to check for No Freedom in Death instead of What Lies Below.
• Skeletons will no longer ambush you on the quest The Fallen Citadel. The update for finding Translocator Enila will trigger more easily.
• Khalis' guards are now normal spawns with a quick respawn time. To speak to Khalis you must first dispose of his guards.
• The chest in The Gardener mission can now be looted immediately after opening.
• Garden bandits, outlaws, and hooligans will no longer stay around forever after spawning. They will now ambush the players they were intended to ambush during the Dissolution of Reason quest.
• Playful Alyss should no longer despawn without updating the Hippity Hoppity Kill mission.
• Alyss, an unknown entity, and Piper Nasscul should no longer assist other NPCs in the Hippity Hoppity Kill mission.
• Players should now correctly receive a quest update even if they all die after Matilda dies in the Stuff of Dreams mission.
• Terror in the Dark - Raiders may find the denizens are a bit more aggressive than in the past.
• The Force of Eternity - Fixed an issue with the reset mechanism not triggering properly when fighting the split Miragul.
• The Force of Eternity - Corrected an issue causing one of the raid auras to fail to respawn when the raid reset.
• The Force of Eternity - It is no longer possible to transport into the heart of the Phylactery during an event reset. You will have to defeat the events to move on.
• Guardian of the House - Fogweaver should no longer aggro through a door during the fight with Spineslicer.
• Implemented the correct progression requirements for the raids in Morell’s Castle and Sanctum Somnium. Note that the Cloudgate Key is no longer needed and will no longer drop.
• Raid-specific auras in the Torches of Truth, Ritual of Terror, and Cazic's Final Stand events will now be visible to players who have auras turned off otherwise.

*** Spells ***

• Fixed an issue with DoT stacking that would cause the second DoT to have the incorrect duration.
• Cone spells with hit limits will no longer count invalid targets towards that limit.
• Corrected grammar errors in several House of Thule spells.
• Corrected a typo in the reward description for Shaman spells in the Median Nebulous Dream Fragments quest.
• The Sympathetic Alleviation spell line now has a maximum level of 86.
• By request, Respite will now tick down in zones with frozen spell timers.
• Bard - Moved Lyrin's Spiteful Lyric to the Short Duration Buff Box.
• Necromancer - Moved Cascading Deathshield to the Pet-Block memorization category.
• Necromancer - Moved Call Skeleton Swarm and Call Skeleton Crush to the Pet-Sum: Swarm memorization category.
• Necromancer - Corrected the recourse of Dunkelnacht Orb so that it will create the correct item.
• Paladin - Remorse for the Fallen will now focus two heals as described.
• Ranger - Added Spell: Summer's Storm to Gonop's list of wares.
• Shaman - Moved Undaleen's Venom to the Damage Over Time-Poison memorization category.
• Warrior - Flash of Anger's mechanics have been changed. It now a 1-tick self buff rather than a 1-tick discipline.
• Fixed and issue with timers on stuns and PvP combat.

*** NPC ***

• Odium in Fear Itself should no longer drop players out of combat.
• Braelin Arden in Morell's Castle can no longer attack or be attacked.

*** AA ***

• Paladin/Shadowknight/Ranger - Mastery of the Past should now properly affect fizzles up to and including the level indicated in the AA.
• Warrior - Warlord's Tenacity Rk 15 should no longer overwrite Clerics' Reliance buff.

*** Achievements ***

• The Challenge of Toughness achievement in the Morell Ascendant mission can now be completed.
• The Challenge of Toughness achievement in The Gardener mission will correctly fail if players have died.
• The 1H Blunt skill should now be visible in the Weapon Proficiency Level 90 achievement for all classes who can use it.
• The Fast Talker achievement should update more reliably now.
• You can now get the Arachnophobia achievement when you kill more than 5 spiders. Overachiever.
• For consistency, many of the Underfoot achievement names and icons were changed to match those in House of Thule.
• Corrected many minor spelling errors in Achievements.

*** Miscellaneous ***

• Fixed issue where too much text sent to a minimized chat window would cause a client crash.
• Fixed a problem where textures would become temporarily corrupted after logging out to server select, then logging back into the game.
• Fixed an issue where the targeting ring would occasionally turn into a gray disc.
• The /outputfile command will now properly list the information stored in the 9th and 10th inventory slots.
• The inspect window will now show the final stage of evolving items when clicking on an item link.
• Tribute effects are now factored in when determining the item skill mod for a player's skill.
• Fixed a couple of small memory leaks and one large memory leak that occurs while zoning.
• Fixed some issues regarding character transfers.
• Trees should now allow you to place them with their branches overhanging the edge of a plot as long as the trunk is within the plot boundary. They should also default to placing with the roots below ground. Note that the aged grand elm does not do this. This is an art bug that should be addressed soon.
• Modified world containers so that only empty containers can be added to them (world containers now function like containers in the inventory in this regard).
• Fixed bug with placeable npc items that were equippable in the primary, secondary, or ranged slot having odd rotations while being placed.
• Fixed an issue causing some NPCs with many loot items to not have their full inventory available when killed.
• Legendary Illusionist Bindral Argaff in the library of New Tanaan is looking for enchanters who may have an excess of illusionary items to help him search for a cure to his curse (Enchanters can now obtain spell versions for many illusion item effects they possess).
• Restored several doors in Howling Stones that had been moved inadvertently.
• The moving crates should now be returned to the merchant house in the Neighborhood zone.
• Alerynril has stocked a few Frostfell items.
• Fixed several container bugs that resulted in items in containers disappearing.
• Implemented some server optimizations to help address lag issues (not a complete fix).
• Updated to the latest voice chat SDK which fixes some voice chat issues that were occurring.
• When /assist is on, it will auto attack the group's main assist when using /assist group.
• Improved the zoning code when you first log in.

*** UI ***

• Fixed a bug where only a max of 80 items were showing for buyers in the bazaar.
• Fixed a bug where if the Set Price was pressed for a bazaar item, but the item was not changed, previously the item would appear as not for sale anymore and the "Unable to add item to bazaar list" error would appear.
• Custom UIs will now be able to use Label EQTypes 570 through 579 to display the buff name for blocked buffs.
• The guild bank list will no longer spring to the top when other people add/remove items.
• The Extended Target Window will now stay off upon zoning or logging.
• Pressing "Escape" to clear the target window will no longer also close the Bandolier window.
• Corrected a bug that was showing the title screen in some cases when zoning when the loading screen option was turned off. It should now only appear when logging in.

Changed

• EQUI_Animations.xml

*** Previously Updated ***

• Fixed issue where housing item trees were appearing as black boxes.
• Ritual of Terror - Fixed an issue that could cause the raid to reset if players don't engage the mini bosses fast enough.
• Ritual of Terror - The runes looted from the raid will no longer be deleted from players zoning in once they can be legitimately looted in the event.
• The Librarian's Nightmare - Fixed an issue that was causing the Librarian's book adds to spawn repeatedly.
• Creatures in the Hippity Hoppity Kill mission will no longer summon at 100% health.
• Creepy Alyss should no longer despawn if she's left idle too long.
• Zonoraz in The Grounds will no longer heal herself or wipe her hatelist if you damage her too quickly./
• Kyluc in the Feerrott has added Spell: Protection of the Vale to her list of wares.
• Some of the inhabitants of Morell's Castle and Sanctum Somnium have become more resistant to slows.
• Added key drops to the Fear Itself raid that will be needed for further raid access in the House of Thule expansion.

December 07, 2010 - Server Downtime News

All EverQuest Live Servers (except Al'Kabor) will be coming down on Wednesday, December 8, 2010 at 12:00 am US Pacific (US Pacifc-PST is -8 GMT: 1:00 am MST, 2:00 am CST, 3:00 am EST, 8:00 am GMT, 9:00 am CET) for a Game Update. The servers are estimated to be unavailable for 8 hours. Keep an eye on the EQ Players website and the forums for status updates and for news if additional downtime is needed.

All EverQuest Live Servers (except Al'Kabor) will be coming down on Thursday, December 9, 2010 at 1:00 am US Pacific (US Pacifc-PST is -8 GMT: 2:00 am MST, 3:00 am CST, 4:00 am EST, 9:00 am GMT, 10:00 am CET) for SOE Network Maintenance. The servers are estimated to be unavailable for 11 and ½ hours. This downtime is separate from the Game Update downtime on Wednesday, December 8th. We apologize for the inconvenience. Keep an eye on the EQ Players website and the forums for status updates and for news if additional downtime is needed.

December 07, 2010 - Frostfell is Just Around the Corner!

As the season of Frostfell slowly peeks over the horizon, several of your fellow Norrathians are making their way to the major cities and the Plane of Knowledge in search of adventurers willing to help them with their holiday tasks.

Frostfell will be celebrated throughout Norrath and beyond from December 8, 2010 through January 8, 2011. Various activities and events will be available at different intervals throughout the season, so make sure you're ready to join in the fun on day one.

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