Producer’s Letter: New Fabled, Ethereal Items, Server Stuff and MORE!

Discussion in 'News and Announcements' started by Windstalker, Jun 4, 2015.

  1. Windstalker Executive Producer

    What’s Up for EQII?

    We have a lot in store for our intrepid Everquest II players. We’re excited to be discussing the launch of two new Time-Locked Expansion Servers for PvE and PvP sometime this year.

    Along with that, the team is moving forward with a strategy of treating our players as real gamers who don’t need to be handheld for everything they do. What this means is we feel we need to trust our players to learn and achieve things without us having to give you all the information ahead of time. There’s a big difference between “head southwest and uncover the mystery of the green fog” and “go find the green fog that I put on your map for you.” Our players are smart and we want EQII to be a thinker’s and strategist’s game.

    Today we release a new Rumrunner home with a décor set for our decorators, a store version of the Zeppelin mount for anyone that likes to float about in style, and new Summer Ethereal items will start dropping in Altar of Malice heroic zones (including Rum Cellar) for our adventurers.

    We’re also currently testing Character Restore and Item Restore functionality on Beta which we hope to release soon.

    On Tuesday, June 23, we will release Echoes of Faydwer Fabled Dungeons with all new updated loot and fun for level 100. There are 3 heroic dungeons, 3 advanced solos and 1 raid with a challenge version. Here’s the zone list:

    · The Fabled Acadechism [Heroic & Advanced Solo]
    · The Fabled Court of Innovation [Heroic & Advanced Solo]
    · The Fabled Crypt of Valdoon [Heroic & Advanced Solo]
    · The Fabled Freethinker Hideout [Raid & Challenge Raid]

    Then, in early July, we’ll introduce the ability to quest and worship Erollisi as a god for new miracles and blessings.

    We can’t forget Tinkerfest! It will launch on July 17 with new content!

    And later in the summer, we’ll see more Ethereal weapon drops.

    For those who are curious, we’re doing a fair amount of technical and backend work to help our performance and to move toward cross-server functionality. We also want to address server population issues. We’re focusing on the first part of this work which is adjusting our architecture.

    We also have been continuing to work on the content for our release later this year. Toward the end of summer as we head into the Campaign release timeframe later this year, we’ll be releasing some prequel events and designers will be sharing details about upcoming features with you. Today in our Twitch stream, designers previewed an upcoming feature that allows you to increase stats on new equipment. We also have a new item type in the works for this year’s campaign referred to as Relics which are extremely powerful items where only one can be equipped at a time, per character. Kander, Caith, and Kaitheel (yikes!) discussed these features in our livestream today and you can watch the replay here.

    We’re enormously grateful for the support of all of our players and we’re excited about what’s coming up for EverQuest II!

    Sincerely, as always,

    Holly "Windstalker" Longdale
    Exec Producer, EQ & EQII
    Kittybock, Seefar, miissty and 18 others like this.
  2. Vinyard Active Member

    Make the scarecrows in antonica heroic pls.

    eq2 is saved!
    Lehcole, Seefar, Koren and 3 others like this.
  3. HaphazardAllure Well-Known Member

    So excited for this! \o/

    I'm very excited for the future of EQ2, love the sound of that!
    Seefar, Siren, leannel and 2 others like this.
  4. resonate Active Member

    Go back to the shadows!
    Seefar and Wirewhisker like this.
  5. Neiloch Well-Known Member

    I always thought the overt marking of the maps was overkill. At the same time you have to think if a person wanted you to do something for them as a favor, they would generally give as much info as possible. So they might not mark it on your magical GPS but they would explain it in detail.

    Also I would suggest you explain a general outline of how a TLP server in EQ2 would actually function. A lot of people really aren't aware that something very close to 'EQ2 day one' experience is pretty much impossible. From the sounds of it a TLP server would basically be how player ran progression guilds work but enforced by the server instead of being voluntary.
  6. Powers New Member

    It's about time!!
    Seefar, Belenos, Mizgamer62 and 3 others like this.
  7. resonate Active Member

    splitpaw sagera
  8. Ishtara Well-Known Member

    :):):) :):):) :):):) :):):) :):):) :):):) :):):) :):):) <--- I don't really know what else to say, im speechless.
    Seefar, Siren, SierraDawn and 3 others like this.
  9. Gameboie New Member

    I think I found my happy place.
    Akhenaton, Seefar, Siren and 2 others like this.
  10. Liav Well-Known Member

    AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW YISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
    Gameboie, Seefar, Siren and 2 others like this.
  11. FriggaWitch Well-Known Member

    Wow I have been pretty busy with work and haven't had time to log on but this is the bestest news I have read from DBG since the SOE split. Thank you for respecting us as players and as a community. I am happy to be a part of EQ2 and will continue to support this great franchise. Look forward to many more adventures in the Wonderful land of Norrath!!;)
    TY 'Windstalker' for such great news!!! Yipee!!! <Happy Dance>
  12. Roshen Well-Known Member

    Sure thing! /shout "INC WALL OF TEXT!"

    For reference, an “EverQuest Progression Server” is a server where additional content unlocks as players progress through the content, and some criteria is met. On EQ’s newest server, Ragefire, six months need to pass, players need to defeat all of the active content (ie raid bosses), and a majority of the active players on the server need to vote to open the next expansion.

    “Time-Locked” doesn’t necessarily mean the same thing. Time-Locked merely means that the content is locked at some time in the history of the game. For example a time-locked server may start on a certain expansion, and may be locked from expansions after a certain point from becoming active.

    What we have in EQ is a "Time-Locked Progression server" (TLP). What we're building for EQ2 doesn't need to be a copy of the EQ TLP model. It needs to be what the EQ2 players want.

    The team has been discussing what the best experience is for players on the new time-locked EQ2 PvE and PvP servers that we’ll be launching this year. That being said, your feedback is important! For these servers to be successful, they really need to be the types of EQ2 gameplay experiences that our players want. The best way for us to know what our players want is for you to tell us!

    So these conversations don't get lost in the comment section of Holly's producer's letter, I don’t think anyone here would be sad if people opened new threads to share their ideas and start the discussion about what this year's EQ2 time-locked servers should be!
    Seefar, Kurisutaru, Belenos and 6 others like this.
  13. Quickpaw Active Member

    Suddenly I can post again? @whee! Anyway.

    I wants more detail on the 'time-locked' part, will there be different ones for different expansions? I know I'd love a way to rehash things like the old 'newbie isle' experience, I still miss that.
    Seefar likes this.
  14. Trilly Active Member

    My only comment is that you stated Ethereals will drop in AoM..HEROICS. So, as a solo player mostly, and like many I know and see...we once again are forced to try to gather groups, join PUGS, bid highly on loot rights, to get a special item. I have been here and on EQ1 for years...and I love to play, explore, acquire...but, I hate to see all the good stuff doled out to groups and not even offered to advanced solos...Is that what I am reading? I get depressed reading people whine all the time but I guess this time it is me!
    Lateana, Natasha, Brennin and 7 others like this.
  15. Louly Well-Known Member

    I'm hoping time locked means I can start on the islands again and go to my little village :D :D I would be so very grateful! Also a quick question - are future expansions always going to be for only level 100? I have so many alts a mid range 60-80 type of new place would be nice.

    But still really looking forward to the time locked server - :)

    Thank you!
    Belenos and Uwkete-of-Crushbone like this.
  16. Roshen Well-Known Member

    We understand that not all players do all types of content. That's why it was important to us to make these items Attuneable.

    While I'll admit that not every PUG group is awesome, we do want some items to be incentives for people to group. :)
    Crychtonn, Xilox Sin, Eliohia and 2 others like this.
  17. Roshen Well-Known Member

    Expansions/Campaigns will have max level content.

    That being said, as mentioned during the stream today we'll have new dungeons in this campaign that are level agnostic. We know that not all players are max level, or they want to play their alts or with their friends that aren't max level. We want our next release to appeal to as many players as possible.
    miissty and FriggaWitch like this.
  18. roger New Member

    how about adding tank ethereals this time
  19. Drew575 Active Member

    excited for lvl lock progression , please don't fubar it plz
    Siren likes this.
  20. knine Well-Known Member

    Instead of adding 2 new servers, how about maybe a merge and fix the lag. I don't like to be negative, but here we go again adding more and not fixing what is already in front of us.
    Naramsin, Melodica, Xilox Sin and 7 others like this.