Patch Notes - Feb 17, 2005

[Martrae]

*** Headlines ***

- See your enemies in a whole new way with our new /con system!
- Short-duration group buffs now last 10 minutes! Single-target buffs last 15 minutes!
- No more fizzles on spells that are blue or lower to you, and less fizzles on other spells!
- Shorter timers and less restrictions on instanced zones!
- Give your beloved house pets a name!
- All tradeskill classes can now refine their own materials and components!
- Wizards and Warlocks go nuke happy!
- Tanks now tank better with increased mitigation!
- Strike back at your rival city through new sabotage quests!
- More encounters added for soloers and small groups, including solo instanced dungeons!
- You can now store empty bags inside other bags!
- Improved examine information for spells, arts, potions, and more!
- Four new level 50 epic raid zones have been added!
- Now easier to search for potions, poisons, activated items, and food!
- Even more residents of Norrath gain their voices with our optional voiceover download!
- Choose different Traits, Traditions, Tactics, and Training options!


*** IMPORTANT NOTE ***

- Most equipment must now be attuned before it provides any benefit. This is likely to affect items currently being worn by your character.
- Wearing gear that is not attuned will display a warning message in your Inventory window.
- If you wish to attune everything your character is wearing, you can type the "/attune_equip all" command. This will only affect items currently being worn.
- Until you attune your gear, IT WILL NOT PROVIDE ANY PROTECTION WHICH MEANS YOU MAY DIE HORRIBLY. Please remember to attune your gear!
- Items that have been attuned cannot be sold or traded to other players, but they can be sold to NPC merchants.


*** Traits, Traditions, Tactics, and Training ***

- We are now allowing characters to reselect their Traits, Traditions, Tactics, and Training options.
- If you have previously chosen Traits, Traditions, Tactics, and Training, you can reset your selections and make new choices by typing the "/respec" command. This will remove all previous choices from your Knowledge Book and will place a blinking "+" sign in the lower right corner of your screen.
- Clicking the "+" sign will open the selection window and allow you to pick new Traits, Traditions, Tactics, and Training.
- You may receive your selections in a different order this time. Class-dependent choices (like Tactics) will be presented after the others. Characters who gain these abilities as they level up normally will get them in the normal order.

** IMPORTANT! **

- While you can issue the "/respec" command at any time, you will not be able to receive quest rewards until you make all pending choices available to you.


*** Consider System ***

- A new NPC consider system has been added that provides players with information on the creatures they encounter.
- When appropriate, your target's level appears next to its name.
- The target window varies based on the target's level of challenge. A weak opponent will have a plain target window with swords under the target's name, while the target window of an epic opponent will be much more ornate.
- While the new system still shows which opponents are linked in an encounter, the consider message is based on the challenge presented by each individual target. Players who prefer to evaluate their opponents' strengths for themselves may enjoy this option
- You can switch between the old system and the new one by selecting the User Interface tab on the Options window. Under the Name and Chat Bubble heading, you can toggle the NPC Evaluation drop-down between Simple (new system) and Detailed (old system).


*** City Sabotage ***

- Wreak havoc behind enemy lines! Sabotage missions are now available from agents in Antonica and the Commonlands.


*** Solo/Duo Instanced Zones ***

- Solo versions of the instanced dungeons in Orcish Wastes, Enchanted Lands, and Thundering Steppes have been added. You can choose whether you wish enter the solo or heroic versions of these dungeons. We recommend the solo versions for one or two players, and the heroic version for groups of three or more.
- Tallon Hording Halls
- Sullon Mines
- The Dark Den
- The Caves of Wonder
- Cavern of Tangled Weeds
- The Rumbler Caves
- A Pirates Hidden Stash
- An Open Grave


*** New Level 50 Raids ***

- Four new 24-person level 50 raid zones are now available for play.
- Shattered Stillness, entered from Antonica, is where you must defeat Arch Lich Udalan.
- Echoes of Time, accessed in Commonlands, is the home of the mighty King Zalak.
- Cove of Decay: Epic Angler, located in the Thundering Steppes, is where you can find Rognog the Angler, the renowned giant fisherman.
- Meeting of the Minds, found in the Feerrott, is the lair of the mysterious Overlord Oxulius.
- The reuse timer on these raids is 18 hours on success, 6 hours on a failure.


*** Gameplay ***

- The Swornlove siblings wish to thank you for helping them keep the spirit of Erollisi Day alive. Now that the festival is complete, they will no longer be seeking your assistance.
- You no longer need to defeat an entire encounter to get credit for completing most quests.
- Your speed while on a mount is no longer limited by the maximum speed of the mount. If you receive a movement buff that is faster than the default speed of your mount, you will now move at the faster speed for the duration of the speed increase. This includes spells such as Spirit of the Wolf and abilities such as Sprint.
- There are now stable hand merchants in West Freeport and South Qeynos that will purchase mounts at their full value, less any merchant markup you paid when buying them.
- House pets can now be named while you are in your house by right-clicking on your pet in the inventory window and selecting Name Pet.
- Creatures that used to appear alive after being killed should now look properly dead.
- Added an on-screen message after purchasing a ticket to travel by sea that lets players know they must use the ticket before camping or leaving the zone.
- There is now a ding, accompanied by congratulatory text, when your guild levels up.


*** Mechanics ***

- The damage bonus given by extremely high amounts of strength has been reduced. For example, having a strength of 400 previously gave a 200% damage bonus; after this change, the damage bonus is 155%. There is no change to the damage bonus at a STR of 100, and only a slight reduction at 200 STR.
- Heavy armor now mitigates 11% more damage. Light armor now mitigates 35% more damage.
- Having stamina greater than 200 will now increase the character's maximum health pool.
- Maximum power will increase when the stats used to determine it (strength, agility, intelligence, or wisdom) go above 200.
- Melee combat arts no longer decrease in effectiveness when equipping a weapon that is blue, green, or grey to the user.
- If an epic opponent can only be hit by a certain quality of weapon, that weapon's level must be within 75% or 5 levels of the target's level.
- A bug that was giving some characters extra points in certain skills has been corrected. For example, Artisans will no longer receive 5 extra points in the skills they stop advancing when they choose a class or subclass, and Brawlers no longer gain extra Deflection at lower levels.
- Players will no longer receive a "mini-ding" at reaching 100% of a level if they are unable to gain a level due to a milestone requirement (such as the citizenship quest, class quest, etc.).


*** Spells ***

- Spell casters will no longer fizzle on any spell that is blue, green, or grey to them, as long as their casting skills are maximized.
- The fizzle rate on orange, yellow, and white-con spells has been reduced.
- Targeted persistent hostile spells (such as DoTs) should no longer drop if the caster summons a pet.
- Spectral Guard and Malefic Shroud will now last up to 10 hits before expiring instead of fading after a single hit.
- Flaming Agony and Fiery Doom should now show in the maintained window once they have been cast.
- Vexation upgrades are now available in from the appropriate merchants, recipe books, and loot drops.
- The stat bonuses given by Geotic Brand will no longer change when a player zones.
- Flameshield now does heat damage instead of divine.
- Summoned pets should no longer "dance" their way into unintended aggro.
- Dumbfire pets will no longer remove maintained spell effects from an encounter. This includes the following spells:
- Conjuror: Aqueous Hunters
- Shadowknight: Tainted Sacrament, Cursed Sacrament
- Necromancer: Jaul's Rotting Packhounds, Swarm of Rats, Plague of Rats
- Wizard: Protoflame
- Warlock: Netheros
- Defiler: Purulence, Eerie Avenger
- Illusionist: Construct of Order, Construct of Logic, Basten's Construct of Light
- Wizard changes:
- Breath of the Tyrant and Immolation no longer share the same reuse timer.
- Ball of Flames and Ball of Fire no longer share the same reuse timer.
- Piercing Icicles and Icy Coil no longer share the same reuse timer.
- Ball of Flame now has a cast time of 2 seconds and a recast time of 6 seconds.
- Burning Intimidation now does 4 times its previous amount of damage.
- Immolation now deals 2 additional ticks of heat damage at 120% of the initial instant damage. The cast time has been increased to 3 seconds and the recast time is now 21 seconds.
- Ice Comet's damage has been increased 275%, and its reuse time is now 45 seconds.
- Freeze and Daenor's Lingering Frost now do 3 times their previous amount of damage.
- Icy Coil's initial instant damage has been increased 350%.
- Piercing Icicles now deals 200% additional instant piercing damage.
- Warlock changes:
- Negative Absolution no longer shares a reuse timer with Null Absolution or Nil Absolution, and the maximum number of targets has been limited to 5.
- Null Absolution no longer shares a reuse timer with Negative Absolution or Nil Absolution, and the maximum number of targets has been limited to 5. The spell now deals additional poison damage over time.
- Nil Absolution no longer shares a reuse timer with Negative Absolution or Null Absolution, and the maximum number of targets has been limited to 5. The spell now deals additional poison damage over time and lowers strength by 5.
- Dark Distortion no longer shares a reuse timer with Nil Distortion, and its damage has been increased to 150%.
- Nil Distortion no longer shares a reuse timer with Dark Distortion. Its damage has been increased to 240% and it has a reuse timer of 18 seconds.
- Flashfreeze now has a casting time of 1 second, and its damage has been tripled.
- Noxious Bolt now has a reuse time of 6.5 seconds, and its damage has been tripled.
- Dark Emanations no longer shares a reuse timer with Torment of Shadows.
- Torment of Shadows no longer shares a reuse timer with Dark Emanations. Its instant damage has been tripled, and its damage over time has doubled.
- Dark Nebula now does 3 times its previous damage. It is an upgrade to Grievous Blast, sharing a reuse timer with Grievous Blast and Putrid Cloud.
- Devastation will now affect up to 5 targets in a radius of 10 meters with a recast time of 45 seconds. Its instant damage and DoT effect has been reduced by 50%.
- Short duration group buffs now last 10 minutes, and single target buffs now last 15 minutes. This affects the following spells:
- Assassin: Bleeder's Talent, Merciless Villainy
- Bard: Bria's Stirring Ballad, Performer's Talent
- Berserker: Bloodlust, Battle Chant, Screaming Fury, Tides of War, Destructive Rage, Greater Fury, Uthros' Superior Tactics
- Brigand: Burgle, Rough Skin, Stealthy Burglary, Aegis
- Bruiser: Intimidating Orders, Rousing Cry, Velan's Nervy Order
- Coercer: Recklessness, Refresh, Annoying Demeanor, Empathic Link, Mind's Eye, Konious' Glowing Breeze, Glyssa's Emboldening Glyph
- Conjurer: Provocation, Fire Seed, Volatile Refuge, Vehement Stone, Flameshield, Blazing Presence, Varski's Encouraging Ward
- Crusader: Offering of Armament, Theron's Heartening Call
- Defiler: Dread Invective, Lucar's Grasping Tendrils
- Dirge: Death's Scent, Lithe Disbelief, Tuyen's Chant of the Arcane
- Druid: Nettleshield
- Enchanter: Breeze
- Fighter: Call to Arms
- Fury: Bristlepelt, Savagery, Fae Fire, Porcupine, Brishan's Quillshield, Hammerwind's Zealous Frenzy
- Guardian: Form of Ferocity, Guardian's Call, Call of Command, Desperate Flurry, Do or Die, Call to Battle, Return to Battle, Briteblade's Command, Braksan's Desperate Rally
- Illusionist: Fleeting Thoughts, Alacrity, Scintillating Aura, Intensity, Kor-Sha's Adroit Seal, Fozzin's Propitious Visions
- Inquisitor: Act of Belief
- Monk: Wisdom of Zephyl, Everburning Flame, Quiet Purity
- Mystic: Avatar
- Necromancer: Boon of the Lifeless, Rending Frenzy, Opal's Aggravating Seal, Darkbriar's Corpseskin
- Paladin: Blessing of the Penitent, Divine Inspiration, Blessing of the Devout, Prayer of Devotion, Call to Glory, Caswon's Penitent Benediction, Theron's Call of Hope
- Predator: Hunter's Instinct
- Ranger: Steady Aim, Forester's Insight, Veil of the Forest, Tolan's Talent
- Rogue: Smuggle, Street Smarts
- Shadowknight: Unholy Order, Insatiable Hunger, Genux's Dark Embrace
- Sorcerer: Burning Radiance, Accord
- Summoner: Agitation
- Swashbuckler: Swarthy Distraction, Freeboot, Flight of Fancy, Feigned Bravado, Bootleg, Bladeweaver
- Templar: Vigilant Benediction, Glory of Combat, Resolve
- Troubador: Elise's Ditty, Daelis' Dance of Blades, Cassindra's Chant of Clarity
- Warden: Barbcoat, Primeval Instinct, Numbing Spores, Duststorm, Vesteri's Gorseshield, Salmekia's Pact of the Pride
- Warlock: Venomous Runes, Abhorrent Gift, Toxic Grasp, Nihilism, Palon's Burning Blood
- Warrior: Battle Tactics, Uthros' Defiant Cry
- Wizard: Flametongue, Concurrence, Frostbound Gift, Frostshield, Casthopur's Frostburn, El'Arad's Custodial Warding


*** Items ***

- Empty bags can now be stored inside other bags. You can't put any items into a bag that is located within another.
- Items that have been attuned or that are marked as no trade can now be sold to NPC merchants.
- Attuned items should now stay attuned when you zone.
- The run-speed benefits of mounts and certain items have been reduced:
- Starter Mounts (2.5pp) - 24%, formerly 32%
- Standard Mounts (5pp) - 32%, formerly 40%
- Best Non Status Mount (8.2pp) - 40%, formerly 48%
- Flying Carpets/Undead Mounts (50pp and status) - 48%, formerly 56%
- Crusader Mounts - 10%, formerly 32%
- Totem buff - 24% with a 30 minute duration, formerly 40%
- Cold Link Greaves should now have the correct item icon.
- Necklace of Doom can now be equipped in the correct slot.
- The Rallosian Tunic is now light armor.
- The pants for the Monk and Bruiser level 20 quest armors should no longer use the tattered legging appearance.
- The Bramblewood round shield now looks like a round shield.
- Inspecting Petrified Eyes will now provide text explaining bone consumption.
- Vials of swordfish blood should no longer display a bug icon.
- The Rod of Everlasting Flame should now have the correct appearance.
- Bruise Forger Cestus now does the same type of damage as other cestus weapons.
- Starter weapons on the Isle of Refuge will not need to be attuned before using them.
- All kukri swords now look like kukri instead of falchions or scimitars.
– Holiday foods will now provide the same regeneration as other store-bought foods. This includes Aromatic Red Wine, Box of Jumjum Chocolates, Schmenko's Warm Spiced Cider, Festive Fruitcake, Nyla's Holiday Eggnog, and Jumjum Snap Cookies.


*** Zones and Population ***

- Timers on most instanced zones have been reduced. Level and group size requirements have been removed, except for guild raids purchased with status points and certain quest-specific zones. The new timers are as follows:
- Level 10-19 zones - 1 hour fail, 8 hour reuse
- Level 20-29 zones - 2 hour fail, 12 hour reuse
- Level 30-39 zones - 2 hour fail, 18 hour reuse
- Level 40-49 zones - 4 hour fail, 18 hour reuse
- Level 50+ zones - 6 hour fail, 18 hour reuse
- The quality of drops from level 50 epic raid encounters has been increased.
- The vertical doors in Solusek's Eye and the Obelisk of Lost Souls should work better.
- Keys that allow you to progress deeper into the Wailing Caves will now be found on their respective owners' corpses rather than inside treasure chests.
- Venekor's breath attack has been adjusted so that subsequent ticks of its damage-over-time spell do the same amount of damage as the initial hit.
- The Vision of Vox's breath weapon does less damage, but can now affect all members of a raid party. Her loot quality has been improved.
- The loot dropped by encounters in the Draconic quests has been improved.
- Foulgill the Rotten's loot has been adjusted to better match the challenge of the encounter.
- Raids cannot zone into the instanced dungeons in Enchanted Lands and Thundering Steppes.
- Entrances to the instanced dungeons in Orcish Wastes, Enchanted Lands, and Thundering Steppes will now appear more frequently.
- Advanced solo/small group encounters have been added to the Orcish Wastes, the Feerrott, and Rivervale.
- That greedy little rat Stiletto fired his scouts and is carrying out his orders alone now to maximize his profits.
- Bouncer Prud can now be found more frequently.
- Opponents that require two or more groups are now more likely to drop useful crafting components.
- NPCs in the Open Grave Heroic zone should now be between 25 and 27, except for the boss who is a higher level.
- Adjusted some of the abilities of the Drakota Niscanth.
- Under Rumbler should now be spawning correctly in the Rumbler Caves.
- Level 40+ epic encounters do slightly more spell damage and heal for slightly more.
- Boss lifetap abilities now do more damage.
- Fixed some cases where boss mobs would drop twice their intended amount of personal treasure.
- The damage done by Darathar's breath weapon has been reduced.
- Stench in the Serpent Sewer should now drop items appropriate for his level of difficulty.
- Level 50 spell scrolls will now only drop from epic encounters.
- NPCs that had been using charm spells will temporarily use other abilities until an issue with charm effects can be corrected.
- NPCs that are Wizards or Warlocks will also benefit from the changes made to player class spells. Approach with caution.


*** Quests ***

- Sir Tatters will now give the Small Matter of Bristles quest to those adventurers who declined or were unable to accept the quest before.
- Nillipuss will now only reward adventures upon completion of his quest.
- Varski, Part III can now be completed and the appropriate rewards will be given.
- Drodo will now let you complete Drodo's Goodies if you completed Curse of the Bloody Shank beforehand.
- Completion of The Lost Legend of Lavastorm heritage quest will now award status points.
- Targok will now give you another chance at accepting the third part of his quest if you initially declined the invitation.
- The items Bendik Jonkers seeks can now be found in the Edgewater Drains.
- Language quest items will now drop as corpse loot to allow those who have outleveled the creatures to complete the associated language quests.
- Additional dialog responses have been added into the Bitter Brew quest.
- Players will now receive a title reward for completing the "Deception" quest.
- Fixed some issues with the Hostile Forge instance and lowered its reuse timer.
- Corrected an issue with the access quest to the Vestibule.
- Emissary Midia in North Freeport should now allow you to complete her quest.
- You should now be able to find the bones of the Knights of the Swords of Flame.
- Gawar the Bad should now be appearing correctly in Antonica and Thundering Steppes.
- The "Deepening Barrier" quest should now be working correctly.


*** Tradeskills ***

- Four new crafting abilities have been discovered: apothecary, weaving, timbercraft, and geomancy. These skills allow all artisans to refine the materials and components needed to make final products. New recipe books can be found on merchants or scattered throughout Norrath which teach you how to use these skills. Artisans automatically gain 5 points per level in these skills.
- New events and reaction arts have been created for apothecary, weaving, timbercraft, and geomancy. Reaction arts for these skills are based on thaumaturgy, binding, woodcraft, and geocraft. These skills increase through use. The higher your skill level, the better your chances of creating higher-quality items.
- Using the new crafting abilities to create components not normally made by your profession requires additional fuel, since you aren't a master of the skills from which these new recipes originate.
- All tradeskill recipes now require a new type of fuel at each 10-level range. Fuel cost increases with level.
- Base level 0 - 4c
- Base level 10 - 14c
- Base level 20 - 58c
- Base level 30 - 2s 30c
- Base level 40 - 9s 22c
- Culinary recipes use different types of fuel that are less expensive:
- Base level 0 - 1c (Walnut Kindling)
- Base level 10 - 4c (Mulberry Kindling)
- Base level 20 - 14c (Cherry Kindling)
- Base level 30 - 55c (Hickory Kindling)
- Base level 40 - 2s 21c (Mesquite Kindling)
- A bug causing certain artisan-related skills to be 5 points too high has been corrected.
- The Advanced Scholar 15 book has been added to the appropriate loot drops.
- You can now consume food and drink properly when performing tradeskills.
- Tradeskill society tasks will now reward a 60% profit margin based on the fuel costs necessary to create the items.
- Guild tradeskill tasks that award status will also provide a 20% monetary profit based on the fuel costs necessary to create the items.
- Crafted food and drink now restores 25% more health and power per tick. Store purchased food and drink has had its restorative benefits reduced by 66%. Summoned food and drink is now half as effective.
- NPC vendors should offer to buy crafted goods at 80% to 120% of production costs. Please note that their offer is based on how many steps are required to make the item you're selling. Finished goods will sell for a small profit, whereas selling back a refined item will result in a slight loss.
- The number of charges on totems has been increased from 1 to 5.
- The number of arrows and thrown weapons produced has been increased from 5, 10, 15, or 20 (based on quality level) to 6, 13, 19, or 25.
- The number of charges on potions and poisons has been increased from 1, 2, 3, or 4 (based on quality level) to 4, 5, 6, or 7.


*** Controls, Commands, and UI ***

- Examining a spell or art now gives you more detailed information on the exact effects of the ability.
- Heal amounts are now sent to the chat window, as in "You heal <target> for X hit points." A healing subcategory has been added to the chat options.
- A Combat General chat option has been added to filter start/stop fighting messages.
- Dragging a recipe icon into the chat window should no longer cause a crash.
- Checking and unchecking categories in Chat Options now work more logically.
- Merchant UI: New categories have been added for Potions, Poisons, Lore, and Attuneable items.
- Merchant UI: Searching for Activateable items works properly.
- Merchant UI: Searching for food by con color works properly.
- Merchant UI: The names of unusable items now appear in red.
- The scroll speed of the recipe examine window has been increased.
- The chat tab frame now fades along with the main chat window frame.
- Various issues with chat scrolling have been addressed.
- A keymap has been added for the Implied Target window. You will find the option to bind a key to this window in the Controls tab of the Options menu under Window Keys.
- Chat tabs no longer share the same buffer. You can now view up to 1000 lines of text in each chat tab.
- Chat tab titles can now be up to 20 characters long.
- Shift + Page Up and Shift + Page Down now let you scroll through responses on the primary chat window (defined with "Always Chat Here").
- Your guild will no longer show up at the bottom of the social structure list.
- Quest update messages now tell you the current/needed target numbers. The wording on many quest update messages has been clarified, and colors have been changed for emphasis.
- The tooltip on ranged weapons should now report the correct damage information for when the user masters the weapon.
- Item con colors in the broker, merchant, trade, and examine windows should better indicate whether someone can use an item.
- Changed the default targeting options so that an arrow indicates the current target and there are no frames around the names of encounter members. As always, you can set the options to your liking.
- The /who command will now allow you to search on a partial guild name. Typing "/who bumb" would list people in a guild called "Bumblebees" as well as those in a guild called "Bumblers."
- There is now a confirmation dialog when destroying coins.


*** Art ***

- Riders should no longer float above their horses. Additional fixes for riding animations will follow in our next update.
- Fixed the tail on fancy horse LODs.
- Improved the horses' idle animations.


*** Audio ***

- You can no longer change the speaker type from within the game.
- Many city folk who were quiet before have found their voices.


*** UI Files Updated ***

eq2ui.xml
eq2ui_examine.xml
eq2ui_FrameStyles.xml
eq2ui_gamedata.xml
eq2ui_ime.xml
eq2ui_generictexttemplate_chatfont.xml
eq2ui_mainhud_experience.xml
eq2ui_mainhud_target.xml
e2qui_mainhud_impliedtarget.xml
eq2ui_mainhud_mainchat.xml
eq2ui_mainhud_persona.xml
eq2ui_proxyactor.xml

- The EverQuest II Team

[kiral]

mobs dont fucking show if they are no arrow, 1 or 2.. fucking is STUPID

[Martrae]

supposedly there is a way to set it back to the original way

[kiral]

it's under options > UI > name and chat bubble..

ps what is Strike back at your rival city through new sabotage quests!

and epics?

[Martrae]

There's NPC somewhere that give quests to go and burn haybales, sink boats, that sort of thing.

Epics, I dunno....