EverQuest 2 Game Update Blog

Optimization of the Broker is something that’s been on EQ2 Lead Programmer Rothgar’s long term To Do list for quite a while. So it was a surprise when a change we first heard about in September 2011 partly arrived in yesterday’s Update Notes.

All of those ‘vendor trash’ items with a description like “You might be able to find a merchant who would give you a few coins for this item.” are now NO BROKER. This change should help clear tens of thousands of items off the broker whose sole purpose has been to provide some flavor to players rather than just giving them gold pieces from certain mobs.

Now, this change did not go without a hitch: All Fertilizer ended up getting flagged NO BROKER.

These items which have played triple duty as food for Burynai house pets, the Guild Hall amenity of similar function, and Plant Food for house plants also got flagged as NO BROKER. As these items (ie. a flask of distilled water, a bag of compost, a large decaying bone) have traditionally traded north of 25 gold a piece, this has led to a certain amount of consternation.

According to Gninja, a fix for this issue is coming soon:

Keep an eye on the patch notes, fertilizer loot will be once again be able to be sold on the broker. Sorry about that folks!

A few people doubted that there had even been cause or request for this feature, to which Rothgar replied:

Here’s a thread from late last year where people were complaining about all the “junk” items on the broker.

http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/…topic_id=504565

Here’s another thread where people were asking for a “sell all junk” type of feature to instantly sell everything in their bags that don’t have a purpose other than for coin.

http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/…46?

The point of this change is to keep things off the broker that have no usefulness in the game except to be converted to coin at a merchant. If any items were flagged as junk that have an actual use (like fertilizers) they should be fixed.

Not surprisingly, it was brought up that long-standing issues with mechanics, zone bugs, and the half-finished itemization of Game Update 61 haven’t received so much as a peep, to which Rothgar replied:

I did this in my spare time last August because I felt strongly about improving the broker performance and adding a feature (sell all junk) that many players have requested and that I would like myself. It only took about 10 minutes of coding to give our design team the ability to flag items and keep them off the broker.

However, we were building an expansion at the same time and since this wasn’t a team initiative. I couldn’t rightfully expect the design team to start flagging items because of my own personal desire to see this get into the game. And with no clue as to when the items would be flagged, I didn’t spend the time doing the “Sell All Junk” feature because it was a little more time consuming.

With the expansion behind us now we are starting to knock out some other features and this was one of them they were able to get to. I don’t think it took them a lot of time to flag the items but unfortunately the fertilizer items were mistakenly flagged because they lumped in with a bunch of other items.

Now that we have the items flagged properly, we can finish the “Sell All Junk” feature and it’ll actually work. Even without Sell All, this change should start improving broker performance and accessibility right away, and that’s the biggest win.

Discuss this on the EQ2 Forums.

Here are today’s update notes from the EQ2 Forums:

GENERAL

Fixed a placement issue with certain moveable objects (for instance, the portals will now place properly during the Zynos fight in Anchor of Bazzul).

ACHIEVEMENTS

Characters who have completed “Your Eternal Reward” should now receive the “Agent of Freeport” achievement.

MERCENARIES

Shaman mercenaries should no longer continue to think they are in combat when it comes to casting wards on their group. They will still cast their out of combat preward spells.

ZONE PROGRESSION / POPULATION

Sundered Frontier

Fixed name on lingering slitherspines.

Tower of Tactics [Challenge]

Ambassador Grindstone will no longer reapply his Unbridled Fury of the Elements buff as soon as he has dispelled player debuffs, he waits a few seconds.

Ambassador Grindstone no longer casts Crystalline Torrent Spell.

Vallonite Sentinels no longer memwipe when they cast Sentinel’s Touch.

Vallonite Sentinels no longer taunt lock players during the fight.

Tallon’s Stronghold [Challenge]

During the Tallon Zek fight Deathbringer’s Touch is now cureable as a curse.

Tallon Zek will warn players as he teleports and will not fire his arrow volley until 10 seconds after he changes his location.

Fighters will not take as harsh a punishment if they turn their back on Tallon Zek as he is firing arrows.

TRADESKILL APPRENTICE

Tradeskill Apprentice daily reward potions are now treasured and stack to 200.

The Potion of Hastened Learning will now give +25% experience gain.

ITEMS

The Dragonflame Scale Shield is now Beastlord usable.

Corpse items can no longer be added to the broker. [Ed: This means all 'vendor trash' items which include "You might be able to sell this to a merchant for a few coin." are now non-brokerable. Unfortunately, this included fertilizer items which will be fixed in a future update..]

QUESTS

The quests “A Rat’s a Rat’s a Rat,” “A Cleansing This Temple Needs…,” and “Entering the Veil” should again update properly.

The City of Freeport

The quest “Grobb, Not Forgotten” should now reward the proper reward. Players who have already completed the quest may seek out Viducius in East Freeport to pick up their reward.

Thurgadin

Frizella Emberblossom is now more willing to give the Thudomatonian Monotony quest if you forgot to pick it up before.