Game Update 58 is looking to be a massive update, not so much in content, but in changes large and small to the game, and its User Interface.
Game Update 58 includes:
- A level 90 dungeon – Zraxth’s Unseen Arcanum
- New bosses in the Vasty Deep dungeons with new loot
- Spell Animation and Sound Effect tweaks
- Click-to-Cure
- Mounts and Currency tabs
- Numerous UI tweaks
- Outdoor Balconies have been added to 6+ room houses, making them feel a part of the city they belong to.
- House item limits have been increased, and Moving Crates now count independently of house item limits.
- Additional house items have been added to Moonlight Enchantments, City Festivals, and of course Nights of the Dead
- The adventure Vitality XP bonus remains effective at level 90.
- Betrayal now suspends your access to spells and spell upgrades you are no longer permitted to use, but does not totally reset them. Should you betray back to your original class, your spells will be restored including any spell upgrades you have purchased or researched. Changing your alignment or citizenship without changing class no longer resets your spells.
- Numerous Tradeskill tweaks
We have been unable to confirm if we can expect:
- New loot for Marks of Manaar
Update: We’ve been able to confirm this feature of Game Update 58:
- A fix for the Call of the Veteran to reduce some of the problems, and better messages when it doesn’t work.
Our more detailed preview of Game Update 58 after the jump…
High Level Content
There will be just one new top-level dungeon making an appearance — Zraxth’s Unseen Arcanum — which was first seen during the Fan Faire EQ2 Tournament. It will be presented in Normal and Hard Mode versions. It’s a small-t0-medium sized dungeon with 4 mobs, at least in easy mode. If you’d like to read some Testing comments about the Hardmode version, you can read it here.
However this will not be the only high-level content found in this update. The Vasty Deep dungeons each gain one enemy who will sometimes appear. These new enemies have new loot tables and a chance of dropping master spells. Read More about the Vasty Deep Updates @ EverQuest2.com.
Spell Animations
Game Update 57 rubbed quite a few players the wrong way. From Spell Animations reduced in visual complexity and splendor to cause less client lag in raid settings, to a UI revamp which left out the important stuff (Click-to-Cure) but seemed to focus significant attention on increasing the profile of StationCash buttons and artwork.
Since GU57, EQ2 developer Hemophobe has continued to collect input from players in the Testing forum on which class-defining spells they feel absolutely must be reverted to their original animations, or deserve some additional tweaks and improvements, even if it means those spells and combat arts make heavier use of graphics resources. Many changes in both the sound and animation of spells have changed in the months since Game Update 57, largely due to player feedback. You can read more about these changes on the EQ2 Forums.
Click-to-Cure
Available for years as an add-on from third party UI replacements such as ProfitUI and Fetish UIs, Click-to-Cure finally makes an official appearance in EQ2. Clicking on an Arcane, Elemental, Noxious, or Trauma detrimental will attempt to cure it with your own spell or potion. To facilitate further player customization of this feature, two new slash commands have been implemented so players may choose to cure group or raid members with either “whichever cure is available” or “to cure only with a spell and not a potion“.
Mounts Tab
To help players overburdened with bags filled to bursting, most forms of Currency, and most Mounts have been moved to their own tabs within the new Character window (replacing the Persona/Inventory window).
The various whistles, carpets, and other mount summoning paraphernalia can now all be stored in this special pocket, all while allowing the user to have one mount active while the appearance of another overrides it. Now, for example, you can fly a carpet, cloud, or other mount but have the benefits and speed of another.
Currency Tab
It seems like every expansion and live event has added one or more forms of Currency. From Void Shards, Marks of Manaar, and Seals of Arad, to Tinkerfest Cogs, City Tokens, and Tokens of I’ci, as well a variety of other Tokens, an alarming number of bag slots now seem dedicated to Currency. Fortunately, with Game Update 58, these items can now all be held in a sort of Currency purse free of the stacking limitations of regular bag slots.
The Currency window is not shared between characters, so you’ll still need to visit the bank to shuffle Marks of Manaar to other characters, but they will no longer take up valuable Inventory space on each character. Read More @ EverQuest2.com.
More UI Work
- Colors can now be defined for up to 20 chat channels. Up to 40 custom chat channels can now be defined, and retained between sessions.
- It is easier to view quests by Zone in the Quest Window, and it is also easier to see which quests are ready to be turned in.
- The trade window has now been expanded to 12 slots.
- The EQ2 Options window has now been divided into Basic and Advanced settings, and Advanced settings can be hidden by toggling a setting.
Welcome Screen
The price we must pay for these UI improvements, however, is the closure of various loopholes which have allowed us to block the ad-laden Welcome Screen from appearing. In this frustrating game of cat-and-mouse, at least for the time being, SOE have the upper hand and it is not possible to prevent players from being greeted by this popup ad upon first logging into EQ2. Comments on the EQ2 Forums
A Room With a View
- Some of the better Kelethin, Gorowyn, Halas, Neriak, Maj’dul, Freeport, and Qeynos housing have all seen the addition of outdoor areas which really make you feel that your house or apartment is a “part” of the city within which you live.
- Kelethin has gained two new seven-room acorns. Gorowyn has also gained six room housing. And Halas has gained new five room housing.
Guild XP and Player Vitality
- “Hell levels” encountered when trying to level a guild, such as levels 29, 41, 51, and 71 have been eliminated, with a smoother level progression from 1-80.
- Player Vitality (the +100% XP bonus for not logging into that character for several hours/days) now rewards this 100% XP bonus even at maximum level. Level 89 characters no longer need fear losing this substantial XP bonus (particularly effective when converted to AA) by leveling to 90.
Open Door Policy and New House Items
Game Update 58 will see the introduction of several new house items, which will become available from the Moonlight Enchantments event, monthly City Festivals, as well as Nights of the Dead.
- Each city festival now offers a distinctive Door item which can be placed in your house or guild hall. This long-requested item will swing open and closed when used by a visitor just like any real door and should open up design possibilities.
- Moving crates may now hold the same number of items as the house item limit. For instance, a player with a 500 house item limit may also store 500 other items in their Moving Crate without counting towards their house item limit. You may not purchase and move into a new house if the total number of items you are bringing (including the moving crate) is more than the total number of items the new house can hold (including the moving crate).
If you have not yet checked out Niami Denmother’s preview of Game Update 58 and Nights of the Dead, you should!
Tradeskills
- All tradeskill fuels have been renamed to have consistent naming. For example glowing candle, glowing coal, glowing kindling, lambent candle, lambent incense, luminous candle, luminous coal, etc. The examine descriptions on the fuel have also been standardize to say the level range they are used in.
- Tradeskill stats have moved to their own tab in the Character window.
- The Crafting Supply Depot guild hall amenity now has 200 slots.
- Transmuting distillation recipes have been added to break down rare components into common ones.
- Crafted ammo (including arrows) now stack to 200.
- Level 82 mastercrafted jewelry is now equippable at level 82.
- Tinkered feign death items now share their own unique reuse timer, fixing a bug with Adorning reactions.
- Woodworker tokens now stack to 200 and are made in batches of 20. These are new recipes, creating new items, and so will not affect the old 5-stack items. Woodworker rush order recipes are now made entirely on the woodworking table.
Betrayal
Betrayal is undergoing some changes:
- Players betraying their alignment and citizenship, but otherwise remaining the same class (for instance good ranger to evil ranger) will no longer lose any spell upgrades such as Masters.
- Players betraying to another class will no longer lose spell upgrades such as Masters, but of course will not be able to cast any spell not available to their class. Should that player betray again to their original class, they will regain access to those spells and spell upgrades.
These changes seem in line with the recent increase in the number of neutral classes. We have word that there are currently no plans to make all classes neutral.
Battlegrounds
- The three types of Battlegrounds tokens have been merged, and now stack to 200.
- Season 2 has begun, with new weapons, armor, and jewelry available on the merchants.
- Several healing AAs have had their reuse times adjusted while in PvP combat.
Multi-Attack? Not ‘Til Velious!
What’s this about Multi-Attack? Currently, one of the main statistics that melee players (fighters, scouts) try to improve is their Double Attack. The maximum value for this statistic is 100%. With this value, the player will Double Attack (or ranged double attack) on 100% of successful attacks. Multi-attack is the next logical extension of this.
A player with 150% Multi-Attack would have a 100% chance of attacking a second time, and a 50% chance of attacking a third time (Triple Attack). This change however appeared on Test prematurely and will not go live until the Destiny of Velious expansion.
Conclusion
So that’s just a taste of the many changes and improvements coming in Game Update 58. I didn’t even mention the substantial revamp to quests in Greater Faydark, numerous Class Balance tweaks and changes, some driven by Fan Faire feedback, and many other changes large and small which have appeared on the EQ2 Forums over the last 2 months.
In case you’ve been wondering where the heck I’ve been, I’ve taken a long break from EQ2 to try to recharge my battteries. After Fan Faire, and EQ2X, and some other changes, it’s been hard to get motivated to write again, but I think I’m back on the horse. Look forward to seeing you on Tuesday when Game Update 58 is expected to go live.
Player Comments on the first Game Update 58 Preview article posted at EverQuest2.com can be read on the EQ2 Forums.
An exhaustive compilation of every Test Server note since GU57 is available at EQ2 ZAM. Some of the items in those notes have already gone live, but otherwise it is a comprehensive list of all the features in or soon to be in-game.
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