June 6, 2000 8:00 am
Patch Day
Greetings! The live servers have been updated to reflect the newest data on the Test Server:
General
- Some new spells are available for the hybrid classes. Check your Kunark spell vendors.
- Found and corrected a problem causing people to fall to their deaths upon zoning. The majority of these issues should no longer occur.
- Corrected outstanding issues with several quests, including the Brain Bite, Shackle of Rock, and the Barnal Flamehands quest.
- Increased treasure in many Kunark zones including The Emerald Jungle, Sebilis, and the Frontier Mountains.
- Upon review we've increased the drop-rate of level 51+ spells in Kunark. They should be more plentiful now.
- Updated pathing information in many zones, making it easier for pets and other NPCs to get around the zones.
Items
- A problem with the spell effect for the Luminary Two-Handed Sword. Current owners of this weapon will need to contact a GM to trade their sword out for a working one.
- The Gunthak Harpoon is now rentable. It will remain in your possession when you leave the game.
- A couple pieces of Blood Ember armor have been reduced in weight.
- Reduced the weight on several Monk weapons found in Kunark.
PvP Teams Servers (VZ/TZ) and Illusions
Due to an outstanding bug that allowed a player to permanently mesmerize or stun opposing team members when coupled with an illusion, illusions will now automatically cancel when the person wearing the illusion casts an offensive spell upon any player-character. Players should keep this in mind before attacking with spells in an area where their faction standing is less than desirable.
Illusions are defined as any spell that makes a character look different than they actually are. This includes all racial illusions, as well as other illusions such as Treeform, Wolfform, and the Call of Bones series.
Risk and Reward
The concept of risk and reward is very important to the game of EverQuest. Ideally, situations that provide a greater reward should also provide substantial risk. Over the past several weeks, we've been identifying areas in game where risk and reward are at a disparity, and making necessary adjustments.
In most cases, those adjustments are in favor of increasing the reward for a specific action. For example, we recently increased the experience awarded in many Kunark zones to offset the sometimes- considerable risk associated with adventuring there. We also do this quite frequently by increasing the reward associated with a quest by enhancing the item, as we did last week with the Burning Rapier quest.
However, in some cases there are instances where reward is far in excess of the risk involved, and we will be correcting these issues like those above as we come across them. For example, there are many cases where a solitary and stationary outdoor creature has a "fast spawn", yielding the reward of fast experience-gain without the commensurate risk.
Though it is not our policy to announce changes to individual NPCs, we did want to let you know that you will see risk/reward disparities corrected over the next several weeks.
PvP Teams (VZ/TZ) Character Transfers
As many people playing upon the PvP-Teams servers are aware, Vallon Zek and Tallon Zek have different rules regarding looting rights from PvP combat. Vallon Zek allows the victor to loot all coin plus one item from the fallen, whereas Tallon Zek allows only coin-loot with no right to loot items.
Due to the fact that the looting rules were changed on Tallon Zek post- production, we've decided to allow characters on both servers a one- time character-move. Registration for the move will open at 6:00pm PDT on Friday, June 9th, 2000, on both servers, and will be open through 12:00pm PDT on Monday, June 12th, 2000. You can register for the move by executing the "/movelog yes" command during the registration window. There is no limit to the number of people that we will allow to move between Tallon and Vallon Zek, so there is no reason to rush to enter the command.
Please remember that once you register for the move, your decision can not be rescinded. The actual character-move will take place sometime next week, at a time to be announced later. Please keep in mind that corpses are not moved in a character-move, so we'd recommend against leaving unclaimed corpses around after Monday of next week if you've asked to be moved.
Questions about the move process will be addressed in the Gameplay Message Forum available via www.everquest.com.
- The EverQuest Team
Updates Not Included in This Patch Message:
- Banshee Aura has had its duration increased.
- Scale of Wolf and Spirit of Scale will no longer be canceled by being the target of a melee attack. Ranged attacks and spells will still cancel the spell.
- Shaman can now cast Charm Animal
- Some enchanter and shaman spells have had their casting times/mana costs altered.
- Augment, Glamour of Kintaz, Rapture, and Clarity II have had their mana cost lowered.
- Root spells that cause damage (Druid roots, Hungry Earth) now work properly.