Part of my job on EQII is to compile the update notes that attempt to lay out everything that changed in the latest Game Update or Hotfix. Sometimes after 5 or 6 pages of trying to get everything just right I start to go cross eyed and have to restrain myself from blowing a serious fuse every time someone points out a missing comma, period or a badly turned phrase.
A big part of the frustration is because the update notes are meant to be for everyone who plays EQII or is curious about what’s going on, so I can’t just write like me, or use the slang or in-game jargon I’m prone to. So I thought it would be fun to write about the update and what I thought rocked in it, jargon, slang and probably a few typos included!
First of all we added a new, high level group zone. For people who are 80 or close to it this is going to provide some seriously fun loot, quests and bosses. It even has shinies to go collect! The zone is based on the original Runnyeye shared dungeon but each group gets their own copy of the zone and it will persist after you leave. Even if you crash or your cat knocks out your power cord or someone else in the house tells you that you’ve been online for too long, you can come back where you left off (persistent zones FTW!) And one of my favorite things about this zone is you get to exercise your sense of humor, I love running through a zone and having a good chuckle in between slaughtering baddies.
One of the other things we added, for this update only, is a new live event: The Void Storms Pt. 1. This is a fun to do short quest that gives you a little sneak peek into some of the lore behind our expansion and a chance to get some really cool items. And as a huge bonus you can do it at any level and get experience. Do you want a wieldable pillow, hot poker or a wrench? How about clothes that let you show off your skivvies? Or maybe a few glittery sparkles for your house? This live event offers them all. Each time you complete the quest after the first attempt you get a ticket and you can use these tickets at a merchant nearby to buy some great stuff, but only until Game Update 47 when it all goes away (and something new comes along maybe?).
There was a lot of stuff in this update and I could go on for pages and pages (oh wait I did in the Update Notes *sigh*). But if I had to pick one more thing to gush about it would have to be the new items that make your mount go faster. There are a couple ways to get them, and one is to talk to a local tradeskiller. I don’t want to give away the secrets of faster mounts here, but just that they’re available now is great.
I promised myself I’d end this at one page in my text editor and I have a tiny bit of space left so I wanted to add, don’t be timid about going to try out the new stuff we added. The fan sites are doing a great job keeping up with walkthroughs if you’re not the explorer type and they have some really fun rewards that are worth getting while you have the chance. And there is a lot to see!
Jennifer Gerull aka Kirstie
Associate Producer – EQII
