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EverQuest 2 Game Update 49 goes live

Michael Zenke — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 13:30:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, EverQuest II, Patches

It's been a bit of a wait for this one, but finally the fan-anticipated Game Update 49 has gone live on the EverQuest 2 servers. We had a chance to preview all of the great new content that SOE has put into the game late last month. Go check out our post to get a look at the fantastic new guild halls, an extension of the current quest line for the Void Storms world event, and (among other things) the ability to resize housing items. The other big pull for GU49 is, of course, the newly-revamped leveling curve that players will be able to surf. Expect to make it to make level a lot faster after today.

Allakhazam has a number of guides that will help you out with this content as well. Head on over there to check out their guide to the new Guild Halls and their amenities, as well as a walkthrough for the Void Storms world event. For fully formatted patch notes, click on through below the cut!

Gallery: EverQuest 2 GU 49 Sneak Peek

Well met, fellow Norrathian! Make sure to check out all of our coverage of the next EverQuest II expansion, The Shadow Odyssey as well as Seeds of Destruction, the next expansion to EverQuest!

Continue reading EverQuest 2 Game Update 49 goes live

EverQuest 2 Game Update 49 goes live originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 07 Oct 2008 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sneak peek at EverQuest 2 Game Update 49, and Guild Halls!

Michael Zenke — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 11:30:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, EverQuest II, Guilds, Patches, Player Housing, Massively Hands-on

The march of progress rolls forward in EverQuest 2! Coming soon to the world of Norrath is the 49th update to SOE's flagship title. GU49 adds in the latest chapter in the ongoing Void Storms world event and gives player housing a whole new breath of life ... but what players are really waiting for are the huge new structures they'll be able to own in-game.

With Game Update 49 comes the brand-new guild halls. Guild fortresses would be a better term, as these enormous structures tower over the Commonlands and Antonica, proving well and truly who the mightiest of these player organizations are. Whether you're a Freeport guild or a Qeynos guild, you'll find the change in scnery most welcome. Join us as we explore the guild halls through video and screenshots, check out the newest live event in the game, and see how all your EverQuest 2 crafting buddies are going to be going ga-ga for growth!

Check out the videos >>
Take the screenshot tour >>

Gallery: EverQuest 2 GU 49 Sneak Peek

Well met, fellow Norrathian! Make sure to check out all of our coverage of the next EverQuest II expansion, The Shadow Odyssey as well as Seeds of Destruction, the next expansion to EverQuest!

Continue reading Sneak peek at EverQuest 2 Game Update 49, and Guild Halls!

Sneak peek at EverQuest 2 Game Update 49, and Guild Halls! originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 24 Sep 2008 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EverQuest 2 leveling from 20 - 70 to become significantly faster

Samuel Axon — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, EverQuest II, Game mechanics, Patches, News items

The designers of EverQuest II are planning to make radical alterations in Game Update 49 to the leveling curve for characters between levels 20 and 70. A post by Design Supervisor Noel Walling on the official forums details the changes. Whereas it currently takes on average around 164 hours for a player to advance from 20 to 70, it will soon only take around 100. To compensate for this change, Adept I spell drops will increase.

Walling says these changes are intended to "get new players into the game faster." They're also a response to a low number of people in those level ranges. 1 - 20 and 70 - 80 are unchanged, but experience gains in the mentoring system are getting a boost to encourage higher level players to help new folks and alts level up. The benefits scale based on level, but players who are mentoring will gain between 50% and 300% extra XP from combat.

This is an answer to a big problem in these types of games; they become top-heavy, and an insurmountable barrier to entry goes up. At this point, though, does it even make sense for it to take 100 hours to reach 70? Why not just 50? If it's not fun for 164 hours, it's probably not for 100 either, right?

EverQuest 2 leveling from 20 - 70 to become significantly faster originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What you need to know about The Shadow Odyssey

Brenda Holloway — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, EverQuest II, Classes, Events, in-game, Expansions, Guilds, Patches, Previews, Crafting, Player Housing, Massively highlights

The Shadow Odyssey, EverQuest II's fifth expansion, is not just the usual bump to the level cap, a couple of new raids, and a reset for all the armor you already got. It's none of those things. What SOE has done with this expansion is go through the level 50 to level 80 portion of the game and say, let's make an expansion that has something for pretty much everyone. Let's make an expansion where even if no upgrades drop, you can be working toward some awesome stuff just by playing.

The original EverQuest started out as a supremely casual and social game. It was the players that pushed SOE to make the game more raid focused, but sometime after the heavily raid-oriented Planes of Power expansion, the casual players asked when they'd get an expansion for them. SOE came out with the Lost Dungeons of Norrath, which offered three or four variants at each of six dungeons, meant for single groups of averagely-equipped players. The difficulty and mission type could be selected, and every time you completed a mission, you got points with which you could buy hard-to-find spells, armor of near raid quality, adornments which would push that armor into the quality of raid gear, and some cool stuff only available through the LDoN merchants.

The Shadow Odyssey is EverQuest II's Lost Dungeons of Norrath -- and more. Click on through to see why TSO might be the best EQ2 expansion yet.

Well met, fellow Norrathian! Make sure to check out all of our coverage of the next EverQuest II expansion, The Shadow Odyssey as well as Seeds of Destruction, the next expansion to EverQuest!

Continue reading What you need to know about The Shadow Odyssey

What you need to know about The Shadow Odyssey originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 19 Aug 2008 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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