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EverQuest patch switches up hot zones, nerfs some Ancient Heroes rewards
EverQuest has just been updated, and it's time to say goodbye to the ironically freezing set of hot zones that have provided icy experience bonuses for the past few months. This isn't a bad thing, as the new list of hot zones includes a number of popular areas for people to do their leveling in -- the full list can be found after the break, along with the rest of the patch notes. One of the hot zones, Howling Stones (also known as Charasis) has been altered to be more inviting for potential visitors:Apparently while performing some end-of-the-summer cleaning, the doors within Howling Stones were left unlocked. It may be some time before a maintenance crew can be sent there again to lock the doors up tight. Use this knowledge as you will. In addition, the spells protecting the entrance to Howling Stones have weakened, and adventurers of lesser skill and strength may find its halls now accessible.The other big change with this patch involves some tweaking of the Ancient Heroes missions from the previous update. The rewards from these missions have been the subject of much controversy ever since their introduction, and this patch has made many of them worthless (though they can still be refunded by handing them to the quest-giver). Having said that, some of the group-level rewards were actually improved. Hit the jump to see the patch notes in their entirety.
EverQuest offers up double experience for the Labor Day weekend
So you've got a long weekend ahead of you (if you're from the USA) and you're wondering how to spend your time. SOE wants to help make up your mind for you. They've put forward a hefty incentive for you to stop by EverQuest's Norrath at some point during the weekend, offering to make it doubly rewarding to do so. That's right -- the rate of experience will be doubled starting from 10:00AM PDT today, allowing players to speed their characters through the levels, or perhaps just rack up eleventy-million AA points. For the best results, make sure to do your hunting in one of the current Hot Zones that show up on the Welcome Screen; we've been assured that the bonuses do stack.Very generously, the bonus will continue to be applied until 10:00AM PDT on Tuesday. If you pull an all-nighter to catch the tail-end of it and go into work looking like a zombie, at least you'll be able to brag about all the levels you gained.
EverQuest II producer's letter looks at "Shards of Destiny"
EverQuest II's senior producer Alan "Brenlo" Crosby has penned his latest letter to the community, mainly to talk about the next big Game Update Shards of Destiny and its arrival on the Test Server. While the patch isn't slated to go live until late September, players on Test can try out some of the new features already. One new system that is being introduced is Chronomagic, which allows players to reduce their level by speaking to an NPC in town, meaning they can play with lower level friends or simply revisit earlier content. Another Shards of Destiny addition is housing renovations, providing more space and room for items.If you're just after new content, the patch will have some of that too. There will be a new x4 dungeon called Miragul's Planar Shard, and Erollisi Marr's Shard of Love ought to bring some romance to Norrath. EverQuest II will also be jumping on the achievement bandwagon, adding their own Achievement System. All of the above isn't coming for another few weeks, but Brenlo did mention a small patch that just went in a few days ago too. It added a field to the "Welcome" screen that lists the current Daily Mission, as well as the current "Hot Zone". In the past, EQII's Hot Zones were temporary experience bonuses, but the term's meaning has been changed to indicate zones with an increased fabled item drop-rate. Not too shabby.
"Hot Zones" provide extra experience in EQII this weekend
If you're leveling up an alt in EverQuest II, this weekend will provide an excellent opportunity to put a bunch of levels behind you, as certain zones will be positively burning with the tremendous heat that extra experience points generate. That's right -- some regular zones have become "Hot Zones" and players can enjoy a boosted XP rate whilst hunting in them over the weekend.There's a theme to the Hot Zones, and it's decidedly old-school. All of the affected zones are from the original game's release, with none o' them newfangled expansion areas included. The bonus zones are The Caves, Antonica, Sunken City, The Commonlands, Nektulos Forest, Enchanted Lands and Everfrost. EQII. The announcement on the community site also features quite a staggering number of screenshots of the aforementioned zones that are sure to poke at your nostalgia glands, and perhaps inspire you to get out there and make use of the XP bonuses on offer.
