JUNE 13, 2006

We've now upgraded to DirectX 9.0c!

• Continuing our efforts to keep pace with current technology, EverQuest will be upgrading to DirectX 9.0c to allow us to take advantage of many of the new features and fixes since our last upgrade in the middle of 2003. You will need to be sure that you are currently running DirectX 9.0c. If not you will need to download it. This can be done by simply going to http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=56513&clcid=0x409 and following the instructions there.

Make sure you:

1. Get the April 2006 DirectX 9.0c redistributable version (Caution: Download is about 52 MB) at: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=fb73d860-5af1-45e5-bac0-9bc7a5254203&DisplayLang=en
2. Run directx_apr2006_redist.exe. Extract the files to an easily identifiable directory.
3. Go to the directory the files were extracted to in step 2. Run "DXSETUP.EXE" from that directory.
4. Accept the license agreement. Allow the installer to update the DirectX components.

Headlines:

• Nektulos Forest got a face lift! Check out the amazing new look.
• The Guild Lobby is now available to everyone.
• The 8th-year veteran reward Throne of Heroes, a gate ability that transports veterans to the throne room in the guild lobby, is now available to those who are eligible.
• The map window now has an option to display your group mates.
• To help smooth the transition to incurring death penalties for new players (losing experience and leaving a corpse), the level when you start to incur death penalties has been lowered from level 11 to level 6 and the amount of experience you lose when you die now starts at a very small amount at level 6 and slowly ramps up from there. We've added a corpse summoner to the tutorial who will summon corpses for free for anyone who is level 10 or under.
• New Hot Zones! With this patch the old hot zones have been reverted to their previous values and a new set of hot zones has been selected! The following zones are now the "Hot Zones"!
• Level 20: Swamp of No Hope
• Level 25: Overthere
• Level 30: Timorous Deep
• Level 35: Emerald Jungle
• Level 40: Dreadlands
• Level 45: City of Mist
• Level 50: Skyfire
• Level 55: Karnor's Castle
• Level 60: Veksar

Spells:

• Fire pets should now regenerate mana appropriately.
• Pet spells and weapon procs now report to the owner and can be filtered appropriately.
• The refresh time on Spirit of Bih`Li has been reduced.
• The damage on Bloodpyre and Heartblaze have been increased.
• The effect from your aura will no longer be removed if you use an illusion.
• Having an aura up should no longer cause targeting issues while you are under illusions.
• Illusion: Werewolf now uses the new werewolf model. This applies to enchanter spells and item effects.
• Bard songs will now stop pulsing when an NPC forces the bard to feign death.
• You can now turn off messages generated by bard songs affecting your pet.
• Buffs that increase run speed will no longer overwrite AA run speed increases that are better than the buff.
• You can now specify beneficial spells to block by name using the Blocked Buff window. This will allow you to block spells that don't have a buff icon without editing a file.
• Attempting to gate or teleport to a zone that isn't currently running will no longer result in your spell bar being locked up.
• Several spell texts which were gender-specific have been changed to something more gender-neutral.
• Added a wear-off message to Elddar's Grasp, Puratus, Harmony of Nature, and Mind Shatter.
• Short duration buff icons should now be a consistent size.
• Eyes of Zomm have been sedated and should no longer decide to attack their owners from time to time.
• Sitting while levitation wears off will no longer leave your character looking like he's falling until you stand up again.

AAs:

• Added the 8-year veteran reward Throne of Heroes, a gate ability that transports veterans to throne room in the guild lobby.
• Pious Supplication has been renamed to Improved Hand of Piety.

Items:

• Increased the amount of experience that evolving items gain when you kill an NPC. In addition, you will now gain more experience toward your evolving item when you are in a group, similar to how normal experience works.
• Reduced the amount of experience required to level up intelligent items. If your items now have more experience than is required to level, they will evolve the next time they gain experience.
• Due to the changes to how fast you gain item XP, the amount of XP required to evolve the Cloak of the Spirit Tracker has been increased.
• Evolving an item should no longer cause occasional crashes.
• The aura effects from Prophecy of Ro "clicky" items are no longer restricted to only hitting your group. In addition, they will no longer recast their effect every 6 seconds, but instead will remain on a character for as long as they are within range of the aura.
• Throwing axes should now pull from ammo/inventory appropriately.
• Lowered the duration on the spin stun on Peace of the Disciple Strike and One Hundred Blows while in PvP.
• Bane of Muram and Curse of Muram now last 18 and 36 seconds respectively.
• Modified the Battleworn Symbol of Rage. The charm was calculating values higher than intended and now should be on par with other Demiplane of Blood level charms.
• Changed all four of the Furious Bash Augments from DoD that use Ambleshift's Amazing Automated Amalgamator to Improved Block. Additionally the names of the Chronal, Discordant and Bazu seals have been changed appropriately.
• Altered the Favorable Breezes line of augments from DoD that use Ambleshift's Amazing Automated Amalgamator. They now give a different progression of effect.
• Increased the level required to equip the following augments to 45 to match the level that their effect is able to be used: Carnivorous Coral, Deepwood Hunter's Stone.
• Increased the level required to equip the following augments to 60 to match the level that their effect is able to be used: Green Fire Phosphorous, Frozen Malachite, Jagged Dragon Scale, Turquoise Lifetap Sieve.
• Increased the level required to use the following augments to 65 to match the level that their effect is able to be used: Volcanic Sink Geode, Deep Crust Frozen Malachite, Vein Sap Mineral, Ethereal Sky Stone, Faerie Luck Stone.
• The Mystical Aptitude effect will now last its full 20 minutes.
• Vibrating Gauntlets of Infuse and Vibrating Hammer of Infuse are now lore to each other. This is to prevent players from getting into an odd state that could cause a crash.
• Barbarians can now use Naturalist's Leather Arm Wraps.
• Roleplayer's Jester now looks like a doll rather than a bag.
• The Burning Affliction focus effect on The Skull of Torture should now work properly.
• Increased the stats on the Wrought Blade of Hiz.
• Bravefoot Short Sword is now considered a one-handed slashing weapon instead of one-handed blunt.
• The Cracked Stone of Savagery now has the proc effect of Lifesap I.
• The Shard of Crystallized Rage now has the proc effect of Fiery Strike II.

Skills:

• Made changes to the taunt formula at high levels. A level 60 character taunting an even con or higher level NPC will now use the character's taunt skill to determine success rate, similar to what occurs below level 60. The chance to taunt is roughly the same. In addition, the reduction in your chance to taunt creatures higher level than yourself now occurs at a slower rate and the minimum chance to taunt an NPC is higher. Also, you will now gain a bonus to your chance to taunt NPCs that are lower level than yourself. To go along with the change to use a character's taunt skill after level 60, paladins and shadowknights have had their taunt caps increased to match warriors and ranger's skill cap has been increased to 200.
• Taunts that fail because of distance will no longer cause you to have to wait the cool down period before attempting to taunt again.
• Ranged combat should behave much more consistently now.
• Increased the sense and disarm range on many traps throughout the world.
• /con will now properly report whether an NPC can see you sneaky rogues.

Tradeskills:

• Increased the amount of mobs that can drop exceptional shissar blood.
• The tradeskill recipes for Dreary Deeds and Infusion of Spirit have finally been discovered.
• Merchants across the world realized that they were selling small pieces of ore at a loss. They have mutually agreed on a price increase.
• The poisons from the Omens of War era will no longer magically create a vial; they now require two of the appropriate poison vial.
• You will no longer be able to combine ingredients that you have up for sale in the bazaar.
• The Antonican forge has moved to outside of Armor by Ikthar.
• Failing to create Frost Bunny Stew will now return your pot to you.
• Fixed the bug to the evolution of the tradeskill trophies for players using lower than master certificates while having a 300 skill.
• Bristlebane's Challenge and Bristlebane's Challenge Meats have changed to No Drop.
• Fixed a bug in the wording of the Grandmaster's Book of Barbarian Culture.
• Expanded the shark skins that can be used to make advanced poison vials. There are two shark skin items, both with the same name.
• Seeping Haze poisons will now properly bestow the Seeping Haze proc effect.
• Bitter feedback poisons will not properly bestow the Bitter Feedback proc effect.

Quests:

• Removed the "Loot 4" requirement from all of the "Bring Me Their Heads" quests in Devastation and Stronghold of Rage. This should make these quests more accessible by allowing characters to collect the items needed, then get the quest and hand them in to complete it.
• Added an experience reward for the "Bring Me Their Heads" and "Engines of Destruction" tasks in the Devastation and Stronghold of Rage.
• Fixed a problem with the Shaman epic 2.0 Elder Spirit of Enlightenment in West Freeport. Seemed he wanted to enlighten himself by wandering where he shouldn't. He should now happily lead shamans from the Jade Tiger Inn into the courtyard for the ritual.
• The drop rate of the Twilight Sea armor quest gems has been increased significantly. In an effort to keep the amount of money entering the world from those gems roughly the same, the value of the gems has been reduced as a result.
• Shalowen the Pure will now return The Chalice of Life if you have completed the single group missions in his arc in order and turning in the chalice of life drop from the Corruption of Ro raid.
• Exploring the Valley of Xanzerok for the Arcstone quests should now work correctly when levitating.

Events:

• The LDoN raids have been switched over to use the expedition system. This means you can add new players to the raid at any time, and the lockout occurs at the end after a success instead of at the beginning when the raid is launched. Also, the maximum player limit has been increased from 36 to 54, and all death count failure mechanics have been removed.
• The events in Deathknell, Tower of Dissonance now have individual lockout timers instead of applying a lockout to the entire zone.
• Made some tuning changes to the first raid event in Deathknell.
• The Deathknell Enforcers will no longer use Immobilizing Stone.
• Added a tether to Maestro Tan`Lor in Theater of Blood.
• The lava spout traps have been removed from the Tirranun encounter.
• The traps in the Inktu`ta raid should fire off much less often, as well as be easier to locate and disarm.
• Mayong will now teleport back to his spawn point if he wanders too far from his room.
• Fixed a crash bug that could occur in the Demi-Plane of Blood during the Performer event.
• Drekish the Enforcer of Ro will now properly reset in the event of a failure in the Corruption of Ro raid.
• You now only need one flagged player to initiate the 18-man Kunark Monster Mission raid: Fall of an Empire.
• The invaders that breach the walls into the Stronghold of Rage will be a bit less easy to split.

Missions:

• Increased the distance that the Dwarf armies must be from basecamp in The Defense of Thurgadin monster mission before they return to full combat potential. Units moving to forward locations are guaranteed to be back in combat states when they reach their destinations but may still be thinking of resting while they are in transit.
• Dain`s Historian Duggans will now review with you which of his missions you have completed and turned in a seal for that mission. Simply ask him to "Review" the Coldain History you have studied.
• Corrected an issue that could cause you to not get credit for finishing the mission "Train" if you were charmed when it completed.
• Corrected an issue that could cause the mission "Creepy Concerto" to not update properly if there were pets or auras in the mission.

Zones:

• The Guild Lobby is now available to everyone, whether they own Dragons of Norrath or not.
• Added a guild hall port stone to Arcstone.
• Added an Augment Sealer Pool to Arcstone.
• Fixed a number of crashes that could occur with older graphics cards in Anguish and Muramite Proving Grounds.
• The portal out of Veeshan's Peak will now take you to the proper version of Freeport.
• Fixed a problem that was causing NPCs to fall under the world in Dawnshroud Peaks.
• Creatures in Devastation now travel in smaller packs and are slightly weaker than before.
• The portal to Dranik's Scar from East Freeport has a visual effect again.
• The entrances to Paineel and The Hole can be lock picked once again.
• The Hunter/Forager cycle in Trakanon's Teeth should no longer spawn multiple copies of the same creatures.
• Corrected an issue that could cause several non-targetable creatures to attack you in Halls of Honor.
• Casting Succor in Grimling Forest will no longer put you under the world.
• Fixed a problem with the Guild Hall Portal that could cause the teleport confirmation window to display the incorrect target zone.
• Fixed an issue in Illsalin that was causing groups of arena combatants not to despawn after the event.
• You should no longer get stuck behind the grate leading into Dranik Sewers.
• Kerra Ridge should now be much friendlier to lower level adventurers.

NPCs:

• Updated the character models for many NPCs throughout the world. This includes changing Illusion: Werewolf to use the new werewolf model.
• The corpse summoners in the guild lobby are no longer fooled by shrouding down to lower levels before handing in a soul stone.
• Creatures without legs have lost the ability to kick.
• The treants in Theater of Blood that have been shedding hooves and horse meat will no longer do so.
• Lowered the hit points and increased the respawn time of the door that leads from Devastation into Stronghold of Rage to make access to Stronghold of Rage easier.
• The angry and hurt Faydedar that Dolgin helps people bait no longer has any viable meat on him.
• Terrorantula's children should no longer warp across the desert.
• Summoning a horse should no longer upset nearby NPCs.

Maps:

• Cartographers have been very busy. Numerous map fixes made.
• The map window now has an option to display your group mates.

UI:

• The default size for the barter and bazaar windows has been increased.
• You can now filter the barter window by seller name.
• The guild window should now display information properly for guilds with over 999 members.

Miscellaneous:

• Corrected a problem with channeling that was causing you to channel through damage (not bash, kick, stun, or movement) 100% of the time if you didn't have any channeling AAs. Interrupts from damage are now back to working how they did previously and your chance to channel through damage is based on your channeling skill.
• We've now upgraded to DirectX 9.0c!
• Many pathing issues have been resolved. Monsters rejoice!
• The Universal Chat system will replace the old Channel Server for all channel operations. All player-owned channels will be moved over automatically and using channels in the new system is the same as before, so you should not notice any difference. One of the primary benefits of this change is that channels now support cross-server and cross-game functionality. EQIM will no longer work with this change however we do intend to remedy this situation if possible in the future.
• Luclin character models are now available to everyone, whether they own Shadows of Luclin or not.
• Increased the amount of experience you gain toward your shroud progression when you kill an NPC as a shroud. In addition, you will now gain more experience toward your evolving item when you are in a group, similar to how normal experience works. This does not affect the evolving tradeskill trophies, which don't gain experience from killing creatures.
• Fixed a number of rendering anomalies that could occur throughout the game.
• Targeting corpses should now be much easier and much less confusing.
• Item links can now be sent across Universal Chat channels!
• Ogre females using voice emotes for Agree and Disagree will now play the proper voices.
• Player and NPC names should now be rendering correctly at all times when they are overlapping.