Everyone Missed It: Daybreak Permanently Closes Everquest Player Studio


Since Daybreak has fallen out of the public spotlight, nobody notices when they shut things down anymore.

Flashback to March 1 and you will find producer Nick Silva stating that the player studio is absolutely not dead, and will in fact return better than ever.

“In the meantime, we will be evaluating options for overhauling the Player Studio site with the intention of allowing broader categories of submissions and a more streamlined submission process.”

Unfortunately the player studio is yet another reminder that anything coming out of Daybreak should be taken with a grain of salt. In an announcement on June 22 that absolutely nobody noticed because not a single gaming website (including this one) reported on it, Daybreak quietly took the Everquest/Everquest 2 Player Studio out back and gave it the Old Yeller treatment. The announcement is as follows (their strikethroughs, not mine).

Over the years, EverQuest II players have remained some of the most dedicated in any virtual world. Since Player Studio first launched, we have constantly found ourselves impressed and humbled by the boundless creative talents of our players. Over the years, members of our community have created countless new items that help bring even more color to the world of Norrath. After nearly 6 years, the Player Studio program has concluded for both EverQuest and EverQuest II. Player Studio items that have been previously approved will be released and remain in-game, but players will not have the ability to submit new items. We’d like to thank each of you for sharing your creations with us.

This sunsetting makes Planetside 2 the only game remaining with Studio support, and the term “support” might be generous. The Planetside 2 sector of the Player Studio is performing fantastically, with the creator forums seeing an entire thirteen posts over the entirety of 2019. One of the posts is lamenting the fact that the user’s creation has been in limbo for over a year with nobody bothering to look at a simple decal submission. There has been roughly one developer post on the entire studio forums in the last two years, and that was to announce the initial suspension of new creators.

Source: Daybreak

Both Everquest Titles Reveal Upcoming Expansions


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Everquest and Everquest 2 are set to receive their next expansions, and yes I said expansions. In both cases, more details are expected to be released on October 1st, alongside a live stream where Daybreak will be running through some of the new zones.

For Everquest, the expansion includes 15 new raids accompanied by new AA’s, new gear, new spells, and more. The news post also notes that this is the last chance to get your hands on Darkened Sea collectors items.

We wanted this expansion to have content that reached beyond the highest-level players. So, in addition to new and updated zones for levels 105, we are including two instanced raid zones for levels 75 to 105 to play in together! These “level agnostic” raid zones will balance themselves to the highest level player in your raid. It just so happens that these two level agnostic zones are the original Plane of Fear and Plane of Hate! So if you never got a chance to raid in those planes, or long for them, you can relive those days with a broader range of players when we launch.

For Everquest II, the expansion promises content that everyone can enjoy, from dungeons to raids, new items, and plenty of new things to craft. Similar to EQ1, the latest expansion Altar of Madness is 50% off in the store and will no longer be available to purchase after October 1st.

The 12th expansion for EverQuest II includes a sprawling overland and loads of content with quests, advanced solo and heroic dungeons, and a healthy number of raids including x2s and x4s. Not only that, but we’re doing level-agnostic versions of each of the new dungeons! We have a couple of new types of items to talk about as well as an updated Deity system to give you details on! Tradeskillers, we’ve got new quests and recipes for you as well!

More information is coming October 1st.

(Source: Everquest, Everquest 2)

Everquest 2 To Merge Servers


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Daybreak Game Company has announced that servers for Everquest II will be merged at some point in the near future. In the latest producer letter, Holly Longdale announced that servers will be merged ahead of upcoming cross-server dungeon tech, with more details to follow in the coming months.

We’ll give you specific dates as we get closer. This is very challenging work that will branch off from our Cross-Server Dungeon work. Luckily, what we plan to do for true Cross-Server Dungeons & Battlegrounds logically helps us merge characters to new servers. We’ve already had our incredible coders working on the foundation of cross-server processes for a few months already. Our database changes earlier this year were the first step.

Everquest 2 players can also look forward to time-locked progression servers.

(Source: Everquest 2)

SOE Abolishes Gold Limits To Promote Krono


The Krono is an item similar to PLEX in that it is purchased on the cash shop and can be traded between players for in-game currency, and then redeemed for a month of subscription. The idea behind the item is to undercut gold farmers and (in the case of Everquest II) to allow for the safe trade of platinum for subscription time (players trade platinum for SOE codes, which is incredibly risky for the buyer). While some of the community disagree with the item as a concept, the introduction has prompted an unexpected, but hardly unwelcome change to the way Sony limits accounts.

Under the current system, Krono is kind of self-defeating. The item is selling for hundreds (seven or eight hundred, approximately) of platinum on the trade broker, and the item is impossible to buy for anyone who isn’t already a subscriber due to the hard cash limits placed on accounts. However, in the patch notes for the public test realm for Everquest II, the following note popped up:

Memberships: There will no longer be coin limits on any account types.

Since Krono is coming to other titles in SOE’s library, it’s probably safe to assume that those games will lose their cash limits as well, if for no other reason than to open a larger market for people to buy Krono.

(Source: EQ2 Forums)

Everquest II And Cancer: A Froglok's Story


This is a depressing post but I need some help.  My 6 yr old son has cancer and was recently given 6 – 12 weeks to live.

He has a frog that he likes to run around Tenebrous Tangle Island on; however, it is sparse and he has requested to add trees, fences, stairs, animals and all kinds of  other  items to make his  island fun and exciting.

Are there any decorators out there that would be willing to assist in adding these items (and any others their imagination poses) to help me make the island even more fun for him.  I don’t know how much I’ll be able to accomplish on my own while still providing him quality time to enjoy it.

Any takers, please send an ingame mail to any of my following toons:

Myrose, Mistymountain, Martine, Minuet

Thank you in advance.

MMO Fallout would like to extend our thoughts and wishes to Ribbitribbit and his family, and a big nod to the Everquest II community for joining together to create one of the best looking houses, and to Sony for promoting the event and getting more people involved.

If you want a link to the Everquest II thread, click above. Check out the video below for a slideshow made by user Cyliena. You can see videos of the actual Ribbitribbit’s reaction to the house here.

Everquest II And Cancer: A Froglok’s Story


This is a depressing post but I need some help.  My 6 yr old son has cancer and was recently given 6 – 12 weeks to live.

He has a frog that he likes to run around Tenebrous Tangle Island on; however, it is sparse and he has requested to add trees, fences, stairs, animals and all kinds of  other  items to make his  island fun and exciting.

Are there any decorators out there that would be willing to assist in adding these items (and any others their imagination poses) to help me make the island even more fun for him.  I don’t know how much I’ll be able to accomplish on my own while still providing him quality time to enjoy it.

Any takers, please send an ingame mail to any of my following toons:

Myrose, Mistymountain, Martine, Minuet

Thank you in advance.

MMO Fallout would like to extend our thoughts and wishes to Ribbitribbit and his family, and a big nod to the Everquest II community for joining together to create one of the best looking houses, and to Sony for promoting the event and getting more people involved.

If you want a link to the Everquest II thread, click above. Check out the video below for a slideshow made by user Cyliena. You can see videos of the actual Ribbitribbit’s reaction to the house here.

John Smedley’s Twitter: Everquest II Free To Play Statistics


John Smedley strikes me as a guy who likes to display his company’s achievements. After all, who can blame him? Sony Online Entertainment has one of the most dedicated group of jaded gamers than any other company, so the opportunity to throw your achievements in their face is one that should be taken at any opportunity. Everquest II went fully free to play in December, and John Smedley is ready to give some figures. Through Twitter!

We are seeing some amazing growth in EQ2. 40% increase in daily logins since going f2p. 300% increase in new players. And 200% increase in Item sales. Plus we have added a lot of new subs. All during the time that some really good competition hit the market.

The only thing this announcement is missing is Neil Patrick Harris.

John Smedley's Twitter: Everquest II Free To Play Statistics


John Smedley strikes me as a guy who likes to display his company’s achievements. After all, who can blame him? Sony Online Entertainment has one of the most dedicated group of jaded gamers than any other company, so the opportunity to throw your achievements in their face is one that should be taken at any opportunity. Everquest II went fully free to play in December, and John Smedley is ready to give some figures. Through Twitter!

We are seeing some amazing growth in EQ2. 40% increase in daily logins since going f2p. 300% increase in new players. And 200% increase in Item sales. Plus we have added a lot of new subs. All during the time that some really good competition hit the market.

The only thing this announcement is missing is Neil Patrick Harris.

Veteran Rewards For Free Players? Sony Breaks The Rules


If 2011 is any indication, Sony Online Entertainment has been working hard to keep their players in good faith and put the old Sony (the one that would fundamentally alter a game years after release) behind them, even if it means busting the norms of free to play conversions. Everquest 2 players are already aware of Sony’s offer to activate any existing characters for free, refunding race/class packs that were purchased over the past two days.

To sweeten the deal even more, Sony announces their next treat with a question: Why should veteran rewards be available only for subscribers? After all, players may not subscribe but they might spend money in the cash shop as a silver member. So beginning December 9th, all Everquest II players will enjoy veteran rewards based on the date of their account creation.

(source: EQ2 Forums)

Everquest II’s Free To Play Meets Minor Delay


Everquest II: Age of Discovery is the eight expansion in a growing list for Everquest II, and also marks a rather substantial undertaking for Sony Online Entertainment. Yesterday, servers for both Everquest II and Everquest II Extended were brought down in preparation for a merger of the two games into one free to play service, to coincide with the release of a brand new expansion pack and a fully revitalized city of Freeport. Needless to say, the twelve hour window offered by Sony was not enough, and technical difficulties have delayed implementation well past the twenty four hour mark.

The servers won’t be up until 10am PST (estimated) or 1pm EST, but until then players can still make time by ensuring their launcher is updated and downloading the updates Sony has made available so far.