Classic Era

The classic era lasted from 3/16/99 to 4/24/2000, about one year and one month. This time period coincides with the initial release of Everquest until the release of its first expansion, Ruins of Kunark.

The patch messages shown below are divided into minor eras within the classic time period that roughly correspond to when significant changes took place.

Classic Core Era	Plane of Fear Era	Temple of Solusek Ro Era	Plane of Hate Era	Plane of Sky Era
1999 03 16 1999 04 06 1999 04 13 1999 04 14 1999 04 20 1999 04 27 1999 04 29 1999 05 04 1999 05 18 1999 05 24 1999 06 07 1999 06 08 1999 06 13 1999 06 27 1999 07 13 1999 07 16	1999 07 26 1999 08 09 1999 08 10 1999 08 26 1999 08 31 1999 09 13 1999 09 14 1999 09 21 1999 09 23 1999 09 24 1999 09 28	1999 10 13 1999 10 14 1999 10 20 1999 10 21 1999 10 28	1999 11 03 1999 11 15 1999 11 16 1999 11 23 1999 12 01 1999 12 04 1999 12 08 1999 12 09 1999 12 14 1999 12 15 1999 12 21	2000 01 20 2000 01 28 2000 02 02 2000 02 17 2000 02 23 2000 02 25 2000 03 02 2000 03 09 2000 03 14 2000 03 16 2000 03 21 2000 03 22 2000 03 24 2000 03 29 2000 03 31 2000 04 11 2000 04 17 2000 04 19 2000 04 21

Core Classic Era

March 16, 1999 - Game Launches - First patch server message

(NOTE: taken from: http://web.archive.org/web/20010312012332/http://www3.jcss.net/~rpg/eqi/news/99-3-15.htm)

March 16, 1999

Welcome to EverQuest! Please contact customer service (888-GAMES-02 or "Technical Support" in the chat) if you have any problems creating an account or logging into the game.

April 6, 1999 News Bit from John Smedley

Music works on all sound cards. If you still aren't getting music, double check to make sure that music is turned on in-game. In addition, you may not have correct drivers, and/or you may not have it set properly. In any case, either call our tech support or go to the tech support area in chat. Please be advised that music DOES have a performance impact on the game, although it is a small one.

Frame Rate Speedup - Our resident graphics genius sped up the game a fair amount. Those of you in areas like Greater Faydark should see some real improvements.

Corpse Bug - We've been tracking a nasty little bug that would make corpses disappear. I'm sure many of you know firsthand about this one. We finally nailed it and it should be safe to die again ;)

There's a whole bunch of other stuff that has been fixed as well and is listed in the patch message.

Just as an FYI we did find a server-side bug that's been fixed and we will probably have to down the servers one at a time to update since this bug is one that really needs to be fixed.

One final Item: Yes, glide on banshee's is coming back. It should be in later this week.

- John Smedley, President and CEO: Verant Interactive, Inc.

April 6, 1999 First Known Content Patch of Classic EQ

(NOTE: auto-translated from japanese and taken from here: http://web.archive.org/web/20010312012253/http://www3.jcss.net/~rpg/eqi/news/99-4-1.htm)

(UPDATE: English notes found here: http://web.archive.org/web/20001007194710/http://www.eqtrade.com/cgi/news.pl?id=20)

We will be opening up a new section on the EverQuest website solely dedicated to the Test Server. Once the Test Server section is available, changes and bug fixes made to the Test Server will be documented, so that you may help us test the changes.

As for server updates, from this day forward, we will be updating the regular EverQuest servers every Tuesday morning at 3:00am Pacific Standard Time.

We will be performing a patch and server update at 3:00am Pacific Standard Time on Tuesday, April 6th. The patch contains the following additions and fixes;

1. Crashing while giving newbie items to NPCs.
2. Going link-dead would cause the character to regenerate extremely quickly.
3. Various sound related crashes were fixed.
4. Created items disappearing from characters after zoning.
5. Characters able to use skills, which are not allowed for their specific class.
6. A limit to the successful hit and spell messages has been implemented that should reduce the number of unneeded messages sent to the players.
7. After slaying a creature, the player will receive a proper faction hit.
8. Occasionally, after being disconnected, users would crash upon re-logging into the server.
9. The DLS sound system is now enabled.
10. A new text command, "/reply " has been implemented. This will allow players to reply to the last character that sent a private tell message.
11. Many adjustments to the faction system were made.
12. Multiple quest-related bugs were fixed.
13. A slew of quests were added.
14. A number of new music tracks were added to various zones.
15. Occasionally, sound settings would reset to default, while graphically, the slider bars appeared to be correct.
16. Various safe zones were eliminated to prevent exploitation.
17. Some equipped weapons and items would draw into the user interface overlays, which would result in the client crashing.
18. It was possible to strafe at normal speed while rooted or sneaking.
19. All hybrid classes now receive meditate at level 12.
20. Experience over level 30 will now be reflected properly on the user's experience bar.

- The EverQuest Team

Dolalin: Also, this is when Bixies got their faction adjustments:

(http://www.eqtrade.com/cgi/news.pl?id=19)

 Patch Changes [ ShadowMaster at 06:59 CST ]
 EQVAULT:
 Endareth informed me that the most recent patch did some interesting things to EverQuest. Here's the undocumented changes:
 
 After logging in this morning for a quick game before work, I found what seems to be an undocumented addition to the new patch. After killing a Bixie, it gave me my faction
 adjustments! Down with the Bixies, and up with the Defenders of the Forest. As I understand, in beta this was included, but was taken out for final release, and I guess 
 it's now back in. Also, /loc seems to have been modified, no more direction. This is fair enough, as it kind of invalidated the Sense Heading skill as it was.
 
 Thanks

April 13, 1999

(NOTE: This patch message auto-translated from Japanese and taken from here: https://web.archive.org/web/20020615112048fw_/http://www4.big.or.jp/~kenzi/eq/old-04.html)

(UPDATE: Found an English version: http://web.archive.org/web/20001205214700/http://www.eqtrade.com/cgi/news.pl?id=17)

 April 12th, 7:00pm
 ------------------
 We will be updating the servers at 3:00am Pacific Standard Time on Tuesday, April 13th. A patch is required.
 The following changes were made:
 
 1) The proper model will appear while selecting a previously created character in the Character Selection screen.
 2) Players will be properly notified when entering a PK(Player Kill) region.
 3) Users should no longer fall through the world.
 4) The Sun and Moon are now visually back.
 5) Glide 3 has been enabled for use with Banshee boards (please note that the 3dfx Glide drivers required can be found at www.everquest.com).
 6) Character corpses should no longer abruptly disappear or decay extremely quickly.
 7) Player's corpses should now appear at the feet of the NPC that dealt the deathblow.
 8) Various crash bugs.
 
 - The EverQuest Team

April 14, 1999

(NOTE: Found here: http://web.archive.org/web/20001205214700/http://www.eqtrade.com/cgi/news.pl?id=17 )

 April 14th, Noon
 -----------------
 1) Two server side zone related crashes have been resolved.
 2) A bug with the charm spell which caused players to be killed.
 3) A small number of players were having their characters become corrupt -- additional safeguards have been implemented to prevent against this occurring, 
 however, we feel that the changes made eliminated the problem.
 4) A few minor NPC combat related exploits have been rectified.
 
 - The EverQuest Team

April 15, 1999

(NOTE: Found here: http://web.archive.org/web/20001205214700/http://www.eqtrade.com/cgi/news.pl?id=16 )

 April 15th, 5:00pm
 ------------------
 The server update last night went flawlessly, and has appeared to resolve a zone crash problem which 
 was occurring. Our next server update is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, April 20th at midnight 
 Pacific Daylight Time. An updated list of changes and bug fixes will be posted on the EverQuest news 
 section on the login server.
 
 UUnet has informed us that they will be performing an upgrade to their San Diego router at 3:00am on 
 April 20th.
 
 - The EverQuest Team

April 16, 1999 Test Server update

(NOTE: auto-translated from japanese and taken from here: http://web.archive.org/web/20010312012916/http://www3.jcss.net/~rpg/eqi/news/99-4-16.htm)

From the Test Server page (Note: Applies only to Test Server):

Test server update 4/16

When NPC trades, it states that you can't buy multiple items such as Magic Scrolls.
"255" is no longer displayed when Resistance drops below 0.
No “rain” sound effect when snowing.
If you become "knocked unconscious", it will no longer be invisible to other players.
Pick-pockets cannot be made from corpses.
The F8 key will no longer target the user's pet.
Even if an item is placed on the ground, it is displayed normally.

If there are no major problems with the above changes, it will be announced to general servers on Tuesday at 12:00 am PDT (PST daylight saving time).

April 20, 1999 Post by John Smedley

Hello All,

Well.. thanks to all of your help we've been able to find a significant corpse dissapearence bug. We feel that this is a significant enough problem to warrant updating the servers during normal hours today, as we don't want anyone else's corpses to dissapear. We've also extended the amount of online time characters above 5th level have to recover their bodies from 8 hours to 24 hours (online).

In nutshell, the Corpse Recovery rules are as follows:

Characters All Levels: If you have no items on your corpse, it will dissapear within 3 minutes.

Characters Level 1-5: Corpse will dissapear within 30 minutes (real time) whether you are online or offline. Those of you wondering why this rule is in place? - There would be WAY to many bodies if we didn't do it this way.

Characters Level 6 and above - Corpse will dissapear within 24 hours if the player is online (being at the character select screen STILL counts as online). Corpses will dissapear within 1 week if the player is offline.

In addition, this server patch will include the following:

1) Warrior's now get a "Bezerker Frenzy" if they are down to under 35% of their Hit Points. 2) Several server side crash bugs have been fixed.

I also wanted to mention that we have begun shipping units to Europe. Units should be in Electronics Boutique in the UK in a few days. Germany and other places in Europe will be hitting shortly...and Austrailia will be seeing units shortly as well.

John Smedley

April 28, 1999 Patch Message

Server Update 4/27/99 7:30 pm

Citizens of Norrath, We are pleased to announce that the hardware upgrade that was performed on our router this morning has appeared to resolve the severe packet loss problems that many players were encountering over the past week. We have been, and will continue to monitor the load on the new hardware to assure that the packet-loss problems will no longer occur on our end. During the router upgrade we transported the Karana server farm to the AT&T CerfNet facility to further reduce the load on our router. Also, the new "Rodcet Nife" server was just brought up to accommodate the additional users that have joined over the past few weeks. After thoroughly testing changes made only for Rallos Zek (PK server), we have activated the new code for the PK server ONLY.

The changes include the following;

1) Pets will no longer kill themselves if their master has invisibility cast on them.

2) Pets will no longer attack other players while they are in guard mode if their master goes link-dead.

3) Pets will now attack opposing combatants while their master is dueling.

4) NPCs will no longer respond to invisible PCs.

Other fixes and changes include:

1) The corpse class tag will not be listed as "Unknown".

2) Players will be given text messages for items that they cannot obtain while looting a corpse, instead of the item disappearing.

3) A number of quests and combat related exploits were fixed.

4) Characters are no longer able to use the disarm command while using feign death.

At Midnight, on Wednesday the 28th, the servers will be brought down for an update.

- The EverQuest Team

April 29, 1999

(NOTE: found here: http://web.archive.org/web/20001007140832/http://www.eqtrade.com/cgi/news.pl?id=12 )

 April 29th, 4:00pm
 ------------------
 As posted yesterday, we will be bringing down all of the servers at midnight tonight PDT, for a server-side update. Our estimated downtime is should be less than two hours. 
 The fixes/changes are listed below.
 
 1) Traveling by boat should be much more stable.
 2) A few various zone crashes.
 3) The corpse class tag will not be listed as "Unknown".
 4) Players will be given text messages for items that they cannot obtain while looting a corpse, instead of the item disappearing.
 5) A number of quests and combat related exploits were fixed.
 6) Characters are no longer able to use the disarm command while using feign death.
 
 We will also be putting up a new client patch on Monday at Midnight as well. A list of the client-side changes will be posted on Monday morning.
 
 - The EverQuest Team

News Bit from John Smedley

Hello All,

I waited until it was 7:30pm pst tonight to write this update. I wanted to make sure things were stable before I wrote this. Lately every time I give
an update something bad happened right after I sent it.

Here's a summary of what was done in the last 2 days

1) We did a major hardware upgrade to our primary router here in San Diego.
2) We worked with CERFnet to do a router upgrade to their facility here in San Diego.
3) We moved Karana over to CERFnet
4) We brought up Rodcet Nife

I think you will find now that the packet loss should be basically gone... at least on our end. We were definetely causing some of the loss before
(only when we hit major numbers) but now things are very, very clean running and that is with 23,582 people on just as I write this (a new record).

Does this mean that EVERYONE'S Packet Loss is gone? Absolutely not. BUT, I did some surveys in most of the worlds and about 75% of the people told me their Packet Loss
was great. If you are having problems now, do a traceroute to chat.everquest.com and send it to the email address traceroute@verant.com and we will take a look. We take
our customers connections very seriously, and if a whole lot of people on one network are having a problem we will do our best to look into it. It doesn't mean we can
always get the reaction we want (some networks are just plain bad) but many times we can help find a legitimate problem and help correct it.

Some of you may also not realize what the network statistics we have in game actually are for:

The left hand number is your ping to the server in milliseconds.

The left-middle number (percentage) is your packet loss to the server.
The right-middle number (percentage) is your packet loss from the server.
The right hand number is the data rate. THIS IS NOT THE PING. - I love hearing about the "terrible" pings in game of 3000.
It is my strong belief (forgive me for this rant) that EVERY online game should have this type of meter so that you are getting real feedback about the network status.

John Smedley

Thanks!

May 4, 1999 Login Server update

May 4th, 8:30pm

The login difficulties that you may have been encountering over the past 1.5 hours have been resolved. We were able to pinpoint and fix a major bug which has been plaguing the login procedure for quite some time. Now that this problem has been addressed, the login process should be carried out much more swiftly. We apologize for the inaccessibility of the EverQuest servers for this short time, however, this fix should insure future stability.

We have included a revised version of the EverQuest Manual in this patch which includes an amendment to various skills, spells and other game play releated features. The section briefly outlines the modification, introduction, and removal of various features found in EverQuest. This information may also be found at www.everquest.com in the "In Development" section located in "Features". Both of these will be updated on a regular basis.

- The EverQuest Team

May 4, 1999 Patch message

(NOTE: auto-translated from Japanese and taken from here: http://web.archive.org/web/20010501063057/http://www3.jcss.net/~rpg/eqi/news/99-5-1.htm)

(UPDATE: English version found here: http://web.archive.org/web/20001007140832/http://www.eqtrade.com/cgi/news.pl?id=12 )

May 3rd, 5:00pm
---------------

We will be patching a new version of the EverQuest client executable tonight at Midnight PDT. One of the significant additions is the option to utilize auto mip-mapping
in Glide mode. Mip-mapping may be activated in the Display menu, located within the Options directory. In addition, we have made numerous bug fixes and game play
adjustments, of which are listed below.

1) If you have participated in a fight against an NPC, you will take a faction hit.
2) Players may no longer disarm an NPC that has a magical weapon armed.
3) Safe-fall is now working as intended, however, damage from falling is required to advance in the skill.
4) Players should not see other characters "popping" around while riding the boats.
5) Trades will properly cancel out when the characters involved walk away.
6) The Friend's List is now functioning as intended.
7) A few crash bugs related to failed font calls have been resolved.
8) Creature and Player corpses should no longer draw into the overlays.
9) Vampiric Embrace has been modified from it's original design to improve game play.
10) A number of quest were implemented.

Included in tonight's update is a major enhancement to the populations of both Solusek's Eye and Mistmoore.

Tomorrow night, a revised version of the EverQuest Manual will be patched. The revision will include a new section which outlines the spells and skills that have
been modified from their original design to enhance game play.

- The EverQuest Team

May 18, 1999

(NOTE: taken from here: https://web.archive.org/web/20001022094248/http://www.eqtrade.com/cgi/news.pl?id=7)

We will be updating the servers tonight at Midnight PDT, which will require a minor client side update. A few of the notable changes are listed below.

2) While taking part in a guild war, if killed, members of the opposing guild may only loot one item off the corpse.

3) A crash bug related to removing guild members was fixed.

4) A number of new items and quests have been implemented.

The follow changes have been made to spells:

The Effect of Vampiric Embrace (necromancer and shadowknight) effect has been increased.

Spell names changed:

 Summon Blade to Summon Fang
 Summon Spear to Spear of Warding
 Summon Mystic Dagger to Dagger of Symbols

You can no longer be charmed or feared while invulnerable (divine aura)

Hammer of Requital (Cleric & Paladin) now summons a Hammer of Requital

High level creatures get a better save vs. Memory Blur (Enchanter) and Atone (Cleric) spells

Magician pets will no longer run away from combat.

Crission's Pixie Strike (Bard Song) works better now.

Selo's Accelerando and Spirit of Wolf will no longer leave ghost icons of each other.

- The EverQuest Team

May 21, 1999 GZ comments on Enchanter spell changes pt.1

(NOTE: auto-translated from Japanese and taken from here: http://web.archive.org/web/20010501063057/http://www3.jcss.net/~rpg/eqi/news/99-5-16.htm)

Enchanter next update

From Enchanter's magic that will be fixed in the next update from Geoffrey Zatkin, EQ Magic:

The Alliance will probably be upgraded on the next Monday update.
Whirl Till You Hurl 2 magic will be introduced on Monday and will now affect your opponents at level 30 and above.
The effect of Whirl (CF, SW, Swarm, etc.) is no longer lost by Bash and Stun.
Only monsters with level 40 or higher gain resistance to Blur.

May 24, 1999

(NOTE: From https://groups.yahoo.com/api/v1/groups/everquest/messages/335)

May 24th, 6:00pm

The servers will be coming down as scheduled tonight at Midnight PDT. The following changes/bug fixes have been made.

Players will no longer crash when an extremely long group message is received.
Added the ability to pull one item "charge" from a stack by holding down the "Control" key when left-clicking on the stack.
After casting a spell at an NPC, if the target were lost before the spell made contact, the caster would crash.
The "/ignore" command will now ignore emotes also.
The chat command "/e" will trigger "/emote" instead of exiting to the character selection screen.
We have added new sound tracks to the Planes, Crushbone, Guk, Mistmoore, Steamfont, and the Estate of Unrest.
We have reduced the amount of experience lost when dying by 50%.
A number of new quests have been added to various zones.
Magician pets (elemental) will now cast minor spells (to make up for their lack of kick)
New Magician spells on vendors and some Magician spells have moved to different vendors
New Magician weapons for Summon Fang & Spear of Warding & Dagger of Symbols
New enchanter whirl spell (check the vendors)
Whirl now works on MOBS better than it did on the last patch.
The saving throw against Memory Blur and Atone was reduced (harder to save against) from the last patch.
AC added to the Rune Series (Enchanter)
Alliance series works better (Enchanter)
Enchanter Attack Speed spells now have longer durations (Quickness, Alacrity, etc.)
Tashan (the entire Enchanter series) is now quicker to cast, costs less mana, and is harder to save against.
New bard songs have been added to the vendors
Paladins lose the spell Bravery, and gain the spell Valor
ShadowKnights and Necromancers gain the Word of Spirit spell (replacing Word of Shadow for the ShadowKnight)
ShadowKnights lose Haunting Corpse and gain Summon Dead
Necromancers and ShadowKnights get a new spell - Shadow Vortex.
ShadowKnights lose Intensify Death (replaced by Shadow Vortex)
Rangers lose Shield of Barbs and gain Shield of Brambles
Shorter stun effects will no longer remove longer stun effects (Bash won't get rid of whirl, for example)
Spell components are now stackable

- The EverQuest Team

(Dolalin: I have found an alternate version of this patch message, here: http://web.archive.org/web/20201006101158/http://www.angelfire.com/va/AKnights/maynews.html )

The servers will be coming down as scheduled tonight at Midnight PDT.

The following changes/bug fixes have been made:

-Spell research components (runes, words, etc.) are now stackable - in doing so, your old ones will no longer trade, nor will they stack with the new ones. Use the old ones up or ditch them.
- Players will no longer crash when an extremely long group message is received.
- Added the ability to pull one item "charge" from a stack by holding down the "Control" key when left-clicking on the stack.
- After casting a spell at an NPC, if the target were lost before the spell made contact, the caster would crash.
- The "/ignore" command will now ignore emotes also.
- The chat command "/e" will trigger "/emote" instead of exiting to the character selection screen.
- We have added new sound tracks to the Planes, Crushbone, Guk, Mistmoore, Steamfont, and the Estate of Unrest.
- We have reduced the amount of experience lost when dying by 50%.
- A number of new quests have been added to various zones.
- Magician pets (elemental) will now cast minor spells (to make up for their lack of kick)
- New Magician spells on vendors and some Magician spells have moved to different vendors
- New Magician weapons for Summon Fang & Spear of Warding & Dagger of Symbols - New enchanter whirl spell (check the vendors)
- Whirl now works on MOBS better than it did on the last patch.
- The saving throw against Memory Blur and Atone was reduced (harder to save against) from the last patch.
- AC added to the Rune Series (Enchanter)
- Alliance series works better (Enchanter)
- Enchanter Attack Speed spells now have longer durations (Quickness, Alacrity, etc.)
- Tashan (the entire Enchanter series) is now quicker to cast, costs less mana, and is harder to save against.
- New bard songs have been added to the vendors
- Paladins lose the spell Bravery, and gain the spell Valor
- ShadowKnights and Necromancers gain the Word of Spirit spell (replacing Word of Shadow for the ShadowKnight)
- ShadowKnights lose Haunting Corpse and gain Summon Dead
- Necromancers and ShadowKnights get a new spell - Shadow Vortex.
- ShadowKnights lose Intensify Death (replaced by Shadow Vortex)
- Rangers lose Shield of Barbs and gain Shield of Brambles
- Shorter stun effects will no longer remove longer stun effects (Bash won't get rid of whirl, for example)

The EverQuest Team

May 27, 1999 GZ comments on Enchanter spell changes pt.2

(NOTE: Japanese copy here: http://web.archive.org/web/20010501063057/http://www3.jcss.net/~rpg/eqi/news/99-5-16.htm)

(NOTE: found an English language copy in the eq-bards mailing list archive, added below: https://github.com/dbsanfte/eq-archives/blob/master/mailing-lists/_EQ_Magic/html/159.html)

GZ SPEAKS!

I must admit he does get through his email fairly quick. Here is what I gleamed from him as a result of my messages to him:

Rune and Mist Series will stack again. This was a bug that slipped through and will be rectified with a patch.
The short duration on WTYH after ysterdays patch will be reworked. They are trying to find a balance, lets all just be patient. They are working on it.
Suffocating Sphere was made much harder to resist. As a result they also threw in the chance for damage to be lowered on a successful cast. Probably better for the low levellers, they have more chance to hurt that tree snake now.
Illlusion spells give some benefits of the given race. But not all. They also give you some of the faction of that race. This was to clarify questions on whether becoming a troll for instance gave the increased hp regen and things of that sort. The answer is maybe. the potential is there, but for each race you will just have to experiement. Any info on this please let me know.
Alliance Series is designed to give you some of the faction of the targeted creature. There has been debate over what this spell series was meant to do. Now you know.
We will never get unresistable colour flux or short duration stun spells.
GZ conceded that Shamans and Enchanters are equals when it comes to buffing. They just do it in different ways he said.
I asked : "Why do we have to tashan before every spell? Why are we the only class hit with this minimum 15 mana penalty to get successful magic casts?" (note now 10 mana) Response: "You don't have to. Enchanters are the only class with the ability to lower the magic resistance of their targets quickly. Saves against Enchanter spells are the same as against every other type of spell of those types. For example, the save against Root is the same vs. an Enchanter as vs. a Wizard. The only exception is that the Wizard does not get to lower the creatures magic resistance - the Enchanter does."
Enchanting Items will be added eventually. But he feels we are balanced already without the ability to enchant. I think this sucks myself. What is the name of our class??? He referred to this series as being a "gravy" thing for us, or a little bit extra to make us happy. So don't expect this new line to do anything dramatic when it becomes available.
Specialisation is still a few weeks off. So don't get too excited.
This comment after I questioned Verant's priorities: "The expansion is not yet being worked on by anybody but the art team. The rest of the team is fixing bugs and adding more features (like weapon enchantments and specialization)."

June 7, 1999

(NOTE: This patch was not in Allakhazam and came from http://www.tski.co.jp/baldio/patch/19990607.html)

The EverQuest servers will be coming down tonight at Midnight PDT for a client and server-side update. Listed below are the newly implemented features and bug fixes which will be updated.

General Changes

Scrolls are no longer lore items - this means that you can have more than one.
Research components were made more accessible on higher level mobs.
Several items will now appear as "Pending Lore" and will become "Lore" in a subsequent update. The servers will only allow ONE 'Lore' item in a character's inventory (that includes the bank) - please make note of any items you own that are 'Pending Lore' - it is YOUR responsibility to have those items sold or traded by the time (approximately one week) we change them to 'Lore.' We will not be responsible for items lost when this change is made.

Zone Enhancements

Additional treasure has been added to Permafrost Keep, and some of the items already there have been enhanced - now is the time to plan that Permafrost excursion!
The bandits of West Karana are increasing their presence! You'll find more bandit camps there, as well as bandits traveling between those camps and elsewhere.
The spawn rates in many outdoor areas has been increased - this should make it easier to find things to kill.
Bug fixes and newly implemented features:
Charmed and Feared characters can no longer use skills.
The appropriate text message is given while attempting to attack while charmed.
'Procing' (items that cast spells) weapons no longer break Bard's singing.
Players vision will now return to normal if killed while drunk.
Tree Form spells will change the caster into a human male in a zone without trees.
Red and Blue armor will now appear the proper color for AMD users.
While accessing the /bug screen, the in-game chat bar will no longer remain active.
If the inventory window is up and the spell book is open, the user will not remove items from their inventory when clicking on the spell book.
A number of quests were fixed as well as implemented.
A Bad language filter has been implemented. Typing "/filter" will toggle it on and off.
Pets that have been commanded to sit will no longer to appear to stand up while they are supposed to be seated.
While in the full screen view, users may now toggle the translucent overlay backgrounds on and off by pressing the "~" key.
Players may now loot corpses in shallow water or lava by typing "/loot" while the corpse is targeted.
We have implemented an Auto-follow command. To auto-follow another player, target the character, then type "/follow". You must be grouped with the character in order to successfully carry out the command.
A Role Playing switched has been added so that players may identify other characters who wish to make known they are Role Playing. To activate the Role Playing switch, target your character and type "/roleplay", if the character is +PvP, the name tag above their head will appear as a darker shade of Red, whereas a non-PvP players name will appear purple.
If the user drops a backpack containing spells on the ground, the spells will no longer disappear.
Medicine Bags, when dropped on the ground, will no longer vanish.
The proper text is given when a trade window is canceled between players.
Arrows will now be drawn from the quiver is the ammo slot is empty.

Spell Changes

The Bard spell "Denon's Desperate Dirge" will now require the use of Mana.
No spell or effect that accelerates the process of mana regeneration will work on a Bard.
'/pet report health' will now have your pet message you with a health report.
Lightning Blast (Druid) has been modified to its intended form of finishing the Invoke Lightning series.
When you fizzle, you will lose a less mana then before. The fizzle rate has NOT changed.
There is now a CAP on the amount of mana lost from any single fizzle.
Spell Scrolls are no longer lore items. This means you can hold more than one.
Tuyen's Songs now have range.
Eye of Zomm will no longer work in conjunction with pets - you can now have one or the other. Sorry.
Wave of Enfeeblement (now Vampiric Curse) and Circle of Death (both Necromancer) will not work for the next week or so while we make a fix on them.

Trade Skill Changes

Jewel Craft - All of the jewelry has had increased magical properties (pre-existing jewelry items remain unchanged).
Fletching - When fletching arrows, they will be produced in sets of 5, instead of 1.
Baking, Blacksmithing, Brewing, and Pottery have been changed to either return items on failure and be able to produce multiple items and quantities on success.

Example:

Baking muffins, success means the player will receive three muffins and retaining the muffin tin, however, when unsuccessful, the player will still get the muffin tin back and lose all other components. Another example would be if a player wishes to sharpen a rusty short sword. If the player succeeds, they will receive a tarnished short sword, however, failure will result in retaining the rusty weapon but losing the sharpening stone.

June 8th, 1999

(NOTE: This patch message auto-translated from Japanese, found on this site: http://web.archive.org/web/20020812174059fw_/http://www4.big.or.jp/~kenzi/eq/old-06.html)

6/8/99 6:30 pm

Last night, we updated the data that made the wizard's bolt spells ineffective against creatures. The issue has been revised and is currently being tested on a test server. We will continue to test new changes and update the server late at midnight on PDT Wednesday if there are no problems.
I mentioned that the item is Pending Lore, but it is not displayed as a bug. It will be fixed in tomorrow's patch.
We added faction conversion function to PvP. If a player PKs another player, the player who killed him / her will modify the faction related faction.

We have extended and activated specialization skills:

Specialization brings two things to your character.

(1) Specialization reduces spell mana consumption. This begins gradually (slightly depending on the situation) and increases with specialization skills.

(2) Specialization reduces the chance of fizzle spells. There are five types of specialization. But you can only focus on one specialization. The first specialization that reaches 51 will be gathered, and other specializations will not rise above 50. Choose wisely.

Example: Mildred the Magnificent (Wizard) has 50 Evocation and Abjuration Specialization skills. Mildred decided to become an Evocation expert. She visited the Guildmaster and made 1 point 51 for Specialize. Other specialization skills can no longer be increased from 50.

-EverQuest Team

June 11, 1999

(NOTE: This update message auto-translated from Chinese, found on this site: https://web.archive.org/web/20011206145013/http://www.everquest.com.tw/patch_199906.html)

As a large number of players went online at midnight, we decided to change the update time from midnight to 7am PDT. Therefore, we will update the EverQuest ™ server on Thursday 6/10 7:00 AM PDT. In addition to the previously announced new features and bug fixes, two additional amendments are added as follows.

Rewritten sea travel, hoping that the effect of taking a boat will be more stable (players should not be kicked off the boat as often).

High-level non-player characters with the ability to summon characters can only use the summoning ability if the characters cause more than 10% damage to the NPC.

June 15, 1999 Server Update Announcement

(NOTE: This update message auto-translated from Japanese, found on this site: http://web.archive.org/web/20020812174059fw_/http://www4.big.or.jp/~kenzi/eq/old-06.html)

Server Update

6/13/99 3:30 pm

EverQuest server PDT will be down for client-side update from Tuesday morning at 7:00 am This patch fixes specializations in the guild trainer. It will be displayed in the chat window if you click on a specialization skill. Down time is about 1 hour.

-EverQuest Team

June 27, 1999

(NOTE: auto-translated from Japanese, from http://web.archive.org/web/20001006103908/http://www3.jcss.net/~rpg/eqi/news/99-6-16.htm)

(UPDATE: English version found here, correct date adjusted: http://web.archive.org/web/20001206030200/http://www.eqtrade.com/cgi/news.pl?id=6 )

Due to the situation which occurred on the CerfNet servers on Tuesday and Thursday night, we have had to place most of our resources towards rectifying
the problem on the live servers. However, we were able to make a few various changes to the Test server, some of which will be propagated to the live
servers on Monday. The features and bug fixes are listed below.

- Currently, when a character dies, they return with 25% of their Mana and Health, in addition, they have a massive hit to their stats. - This will NOT
remain true, and we will be removing it next week.
- Nagafen's Lair and Permafrost have been revamped with new treasure, items, etc. In addition, changes have been made to NPC spawning to the them.
- A number of fixes were made to Research.

The following fixes have been made to spells.

- Vampiric Curse / Bond of Death (formerly Circle of Death) now work with their new effects
- Fufil's Curtailing Chant (BARD) now works on monsters
- Magician pet attack spells have been slightly increased.
- Incapacitate now works for Enchanters (lvl 44 spell)
- Wizard "Casting Times" for damage spells have been slightly reduced
- Necromancer poison spells have had their damage doubled and their duration cut in half. They will do EXACTLY the same amount of damage, but in half the
pervious amount of time.
- Necromancer and Shaman disease spells have had their duration reduced. Their damage has been upped to compensate.
- Hungry Earth (Necromancer) is now researchable - check your book
- Research for Thunderclap (Wizard) is now correct - check your book
- Research for Fire Spiral of Al'Kabor (Wizard) is now correct - check your book
- The Magician Burnout series has been made a bit better.
- The reagent for Burnout III has been removed (Magician) Tuyen's Songs (Bard) have had their damage increased.
- New Bard Songs have been added to vendors.
- New Wizard Spell "Bonds of Force" on Wizard vendors.
- Mana Sieve (Enchanter) has been changed. It is now an instant spell (instead of a DOT) and costs less mana (with less effect).

If all of the changes prove effective, we will be updating the live servers with this data on Tuesday morning of the 29th.

- The EverQuest Team

July 7, 1999

(NOTE: auto-translated from Japanese, from http://web.archive.org/web/20010312012034/http://www3.jcss.net/~rpg/eqi/news/99-7-1.htm)

Note, Important, Please Read

Made a temporary change to the Test server rules to test the new PvP team code. This test lasts about a week. If you play during this period, please understand that this is a PvP situation and will be killed by the player. If you don't like this, it is recommended that you play on a regular server until you return the Test server to normal rules.

In addition to testing the PvP team code, we will also try to balance the initial team and the range of possible PK levels. Please be aware that these items may change at any time.

The team is organized as follows:

Team1: High Elf, Wood Elf, Half Elf
Team2: Dwarf, Gnome, Halfling
Team3: Human, Barbarian, Erudite
Team4: Ogre, Troll, Dark Elf

Members of one team are killed by members of the other three teams, but cannot be killed in the same team.

PvP level limit is set to +/- 8 for Rallos Zek (normal PvP server) +/- 4 for this server.

The following is a brief list of new changes:

PvP's effect of Faction is removed until an attacker flag can be introduced (if we decide to do so).
If you are killed by a person with PK flag ON (+ PvP), you will be revived in the state of Mana0. This is considered "nuked mage syndrome".
Increased Warrior's Hit Point, inherent magic resistance, and the chance of hitting critical hits beyond normal critical hits.
Pets no longer open locked doors.
When a character revives with resuscitation magic, all the magic on that character is released and replaced with a “ressurrection effect” that disappears over time. This is to prevent you from participating in battle immediately after resuscitation.
Before moving this patch to a regular server, document changes to the client and server.
Also, the upgrade to Rogue is still being tuned--Apply Poison is technically complete, but this is up to Make Poison as Make Poison is in the final tuning phase.

July 13, 1999 Test Server patch

(NOTE: from https://groups.google.com/d/msg/alt.games.everquest/oX2aZ7Mf7NA/Royw0kCvyEwJ and http://web.archive.org/web/20020206130950/http://eqvault.ign.com/archive/19990711.shtml) (Test server notes)

Root spells will now overwrite spells with both positive and negative

movement components in a more consistent pattern.

Banish Undead and Banish Summoned (LVL 49 CLERIC, NECROMANCER, MAGICIAN, DRUID, etc.) have been changed from All or Nothing saving throws to a regular saving throws. This will make them easier to use against high level creatures.
Magician summoning spells that produce multiple items have been changed to summon more items as the Magician's level increases.
All Poison and Disease DOT spells have received tuning.
Druid DOT's (stinging swarm series) has been adjusted to do more damage over a shorter period of time.
Immolate (DRUID) now does more damage, but has a shorter duration.
Mesmerization (ENCHANTER) has been changed to a straight AOE radius spell - it will no longer hang in the area. The AOE radius has been increased, as has the range.
Ice (LVL 49 DRUID) has been changed from an AOE spell to a single target DD spell.
Rage (SHAMAN) has been upgraded to a LVL 49 spell - Fury remains level 34.
Invisibility spells (Invisibility, Gather Shadows, Camouflage, etc.) will now blink before they wear off.
Hitting F1 twice, or /pet target will now target your pet. The Duration on Pack Regeneration (DRUID) has been increased.
Shield of Lava (MAGICIAN) has had its mana cost reduced.
The Research entries for Intensify Death and Hungry Earth (NECROMANCER) have been updated.
New high level Necromancer spells have been added to vendors.
A new Wizard spell Chill Sight has been added to the Wizard vendors.
The Magician's Summon Heatstone and Summon Coldstone spells will now work as long as the Stone is held or worn (the spell effect will never wear off).
The Insight spell (ENCHANTER) now adds Wisdom, not Intelligence. Brilliance still adds Intelligence.
The Tashan series (ENCHANTER) has had the recasting time reduced.
Research for higher level spells has been made a bit easier.
Spells that Add HP now work better on pets.
The Necromancer's replacement spell for Charm (Screaming Terror) is on the vendors. Play with this spell - it is different from any other spell of this type that you have ever seen.
Shrink (SHAMAN) has been put in to the game. It is a Level 19 spell, and available in all Shaman starting cities. This spell will only be castable in dungeons. It will not leave an icon on your screen - Shrink will last until you zone.
High level Bard song (LVL 40+) will be slightly easier to sing (less missed notes).

July 16, 1999 Test Server patch

(NOTE: Japanese source here: http://web.archive.org/web/http://www3.jcss.net/~rpg/eqi/news/99-7-16.htm)

(NOTE: English source found here: http://web.archive.org/web/20020206130950/eqvault.ign.com/archive/19990711.shtml)

New Patch Message

The EverQuest Patch Server was updated with the following message:

July 16th, 5:00pm

The following changes and game play enhancements have been made to the Test Server,

The "r" key will now initiate the "/tell" command.
The /surname command has been added, which allows a player of 20th level or greater to issue his or her character a last name.
If a character is knocked unconscious, and has no stamina, the player will still regain consciousness.
Players are no longer able to cast Shadowstep next to a zone point and teleport to an area past the teleport region, which is inaccessible to other characters.
If a player is too far from a corpse while attempting to perform the /loot command, a message will now be given.
If the user was under the effect of either Treeform or Minor Illusion, then had Spirit of Wolf cast on them, the player would be able to move in their altered state - This is no longer possible.
If a character is blinded, the chat box will no longer flash.
The Eye of Zomm now allows the caster to travel up and down.
If a shuriken or throwing knife is equipped, then unequipped, the weapon will no longer remain on the character model.
When player dispels minor illusion, the character's weapons will no longer disappear from the character model.
Monk trainers will now train Instill Doubt.

- The EverQuest Team

Plane of Fear Era

July 26th, 1999 Plane of Fear launched

(NOTE: Japanese source here: http://web.archive.org/web/20001006140853/http://www3.jcss.net/~rpg/eqi/news/99-7-16.htm )

(NOTE: English source found here: http://web.archive.org/web/20010422010411/home.tampabay.rr.com/estembler/tristram/tristram_eqnews.htm )

July 26th, 8:30pm

The EverQuest servers will be coming down at 7:00 AM Pacific, tomorrow morning for an update. The estimated downtime is approximately 2 hours. This update will require a minor client-side download. The following enhancements and new features will be activated once the update is complete.

General Announcements

We are currently in the process of finishing up final internal testing for Tallon Zek, the new PvP-Teams server. We expect that it should be coming on-line this week. Once the date nears, a better estimate on the time of launch and further information regarding the Tallon Zek server will be made available.

The Fear Plane is now on-line. However, before adventuring to the Fear Plane, we advise you to heed the following advice:

Traveling the planes is not like visiting a dungeon. People die in dungeons.

People die hard on the planes.

Dying on a plane means that you might die in a place where your body may be extremely hard to recover, or in an area that you have no idea how to get back to. Big, nasty monsters will jump you at inopportune times, spells may work differently and once valid tactics might go right out the window.

The planes are dangerous places to adventure, and massive player slaughter will happen on a regular basis.

We are not saying this to goad you in to going - this is an honest disclaimer. So don't say we didn't warn you.

Trade Skill Enhancements

Baking Chocolate and Fish Head Soup now work as designed.
Pottery has been enhanced by new items that can be made through the trade skill that will help the player-driven economy. Additionally, some of the profits of other pottery made items have been adjusted to facilitate this change.
Make and apply poison is now working in the game. To apply poison a Rogue must sit and click a piercing weapon on a poison to apply it. When the Rogue attacks there is a chance the creature will become poisoned. The poison will need to be reapplied if the player changes zones.

New Features

The ability to report player whom are harassing has been implemented. This is done by typing "/report" - the previous 10 lines of text will be saved to the server for Customer Support representatives to review. This command may only be performed once while on-line, you must then log out and back in to use it again.
The "r" key will now initiate a reply to the last player whom sent the user a tell.
The /surname command has been added, which allows a player of 20th level or greater to issue his or her character a last name.
When a player consumes alcohol, a message will be given to players within the area.

Game Play Enhancements

If a character is knocked unconscious, and has no stamina, the player will still regain consciousness.
Players are no longer able to cast Shadowstep next to a zone point and teleport to an area past the teleport region, which is inaccessible to other characters.
If a player is too far from a corpse while attempting to perform the /loot command, a message will now be given.
If the user was under the effect of either Treeform or Minor Illusion, then had Spirit of Wolf cast on them, the player would be able to move in their altered state - This is no longer possible.
If the Eye of Zomm makes contact with a zone-point, the spell will immediately wear off.
Players may now target Drakes much easier.
Several "Safe Zones" have been Fixed.
A number of quests have been both enhanced and added.
Helmet colors are now displayed properly on Barbarians.
If a character is blinded, the chat box will no longer flash.
If a shuriken or throwing knife is equipped, then unequipped, the weapon will no longer remain on the character model.
Monk trainers will now train Instill Doubt.

Spell Additions and Enhancements

The Eye of Zomm now allows the caster to travel up and down.
When player dispels minor illusion, the character's weapons will no longer disappear from the character model.
Some 44th and 49th Damage spells have had slight modifications made to them:
Gasping Embrace (Enchanter) has been re-tuned in the style of other DoT spells to make it more party friendly.
Retribution (Cleric) has had a typo fixed, and does about ten percent less damage now.
Ice (Druid) has had its damage lowered by a few points to match the damage done by Starfire.
Rend (Wizard) is now available on certain Wizard vendors (lvl 49 spell)
Shock of Swords (Magician) now does more damage.
Succor's (DRUID) casting cost has been raised to match the casting cost of the Circle, Evacuate and Portal spells.
Wizard Portal and Evac spells have had their AoE radius range upped to match Druid Circle spells.
Necromancer research components that did not previously stack should now stack.
The Bug that allowed Screaming Terror to work Outdoors has been fixed.
Vampiric Curse (NECROMANCER) damage has been upped.
Share Wolf Form (DRUID) has had its Area Effect Radius reduced. This means that party members who want to be turned into wolves should stand near the caster, while those that do not should stand further away.
Hitting F1 twice, or /pet target will now target your pet.
The Duration on Pack Regeneration (DRUID) has been increased.
Shrink (SHAMAN) has been put in to the game. It is a Level 19 spell, and available in all Shaman starting cities. This spell will only be castable in dungeons. It will not leave an icon on your screen - Shrink will last until you zone.
A Quest for Ice Comet has been added.
A Quest to help casters with research has been added. Good aligned races should check North Karana, while those with a more malign disposition should check South Ro.

- The EverQuest Team

August 10, 1999 Patch

(NOTE: Japanese source here: http://web.archive.org/web/20001006140853/http://www3.jcss.net/~rpg/eqi/news/99-8-1.htm)

(NOTE: English source found here: http://web.archive.org/web/20010422010411/home.tampabay.rr.com/estembler/tristram/tristram_eqnews.htm)

August 10th, 5:00pm

Box of Abu-Kar Update*

We will NOT be removing the Box of Abu-Kar from player's inventories as previously mentioned. A decision was made to allow the item to remain.

- The EverQuest Team

August 9th, 6:30pm

The servers will be coming down tomorrow at 7 AM, Pacific, for an update. A list of the updates will be posted on the in-game news tomorrow morning. The approximate downtime is 2 hours.

Fear Plane Update

Due to an influx of shallow souls into the Plane of Fear, Cazic Thule has banished all mortals below level 46, from this point forward, from entering. In addition, Cazic has further refined the combat abilities of his minions within the Plane. These changes will begin to take effect after the update is complete.

Guild News

We are aware of the guild problems (unknown guild tags over characters) which are occurring on a few of the servers. Our programming team is in the process of fixing this problem, and it should be moving over to the live servers early next week, pending thorough testing.

To accommodate the increase in new guild requests, beginning tonight, guilding will be occurring every night at 6pm, Pacific.

Update News

The update that will be performed on the servers tomorrow morning will include a few additional enhancements, of which are listed below.

A zone crash problem.
An enhancement to the Fear Plane which includes, a base limit of level 46 for entry into the Fear Plane, and NPC encounter adjustments.
Paralyzing Earth now Wizard and Necromancer useable
The Mana cost on some Magician damage shields has been slightly reduced
Alter Plane: Hate and Alter Plane: Sky have been changed into higher level spells.
Succor: Ro (Druid) is now a level 39 spell (previously a typo as a level 49 spell)
Curse of the Simple Mind (Enchanter) now lowers both Int AND Wis.
Shadow Vortex (Necro) should be more effective.

- The EverQuest Team

August 10, 1999 Abu-Kar update

(NOTE: Auto-translated from Japanese from this website: http://web.archive.org/web/20001006140853/http://www3.jcss.net/~rpg/eqi/news/99-8-1.htm)

8/10, 5:00 pm

Box of Abu-Kar Update *

Box of Abu-Kar will not be removed from player inventory. I decided to leave that item.

August 26, 1999

(NOTE: English version found here: http://web.archive.org/web/20010210085939/www.eqic.net/patches.htm)

The Test Server has now been converted to a PvP-teams server for testing purposes. In addition, the following changes have been made.

PvP spell damage is 60 percent that of player vs NPC damage.
If a player is rooted by another player, then hit by a spell from another player, the root effect is removed.
Experience is no longer lost when dying to a DoT spell only on the Pvp and PvP-teams server.
It is no longer possible to loot from a player's weapon or ammo slots.
When a warrior is dual wielding whips, both hands will lash out when attacking.
If a character unsuccessfully cast Minor Illusion, the Minor Illusion Icon would appear and the character would be unable to move. This will no longer occur.

We have also added approximately 70 new text emotes. For information regarding the new emotes, please refer to the EverQuest_Manual in your EverQuest directory.

- The EverQuest Team

Also:

We will be converting the Test server over to the PvP-teams rules beginning at 10 am PDT, tomorrow morning. It is estimated that Test will remain a PvP-teams server for the next 1-2 weeks.

Listed below are some enhancements made to the Test server recently.

Rangers may now perform critical hits with bows - this will begin at level 12.
The Dodge and Parry skill caps for Rangers have been raised significantly.
Rogues may now perform critical hits with throwing weapons. - this will also begin at level 12.
The ability to apply poison at lower levels was increased significantly for Rogues.

- The EverQuest Team

Also:

As many of you know, a change to reduce kiting made on the Test server. If a creature is pursuing the user or it's target and it is not fleeing, it will not take damage from a DoT spell. If the creature is rooted, meleeing etc, it will take damage from a DoT.

Example: A Shaman casts spirit of the wolf on himself, then affliction on a creature. The Shaman is careful to run ahead of the creature to keep it in pursuit of him but just out of melee range. While the creature pursues the shaman and is not in melee range, the creature takes no damage from affliction.

Example: A Shaman casts Affliction on a creature. The creature engages either the shaman or his warrior buddy in combat. The monster will take full affliction DOT damage. If a creature stops to cast a spell or use an ability or engage in melee, or is rooted or fleeing, that creature takes full damage from all DOT spells. If a creature is chasing its target and its target is out of melee range, the creature takes no DOT damage.

- The EverQuest Team

August 31, 1999

(NOTE: English version found here: http://web.archive.org/web/20010210085939/www.eqic.net/patches.htm)

(UPDATE: And here: http://web.archive.org/web/20001206015200/http://www.eqtrade.com/cgi/news.pl?id=4 )

 We apologize for the short notice for this Server Update, but it was necessary to correct some problems that had arisen.
 This server side patch contains the following:
 
 1. Rangers now get Critical Hits with Bows.
 2. Rogues now get Critical Hits with Thrown Weapons.
 3. Parry and Dodge Skill Caps for Rangers have been raised.
 4. The DoT bug realted to not getting experience or a corpse has been fixed.
 5. New PvP rules: You can no longer loot any weapons that the victim had equipped in his primary, secondary, or ranged weapon slots.
 
 Please note: This patch DOES NOT contain any changes to Necromancer's Pets, OR the Kiting/DoT changes.
 
 A warning message, "You feel yourself begin to appear." is displayed before invisibility wears off.

September 13, 1999

Bug Fixes

Players levitating should be easier for other PCs to see.
When charmed/feared and killed players should not be returned to the character selection screen.
Lore items in containers that are dropped should not be destroyed.
Charged items, such as the Staff of the Observers, should correctly report the number of charges remaining after zoning.
Corpses should remain lootable even if a player goes linkdead while looting
A player under the effect of charm or fear can no longer open their spellbook or sit in order to escape the effects of these spells.
A player using online help should no longer be locked into the help screen if another party initiates a trade.
Non-melee items equipped in weapon slots should no longer mutate if the pc is charmed.
Extremely large NPCs, ie Vox, should not suicide when stuck.

New emotes

Here is a list of new emotes that have been added to the game: agree,

amaze, apologize, applaud, plead, bite, bleed, blink, blush, boggle, bonk, bored, brb, burp, bye, cackle, calm, clap, comfort, congratulate, cough, cringe, curious, dance, drool, duck, eye, gasp, giggle, glare, grin, groan, grovel, happy, hungry, introduce, jk (just kidding), kneel, lost, massage, moan, mourn, peer, point, ponder, puzzle, raise, ready, roar, salute, shiver, shrug, sigh, smirk, snarl, snicker, stare, tap, tease, thank, thirsty, veto, welcome, whine, whistle, yawn.

PVP Changes

In order to make PVP combat between spellcasters and melee types more

viable some changes to PVP spell effects have been made. All damage spells cast in PVP combat will do less damage to the PC than the same spell would do to an NPC. When a PC is under the effect of a root-type spell there is a 20% chance that they will break free when a direct damage spell is cast upon them.

Spell Changes

Levitate : All players may now cancel this effect.

Template:Relevant

Paralyzing Earth now Wizard and Necromancer useable.
The Mana cost on some Magician damage shields has been slightly reduced.
Alter Plane: Hate and Alter Plane: Sky have been changed into higher level spells.
Succor: Ro (Druid ) is now a level 39 spell (previously a typo as a level 49 spell.
Curse of the Simple Mind (Enchanter ) now lowers both Int AND Wis.
Selo's Consonant Chain (Bard ) should now work better.
Shadow Vortex (Necro ) is more effective.
Screaming Terror is now an all or nothing save. This should stop the 'train' problems that it was causing.
Gravity Flux will now research correctly for Wizard s.
Lich and Bond of Death are now researchable for Necromancer s check your tomes.
The different types of Words of Collection and Words of Acquisition are now more easily identifiable.
Dead Man Walking (Necromancer ) has been renamed Dead Man Floating .
Ignite Bones (Necromancer ) has had the movement component removed. This means that it will no longer break root and snare spells, and that it will now stack with the darkness line.
Syvelian's Anti-Magic Aria (Bard ) has been fixed.
A bug in some of the AoE code has been fixed. AoE spells will now effect more monsters.
Some Magician Summoned items are now lore items. Items that have turned lore have had other small benefits added to them.
Dance of the Fireflies (Druid) has been changed from Divination to Conjuration.
Rangers have gained the spell Dance of the Fireflies (level 15)
High Level Enchanter Illusion spells have had the remainder of their deffects implemented.
Magi research components have been added to more monsters throughout the world.
There is a new pet command: /pet taunt and /pet notaunt. Pets default to /pet taunt
The Rods for the Ice Comet quests will now pop much more often.
Envenomed Breath (Shaman ) has had its damage raised slightly.
Scourge (Necromancer and Shaman ) has had its damage raised slightly.
Enchantment of Light and Enchantment of Brilliance (Enchanter ) have been replaced by new enchantment spells. These spells have been added to a hidden vendor somewhere in the game.
quests for Necromancer s to research their pet
Alter Plane: Hate and Alter Plane: Sky have been changed into higher level spells.
Succor: Ro (Druid) is now a level 39 spell (previously a typo as a level 49 spell.
Curse of the Simple Mind (Enchanter) now lowers both Int AND Wis.
Selo`s Consonant Chain (Bard) should now work better.
Shadow Vortex (Necro) is more effective.
Screaming Terror is now an all or nothing save. This should stop the 'train' problems that it was causing.
Gravity Flux will now research correctly for Wizards.
Lich and Bond of Death are now researchable for Necromancers check your tomes.
The different types of Words of Collection and Words of Acquisition are now more easily identifiable.
Dead Man Walking (Necromancer) has been renamed Dead Man Floating.
Ignite Bones (Necromancer) has had the movement component removed. This means that it will no longer break root and snare spells, and that it will now stack with the darkness line.
Syvelian`s Anti-Magic Aria (Bard) has been fixed.
A bug in some of the AoE code has been fixed. AoE spells will now effect more monsters.
Some Magician Summoned items are now lore items. Items that have turned lore have had other small benefits added to them.
Dance of the Fireflies (Druid) has been changed from Divination to Conjuration.
Rangers have gained the spell Dance of the Fireflies (level 15)
High Level Enchanter Illusion spells have had the remainder of their effects implemented.
Magi research components have been added to more monsters throughout the world.
There is a new pet command: /pet taunt and /pet notaunt. Pets default to /pet taunt
The Rods for the Ice Comet quests will now pop much more often.
Envenomed Breath (Shaman) has had its damage raised slightly.
Scourge (Necromancer and Shaman) has had its damage raised slightly.
Enchantment of Light and Enchantment of Brilliance (Enchanter) have been replaced by new enchantment spells. These spells have been added to a hidden vendor somewhere in the game.
quests for Necromancers to research their pets have been added.

Pets

High level pets (44th and 49th lvl spells) do less damage
Pets will now navigate some outdoor and dungeon areas better

DoT Changes

If the monster is in melee with you, there is no change to how a DoT spell works.
If the monster is running away from you (fear, wounded, etc.), there is no change to how a DoT spell works.
If the monster is moving when the damage from the DoT is applied (happens every few seconds), it will take 66% of the damage that it would have taken.
DoT spells have all had their duration slightly increased. If the monster moves for 18 seconds during a fight, it will take as much damage from the DoT as it would before the patch. If the monster moves for less then 18 seconds during a fight, your DoT will do more damage then it would have done before the patch. If the monster moves more then 18 seconds during the fight, it will take less damage then it would have before the patch.

September 14, 1999

(NOTE: From here: http://web.archive.org/web/20010210085939/www.eqic.net/patches.htm)

Trade Skills:

Tailoring: More items have been added to the trade skill. The instructions on how to make the new items were also added. The difficulty of some tailor-made items was lowered making them easier to produce. New patterns now exist to round out the tailor-made items.
Brewing: New liquor can now be made. The instructions are hinted at in the game.
Pottery: The Mortar and Pestle is now droppable and Vials are now stackable
Bowyer: More slots have been added to the Fletching Kit. Dual-cam bows have been added.
Fletching: The range of normal store-bought arrows has been reduced. Players may now make a cheaper more effective arrow with the fletching skill. Nock vendors now sell all arrow components.

Items:

Lustrous Russet Armor, the Hero Bracer, Order of Thunder and the Box of Abu-Kar have been returned to their previous statistics.

Also:

We apologize for the unexpected server downtime. We try to avoid unscheduled downtime, but it is at times unavoidable.

There has been no change to spell damage other than those detailed in the DoT and PvP sections of the patch notes below. However, if you are testing spell damage by casting on yourself the numbers returned will be reduced by the changes made to PvP combat. The damage done to an NPC remains unchanged.

September 22, 1999

Template:Relevant

Magic

Illusion: Werewolf (enchanter) now stacks with other attack speed

spells.

Casting times on the higher level Ward series (Cleric, Magician,

Necromancer & Druid) have been slightly lowered.

The Lich (Necromancer) spell will now provide more mana.
Surge of Enfeeblement (Necromancer) should now work consistently.
Enchanter Wolf Illusion is now Outdoors only.
Paralyzing Earth can now be scribed by Necromancers.
Thicken and Crystallize Mana now produce their proper potions.
All research quest combinations should now work.
Eyes of the Cat now provides infravision as the description states.

General

Summoned food and water will now disappear when the user logs out.
If the player is under the effect of Minor Illusion, and exits the game, upon reentry to the game, the Minor Illusion icon will remain.
Summoned items will no longer remain indefinitely when placed within a bag in the bank.

September 28, 1999

(NOTE: from https://groups.google.com/d/msg/alt.games.everquest/cDPw7CoNcNE/v9d3Q_a5T9cJ)

September 28th, 7:00am

The following changes have been implemented with the latest patch, most importantly, changes to corpse resurrection. It should be noted that all corpses generated previous to this patch may not be resurrected, however, all corpses generated from this point forward may be resurrected with the changes listed below applying.

Corpses that are older than 2 hours cannot be resurrected.
Corpses that are produced from a duel cannot be resurrected after 10 minutes.

General Enhancements

A Yes/No request window is now brought up when ever turning in the PK note to the Priest of Discord.
It is now possible to manually reorganize icons within the spell book. This may be performed by right-clicking on the currently placed icon (the icon will then be highlighted), then right-clicking on the desired slot you wish to move it.
Pet damage inflicted during PvP combat has been slightly reduced.
It is now possible to place items marked as "No Drop" in the bank.
Experience and looting rights is now awarded based on group aggregate damage (i.e. If a group's combined damage if greater than an individual player, the group members will be given the exp. and looting rights).
NPC corpses will only remain for 8 minutes, even while looting.
If a party member goes link-dead, the remaining members will be notified.
Pets with less than 20 hit points cannot receive hit point buffs.
When viewing an invisible PC with See Invisible, the name will be shown in parentheses over the character.
All beneficial speed spells may be canceled left-clicking on the spell icon.

We have also made revisions to the /text command section of the EverQuest manual.

Fennin Ro Specific Enhancements

Experience and looting rights is now awarded based on group aggregate damage (i.e. If a group's combined damage if greater than an individual player, the group members will be given the exp. and looting rights). We will be gathering the results of this data throughout the day, and if need be, incorporate this change on other "live" servers.

- The EverQuest Team

Temple of Solusek Ro Era

October 13, 1999

Template:Relevant

(NOTE: From here: http://web.archive.org/web/20010210085939/www.eqic.net/patches.htm)

We are excited to announce the implementation of the new "Optional" patch system. This new system will allow players to download new optional files such as zones, music, character animations, etc. After the EverQuest executable is run (everquest.exe), and once the download is complete, you will receive an option to patch the "optional" files. If "Yes" is selected, the optional files will begin downloading, if "No" is selected, you will bypass the optional files and continue. Please note that this optional patch requestor will appear every time everquest.exe is run.

In addition to the optional patch program, the following changes and enhancements have been made:

Optional Patch

A new zone, The Temple of Solusek Ro, is now available via the optional patch.

General Enhancements

Experience and looting rights are now awarded for group aggregate damage. This is now true for ALL servers. We still consider this change in 'TEST' and will conduct a poll as to whether it positively addresses the kill stealing situation in approximately 2 weeks.
As mentioned on Saturday, Rubicite armor will no longer spawn. The new class specific quests to obtain the new armor are now in for each class that could wear Rubicite.
Journeyman's Boots will no longer spawn where they did but rather are the products of a quest.
To address trade fraud (players removing items/money immediately prior to trading to deceive the other player), items/money may only be removed by clicking on the "Cancel" button.
When receiving a text message from either an NPC or PC speaking in a language other than "Common Tongue", if the user's language skill is high enough, the language being spoken will be noted preceding the text.
The fishing pole will now appear in the player's hand whenever the fishing skill is used.
A number of quests were both added and enhanced throughout the zones.

Trade Skills

A number of new items have been added to Blacksmithing.

Spell Enhancements

Some of the Items that Magicians summon with their spells have been made better or had their effects increased.
Fufil's Curtailing Chant, Tuyen's Chant of Flame and Tuyen's Chant of Frost have all had their effects slightly increased.
The Burnout Series has had the negative HP component reduced (improvement) and the stat buff increased (improvement). Because of this, the spells are no longer permanent. They now have a 15 minute duration. Burnout III has also had its casting cost reduced.
Illusion: Werewolf attack speed component now works as intended.
Insipid Weakness will research as intended.

- The EverQuest Team

October 20, 1999

(NOTE: From here: http://web.archive.org/web/20010210085939/www.eqic.net/patches.htm)

10/20, 8:00 am

The Following enhancements have been made with the update:

General Enhancements

If a user is killed due to self-inflicted spell or melee damage, experience will be lost.
When using a levitation spell, players are now vulnerable to attack from both waterbound and landbound creatures
A number of enhancements have been made to balance the class specificarmor quests implemented last week.
A bug was resolved which resulted in a quest reward not being given approximately 1 percent of the time.
This has been fixed.

Spell Enhancements

Spirit Cap has been made slightly more mana-efficent.

Announcements

Transfer of Accounts and in-game Properties (Ebay, etc.)

This is a reminder that, as per the EverQuest License Agreement, ownership transfer of accounts, characters, items (except for in-game trading/selling/buying), and any other game related properties are expressly forbidden. Doing so is in violation of the License, done at your own risk, and we (989 Studios/Sony Online Entertainment/Verant) are not responsible for any issues resulting from such a transaction, including but not limited to fraud, sales of banned or suspended characters, purchased character's bad reputations, etc.

High Risk Areas and Corpse Retrievals

This is a reminder that the following zones/encounter types are high risk and may result in irretrievable corpses: The Plane of Fear, Dragon Encounters (Vox/Nagafen), and the forthcoming zones, the Plane of Hate and the Plane of Sky. Should members of your party fall in battle it may be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to recover their corpses (for example, they might be at the feet of a big red dragon). GMs and Guides can only help with Corpse Retrievals if there is a bug involved, and while this is true for all areas in the game, because of the extreme danger of the Planes and Dragon Encounters, we felt it important to remind our players of these issues.

NPC Spawning Issues

This is a reminder that some NPCs are part of what we call 'encounter tables', in which only one encounter (NPC(s)) are present at any given time. Thus, while searching for rare and hidden NPCs throughout the world, it may be necessarily to slay common NPCs in the area you are searching in order to get the rare NPC to appear.

- The EverQuest Team

10-21-99

Listed below are two changes that went up yesterday which we forgot to mention:

Cancel Magic may only be used on group members.
Dragons are now able to see invisible.

- The EverQuest Team

October 28, 1999

(NOTE: from https://groups.google.com/d/msg/alt.games.everquest/V7mxSVQkiFM/xSpY3JS52poJ)

October 28th, 7:00am

General Enhancements

User Adjustable Clipping-plane

We have recently implemented a user adjustable clipping-plane. This will allow players with higher-end hardware to move out the distance at which the 3D world geometry is drawn into view, as well as the ability for players with lower-end hardware to pull this distance in, to further improve frame-rate. To utilize this new feature, you may do so by adjusting the clipping-plane slider bar located in the "Options"-"Display" directory, in-game. Sliding the bar left will reduce the distance at which the geometry is drawn in to view, whereas sliding the bar to the right will expand this distance. The following rules apply as to which zones the adjustable clipping-plane may be used in:

- The clipping-plane can be pushed back in outdoor zones only.

- Zones designed with heavy fog (e.g. tox, innothule, etc), the clipping-plane can only be adjusted slightly.

Additional chat filters have been added to filter out any unwanted text.

Zone Enhancements

Kedge Keep has been enhanced with both new items and creatures. Please keep in mind, Kedge Keep was tested thoroughly in-house only, therefore, some additional tuning enhancements may need to be made now that it is available on the live servers.

Class Enhancements

Warrior - % increase on critical hits

Rogue - +8 poison resistance

Paladin - +8 disease resistance

Ranger - +4 Fire +4 Cold resistance

ShadowKnight - +4 Poison +4 Disease resistance

Monk - +8 Fire resistance

Shadowknights may now use the following spells:

LifeTap may now be cast at level 9.
LifeSpike may now be cast at level 15.
LifeDraw may now be cast at level 30.

The LifeTap, LifeSpike, and LifeDraw spell scrolls may be purchased from any ShadowKnight spell vendor.

To make room for these new spells, the following spells are no longer available for ShadowKnights:

Reclaim Energy
Mend Bones
Voice Graft

Spell Enhancements

Level 35+ casters will now automatically meditate while sitting.
Invoke Fear (Necromancer, Enchanter, SK, and Cleric) has both had it's casting time and mana cost reduced.
Charm spells now message the message when they break (Enchanter, Bard, Necromancer, Druid)
Magician pets now have new spells.
Ensnare (Druid) has had it's casting time reduced.
High level Necromancer and Magician pets now look different.
Illusions (Enchanter) have had their duration increased.
Tishan and Markar's Clash spells (Wizard) have had their casting times reduced.
Some in-game Bardic instruments have had their stats increased to appropriate levels. Items effected are the Minotaur horn, Small Brass Trumpet, and the Drum. Some non-magic instruments have been made magic. These are the Mistmoore Battle Drums, the Lute of the Gypsy Princess and Kelin's Practice Lute.
Bards with magic gloves and magic instruments may now punch creatures that require magic to damage.

New Emote Animations

The following emotes now have unique animations:

/bored /yawn /agree /amaze

/boggle /gasp /apologize /plead

/grovel /applaud /clap /bleed

/hungry /blush /cackle /chuckle

/giggle /snicker /cough /burp

/cringe /duck /curious /puzzled

/stare /dance /veto /disbelief

/snarl /glare /peer /whistles

/drool /kneel /point /shrug

/ponder /raise /ready /salute

/shiver /tap /thanks /bow

Item Enhancements

- A number of existing high-level weapons models have been replaced with new, much more visually appealing versions.

Trade Skill Enhancements

Enhancements have been made to the Tinkering trade skill to facilitate underwater breathing.

- The EverQuest Team

November 1, 1999

[Kunark News Release]

EVERQUEST POSITIONED TO AGAIN CONQUER ONLINE WORLD WITH EVERQUEST: THE RUINS OF KUNARK EXPANSION PACK

Expansion Pack Features All-New Continent, More Than 20 New Adventure

Zones and an Enhanced 3D Engine - FOSTER CITY, Calif., November 1, 1999 -

989 Studios, a Sony Computer Entertainment Group Company, announced today that its highly anticipated EverQuest®: The Ruins of Kunark™ expansion pack, which is an add-on to the most successful online role playing game ever released - EverQuest -will be available in March 2000. The expansion pack will provide the more than 225,000 current EverQuest gamers with an all-new continent, more than 20 new adventure zones, numerous characters, an additional playable race and an enhanced 3D engine.

"EverQuest has a wildly devoted fan base who are constantly craving new challenges and experiences in the massive world of EverQuest," said Jeffrey Fox, vice president, marketing, 989 Studios. "EverQuest: The Ruins of Kunark continues the legacy of EverQuest and takes it many steps further with a more detailed world that offers 40 percent more gameplay and breathtaking graphics."

EverQuest: The Ruins of Kunark takes players on a mystical quest to the continent of Kunark, home of the Iksar race. On the continent, players face all-new challenges and rewards in their quest for dominance and survival. EverQuest fans can get more information and an early look at EverQuest: The Ruins of Kunark by visiting the exclusive expansion pack web site at www.everquest.com/kunark.

Existing EverQuest players will be able to purchase the expansion pack directly online; pricing information is currently under discussion. New players will be able to purchase a retail version, which will include all aspects of the original EverQuest, along with the increased features included in the expansion pack EverQuest: The Ruins of Kunark.

989 Studios - EverQuest: The Ruins of Kunark

EverQuest: The Ruins of Kunark Key Features

New continent "Kunark," located south of Faydwer More than 20 new adventure zones featuring both beginner and advanced zones including: lakes, jungles, crypts, caves, dungeons, ancient towers and underground castles New playable race, the Iksar (Lizardman) A new cast of visually stunning non-player characters; grey dragons, reptilian monsters, giant scorpions, man-eating plants and more More object animations featured throughout Kunark that include earthquakes and other violent natural phenomena A highly detailed world with three times the amount of polygons and larger textures than the EverQuest world All-new ships that will sail from both Antonica and Faydwer to Kunark Newly created art by famous fantasy artist Keith Parkinson Increased level difficulty range allows players to advance further in the game.

The most successful online role-playing game ever released, EverQuest features a multitude of adventures and quests with an interactive storyline that evolves according to a player's individual decisions. Players can choose to begin the game in any of the three continents, with more than 90 adventure zones and 13 cities. Each of these continents feature: diverse species, economic systems, alliances and politics. Throughout this adventure, players form groups, strategic alliances and gather magical artifacts in their perilous and exciting quest to conquer the world of Norrath.

The Station@sony.com is the official provider of EverQuest, with software updates and news about the game, message boards and other community features, as well as an easy-to-use billing system for EverQuest's monthly subscription fee of $9.89.

Verant Interactive is an independent development studio that develops cutting-edge online games. Based in San Diego, California, Verant Interactive has a staff of over 70 employees who consist of the development teams responsible for the online games Tanarus and EverQuest.

989 Studios, a Sony Computer Entertainment Group Company, is a wholly- owned division of Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. and is the third-largest PlayStation® software publisher in North America. Headquartered in Foster City, California, with additional development studios in San Diego and Santa Monica, 989 Studios develops software for the PlayStation game console and online markets. 989 Studios is a recognized leader in the entertainment software industry, with top franchise titles such as NFL GameDay™, Twisted Metal®, Jet Moto®, Cool Boarders® and EverQuest™.

November 3, 1999 Plane of Hate opens

(NOTE: From here: http://web.archive.org/web/20010210085939/www.eqic.net/patches.htm)

Listed below are the enhancements introduced in this patch.

Item Enhancements

The entire set of the Armor or Ro (Paladin class specific armor) and Darkforge (ShadowKnight class armor) has received an increase in AC.

Class Enhancements

Rogue Specific

The minimum backstab damage is now same as their level.
Rogue poison now procs on first chance after it is applied - it is no longer random.

Zone Enhancements

Following the Halloween event which took place on Sunday night, the Plane of Hate was officially opened with new unique armor, weapons, and items. Please note, to enter the Plane of Hate, you must be at least 46th level or greater.

In addition, the EverQuest patch program has been altered such that there is no longer a seperate "Optional Patch" request window. The Optional patch may now be selected via a button on the standard patch window.

- The EverQuest Team

November 15, 1999

(NOTE: From here: http://web.archive.org/web/20010210085939/www.eqic.net/patches.htm)

Due to the Sprint router problem, which is resulting in players being unable to connect to the EverQuest servers, we have decided to perform the update which was originally scheduled for tomorrow morning, to now.

PvP and PvP-Teams

Any spell that results in a "Fear" or "Charm" effect may no longer be cast on other players. Please note that this change will only be active on Rallos Zek (PvP), Tallon Zek, and Vallon Zek (PvP-Teams).

- The EverQuest Team

November 16, 1999 Q&A with GZ

(NOTE: Taken from here: http://web.archive.org/web/20000229195356fw_/http://everquest.station.sony.com/p_archmage991115.html)

Q: When I party, how much experience does a pet take from my group.

A: When you group, the pet takes a minimal to zero experience share from your party. This is different from soloing - when you solo, your pet does take a percent of the experience that you would ordinarily have gotten.

On average, a pet will take about a .5 to 1 (out of 100) percent party experience share. From personal summoning experience, a pet is always worth having in a group if you are in an environment that is pet friendly.

Q: Is there a different saving throw for Root and Grasping Roots?

A: No. Root and Grasping Roots use exactly the same saving throw algorithms. The fact that Grasping Roots does a single hit of damage when it immobilizes the creature does not get figured in to the saving throw math - if the creature fails its save verses Grasping Root, damage is applied. If the creature makes the save, no damage is done.

Once again, there is no difference between the saving throw for Root and Grasping Root (or any of their higher level versions), urban myth notwithstanding.

Q: What is the difference between Root, Enstill, Immobilize and Paralyzing Earth?

A: The Root (and Grasping Root) series of spells are a bit confusing because they do not upgrade like most other EverQuest spells.

First a bit of information on Root spells. When a Root spell is cast, the Target gets a saving throw. If the saving throw succeeds, then the Target is not Rooted. If the saving throw fails, then the Target’s movement is reduced to zero. Every designated time increment after that, the Target gets a reduced percent saving throw to break out of Root.

The Target gets an additional reduced percent saving throw every time they are damaged - by melee or by magic.

This being said:

Root (and Grasping Roots) are the baseline from which all other Root spells are measured.

Enstill (and Ensnaring Roots) have a longer potential duration then Root. You would use this spell if you were trying to keep a creature out of combat. If you plan on damaging the creature, then use Root. If you just want the creature to stay out of the way (say you are fighting two creatures), then you would use Enstill.

Immobilize (and Enveloping Roots) have a quicker casting time then Root, and have slightly longer potential durations. This is in all ways an upgrade to Root, with the only downside being the higher mana cost. You would use this spell when you expect the creature to be within melee range of you and casting time is important.

Paralyzing Earth (and Engulfing Roots) both have four times the potential duration of Root and twice the potential duration of Enstill. It is in all ways an upgrade to Enstill. You would use this spell in the same circumstances that you would use Enstill.

As a note, each of the Druidic Grasping Root spells do more damage then the previous versions.

Q: How do the new Monk / Necromancer / ShadowKnight changes to Feign Death work?

A: Feign Death was recently changed by the Tuning Team to reflect evolving gameplay issues. Since two of the three classes that get Feign Death get it through spells, I thought this might be a good place to explain the changes.

Previously, when you used Feign Death (and assuming you cast the spell successfully or, in the case of the Monk, made your skill roll) hostile monsters would decided that you were dead and wander off. When you later got up, they would still remember that they were angry with you. If you were within sight, they would immediately come after you. If not, they would come after you at some later point. This might happen within a few minutes, or could happen even a few hours later. The only way to be absolutely sure that a monster had forgotten about you was to zone.

With our new changes, about a third of the time that you successfully Feign Death, the monster will immediately forget about you, similar to an Enchanter casting Memory Blur. If they do NOT forget about you, they will immediately come after you when you stand up. No more monsters coming back at irregular amounts of time - it should be immediate or not at all.

This is a change - the old way, if you Feigned Death a single time, the monster would always remember you. This way, they remember you about two-thirds of the time.

Using the old Feign Death, you could Feign Death multiple times to try to confuse the monster. After about seven or eight times doing this, most monsters would eventually forget they were mad at you.

With the new Feign Death, if you Feign Death once the monster has about a 65 percent chance of remembering you. Twice and the monster has about a 50 percent chance of remembering you. Four times means about 20 percent, and six times means about 8 percent. This is very similar to the old Feign Death.

Another addition to the new Feign Death involves a monster "going home." When you Feign Death, most monsters will return to where they were before the fight. If a monster returns to its initial location, it will immediately forget about you greater then 90 percent of the time. Therefore, if you Feign Death and stay down long enough for a monster to "go home," you should be safe when you stand up a majority of the time. If the monster is still mad at you, it will return immediately, rather then wandering back later at some irregular interval.

Late Breaking News

After further testing and watching these changes on the Live verses the Test Server, we will be changing Feign Death again on the next patch.

New changes will make it so that if the monster is less then level 35, the monster will always forget about you. If the monster is greater then level 35 it will use the changes detailed above.

Q: Why is [X] spell worse then [Y] spell? I used [insert name of program that strips spell information here], and...

A: OK - STOP. All of those nifty programs that supposedly strip out the information for our spell are nice for reading what class can cast the spell, or the text that the spell displays when it is cast - but then again, a good website can tell you that. I've checked out a lot of those programs, and I have yet to see one that ACCURATELY tells the effects of a spell.

At this point, I would trust information from websites more then I would from one of these programs. The information from webistes usually comes from players who have gotten the data first hand.

Q: When my ShadowKnight casts Lifetap, it takes more mana then when my Necromancer casts it. Is this a bug?

A: This is not a bug. It does take more mana for your SK to cast a Lifetap spell then it would take a Necromancer of the same level.

We did a lot of Internal and Test Server testing on this one, and set the mana cost to a level that we felt was appropriate to the level of power that we wanted to add to the SK. ShadowKnights gave up three fairly ineffective spells for three spells that will help to reduce their downtime. Until this point, the only healing that a ShadowKnight had access to was their 22nd level spell Vampiric Embrace. With the addition of the three Lifetap spells, the ShadowKnight now has access to limited healing abilities - they can siphon life from other creatures and add it to their own. These spells will not be mana efficient for dealing damage - SK DoT spells will be much more effective in that regard. These spells will, however, let the ShadowKnight reduce her downtime by siphoning life at the end of a fight or from a nearby light green.

Q: Changes to Cancel Magic

A: Cancel Magic (and all of its variants) were recently made into Party Only spells - similar to Invisibility. This was done for the same reasons that we made Invisibility Party Only - to cut down on player abuse. Some players of more malicious intent were casting Cancel Magic on other players to get rid of their beneficial Buff style spells. This got around our play nice policy - effectively letting a NON PVP player adversely effect another NON PVP player.

To combat this, we made Cancel Magic Party Only. This means that you can only cast the spell on Party Members. The exception to this is if the target of your spell is a Player AND is not under their own control - say from a charm or a Fear spell. In this case, all Players are allowed to cast Cancel Magic on the effected player (to help get rid of the Charm or Fear). We feel that this solution will let players have the best of all possible worlds for Cancel Magic.

Q: Why are there no Bard Songs for Bard levels 39, 45, 47 and 49?

A: When we were finishing up the Bard class, we wanted to leave some room for expansion during the evolution of EverQuest. Because Bards get one song per level, if we had given them all fifty songs there would have been no room for expansion - aside from taking away older songs.

Expect to see new songs coming soon. These songs will not be anything that radically redefines the Bard class - but they will be additions that help keep the Bard interesting at high levels.

Non-Spell Questions

Q: Is it true that I get more experience when I party?

A: Yes. If you kill a monster solo, you get X experience. If a party of two kills a monster, you get X + P (P = Party Experience Addition), divided by two (half of that experience for each of you). The bigger your party, the bigger that P is - the Party Experience Addition is larger for three people then for then for two, and larger for four people then for three, etc.

As a side note, pets do NOT count towards P (2 players and 2 pets still count as a party of 2).

Q: Who made all of those wonderful spell graphics?

A: One of our extremely talented artists Scott McDaniel designed all of the spell graphics. I was involved to the point of saying "we need some graphics for these spells - and they should look cool." Scott did the rest.

Q: In every screen shot you always have a Skull Staff. Which staff is it that you carry?

A: Contrary to popular belief I do not carry a Staff of Writhing or a Staff of Discord. I carry the Skull Staff of Geoffrey. Sometimes its good to be the Arch Mage.

November 16, 1999 Patch Message

November 16th, 4:30pm

Feign Death was recently changed by the Tuning Team to reflect evolving gameplay issues. Since two of the three classes that get Feign Death get it through spells, I thought this might be a good place to explain the changes.

Previously, when you used Feign Death (and assuming you cast the spell successfully or, in the case of the Monk, made your skill roll) hostile monsters would decided that you were dead and wander off. When you later got up, they would still remember that they were angry with you. If you were within sight, they would immediately come after you. If not, they would come after you at some later point. This might happen within a few minutes, or could happen even a few hours later. The only way to be absolutely sure that a monster had forgotten about you was to zone.

With our new changes, about a third of the time that you successfully Feign Death, the monster will immediately forget about you, similar to an Enchanter casting Memory Blur. If they do NOT forget about you, they will immediately come after you when you stand up. No more monsters coming back at irregular amounts of time - it should be immediate or not at all.

This is a change - the old way, if you Feigned Death a SINGLE TIME, the monster would ALWAYS remember you. This way, they remember you about two-thirds of the time.

Using the old Feign Death, you could Feign Death multiple times to try to confuse the monster. After about seven or eight times doing this, most monsters would eventually forget they were mad at you.

With the new Feign Death, if you Feign Death once the monster has about a 65 percent chance of remembering you. Twice and the monster has about a 50 percent chance of remembering you. Four times means about 20 percent, and six times means about 8 percent. This is very similar to the old Feign Death.

Another addition to the new Feign Death involves a monster "going home." When you Feign Death, most monsters will return to where they were before the fight. If a monster returns to its initial location, it will immediately forget about you greater then 90 percent of the time. Therefore, if you Feign Death and stay down long enough for a monster to "go home," you should be safe when you stand up a majority of the time. If the monster IS still mad at you, it will return immediately, rather then wandering back later at some irregular interval.

FEIGN DEATH UPDATE

After further testing and watching these changes on the Live verses the Test Server, we will bechanging Feign Death again on the next patch.

New changes will make it so that if the creature is less than level 35, the monster will always forget about you. If the creature greater then level 35, then the monster will use the changes detailed above.

- The EverQuest Team

December 1, 1999 7:00am

The following changes and enhancements have been introduced with the latest patch: Template:Relevant

Monk Enhancements

-The Feign Death changes which were mentioned on November 16th are now live.

Spell Enhancements

Tashan (Enchanter) and Malise (Magician/Shaman) spells now stack.
The Pet bug (where if you have a pet, certain monsters can attack its owner anywhere in the zone) has been fixed.
Alenia`s Disenchanting Melody (Bard) should now work.
Screaming Terror (Necromancer) has changed. It is no longer a "Run Away" Fear spell - instead the targeted creature will cower in terror until it takes damage (similar to the Enchanter's Mesmerize spell).
The Environment limit (Dungeons only) has been removed.
Pact of Shadow (Necromancer) now has a 12 second recast time
Summon Waterstone (Magician) has been added to the game.

- The EverQuest Team

December 7, 1999 Brad's post

This was not an official patch note, but was a post Brad "Aradune" McQuaid made on the official EverQuest forum. Taken from: [1].

Sha' Rite' Mon 12/7/99 A repost of the Brad's comments here for your viewing pleasure. The original thread is in the forums at www.everquest.com

Several members of the EQ team, with some initial help from a player's email, put the following document together listing both enhancements and 'nerfs' we've made to the game since launch. And while we probably forgot some things, both negative and positive (please let us know and I'll update the document), I think it puts in perspective the ratio of positive vs. negative changes to the game we've made. I also feel it heartily invalidates the assertion that we are out to make the game harder or to have players advance slower overall, or that 'all we do is nerf'.

The following is broken down by class, and then addresses those changes made that affect the whole game. Changes we feel are positive from just about any perspective are denoted with a '+', and those some players might consider a 'nerf', but that we felt were important for the long term health of the game, are denoted with a '-'.

(again, I'm sure we've forgotten some things, both '+' and '-'; please feel free to comment and add items).

WIZARDS:

+ Added additional means by which to obtain Ice Comet
+ Made Researching much easier
+ Added more high level spells
+ Added more Class Specific Quests
+ Added more Class Specific Items
+ Enhanced High Level (35+) Meditation
+ Enhanced AoE Spells to let Wizard effect more creatures
+ Added Plane Travel Spells
+ Enhanced Specific Wizard Stun Spells
+ Added AoE slow monster spell (c.f. Bonds of Force)

RANGERS:

+ Introduction of better average armor that is easier than most to get
+ Critical Bow hits
+ Many new quests requiring a tracker to find outdoor spawn
+ Made Ebony Blade group friendly
+ More variety of items obtained via the Forage skill
+ Increased defensive skill caps (parry, dodge)
+ Added innate resistance to fire and cold
+ Added more Class Specific Quests
+ Added more Class Specific Items
+ Added additional Ranger Spells
+ Changed Some Spell Casting Skills to allow easier Skilling (c.f. Dance of the Fireflies)

DRUIDS:

- DOTs changed negatively, making Kiting less efficient
+ DoT changed positively to enhance group play
+ Many new quests requiring a tracker to find outdoor spawn
+ Increased druid's tracking ability
+ Added more Class Specific Quests
+ Added more Class Specific Items
+ Enhanced High Level (35+) Meditation
+ Enhanced Pet/Charmed Animal Pathing
+ Enhanced Some Druid Anti-Movement Spells (c.f. Ensnare, Grasping Roots, etc.)
+ Lowered the Casting Level of Some Druid Teleport Spells

PALADINS:

+ Added Archery
+ Added innate resistance to disease
+ Added more Class Specific Quests
+ Added more Class Specific Items
+ Increased stats of Armor of Ro items

SHADOWKNIGHTS:

+ Spell changes (added lifetap)
+ Made Harm Touch less resistible
+ Added innate resistance to poison and disease
- DOTs changed negatively, making Kiting less efficient
+ DoT changed positively to enhance group play
+ Added more Class Specific Quests
+ Added more Class Specific Items
+/- Feign Death Changes - Better for Low Level Character, Better for High Level once learning curve has passed
+ Made Certain Spells Harder to Resist (c.f. Invoke Fear)
+ Changes to Pet Appearances

CLERICS:

+ Added more Class Specific Quests
+ Added more Class Specific Items
+ Enhanced High Level (35+) Meditation
- Resurrect Changes (Players come back sick)
+ Made Certain Spells Harder to Resist (c.f. Invoke Fear)
+ Reduced the Casting Time of Some Spells (c.f. Word of

Healing/Health, Ward Series)

MONKS:

+/- Feign Death Changes - Better for Low Level Character, Better for High Level once learning curve has passed
+ New tailoring armor
+ Added items that boost stats, etc.
+ Added innate resistance to fire
+ Added more Class Specific Quests
+ Added more Class Specific Items

NECROS:

- LifeTap/Dots changed
+ Some Lifetap Spells Made more mana efficient
- High Level (39+) Pets weakened
+ DOTs made more efficient
+ Added more Class Specific Quests
+ Added more Class Specific Items
+ Enhanced High Level (35+) Meditation
+ Necromancer Pet Buff Spells Strengthened
+ Added Special Items to let Necromancers Summon Stronger Pets
+ Corrected Bug that let monsters attack you from far distances through your pet
+ Lots of New Spells (c.f. Screaming Terror, Pact of Shadow, Vampiric Curse, Bond of Death, Summon Corpse, etc.)
+ Enhanced Call of Bones Series
+ Enhanced Screaming Terror
- Added a Recast Time to Pact of Shadow
+ Made Certain Spells Harder to Resist (c.f. Invoke Fear)
+ Added New Looks to Necromancer Pets
- Removed Charm
+ Enhanced Pet Pathing
+ Reduced the Casting Time of Some Necromancer Spells
+ Made Research Easier & Fixed Broken Research
+ Added Quests to let Necromancers Quest (instead of Research) their pets
+ Enhanced Effectiveness of Some Spells (Shadow Vortex, Surge of

Enfeeblement, Ignite Bones, Dead Man Floating, etc.)

Magicians

+ New summon item spells
- High Level (39+) Pets weakened
+ Better mid+ level pets (they cast spells now)
+ Added more Class Specific Quests
+ Added more Class Specific Items
+ Enhanced High Level (35+) Meditation
+ Magician Pet Buff Spells Strengthened
+ Enhanced Pet Pathing
+ Added Special Items to let Magicians Summon Stronger Pets
+ Corrected Bug that let monsters attack you from far distances through your pet
+ Made Magician Research Easier - especially for their pets
+ Added Spell Effects to most Magician Summoned Items
+ Enhanced AoE Spells to let Magicians effect more creatures
+ Reduced Mana Cost of Damage Shields
+ Reduced Casting Time of Ward Series
+ Made the Malise Series Stack Better
+ Made the Burnout Series Better

BARDS:

+ Added stat and other bonuses to instruments
+ Added more Class Specific Quests
+ Added more Class Specific Items
+ Corrected Bug that let monsters attack you from far distances through your pet
+ Added Addition Effects to Some Bard Songs
+ Added New Bard Songs
+ Added Ability for Bards to Punch 'Magic Only' Creatures
+ Increased the Power of Some Bard Songs (c.f. Chant Series, Fifil's, etc.)

WARRIORS:

+ Added critical melee hits
+ Later increased chance of critical hits
+ More Hit Points
+ Innate Magical Resistance
+ Added more Class Specific Quests
+ Added more Class Specific Items
+ Added Berserking

ROGUES:

+ Added Poison skill
+ Thrown Weapon Critical Hits
+ Minimum Backstab Damage Implemented
+ Minimum Backstab Damage Later Upped
+ Hide/Sneak Enhanced
+ Added innate resistance to poison
+ Added more Class Specific Quests
+ Added more Class Specific Items
+ Improvements to Poison Skill

ENCHANTERS:

+ Jewelry Trade
- High Level (39+) Pets weakened
+ Added more Class Specific Quests
+ Added more Class Specific Items
+ Enhanced High Level (35+) Meditation
+ Made Tishan stack better and removed recasting time
+ Corrected Bug that let monsters attack you from far distances through your pet
+ Made Certain Spells Harder to Resist (c.f. Invoke Fear)
+ Increased Durations of All Illusions
+ Made Research Easier
- Made Illusion Wolf OD Only
+ Added Mana Enchant Spells to Allow Item Enchantment
+ Made Enchanter Pets Look Different
+ Enhanced Certain Spells (curse of the simple mind, etc.
+ Added More Effects to High Level Illusion Spells
+ Better Pet Pathing

SHAMAN:

+ Added Shrink Spell
- Took too long to recognize Alchemy bug
- High Level (39+) Pets weakened
+ Added more Class Specific Quests
+ Added more Class Specific Items
+ Enhanced High Level (35+) Meditation
+ Made Malise stack better and removed recasting time
+ Better Pet Pathing
- DOTs changed negatively, making Kiting less efficient
+ DoT changed positively to enhance group play
+ DoT's Made Stronger
+ Corrected Bug that let monsters attack you from far distances through your pet
- Removed Charm Spell
+ Increased the Duration of Buffs

ALL MELEE:

+ Purchasable Potions added, giving more versatility to melee classes and adding a money sink to the game to help the economy

ALL CASTERS:

- Removal of Manastone
+ Made it such that you can see meditating (levels 35+)
+ Implemented Specialization

ALL:

+ HALVED experience loss death penalty
- Removal of weightless box spawn
+ Purchasable weightless box added
- Introduction of Frenzy code (after level 19)
+ New emotes and animations
+ New graphics for weapons
+ Populated Plane of Fear
+ Populated Plane of Hate
+ Populated Kedge Keep
+ Populated and added Temple of Solusek Ro
+ Increased range for evac and teleport spells
+ Added second boat between Freeport and Butcherblock
+ Added class specific quests for many classes
+ Increased treasure and experience gain rewards for many older quests
- Upgraded NPC AI such that if an NPC is stuck it can teleport around obstacle
+ Added /follow command
+ Added adjustable clipping plane
+ Added /yell command
+ Added /friends list
+ Increased frequency and complexity of dynamic quests and events
+ Added ability to rearrange spells in spellbook
+ Added additional chat filters

-Brad

December 8, 1999 7:00am

The following general enhancements have been introduced with this patch.

/Pet No Taunt and /pet taunt now works
Bard Levitation is now working as intended.
A number of spears are now available to the Shaman class.
Dazzle and Entrance (enchanter) have had their casting times reduced.
A number of NPC guards have received an increase in stats.
Screaming Terror is now functioning as intended.

Zone Specific Enhancements

As previously mentioned, Paw becoming a mid-level dungeon is imminent. So heed our earlier warning!

Both Fear and Hate planes have been enhanced, in terms of how often loot is dropped by NPCs.

Race Enhancements

Barbarians, Ogres and Trolls may now slam magic mobs when equipped with magic shoulders.

The EverQuest Team

December 8th Patch Addendum

(NOTE: Found here: https://groups.google.com/d/msg/alt.games.everquest/M_RAbHrNQTY/GXVqbCXDQvsJ )

On the patch message yesterday, we forgot to mention that Shamans may now train in Alchemy.

The EverQuest Team

December 14, 1999

A revision was made to a bug with Dragons, which was introduced with the patch last week.
The new Necromancer spell, Summon Corpse, is now live and functioning as intended.

December 21, 1999

After a week of thorough testing, the Summon Corpse spell is now functioning properly (we promise!), and available on all servers.

In addition, it is now possible to cast Cancel Magic on non-grouped players on the PvP and PvP-teams servers.
All changes were made on the server-side, therefore no patch is required.

From everyone on the EverQuest team, and Verant Interactive, we would like to wish all of you safe and happy holidays.

December 22, 1999 Q&A with GZ

(NOTE: taken from http://web.archive.org/web/20000229195356fw_/http://everquest.station.sony.com/p_archmage991222.html)

Q: How do spell fizzles (and missed notes on songs) work?

A: When you cast a spell, we call a fizzle check. There is always a 5% chance of succeeding (regardless of how low your appropriate skill is) and a 5% chance of failure (regardless of how high your appropriate skill is). What modifies a fizzle check are (a) your appropriate skill (Abjuration, Evocation, Brass, Wind, etc.) (b) your primary statistic (Intelligence for Magi, Wisdom for Priests, Dexterity and Charisma for Bards) (c) the difficulty of the spell and (d) the level of the spell.

When you gain a new rank of spells, any spell that you cast of that rank has a 20% chance of fizzling. This assumes that (a) your appropriate skill (Evocation, for example) is at its maximum value (b) that you have a minimum of 75 in your appropriate statistic (Intelligence, etc.) and (c) that we did not set the difficulty of the spell to less then average (some spells we assign a lower difficulty, making them easier to cast - to date, we have not made any spells with higher difficulty).

If your appropriate statistic is greater then 75 (Intelligence, Wisdom, etc.), we reduce your fizzle percent by 1% for every X points of your statistic above 75.

Each spell assumes that you have a skill equal to (5 * level you go the spell). A Wizard getting Bind Affinity (Wizard gets her 4th rank spells at level 12, so 5 * 12 =60) would have that spell assuming that she had a 60 Alteration skill for purposes of casting. With a 60 skill in Alteration (the appropriate skill) and a 75 intelligence, our wizard would have an 80% chance of successfully casting Bind Affinity. For every skill point that our Wizard has above 60, the percent chance of fizzling goes down by 1%, to a minimum of a 5% chance of fizzling. Thus, three levels (15 skill points) after our Wizard gets Bind Affinity, she will be able to max out her Alteration and have a mere 5% chance of fizzling the spell.

A high intelligence would help her to max out her ability to cast Bind Affinity without fizzling earlier.

Q: How many HP does the Paladin ability Lay On Hands heal?

A: Lay on Hands (Paladin ability, useable once every game day) heals 25 HP per level of the Paladin.

Q: Did you ever consider giving the Paladin a Full Heal with Lay on Hands?

A: No. It was decided very early on (pre Alpha) that giving the Paladin a Full Heal would be too easy to abuse. We didn’t want people making “throwaway” Paladin’s to pop full Heals on their primaries, nor did we want people bringing hordes baby Paladins on Dragon Raids to keep other characters alive. Giving the Paladin a Full Heal would also have taken away from the primary healing class of EverQuest - the Cleric.

From an RP standpoint, we decided that it made sense to have the Paladin’s healing abilities increase as her power and faith grew.

Q: How do Focus Objects work?

A: A recent addition to EverQuest are Focus Objects - objects that let you focus your powers of Conjuration and summon more powerful pets. Magicians may quest for four different Focus Objects in the Temple of Solusek Ro. Powerful Magicians and Necromancers may find more potent Focus Objects during their travels.

All Focus Objects can be identified in that they have the Reclaim Energy spell on them. [Warning - other objects may also have Reclaim Energy]

Most Focus Objects only work on a specific type of summoning. The Magician’s Torch of Alna, for example, will only enhance the Conjuration of Fire Elementals. Other Focus Objects will only work with high levels of Conjuration - they will not enhance low level summonings.

Focus Object must be held to work.

Pets summoned with Focus Objects tend to have greater skills, better ability scores and more HP.

Plane of Sky Era

January 20, 2000

(NOTE: Found here: https://groups.google.com/g/alt.games.everquest/c/JnDyJE1SdRs/m/GDyzC4OScIoJ )

January 20th, 7:00am

Announcements

The Plane of Sky is now open!!! As a reminder to our customers, the alternate planes of reality do not necessarily follow the same physical or ethereal rules as Norrath proper. Enjoy!

Today is patch day! The EverQuest servers have been patched with the following changes:

General Changes / Fixes

- Some changes have been made to the exit of Nagafen's Lair into the Lavastorm Mountains. This will hopefully reduce if not solve the bug that causes people to fall into lava when exiting Nagafen's Lair. Please let us know how this goes.

- Due to feedback received from the customers concerning the density of fog during rainstorms, visibility has been increased.

- All drops of steel weapons have been replaced with higher quality fine-steel weapons of the same type. This change was made to reduce the amount of new currency coming into the world at the mid-to-upper levels. The fine-steel weapons are in all cases superior to the steel weapons that were dropping, they just sell to vendors for less money.

- Casting times have been implemented on several activatable items. This was done to correct issues that could arise from people chain-casting these items.

- The safe-point (the point which you return if you fall below the world) in Kithicor has been moved near the entrance to Rivervale, a safer part of the zone.

- Corrected a bug that caused AC to be improperly displayed for higher level characters. Your AC should now reflect all of your items.

Additional Bug Fixes:

- Corrected a bug in the client that could cause a crash if you were spammed with emotes by someone on your /ignore list. - Corrected a bug that allowed ships to move faster when disarmed - Corrected a bug that caused the Aqualung to lose its charges if dropped on the ground. - Fire Giants in Nagafen's Lair should now recover properly when stuck in lava. Consider yourself warned. - The Instill Doubt skill has been disabled on the PvP servers.

Spell Changes

- Shadow Vortex is now a "drain" spell.

- Siphon Strength will now stack with strength buffs and debuffs

- Panic the Dead cast and recast delays have been reduced. In addition, the spell is less resistable.

- Angstlich's Appalling Screech had its radius increased slightly.

- All Wizard AoE damage and stun spells have had their radius slightly increased

- Yonder will now interact better with levitate.

- Form of the Great Wolf had its speed component increased.

- Terrorize Animal had its casting time reduced and is less resistable.

- New magician's spells have been added. Check your spell vendors.

- Reoccurring Amnesia has been made more effective.

- NPCs will now treat the "Cancel Magic" series of spells as hostile.

- Previously, NPCs did not mind if players dispelled all of their buffs before attacking. Now they will.

- The Fear and Charm series of spells now properly notify the caster when they break. No, seriously, we're certain this time.

- Harmtouch now does more damage beginning at level 41.

Levitation Changed

Due to the implementation of casting times on activatable items, the code that disallowed refreshing of the Levitation spell while it was active is no longer necessary and has been backed out. The Levitate spell may now be refreshed while the spell is in use.

Quests and Items

- The Armor of Ro should be more obtainable. We will continue to evaluate and adjust the rarity of other class-specific armor components to make the pieces obtainable in a reasonable amount of time.

- We have changed the reward of a newbie quest in the Qeynos area from a level 49 scroll to a level 1 scroll. The issuance of a level 49 scroll was a typo in the quest data, allowing new characters to amass an abnormally large amount of currency.

- The stats on the reward for the Rogue Redemption quest have been increased to make it better than the favorite dropped-weapon for the level range.

- Ravenscale boots will now drop as frequently as other Ravenscale items.

- The Mask of Deception may now be equipped by the appropriate races.

Fletching Update

All arrows created with the new Silver-Tipped Arrowhead (formerly the Bladed Arrowhead) are now magical in nature, and may be used versus magical creatures. All existing items in your possession will automatically morph into the new magical items. Additionally, each successful attempt to create magical arrows will yield 10 arrows instead of the previous 5. As such, the vendor buy-back value has been decreased accordingly.

Paw

The difficulty of Paw has been decreased. We found that many of the gnolls in the new Paw had too many hitpoints, making the dungeon more difficult than it should have been for the desired level target. Please let us know how this change affects the viability of the dungeon.

The Plane of Fear

The item-drop percentages in the Plane of Fear have been increased. This change was supposed to have occurred in the last patch, however the data was not exported. It has been tested and equipment drops are now occurring at a much higher rate.

The Plane of Hate

The item-drop percentages on roaming and fast-spawning NPCs in the Plane of Hate have been decreased. Previously, these NPCs used the same drop-percentages as the slow-spawning NPCs, causing overall drop percentages to be extremely high.

Also, the inhabitants of the Plane of Hate no longer fall for illusions, and tend to "Hate" everyone.

Monk Enhancement

A monk's speed in hand-to-hand combat will now improve with level, beginning in the high 20s. This will result in higher level monks doing substantially more damage in a given time-frame.

Though this change does increase the power of the average monk, it should be stressed that the monk is now even more in need of true tank classes who have the ability to taunt upset creatures off them. We want to stress that the "taunt factor" of a monks fist has NOT been increased, though it may appear so due to your increased damage.

Paladin/Shadowknight Enhancement

Paladins and Shadowknights now have a higher hitpoints and higher skill caps on Bash and Taunt.

The additional hitpoints will be noticeable for Paladins and SKs over level 25. This was done because the Paladins, SKs, and Rangers had the same HP base, which upon further consideration is not compatible with our vision of those classes' roles. This change will basically put Paladin and SK HPs midway (in terms of Hit Points) between rangers and warriors of the same race.

The taunt skill was increased because SKs, and in particular, Paladins had difficulty taunting opponents off of Rangers, Monks, Rogues, and Warriors due to their lower damage output. Though the Paladin and SK will never equal the warrior in their ability to taunt, this change in addition to some of the taunting spells should help them become more effective tanks.

Bash was increased because Paladins typically aren't switching to two-handed weapons, choosing instead to continue using the bash skill. Most warriors, being ogres, trolls, or barbarians for the most part, do not worry about bash and instead opt for slam, which uses the same skill. Paladins are typically the only characters who use a shield throughout their lives.

Rogue Enhancement

Whenever a rogue is invisible, whether by spell, potion, or skill, they are now also invisible to undead.

This change was made to add a definite class-advantage to the rogue, allowing them to do something that no other class could do. It is the first step in a multi-step process to improve the rogue class.

Wizard Enhancement

Level 35 or above wizards will find that their spells (Magic, Cold, or Fire) much less likely to be resisted. This effect stacks with the Staff of Temperate Flux and enchanter, shaman, and magician resistance debuffs.

This change was made to increase the effectiveness of wizards at about the level that all spell-casting classes start seeing their resistance rates go up. Wizards specialize in direct magical damage. It makes sense that they should be better at causing that damage than the other classes.

Bard Enhancement

Bards will now receive the Meditate skill at 10th level. This skill will be granted automatically the first time a bard zones after reaching 10th level, and cannot be trained further. It will have the effect of decreasing the amount of time that it takes a Bard to memorize their songs. Previously, it would take 50th level bards upwards of 2 minutes to memorize a song. Now it is much faster.

Druid Enhancement

The skill cap on a Druid's tracking skill has been increased. This change was implemented based upon general public opinion that the former cap was far too low for the skill to be even marginally viable.

Feign Death and Pets

After a serious discussion regarding the Necromancer's Feign Death tactic, as well as reviewing public opinion on the matter, we have implemented a change. As we would like everyone to understand why we feel this change was necessary, here is a summary of the issue:

Problem:

Feign death allows you to become an invalid target in all circumstances, providing offensive tactics that are abusive. For this ability to remain balanced, the pet should follow the same rules as invisibility. Offensive tactics used by other classes involve the creature getting a saving throw verses the effect. Since creatures do NOT get a direct save verses feign death (as you cast it on yourself), and since you can retry the combat once you have feigned death, there is very little risk to necromancer himself. As this tactic involves charming an NPC and turning it against another NPC, which could be part of the same spawn, it allows for Necromancers to solo MUCH bigger rooms than any other class could. This situation is well beyond what would preserve game balance for any other class (soloing the Bloodthirsty Ghoul room and Ghoul Lord room, for example).

Example:

While there are many examples of how the Necromancer Feign Death tactic is abusive, one of the most egregious occurs in the Ghoul Lord room of Lower Guk. The room consists of 2 Bok Ghoul Guards and the Ghoul Lord himself. Using the current system, a level 50 Necro can easily solo the room at virtually no risk to himself. The Necro can get into the room quite easily with Invis To Undead. To clear the room he uses Screaming Terror on one Bok and Charms the other. When the Ghoul Lord rushes him, he feigns. The Lord then turns on the charmed Bok and kills it, taking considerable damage during the fight. The Necromancer waits until the Ghoul Lord returns to its spawn point. When the necromancer gets back up, he is in no danger of being attacked due to the way Feign Death works now. He then charms the 2nd Bok and Feigns again. The fight goes on and the 2nd Bok is killed. When the Necromancer gets back up he has a VERY wounded Ghoul Lord AND nearly full mana. The Lord is now an easy kill, and the Necro collects his special items.

Solution:

Ideally, Feign Death should work like Invisibility, where summoned pets suicide and the charmed ones break Charm. We do not want, however, to adversely affect lower level Necromancers to such a large degree. What we do recognize is the need to prevent higher level Necro's from exploiting key spawn points. Hence, when you Feign Death, any charmed NPC will immediately break Charm. However, summoned NPCs (pets) will NOT be affected. While this still allows the use of the Feign Death tactic with your summoned pet, it does not imbalance the game and many dungeon spawns to the degree that charming an NPC does.

Manastone Changed

The players have raised many concerns about the power of the Manastone, which no longer drops. They cite that people without a Manastone are not as welcome in expeditions to the outer planes and other areas as people with them. Since dropping additional Manastones via quest or removing them from the existing populace is not desirable, we've decided to make it so that the Manastone will no longer function in the alternate planes. Furthermore, it will not function in any of the zones included with the Kunark Expansion.

We apologize to those adversely affected by this change. Our general goal is to avoid making changes to items in peoples' possession, however we felt this change was, all things considered, warranted and for the benefit of the game as a whole.

- The EverQuest Team

January 28, 2000

January 28th, 7:00pm Emergency Patch

The servers are currently being brought down individually for an emergency update. This update is being done to correct a bug in the server code that led to the instability that the servers have experienced over the past week. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Included with this patch are several changes that were not supposed to occur until the regular patch next week. These changes are inseparable from the changes required to fix the network problems, and as such are being implemented a little earlier than we would like. There will be additional changes in the next patch that we wanted to include with the current changes, however to reduce overall downtime and customer inconvenience, they are being postponed until next week.

Changes in Current Patch

Warriors

Warriors now have a chance to strike a "Crippling Blow" when berserk. "Crippling Blow" is much the same as a "Critical Hit" with increased damage and an integral stun.

Magicians and Necromancers

We discovered a bug whereby all NPCs will not utilize their "Dual Wield" skill unless they have a weapon equipped in their off-hand. This bug would not allow magician and necromancer pets to use their "Dual Wield" skill unless handed two weapons by their masters. Since magician pets could not wield weapons at all, they never used their "dual wield" skill.

Correcting this bug would cause all NPCs above the mid-20s to suddenly begin using their "dual wield" skill to attack players with their off-hand. This would cause a drastic shift to game balance, as most non-pet NPCs are generally considered balanced.

Magicians may now equip their pets with weapons. This will allow their pets to utilize their "dual wield" skill, thus increasing the number of attacks that the pet can make per round.

Since magician pets can now wield weapons, an ability previously reserved for necromancers, high level necromancer summons (44 or above) will now randomly cast spell effects upon the creatures they fight.

An additional change has been made to make it easier for necromancers and magicians to equip their pets. Previously, necromancers had to equip their pets with two *different* weapons in order enable them to "dual wield". This change allows magicians and necromancers alike to hand their pet two *identical* weapons, thus making it easier for them to get their pet to "dual wield".

These changes drew our attention to the disparity that exists between melee characters and caster pets. Both of these pets, after the initial round of changes, could wield certain weapons that would significantly increase their attack speed. We acknowledge that necromancers always had this ability, and apologize for our delay in addressing it, but weapons will no longer increase the attack speed (lower the attack delay) of a pet.

In the near future, several new spells are planned for necromancers of level 12 and above, including a new type of necromancer-only spell that is very group-friendly. We were planning to include these new spells with the changes in pet/weapon interaction, but those additions require downtime best restricted to the planned update schedule. We expect to implement the new spell effects in the next patch, tentatively scheduled for next week.

- The EverQuest Team

February 3, 2000 8:00 am

The following changes have been implemented on the live servers: Template:Relevant

Spells

Lay On Hands: Enhanced to heal more hitpoints per level.
Enveloping Roots: Casting time reduced to match Immobilize
Skin Like Nature: Small Damage Shield added. This will stack with other shields.
Insidious Fever: Casting time reduced.
Insidious Malady: Casting time Reduced.
Burnout series: Negative HP component removed to bring it in line with the Necromancer's Intensify/Augment death series.

Songs

Syvelian's Anti-magic Aura: Potency increased.
Shauri's Sonorous Clouding: Now also grants See Invisible. Party

members can now see each other while under the effect of this song.

Additionally, the following songs have been given a slightly larger radius:

Selo's Accelerando
Agilmente's Aria of Eagles
Shauri's Sonorous Clouding
Tarew's Aquatic Ayre

PvP-Teams Change

Customers on the PvP-Teams servers have been plagued by a tactic known as "Bind Rushing". Casters would bind themselves in a hostile area or dungeon, and attack everyone of an opposing race in the area. Sooner or later the caster would die. They would then respawn, memorize a few spells, then jump back in to attack their wounded opponents.

As a first step in combating this practice and improving life for those on the PvP-Servers, casters will now respawn with zero mana after being killed by another player in a duel or open combat.

This code is new for those on Tallon and Vallon Zek. It has been in place for some time on Rallos Zek and works very well there. Template:Relevant

The Plane of Sky

All spells that grant levitation will no longer function in the Plane of Sky. This affects spells cast by Wizards, Enchanters, Shamans, Druids, Necromancers, and Bards. The Plane of Sky is designed to be completed in certain fashion, and the existence of these spells allowed the islands to be completed out-of-order.

A teleporter will be placed on the first island in the next patch to allow people access to the room below.

The EverQuest Team

Paineel Era

February 17, 2000 7:00 am

NOTE: Although these notes only mention "New Necromancer spells are now in game", this is believed to also be the patch in which new Magician pet heal spells are added (as per [2]).

Announcements

Template:Relevant The City of Paineel, home to the infamous Heretics of Erudin, is now available via the Optional Patch. In addition, Erudites may now also be Shadowknights in addition to the other classes available to them. All Erudite Necromancers, Shadowknights, and Clerics who worship the God of Fear, Cazic-Thule , now start in the City of Paineel. As such, if you wish to create a character of this type from this point forward, you must download the Paineel zone-files via the Optional Patch.

Please note that if you downloaded the Paineel zone files recently, you must run the Optional Patch again to insure you have the correct version of the files.

In related news, all of the entrances to the Qeynos Catacombs have been fixed.

Enjoy!

The following changes have been implemented on the live servers: Template:Relevant

Spell Changes

The recast delay for many of the Shaman buff-spells have been reduced.
"Reoccurring Amnesia" has had its casting time reduced.
"Yaulp" and "Augmentation" should now stack.
"Solidarity of Vision" has had its duration increased.
The Druid spell, "Skin Like Nature", has been returned to its former status due to popular opinion. As such, the damage-shield component has been removed and the regeneration component has been re-applied.
"Sense Magic" has been replaced in all cases by the "True North" spell. If you have already inscribed the "Sense Magic" spell, the spell icon will now automatically reflect "True North".
A bug that existed with several damage-shield spells, causing their damage to be subtracted rather than added when stacked, has been corrected. The spells will now stack properly.
The "Feign Death" spell, when cast by a Necromancer, will now have a fixed duration. The Necromancer will receive several warnings prior to the spell wearing off. This change was necessary because some Necromancers found a way to gain experience through their pet while being AFK for an extended duration, such as being in bed for the night. Note: This does not affect Shadowknights or Monks.
New Necromancer spells are now in game. Check your spell vendors.
Alchemy has been revamped. Check with your local Shaman.
DOT (Damage Over Time) spells will no longer hinder camping.

General Changes/Fixes

The dungeon of Paw has again received a minor update to slightly reduce the difficulty of the zone.

All known issues with the SBLive soundcard have been corrected.

From this point forward, deleting a character will cause all corpses belonging to that character to likewise be deleted. This change was made primarily to stop a no-drop transfer bug. It also has the added effect of cleaning up corpses for characters that people no longer intend to play.

Crippling Blows will now display the correct damage in the "You have scored a Crippling Blow (###)" line.

Corpse Looting Exploit

Recently, an exploit was discovered that allowed certain unsavory individuals to loot the corpses of other players without their consent. The precise symptom of this is that the owner would find their corpse stripped of everything except for no-drop items, and items in a bag with no-drop items. This exploit was fixed in this patch.

If you were affected by this exploit recently, you are entitled to a reimbursement of your lost items assuming that we still have a record of what you had. Please contact a GM in-game to arrange for an investigation.

During the course of the investigation, people who have exploited this bug will be subject to disciplinary action by our GM staff up to and including item wipes, suspension, and/or banishment.

Rogue Enhancements

Template:Relevant Rogues received several enhancements as part of this patch:

The chance to score a critical hit with a throwing weapon has been increased significantly.

When throwing a weapon from behind the NPC in question, a rogue now has a chance to score a "Deadly Strike", for enhanced damage above and beyond that of a critical hit.

A new rogue-specific ability has been added to the "Hide" skill. It is called "Evade". This skill has the effect of lowering the amount that the targeted NPC hates the rogue, and has the potential of making the engaged NPC switch to another target (preferably a tank) within the rogue's group. It is essentially a "reverse taunt". This ability helps mitigate the negative effects of the rogue's exceedingly high damage-output potential. It also will in-turn help the rogue do even more damage as the NPC is much more likely to expose its back. It is engaged by targeting the NPC you wish to "Evade" and pressing the "Hide" button. As a note, you must not be in combat mode in order to use this ability.

Mistwalker

The Mistwalker will once again cast its spell as often as it used to prior to the last patch. However, the resulting pet will now automatically "dissipate" after one combat round. The change that reduced the "proc" percentage on the weapon was made due to an unintended interaction between the pet and the target when several users of this weapon were attacking the same target. Since the new pet now automatically dissipates after one round, the reduced "proc" percentage was no longer necessary.

Class-Specific Armor Quests

Class-Specific armor quests, especially those belonging to Clerics, Paladins, and Shadowknights, have been reduced in terms of how long it will take the average person to acquire the armor. These classes, and others that found particular pieces of their armor exceedingly difficult to obtain should find it much easier now.

In addition, a bug that hindered completion of the Bracer of Ro quest for some races has been corrected.

Tallon Zek

Loot rules for PvP deaths on the PvP-Teams server, Tallon Zek, have been changed from "Coin + 1 item" to "Coin Only". This change was made to study the impact of loot-rules upon server population in reference to the loot/efficiency disparity between caster and melee characters. This change is a test, and may or may not be retained or rolled out across the other PvP servers, pending the results of the server population study over the next few weeks.

Plane Changes

Template:Relevant Several changes have been implemented in the Planes as part of this patch:

Characters will now lose all enchantments upon entering the Plane of Sky.

Due to the fact that the levitate-series no longer works within the Plane of Sky, a teleporter has been placed to allow entrance into the quest room.

A teleporter has been placed within the Plane of Hate in order to give non-casters a way out of the zone besides death, potion, or group teleport.

Loot Messages

Messages indicating what has been looted from a corpse will now be broadcast to everyone within the looters group. This change was made due to public request and to encourage trust within the group. We may, in the future, employ filters to allow people to choose whether or not they wish to receive loot messages. Template:Relevant

Fiery Avenger

The greatly anticipated defining blade of the Paladin , the "Fiery Avenger", is again available within game via a quest. The *first* devout Paladin to wield this blade and be validated by a GM in-game will be publicly congratulated within a patch message and on the Official EverQuest web-site at www.everquest.com.

- The EverQuest Team

February 17, 2000 (Later)

(NOTE: This patch wasn't in Allakhazam and came from http://www.tski.co.jp/baldio/patch/20000217b.html)

Here's some more information on spell changes which weren't in the patch message:

Mana costs for enchanting metals has been reduced.
Dyn's Dizzying Draught has been altered slightly. It now reduces AC, Agility, and drains mana as well as spinning the target.
Blanket of Forgetfulness has received a minor upgrade.
Burnout III now has a slightly higher haste bonus.

February 17, 2000 (Addendum)

(NOTE: This patch message found here: https://web.archive.org/web/20010210085939/www.eqic.net/patches.htm )

There's one minor issue with Paineel that we neglected to mention in the patch message. At the entrance to the city, there is an elevator that must be activated with a key. The "keyhole" in this instance is a rock that is on the ground near the lift. A minor bug exists that does not allow people to click on the rock to activate the elevator. In order to activate the elevator, players will need to hold the key on their pointer, hover it over the rock, and press the "U" key. This will be fixed in a future patch.

In addition, the patch message made reference to a teleporter being placed within the Plane of Hate. The information provided concerning this teleporter was incorrect. The information should read as follows:

- A bug exists within the Plane of Hate that sometimes causes people to be transported to an inactive portion of the zone, from which there is no exit. A teleporter has been placed within this area to transport people who are trapped back to the entrance of Hate.

- The EverQuest Team

February 23, 2000

Today's patch was primarily comprised of server-side changes in preparation for the release of EverQuest: The Ruins of Kunark. Only one gameplay-affecting issue was updated as a result of this patch:

Being killed by another player in a duel will now cause you to re-spawn with zero mana.

This change was implemented to counter a strategy used by casters where they would duel to reduce downtime between fights, thus allowing groups to engage creatures that they normally would not be able to.

The EverQuest Team

March 21, 2000

(NOTE: This patch found here in eqnews.txt with patch zip: https://web.archive.org/web/www.everquest.com.tw/download/patch/EQ_Patch_20000321.zip)

March 22nd, 7:00pm
-----------------------------

Though a little late in coming, we wish to congratulate Musk of Celestial
Crusade on the Tunare server for being the first to obtain the Fiery
Avenger. He is the first of what surely will be many to follow the path of
Nobility and Sacrifice in search of the coveted blade. We also received
word that Musk wanted to thank the guild of Celestial Crusade, and in
particular, Drool Darklighter, who assisted in completing the tasks
necessary to acquire the weapon.

Congratulations to Musk and everyone involved!

-The EverQuest Team

March 21st, 11:00am
-------------------

***UPDATE MESSAGE***

This morning's update consisted primarily of server-side changes to improve performance of the game engine in general. However, there are several changes to note:

*Spell Changes*

- Skin Like Nature has had its damage shield removed and has regained its regeneration component. We're certain this time :)
- Many Shaman buff spells have had their recast delay removed. You can now cast them on multiple people without having to wait between each cast.
- The Wizard spell "Rend" was improperly saving versus cold. It now saves versus Magic.

*Bug Fixes and General Enhancements*

The spawning problem in Solusek's Eye (SoldungA), related to the spawn of the Clockwork gnomes, will be fixed later today in a zone patch.

The +/= key will no longer take screenshots.

You can now adjust your clipping plane by using the SHIFT/- and SHIFT/+ key combinations.

You can now view the Message of the Day by typing /motd.

Corrected a bug in the /follow process that would cause your character to loop around to the right at times when following someone.

Corrected a bug that would cause item-loss associated with trading a container marked LORE.

Corrected some grouping bugs that had the potential to cause the client to crash.

*Feign Death and Pets*

The Feign Death spell will no longer wear off. This change had been made due to an issue that was discovered that allowed Necromancers to solo creatures while feigned and AFK.
The change had some unintended effects, as we discovered that there are a few cases where someone could be legitimately feigned for a longer period. Instead of having the spell
wear off, any summoned pet will automatically suicide 2 minutes after its owner feigns. This is the solution requested by most of the players who voiced an opinion, and should
serve the same goal as the original change.

- The EverQuest Team

March 29, 2000

This morning's update consisted primarily of server-side changes to improve performance of the game engine in general. No items, spawns, spells (with the exceptions below), etc., were changed as a result of this patch.

Area Effect "Fear" spells will no longer work in PvP. This affects a bard song, as well as the Cleric "Wave of Fear" spell.

Corrected a bug with some of the Resurrection spells that caused them to return too little experience.

We plan on publishing data and item changes next week if all goes well on the Test server. We apologize to those who are inconvenienced by having to wait for the expected changes.

The EverQuest Team

April 10, 2000

Patch Day

The following is a list of changes that were implemented on the Live EverQuest servers today:

Spells

You will now receive a message when attempting to mesmerize a creature that is immune to that type of spell.
You can now right-click-and-hold on bard songs to determine what instrument skill is used by the spell.
Dyn's Dizzying Draught has had its casting time lowered significantly.
Corrected a bug in the Druid root + damage spells (Enveloping roots series) that caused the spell's damage to have a chance of breaking the spell. They work much better now.
The Magicians Phantom Armor series now grants HP regeneration.
The Druid spell, dance of the fireflies, has been changed from "Outdoor only" to "Night only". It may now be cast in dungeons.
Corrected a typographical error that allowed high level magicians to inscribe the Malosi spell. It was not intended for magicians under level 50.

General Changes/Fixes

Items have gained the ability to be restricted by Deity. If a deity restriction is placed upon an item, it will show when you right-click-

and-hold on the item.

The AC on the mid-level cleric quest armor has been increased.
The Terror Mask will now cast "Fear " instead of "Call of Bones " as previously announced. The "Call of Bones " effect was placed on this item by mistake.
The Mempo of Likato now grants AC.
The Quest for the Short Sword of Morin has been fixed.
Some spawn-time problems in Mistmoore have been repaired.
Five spawn-time problems were identified in regards to the Armor of Ro (Paladin ) quests. They have been fixed and Paladins should have a much easier time of obtaining their armor.
Pets should now attack Willowisps on command.
Many spell-gems and icons have been changed to reflect the appropriate action of the spell. Be sure to reacquaint yourself with

your spell line-up.

Fixed a bug that caused targetable bard songs to ignore the instrument in use.

Kerra Ridge

Kerra Ridge has been completely revamped. The target level-range for the zone has been slightly increased. In addition, many new quests have been added to the zone. The faction for Kerrans has been changed so that those who killed them indiscriminately before today's update can take part. Be warned that the Kerrans still do not like everyone.

Paw

Paw has received another minor difficulty adjustment. In addition, item drop percentages have been increased.

The Plane of Hate

The Plane of Hate has received an item-drop/spawn-time revamp. Take care in your exploration of this zone as many things have changed.

The EverQuest Team

April 17, 2000 4:00 pm

EverQuest: The Ruins of Kunark (upgrade) should now be arriving on doorsteps around the world. Please note that attempting to create an Iksar character will not work until the expansion zones are officially opened within the next week.

We ask that if you attempt to create an Iksar character out of curiosity that you do not proceed past the "History" page (the page that speaks of your lifestyle) in the character creation process. Once at this page, please use the "Back" button to get back to the character creation screen. Pressing "Next" on this screen will cause the name you have selected to go into the "used name" list, making it unavailable for future use.

We appreciate your cooperation.

- The EverQuest Team

Today's Patch

Today's patch consisted of preparations for the launch of Kunark, as well as some new art. The following spell changes were also included:

Corrected a bug with a new bard song that allowed them to charm anything, such as deities and dragons.
Added a lesser included wisdom effect with "Brilliance " as well as a lesser included intelligence effect with "Insight ". These spells will no longer stack.

- The EverQuest Team

April 19, 2000 4:00 pm

As part of the emergency update completed last night, a change was implemented that increases the amount of damage done by someone wielding a 2 handed weapon.

This change was made due to a statistical imbalance in the way that damage is calculated at the mid-to-upper levels. A person wielding a one-handed weapon of a given ratio was able to do more damage than when wielding a two-handed weapon of the same ratio.

We would like to stress that no change has been made to the amount of damage done by people wielding one-handed weapons. The net result of this change is that people choosing to wield two-handed weapons will now do more damage than they did before.

-The EverQuest Team

April 21, 2000 7:00 am

Greetings everyone!

This morning's update is one of the final updates necessary for the EverQuest: The Ruins of Kunark launch scheduled to take place on Monday.

As part of this update, a new EverQuest Patch Program was sent to your system. For those who have installed the Ruins of Kunark, this update has added a button labeled "K-Patch" to the patch program control panel. Within these patch messages, Ruins of Kunark players may be asked from time to time to press the "K-Patch" button following the download of the regular patch. This will allow them to download Kunark- related updates when they are required.

If you have not installed EverQuest: The Ruins of Kunark, you will not see a "K-Patch" button.

In addition to the Kunark-related changes made today, a bug that lowered the maximum damage of two-handed weapons that was introduced earlier this week in the Emergency Update was also corrected. Finally, the art update yesterday implemented a solution that we've been promising: Male barbarians can now see their shields.

We continue to appreciate everyone's patience while we get the servers ready for Kunark.

Thank you.

The EverQuest Team

Original Patch History

Classic Era

Core Classic Era

March 16, 1999 - Game Launches - First patch server message

April 6, 1999 News Bit from John Smedley

April 6, 1999 First Known Content Patch of Classic EQ

April 13, 1999

April 14, 1999

April 15, 1999

April 16, 1999 Test Server update

April 20, 1999 Post by John Smedley

April 28, 1999 Patch Message

April 29, 1999

News Bit from John Smedley

May 4, 1999 Login Server update

May 4, 1999 Patch message

May 18, 1999

May 21, 1999 GZ comments on Enchanter spell changes pt.1

May 24, 1999

May 27, 1999 GZ comments on Enchanter spell changes pt.2

June 7, 1999

General Changes

Zone Enhancements

Spell Changes

Trade Skill Changes

June 8th, 1999

June 11, 1999

June 15, 1999 Server Update Announcement

June 27, 1999

July 7, 1999

July 13, 1999 Test Server patch

July 16, 1999 Test Server patch

Plane of Fear Era

July 26th, 1999 Plane of Fear launched

General Announcements

Trade Skill Enhancements

New Features

Game Play Enhancements

Spell Additions and Enhancements

August 10, 1999 Patch

Fear Plane Update

Guild News

Update News

August 10, 1999 Abu-Kar update

August 26, 1999

August 31, 1999

September 13, 1999

Bug Fixes

New emotes

PVP Changes

Spell Changes

Pets

DoT Changes

September 14, 1999

Trade Skills:

Items:

September 22, 1999

Magic

General

September 28, 1999

General Enhancements

Fennin Ro Specific Enhancements

Temple of Solusek Ro Era

October 13, 1999

Optional Patch

General Enhancements

Trade Skills

Spell Enhancements

October 20, 1999

General Enhancements

Spell Enhancements

Announcements

October 28, 1999

General Enhancements

Zone Enhancements

Class Enhancements

Spell Enhancements

New Emote Animations

Item Enhancements

Trade Skill Enhancements