So today’s patch day for Rise of Kunark. As with every major game update, and especially with every major expansion, most of the day is spent waiting for the servers to come up. So while we’re waiting for the game to patch, let’s go over the changes introduced today.
First thing you’ll notice is a new patcher! And about time too, the Desert of Flames motif was getting a bit old.
EQ2Players.com was also updated just in time for Kunark.
Now as for the actual patch notes…My comments below are in red, for readability sake.
RISE OF KUNARK IS HERE!
To arms! The continent of Kunark has been rediscovered in the waters of the Timorous Deep! The lich emperor, Venril Sathir, has spent the last 500 years nearly conquering the breadth of the land, driving the Di’Zok to make their final stand in the city of Chardok. Suddenly awakened into a hostile world, the sarnak of Gorowyn have begun to explore not only a vast and varied land, but also their own mysterious past — not stopping for anything that might stand in their way. Will you be able to tame this harsh land, or will you be unable to stop the Rise of Kunark?
Standard stuff detailing the expansion. Sarnaks, and those starting in Timorous Deep, are evil aligned by the way.
RACIAL TRAITS
- Most races have had their racial traits improved to be useful from levels 1-80!
Bout flippin time! Most of the new racial traditions are pretty good, but they definitely lean each race to a specific set of classes.
- Along with the new racial traits there is a new way to see what racial and class traits you can choose now and further along in your adventuring career.
- By pressing the ‘L’ button you will open a window that contains three tabs. Two of them are for spending your Achievement points, and the third is the new “Character Development” tab. Check out this new tab to see all your options and at what level you will achieve them.
- As a part of the launch of this new system, every existing player will be able to review and change their character development choices one time.
This is a pretty neat thing. Now no more guesswork as you’re leveling, or need to look things up. It’s all presented in-game.
GAMEPLAY
- Level 20-70 experience gain rate has been smoothed to be more beneficial, and pre-70 quests now pay out more experience!
I’m not sure what they mean by this. I’m guessing that it’s just smoother, with no more sudden jumps in amount of experience needed. More quest experience is both a good and a bad thing. Good for those trying to level quickly, bad for those trying to focus on Achievements more than Levels.
- New characters who choose Gorowyn or Kelethin as their home city will be greeted with a new, in-game, cinematic when they first enter the game.
Reminds me of WoW’s cinematics. Not necessarily a bad thing, but perhaps getting a bit overdone in other MMOs.
- Only items in ranged and melee weapon slots can be swapped while in combat.
Now this change is going to get people fired up. No more swapping gear for clickies or procs or the like. When you enter combat, they’re stuck as is! Fortunately most tinkered items can now be used from bags now, at least.
MAP SYSTEM
- Zoom, pan and resizing have been added to the in game map.
- To zoom in use your mouse wheel or the buttons in the lower right corner of the map.
- Once you are zoomed in you can pan around the map my clicking and dragging your mouse when the cursor displays as a hand.
- The map window can now be resized just like other UI windows in the game.
- Always wanted a minimap? Now you can make one!
A neat change, probably in preparation for the new map system being implemented. Believe me, you’re going to need this in Kunark! The maps are huge.
MUSIC
- EverQuest II now boasts all-new adaptive combat music!
- Expect fights to sound differently based on the pace of combat, whether you’re winning or losing, as well as how difficult the fight is
- Turn your combat music back on! It’s seriously worth it.
The patch notes aren’t kidding. The new combat music is good.
SPELLS
Troubador
- The daze effect has been removed from Precision of the Maestro.
- Concentration is no longer needed for the Performer’s Talent line.
- Performer’s Talent line will now only trigger on the initial damage hits.
Dirge
- The Death’s Door line no longer requires concentration.
Yay? I don’t know much about bard spells.
TRADESKILLS
- The level cap on all primary and secondary tradeskills has been raised to 80 for players who have purchased the Rise of Kunark expansion.
- New level 70-80 tradeskill recipes are now available for all classes, as are level 70-79 tradeskill city writs for all starting cities.
- Several new quests are now available in Kunark for higher level crafters of all adventure levels. Speak to Assistant Jones at the docks in Kylong Plains, and Taskmaster Greeblentus in Teren’s Grasp to learn how you can assist.
- Several optional new faction paths allow crafters to assist certain factions within Kunark and earn their trust. Taskmaster Greeblentus can guide you towards these.
- A new tradeskill faction has entered Norrath with the discovery of Gorowyn: the Academy of Logistics, bringing more titles for players to earn and new faction furniture items to be purchased.
Standard expansion stuff.
- Stack sizes of harvested items have been increased across all level ranges.
Thank god! Stack size is now 200 for harvested goods, as well as fuels.
- Changes to the crafting UI automatically bring up the reaction arts you need, and will override your 1-6 keys while the window is up. If you want to continue using your old hotbars, simply click elsewhere so the crafting window loses focus.
I have mixed opinions on this. On the one hand, I don’t necessarily want to use the 1-6 keys. On the other hand, it does free up a few hot bars.
- Tradeskill delegates now offer a new tradeskill tutorial quest series to give more information to new crafters (or old ones who would like a refresher). If you were in the middle of the old tutorial quest series you will find these autocomplete, and you can pick up the new one.
Good! The old quest wasn’t all that helpful if you ask me.
- Tradeskill reaction arts now auto-upgrade as you level up, no more hunting in knowledge books to find your latest!
This is part of the tradeskill revamp. Should make life a lot easier.
- Tinkerers and transmuters now have 6 reaction arts like other classes. These still need to be purchased from the appropriate vendors, however.
Thank god! One of my biggest complaints about Tinkering and Transmuting is that it was insanely difficult to get a Pristine, as well as the reduced number of arts. Hopefully this will help matters.
- Harvesting tools no longer need to be equipped to be used. They do however still need to be attuned.
Nice change! I can free up a few macros and hotbuttons with this change.
- Recipes no longer yield non-pristine products. Instead, if you fail to create a pristine quality product, your fuel will be returned for handcrafted recipes, or your rare for mastercrafted. More details can be found in this discussion: http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/posts/list.m?topic_id=366825
Part of the overall tradeskill revamp. Basically this means: pristine or bust. A good change.
- Carpenters will find some belated evil furniture items appearing in their existing recipe books … just in time for a very evil Frostfell?
Better late than never, I suppose.
- Experience granted by tradeskill writs will now scale more smoothly. They should grant about 5% at higher levels and a bit more at lower levels.
Yay! Less tedious leveling once I run out of pristine bonus exp.
FOUR YEAR VETERAN REWARDS
It’s only our third birthday! Why four year veteran rewards already? Remember that you get 90 days free Veteran Reward time for each expansion that you own. Four expansions plus three years means new rewards!
- Your fame has grown. Tales of your exploits have been told among the citizenry of major cities across Norrath. In the cities, children grow up wanting to be just like you. Don’t be surprised if you’re worshipped by all while gracing them with your presence.
- A treasure chest that symbolizes your amassed wealth as an accomplished citizen of Norrath. Your home city is lucky to have you as a citizen. Placing one of these items in your home will cause all landlords to give you a 25% discount on your coin rent.
- All that fame and constant recognition can be draining on Norrath’s own superstars. Sometimes it’s refreshing to be able to disappear into the background. You can do so more easily with your own Billy Illusion.
- Not that a person of your stature would need such assistance, but famous people lead busy lives. Any time they can save leads to more time for heroic deeds and economic exploits. The most advanced adventurers and crafters do have their public to think about, after all
Check out this news article on EQ2Players.com for all the details about the veteran rewards.
A new title, reduced rent in housing, and your own Billy, and of course more exp potions. What’s not to like?
There were also a couple stealth updates for Conjurors: Our DS and Fire Seed spells have a much shorter recast time now, as does Call of the Hero (down from 8 minutes to 2 minutes). Not sure on any other stealth changes yet, though.
All in all, a pretty good patch for Rise of Kunark. Except for the not being able to change your equipment during combat, anyway.
