Triad Continuum

It’s been a rocky 2009, thats for sure.

The real world economy has taken it’s toll, even in the gaming community. Many have stopped logging in to play, either due to tightening the money belt, working harder and longer or just focusing on other issues. The bottom line is the economy has not helped! Fortunately, it’s starting to look like there is a light at the end of a very distant tunnel.

Here’s a toast to a better 2010!

May your loot be grand and your health be full,
your mana aplenty and your efforts fruitful.
May your raids be successful with many-a-play date,
And may you never again see ‘Loading… please wait”

I hope that the new year and the holidays treat everyone well. I am wishing for the best for everyone this new year and that we all can move on to greater content.

Blaze

Wow, it’s been more than 2 months since we’ve updated news here. Coincidentally, it’s been 2 months since I started a new job, and boy what a roller coaster that ride has been.

Irregardless of my presence in game, please know that TC is still chugging along and is now exploring the newest expansion, Underfoot. Lucky for me that there isn’t a level increase in this one as it would probably take a team of army engineers to figure out how I can make time to level my toons up.

Since it’s almost Christmas, what a better time than now to say thanks to all those who have stuck it out with TC, in good times and lean times. That’s kind of the nature of the usual TC member..as long as we have good people, good comradarie and a measure of personal stick-toitiveness, TC will continue to florish and hang in there.

I should take this time to personally thank one of our members for her undying devotion to TC. Without this woman at the helm some nights, many people would be left standing in Guild Hall. Lazurynae has been an exceptional member and an exceptional officer since joining TC and it gives me great pleasure to count her as one of our own. Laz has seen much of the world of Norrath and her experiences, research and willingness to try, have led many members into doing more and seeing more than they would have normally. Laz is the quintessential TC member and her loyalty to the game and to TC are inspirations to many.

So before I log into the game for only the 3rd or 4th time in 8 weeks, let me toss out a Happy Holidays to all our friends, guests, members and Officers in TC. May next year prove to be a profitable, fulfilling and adventurous year both in game and in real life.

- Aaikan

We had a file become corrupted last night and as a result, we’re using a different “skin” for our webpage. As soon as I can correct the issue, the old skin will return.

Also, we’ve added a new style to our Forums. If you haven’t logged in lately, you can check it out by logging in, clicking on the “User Control Panel” link near the top of the page, then selecting “Board Preferences” tab and changing “My Board Style” to “pro_mycastel” (Yeah, it’s mispelled intentionally.. thats the name of the theme”.

Check it out while we try to fix the issues here.

*** Highlights ***

- Many of Old Man McKenzie’s items have faded from memory. If you have one of these faded items, give them to the Old Man in Plane of Knowledge and he will return your Brews. If you had augments in these items, be sure to put them in bags before you zone.

- Most items from Old Man McKenzie’s group missions have been upgraded in power. They have also had their required levels reduced to 80. These items do not need to be turned in to see the changes.

- You will now have to impress Old Man McKenzie with your accomplishments before he will allow you to start a Nagafen or Vox raid or see items that come from them. People who have completed more than seven raids from Solteris, Meldrath’s Mansion, Crystallos, or all but the first tier of Seeds of Destruction raids will impress him. You must request a Nagafen or Vox raid from him or attempt to join one in progress for him to check your accomplishments and allow you to see the raid items.

- New Hot Zones are now available. Speak to Franklin Teek in the Plane of Knowledge to see what new tasks he has in store for you.

*** Items ***

- Many of Old Man McKenzie’s items have faded from memory. If you have one of these faded items, give them to the Old Man in Plane of Knowledge and he will return your Brews and an additional reward. If you had augments in these items, be sure to put them in bags before you zone.
- Most items from Old Man McKenzie’s group missions have been upgraded in power. They have also had their required levels reduced to 80. These items do not need to be turned in to see the changes.
- You will now have to impress Old Man McKenzie with your accomplishments before he will allow you to start a Nagafen or Vox raid or see items that come from them. People who have completed more than seven raids from Solteris, Meldrath’s Mansion, Crystallos, or all but the first tier of Seeds of Destruction raids will impress him. You must request a Nagafen or Vox raid from him or attempt to join one in progress for him to check your accomplishments and allow you to see the raid items.
- The new Orb of Tishan’s click effect has been repaired.
- The Frost-Strung Bow now offers a bit more protection.
- Replaced the missing AC from the new Thick Banded Belt.
- Tobrin’s Mystical Eyepatch can not be activated as often.
- The new Staff of Forbidden Rites has had its recast time raised and will only have one augment slot.
- The Barbarian Hunting Spear, Staff of Forbidden Rites, Warhammer of Divine Grace, and Staff of Ankexfen have had their ratios increased to match other weapons in their tier.
- The familiar summoned by the new Scimitar of the Mistwalker has become faster but weaker. The scimitar itself has become slightly less powerful.
- The Improved Dodge effect on the Idol of Many Hands, the Silvery Trinket, and the Frost-Strung Bow has been reduced to level VI to match the focus on other items in its tier.

*** Quests & Events ***

- Classic Missions have undergone a careful bug fixing pass resulting in the following changes:
– Harm Touch has been changed to remove an exploit allowing the use of unintended higher level versions of the ability. In addition, the ability will no longer refresh upon the death of the Shadow Knight. This affects the Classic Mission ability as well as the normal version of the ability.
– Paladins should now be able to create a Lay On Hands hotkey.
– Shaman have been granted the haste spell Alacrity.
– Lady Vox will now leash to her spawn point should she find herself outside of her room. This has been changed to provide an encounter more in the spirit of the event.
– Lowered the hand to hand damage on each of the classic mission characters to be more in line with their previous values. Monks of course still have much higher unarmed damage then other classes.
- The classic raids will once again drop items instead of brews.
- Old Man McKenzie no longer remembers encountering the Corrupted Gnome Explorer in Guk.
- Old Man McKenzie’s group tasks now require a minimum of three adventurers to obtain and all three must be present to open the chests. The raid events will still require 12.
- Fixed an issue that caused the classic mission task to end when players were added or removed from the task.
- Fixed an issue that caused players to be able to use AAs in the monster mission that the shrouds were not intended to have.
- Fixed an issue that caused players that were dead and in hover mode to sometimes not receive rewards when the chest was opened at the end of the classic mission.
- Sulgar now promises the correct reward for Tarton’s Wheel.
- Fixed some spelling errors in Blackfeather Roost tasks.
- The Dark Tower: Fallen Guard task now specifies the correct zone in its description.

*** NPC ***

- Modified the placement of some Rallosian Shocktroopers in Korascian Warrens.
- Increased the chance for Library Director Eslisar to spawn in the Keasora Library.
- Fixed a placement problem with an Elder Air Wyvern in Crystallos.
- The Pixxt Deathbinder’s spell Consuming Flames now takes significantly longer to cast.

*** AA ***

- Glyph of Angry Thoughts should now always give you the full hate bonus as described.
- Harm Touch 1 – 10 will no longer refresh upon the death of the Shadow Knight. This is to make the ability consistent throughout the entire level range.

*** Zones ***

- The following zones are now Hot Zones providing new challenges and increased experience. Speak to Franklin Teek in the Plane of Knowledge to see what new tasks he has in store for you.

– Level 20 – South Karana
– Level 25 – Lake of Ill Omen
– Level 30 – The Twilight Sea
– Level 35 – Kedge Keep
– Level 40 – City of Mist
– Level 45 – Howling Stones
– Level 50 – Veksar
– Level 55 – Grieg’s End
– Level 60 – Plane of Nightmares
– Level 65 – Kod’Taz, Broken Trial Grounds
– Level 70 – The Buried Sea
– Level 75 – Thalassius, the Coral Keep
– Level 75 – Ashengate, Reliquary of the Scale

– Apparently while performing some end-of-the-summer cleaning, the doors within Howling Stones were left unlocked. It may be some time before a maintenance crew can be sent there again to lock the doors up tight. Use this knowledge as you will.
– In addition, the spells protecting the entrance to Howling Stones have weakened, and adventurers of lesser skill and strength may find its halls now accessible.

*** UI ***

- Changed -

EQUI_Animations.xml – new dragitems
EQUI_CharacterListWnd.xml – minor alignment fixes
EQUI_CharacterSelect.xml – minor alignment fixes

*** Miscellaneous ***

- Fixed a bug that was causing chat messages sent to your guild to sometimes be lost.
- Fixed a problem with sound effects stacking that caused many sounds to play incorrectly.
- Fixed a problem that caused you to lose all the money on your shroud when removing the shroud and upgrading a mercenary.

*** Previously Updated ***

- Both the classic raid tasks and the zones they take place in have been set to their intended maximum of 42 players.
- Removed the ability for mercenaries to accompany you on Ancient Heroes missions. It seems that they don’t much like being taken to a time when adventurers didn’t carry coin around.
- The chests in the “classic” missions offered by Old Man McKenzie will now hang around a while longer once opened.

Ancient Heroes Game Update

*** Highlights ***

- Ancient Heroes: Old Man McKenzie, a frequent patron of the taverns in the Plane of Knowledge, thinks you adventurers have it too easy these days! Back in his day they didn’t have all this fancy armor and magical weaponry, they relied on their wits and not a little luck to survive! Think you’ve got what it takes to survive in McKenzie’s Gold era? Now’s your chance to prove it! Enter McKenzie’s world and take on the denizens of Nagafen’s Lair, Permafrost, and Guk as they were originally meant to be played, at level 50!

Transform yourself into a character built to mimic the classic EQ experience before even the lands of Kunark had been discovered. Prove your mettle by besting the Undead Frogloks of Guk or the Kobolds of Nagafen’s Lair, with up to 5 friends. Or if you’re feeling especially gallant, gather a raid force and take down Lord Nagafen or Lady Vox! With all new rewards you’ll want to conquer them all!

Below level 80? Seek out Franklin Teek who’s hiring adventurers to slay creatures in the ‘Hot Zones’ of Norrath. Some say he is a ‘fixer’ for some unknown party, while others think he seeks to live vicariously through the escapades of others. All we know for sure is he always seems to have work for those in need, and he’s willing to pay well to have it done! Completion of any one of Franklin’s ‘Hot Zone’ quests by December 1, 2009 will qualify you for the Ancient Heroes Road to Underfoot event. Get to the Plane of Knowledge to see if he has work for you!

Participate* in all three of the Road to Underfoot events and pre-order and purchase the expansion by December 1, 2009 and you’ll be one of the first to experience EverQuest® Underfoot™!

- Giants Giants Giants!: Haven’t participated in the Giants, Giants, Giants even yet? Don’t fret, you now have a little while longer to fight against the greatest “big” foes of Norrath. Seek out Tzudani, Emissary of Veeshan in the Plane of Knowledge and heed the call while there’s still time. Good Hunting!

- Character Transformations Potions on the Marketplace: We’ve added two new potions and a combo pack to the marketplace that permit you to transform your characters.

•*Potion of Amnesia – Using this item will allow you to change your character’s name. Once you change your name the change is permanent.
•*Potion of Disgenderment – Using this item will immediately change your character’s gender to the opposite of what it currently is. This is a permanent change.
•*Witness Protection Pack – This pack contains a Potion of Amnesia and Potion of Disgenderment. Using the Potion of Amnesia will allow you to change your character’s name. Once you change your name the change is permanent. Using the Potion of Disgenderment will immediately change your character’s gender to the opposite of what it currently is. This is a permanent change.
- Norrath’s Timeless Heroes Winners: Tomeseeker Salkien in Plane of Knowledge has a new book with some interesting recipes celebrating Norrath’s Timeless Heroes – Tharkis (Luclin), Acceber (The 7th Hammer), Jyve (Antonius Bayle), Merlu (Maelin Starpyre), Oriaas (The Tribunal), Rouan (The Tribunal), Souldor (Erollisi Marr), Straha (The 7th Hammer), Terminat (Maelin Starpyre), and Tnexus (Prexus).

*** Items ***

- Existing poisons from Chalandria’s Fang will start rotting. The new poisons it creates will last longer.
- Changed the icons on poisons to differentiate them from potions and inks.
- Obliteration ornamentations sold in the marketplace now have a particle effect. This will affect items you currently own with that ornamentation.
- The wedding bands from the wedding pack can now be traded on the Firiona server.
- Tomeseeker Salkien in Plane of Knowledge has a new book with some interesting recipes.
- The reward augmentations from the Giants, Giants, Giants event have been rebalanced to have a smoother progression curve and to allow for a more usable group-level reward. – At low levels the augment has lost power, but it now ramps up much more quickly. The end reward for the raid remains the same.
- Geomantra effects are now usable by non-mana using classes.

*** Quests & Events ***

- Fixed an issue with the Tainted Beast that was causing it to despawn too quickly.
- The groups of Ritualist NPCs in the War of Bloody Kithicor raid will no longer wither the storyline NPCs so long as all the NPCs in that group have aggro on players.

*** Spells ***

- All spells, disciplines, and AA’s that buff a player or pet with invulnerability effects will now count down in the guild hall and guild lobby.
- Divine Barrier has been returned to the normal buff window pending further review.
- Corrected an issue that was preventing Magicians from using Promised Recovery scrolls.
- Bard DoT chants have had their debuff portions split into a separate spell that is automatically triggered when the chant is cast. Multiple instances of the base DoT from different casters will now stack, but the debuff portion will not.

*** AA ***

- The spell “Blood Pact” can no longer be added to the blocked buffs list.

*** Miscellaneous ***

- Fixed an issue where removing an item from a trader’s satchel did not update on the trader’s merchant window.
- Fixed an issue that was preventing the raid window from saving its settings.
- Removed restrictions on using general channels when dead and in hover mode (again).
- Fixed an issue that was preventing NPC height changes from working properly.
- Fixed an issue that could cause a player to become “ghosted” in their guild (in the guild, but not in the guild, and not removable from the guild by player or GM).
- Fixed an issue that caused your LFG tag to drop if you zoned with a mercenary.
- Fixed an issue causing non-attuned attunable items to not be sold to a someone with a buy line open on them.

*** UI ***

- Buffs with limited procs now display the number of charges remaining on the buff icon.
- Fixed a problem that caused buff icons and labels to get out of sync. The buff timer display is now more accurate as well.

- Changed Files -

EQUI.xml
EQUI_Animations.xml
EQUI_CastSpellWnd.xml
EQUI_NameChangeWnd.xml
EQUI_OptionsWnd.xml
EQUI_VoiceActionBarWnd.xml
SIDL.xml

- The EverQuest Team

For the past few weekends, TC’s been joining our friends in Sceptered Isle along with others, for some good, old fashioned Raiding.

Jointly, we’ve been sharpening our skills, successfully raiding Blackburrow’s Rottrued The Twisted (easy and hard versions) and picking up some excellent non-visible armor, weapons a few Raid Essences and Rank III spells for the raid force:

These saturday raids are generally open to any who wish to join, providing they have achieved a level of 80 and have a minimum of 500 AAs. AA requirements drop by 100 for every level, so even those at level 85 with only a few AAs can join in. For more information or to sign up, please visit

Now that most of our members are all flagged for Void E, TC has begun to turn it’s attention to this zone and all the loot it has to offer.  Several have already received very nice upgrades to their non-visible armor as well as some pretty sweet weapo0ns.

Here’s one snapshot that was taken on a recent outing there.  (Note the Pally was still standing!)

Join us as TC continues to explore all this zone has to offer.

From Massively:

“In a statement to Massively today, Sony Online Entertainment has confirmed that they are laying off 41 full-time workers, equaling 5% of their full-time workforce.

The company’s statement provided a wish to increase operational efficiency and reduce costs as the main motivator behind this sudden and unexpected set of layoffs. The positions of those affected by the layoff is currently unknown.

SOE will not be providing any interviews or further comment on the matter. Our best and warmest wishes go out to those who have been affected by the layoffs and their families.

SOE’s full statement to Massively can be found after the jump.

We’ve always said that Driiel is a Legend, but here we have proof of our poofy faye Paladin.   Woah, to those evil Shadow Knights, Necromancers and other evil do-ers!

Beginning Thursday, July 2nd, at 11:00 a.m. and continuing through Monday, July 5th at 9:00 a.m., all mobs will be tuned up to provide an additional 51% more experience.  So get your grind going again and take advantage.  Hit those levels, grind those AAs and take advanatage of those XP Pots that you’ve been holding back on!

SOE has trademarked the name “Everquest Underfoot” and it is believed this will be the next expansion in the games lineup. Of course, we won’t know for sure until it’s announced next week at Fan Faire but all indications are this will be the title. Release date is still not known, nor are the particulars, including whether or not there will be a level increase.

You can read more about it Here