Test Patch Notes 2/28

[WaringMcMarrin]

This is the first patch candidate for Free to Play. You'll be able to see the all of the changes from a Gold Member perspective in this patch.

If you use a custom UI, you might want to make sure it still works on test so you're ready for Free to Play!

*** Highlights ***

- Begin the Hero's Journey!
--- All players are now given a Tome of the Hero's Journey which will guide them with suggested tasks to complete along their journey from 1 to 85. Many of these tasks have been revamped and rebalanced.
--- A set of achievements have been added for the Hero's Journey which will grant rewards along the way.

- Added and improved a number of features regarding navigation.
--- Added a zone guide. This window is a quick way look up zones in the game by level, zone connections, and other data about the zone. This is also the starting point for the zone path finder. The zone path finder generates a path between any chosen zone and any other zone in the world.
--- Find tracking is now visible in the map window. You'll be able to see your find wisp in the map window and it will auto center around the path and zoom in an out so you can see the whole path.
--- Maps now support custom map directories. Previously if a map was one of the patched maps it would get overwritten when patching. Now we support sub directories in the maps directory for custom maps. The game will now look for a map in the chosen custom map directory (at the top of the map window) and if it can't find one it will look in the default directory.
--- Added label searching. Now you'll be able to search through all of the labels on the map and select one to mark on the map.
--- Added the ability to right click on any point on the map to attempt to bring up a wisp to it.
--- Added zone connections to the Find window.

- Revamped the tutorial zone and quests within it. To enter the tutorial, select the "Tutorial" button from the character select screen. Your character must be level ten or below to enter the tutorial.
--- New quests have been created to explain important new features such as Mercenaries and Augmentations.
--- All existing quests have been updated with new information.
--- New rewards have been added to the tutorial quests, which should provide new characters with a much better set of starting armor.

- Created a new set of tutorials for advanced game concepts such as Alternate Achievements and Guildhalls. These tutorials are available at level 50 in the Plane of Knowledge.

- Most Veil of Alaris rares have had their HP reduced by 10% or more. Many overly-difficult rares have had their damage outputs or mechanics altered.

- There were many changes made to the User Interface. If you are unable to log in to a character using a custom UI, contact your UI maker for an update or rename your custom UI's folder (in \EverQuest\uifiles\) to force the character to load the default UI again.


*** Items ***

- Changed the name of Valthon's Shard to Valthun's Shard. Valthun Woodswatcher was upset that people kept getting his name wrong.
- Housing anchors are no longer restricted to one per plot.


*** Quests & Events ***

- The elusive Iksar Lieutenants in the Field of Scale now have heralds which can be killed in their place in order to satisfy the requirements of Gorenaire's task "Cutting Off The Arms".
- Corrected a mix-up between the names Tynn and Marthor in Phara Dar's "Evil Afoot" task.
- Erillion, City of Bronze - The first step of the mission "The Traitor Revealed" should now update properly when entering the prison.
- Venorin in Skylance may now use his intended knockback effect.


*** Spells ***

- Bard - Reduced the Triple Attack Chance and the Flurry Chance added by the Arias, Auras, and Echoes of the Composer and the Orator.
- Melee classes - Increased the range of Throw Stone to 70 feet.
- Melee classes - Added an additional ability at level 5 named Elbow Strike. This ability is available in the Plane of Knowledge and anywhere else low-level melee tomes are sold.
- Player pets will no longer ignore their target's immunities when casting or proccing spells.


*** NPC ***

- Most Veil of Alaris rares have had their HP reduced by 10% or more. Many overly-difficult rares have had their damage outputs or mechanics altered.
- Killing the helpless citizens in Argath will be less rewarding than it was before.
- The scholars of the Library of Myrist in the Plane of Knowledge have expanded their inventories. They now carry everything a young adventurer needs.


*** AA ***

- Shadowknight - Thought Leech has been changed to share a timer with Leech Touch instead of Harm Touch.
- Warrior - Warlord's Tenacity should no longer conflict with Druid HP buffs such as Stonebark Skin.
- The next Veteran's Reward has been created. Blessing of the Devoted, which reduces the reuse time of all other Veteran's Rewards by 25 percent, will be available to players as it is earned.
- A new AA ability in the special tab called "Summon Tome of the Hero's Journey" has been created. This ability will allow you to summon a book that offers information on what quests you might want to work on.


*** Achievements ***

- A new category of Achievements has been created called the Hero's Journey. Many existing quests have had achievements added to them in this category.


*** Mercenaries ***

- The initial price to hire a mercenary has been significantly reduced.
- Improved the AI for healer mercenaries. In certain cases, they will now heal you even if you have heal over times spells or deferred heals on you.


*** Miscellaneous ***

- Right-clicking on an item that you cannot use now gives the specific reason why you cannot use the item (whether it be level, race, class, deity, or membership level).
- The alarm window is no longer a pop-up. It is now accessible from the EQ menu button (EQ -> Actions -> Alarm) or the /alarm command.
- Changed the default memory management mode to Balanced and removed original memory mode. This should prevent many of the crashes that were occurring in large zones.
- Increased the targeting range on PCs through /target from 70 to 200.
- Many in-game help files have been updated with new information. Even veteran players will probably find something new in the command lists.


*** UI ***

- There were many changes made to the User Interface. If you are unable to log in to a character using a custom UI, contact your UI maker for an update or rename your custom UI's folder (in \EverQuest\uifiles\) to force the character to load the default UI again.
- Fixed a bug where all two-handed weapons, shields, and augments would have a green name when the equipping player was below the required level, while one-handers and armor had red names. They now all have red names when they are not usable.
- Added the ability to buy additional character slots from character select.
- Merchants will now "Show Only Items That I Can Use" by default. Also spells that the character already has scribed and lower rank spells of the same spell group are now filtered out with "Show Only Items...".
- Added more loading screens for zoning between zones.
- Added a "Toggle Bank Bags" keyboard map option.
- Altered the EQ main window (the cascading popup window that opens when you click the EQ button) so that shortcut key combinations appear next to the item commands in the window.
- Updated the "Create Character" button on the Character Creation screen to read "Enter World" instead. The functionality of this button remains the same.
- Converted all of the buttons that were individually declaring the exact "A_BtnNormal" style to use the common "BDT_Normal" template.
- Converted all of the buttons that were individually declaring the exact "A_SmallBtnNormal" style to use the common "BDT_SmallNormal" template.
- Converted all of the buttons that were individually declaring the exact "A_SquareBtnNormal" style to use the common "BDT_Square" template.
- Converted all of the buttons that were individually declaring the exact "A_BigBtnNormal" style to use the common "BDT_BigNormal" template.
- Converted all of the arrow buttons to use the common template.
- Converted all checkboxes where appropriate.
- Added a new template type for buttons that display a color in them such as the tint window, and converted all references to use this style.
- Added new template types for buttons that display coin with a recessed button around them such as the inventory display of money, and converted all references to use this style.
- Added a new template type for buttons that display items in them such as the container window, and converted all references to use this style.

- Added -
EQUI_AlertStackWnd.xml
EQUI_AlertWnd.xml
EQUI_HelpWnd.xml
EQUI_ZoneGuideWnd.xml
EQUI_ZonePathWnd.xml

- Changed -
EQUI.xml
EQUI_AAWindow.xml
EQUI_ActionsWindow.xml
EQUI_AdvancedDisplayOptionsWnd.xml
EQUI_AdventureLeaderboardWnd.xml
EQUI_AdventureRequestWnd.xml
EQUI_AdventureStatsWnd.xml
EQUI_AlarmWnd.xml
EQUI_AltStorageWnd.xml
EQUI_Animations.xml
EQUI_AudioTriggersWindow.xml
EQUI_BandolierWnd.xml
EQUI_BankWnd.xml
EQUI_BarterMerchantWnd.xml
EQUI_BarterSearchWnd.xml
EQUI_BarterWnd.xml
EQUI_BazaarSearchWnd.xml
EQUI_BazaarWnd.xml
EQUI_BigBankWnd.xml
EQUI_BlockedBuffWnd.xml
EQUI_BlockedPetBuffWnd.xml
EQUI_BodyTintWnd.xml
EQUI_BookWindow.xml
EQUI_BuffWindow.xml
EQUI_BugReportWnd.xml
EQUI_CharacterCreate.xml
EQUI_CharacterListWnd.xml
EQUI_CharacterSelect.xml
EQUI_ChooseZoneWnd.xml
EQUI_ClaimWnd.xml
EQUI_ColorPickerWnd.xml
EQUI_CombatAbilityWnd.xml
EQUI_CombatSkillsSelectWindow.xml
EQUI_ConfirmationDialog.xml
EQUI_Container.xml
EQUI_DynamicZoneWnd.xml
EQUI_EditLabelWnd.xml
EQUI_EQMainWnd.xml
EQUI_FeedbackWnd.xml
EQUI_FellowshipWnd.xml
EQUI_FileSelectionWnd.xml
EQUI_FindLocationWnd.xml
EQUI_FriendsWnd.xml
EQUI_GemsGameWnd.xml
EQUI_GiveWnd.xml
EQUI_GroupMentorWnd.xml
EQUI_GroupSearchWnd.xml
EQUI_GroupWindow.xml
EQUI_GuildBankWnd.xml
EQUI_GuildCreationWnd.xml
EQUI_HelpWnd.xml
EQUI_HeritageSelectionWnd.xml
EQUI_HtmlWnd.xml
EQUI_IconSelectionWnd.xml
EQUI_InspectWnd.xml
EQUI_Inventory.xml
EQUI_ItemDisplay.xml
EQUI_ItemExpTransferWnd.xml
EQUI_JournalCatWnd.xml
EQUI_JournalNPCWnd.xml
EQUI_LargeDialogWnd.xml
EQUI_LeadershipWnd.xml
EQUI_LFGuildWnd.xml
EQUI_LoadskinWnd.xml
EQUI_LootWnd.xml
EQUI_MailAddressBookWindow.xml
EQUI_MailCompositionWindow.xml
EQUI_MailIgnoreListWindow.xml
EQUI_MailWindow.xml
EQUI_MapToolbarWnd.xml
EQUI_MapViewWnd.xml
EQUI_MarketplaceWnd.xml
EQUI_MeleeBuffWindow.xml
EQUI_MercenaryMerchantWnd.xml
EQUI_MerchantWnd.xml
EQUI_MIZoneSelectWnd.xml
EQUI_MusicPlayerWnd.xml
EQUI_NameChangeMercWnd.xml
EQUI_NameChangePetWnd.xml
EQUI_NameChangeWnd.xml
EQUI_NewPointMerchantWnd.xml
EQUI_NewUserWalkthroughWnd.xml
EQUI_NoteWindow.xml
EQUI_OptionsWindow.xml
EQUI_PetInfoWindow.xml
EQUI_PlayerCustomizationWnd.xml
EQUI_PlayerWindow.xml
EQUI_PointMerchantWnd.xml
EQUI_ProgressionSelectionWnd.xml
EQUI_PvPLeaderboardWnd.xml
EQUI_PvPStatsWnd.xml
EQUI_QuantityWnd.xml
EQUI_RaceChangeWnd.xml
EQUI_RaidOptionsWindow.xml
EQUI_RaidWindow.xml
EQUI_RealEstateItemsWnd.xml
EQUI_RealEstateLayoutDetailsWnd.xml
EQUI_RealEstateNeighborhoodWnd.xml
EQUI_RealEstatePlotSearchWnd.xml
EQUI_RespawnWnd.xml
EQUI_RewardSelectionWnd.xml
EQUI_Screens.xml
EQUI_SendMoneyWnd.xml
EQUI_ServerListWnd.xml
EQUI_ShortDurationBuffWindow.xml
EQUI_SkillsWindow.xml
EQUI_SocialEditWnd.xml
EQUI_SpellBookWnd.xml
EQUI_SpellDisplay.xml
EQUI_StoryWnd.xml
EQUI_TaskSelectWnd.xml
EQUI_TaskTemplateSelectWnd.xml
EQUI_TaskWnd.xml
EQUI_TCGStartupWnd.xml
EQUI_Templates.xml
EQUI_TemplateSelectWnd.xml
EQUI_TextEntryWnd.xml
EQUI_TipWnd.xml
EQUI_TitleWnd.xml
EQUI_TrackingWnd.xml
EQUI_TradeskillWnd.xml
EQUI_TradeWnd.xml
EQUI_TrainWindow.xml
EQUI_TributeBenefitWnd.xml
EQUI_TributeMasterWnd.xml
EQUI_VideoModesWnd.xml
EQUI_VoiceActionBarWnd.xml
EQUI_VoiceMacroWnd.xml
EQUI_VoiceNoticeWnd.xml
EQUI_VoteWnd.xml
EQUI_ZoneGuideWnd.xml

[fendaann]

i cant wait if this will fix my crashes


- Changed the default memory management mode to Balanced and removed original memory mode. This should prevent many of the crashes that were occurring in large zones.

[Conchenn]

Is this what all is being done on the 6th?

[WaringMcMarrin]

16th is when free to play launches so I am guessing that is when it is happening, and the 6th is just server maintenance with no patch.