<p><a href="http://eq2players.station.sony.com/news_archive_content.vm?id=1537&section=News&local e=en_US" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i><b>Game Update 42</b></i></a> isn't your usual home-grown update; it's almost an expansion unto itself. With this onslaught of information, you'll gain access to Adventuring as well as Tradeskill Epics, the introduction of <i>three</i> gods from Norrathian lore, a new means to interact with your pets, a connectivity window to know how the internet weather is between you and the servers, a means to better search the broker through effect name and some <b>VERY</b> helpful household items, including a couple to permit you to show off your hard earned equipment!</p><p>~Gnobrin!</p>

OMG The epics look awesome!!And the gods.. wow.. they look amazing as well!/squeeeeeeeeeeeels!!  I want to see more!

<p><span style="font-size: xx-large;color: #ff9900;font-family: comic sans ms,sand;">THANK YOU</span></p><p><span style="font-size: xx-large;color: #ff9900;font-family: Comic Sans MS;">THANK YOU</span></p><p><span style="font-size: xx-large;color: #ff9900;font-family: Comic Sans MS;">THANK YOU</span></p><p><span style="font-size: xx-large;color: #ff9900;font-family: Comic Sans MS;"><img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: xx-large;color: #ff9900;font-family: Comic Sans MS;">HUGS</span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;color: #ff9900;font-family: Comic Sans MS;">~Journee~</span></p>

<span style="font-size: medium;color: #ff99ff;">Looks absolutely stunning. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> I can hardly wait! I'm definitely interested in seeing the lore!!!<img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></span>

when does it go live?

Tuesday Feb. 5th...if nothing goes wrong.

I hope that new broker search is fixed before it goes live.If not, then the patch notes will have to be worded very carefully to avoid have a bunch of disapointed, and confused, customers I suspect.For example, this quote from the preview linked in this thread:Broker Search UpgradeTo help streamline the broker process, this update comes with the ability to search via item ability name! No more having to dig for that one perfect weapon or piece of armor that has that ability you've always needed, you can soon seek them directly!Is not exactly correct 100% of the time. There exists a thread in the In Testing Feedback forum related to it.-Leucippus

The up date looks awesome. I'm not up with the whole raid thing so i questoin the 3 returning gods that are raids. Are they the gods themselfs? Or are they just Avatars like all the other dietys in the game so far? The Epics look very cool. The 4th one looks like the necro one.. My main is a necro so im a little bit disapointed with that way it looks but well see once i get it. I hear they all have an animatoin to them. Might look cooler in motion then in a still picture. Looks great guys. Any hope of the Skeletal revamp and new armor looks for GU 43?

This is a step in the right direction.  I hope this is a trend we see in the coming months!  EQ2 is a fantastic game, but when competing with WoW, it's going to take a lot of hard work and being honest about why Blizzard pulled so far ahead of SOE in such a short amount of time.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that overhauling the graphics engine is on the plate by the next expansion release <img src="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/images/smilies/e8a506dc4ad763aca51bec4ca7dc8560.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" />.  Maybe we'll get lucky and they'll build it to be DirectX 10 capable... maybe...

<cite>Sola wrote:</cite><blockquote>This is a step in the right direction.  I hope this is a trend we see in the coming months!  EQ2 is a fantastic game, but when competing with WoW, it's going to take a lot of hard work and being honest about why Blizzard pulled so far ahead of SOE in such a short amount of time.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that overhauling the graphics engine is on the plate by the next expansion release <img src="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/images/smilies/e8a506dc4ad763aca51bec4ca7dc8560.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" />.  Maybe we'll get lucky and they'll build it to be DirectX 10 capable... maybe...</blockquote><p>"when competing with WoW, it's going to take a lot of hard work and being honest about why Blizzard pulled so far ahead of SOE in such a short amount of time"</p><p>"overhauling the graphics engine " and "DirectX 10 capable"</p><p>That seems a little.. contrary doesnt it? to compete with wow by taking on board its methods they would need to massively simplify and downgrade the graphics engine of eq2, making it effectively dx6-7 to make the game run on any old junk hardware, not make it more advanced and exotic!</p>

<span style="color: #00cc00;">Berty is a Ratonga now? Boy oh boy how the godling fashions change.</span>

Can these new gods be worshiped as a Diety? Or are they only the Avatars for raiding?!<img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" />Great update too!! Cannot wait!

<span style="color: #00cc00;">Probably both, Personally I'm waiting for The Nameless.</span>

<cite>Jenova@Najena wrote:</cite><blockquote>Can these new gods be worshiped as a Diety? Or are they only the Avatars for raiding?!<img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" />Great update too!! Cannot wait!</blockquote>They have been able to be worshiped since RoK was released.  The first picture is the Tribunal, the second is Karana and the third is Bertorxolous (why he is a rat I dont know lol). This just means they are now able to actually be seen in game and raided just like the gods before RoK came out. As far as the Nameless being a god coming soon; don't hold your breath.  The Nameless is not part of the pantheon as are the other gods.  He is higher than even the elemental gods and created all of the deities.  He has been "MIA" since Norrath lore began.

<cite>Anestacia wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Jenova@Najena wrote:</cite><blockquote>Can these new gods be worshiped as a Diety? Or are they only the Avatars for raiding?!<img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" />Great update too!! Cannot wait!</blockquote>They have been able to be worshiped since RoK was released.  The first picture is the Tribunal, the second is Karana and the third is Bertorxolous (why he is a rat I dont know lol). This just means they are now able to actually be seen in game and raided just like the gods before RoK came out. As far as the Nameless being a god coming soon; don't hold your breath.  The Nameless is not part of the pantheon as are the other gods.  He is higher than even the elemental gods and created all of the deities.  He has been "MIA" since Norrath lore began.</blockquote>Oh really? Goes to show how much I've been noticing <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> I'll go read up about them thanks!

What better way to symbolize rot, disease, and plague, than with a giant Ratonga.Kinda makes me sad, My Ratonga is a good clean mouse. His Avatar is stunningly graphically good, to the point it almost makes me sick, heh.Edit: Silly Typo's.

Now... time to wait for guild halls. <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

<cite>Miss_Jackie wrote:</cite><blockquote>Now... time to wait for guild halls. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img mce_tsrc=" />" /></blockquote>I can wait for guild halls for a <i>long</i> time. But anyway.... This update is truly amazing. Well done SOE!EDIT: Though,  i'm a  little bit surprised the Tribunal are looking so Military. As they <i>somewhat</i> hold court in the plane of justice i thought we'd actually see them in their more tradition outfit of a hooded robe. But at least we still can't see their faces. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Well done.

Its looking a good one thats for sure

meh...

<cite>shaunfletcher wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Sola wrote:</cite><blockquote>This is a step in the right direction.  I hope this is a trend we see in the coming months!  EQ2 is a fantastic game, but when competing with WoW, it's going to take a lot of hard work and being honest about why Blizzard pulled so far ahead of SOE in such a short amount of time.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that overhauling the graphics engine is on the plate by the next expansion release <img src="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/images/smilies/e8a506dc4ad763aca51bec4ca7dc8560.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" />.  Maybe we'll get lucky and they'll build it to be DirectX 10 capable... maybe...</blockquote><p>"when competing with WoW, it's going to take a lot of hard work and being honest about why Blizzard pulled so far ahead of SOE in such a short amount of time"</p><p>"overhauling the graphics engine " and "DirectX 10 capable"</p><p>That seems a little.. contrary doesnt it? to compete with wow by taking on board its methods they would need to massively simplify and downgrade the graphics engine of eq2, making it effectively dx6-7 to make the game run on any old junk hardware, not make it more advanced and exotic!</p></blockquote>He is right in a way. The graphics engine needs a MASSIVE overhaul not nesisarly to make the graphics better but to make the enginge more compatible with curent hardware. Make it take advantage of dual core processores if people have them. Have the engine take advantage of SLI if people have it. Make the engine more GPU oriented rather then CPU oriented. thats the huge problem right now with the Eq2 engine it puts more stress on the CPU then the gpu since it seems back in the day they thought processoers were going to be going up and up in speeds when in actuality we've been at the 3GHz range for the last several years now the big thing thats happened in processing has been muliti cores.  EQ2 needs to be optomized for curent technology so it can run better then it does now.

<cite>Anestacia wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Jenova@Najena wrote:</cite><blockquote>Can these new gods be worshiped as a Diety? Or are they only the Avatars for raiding?!<img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" />Great update too!! Cannot wait!</blockquote>They have been able to be worshiped since RoK was released.  The first picture is the Tribunal, the second is Karana and the third is Bertorxolous (why he is a rat I dont know lol). This just means they are now able to actually be seen in game and raided just like the gods before RoK came out. As far as the Nameless being a god coming soon; don't hold your breath.  The Nameless is not part of the pantheon as are the other gods.  He is higher than even the elemental gods and created all of the deities.  He has been "MIA" since Norrath lore began.</blockquote><span style="color: #00cc00;">Your point? Seriously <b>I know the chances are near nil</b>, there is too little lore other then stepped into time/space and made Norrath then stepped back out followed by Veeshan scratching up the bran new planet like a puppy wanting to get out the back door before it potties on the floor. Still it would be something <b>New</b>, just keep the history of him vague <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> perhaps he is the cause of Frostfell, just likes to work behind the scenes and is not as flashy as the godlings.</span>

This looks to be a great update, but "almost an expansion unto itself"?  Not hardly.  =)For those of you wondering about the appearances of the Avatars of Decay and Justice, keep in mind that these are not the deities themselves, but manifestations of them exhibited through Norrathian beings.  Ratonga are among the Plaguebringer's most dedicated servants, so it makes sense he would use one of them as the basis for his avatar form.Powers  &8^]

(( *Drowns in Drool*ohhhhh so nice.  GREAT WORK TEAM <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />" /> NICE NICE.Mannequins look super fab, and they are just mannequins! Great work on the textures there! Super! Look like canvas sacks, something i'd expect from Fantasy genre, so Totally enhancing the Immersion there. Fine details are always nice.The weapons are a real treat. In-engine renders always win out visually ^_^  GREAT WORK!Its all happening so fast... i better sit down, im feeling light headed from all this excitement!PS. for future patch, can you make an option in broker window, a Checkbox if you will, that allows us to 'Display Cheapest Priced Item only'  to show just 1 of each item, (the cheapest one). It would be super fabulous when doing searches for ... things like... Collectable Pages....Seriously, just typeing in 'page' results in a few hundred pages of broker listings of them hehe. Most are duplicates so it takes long hours to go through the whole list via Mouse-overs to see which ones we need and which ones we dont <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />" />Mind you, its totally more advanced than it was at launch, since we can just mouse-over things now to compare or check if we need em. (*praises the coders for that much*) (all  in all, great stuff)<img src="http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g69/Arctura000/OB-sig.jpg" alt="" border="0" />

I almost feel sorry for all the custom UI builders out there. Trying to keep up with all these amazing new changes must be stressful. Keep up the AMAZING work there dev's!

<cite>Zabjade wrote:</cite><blockquote><span style="color: #00cc00;">Berty is a Ratonga now? Boy oh boy how the godling fashions change.</span></blockquote><div> </div><div>Well put - I was aghast.  *edit* Powers, that is a good way of thinking on it, however.  Thank you!</div>

<cite>Polywogus wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Zabjade wrote:</cite><blockquote><span style="color: #00cc00;">Berty is a Ratonga now? Boy oh boy how the godling fashions change.</span></blockquote><div> </div><div>Well put - I was aghast.</div></blockquote>His avatar is ratonga...he is not.   bertox is a bertoxxulous not any race...avatars are just mortals infused with the essence of the god therefore they always resemble some mortal race.  For example Solusek Ro's is an erudite therefore he is obviously a rudite but has many of the feature's of the god.  Same as Bertox's avatar except his chosen was a ratonga.Inny's is a trollMithanial's is a Barbarian Tunare's is a high elfCazic's was a troll at one point i'm pretty sure  except its all messed up hahaBrell's is a dwarfBristlebane's is a halflingSolusek's is an Erudite Rallos's is a giant Quellios's is a human childTribunal is uhh well you cant tellKarana is a humanSeeing as Bertox has no race on norrath that in any way resemble's him he chose a race that he just really liked, and bam you have an avatar.There no more arguments that he doesnt look liek the god...its because he doesnt have to

<cite>Sashtan@Mistmoore wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite></cite>Cazic's was a troll at one point i'm pretty sure  except its all messed up haha</blockquote>suposed to have been a lizardman me thinks. althogh the way to get how it looks now seems painful. then agen same could be said of bertox avatar.

It has always just seemed to me that Cazic is the only one arrogant enough to show his face, or what he wants to be seen as.  Cazic's avatar had to have been recreated, not of a player race.But anyway, Way To F***in Go on this update you guys! I am an EQ1 vet who just started playin eq2 at the release of RoK, which is strange cause that is when I started eq1 as well... lol but anyway! Seriously looking forward to these epic quests! REALLY looking forward to them!

<cite>Powers wrote:</cite><blockquote>This looks to be a great update, but "almost an expansion unto itself"?  Not hardly.  =)For those of you wondering about the appearances of the Avatars of Decay and Justice, keep in mind that these are not the deities themselves, but manifestations of them exhibited through Norrathian beings.  Ratonga are among the Plaguebringer's most dedicated servants, so it makes sense he would use one of them as the basis for his avatar form.Powers  &8^]</blockquote><p>So glad you brought this up Powers.  Making a comment "almost an expansion unto itself" is quite derogatory.  They finally put together a real meat and bones update (though some of this was supposed to come with the release of RoK several months ago) and they want to blow it way out of proportion!!!  Need to look at how often WoW puts out content, fixes things, or revamps each class and then put such talk into context.</p><p>Another point WoW does I think EQ2 devs should look at doing for updates is revamp "x" amount of classes each month.  If they did this than maybe we could get balance between classes done and start pulling in more PvP types (though myself I don't pvp, but I do see where SOE has favored certain classes more than others and slow to fix classes they don't favor).</p><p>Beside this, Kudo's devs!!!  We players love when you show us attention and this patch 42 is a step in the right direction!!!</p>