SEPTEMBER 26, 2002

Planes of Power Pre-Order Bonus:

If you pre-order the PoP expansion you will be able to purchase the Planes of Power original soundtrack CD for just an additional $4.95.

Important Notice about Alternate Advancement:

• When a character has 30 or more AA points, they will receive a red message stating:

Warning: You are currently over the earned Advancement point limit of 30. Please spend some of your stored AA points. You will not be able to earn further AA points until you have fewer than 30. On October 21, 2002, all points over 30 in your AA pool will be deleted.

It seems appropriate that Advancement points earned prior to the release of Planes of Power be used for abilities from earlier expansions. In addition, many of the Luclin abilities are pre-requisites for Planes of Power abilities. When the servers come up on October 21st, all unused Alternate Advancement point pools over 30 will be wiped.

New Spell Effects:

We are implementing a few new spell effects using our new particle effects engine with this patch as a way of easing into the new system. The new effects are faster and give you more control over how they look. We have changed the Display Options menu to accommodate these new options.

On the Display tab of the options window you will now find four options regarding particle effects. The first three, listed under Spell Particles are Near Clip Plane, Density and Opacity. These are the options for controlling the new particle effects. They will not change the old particle effects. The old particles are controlled using the Other Particles option.

Note on Near Clip Plane: This option chooses how close to you particles cease to be visible. So Near allows particles to be seen right up to the character. Farthest will clip out particles near the character and only show those at the 'farthest' distance.

Note on Opacity: This feature works at all settings for cards that support TnL. For other cards setting Opacity to 0% will turn off the effects and any other setting will show them fully.

We'll leave it up to you to discover which spells have the new particles...

Alternate Advancement:

• Beastlords now have access to the Mend Companion ability.
• Beastlords now have access to three unique class alternate advancements.
• Permanent Illusion used with Wolf Form should no longer result in a wolf tinted by the Enchanter's robe.
• Updated Finishing Blow - "This ability gives you a chance to finish off an NPC that is below 10 percent health and fleeing with a single blow. The first level works on NPC's below 50, the second on NPC's below 52, and the third on NPC's below 54. (Non-Warriors must first train one level of Combat Fury to use this ability.)"
• Improved Combat Fury for non-warriors to give more value to the points spent after level 1.

Spells:

• New Druid and Shaman heal spells are available.
• The "Your XXX Spell Has Worn Off" messages for DoT spells will now go to the right character.
• Illusions that are of a character type that can't wear armor, such as werewolf, will no longer cause the character to be naked when the illusion drops.
• Fixed the Illusion wolf form swimming animation.
• Shaman and Beastlord Shrink spell has had its location restriction removed.
• The outcasts of Echo Caverns have deciphered new magics that allow Dark Knights to channel the essence of terror into their enemies minds. While their initial findings have proven very powerful, rumors exist of even greater magics that might channel the nightmares of Terris Thule herself into the minds of mortals. Where that power might be found is not yet known.

Items:

• Items that grant bonuses to bandage skill should be working now.
• Guise of the Hunter no longer makes the user appear to be naked.
• Validus Custodus Battle Axe no longer looks like a bard mandolin when equipped by a pet.

PvP Servers and Gameplay:

• The recent resist changes have been adjusted for PvP. They will not be exactly as they were prior to the resist change, but they should be reasonable now. Please let us know if you feel they need further adjustment.
• Player characters will no longer lose experience in the Arena areas on the Sullon Zek server.
• A player character can no longer tell his pet to attack another player's horse when not on a PvP area or in a duel.
• Kael, Skyshrine, and Thurgadin on Sullon Zek no longer have the newbie protection code active.
• Players should once again be able to use level-restricted clickable buffs on the Sullon Zek server.

Pets:

• Improved Beastlord pets to scale more reasonably with the level of the Beastlord after level 40. This also puts them into line with the last round of pet balancing, which did not improve beastlord pets at the time.

Horses:

• Locate corpse songs/spells should now work on horseback.
• Detect traps should also now work on horseback.
• Fixed a bug that was preventing manipulation of inventory items if a character died with coins on the cursor.
• Invisibility on horseback should now make your horse invisible to NPCs as it does the rider.
• Zoning with Levitate/Levitation and horse no longer causes the levitation to fail.
• Fixed a bug that would cause the horse 'buff' to disappear when zoning in some zones.
• Player characters on horseback can now be hit by various missiles, such as arrows, thrown weapons or the various bolt spells from PCs and NPCs.
• Call of the Hero should no longer put people under the world when the caster is on horseback.
• Dragging a corpse while on a horse will no longer cause the corpse fall under the world.
• You can now right click on spells to arrange your spell book when on a horse.

Zone Specific:

• We believe that we fixed the major source of lockups caused for players in certain zones such as the Great Divide and Shadowhaven.
• Hierophant Oxyn in East Cabilis will be showing up again.

The Following User Interface Files have been changed with this patch:

Updated:

• EQUI.xml
• EQUI_AAWindow.xml
• EQUI_OptionsWindow.xml

New:

• EQUI_GemsGameWnd.xml

User Interface:

• The New User Interface will default to ON. Officially, it is now just The User Interface and the other interface is now the Old User Interface.
• The Fade to Transparency option should now affect all bags.
• PC/NPC name on/off settings will now be saved when leaving the game.
• CTRL key being pressed while looking up or down no longer creates a cycle of constant panning up or down of the camera.
• Wrapping in the middle of the first word in an Item Tag no longer causes all text from then on being included in the tag.
• Fixed bug with Item Tags for items that contain comma's in their name.
• Pet sit button will now change to stand button if the pet is already sitting.
• Added Item Tags to list of buttons in the Chat Options page, you can now change the color of the tags.
• Item Tags now appear as part of the standard "You have looted an X" messages.
• Hair should no longer disappear in Character Creation of Female Ogre with Luclin models on.
• The Tracking window selection color is no longer the same as a yellow con mob.

Miscellaneous:

• Fixed a bug with /hidecorpse making corpses invisible, but still be targetable.
• /Gems is now available in both User Interfaces.

An Ancient Arises:

Deep within the recesses of a cave yet unknown to the world at large, a dark, menacing figure parts with the slumber that has kept him silent for ages. The eyes of a magnificently ominous beast pierce through the darkness, his memories flowing freely once more. In the depths of this beast's mind sparks the knowledge that his prophetic savior has been released from the ancient magics of time, let loose upon an unsuspecting world where the kin shall once again reign supreme.

"My master's shackles have been trounced, and so it is written that in this world that has been so deftly overrun by pitiful mortals, he shall bring power back to those of the scale." The deep rumbling voice of the beast lingers throughout the cavernous hideaway, the barely distinguishable figure of a mighty lizard moves through the stone and dirt and dust as if to leave the gloomy surroundings and find his place once again upon Norrath proper.

"For far too long have I been a prisoner to the overwhelming might that kept me in a state of secluded sleep; for far too long have I been victim to the ancestral elemental forces keeping my master at bay. Now I awaken and bring life back to the disciples; now shall the lifeblood of the Four once again spread the word of prophecy!" The footsteps of this great beast are slow but sure, moving through the depths of the gaping mountain retreat towards the surface. Along the walls, pebbles and stones that have remained dormant for years crumble and crack, falling to the ground as the immense beast walks past.

A maze of dead ends and broken paths twists and turns in the expanse beyond the figure's resting place. The skeletons of those who had tried - and failed - to make their way to him in the years he spent in forced slumber remain, tumbled landmarks of heroes long lost. Slowly he moves, his reptilian eyes darting back and forth looking for any meager meals that may still be available. As he proceeds, he steps atop a mighty echelon, overlooking the bodies that could not defy the magical properties of the cave; fools of mortal thought, incapable of fathoming the power that lay beyond them. "Time has been good to you, my faithful warren... let us both pray that I no longer need you. The time for the revival is at hand."