However, unlike the song, we're not slipping into the future, but the past! This year marks the 20th anniversary of the release of EverQuest, and the time has flown!

As a small personal trip down memory lane: Back at the launch of EQ, I already had the initial site hosted on my AOL homepage thanks to my roamings in the final phase of beta. (It all started with bugged sandwich recipes!!) The site resided there for a few years before finding a free hosting provider, and then it was a bit more before we bought the www.eqtraders.com domain name, paid for hosting, got the database up and running, etc. But wow. 20 years?! Yep, I feel old! :P

Anyway, back more fully on topic -- with the 20th anniversary being a big thing to celebrate, there are changes to the annual chronoportals event. Even though the event has zero tradeskills involved, here is some initial information to get you started.

This annual celebration of the anniversary of EverQuest will run for a full month this year. It will begin on February 28, 2019 at 12:01 a.m. Pacific, and end on March 31, 2019 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific. (For the time-impaired, that is a minute after midnight Pacific for the start time, a minute before midnight Pacific for the end time. Your calendar will show different start and end days/times if you are not in that timezone, since it converts itself to your local times.)

TLDR; Highlights

If you're prone to skipping things in writeups because they're "Too Long, Didn't Read", here's the highlights. If any of it interests you, then it's on you to read the rest of the article. :D

• New hub for the event, the Chronoweave
• Six new buyables on the relocated vendor
• Eight returning chronoportal instances that scale to specific levels, PLUS level 110 fabled versions of seven of those instances.
• New all-level public quest, which requires a minimum of 6 players present before it will start.
• One "Rise of Kunark" painting awarded to every character that logs in during the event.
• The yearly quest and the collection will return this year. Some of the collection pieces can also be found in the new Chronoweave.

Before I dive into details, let me add this public service announcement:

The /unmentor command is your friend!!!

All of the "old" chronoportal instances automagically mentor you down to the proper level range when you zone in. After you zone out, you will want to /unmentor before heading elsewhere AND remember to resummon certain buff-containing things such as your familiar, deity pets, etc. (Those depop when you mentor and depop again when you /unmentor.)

New Ways of Accessing the Chronoportals

There is now a Chronoweave zone that contains portals for all eight chronoportal zones as well as for the public quest (more on that later). This centralized area has the quest-giver for the repeatable annual quest "Hunt the Past", portals to all 8 zones, and some of the chronoportal shinies. When you use the exit portal, you are given the option to go to any of the overland zones where you used to access specific chronoportals, as well as a couple new spots that have access to the Chronoweave.

As you can see from the above map, you will be able to access the Chronoweave from Antonica (above the docks), Commonlands (above the docks), Coliseum of Valor (SE side, between the Innovation and Decay portals), and Myrist (from a previously unused portal in the Prophecy Portal Gallery in the south wing of Myrist). You'll also be able to access it from the zones that contained chronoportals in past years, including: Thundering Steppes, the Enchanted Lands, Steamfont, The Feerott, Lavastorm, Sinking Sands and Moors of Ykesha.

The item vendor has been moved inside the Chronoweave, and it should be noted that the vendor will go away as soon as the event ends this year. While in past years it stuck around a few extra days for folks to shop, that was when the event was sandwiched between Brewday and Bristlebane Day. With the event lasting an entire month, that extra shopping time isn't as needed.

New Buyables

The heirloom Ancient Platinum Coin currency will still be earned in the chronoportals instances that can be run daily, as well as from the annual quest and from the collection hand-in. (Shinies will now spawn in the Chronoweave zone as well.)

This year's new buyables are 5 new paintings, each costing 1 ancient platinum coin, and 1 statue that costs 5 ancient platinum coin. Artwork for the statue is not yet available on Test. For those new to the event, these paintings seem low-quality compared to other EQ2 art for the simple reason that it is old art from the original EverQuest - truly a trip down memory lane!

A Dire Warning	Heat Upon You	Islands of Sky
The City of Hate	To the Tavern	Golden Firiona Vie Statue

About Those Chronoportal Instances

I'm not going to provide detailed information on each of the 8 chronoportals instances - those have had walkthroughs on the wiki for ages, so you can see what ones automatically mentor you down in levels and which ones you may need to manually mentor for. And remember "/unmentor" when done an instance is your friend!

Seven of the eight chronoportal zones now have a fabled version option for level 110s. You will click the same portals in the Chronoweave as you would for the normal ones, but be given an option for the regular one or the fabled one. The new fabled versions of the instances will be for level 110-only, and meant for "casual" groups. Resolve requirements should be 1010, which is doable with some CD mastercrafted gear, solo gear, etc. The one chronoportal instance that does not have a fabled version is the Sinking Sands one, since it has the public quest as the second version of the zone.

There is new loot for the fabled versions vs their normal counterparts, but we do not yet have details.

Public Quest?

The new Public Quest (PQ), "Camping the AC!", access is also located in the Chronoweave. Whenever the PQ becomes available, the Sinking Sands Chronoweave portal will get more of a glow to it, and have an option for not only the normal chronoportal instance, but also for the PQ. When the PQ is available, you will need a minimum of 6 players of any level inside the PQ zone in order to start the event. The PQ is essentially the same as the chronoportal version of the instance, but set up so that players of all levels can participate.

Normal chronoportal

PQ active portal

New Painting Gift?

Every character who logs on during the Chronoportal event will be gifted with "Rise of Kunark" upon login. This is a goodly-sized painting, and the detail on it is lovelier in person!

Curious about past buyables that are returning? Pictures can be found in my 2018 chronoportals writeup.

Quest Tracker?

Trying to make sure all your alts have run the event and finished the collection? Casdoe of Maj'Dul has you covered with a quest tracker in xls format as well as one in PDF format.

Video Walkthrough?

Ocarinah threw together this video once the last of the art was finally patched to Test. Thanks, ma'am!