I recorded a bit of beta goodness recently, and forgot to post it here. Due to connection issues, the EQ2 beta furniture preview is in two parts, but I got most of it, I think: Beta furniture chunk 1 and Beta furniture chunk 2. In addition to that, I took a meander through the new Ballads of Zimara prestige house and expansion overland zones. My Twitch skills still need some polishing, but at least it gets you a look at things. Enjoy!

November 02, 2023 - Several updates

Nights of the Dead has been extended! Nights of the Dead 2023 will now end on November 6, instead of November 2.

The Heroes' Festival has been pushed back to start on November 7, and will end on November 17.

Lastly, a reminder that the 24-hour game marathon for ExtraLife is this weekend. I currently plan to start my marathon at around 10 a.m. Pacific on November 4.

October 26, 2023 - Infodump

It has been a rough fall, and the rest of the year is going to be chaotic for me on every front. This means the site is getting updated a lot less frequently than I would like, so these updates tend to cover several things in a single post.

• One house item was added after the fact to the Nights of the Dead recipe book for this year. The image of the Cage of Rattling Chains has been added to Panda, Panda, Panda 2023 article with the first five weeks of the quest included, and pictures of all the house items from all nine weeks of the decoration packs.
• The Heroes' Festival 2023 is currently on the Test server and will go live on November 3. Click the link for details on what is new this year.
• Daybreak has announced a new stretch goal for the Extra Life 2023 incentives, since we already reached our fundraising goal for the year. Read more here.
• Speaking of Extra Life, Denmum has gone pink-haired again this year in preparation for Extra Life Game Day. She will be showing it off on her Thursday night Twitch stream this week. (Oct. 26, 8 pm Pacific) Stop in then and say hello if you wish!

Is that enough? I think that's enough for one night. Time for sleep!

October 04, 2023 - So Much Going On!

Ouff. Real life has been chaotic for a couple months now, and will not settle down for me until the end of the year. Even without that causing me to massively slow down on everything else, things would be crazy right now, though. Look at all of this EQ2 goodness ...

Nights of the Dead is currently available for testing on the Test server, and will go live on October 13.

The next expansion, Ballads of Zimara, has been announced. Pre-orders are now available, and will grant you access to the beta, which opened up today.

The fall Producer's Letter was released today and contains interesting details and hints of things to come.

Last, but not least, despite my current medical mayhem, I still plan on doing a gaming marathon on my twitch stream the weekend of November 4 for the Extra Life charity. More details can be found on my Extra Life page.

Now, has anyone seen my sanity wandering around without me? I seem to have lost it .... ~Mum

September 12, 2023 - Shattered Overture Release!

All EverQuest II servers will be taken offline for scheduled server downtime on Tuesday, September 12, 2023 at 7:00 a.m. PST*. Estimated downtime is expected to be 5 hours. This downtime includes the release of the Shattered Overture game update. You can find the patch notes here.

September 12, 2023 - Prelude Event Eye Candy

Along with the release of the Shattered Overture game update today, the Fractured Skies prelude event was also released. I will update the faction purchase requirements for the buyables soon, but the eye candy at least is up.

September 08, 2023 - Remember to Claim Your Goodies!

Remember to log in and get your Welcome Windstrider goodies by the end of September 25! There are items for all players, plus a few that are one-per-account that are member-only, such as the jump-a-lope mount. If I have managed to not fumble-finger things, here is a link to a tiny clip from my Twitch stream that shows the airborne mount. (My first ever clip from a Twitch stream, so not too fancy, but ...)

September 01, 2023 - Labor Day Sale AND Giveaway Event

From Daybreak:

It is time for the Labor Day Weekend Marketplace Sale and event. From now until September 5, 2023 at 11:59 p.m. PDT, all players can get 20% off most Marketplace items. There is also Double Experience for all *Members!

Starting at 10:00 a.m. PDT today, September 1, 2023, Renewal of Ro is on sale for 25% off, so if you haven’t gotten it yet, now is the time. Speaking of Renewal of Ro, we are also offering up this beautiful premium framed 24 x 36 canvas print, so you can hang it the minute you get it! Both offers are limited time and will be gone by October 2, 2023 at 11:59 p.m. PDT, so act fast and get yours today!

That’s still not everything we have starting today! From now until September 25, 2023, at 11:59 p.m. PDT, we have some great crates we are giving away! Check out what we’ve got in them!

EverQuest II 2023 Welcome Windstrider Crate - For Every Character
Runed Windstrider Armor Crate:

• Runed Windstrider Armor Set
• Runed Windstrider Greatstaff

Stormfury Trawler

• Illusion yourself into your inner Stormfury!

Trusted Guardian

• It's such a loyal pet!

But that's not all!

EverQuest II 2023 Welcome Windstrider Subscriber Crate - For Every Account (*Membership Required)

Jumpa-Lope Windstrider

• This mount flies with its ears!

5x Ring of Scale Heritage Crates

2x Celestial Overseer Agents - Sonak the Maul and Lord Enut

3x Magical Equipment Unattuners

*If you do not have an active membership, you may subscribe at https://www.everquest2.com/membership or consume a Krono.

August 24, 2023 - Extra Life 2023

Again this year, Darkpaw Games is continuing a many-year tradition of having volunteers raise money for charity while playing games. For the second year in a row they have announced in-game incentives to go hand-in-hand with the fundraising. Those who donate will receive in-game rewards later in the year, those who join the team and raise funds will receive in-game rewards later in the year, and everyone who plays will receive in-game rewards in November based upon the amount of money the entire team raises. The Extra-Life 2023 Incentives Announcement has many of the details.

To answer some of the more commonly-asked questions:

• Donate $5 or more to any member of the Darkpaw Games team and you are on the list to receive incentives. If things work like last year, the first round of incentives will be sent in mid-November-ish, using the donation numbers received November 6. Any donations added between then and the end of the year will receive their incentives in early January, (based on donations received between Nov. 7 and Dec. 31) when a second tally is done. Your email address from the donation will receive mail when the donations are tallied will receive all appropriate keys when the rewards are distributed.
• You do NOT have to join the team if all you want to do is donate. Pick someone on the Darkpaw team list and donate, and you are on the donor list for incentives. If you wish to raise money from friends, family and co-workers, you are more than welcome to join the team, of course!
• Extra-Life is the gamer-run charity arm of Children's Miracle Network Hospitals, and all funds go to the designated Children's Miracle Network Hospital. Many of us from Darkpaw have the fabulous Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego as our target hospital. Others that live in other regions will likely be raising funds for a Children's Miracle Network Hospital that is closer to their home.
• Just to make it extra-clear, once you donate, there is nothing more that you need to do to earn your rewards. When the tallies are done after game day, email will be generated with the proper account keys, and sent to the email address that you used for your donation. You can then claim on your account of choice if you have more than one account, gift the key information to another if you don't want the rewards, etc.
• The "Group Milestone" awards listed in the linked post will be available for everyone in the game, not just for donors, and the level will totally depend on how much Darkpaw raises as a team by November 6.

August 10, 2023 - Oceansfull and Links

Oceansfull is now live. You have until the end of August 23 to do all your Oceansfull questing AND your Summer Jubilee shopping and questing.

The long-neglected links page has been cleaned up to remove defunct links, and I have added a few Mum links at the bottom for those who are interested.

August 08, 2023 - Past Expansion Marketplace Bundles!

Did you miss some of the earliest expansions for EQ2, and mourn because you missed some of the extra goodies that came along with the expansion bundles at the time? Are you yearning for your very own original baby dragon? Did you miss out on the carnivorous pet, or some of the wrapped paintings? Expansion bundles are on the Marketplace for Shattered Lands, Desert of Flames and Kingdom of Sky/Echoes of Faydwer for a limited time. You have until August 22 to purchase these items. More details can be found here.

August 03, 2023 - Twitch Time

I am trying to dip my foot in the shallow end of the streaming pool in preparation for Extra Life game day later in the year. (Fundraising has already begun, but will really ramp up as November's Game Day approaches.) So, tonight I will be working on the Gathering Obsession line on a Test alt. I will be streaming it on Twitch, and welcome people dropping in and saying hello, chatting, etc. as I work my way up through the harvesting tiers for a couple hours. You can find the stream, starting at 7 p.m. Pacific on my twitch channel. I have no clue yet if this will be a regular event or not, but we will give it a try tonight.

August 03, 2023 - Oceansfull 2023 On Test

The Oceansfull 2023 event is now on the Test server and will go live on August 10. The linked article also contains a tiny silent video of the two items that have animated effects, since neither effect displays in image preview mode.

July 11, 2023 - All-Game Downtime and Event Extension

From Daybreak:

We will have a global downtime on 7/12 starting at 6 a.m. PT and lasting approximately 4 hours. This affects game logins, commerce, and authentication services. Read-only access on forums and websites will be possible. Please watch our socials for updates!

Since this impacts the last day of the Scorched Sky event, they have also announced the following:

Scorched Sky Celebration and Triad of Elements will now be deactivating on 7/13 at 11:59 PM PDT.

June 28, 2023 - Update on Extended Maintenance

The all-game extended maintenance that was scheduled for June 28 had to be rescheduled. Instead, tomorrow will be a more normal 4 hour (or less) patch downtime starting at 7 a.m. Pacific.

June 27, 2023 - Extended Downtime and Scorched Sky Preview

All EverQuest II servers, Test server, and services, will be taken offline for scheduled extended maintenance on Wednesday, June 28, 2023 at 5:30 a.m. PT*. This affects login, commerce, and authentication services. Read-only access on forums and websites will be possible.... The estimated downtime is expected to last until approximately 11:00am PT.

This is a company-wide downtime for (hardware/network) maintenance, not just an EQ2 patch downtime, and will affect other Daybreak games as well.

Meanwhile, Scorched Sky will begin on Thursday and the Summer Jubilee dungeon, Triad of Elements, will also reopen. Details on Scorched Sky can be found here and you can refresh your memory on the Jubilee with this article.

June 05, 2023 - Tinkerfest! Jubilee! Plumes!

The summer event brouhaha has begun! Today marks the launch of Tinkerfest, Summer Jubilee 2023 and the arrival of the first plumes for the new event slot. There are also the free Pride familiars to claim on all your alts if you have not done so already. In addition to the Tinkerfest writeup, and the Jubilee writeup (that includes basic information on the plumes), I have also threw together a YouTube walkthrough of the new Jubilee instance for all levels, as there is an achievement from running it ten times in order to unlock your first plumes AND your tradeskill plume recipe book on the Jubilation vendor. Go forth and run amok!

June 02, 2023 - Free Pride Familiars!

Past Pride familiars have returned to the Marketplace, along with three new ones. They are free to "purchase", meaning there is no cost associated with them, but you have to actively go into the Marketplace and grab them. Each of your characters has until July 9, 2023 at 11:59 pm (Pacific) to claim these.

May 23, 2023 - Awwoooo, Summer Jubilee!

This Tawny Slobberer fluff pet is scampering around to tell everyone about the Summer Jubilee 2023 event. Check it out!

May 21, 2023 - Tinkerfest on Test!

I am hard at work on the Summer Jubilee 2023 article. Meanwhile, for your eye-candy pleasure, here is the information regarding the new items for Tinkerfest 2023.

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