The Isle of Refuge – What Do You Do With Your Own Zone?

The EverQuest II 10 year anniversary just passed, and I posted about hitting the 10 year mark myself with the game last week.

This past weekend, while taking a break from Warlords of Draenor so as not to burn myself out on it right away (a hazard as I spent the two weeks running up to the expansion binging on the game), I decided to log into EverQuest II in order to see if I was eligible for the 11 year veterans reward.

Yes, I can do simple math.  How can I get the 11 year award just days after the 10 year anniversary?

SOE, as part of the enticement to get people to buy expansions, threw in a 90 day boost to your veteran’s status with the first four expansion.  Having purchased The Desert of Flames, Kingdom of Sky, Echoes of Faydwer, and Rise of Kunark (and The Shadow Odyssey, which was the last EQII expansion I purchased, in part because I haven’t even made it into Rise of Kunark yet), I had, like many long time players of the game, an extra year on my record.  And so SOE has to be a year ahead of the game when it comes to these things.

There was also a point in time when SOE was only counting the time you were actually subscribed to the game.  I think that went in at some point after Rise of Kunark.  Up to that point the calculation was based on when you created your EQII account (or the launch date, if you were in the beta).  So, despite taking time off, I was always eligible for the latest award.  Then they got picky, people were complaining in the forums that it was not “fair” for non-subscribed time to count (I seem to recall Scott Hartsman backing that idea, but I could be wrong), and I wasn’t playing very much, so I fell behind.

With the advent of EverQuest II Extended and free to play, SOE eventually changed their minds, no doubt wanting to avoid complications, and set veteran rewards simply based on your account start date again, and suddenly I was overloaded with such items to claim.

The rewards vary in quality.  They started out as anniversary loyalty markers… you usually got a title, a house item, and a couple experience potions… then somebody at SOE thought that such awards might help with player retention and we ended up with a batch of rewards for the first two years.  There is a one day award.  Yay, you didn’t uninstall and walk away after a day with the game, have a 12 slot bag rather optimistically called “The Bag of Endless Adventure!”  I think of it more as the bag of about 15 minutes of resource harvesting, but you go with your experiences.  You can see the semi-complete reward list at the wiki.

Anyway, enough of that back story, though this post is going to be pretty much all back story and nostalgia.

I logged in with Sigwerd, a berserker and the last character I played as a “main” or sorts, and I didn’t even have to type in the /claim command to check.  There in the system messages in chat was a reminder that I was eligible for the 11 year reward.  So I typed in /claim and brought up the list.

The 11 Year Reward

The 11 year reward is a prestige home in the form of the Isle of Refuge.

More after the cut.  Warning, back story and nostalgia ahead.  Also, screen shots.

Celebrate 5 Years of EQ2 with a 6 Year Veteran Reward

EverQuest II is so advanced that while it has only been around for five years, people are even now earning rewards for being with the game for six years!

How is that for progress?

There were some bonus months awarded for buying certain past expansions, something which probably seemed like a good idea to everybody except the people who had to come up with the rewards.

Anyway, they have announced what the six year rewards will be.

First, you get a hood and a cloak for your appearance slots, so everybody can see how long you’ve been around.

While the items are shown with the tag “of Destiny” the pictures on the site have the suffix “of Fate.”  You can see them at the link up above.

Then there is the inevitable experience buff that must come with all veteran rewards.  In this case, the Hammer of the Adept Hands will refill your trade skill vitality once every seven days.

Trade skillers rejoice… unless you’re already at the level cap… which you probably are if you’ve been around for six five years.  Still, you’ll zoom back to the cap come the expansion!

And then there is what I will call “the good bit,” the Call of the Veteran.

It is not exactly clear to me how this will work, but it is supposed to make travel just that much more convinient in Norrath.  From the announcement:

Never be left behind again! This trinket will allow you to teleport to a group member, bypassing those boat trips.

Probably the perfect thing for a nostalgia trip.  You can get around, see the sights, and be back in the guild hall in time for dinner.

All of these pictures are from the EQ2 Players site.

If you are eligible, you should be able to /claim these items starting on December 9th.

EverQuest II Four Year Veteran Rewards

As has become tradition, a new set of veteran rewards have been added to EverQuest II for the four year mark.

Four year rewards?  But EverQuest II just celebrated its third birthday, right?

Yes, but for every expansion you buy, you get an extra 90 days applied to account age for reward qualification.  With the release of the fourth expansion, Rise of Kunark, a full extra year has been added to the accounts of those who have purchased them all. 

So mutants walking wounded idiots people like me, who started playing EverQuest II on or about day 1, are past the four year mark already. 

My account is credited, as of this morning, with 1,461 days.

For the four year reward you get:

• The title “The Zealous”
• A Treasure Hoard – lowers your rent (in coins) by 25% (looks like the dwarven ringmail tunic HQ chest)
• Mystic Moppet Billy Disguise – Annoy other the way Billy annoyed you
• 3 Drafts of the Skilled – +55% trade skill experience for 1 hour
• 3 Drafts of the Wise – +55% adventure experience for 1 hour

Not a bad spread for a four year reward.

And since 1,461 days is four years plus one day (there has been no leap day for EQ2 yet… so I predict another cataclysm on February 29th, 2008) all of these goodies should be mine.

But they are not.

I type /claim and they are not on the list. (Though a lot of stuff still is!  I still have unclaimed items from Desert of Flames!)

This wouldn’t matter expect that Gaff has been lording it over me, since he got his four year rewards yesterday!  Damn his eyes!

Well, he mentioned it.  Once.

Still, honor is at stake!  I am going to have to petition this!  I will not be denied!

Okay, maybe honor can wait a day or two, but no more!

In the mean time, I can stare at the rewards on the EQ2 Players site… at least I can if that damn Circuit City ad will stop popping up and obscuring my view!

[Addendum: It looks like you get on per character, as opposed to the past where you were limited to 3 characters claiming the reward.]