Age of Discovery is the eighth expansion of the groundbreaking EverQuest II franchise.  Age of Discovery offers never-seen-before features including user-generated content and the re-imagining of the Beastlord class from the original EverQuest release.  You can make your mark in-game by creating your very own Dungeon, hire some much needed help for your heroic battles, push tradeskilling research to new heights, customize your weapons at the forge, and of course, play as a Beastlord. There’s a lot to like about this expansion!

DUNGEON MAKER

Ever wanted to build your own dungeon? Now you can with the Dungeon Maker system! Locate and collect a variety of floor layouts and styles, decorate your dungeon, select monsters to fill it, and battle through the content you designed to win new rewards!

Ever want access to tons of new content to play so that you rarely need to repeat the same experience? Play as an Adventurer in Dungeon Maker and win xp and awards for your characters!

To start creating a dungeon, click on the ‘Dungeons’ tab on the ‘Character’ sheet (default hotkey ‘c’).  Here you can ‘Create’ a new dungeon from a selection of layouts, ‘Edit’ any dungeons you have created, or ‘Delete’ any dungeons you no longer need. (This Create screen can also be accessed by clicking the ‘Create’ button on the Dungeon Maker leaderboard screen.)

To view and play through any published dungeon, click on the ‘Dungeon Maker’ button found on the ‘EQII’ menu.  Here you will see a list of all currently published dungeons.  Choose any and click on ‘Enter’ to start your play through!

BEASTLORDS

At last, the Beastlord class returns to Norrath.  Seek out new animals throughout the world to train as your warder pet.  Work with your warder to build up your strengths and exploit your enemies’ weaknesses.  Build up Savagery with your Warder to trigger powerful Primal attacks! In the Age of Discovery, Beastlords walk the lands of Norrath once again!

To create a new Beastlord character, look under ‘Scouts’ during character creation.

FREEPORT REBORN

The return of Lucan D’Lere to Freeport has given the city new life and purpose. With his iron hand once again on the throne, the citizens of Freeport have been commanded, coerced and dragooned into overhauling the city’s appearance and reorganized to be more efficient and responsive to Lucan’s will. Of course, this is still Freeport, so dissention is always brewing just under the surface, but Lucan’s firm grasp on command keeps most people tentative about their resistance currently.

Storyline Quests

• Players can speak to Serris in the Freeport Militia House to begin doing work for Freeport.
• Players can speak to The Forgotten to continue doing work for Freeport once they are level 40 and have completed the level 20 storyline quests.

Racial Quests

• Sarnak players may wish to visit the Gorowyn Chancery and speak to Ambassador Erazak.
• Half Elves should seek out Thavian Destrus on the docks near Seafarer’s Roost.
• Gnomes should seek out Professor Flimflam located at Inventor’s Outlook.
• Dark Elves should seek out Dyymona K’Vexx located inside The Academy of Arcane Science.
• Erudites should seek out Azreana located inside The Academy of Arcane Science.
• Ogres should seek out Kroota Gukbutcher located in the Dreadnaught’s Plaza.
• Arasai players should visit their new embassy and speak with Ambassador Anttel V’Xeath.
• Freeblood players should seek out Glaria in the Jade Tiger Inn.
• Human players should seek out Derald Walldons on the Overlord’s Perch.
• Iksar players should seek out Zulk Veskk just outside the doors to the Scale Yard.
• Kerra players should seek out Caltuur, just outside the Freeport Block and Tackle.
• Ratonga players should seek out Sneel Valiyn near The Academy of Arcane Science.
• Troll players should seek out Nelik Ulnya on the docks outside of the Freeport Block and Tackle.

Class Quests

• Mages will find quests being offered by Librarian Motius Feldarn at the Academy of Arcane Science at level 20+, and then Foci Tamara Paust at the Academy of Arcane Science at levels 40+, 60+ & 80+.
• Fighters will find quests being offered by Corporal Sergius Mordanticus at the Freeport Militia House at level 20+, and then Grand Duke Lazarus Hazran at the Freeport Militia House at levels 40+, 60+ & 80+.
• Scouts will find quests being offered beginning at level 20+, by seeking out Galla Silverwing, Quartermaster Baile, and Vali’il near the docks of Freeport.  Scouts at level 40+ can then find work with Privateer Twitchwisker, and finally with Captain Siren at levels 60+ and 80+.
• Priests will find quests at level 20+ by seeking out Administrator Frugi, Kenth Lanringe, and Belimee Viperwing at the Temple of War.  Priests at level 40+ can find work with Gisuka Voll, then with Grand Inquisitor Nethal L’tylex at level 60+, then finally with Gisuka Voll once again at 80+.

MERCENARIES

As you travel the lands of Norrath, keep your eyes open for mercenaries who may be for hire. Is your group short-handed? Now you can hire a brave companion to fight by your side, filling a spot in your group or assisting you in a duo. Coin talks, and the mercenaries of the shattered lands are eager to listen. Be sure to watch out for rare mercenaries who may not normally be available, but who will serve you well and faithfully for a limited time.

REFORGING

Ever obtained an item that’s just not quite what you wanted?  Using the reforging system, you will be able to reconfigure your items to change their stats and even add particle effects!

Reforging specialists have appeared in Freeport and Qeynos (look for the tag)!

• These specialists will allow you to tweak stats on your Legendary, Fabled, and Mythical equipment via a new “Reforge” window.
• You can revert the reforging process via the “Restore” tab at any specialist.
• These specialists will also allow you to attach a Decoration to your weapon.

Decorations add particle effects to your weapon.

Decorations are available via various means throughout Norrath.

There are several tiers of decorations. 

• The higher the tier, the more elaborate the effect.
• The first tier is available for purchase from Reforging specialists

To add a decoration to your weapon, drag and drop your decoration into the decoration slot in the “Reforge” window.

• Reforging stats and adding a decoration to a weapon must be done at the same time.
• You can revert the reforging process via the “Restore” tab at any specialist.

TRADESKILL APPRENTICES

Claim your tradeskill apprentice and gain your very own minion!  Put your apprentice to work researching new recipes for extremely powerful items specific to your tradeskill class. Coach your apprentice to make his or her research more efficient; gain XP and rewards as well as recipes as your apprentice gains in skill.

• Tradeskill Apprentices can be found at the major crafting hubs in Freeport and Qeynos.
• You must be a level 10+ tradeskiller to mentor a Tradeskill Apprentice.
• In exchange for a roof over their heads and tutelage, Tradeskill Apprentices will research recipes to share with you.

This research takes a good amount of time, so choose your desired recipe research wisely.

Up to 100 new recipes for each Tradeskill Class, spanning from level 10 to 90.

These recipes produce powerful items, all of them with unique effects, and many with unique appearances!

Additionally, 10 unique Reforging decoration recipes are available for research.

You can mentor your Tradeskill Apprentice once per day to speed up their current research task.

• You can also help your apprentice via a daily quest.  This will further speed up their research.You can customize the uniform and name of your Tradeskill Apprentice.

COMMONLANDS PUBLIC QUEST

The Dismal Rage seek the aid of brave adventurers as they battle the rising undead in The Commonlands (find them near the entrance to the Graveyard).

GENERAL

• On some machines when turning Multi Sample Anti Aliasing to anything other than “None” the UI would disappear until the game is restarted. This should be fixed now.
• New characters will no longer have racial abilities automatically populated in their hotbars.
• Fixed a bug with flying mounts and the cannon in Moors of Ykesha.

HOUSE RATING SYSTEM

• Trial accounts can no longer vote for houses in the leaderboard system.

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION

Den of the Devourer

• Fixed an issue that prevented the hatchlings from attacking in the Den of the Devourer.

Kael Drakkel

• Sorleyt Taskill will hand out Kael Drakkel missions more reliably.

All Drunder x4 raid zones [Challenge Mode]

• All basepop mobs have lower max health.  Boss mobs in challenge mode drunder zones (Sullon, Tallon, Vallon x4 raid zones) do less spell and melee damage.

Tallon’s Stronghold [Challenge and Normal Mode]

• In the General Zevitus fight Combat Madness is now cureable as a curse.  If you cure it it does not go away, but simply jumps to a new player immediately rather than when it would expire normally. 

Tallon’s Stronghold [Challenge mode]

• During the Lieutenant Klaatuus fight the aviak trooper adds spawn less often, and Klaatuus will no longer memwipe to players holding or near the totem. 

Vallon’s Tower [Challenge Mode]

• During the Gindan Commander Angler fight the Diaku Deceptors spawn less often.

ABILITIES / ALTERNATE ADVANCEMENT

• Players with the Age of Discovery expansion can now earn up to 320 Alternate Advancement points.
• Characters hitting level 10 will automatically be granted 5 Alternate Advancement points. Characters above level 10 logging in for the first time will gain a small amount of Alternate Advancement experience.
• Fixed a bug where spell double attack chance was no respecting values less than 1 but greater than 0.
• Altered the description text on spells that give or take away potency and pvp potency to have a more uniform description.
• You can now buy Singular Focus from your class trainer NPC.  This ability allows you to turn off AE autoattack from melee, ranged and spell weapons.

Coercer

• Medusa Gaze now can complete Arcane Storm.

TRADESKILLS

• Altered the description of the tradeskill AA “Conservation of Mass” to give more information including proc rate and effects.
• The proc rate of the tradeskill AA “Conservation of Mass” now increases as you increase rank.
• The proc “Conservation of Mass” will now only proc when you complete crafting a pristine item, and not while crafting the item.
• Repair Materials and Pristine Repair Materials are now flagged heirloom.

ITEMS

• Many items that were designed to be sold to a vendor can no longer be listed on the broker.  Items like these that already exist on the broker have been taken down and cannot be relisted.
• Petamorph Wands are now toggleable.
• The Station Marketplace casino games can now be played. The result of the spin/roll will be random and all players will see the same result.
• Brute’s Unyielding Hand Wraps, Cenobite’s Unyielding Hand Wraps and Cenobite’s Prodigious Hand Wraps have had haste added to them.
• Fixed a bug where a few items would not properly auto equip when there was already an item in that slot.
• Fighter helms that drop from the Tower of Vuul should now have critical bonus applied to them.

QUESTS

Signature

• The Stormhammer signature quest now spawns Xicotl at the appropriate level for the quest.

Timorous Deep

• Primary Sha’Ki is now more willing to give out The Chain of Command after players have completed work for Ku’Uul.

Chardok

• The Encyclopedias of Mutigenica will no longer tell the whole zone you already have the book.

BATTLEGROUNDS

• Fixed a bug where elemental blast would not work on some NPCs.

Probably the biggest non-expansion news is that EQ2 is going free-to-play, and the EQ2X  and subscription EQ2 services are merging. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the way you play the game will change: You can keep paying a monthly fee to continue accessing the game and its features as you always have, or you can go with a free account and keep playing the game whenever you like (albeit at reduced capabilities, such as item, class, and race limitations). You can find more answers about the F2P changes here.

Another big announcement is the arrival of the biggest yearly festival in all of Norrath: Frostfell! As of this posting, it will run from December 6 through January 6 (subject to change, of course), and this year’s celebration brings new quests, new rewards, and new craftable items. EQ2 Traders has its usual superb write-ups here, and ZAM has updated their Frostfell hub as well.

And now to the expansion! The biggest bullet points are:

• Beastlords
• Mercenaries
• Tradeskill Apprentices
• Freeport Revamp
• Dungeon Maker
• Reforging
• EQ2 Share — post to Twitter & Facebook from in-game!

I’ll post the full patch notes here as soon as they’re available, but in the meantime, check out ZAM’s AoD info hub as well as EQ2 Traders’ preliminary AoD write-up.

This post from Cyliena over at ZAM sums everything up nicely:

All servers will come down at 12:01am PST on Tuesday, December 6, 2011 for the Age of Discovery and Game Update 62 patch. Estimated downtime is currently 12 hours; U.S. servers are anticipated to come back online around 12:00pm PST (noon). Due to the volume of data involved, international servers will experience extended downtime. When patch notes are available we will put them on our Game Update 62 page.

In addition, SOE account management and commerce services will be offline for all games during the transition period. Forums may also experience periodic outages. Remember that the EQ2X forums will be locked tomorrow morning at 10:00am PST. All EQ2X forum users should take this time to register anew on the EQII forums; you can start posting there now!

Beginning at 8:00am PST there will be a live webcast, Countdown to the Age of Discovery, on TwitchTV. Various members of the EQII team will be interviewed on the webcast. It is expected to run until 9:45am PST.

A producer’s letter from Dave “Smokejumper” Georgeson is also expected tomorrow morning. We’ll keep you updated once that is available. In addition, the EverQuest2.com website is being relaunched into its new incarnation and should be available after the downtime. Pre-orders for Age of Discovery will remain open until 11:59pm PST tonight, December 5.

During the downtime you are welcome to join us in the #EQ2 channel of ZAM’s IRC chat. Feldon of EQ2Wire also has set up a ZAM IRC java applet that you can use.

Lucan D’Lere will be merging with Crushbone on February 16! For what to expect, check out Zam’s Server Merger article. Make sure that you read over the character name priority guidelines, and prepare for disruptions in access to chat channels, mail, and friends lists. While you shouldn’t experience any issues to housing or existing mail, I recommend taking the following steps just to cover all your bases:

• Make sure you’ve read all mail in your mailbox and retrieved all attachments. You may not be able to access messages immediately after the server comes up, so sort all that out beforehand.
• Save a copy of each character’s house layout just in case you find things are wonky when the merge is complete. You can save a layout by clicking the “Save Layout” button in your in-home house access window (type /house or right-click on the door).
• Log on each character before the servers come down for the merge. Name priority is given first to characters logged in within the past 60 days, then to the character with the most play-time. You can compare your characters to those on Crushbone by doing a character name search on EverQuest2.com. Click on the character names to compare the total time played.

The last bit of big news is a reminder that Destiny of Velious arrives February 22! Be sure to get your prelude quests wrapped up and your pre-order placed, then brace yourself for all the goodies that will come with the new expansion!

Check out the EQ2Players.com writeup, and drool over the new craftable items over at EQ2 Traders!

To reach Gorowyn, you can take 2 routes:

1) Port to the Kylong Plains druid ring, then take the griffin from Teren’s Grasp down to Dreg’s Landing.

2) Hop on board the boat that stops at the docks in Antonica and the Commonlands. It will drop you off at the dock in Kylong Plains.

Once you’re at the KP dock, you can ring the mariners’ bell (loc 836.05, 2.43, 371.31) to be transported to Gorowyn. The quest-giver will be awaiting you at the dock, and the merchants are just inside the cave between the dock and the city.