EverQuest Timeline

Notable events in EverQuest from Beta until Gates of Discord

1998

1998-6 (“early June”) Beta Phase 0.5 start [1] (~-285)

1998-7 (mid-July) Beta Phase 1 start [1, 2] (~-239)

1998-9-9 Beta Phase 2 CDs shipped [1] (-188)

1998-11-13 Beta Phase 3 start [1] (-123)

1999

1999-1-20 Beta Phase 3.5 start [1] (-55)

1999-2-1 (maybe earlier) First Level 50 in beta: Dark Elf wizard Asmonius (-43) [1, 2]

1999-2-10 Beta Phase 4 start [1, 2] (-34)

EverQuest Launch

1999-3-16 Original game launch (0)

1999-4-20 Warriors gain berserk (35)

1999-4-27 (42)

  • Sony/VI and CERFnet each upgrade their routers to eliminate packet loss
  • Smedly claims a CCU of 23,582 at 7:30 PM PST

1999-5-3 Magic weapons no longer disarmable (48)

1999-5-11 Kalaran of Fires of Heaven reaches level 50 [1, 2] (56)
some claims dispute Kalaran being the first 50 but they aren’t credible [1, 2]

1999-5-18 High level mobs made more resistant to mem blurs (63)

1999-5-20 Nagafen’s Lair/Solusek B tuned and itemized [1] (65)
what exactly the zone was like prior to this is a mystery; it may have been entirely closed or just poorly itemized

1999-5-24 Experience loss on death reduced by 50% (69)

1999-6-7 (83)

  • Caster specializations made functional
  • Scrolls are no longer lore items
  • /follow added
  • /roleplay added

1999-6-16 First Lady Vox kill by Fires of Heaven [1] (92)

1999-6-27 (103)

  • Wizards gain Bonds of Force
  • Necro and shaman DoTs made to do their damage much faster

1999-7-12? Possible first Lord Nagafen kill on Fennin Ro (precise day uncertain) [1] (118)
supposedly Sony prevented FoH from killing Nagafen so another server could be first [1]

Fearplane Opens

1999-7-26 (132)

  • Plane of Fear opens
  • Warriors gain critical hits, innate magic resist, extra hitpoints
  • Rogues gain ability to move while hidden
  • Rogues gain poisons
  • Resurrection effects added to game
  • Pets no longer open locked doors
  • Ice Comet quest added

1999-8-10 Players under level 46 barred from planes (147)

1999-8-31 Rangers and rogues gain crits to archery and throwing, respectively (168)

1999-9-13 (181)

  • DoT damage reduction on pursuing NPCs
  • Large NPCs no longer suicide when stuck

1999-9-28 Corpse resurrection times added (196)

1999-10-2 Butcherblock Hammer GM event occurs on servers [1, 2] (200)

1999-10-8? Upgraded/tuned Cazic Thule god NPC almost killed by FoH [1] (206)
GMs seemingly prevented FoH from killing this CT because Sony neglected to set CT’s out of combat regen, but FoH proved they could kill it. This CT had 235 melee hits, DT and knockback. Apparently earlier versions were much weaker and/or buggy.

1999-10-9? Upgraded/tuned Cazic Thule slain on the Rallos Zek server [1] (207)

1999-10-13 (211)

  • Temple of Solusek Ro opened
  • Kill credit now based on aggregate group damage
  • Rubicite removed
  • Journeyman’s Boots now a quest reward
  • Manastone no longer drops [1]

1999-10-20 (218)

  • Cancel Magic spells limited to group members
  • Players now lose experience on death from self-inflicted damage
  • Patch message warns against eBaying game items and accounts

1999-10-28 (226)

  • Meditate works without book open for level 35+ players
  • User adjustable clip-plane
  • Kedge Keep populated and itemzied
  • Non-warrior classes gain innate resistances
  • Warrior critical hit chance increased
  • Shadowknights gain lifetap spells, but with a mana cost penalty

1999-10-31 Bloody Kithicor event (229)

1999-11-1 The Ruins of Kunark expansion pack announced

Hateplane Opens

1999-11-03 (232)

  • Plane of Hate opens
  • Rogue backstab minimum damage is now equal to the rogue’s level
  • Rogue poison now procs on first hit

1999-12-1 Feign Deaths now memory blur (260)

1999-12-8 (267)

  • Guard NPCs gain increased resists (complaints started earlier so may have been in prior patch)
  • Hateplane mobs have their drop rates increased
  • Slam hits magic mobs when wearing magic shoulders
  • Guise of the Deceiver no longer drops [1, 2]

1999-12-10 Paw revamp (269)

1999-12-21 Summon Corpse spell added (280)

2000

Sky Opens

2000-1-20 (310)

  • Plane of Sky opens
  • Rogues gain invisibility to undead while invisible
  • Wizards gain class innate micro lures (-10 resist mod) on mid and higher level DDs
  • Rainstorm fog clip distance increased
  • Steel weapons replaced with fine steel weapons
  • NPCs aggro on dispels cast on them
  • Fear and Charm spell break messages added
  • Harmtouch damage increase above level 40
  • Fearplane mob drop rate increase
  • Hateplane patrolling mob drop rate decrease
  • Attack rate increase for monk fists
  • Knights gain more hitpoints and Bash + Taunt skill caps
  • Bards gain meditate
  • Druid tracking skill cap increased
  • Feign Death now breaks charm
  • Manastone no longer functional in planes

2000-1-28 (318)

  • Warriors gain crippling blows
  • Magician pets gain the ability to wield weapons and dual wield
  • Handing pets weapons no longer reduces attack delay
  • High level necromancer pets gain lifetap contact innates

2000-2-3 (324)

  • Levitate spells disabled in Plane of Sky
  • Lay on Hands healing increased

2000-2-17 (338)

  • Paineel opens
  • Necromancer Feign Death two minute expiry added
  • Rogues gain Evade, deadly strikes, increased throwing critical chance
  • Mistalker proc pets now disappear after an attack round
  • Buffs stripped when entering Plane of Sky
  • Group loot message added

2000-2-23 Players killed by players now respawn without mana (344)

2000-3-21 Necromancer Feign Death timer changed to pet suicide timer (371)

2000-4-10 (391)

  • Mez spell immunity messages added
  • Druid roots with a damage component no longer have chance to break from it’s own spell damage
  • Kerra Ridge revamp
  • Plane of Hate “item-drop/spawn-time revamp”

2000-4-12? Fires of Heaven kill Inte Akera and obtain his sword which was never meant for players [1] (393)

2000-4-17 Level limit applied to Solon’s Bewitching Bravura (398)

2000-4-18 Two-hand weapon damage bonus raised (399)

Kunark Launch

2000-4-24 (405)

  • Kunark opens
  • Level cap now 60
  • Melee classes gain disciplines

2000-4-28 Timorous Deep no longer bindable (409, 4)

2000-5-10? Elderan of Fires of Heaven reaches level 60 [1] (421, 16)
he used multiple boxed alts to powerlevel himself

2000-5-12 (423, 18)

  • City gate guards buffed to a level above 50 and granted magic immunity
  • Internal city guard spawn timers increased from six minutes to “dungeon NPC” timers

2000-5-16 (427, 22)

  • City gate guards reduced to level 50
  • More frightfingers added to Fearplane

2000-5-25 (436, 31)

  • Warriors removed from Runed Fighter’s Staff
  • Burning Rapier buffed
  • Timorous Deep tuned and itemized
  • ZEMs raised in some Kunark zones (mostly dungeons)

2000-6-6 (448, 43)

  • Kunark spell drop rate increased
  • Rangers gain Jolt
  • Wizards gain Harvest

2000-6-15 Froglok Forager and Hunter spawn rate increase (457, 52)

2000-6 (mid June, maybe the 17th) Fires of Heaven starts killing Trakanon (world first) [1, 2]

2000-6-20 (462, 57)

  • Hole opened
  • Resurrection timer now three hours, up from two
  • NPCs now walk through locked doors without opening them
  • Nagafen and Vox now banish level 53+ players

2000-6-24 Afterlife kills Trakanon [1] (466, 61)

2000-6-29 (471, 66)

  • Kunark spell drops increased in “three difficult Kunark zones”
  • Many rogue poisons added

2000-7-19 (491, 86)

  • Kunark dungeon keys now soulbound
  • Rangers above level 50 gain double archery damage on stationary targets
  • NPCs saying “Hit by non-melee for” message changed into a normal chat message
  • High level poisons implemented
  • Increased stats on many Plane of Sky items
  • /hidecorpses added

2000-8-9 (512, 107)

  • Outdoor Kunark Dragons added
  • Knight and Ranger mana pools enlarged
  • Wurmslayer now one-handed
  • Chat text color now modifiable

2000-8-14 Silverwing world first kill by Fires of Heaven [1] (517, 112)

2000-8-28 Hoshkar world first kill by Afterlife [1] (531, 126)

2000-8-30 /target [name] added for player targets only (533, 128)

Epics

2000-9-19 (553, 148)

  • Epic quests implemented
  • Ranger Dodge and Parry skill caps raised
  • High level monk weight allowance increased
  • Mosscovered Twig and Barbed Scale Whip relegated to off-hand only
  • Two-hand weapon damage bonus nerf and buff depending on delay
  • Veehshan’s Peak and Sebilis loot adjustments
  • Skills raise faster with higher stats
  • Many new tradeskill recipes
  • 250 tradeskill cap now allowable for one trade
  • Fungal Regrowth now a self-only spell

2000-9-23 (557, 152)

  • Gorenaire killed by Afterlife [1]
    Veeshan server cleared VP before killing Gorenaire once to give you an idea of the difficulty [1]
  • Kaylum of Avatar completes first rogue epic [1, 2]

2000-9-28 (562, 157)

  • NPC corpses level 55 or over now last 30 minutes
  • Cleric spell Mark of Karn rework
  • Resizable UI windows
  • /pause now works after another command in macros

2000-10-1 Thott of Afterlife completes first bard epic [1] (565, 160)

2000-10-6 (570, 165)

  • Kerania of Krieger completes first cleric epic [1, 2]
  • Bakk of Inner Circle completes first shaman epic [1]

2000-10-10 Doesa of the Prexus server completes first enchanter epic [1] (574, 169)

2000-10-12 Zrazzt D’ethshade of Enlightened Dark completes first necromancer epic [1] (576, 171)

2000-10-22 Furor of Fires of Heaven completes first warrior epic [1] (586, 181)

2000-11-2 Wakefield of Tribe completes first monk epic [1, 2] (597, 192)

2000-11-5 Phara Dar world first kill by Fires of Heaven + members of other guilds [1] (600, 195)

2000-11-15 (610, 205)

  • DirectX 7 now required to run the game
  • Secondary resist removed from bard songs Pixie Strike and Song of Twilight
  • Taunt skill now usable on NPCs above level 50, but not above the character’s level, and not in the original classic zones
  • Full screen mode now has 10 actions/hotboxes usable instead of six
  • Sobe Silvertree of Afterlife completes first druid epic [1]
  • Paladin epic first completed [1]

2000-11-16 Bard skill cap increases for instrument skills (611, 206)

2000-11-18 Kobalt of Seekers completes first ranger epic [1, 2] (613, 208)

2000-11-19 Occy of Vis Maior and Ailnydar Raethien of Coterie Nocturne complete first Wizard epics at same time [1] (614, 209)

2000-11-20 A rogue guide on the Terris-Thule server summoned some players into Veeshan’s Peak and bound them there to put them in death loops [1] (615, 210)

2000-11-23 Xate of Element of Darkness completes first shadowknight epic [1] (618, 213)

2000-11-29 (624, 219)

  • Higher level summoned pets gain innate dual wield
  • Bash now usable while wielding the shadowknight epic
  • Pets wielding weapons with target-specific procs no longer proc on everything
  • Monk hand-to-hand skill cap raised

2000-12-4 Norseh of Reconstructed completes first magician epic [1] (629, 224)

Velious Launch

2000-12-5 Velious opens (630, 225)

2000-12-6 (631, 1)

  • Disciplines Resistant, Trueshot, Unholy Aura, and Holy Forge upgraded
  • Non-warrior class innate resists increased for higher level players

2000-12-7 Derakor the Vindictor world first kill by Afterlife [1] (632, 2)

2000-12-8 (633, 3)

  • NPC Rampage and Flurry abilities now display a red chat message
  • Velketor the Sorcerer killed by Afterlife [1]
    their page doesn’t say ‘first anywhere’ for Velk or Statue so probably not a world first but I’m noting some of these as the earliest kills I’ve discovered

2000-12-11 Statue of Rallos Zek killed by Afterlife [1] (636, 6)

2000-12-19 (644, 14)

  • Ranger Trueshot discipline fixed to work on NPCs instead of only PCs
  • Fiery Defender proc now partial hittable
  • Holy Forge discipline now crits three times as much with a chance to critical blow

2000-12-29 Possible first kill of Dain Frostreaver IV by The Relentless on Cazic-Thule server [1, 2] (654, 24)
websites start listing the belt quest reward on Dec 29 but I cannot find a page mentioning the guild. EQlizer screenshot shows The Relentless

2001

2001-1-6 King Tormax world first kill by Afterlife [1] (662, 32)

2001-1-9 (665, 35)

  • Roots and snares now stack; roots no longer remove runspeed buffs
  • Resistant, Holy Forge, Weaponshield, Leechcurse, Deftdance, Puretone, and Sanctification disciplines now have longer durations
  • Unholy Aura discipline now grants a 50% damage increase, up from 25%
  • Unholy Aura discipline now makes Harm Touch save vs. disease with lifetap resitance level
  • Lay on Hands heals more at level 40 and above
  • Trueshot discipline bug fixed which was not scaling damage with bow quality
  • Harmtouch damage increased at level 40 and above
  • Knight and ranger attack delays no longer reset when casting spells
  • /lootnodrop added
  • Willsapper slow reduced to 50% from 75%
    this may have gone in on the Dec 19th patch, but for sure was no later than Jan 9th

2001-1-17 (673, 43)

  • Class experience penalties removed
  • Race experience penalties no longer shared with the group
  • Group experience bonus increased, doubling at six members (from 10% to 20%)
  • ZEMs increased for a number of dungeons
  • Lay on Hands healing increased (the third time mentioned in patch notes)
  • Trueshot damage increased
  • eBay and Yahoo ban EverQuest in-game item and account auctions at Sony’s request [1, 2]

2001-1-23 Guild Triton of Povar server explores Plane of Mischief [1] (679, 49)
Ester the Tester and GMs watched them so they were probably the first. Apparently a monk flopped there and used a rez stick on a mage corpse as either the location of the castle was in a place without mobs next to it or the location at the time didn’t have mobs next to it.

2001-2-19 Telkorenar world first? kill by Fires of Heaven [1] (706, 76)

2001-2-21 (708, 78)

  • Donal’s Breastplate nerf
  • Proc hate cap implemented (400)
  • Debuff hate cap implemented (1200)
  • Heal aggro fixed, which made heals above greater heal do more hate
  • Heal aggro caps implemented for players 50 and under (800) and players above level 50 (1500)
  • Rogue evade nerf
  • Tracking scroll bar added, along with sorting and filtering for rangers
  • Spell haste added for knights and rangers for offensive spells with a cast time of 3 seconds or higher
  • Paladin, shadowknight and bard defense skill cap raised to the level of warriors
  • Rain spells no longer count pets against total number of entities they can damage
  • Superior Healing moved to level 51 for shamans and druids and fizzle rate reduced
  • Druids and shamans gain Chloroblast
  • Druids gain Natures Touch
  • Paladins gain Endure Magic, Resist Magic, Divine Glory, Celestial Cleansing, Yaulp 4
  • Mana cost penalty for shadowknights lifetaps removed
  • Shadowknights gain Drain Soul, Grim Aura, Diamondskin
  • Harmtouch damage reduced in PvP
  • Harmtouch timer no longer resets on death
  • Lifeleech discipline now increases hit chance
  • Rangers gain Endure Cold, Skin Like Nature, FireFist, Spikecoat, Resist Cold, Panic Animal, Cinder Jolt, See Invisible
  • Ranger offense skill and weapons skill caps raised to the level of warriors
  • Added new level 20 Bard Song: Cassindra’s Chant of Clarity
  • Denon’s Desperate Dirge damage increased
  • Magicians gain Valiant Companion, Summon Companion, Expedience
  • Aggressive discipline was completely broken and is now fixed
  • Defensive discipline fixed to reduce the warrior’s damage
  • Pickpocket level restriction added
  • Reduced the casting difficulty (fizzle rate) of all spells over level 50
  • Naked PC corpses that have experience and are above level 30 will now last 3 hours instead of 3 minutes

2001-2-25 Afterlife wins Test of Tactics II tournament [1] (712, 82)

2001-3-6 (721, 91)

  • Skill-up rate for skills above 200 doubled
  • The cast time on cleric Velious breastplates with the Celestial Elixir effect raised to 60 seconds
  • Wavecrasher nerf (slow proc changed from cold to magic)
  • Player UI now shows exact numeric values for skills above 100 skill value instead of text qualitative identifiers
  • Mouse wheels now scroll the chat window
  • Intra-zone evacs now cause a zone reload
  • Druid tracking cap raised to 125
  • Level 60 players may now taunt mobs up to level 65; Previously taunt only worked on mobs lower in level than the player
  • Mesmerized NPCs now add much reduced hate when witnessing beneficial spells (heals)
  • Heal aggro is now 2/3rds per point healed instead of 1 for 1
  • /gems added

2001-3-14 (729, 99)

  • Two year anniversary patch. 360,000 active subscribers; two-year retention rate of 65%; average daily CCU 87,000
  • The Warrens opens with the Trivial Loot Code enforced
  • Plane of Fear and Plate of Hate 2.0
  • Celestial Elixir breastplates changed to Mark of Karn
  • Mark of Karn healing increased
  • Shift and Ctrl clicking stacks implemented
  • Many tradeskills added

Server-side Filters

2001-3-27 (742, 112)

  • Server-side filtering added
    Server-side filtering was a huge deal because it allowed raid sizes to be much larger. Before this raids were limited to about five groups or less. [1, 2, 3]
  • Wizard bane spells added
  • Increased drop rate of some Kunark spells
  • Incarnadine Breastplate BP nerf (must be worn to click)
  • Ship arrival announcements
  • Tradeskill fail messages sent to group
  • Item sizes now displayed
  • Upgraded Yelinak world first kill by Afterlife [1]

2001-3-31 (746, 116)

  • Sontalak world first kill by Afterlife [1]
  • Gozzrem world first? kill by Fires of Heaven [1]

2001-4-1 Afterlife kills two Warders in Sleeper’s Tomb, gets cloth caps for loot [1] (747, 117)

2001-4-3 EverQuest Classic Edition announced for $9.99 (749, 119)

2001-4-4 (750, 120)

  • /assist no longer requires the assisted player to have auto-attack on
  • Combining items in containers that do not make a recipe no longer destroy the items
  • Portable combine containers weight increased
  • Tailor made backpack weight reduction raised to 10%, up from 5%
  • Container weight reduction amount now displayed
  • Guild message of the day added
  • Erudite guards now attack kobolds
  • Xalgoz now drops fangs for the Charasis key more frequently [1]

2001-4-17 (763, 133)

  • Food items now have varying durations
  • Venril Sathir spawn rate increased
  • Reduced resistances on some NPCs in Skyshrine and Tower of Frozen Shadow
  • Buying stacks of items from merchants now possible with shift key
  • Right-clicking items while looting now equip them
  • /assist now has toggle to not auto-attack when assisting
  • /charinfo added
  • DD damage sustained by players is now shown numerically
  • No-Rent items now persist for 30 minutes on logout instead of disappear instantly
  • Willsapper proc slow reduced to 35% from 50%
  • Cannibalize IV added. II III buffed.
  • Monk weight allowance increased

2001-4-18 Shadows of Luclin expansion pack announced (764, 134)

2001-4-28 Aaryonar and Lord Feshlak kills by Fires of Heaven + Cestus Dei [1] (774, 144)
FoH’s news page doesn’t indicate first ever kills but these seem likely world firsts as they were before Afterlife’s. I think most or all of these NToV kills included Cestus Dei

2001-4-30 Dagarn the Destroyer and Jorlleag kills by Fires of Heaven [1] (776, 146)
FoH page includes “first legit PoM entrance”

2001-5-1 Lady Nevederia killed by Fires of Heaven [1] (777, 147)

2001-5-2 Sevalak killed by Fires of Heaven [1] (778, 148)

2001-5-5 Lord Koi`Doken killed by Fires of Heaven [1] (781, 151)

2001-5-6 Lady Mirenilla killed by Fires of Heaven [1] (782, 152)

2001-5-8 (784, 154)

  • De-leveled players now have combat skills reduced to a maximum of two levels above them on PvP servers
  • Players below level six no longer attackable on PvP servers
  • Stricter faction requirements for Velious armor quests
  • Quivers now reduce the delay on bows
  • First additional translocate spells added beyond the original single target gate-to-bind spell, along with confirm box
  • DA’ed players are now stun immune
  • Eye of Zomm no longer functional in Kedge to prevent pulling Phinigel to zone-in with it
  • Loot messages now have dashes in them; Your looted items now display in chat
  • Items in bank containers now moveable
  • “ally” consider message added

2001-5-14 Triton is first to complete the Coldain ring quest series (ring war) [1] (790, 160)

2001-5-18 Lord Kreizenn killed by Fires of Heaven [1] (794, 164)

2001-5-30 (806, 176)

  • Runnyeye revamp
  • Bard charms now 3 ticks, up from 2 ticks
  • Large and Deluxe sewing kits sold from vendors now have 8 and 10 slots respectively.
  • King Tormax spawn timer changed
  • Resist debuffs do 50% more in PvP on PvP servers
  • Cazic Thule (the NPC) made slow immune from increased magic resist

2001-6-4 Guild Conquest of server Lanys T’Vyl disbanded by GMs and players suspended/banned for exploiting Ventani [1] (811, 181)

2001-6-7? (814, 184)

  • Possible Lord Vyemm Fires of Heaven kill date [1]
  • Paid character transfer service becomes available (without gear) for $50 [1, 2]

2001-6-27 (834, 204)

  • NPCs aggro on players now deprioritize invulnerable players
  • Ducking now stops spellcasts instantly
  • More translocate spells added
  • Call of the Hero no longer mem blurs when the summon distance is short
  • Kunark evacs now work anywhere
  • Wizard bane spells now have 5 second recast delays
  • Enchanter epic buff now 30 minutes, up from 20
  • Circlet of Shadow no longer drops
  • Green Dragon Scales now drops from Hoshkar
  • Iksar Shaman 6th Skull/cudgel quest now functional
  • Dozekar unrooted and changed into a Sontalak model [1]
  • Temple of Veeshan items upgraded [1]
  • Siren’s Grotto retune
    before this patch SG was kind of a death trap. BP gem drop rates possibly were raised at this time [1, 2]
  • Sony bugs pet aggro to do way more hate than intended [1]

2001-6-29 Vulak`Aerr world first kill by Fires of Heaven + Cestus Dei [1, 2] (836, 206)

2001-7-10 (847, 217)

  • Pet aggro bug partially fixed
  • Spiderling and Spider Silks now stackable
  • All sheets of metal and folded sheets of metal now stackable
  • Lich and clarity no longer stack

2001-7-24 (861, 231)

  • Many pelts made stackable
  • Characters under level 6 no longer immune to PvP in many adventure zones on Sullon Zek (Fansy the bard nerf)

2001-7-27 World first kill of Avatar of War by Legacy of Steel and Shock of Swords [1] (864, 234)
Charm pets were used to tank, which was possible because of a pet aggro bug at the time, which was supposed to be fixed in the July 10 patch but wasn’t [1, 2]

2001-7-28 Tunare world first kill by Fires of Heaven + Cestus Dei [1, 2] (865, 235)

2001-7-30 World first awakening of the Sleeper by Blood of the Spider on The Rathe server [1] (867, 237)

2001-8-2 (870, 240)

  • Second kill of Avatar of War by Legacy of Steel and Shock of Swords [1]
  • Sony takes Kael zones down to apply charm immunity to all Kael NPCs [1]

2001-8-15 (883, 253)

  • Partial reversion of Kael charm nerf
  • Pet aggro modified again to prevent using charm pets on raid bosses
    Seemingly at this point NPC aggro was made to fully ignore all pets in melee range 100% of the time if a player was in range. All pets could in fact tank with PCs in melee range prior to this, even before the bug. [1, 2, 3]

2001-8-29 Stonebrunt Mountains opened (897, 267)

2001-9-11 (910, 280)

  • Sony starts hiding server population numbers
  • Emissary of Thule Necromancer pet now immune to fear
  • More types of beneficial buffs may now be clicked off (e.g. illusions)

2001-9-17 EverQuest Trilogy anthology announced and released for $39.99 [1] (916, 286)

2001-9-25 (924, 294)

  • Shaman epic DoT made to stack with more DoT spells
  • Mouselook in two third-person cameras was changed to “work similarly to first-person mouselook”

2001-10-5 Sony announces Shadows of Luclin will include a high resolution textures CD-ROM for the entire game (934, 304)

Melee & Chardok Revamps

2001-10-8 (937, 307)

  • Chardok revamp
  • Firiona Vie server opens
  • The innate resistance of higher level NPCs in the resist logic has been reduced
  • “Several NPCs” had their resistances lowered and in some cases HP and AC were increased to compensate
    Sony knew casters sucked in this era and were trying to alleviate the resists issue throughout the era
  • Slow, movement speed and mez immunity flags were added to NPCs so their MR could be reduced
  • Increased 2hand damage bonus for players above level 50
  • Weapon damage bonus is now displayed in the client
  • Upgraded the stats of the “very highest quality” 2hand weapons
  • Warrior taunt cap raised to 230
  • Warrior 1h epics now usable in either hand
  • Some high end daggers upgraded for rogues
  • Monks gain triple attack
  • Monks placed on higher “combat tables” at levels 55 and 60
    these are just melee damage multipliers in an if-then-else series
  • Minimum damage of Flying Kick greatly increased starting at level 51
  • Ranger skill cap raises: double attack to 245, defense to 220, riposte to 185
  • Rangers gain their innate ATK bonus
  • Knight “combat tables” raised to warrior level
  • Knight taunt skill cap raised to 220
  • Bard skill cap raises: 1h slash & 1h blunt to 250, piercing to 240, offense to 252, parry to 185
  • Bard “combat tables” raised to warrior and hybrid level
  • Bard epic now offhand usable

2001-10-12 Brad McQuaid leaves Sony to form Sigil Games Online [1] (941, 311)

2001-11-7 (967, 337)

  • Project M (monster) implemented allowing players to play as mobs on PvP servers
  • Light blue con range added
  • Healing amounts displayed to clients
  • Trivial Loot code removed from Stonebrunt Mountains and Warrens
    this happening the patch after Brad left is not a coincidence I’m sure
  • Guards now assist players with faction on PvP servers
  • Sullon Zek server 20% experience bonus and halved experience loss
  • Kael binding limited to zone-in areas
  • Melee bind location added to the dock in Iceclad
  • /targetgroupbuff added
  • Chase camera mouselook changed
  • Bard piercing skill cap raised to 250

2001-12-2 Afterlife wins Test of Tactics III tournament [1] (992, 362)

Luclin Launch

2001-12-4 (994, 364)

  • Shadows of Luclin opens
  • Alternate Advancement system added to the game
  • New player models added to the game
  • Vah Shir race added to the game
  • Beastlords added to the game
  • Mounts added to the game
  • Bane and elemental weapons added to the game
  • The amount of mana granted by Int and Wis increased
  • Velious portal teeth no longer required to teleport
  • Bard overhaste added to the game with Luclin songs
  • Untargetable NPCs added to the game
  • DirectX 8.1 now required to run the game
  • Game client no longer runs on Windows 95

2001-12-10 Experience cost per AA point increased (1000, 6)

2001-12-11 Max unused AAs limit of 100 implemented (1001, 7)

2001-12-12 The Grey AoE nerf (1002, 8)
Sony increased MR on the NPCs, increased their HP and put in some magic immune mobs; ZEM might have been reduced at this time but no evidence for this [1]

2001-12-13 Texture caching feature added to client (1003, 9)

2001-12-18 New tradeskill merchants added to Freeport (1008, 14)

2001-12-20 (1010, 16)

  • Soulbinders added to the game
  • New tradeskill vendors added to several cities

2001-12-28 Safe spots in Temple of Veeshan removed (1018, 24)

2002

2002-1-8 (1029, 35)

  • Flowing Thought items now stack
  • Meditating on a horse occurs only while not in combat
  • Vendor base price of Fuligan Soulstone of Innoruuk reduced to 100pp from 200pp
    note: the lowest possible in-game costs are 5% higher than these prices
  • Vendor base price of Cloudy Stone of Veeshan reduced reduced to 100pp from 200pp
  • Vendor base price of Key of the Misplaced reduced to 100pp from 200pp
  • Vendor base price of Key of Swords reduced to 200pp from 400pp

2002-1-23 (1044, 50)

  • Changes to Zordak Ragefire [1]
  • Staff of Elemental Mastery: Earth drop rate increased
  • Brother Qwinn spawnrate increased 10x
  • Ghoulbane now No-Drop
  • SoulFire charges now only usable on Paladins
  • ‘Recommended Level’ added to item stats display for the relevant items
  • Ring of Fire “fixed”; later waves now unstunnable (level 56+); cleric mobs added [1, 2]
    I have a Jan 31st screenshot of a possessed corpse casting Word of Restoration, which has the text “feels restored” which is probably why people thought it was AoE CH

2002-2-11 Fires of Heaven has their Arx Key no later than this date and it has 10 charges (1063, 69)

2002-2-13 (1065, 71)

  • /target now works on pets
    This may be when /target started working on all NPCs but this is speculation
  • Emperor Ssraeshza encounter added to the game; Ssratemple becomes more populated [1]
  • Burrower Beast event added to The Deep
  • Doomshade added to Umbral Plains
  • Ancient spells added to spell data file
  • Initial spawn delay (after server reboots) added to ToV dragons [1]
  • ToV dragons now permarooted [1]
  • ToV dragon drake guards no longer splittable [1]
  • Some ToV dragons may have been given more HP (unverified) [1]
  • Vulak de facto removed from the game; Ring implemented but likely not completable [1, 2]
    Sony claimed the ring was entirely functional but there were many player comments claiming otherwise; players taking over 5 months to beat it suggests it was not [1, 2]
  • Tunare in Plane of Growth now permarooted [1]
  • Thought Horror Overfiend now permarooted [1]
  • Thought Horror Overfiend given another AoE (Overfiend’s Fury)
  • Killing the Statue of Rallos Zek now spawns Idol of Rallos Zek
  • Changes to the Ring of Fire event in Acrylia Caverns
    Ring bosses are now randomized; Three trash skeletons spawn at a time from the start instead of two and spawn timers made consistent; Stun immunes and boss DTs seem to have been removed at this time (didn’t exist on EQMac); The developer said he increased the loot to two but they were still one on EQMac; On EQMac some Warmaster drops were moved to Underking [1, 2, 3]
  • Corpse timers now shown on /consider
  • PC corpse timers now 7 days over level 5, offline or online
  • Pets no longer pace when close to the owner
  • Zordak Ragefire respawn now 24 hours
  • Eye of Zomm no longer KoS
  • Timorous Deep raptors are now animals
  • Beastlords gain disciplines: Resistant, Fearless, Protective Spirit, Bestial Rage
  • Expendable items no longer consume mana
  • The Trivial Loot Code on Firiona Vie server no long affects No-Drop items

2002-2-17 Increased drop rates of some 55-60 Kunark spells (1069, 75)

2002-2-25 The majority of faction based aggro messages, e.g. “no place in our realm” and “ruined your own lands”, were removed around this time (exact patch uncertain)

CT Zone Revamp

2002-3-7 (1087, 93)

  • Cazic Thule zone revamp
  • Tradeskill +%skill mod items now functional
  • Shrieker’s Curse now a lure(3) spell
    likely done to nerf AoE groups

2002-3-19 (1099, 105)

  • Chat channels added to the game
  • First focus items added to the game from magician summons
  • Lower level players no longer need the spell book open to meditate
  • Hell level smoothing for levels 30-50
  • 75% exp bonus for players under level 10
  • ZEMs for many lower level dungeons increased
  • Slow spells now have disease counters [1]
  • Messages no longer lost when zoning
  • Players no longer lose experience on death below level 11
  • Players now begin first level with a stack of 20 food and drink
  • Dying under level 10 respawns players with their gear
  • New resurrection, evacuate and corpse summoning spells added at lower levels
  • Starting bind points moved closer to where characters first spawn at creation
  • Halflings may now be rangers and paladins
  • Gnomes may now be shadowknights and paladins
  • Divine Stun now on a 30 second reuse timer with a chance to interrupt NPCs up to level 60
  • Memory Blur, Mind Wipe, Blanket of Forgetfulness, Memory Flux, Glamour of Kintaz and Rapture have higher chance to blur
  • Glamour of Kintaz duration now 9 ticks, up from 5
  • Rapture duration now 7 ticks, up from 4
  • Judgement damage now 925, up from 750; cast time reduced by 1 second; recast time increased by 1 second
  • Moonfire damage now 1150, up from 1100; mana cost now 320 mana, down from 450
  • Shaman group buff spells now buff as much as single target versions
  • Translocate spells no longer require that the target be grouped with the caster
  • Sleeper’s Tomb Key now Soulbound
  • Innate wizard criticals
  • Pets now avoid NPC ripostes
  • More combat text filters added
  • /rtarget added
  • New NPCs added to Nektulos and Dark Elf newbie quests added
  • “Vyzh’dra the Cursed has been adjusted to balance the risk versus reward associated with the encounter”
    It had a death touch and was unslowable; these were changed but that might have been a patch or two later. Likely his attack delay was reduced when he was made slowable [1]

2002-3-21 Focus effects nerfed to not work on certain spells e.g. Complete Heal, Banes (1101, 107)

2002-4-2 Lord Inquisitor Seru world first (legitimate) kill by Fires of Heaven [1] (1113, 119)

2002-4-9 (1120, 126)

  • EverQuest subscription fee increased to $13
  • Non-pet NPCs now return items they don’t want for quests
  • Pet heals now cure diseases
  • Sigil Earring of Veracity effect is now right-click
  • NPCs in Sanctus Seru no longer flee and are now fear immune
  • A few trade skill vendors addd to Rivervale
  • Misty Thicket new NPCs added (e.g. the large orc camp, diseased rats, scarecrow) and Halfling newbie armor quests added

2002-4-22 Emperor Ssraeshza world first kill by Triton [1] (1133, 139)

2002-4-23 (1134, 140)

  • Slow spells get a -200 hate component added to them in an attempt to counter the hate generated from disease counters
  • New beastlord spells: Serpent Sight, Enduring Breath, Levitate, Talisman of Tnarg
  • Cazic Thule tradeskill items no longer No Drop
  • Cure Disease added to rangers and shadowknights

2002-4-24 Vyzh’dra the Cursed world first kill by Afterlife [1] (1135, 141)

2002-5-8 (1149, 155)

  • 1,000+ tradeskill recipes added (Blue Diamond cultural armor)
  • The Hole now uses Kunark-level mez/charm/taunt rules
    In the original classic zones charm is capped at level 51, mez at level 52 and taunt level 50. Hole was seemingly lumped in with them [1, 2]
  • Cazic Thule zone mobs now tauntable
    logs show mez spells working in revamped CT before this patch
  • Invisible players no longer able to trade items to NPCs
  • Bard songs and MGB Z height restriction of 50 units
  • Spell stacking fixes/improvements
  • Beg and Pick Pockets now share a timer
  • New mobs added to zones near Freeport; Freeport newbie armor quests added [1, 2]
  • New mobs added to Steamfont including 2nd minotaur camp and more kobold camps; Gnome newbie armor quests added [1]
  • Beastlords gain some hybrid advantages when casting while meleeing
    EQMac client has BSTs getting innate spell haste & attack timer reset on casts but not spell fizzle bonus
  • /pet attack range limited to 200 units
  • Emissary of Thule pet stats upgraded; max hit now 69 (max level unfocused)
  • Luclin boss loot upgraded
  • Plane of Sky keys no longer disappear when leaving the zone (bug) [1]
  • Sullon Zek server character limit increased to three
  • Firiona Vie server changes: anon/role not required; language limits removed; /shout /auction unrestricted; Alignment restrictions removed
  • Emperor Ssraeshza’s death touch (Touch of Vinitras) replaced with Rage of Ssraeshza
  • Emperor Ssraeshza now magic immune (no longer magic slowable)
  • Seru’s AoE changed to a 300 hp/tick DoT AoE from a 500 damage rain spell; mana drain removed
  • High Priest stun reduced to 10 seconds from 18 seconds; knockback significantly reduced
  • High Priest AoE stun radius reduced to 80 from 100 range
  • The hate reduction on slow spells was removed
  • Hate from disease counters significantly reduced (disease cloud spell nerf)
  • Increased spawn timers in Acrylia Caverns and magic immune NPCs added to nerf AoE [1, 2]
  • Fungi staff effect no longer stacks with regeneration spells [1]

2002-5-9 (1150, 156)

  • Protection of the Cabbage quest implemeneted
  • Mage epic pet stats upgraded; max hit now 77 (unfocused)
  • Higher tier Kunark mage pet summons stats upgraded

2002-5-27 Aten Ha Ra world first kill by Fires of Heaven [1, 2] (1168, 174)

2002-6-5 (1177, 183)

  • Focus effects added to over 150 existing items
  • Spellcaster NPC AI improved: granted more spells and more aggressive casting [1]
  • Acrylia Caverns Chieftain event removed
  • Plane of Sky keys now disappear when leaving the zone (bug fix) [1]
  • Casting times added to: Golem Metal Wand (4), Egg Shaped Pumice (3), Oil of Fennin Ro (4)
  • 200+ smithing recipes added; some smithing trivials adjusted
  • Reduced spawn timers for some raid NPCs
  • Summoned pets no longer KoS
  • Pets no longer break mez
  • Non-dire pets no longer take exp if a single point of damage had been done by players, otherwise pets take 75%
  • Dire charm pet experience share scaling implemented
  • Archery no longer hits bane bosses w/o bane bow?
  • NPC enchanters no longer able to land spells on high resist targets [1]

2002-6-6 White Dragon Hide replaces scales for the Karam Dragonforge quest (1178, 184)

2002-6-12 (1184, 190)

  • NPC spell casts now canceled if target runs out of range
  • NPC spell casts of higher level spells now have a chance to be interrupted by melee
  • NPCs much lower in level than their targets now have reduced potential spell damage
  • NPC wizards no longer get the class innate micro lures (-10s)
    NPCs will gain this back on September 4 however
  • NPCs no longer cast rare spells such as Garrison’s Superior Sundering by default
  • Enchanters can no longer mez themselves
  • Players who have their spell casts fail due to line-of-sight no longer lose mana
  • Large Blocks, Blocks, and Small Blocks of Magic Clay now stackable

2002-7-22 Ring of Vulak first completed by Afterlife [1] (1224, 230)
This was the first case anywhere of Ancient spells dropping. Also Vulak now drops 4 items instead of 3, has a modified AoE, modified stats and is permarooted [1]

New UI & Bazaar

2002-7-24 (1226, 232)

  • New customizable interface deployed, with /viewport
  • Bazaar launched
  • Jaggedpine Forest opens
  • DoT kiting damage reduction removed
  • Pets now use owner’s level and resistances when saving against NPC spells
  • Old-world, lower poly Vah Shir models
  • 10% healing penalty for non-clerics removed
  • Removed “Ahhh… I feel much better now” message for lifetaps when caster is over level 35
  • Beastlords gain Endure Disease at level 24 and Resist Disease at 51
  • Summoned pets now always max level
  • /pet report health now shows buffs+debuffs on pet
  • Players may no longer fear or charm other players in PvP
  • Players may no longer charm another player’s pet
  • Rifts for Vex Thal keys now no-drop
  • Shissar-bane bows now functional
  • Shard of Hsagra’s Talisman added to loot tables [1]
  • /makeleader added
  • New mobs added to Greater Faydark; Elf newbie armor quests added [1]
  • Drawf newbie armor quests added; New Butcherblock mobs were put in a patch earlier [1]
  • Elnerick’s Electrical Rending now drops from more raid bosses (prveiously only THO) [1]
  • Ervaj’s Lost Composition now drops from more raid bosses
    This was supposedly previously a rare drop from somewhere; unknown which mob had it first although some sources say AR worms
  • Transon’s Elemental Renewal now drops from more raid bosses (previously only Grieg) [1]
  • Deathly Temptation and Maelstrom of Electricity now drops from Rhag`Mozdezh?
    previously didn’t drop? evidence is flimsy

2002-7-28 Sony broadcasts a CCU of 100k (1230, 236) [1]

2002-8-14 (1247, 253)

  • Keyrings implemented
  • Nexus port added for druids; ports to Dawnshroud, Twilight Sea, and Grimling Forest added for wizards and druids
  • Luclin port spells now usable from anywhere
  • Bonus mana from items cap removed (4250) [1]
  • WIS & INT casters now have the Combat Stability and Natural Durability AAs
  • Compass added to the new UI

2002-8-27 Guild Legacy of Steel of server The Nameless suspended for pulling mini-Aten down to Blob1 room [1] (1260, 266)

2002-9-4 (1268, 274)

  • The modern resist system is implemented
    This was a major change to the game; see the documentation on it for details, which include massive buffs to charm, lull and caster DPS
  • High level mob experience bonus put into the game
  • Hell level smoothing for levels 50-60
  • Reduced experience gained from lower level blues
  • Item links implemented
  • Number of effects on an NPC increased to 30
  • DoTs from multiple casters now stack on targets
  • Recasting a DoT on an already afflicted target now refreshes the DoT
  • New beastlord spells: Furious Strength, Dexterity, Stamina, Spiritual Light, Spiritual Radiance, Spiritual Brawn, Spiritual Strength
  • Spiritual Purity now grants 7 mana and HP per tick, up from 3
  • Warriors, rogues, and monks gain Physical Enhancement AA 1
  • Shadowknights gain Harmshield and Augment Death
  • Shadowknights gain the Voice line of spells
  • Necromancers gain Death Peace
  • Bards gain Sionachie’s Dreams, Dreams of Ayonae, Ancient: Lullaby of Shadow, Ancient: Lcea’s Lament
  • Solon’s Bewitching Bravura now 10 ticks, up from 3; mana cost increased to 60 from 20
  • Kelin’s Lucid Lullaby is now a single target mez instead of a PBAoE
  • Clerics gain the Bash skill at level 25
  • Clerics gain Hammer of Judgement, Yaulp V, Ethereal Elixir, Ethereal Light, Ethereal Remedy
  • Flaming Sword of Xuzl & Unswerving Hammer of Faith casting time and mana costs significantly reduced
  • More spell stacking improvements
  • Line-of-sight checks now done at the beginning of spell casts
  • Items now display level-restricted statistics
  • Spectre pets now equip items given to them
  • Pet haste cap now scales with level
  • Spells now deletable from spellbook
  • Warder Cecilia put into Skyfire Mountains
  • Merchants now display up to 80 items in their inventory
  • Leather Padding can now be made from Rockhopper Hides
  • Drid Epic DoT no longer snares
  • Many Vex Thal items got upgraded
  • Ancient spells now drop off of Luclin raid bosses instead of just Vulak
  • Emperor erroneously made slowable from resist changes; fixed shortly after

2002-9-6 (1270, 276)

  • Experience for low blue cons restored to pre-Sept 4 patch amount
  • The two-day-old high level mob experience limited to five levels under the player
  • PvP resists modified to mitigate the Sept 4 changes which allowed spells to land much easier

2002-9-26 (1290, 296)

  • New Sleeper’s Tomb
  • Druids gain Tunare’s Renewal
  • Shamans gain Kragg’s Mending
  • New spell particles for spells start to show up
  • Beastlords gain Mend Companion and three other AAs
  • Shadowknights gain the Terror line of spells
  • Bow shaped curve implemented for PvP resists making resists more likely
  • Higher level beastlord pets made stronger
  • Bard tash stacking exploit removed [1]

2002-10-16 (1310, 316)

  • Monk mitigation nerf (AC cap now 315 from 375)
  • Complete heal capped at 7500
  • /shield added
  • Modulating rod nerf (5 minute cooldown)
  • Manaburn nerf (one hit per minute)
  • AA refunds for: Innate Regeneration, Manaburn, Mental Clarity, Quick Summoning
  • Reuse timer changes: Divine Resurrection from 72 hours to 36, Mend Companion from 144 minutes to 36, Warcry from 72 minutes to 36 minutes
  • Dodge skill caps rasied: Warrior to 190; Paladin, Shadowknight, Bard, Ranger and Beastlord to 170
  • Ranger and Beastlord defense skill raised to 240
  • Yet more buff stacking fixes
  • Fufil’s Curtailing Chant now stacks with Occlusion of Sound
  • Reduced hitpoints for some Luclin raid bosses
  • Beastlords now summon pets using spells rather than an ability
  • Staff of Forbidden Rites & Swollen Fungusbeast Gland vendor prices massively increased [1]
  • Now “slightly easier” to get skill increases while doing Tailoring, Tinkering, Smithing, Baking, Brewing and Alchemy
  • Now “slightly more difficult” to get skill increases with Pottery and Fletching
  • Player Character corpses with no items will decay in 3 real life hours, not 7 days
  • Taunt more likely to work on targets under level 60

Planes of Power Launch

2002-10-21 (1315, 321)

  • Planes of Power opens
  • Level cap now 65
  • Raid groups implemented
  • The blue con range for players above level 60 is now smaller
    This shrunk as the player leveled; dark blue range at 65 was 55-64 but this was reversed in June 2003
  • Harmony level cap of 40 applied

2002-10-28 (1322, 7)

  • Druids gain Harmony of Nature [1]
  • Parchment drop rates raised/added in first two tiers of PoP zones
    Oct 31st patch notes mention this but old comments indicate it was put in 2-3 days earlier

2002-11-14 Experience gain increased in Plane of Storms (1339, 24)

2002-11-19 (1344, 29)

  • Maximum raid sizes increased to 72 from 60
  • Spectral parchment drops nerfed in Halls of Honor
  • Music player added
  • Skyshrine revamp [1]

2002-12-2 Rallos Zek the Warlord world first kill by Afterlife [1] (1357, 42)

2002-12-4 (1359, 44)

  • The level 65 minibosses for the Bastion of Thunder key added to Plane of Storms
  • Perma-pacify and zone-wide aggro from lulls fixed
  • Beastlords gain the hybrid spell fizzle bonus
  • Mental Corruption infinite mana bug fixed

2002-12-12 (1367, 52)

  • Shield of the Immaculate now has a 1 second casting time
  • Aten Ha Ra now AoE DTs if warders are up
  • Negative stat effects removed from Shaman made potions

2002-12-19 (1374, 59)

  • Checklist flags implemented
  • Parchments and Glyphed Rune Word drop rates increased in tier 3 zones

2003

2003-1-7 World first kill by Afterlife of a very undertuned Xegony (1393, 78) [1]

2003-1-9 (1395, 80)

  • Packet stream compression implemented [1]
    This eliminated lag on large raids. Prior to this modem users could lag out with 60 members in a raid. Sony mentions these lag improvements in the next two patch notes but the ShowEQ guys say it first went in on the 9th. Scott Hartsman also noted that serverfilters had not been doing anything “for the past months” [1]
  • Old UI retired
  • Client may now run in a window
  • Bard songs window
  • Wrath of the Wild AA now eaten up before rune buffs
  • Duration of higher level lull spells drastically reduced

2003-1-15 (1401, 86)

  • Legacy of Ykesha expansion pack announced
  • Druid and Shaman CH-like heals now cause aggro
  • NPCs that attack faster when slowed (“reverse slowed”) no longer do so [1]
  • Insta-click spell gem refresh exploit fixed [1, 2, 3]
  • Failing the Bertoxxulous event in Crypt of Decay now results in a 4-6 hour reset

2003-1-28 (1414, 99)

  • Ignore distance in Fungus Grove increased to 450 units
    Rangers were shooting mobs at extreme distances which prevented mobs from chasing the ranger
  • Sha’s Advantage and Savagery now vendor purchasable
  • Spirit of Snow and Spirit of Flame now drop more frequently
  • Crypt Master’s Conjuring Stone vendor price increased
  • Killing Kazen Fecae no longer a shortcut to the Necromancer Epic quest

2003-2-4 (1421, 106)

  • Extended Notes now works on area of Effect songs as well as group songs
  • Rallos Zek the Warlord now confined to the arena

2003-2-6 (1423, 108)

  • Grummus now leashed
  • Fennin Ro given more HP
  • Rallos Zek the Warlord and his adds given much faster run speeds

2003-2-16 Fires of Heaven kill tuned Xegony [1] (1433, 118)

Legacy of Ykesha Launch

2003-2-24 (1441, 126)

  • Ykesha zones open
  • Froglok player race added
  • Grobb is now Gukta; Trolls flee to Neriak
  • Charm slot added
  • In-game maps added
  • Player bank now 16 slots
  • Armor dies added
  • Guild management system added
  • Classes get a couple of new spells each; most noteworthy are priests get hybrid poison/disease cure spells
  • 85/15 flag rule implemented
  • Planar projection flag cap of 72 implemented
  • Resurrection and translocation confirmation boxes now 5 minutes, down from 1 hour
  • Horses now require luclin models on
  • Binding removed from most Planes of Power zones
  • Plane of Fire now requires all of the appropriate flags for entry
  • Elemental plane gods now save their respawn timers on server resets

2003-3-2 Coirnav world first kill by Afterlife [1] (1447, 132)

2003-3-13 (1458, 143)

  • Intelligence casters may now research dropped priest spells [1]
  • Purify Soul now removes a larger number of poison, disease, and curse counters

2003-4-8 (1484, 169)

  • Plane of Hate 3.0 opens on Stormhammer (this version has new zone geometry)
  • Monk mitigation nerf partially reverted (350)
  • Major improvements to NPC pathing
  • Healing pets now generates hate
  • Charmed pets now take up to 1/3rd the experience from kills
  • NPCs now ignore charm pet tanks after the hate list reaches a certain size
  • Charm spells lose their micro lures/resist adjusts
  • Non-playable race illusions no longer modify faction
  • Reduced archery hit chance if archer is moving on a player target (PvP)
  • Archery damage in PvP reduced to 66%
  • Maximum damage spell hit in PvP now limited to 75% of targets maximum hitpoints
  • Obtaining a checklist flag now says you have received a checklist flag instead of character flag
  • PoP alternative entry quests made easier to complete and now key the entire group

2003-4-23 (1499, 184)

  • Revamps of Acrylia Caverns, Hollowshade Moor and Grimling Forest
  • Increased respawn rate in Steamfont, Misty Thicket, Butcherblock, Nektulos, East Freeport and West Freeport
  • Vendor base price of Fuligan Soulstone of Innoruuk reduced to 50pp from 100pp
  • Protectors of Growth zone-wide aggro fixed/re-enabled
    an old comment I found said it was a 9 month old bug

2003-4-30 (1506, 191)

  • Increased the difficulty PoFire and PoWater bosses
    AoEs were in some cases enlarged, given -400 resist adjusts, and some other changes
  • Added 12% backstab modifiers to Reinforced Mephit Talon and Gold Runed Mithril Knife

2003-5-7 Rathe Council world first kill by Afterlife [1, 2] (1513, 198)
Afterlife defeated a very difficult version of the encounter which was weakened right after they won making them the only guild to do so. Sony claims that they “felt it was still harder than it should be” but most likely they had it super difficult to keep guilds out of PoTime because the final zone was not finished.

2003-5-9 Furor posts his infamous “You have 14 days” rant [1] (1515, 200)

2003-5-10 Plane of Time access no longer requires story flags and merely requires a Quintessence of Elements [1] (1516, 201)

2003-5-14 (1520, 205)

  • Veksar opens on Stormhammer
  • Veeshan’s Peak revamp
  • Plane of Hate 3.0 opened on all servers
  • New characters now start with weapon skill
  • Divine Intervention reliability improved
  • Healing Messages now include the name of the healer
  • Call of the Hero works in Plane of Water
  • Gravel Rain can now curable
  • Child of Bertoxxulous pet upgraded
  • Mana from buffs cap raised
  • Buffs lost when zoning with low health bug fixed
  • Some Plane of Water and Fire boss AoEs made easier to resist
    some AoE resist adjusts were changed to -350 from -400
  • The random chance for any particular NPC to summon in HoHA was removed and replaced with teleporting home when too many are pulled
    These changes were done to nerf bard DoT swarming. The 10 pull limit in HoHA still exists.
  • Mass Group Buff now available to beastlords

2003-5-19 (1525, 210)

  • Afterlife world first completes Plane of Time phases one and two [1, 2]
  • Allakhazam comment mentions Strikethrough Mod2 existing on a phase 2 PoTime item [1]

2003-5-20 Afterlife kills very undertuned Time Saryrn and Time Terris Thule [1] (1526, 211)
these bosses had useless placeholder AoEs

2003-5-22 Afterlife world first kill of Time Tallon Zek [1] (1528, 213)
this may have been tuned; spell data shows no changes later and most are the same as the Drunder ones anyway

2003-6-4 Afterlife kills very undertuned Time Vallon Zek and Time Bertoxxulous [1] (1541, 226)

2003-6-11 (1548, 233)

  • Plane of Time phase four and five gods given their proper AoEs/effects
  • Group experience bonus increased to 20-80% from 2-20%
  • Sixth group member no longer counts in the exp split division
  • ZEMs in PoP zones reduced
  • Dark blue con range at levels 61+ enlarged back to 15 levels
  • Shared bank slots added
  • Spell Gem Context Menus added (right clicking spell gems to mem spells)
  • Spell Favorites added (saved spell gem loadouts)
  • Expanded spell descriptions
  • “EQ Cam” third person mousewheel camera added to the game
  • NPC titles under their names added
  • Group buffs landing on lower level players bug/issue fixed
  • DoT damage now reported to the caster
  • Beastlord pets now summonable in the Plane of Sky
  • Beastlord pet proc spell line granted 75 dexterity
  • Droga and Nurga revamps open on Stormhammer
  • Veksar open on all servers
  • Free access granted to: Storms, Torment, Valor, Crypt of Decay, Bastion of Thunder, Halls of Honor
  • Rallos Zek the Warlord now kicks any player out of the zone added to his hate list which is not in the raid that engaged him
  • Tradeskill flag added to tradeskill items
  • Lifeburn hitpoint reduction changed from 10 HP to 25% hp
  • New character starting locations changed to be near guildmasters

2003-6-25 Afterlife kills undertuned Time Innoruuk [1] (1562, 247)

2003-6-26 Afterlife kills Time Cazic-Thule [1] (1563, 248)

2003-7-2 Afterlife world first kill of “Bertoxxulous 3.0” [1] (1569, 254)

2003-7-3 Afterlife world first enters Plane of Time phase 6 (Quarm) [1] (1570, 255)

2003-7-8 Private main tank channel discusses Mod2s very recently being added to PoTime items (1575, 260)
Found in Torven’s personal logs from channel “thedojo”. Strikethrough, Shielding, Avoidance mentioned. Log does not indicate when exactly. Cannot find any indication of a server reset on July 8 or in the days prior.

2003-7-10 (1577, 262)

  • Quarm given his proper AoEs
    he was in a completely unfinished state prior, but unlike the gods was possibly unkillable instead of much easier
  • Droga and Nurga revamps open on all servers
  • Chardok B opens
  • Grieg’s End revamp opens on Stormhammer
  • Call of the Hero now usable in Plane of Earth B
  • Rallos Zek the Warlord now kicks anybody on his hate list who isn’t in a raid with less than 20 people in it
  • ZEM increased in Tower of Solusek Ro, Halls of Honor, The Temple of Marr, Lair of Terris Thule
  • The 5% minimum chance to fail on trivial combines is now reduced by higher skill
  • DoT duration focus changed into increased DoT damage focus
  • Ferocity no longer requires a reagent (peridot)
  • Magicians gain spell Kindle
  • Paladins gain Force of Akera
  • Wizards gain Draught of Lightning
  • Bards using right-click items with a cast time now consume reagents
  • Mass enchant spells added
  • Solusek Ro’s Tower now drops ornate molds
  • Erudite, Troll, Ogre and Barbarian newbie armor quests implemented
  • Sneak now works underwater

2003-7-16 Quarm world first kill by Township Rebellion then Afterlife on same night [1, 2] (1583, 268)

2003-8-6 (1604, 289)

  • Plane of Time progress now saved to individual guilds/raids
  • Magicians gain Burning Affliction focus item summons
  • Ofossaa the Enlightened’s AoE Mists of Enlightenment resist adjust changed to -275 from -350 and recast to 60s from 20s
  • Karana deity fletching recipes added including Blessed Guardian Arrows
  • Experience gained from some newbie zone quests increased

2003-8-26 (1624, 309)

  • Plane of Mischief revamped on Stormhammer
  • Second Plane of Mischief entrance placed in Great Divide; PoM no longer bindable [1]
  • The Deep, Charasis, Dragon Necropolis, Siren’s Grotto, Hole, City of Mist, Accursed Temple of Cazic-Thule partially revamped
  • Greig’s End revamp now on all servers
  • Platinum slot added to the shared bank
  • Rain spells no longer resist 100% of the time on targets under 10% hp
  • Purify Soul reuse time reduced to 30 minutes from 72 minutes
  • Divine Resurrection reuse time reduced to 18 hours from 36 hours
  • Celestial Regeneration reuse timer reduced to 15 minutes from 72 minutes; increased duration to 48s from 24s; healing per tick considerably reduced; made a group heal (now MGBable)
  • Divine Barrier lost damage shield component; heals 3x more
  • Celestial Remedy mana cost lowered to 150 from from
  • Armor of the Zealot no longer overwritten by Focus of Soul
  • Coirnav respawns faster on failure if no minibosses are killed [1]
  • When zoning, a message now displays which zone the player is entering
  • Four item stats windows may be open at a time

2003-8-28 (1626, 311)

  • Tower of Solusek Ro trash now summon
  • Enchanted Ring of Torden now goes on keyring
  • Reduced the number of characters in a raid required to access the Plane of Time to 18 from 40
  • Fennin Ro now leashed

Lost Dungeons of Norrath Launch

2003-9-9 (1638, 323)

  • Lost Dungeons of Norrath opens
  • Augments added to the game
  • Fully instanced zones added to the game (yuck)
  • Vie and Alendar buff lines added to the game
  • Manastone no longer usable in The Hole

2003-10-9 (1638, 323)

  • Item recharging via vendor exploit fixed; Vendors now separate items with different charges on them
  • Stats and effects changes made to Plane of Time items
  • Guk-themed LDoN raids added
  • Revamped Plane of Mischief now available on all Live servers
  • Coirnav event changes: final wave adds now unstunnable and timer is now strictly 15 minutes [1]
    LDoN gave enchanters a new PBAoE stun which worked up to level 65 which was the reason for this. Supposedly the timer was being unintentionally extended by upwards of five minutes from zone lag caused by large raids which was fixed
  • Anger augments upgraded to do twice as much hate as before
  • Completing adventures now guarantees at least one point
  • Increased points for hard adventures
  • Removed augmentation slots on primal weapons
  • Find feature (ctrl-f) added to the game
  • Auto-attack key now defaults to Q
  • New characters start with weapons and armor equipped, spells scribed and memorized, and a stack of bandages
  • When a caster reaches a new spells tier, they will get message informing them new spells are available
  • Pet buffs now visible in the pet window
  • Closing world containers places no-drop items in the character’s inventory
  • Remove Minor Curse cures 2 curse counters instead of 3-4
  • Frostreaver’s Blessing no longer blocks Wind of Marr

2003-11-5 (1695, 380)

  • Target rings added
  • Tell windows added
  • Plane of Air avatar events now have a random respawn variance and apparitions now spawn to indicate availability
  • Increased the number of rewards for completing LDoN raids
  • Channeling Focus now works for bards
  • /stoptracking added
  • Selo’s no longer blocks Cataclysm of Ro
  • Cassindra’s Chant of Clarity and Cassindra’s Chorus of Clarity now apply a buff and are no longer instant
  • Target window now indicates con color
  • /fontface added
  • New characters now start with a bag
  • All characters are auto-granted a Sense Heading skill of 200

2003-11-7 Warriors begin organizing a “stand down” protest [1, 2] (1697, 382)
This was the result of knights ending up much better tanks than warriors for non-disc tanking after years of knight upgrades. The final domino was Vie buffs allowing knights to tank anything in PoTime. The protest involved idling characters in Plane of Knowledge.

2003-11-11? Sony allows server transfers with gear for $75 [1, 2] (1701, 386)

2003-12-18 (1738, 423)

  • Shadowhaven casino opens
  • Yellow stamina bar now represents endurance
  • Disciplines now consume endurance and require tomes to learn
  • Warriors gain Incite (plus lower rank versions)
  • Monks gain Phantom Call (plus lower rank versions)
  • Warriors gain new disciplines: Focused Will, Spirit of Rage, Healing Will, Stonewall
  • Monks gain new disciplines: Focused Will, Planeswalk, Speed Focus, Healing Will, Earthwalk
  • Rogues gain new disciplines: Focused Will, Weapon Affinity, Deadly Precision, Healing Will, Twisted Chance
  • Unlinked discipline timers
  • Disciplines now softcoded; some discipline functionality changed in subtle ways as a result
  • Combat Ability window added (Alt+C)
  • Warriors given innate DI reduction
  • Monks now block from behind
  • Extended Notes 3, Sionachie’s Cresendo and Improved Reclaim Energy AAs refunded
  • Extended Notes and Sionachie’s Cresendo no longer affect harmful AoEs (bard DoT swarming nerf)
  • Jamfest fixed to now work on entire group instead of just the bard
  • Container tokens added to bazaar
  • Items with Invigor effect replaced with Serpent Sight or Ultravision
  • New spell effects for “just about every spell”
  • Reclaim Energy now returns 75% mana or 95% with Improved Reclaim Energy

2003-12-19 Shadowhaven casino disabled because its popularity caused “issues with the servers” (1739, 424)

2004

2004-1-2 Guild Hoss of server Druzzil Ro wins the Curt Schilling jersey contest [1, 2, 3, 4] (1753, 438)

2004-1-22 Sell back value on many tradeskill items modified to prevent excessive profit (1773, 458)

2004-1-30 Charm breaking on NPCs will now cancel any spell being cast (pit war exploit fix) (1781, 466)

Gates of Discord Launch

2004-2-10 (1792, 477)

  • Gates of Discord goes live
  • Berserker class added to the game
  • Tribute system added to the game
  • Tradeskill UI window added to the game
  • Shadowhaven casino reopens

(from this point on, only listing some major changes that concern earlier eras)

2004-3-23 EverQuest now requires DirectX 9 (1834)

2004-5 Walled mobs no longer unhittable with archery [1]
This was fixed at some point after March 23 but no later than May. Several patches starting from late March mention collision improvements.

2004-9-14 Bard PBAoE spells no longer damage targets that are moving (2009)

2006-9-19 Pet pulling and tick splitting exploits fixed [1] (2744)