As we enter December and look forward to the coming New Year, this is a time when many religions and cultures around the world celebrate major holidays. 2020 has been a really hard year all across the world. From pandemic to social unrest, from economic downturn to the food and housing insecurities created by all of, it has been an exceptionally trying time.

Now is when kindness, empathy, compassion, and understanding are more important than ever. We all need to try to come together, in spirit, to support one another. While most of us are having to stay physically apart to help protect each other from this deadly pandemic, it doesn’t mean that we can’t still be there to help one another. So many right now are suffering more than ever: fear of catching this horrible disease, anxiety over how to pay the bills due to lost jobs, loneliness at being isolated.

Unlike in the past, our global community is more connected than ever. Reach out to one another. Let people know that you care. Check on your family and friends. And if you’re one of the ones that is struggling, reach out to others* and ask for help. There is no shame in it. This is hard on everyone. Be kind and gentle with yourself as much as you can, because right now no one is at their best.

If you are able, donate. Donate money to your local food banks. Donate gently used items to local good works organizations. Donate your time to places that you have the ability to assist. There are many places that you can help while still remaining within your own home if it isn’t safe to go out (whether for yourself or for the community at large). Check with local volunteer organizations, they are more than happy to help match you up with somewhere that will suit your unique circumstances and abilities.

Please be kind. Be patient. Show grace. Understand that it isn’t the cashier’s fault that the store is out of the item you need. Realize that the delivery driver is just trying to survive, the same as you. Recognize that your favorite restaurant has had to pivot, and pivot, and pivot yet again to try to remain open in one fashion or another so they can continue to serve you. Support local businesses as much as possible.

Listen to the public health experts. Follow the advice of the scientists and medical personnel that are working at a feverish pace to understand and find treatments for this new disease. Yes, the advice changes from time to time. That’s because this is brand new. That’s how science works. As they learn about it, they figure out what works and what doesn’t. They are doing their best. Help them.

And please, hold a thought for our front line health care workers. They are exhausted. Please do your part. Stay home if you can. Wear a mask if you need to go out. Don’t gather in large groups. Wash your hands.

We will get through this, together. For the pandemic, hope is on the horizon. There are so many different vaccines that are showing great promise, at this point. As for the rest, if we hold to one another, if we care about each other, we can pull through. Humanity has always shown its best when things have been really tough but we’ve helped each other. Hold on. We’ll make it.

Dolby, myself, and all of our moderators, wish you and yours a safe and happy holiday season. May the new year treat us all well.

#Happy Holidays
#No School Snowdays
#Joyous Kwanzaa
#Merry Christmas
#Happy Hanukkah
#Blessed Yule
#Happy Krampusnacht
#Blessed Solstice
#Happy New Year
#Howly Wolfenoot
#Touched By His Noodly Appendage
#Joyous Saturnalia
#Happy Festivus


* If you are struggling with your mental health and feel like you don’t have anyone else you feel like you can reach out to, reach out to me (Cairenn). I am very open about my own mental illnesses (anxiety and clinical depression) and thus you needn’t worry that I will judge you for your own struggles. My PMs are always open.

It is with incredible sadness that we join the rest of the gaming community in mourning the passing of Brad "Aradune" McQuaid. As one of the lead designers, programmers and later the Producer of EverQuest, it was his and John Smedley's "Vision" that introduced so many of us to the world of MMORPGs. On a personal note from Dolby and I, you changed our lives. Without you, our sites wouldn't exist. Thank you. We will miss you. Rest in peace, Aradune.

UI

• Made improvements to taunt messages:

• Taunt messages are sent to all players in the area, and include the name of the NPC being taunted.
• Added a new chat filter for taunt messages.
• Failing to capture your target's attention is more clearly indicated as a partial success.
• Added a message when a player obtains aggro using an aggro lock ability (Ex: Undivided Attention).
• Taunt spells are no longer blocked by spells locking an NPC's aggro.
• Sends a single message to players in the area when someone uses an area effect taunt (Ex: Area Taunt).

• NPC tells are now formatted as 'Soandso told you' while player tells (including cross server tells) appear as 'Soandso tells you.'
• Removed an extra space from raid chat messages.
• Changed the format of tells from tell windows when writing to the log. They now use the same format as regular tells.

Source and full patch notes.

UI

• Fixed an issue that caused formatting data to be printed to log files when considering a rare creature.
• Fixed a bug with the advanced loot window that prevented 'Link All' from functioning.
• The Spell Damage filter should be working again.

• Spell damage messages from NPCs casting on others now display resist type and the spell name, and the spell emote is displayed on a separate line, similar to player direct damage spells.
• Scripted spell damage dealt to other players is now visible.

• The chat filter for Pet Spells now respects if you have Pet Spells set to hide in the options.
• Corrected an issue where kill shots were not being reported.
• The 'Highlight New Messages' chat tab option will now persist between logging in and out.
• Increased the displayed precision of self-only hit points, mana, endurance, and experience.

Changed

• EQUI_AAWindow.xml
• EQUI_Inventory.xml
• EQUI_PlayerWindow.xml

Source and full patch notes.

Highlights

• Mounts now show their speed in the item display window.
• Progression servers that have not reached Underfoot now allow players at level 20 and higher to use the Extended Target Window.
• Track now indicates whether your target is above or below you.

UI

• Adjusted the Tribute Master window to allow the description pane to be resized.
• Items with limited charges will now display the remaining number of charges when placed in a keyring.

• Hotbuttons made from keyring items will now display recast time and remaining number of charges.

• Added a message in the chat window when players are invited to an instance.

Changed

• EQUI_TributeMasterWnd.xml

Source and full patch notes.

Highlights

• There are no longer Progression Server specific spawns in open world zones for Classic, Kunark, Velious, or Luclin bosses. These bosses now spawn at an accelerated rate on all servers, roughly twice the rate that they previously spawned on Live servers. Fabled versions of these NPCs should now work correctly on Progression Servers.
• Added several statless mounts to the Marketplace for progression servers.

• These new mounts are available for purchase starting with the unlock of Shadows of Luclin and will remain available until Omens of War unlocks, at which point standard Marketplace mounts become available for purchase.
• These new mounts are equivalent in speed to silk bridles.

• Removed the race specific restrictions on evolving items obtained from The Burning Lands. These evolving items will now gain experience from any experience-giving NPCs slain in The Burning Lands zones and Gnome Memorial Mountain.
• Increased the range that direct-damage and damage-over-time spell messages are reported from 75 feet to 200 feet.

UI

• Attempting to open the Faction Window while shrouded will no longer cause a client crash.
• If a task rewards a faction change, the Task Window will now correctly link to that faction in your Faction Window.
• Disabled the context menu to move the main chat tab into another chat window.
• Fixed an issue that prevented audio triggers from matching text that contains formatting data such as spell or item links.
• Riposte messages are now reported before their resulting hit damage.
• Added the ability to customize the color that chat windows are highlighted with when displaying a new message.
• Dealing direct-damage with spells now reports the caster as 'You' rather than your name.
• Fixed a messaging issue where non-song spells activated by bards would report as the bard 'singing' the spell.
• Moved spell reflect messages to the spell failures chat filter.
• Changed a number of places where the name of a spell is displayed in chat to have that name function as a link to the spell description:

• Spell interrupts, fizzles, and reflect messages now contain the name of the spell that failed.
• Messages indicating the start of a spell cast now include a link to the spell description.
• Messages indicating that a spell has worn off now include a link to the spell description.
• The spell name in damage reporting messages will now function as a link to the spell description.

Source and full patch notes.