Following up our Newbie's Guide to the EQII Forums from last week, here's Part II of the guide.

Before you get too far into the forums, it's a good idea to read the Forum Rules of Conduct.

It's also advisable to read the announcements and sticky threads at the top of each forum you go into, because very often we've stickied important topics, or ones that are a good reference for the topics in the forum.

Announcements and stickies automatically go to the top of the first forum page. Announcements have a lighter gray background behind them and stickies have a dark gray background.

Further down the page you'll notice other icons that look like folders, with varying colors. Here's a key to what the icons before each thread topic mean:

 

Now we'll get into each section of the forums and how they're organized. There are sub-groups within the forums, and some have deeper sub-groups, but we'll just start with those on the main forums page.

You'll find a description of each forum on the main page, so they should be pretty self-explanatory, however there are one or two that you might pass over if you didn't realize they were there, or that need some explanation.

 

Support Forums

  • General Tech Support Questions - Have a technical question not covered by one of the other Tech forums? Post it here!
  • Performance Support - Discuss performance issues (video, sound, crashing, etc.) in this forum.
  • Connection Support - Discuss connection issues (Launchpad, network, router, installation issues, etc.) in this forum.
  • Account Related Support - Discuss account issues (billing, password, subscription issues, etc.) in this forum
  • Voice Chat Support - Discuss issues with EQII's native VOIP system in this forum.
  • Forum Help and Discussion - If you have questions about how to get around these forums or have suggestions on how to improve them, please post a message here.
  • EQ2Players.com Discussion - Post here if you have comments, questions, or feedback on the EQ2Players.com community tools.

 

The Norrathian Herald

These two forums are your first stop for official news from SOE and the Community Relations Team, as well as other community news from our players. It's a good idea to check the Official News board often to find out about server and forum downtime and maintenance, promotions, game updates, and more.

  • Official News and Announcements - As the name implies, this forum contains official news and information about the game.
  • Community News - Have you found an EverQuest II article, interview, or screenshot posted that you haven't seen mentioned elsewhere? Post a link here so others in the community can check it out! (Also has news posted by the EQII Community team.)

 

The Development Corner

The forums in the Development Corner cover update notes from the game team, a place for the team to start game-specific conversations with our players, and a place for feedback for our Test server.

  • Game Update Notes - This board contains details on updates we make to the game.
  • Test Update Notes - This message board compiles update notes for the Test server.
  • Developer Roundtable - An area for the development team to initiate discussions with the community.
  • In Testing Feedback - This board is for discussion about new features and content currently being evaluated on Test server.

 

General EverQuest II Discussion

The first three message boards here are especially good for new players, and those playing our trial.

  • Frequently Asked Questions - Have a question? Odds are someone has answered it somewhere. Check here to view a library of common questions and answers -- as well as the Forum Rules of Conduct.
  • EverQuest II Trial Forum - If you are playing our 14-day free trial, then this is the forum for you!
  • Tips, Tricks, and New Player Questions - Are you a new player looking for answers? Or do you have a few tips or tricks that people should try? Share them here!

The next three boards are a little more focused on our veteran players and discussions about more in-depth aspects of gameplay.

The rest of the the General Discussion forums cover other aspects of the game that all players might find interesting or helpful:

  • Zones and Population - Talk about zones, non-player characters, and the general population of zones here.
  • Items and Equipment - Use this forum to talk about or compare weapons, armor, potions, accessories, and other items.
  • History and Lore - The spot to discuss and debate the history and lore surrounding the world of Norrath.
  • Look and Feel - A place to discuss the graphics, art, music, audio, and UI for EverQuest II
  • Quests and Live Events - If you have questions about quests or just want to talk about them, this is your forum. Note: Please warn readers if you are posting a spoiler.
  • Expansions and Adventure Packs - Discuss the various expansions and adventure packs for EverQuest II here.

 

Class Discussion and Server Communities

These two groups of forums are broken down on their following pages, specifically one message board for each of the 24 classes, and one for each of our servers. This is where you can talk to other players who play the same class as you, or to those who play on your server.

 

The Tavern

The Tavern is the place for non-gameplay conversations and a place to show off the creativity of our community, with role-playing, a showcase of player homes, and artwork.

  • The Ever-Changing Name Forum - This is the place for all off-topic, non-EQII discussions, forum games, etc. The name changes many times a week, sometimes more than once a day, because the evil Community Relations folks make name-changing one of their own fun games. You never know what the topic of the day will be, or what you'll find in this message board!
  • Traveler's Tales - Here's a friendly place to share background info and stories about your characters. In-character dialogue is encouraged.
  • Norrathian Homeshow - Show off your home and give or ask for decoration tips here.
  • Fan Art - Share your EverQuest II art, screenshots, and movie masterpieces here. Images that break the Rules of Conduct will be removed.
  • Signatures - Shopping for a signature graphic or want to make them for others? Post here.

 

International

Finally, the last grouping on the page will take you to our international forums, for the French, German, and Japanese communities. All players are invited to visit our international friends on their forums, and occasionally you may meet some of them on the English forums as well.

 

One other bit of helpful information is player forum ranks. We covered SOE employees, forum moderators and guides in Part I, near the bottom of the page, so here are the rest.

Rank titles are just for fun and are based specifically on account age:

  • Loremaster - 730 Days Active
  • Lord - 365 Days Active
  • Guardian - 330 Days Active
  • Philosopher - 300 Days Active
  • Seer - 270 Days Active
  • Augur - 240 Days Active
  • Hero - 210 Days Active
  • Defender - 180 Days Active
  • Champion - 150 Days Active
  • Elder - 120 Days Active
  • Master - 90 Days Active
  • Historian - 70 Days Active
  • Lorekeeper - 50 Days Active
  • Scholar - 30 Days Active
  • Journeyman - 14 Days Active (You can now edit your posts)
  • Apprentice - 7 Days Active
  • Newbie - 0 Days Active

Additionally, this post covers more information about the forum name ranks you'll see below the player names and their related posting/editing abilities.

 

If you have questions or comments about this guide, come on over to the forums and talk about them in the official Newbie's Guide to the EQII Forums thread.