June 15, 2000 8:00 am

Hello everyone,

Over the past few weeks, a portion of the EQ team has been working on The Hole, in preparation of its release in the near future. Even so, a number of changes and additions were made in today's patch. Most of the

• The "Fleshy Orb" quest has been completed
• We've received word that "Fabian" has been spotted somewhere on Norrath.
• Froglok Foragers and Hunters should been seen more regularly.
• Lord Grimrot should be seen more frequently.
• Skill in tailoring is no longer required to craft The Robe of the Lost Circle.

• The Robe of the Lost Circle has been enhanced.
• The Staff of Temperate Flux and the Rod of Insidious Glamour now have a short casting time associated with their activatable effect (See Below).
• The Gunthak Harpoon is again NORENT, meaning that it will disappear when you log off (See Below.)

We received word a few weeks ago that some people were using these items to "spam" other players with their spell-effect messages, causing them to disconnect. Though /ignore will allow you to filter out text messages caused by people on your /ignore list, it will not allow you to filter out spell-effect messages for spells cast upon you.

The short casting time should prevent the problems associated with the targetable and activatable effect on these weapons, however you will have to stand still to use them now.

In the last item patch, we made the mistake of making this weapon "rentable", meaning that it does not disappear upon logoff. Basically, one of our game designers heard that the weapon was NORENT, concluded that it must be a bug, and took the initiative to fix it. Unfortunately, the stats on this weapon, despite its disadvantages of weight and its non-magical composition, make it much too powerful for its location and difficulty in obtaining it.

For these reasons, the weapon is once again NORENT, and will disappear the next time that you log out. This is a retroactive change and will affect weapons already in possession. We do apologize to those who acquired it within the last week expecting that it would be a permanent weapon.

The Chat and Login server components are now completely separate, meaning that players will no longer have difficulty logging in due to an excess of people in the chat server.

• The EverQuest Team