August Waypoints

A little bit of summer is what the whole year is all about.

        — John Mayer 

There's been so much going on with the game and with DarqUI lately, including the mostly peaceful 64-bit platform upgrade and a new DarqUI utility. I'm going to try taking a lighter approach in August as we enjoy the best part of summer, digging deeper into the current expansion including the upcoming Myths and Monoliths game update.

We've still got a jam-packed to-do list, but for a few weeks we're going to try to have fewer "patch days" where files get changed and updated. Hard to believe, but the next expansion is not that far away which will no doubt bring with it plenty of interesting UI challenges (and opportunities!)

DarqUI 2K/4K

The first thing we'll see in August will most likely be the next 2K/4K installment which is nearly finished at this point. This one involves several smaller components that we use all the time.

Back to the Basement

We'll also look at doing something with the heavily used Renfry's portal object besides using up a regular hotkey slot or clicking it from inventory. Pro-tip: don't put it on your hotbars right next to your spells. ;)  At the very least we'll get the outdated button out of the Transport window until we come up with something.

And speaking of hotbars, we already have several ways to ease the burden of arranging them, both in-game and with the utility. I'm working on one more very cool improvement that's going to move a utility feature to a more accessible place on the game screen itself. More details incoming.

Odds-on Favorite

In the July newsletter I mentioned Naviaz's new Character Favorites concept, and of course that's underway and is a priority for August.

Say That Again

Here is an interesting request from a while back, not from one of our members but apparently a guild leader or recruiter: An automatic chat channel announcement on a timed interval. So for example a player can set up a recruitment message that automatically posts into a specified chat channel every 15 minutes or once per hour, something like that.

I know from experience that recruiters will get busy in an instance, or doing something else where they lose track of the last time they posted in chat. So the message ends up getting posted way too often, or not often enough. I can also see something like this for players who like to give away things, invite folks to visit their published houses, etc.

Credit Where Credit Is Due

And here's a special announcement that I'm very proud to make. Technically the Darq Side was started in January of 2020, but it wasn't announced until August of that year. I am gratified to say that we've been raising the bar for EverQuest II gameplay with your ideas for two years now, and we already have quite a few Veteran Patrons whom it's been my pleasure to serve for one year or more.

Everybody knows my right-hand halfling Rosyposy who has been improving all things Darq since the beginning well over two years ago. She was our very first well-deserved two year Veteran back in January. 

Now that August is upon us, new designations for our two-year Elite Veteran Patrons will begin appearing in the credit scrolls. My helm is off to you, our earliest adopters, and to all of our members! Thank you for making it possible to carve out time for turning your ideas into a first-class, trusted add-on package. You are making game time more efficient, informative and entertaining for many players around the world, not just your fellow Darq Side members.

So let's fire up the grill, jump in the pool, and smack some jungle pygmies!