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EverQuest 2 Associate Producer Jennifer Gerull posted an entry on the official EQ2 developer's blog the other day, discussing the process involved in pushing out a hotfix to the game. Though she equates herself to 'George Jetson with longer hours', endlessly pushing buttons all day, it's an interesting look into Sony Online Entertainment's revision process. As Gerull describes it, code fixes are pushed to an internal server, where the QA department can take a look at them. If the build of the game compiles nicely, it's reviewed by Quality Assurance to ensure the changes are working as intended. If the build doesn't compile nicely, some poor developer gets saddled with "a really ugly doll named 'BoB' that gets to sit on their desk until the next coder gets the "Breaker of the Build" title."

While most of the time the team waits patiently for QA to do its work, important hotfixes result in rushed phone calls and nervous waiting. Inelegantly applied solutions can have the QA team sending one or two of the items on the hotfix list back to the coding team, which in turn requires Jennifer to start a new internal update. She notes that each internal update is labeled with a letter, starting with A and working down. "A few times I've gotten all the way to L, M and N builds, but that is usually the exception rather than the rule on the number of iterations in one day. By the time we get to N, its usually time to go home and try again the next day." Make sure to read on for the full view of this process, and hints of future developer updates to come.

It's been about a week now since EverQuest 2 Game Update 44 dropped onto the unsuspecting citizens of Norrath. The Hate is everywhere now, sowing dischord and distrust across both Freeport and Qeynos. But how are you dealing with it? Are you enjoying the new raiding content? Maybe you're just happy for the chance to get a new mount type?

Our own Brenda Holloway writes at the West Karana blog as Tipa, and had some great commentary on raiding the first few bosses of the zone. She also worked with those hate-spreading loonies and ended up with an attractive looking Innoruuk-inspired bonfire for her apartment. For more impressions of the new content, make sure to check up on the ongoing official EQ2 forums discussion.

What about you, though? Have you seen the inside of the Shard? What did GU44 do for you?

The fourty-fourth game update to Sony Online's EverQuest 2 is now live, bringing with it a wave of negative emotions, angst, and loot. GU44's biggest gift to the community is the Shard of Hate, a high-level instanced raid zone we profiled here on the site last week. Most other tweaks are minor, including:

• The addition of new (attractive) armored Warg mounts.
• A revamp to the Freeport crafter's zone.
• More tradeskill quests in all cities.
• Tweaks to items across the game, including the high-level Veeshan's peak encounter.
• Several client changes intended to aid players running the game with low memory footprints.

Full details on the patch are available at the EQ2 Players site in the official patch notes. Don't be surprised if you see fights breaking out in the NPC cities this week. After all: the Hate is back.

Coming this Tuesday, April 8th, along with the rest of EQ2's Live Update 44 is the Shard of Hate. It follows last year's Shard of Fear and Estate of Unrest free, nostalgia-drenched content updates. Unlike those other two, though, the Shard of Hate is a raid zone. EQ2 lead designer Akil "Lyndro" Hooper was kind enough to take some time out of his day to show us around the spite-filled roads and alleys of this small, deadly fragment of Innoruuk's demesne.

You'll find the portal to the Shard of Hate in the dark elf section of Nektulos Forest -- go all the way east, then head north. You may see the Avatar of Hate lurking nearby, but he'll let you in. It's safe to zone in, but don't move around much; patrols come close to the zone in.

Sony Online Entertainment has released a brand-new high quality video preview of the Shard of Hate. The newest content addition to EverQuest 2 will be descending on Norrath with Game Update 44, and from the looks of things adventurers are going to have a lot to deal with. The video shows off some of the killer raid-level content coming in the patch, but mostly gives us a chance to oggle the beautiful monster models we'll be encountering there.

Whether you're a fan of churlish imps, disembodied skull/spine creatures, or just your run-of-the-mill zombies it looks like Innoruuk's old haunt will serve you well. For the full experience, catch the video after the cut.

Pinski over at EQ2Flames brings us some news about EverQuest 2's new zone, the Shard of Hate, due to arrive in Live Update 44. The Shard of Hate follows last year's re-opening of the Shard of Fear. That zone brought single groups through one of EverQuest's most memorable raid zones. The Shard of Hate introduces the same sort of nostalgic goodness in juicy raid form -- though without the four hour corpse runs, we hope.

Pinski reports at least six named encounters, one of which is a group of five named sisters. He also notes that the citizens of the Shard of Hate have some rather interesting damage shields. Read more of his perilous trip through Innoruuk's home in this first look at what is sure to be a fun time for EverQuest 2's raider community.

EQ2Players is featuring a brief glimpse of EverQuest II's next major content patch, Game Update 44. Apparently, GU44 will bring The Shard of Hate to Norrath, causing fighting to erupt in the cities. Whether this is something to be stopped or promoted is up to you, as you can assist either side of the battle by speaking with the "Priests of Love" or "The Dead". There's no word on the possible repercussions of deepening or cleansing the Hate, but it sounds like the foundation for an interesting world event.

Along with the Shard of Hate, GU44 will feature a renovation to the Coalition of Tradesfolke in Freeport, similar to what was seen at the Ironforge Exchange in GU43. An option will be added for ranged weapons to be displayed instead of ranged weapons, and there will be changes to the level requirements on ranged ammunition. Lastly, a pair of new Kunarkian armored Wargs will be available, one meant for battle and the other for spell-casting. We're promised that the next update will include some pictures, so stay tuned for those.