From the EQ2 community website: "Welcome to the official Preview for Game Update 31! The Frostfell celebrations have finally wrapped up and the citizens of Norrath are busy recuperating from the exhausting holiday season. But with the start of a new year, Norrath is also looking ahead: making plans for the coming months, anticipating the new life of spring, looking for love …"

Erollisi Day is a celebration of the power of romance! Dedicated to the goddess Erollisi Marr, the Queen of Love, this is a time for young and old alike to venture forth and seek their heart's desire.

Although Erollisi Day is traditionally a shorter holiday than Frostfell, it is nevertheless jam-packed with fun activities. Practice your best pick-up lines! Decorate your house with romantic pillows and flowers! Join a game and gather Erollisi Day hearts for cool prizes! This game is similar to Frostfell Candycane Grab'n'Tag, although some of the rules are a bit different. In addition, we've been making improvements based on the feedback from the Frostfell game. Thank you for all of your great comments and suggestions!

But while this is the season of love for some Norrathians, for others is it the season for looking good. And what better way to look your best than with a new hat? Game Update 31 includes four new profession hats; one each for Wardens, Furies, Necromancers, and Warlocks. If you're a member of one of these professions and you already have a profession hat, you can go talk to your original Hooloh and Relic quest givers to get the shiny new appearance. Be sure to tune in next week when we show off the appearance of these new hats in the Teaser feature.

We also have a treat for those who prefer to show off their stylish houses. The Frostfell fireplaces proved to be incredibly popular with the terminally house-proud, so carpenters will soon be able to make fireplaces all year round!

Love and fashion are all very well, but what about the meat of the game? Well, we have an interesting change in store for Enemy Mastery abilities (like Skeleton Master's Strike or Gnoll Master's Rage). Instead of learning many, many different abilities, each of which is good against one particular kind of target, you will instead learn one Master ability than can be used against any of the types of creatures that you have mastered! Less time spent searching for the right button; more time spent killing things and taking their stuff – that's our motto!

In addition, the way that you master different types of creatures – and gain the ability to do grievous bodily harm to them – is changing as well. Previously, you were granted the choice of one Mastery ability out of a small set when you reached certain levels. Now, however, you will instead learn to master your foes by completing the existing Lore and Legend quests that teach you about that particular enemy. When Game Update 31 launches, your existing Mastery abilities will be removed and any enemies for whom you have completed Lore and Legend quests will be added to the valid targets for your new, unified Mastery ability.

As always, there is more going on than just the highlights mentioned here. Early spring is a great time to get a head start on spring cleaning, and the EverQuest II team is starting by cleaning up some old annoyances and improving the overall experience of the game.

For example, we are improving the broker interface. Soon you will be able to search the broker for specific enhancements provided by adornments, and all your search results will take broker commissions into account when you sort by price.

We have also added a HUD popup message when you fail to start a ranged attack because you are out of ammunition or your weapon is broken. No more standing around wondering why you won't attack! Plus, ranged attack icons will be tinted based on distance, so you can tell at a glance if you are too far away.

And we've been working on pet behavior! Pets will attack more reliably on stairs, and caster pets have learned to stand back and cast instead of running into melee range. Plus, adjusting the behavior of your pet will now properly persist though zoning.

This is just a taste, of course. Make sure you check the Update Notes for all the details! But for now, have a good weekend and we'll see you in Norrath!

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