Beginning on Thursday, December 9th, at 1:00 am PST, the following SOE Services will be unavailable or interrupted while we undergo data center maintenance.

• Chat Services
• All Star Wars Galaxies Servers
• All EQOA Servers
• All PlanetSide Servers
• All EQ servers
• All Vanguard Servers
• Session (Game Log-In)

The maintenance is expected to take approximately 11 hours, with a return to normal functionality around 12:00 pm PST. During this maintenance period, some game servers will not be accessible. During Session maintenance, some servers may remain online, but players who log out may not be able to log back in. This maintenance may also affect the ability to log into our forums.

Source:  EQII Players

Here is a preview of the patch notes for Wednesday's game update (as posted by Aristo over on the EQ Forums):

*** Special Ruleset Server Changes ***

- The first round of changes for our special ruleset servers are complete - stay tuned for more to come:

Firiona Vie
- This server will have a permanent 50% experience bonus.
- We have removed the character slot limit - you are now allowed the same number of characters on this server as you are on standard servers.

Here are some midweek updates for you:

New Items: Obscure Coif of the Merciless ;  Obscure Greaves of the Reaver ;  Obscure Breastplate of the Reaver ;  Extravagant Snowborn Greaves ;  Ambiguous Soulbound Bracer ;  Summoned: Spectral Ice Shard ;  Enigmatic Sandals of Finality ;  Extravagant Trooper Helm

New Recipes: Spell: Splort Rk. II ;  Spell: Phantasmal Orb Rk. II ;  Spell: Bonestitch Charm Rk. II

Updated Items: Gleaming Beetle Shell Belt ;  Beetle Shell Belt ;  Lucid Remnant of Knowledge ;  Distilled Grade C Choresine Sample ;  Purified Grade AA Choresine Sample ;  Shieldbearer's Lance ;  Warlord's Unholy Pendant ;  Burglar's Satchel ;  Ritual Impaler ;  Spell: Loathing Rk. II ;  Spell: Drape of Fear Rk. II ;  Spell: Call of Dusk Rk. II ;  Spell: Gorgon Spear Rk. II ;  Spell: Insidious Blight Rk. II ;  Spell: Stubborn Stance Rk. II ;  Spell: Spiritual Enhancement Rk. II ;  Spell: Glacial Lance Rk. II ;  Spell: Growl of the Tiger Rk. II ;  Spell: Spirit of Kron Rk. II ;  Spell: Glacial Roar Rk. II ;  Spell: Frozen Venin Rk. II ;  Mucktail Mining Pick

Updated Quests: Sigil Earring of Veracity (#5) ;  The Slashclaw Cliffs ;  HoT Rank II Level 88 Spells: Median Nebulous Dream Fragment ;  HoT Rank II Level 89 Spells: Greater Nebulous Dream Fragment ;  HoT Rank III Level 89 Spells: Greater Tangible Dream Fragment ;  Hippity Hoppity Kill

Updated Recipes: Glowing Porter ;  Spell: Aura of Horror Rk. II ;  Tonic of Efficiency Affinity IX ;  Tonic of Heat Affinity IX

There will be some server downtime beginning early tomorrow morning for a game update (from EQLive):

All EverQuest Live Servers (except Al'Kabor) will be coming down on Wednesday, December 10, 2010 [sic] at 12:00 am US Pacific (US Pacifc-PST is -8 GMT: 1:00 am MST, 2:00 am CST, 3:00 am EST, 8:00 am GMT, 9:00 am CET) for a Game Update. The servers are estimated to be unavailable for 8 hours.

In addition to that, there will be downtime on Thursday for network maintenance (another note from EQLive):

All EverQuest Live Servers (except Al'Kabor) will be coming down on Thursday, December 9, 2010 at 1:00 am US Pacific (US Pacifc-PST is -8 GMT: 2:00 am MST, 3:00 am CST, 4:00 am EST, 9:00 am GMT, 10:00 am CET) for SOE Network Maintenance. The servers are estimated to be unavailable for 11 and ½ hours. This downtime is separate from the Game Update downtime on Wednesday, December 8th. We apologize for the inconvenience. Keep an eye on the EQ Players website and the forums for status updates and for news if additional downtime is needed.

Here are some updates for today:

New Items: Ambiguous Orobane Leggings ;  Dreadiron Knuckles ;  Extravagant Khala Dun Helm ;  Spell: Blazing Pillar Rk. III ;  Obscure Wristband of Finality ;  Desiccated Dungeon Rot Spores ;  Ambiguous Dreamhunter Boots

New Quests: To Eat or Be Eaten ;  A Shred of Emotion ;  Shades of Black ;  Shades and Ichors ;  An Unseen Presence

New Recipes: Esoteric Leggings of Affinity ;  Esoteric Leggings of Affinity ;  Obscure Coif of the Hunt ;  Obscure Coif of the Hunt ;  Spell: Deafening Blades Rk. II

Updated Items: Spell: Deafening Blades Rk. II ;  Lucid Remnant of Desire ;  Shard of the Deep Blue Sea ;  Ambiguous Remnant of Devotion ;  Spell: Smite ;  Exquisite Platinum Embossed Rune ;  Gold Painted Rune ;  Stonefruit ;  Cosgrove Powder ;  Stellite Encrusted Cephalic Clay

Updated Quests: Errand for Tonmerk ;  Skylance: The Library ;  Arthicrex Raid Event: The Cliknar Queen ;  Prisoner of the Portal

From 1:00 am PST until 1:00 pm PST on Tuesday, December 7th, SOE account services, commerce flow, and the Station Store may be unavailable during maintenance. Session servers (the ability to log into games) may also have interrupted service during this time.

All EQII Battlegrounds servers will be locked during this maintenance.

Here are today's updates:

New Items: Enigmatic Leggings of Affinity ;  Esoteric Boots of Creation ;  Obscure Coif of the Hunt ;  Obscure Helm of the Reaver ;  Obscure Coat of the Hunt ;  Obscure Cowl of the Predator ;  Lucid Stealthinfused Gauntlets ;  Phantasmic Chain Wrist Seal of the Defiler ;  Phantasmic Plate Helm Seal of the Duelist ;  Obscure Wristguard of Finality ;  Obscure Gloves of Finality ;  Ambiguous Wildroar Cowl ;  Ambiguous Wildroar Wristguard ;  Enigmatic Sleeves of the Hunt ;  Extravagant Frostwarded Boots ;  Esoteric Robe of Finality ;  Enigmatic Breastplate of the Reaver ;  Ambiguous Orobane Cowl ;  Ambiguous Orobane Tunic ;  Recondite Dreamhunter Vambraces ;  Recondite Wildroar Wristband ;  Ambiguous Orobane Armwraps ;  Lucid Stormheart Gauntlets ;  Rhodium Mythkeeper Vambraces

New Quests: Encroaching Undeath ;  Frozen in Fear ;  Overwhelming Odds ;  In Fear of Death

New Recipes: Recondite Spiritskin Chain Wristguard ;  Recondite Spiritskin Wristguard ;  Recondite Spiritskin Coif ;  Recondite Spiritskin Coif ;  Ambiguous Orobane Boots ;  Ambiguous Orobane Boots ;  Lucid Orobane Boots ;  Lucid Orobane Boots ;  Lucid Orobane Gloves ;  Lucid Orobane Gloves ;  Ambiguous Orobane Gloves ;  Ambiguous Orobane Gloves ;  Lucid Orobane Wristguard ;  Lucid Orobane Wristguard ;  Obscure Breastplate of the Muse ;  Obscure Breastplate of the Muse ;  Extravagant Crystalwing Cuirass ;  Extravagant Stormguard Armband ;  Extravagant Stormguard Cuirass ;  Extravagant Stormguard Gloves ;  Recondite Dreamhunter Vambraces ;  Recondite Dreamhunter Vambraces ;  Ambiguous Dreamhunter Vambraces ;  Ambiguous Dreamhunter Vambraces ;  Recondite Wildroar Wristband ;  Recondite Wildroar Wristguard ;  Ambiguous Orobane Armwraps ;  Ambiguous Orobane Armwraps ;  Lucid Orobane Armwraps ;  Lucid Orobane Armwraps ;  Ambiguous Orobane Cowl ;  Ambiguous Orobane Cowl ;  Lucid Orobane Cowl ;  Lucid Orobane Cowl ;  Ambiguous Orobane Tunic ;  Ambiguous Orobane Tunic ;  Lucid Orobane Tunic ;  Lucid Orobane Tunic ;  Enigmatic Breastplate of the Reaver ;  Rhodium Mythkeeper Vambraces ;  Enigmatic Sleeves of the Hunt ;  Spell: Sothgar's Flame Rk. II ;  Ambiguous Wildroar Cowl ;  Ambiguous Wildroar Cowl ;