Returning to EQ2? What you might have forgotten - Part 1 : Status Items

If you are returning to EverQuest II after several years away, there are plenty of things that may look familiar while still working in ways you have forgotten. Some systems are obvious as soon as you log back in. Others are much easier to overlook.

Status items belong firmly in the second category.

As you adventure through Norrath, you will occasionally loot items that look like ordinary pieces of treasure but are not intended to be equipped. Relics, scrying stones, amulets and sealed documents can all be status items. They are effectively another form of reward from killing creatures and exploring the world, and if you remember what to do with them they can become a useful source of personal status.

If you have been away from EverQuest II for years, you may well have forgotten the entire system. So this is one of those things worth remembering before you start throwing unfamiliar loot away.

What Are Status Items?

Status items are special pieces of loot that can drop from sentient creatures throughout Norrath. The classic status items come in four forms: relics, scrying stones, amulets and sealed documents.

They are not equipment. You do not put them on your character, and they are not weapons, armour or jewellery. Their purpose is to be taken to an appropriate city guild representative and exchanged for status points.

The system dates back to the early years of EverQuest II. Status loot was introduced as an additional way for adventurers to earn status, alongside activities such as city tasks and writs. The original system specifically described relics, scrying stones, amulets and sealed documents as items that could be found on creatures and turned in for status.

Why Should You Care About Status?

The important thing to remember is that status is a currency.

Your personal status is attached to your character and can be spent on a range of status-related rewards and purchases. Depending on the content available to your character, status can be used for things such as housing-related purchases, furniture, mounts, appearance rewards and other special items.

That makes status items particularly useful to a returning player because they provide value from something you are already doing: adventuring.

You do not have to organise a group, complete a complicated quest chain or spend your time farming a particular resource. If an appropriate creature drops a status item while you are adventuring, you have effectively found another little piece of currency.

The Four Types of Status Item

The four traditional status-item types correspond to the four main adventure guild categories. The names change with the tier, but the basic pattern remains remarkably consistent.

Relics are associated with the Fighter guilds, scrying stones with the Mage guilds, amulets with the Priest guilds, and sealed documents with the Scout guilds.

You therefore do not need to remember the name of a particular NPC. If you see one of these items in your bags, its type tells you which sort of city guild representative you need to find.

Status Items by Tier

The status items increase in value as you progress through the level ranges. The traditional tiers are as follows:

Tier	Creature Level	Status	Fighter	Mage	Priest	Scout
2	10–19	100	Blackened Iron Relic	Coral Scrying Stone	Coral Amulet	Paraffin Sealed Document
3	20–29	200	Steel Relic	Jasper Scrying Stone	Jasper Amulet	Tallow Sealed Document
4	30–39	300	Feysteel Relic	Opal Scrying Stone	Opal Amulet	Gel Sealed Document
5	40–49	400	Ebon Relic	Ruby Scrying Stone	Ruby Amulet	Beeswax Sealed Document
6	50–59	500	Indicolite Relic	Star Sapphire Scrying Stone	Star Sapphire Amulet	Bayberry Sealed Document
7	60–69	650	Xegonite Relic	Moonstone Scrying Stone	Moonstone Amulet	Flamewrought Sealed Document
8	70–79	800	Beryllium Relic	Emerald Scrying Stone	Emerald Amulet	Faywax Sealed Document
9	80–89	1,000	Deklium Relic	Kunzite Scrying Stone	Kunzite Amulet	Apophelli Sealed Document
10	85–95	1,250	Titanium Relic	Amber Scrying Stone	Amber Amulet	Ozocerite Sealed Document

The important thing here is not to memorise every name. You really only need to recognise the pattern. A relic, scrying stone, amulet or sealed document that appears to be part of the status system is something you should investigate rather than immediately vendor.

The higher the tier, the greater the status value. The traditional Tier 2 items are worth 100 status, while the Tier 10 examples are worth 1,250 status.

Where Do You Turn Them In?

This is the part that is easiest to forget.

Status items are not normally turned in through the quest journal. Instead, you take them to the appropriate city guild representative. The same general city organisations that deal with the different adventure archetypes are interested in these items.

Relics go to Fighter representatives. Scrying stones go to Mage representatives. Amulets go to Priest representatives. Sealed documents go to Scout representatives.

The exact NPCs and locations depend upon your city and the version of the game you are playing, so you do not necessarily need to remember the name of the merchant from years ago. What matters is recognising the type of item and looking for the appropriate status-item buyer in your city.

And you do not need to be a member of a player guild to make use of status items. They are useful to your character in their own right. The original game documentation specifically noted that status loot could be sold for cash even by players without a guild, while the status system itself provides personal status.

Don't Confuse Status with Faction

There is another part of the old system that is easy to misremember. Status and faction are related to some of the same city organisations, but they are not the same thing.

Selling a status item is primarily about obtaining status points. City tasks and other activities can affect faction standing with the organisations that issue them, but you should not assume that every status item you turn in is also increasing your faction reputation.

That distinction is useful when returning to the game because EverQuest II has several overlapping progression systems. Status is a currency. Faction is a standing with an organisation. They can both be useful, but they are not interchangeable.

What Should You Do When You Find One?

The simplest rule is this: don't automatically sell it to the nearest ordinary merchant.

When you see a relic, scrying stone, amulet or sealed document in your loot, examine it. The item description will tell you that it is a status item and indicate the amount of status associated with it.

If you are heading back to a city anyway, keep the item in your bags and take it to the appropriate representative. You have effectively converted a piece of monster loot into another form of currency without having to do anything beyond remembering what it is for.

If you are playing through older content while levelling a returning character, this can add up surprisingly quickly. Status items may not be the most exciting loot you receive, but they are one of those small rewards that are easy to overlook and useful to accumulate.

And What About Guilds?

If you are returning to EverQuest II without a guild, you can largely ignore the guild side of the system for now. Your personal status is still useful, and the status items are still worth collecting.

If you later join a guild, there can be an additional benefit. Appropriate status items can contribute to guild advancement, although the game has restrictions on which tiers of status items will advance a guild of a particular level. Lower-tier items can still provide personal status even when they are no longer appropriate for guild advancement.

In other words, being guildless does not make status items irrelevant. The guild benefit is simply an additional reason to remember the system if you eventually join one.

One of Those Things You Forgot

Status items are a perfect example of the sort of system that can disappear from your memory when you take a long break from EverQuest II.

You start adventuring again. You kill a creature. A strange relic drops. You pick it up, look at it for half a second and wonder why the game has given you a piece of junk.

It isn't junk.

It is status.

Once you remember that, the system is wonderfully simple. Recognise the item, keep it, take it to the appropriate city representative and turn it into status for your character.

So if you are returning to EQ2 after a long absence, add status items to the list of things you need to remember. They may not be the most glamorous rewards in Norrath, but they are an easy source of useful currency that you might otherwise be throwing away.