For those that wonder why it takes so long to update and why there is no Set time frame or an update let me summarize what happens. When things are running smoothly each time Everquest sends the EQ client a message it breaks it down into a pack of data (for ease of use we will say it's a 1000 characters long). In that packet is going to be information on what you see around you, other characters, movements of npcs, messages, chat, etc. Basically everything other than what you load off your hard drive (which is the maps, the graphics, the textures, etc). Now back 20 years ago the developers didn't want the data in the open so that just anyone could see since of course that would lead to rampant cheating. So they scramble up the data into different segments. Each of those segments carries different information for what is going on around you. Now for the most part with each patch Sony/Daybreak (forgive me for calling it sony I am old school) has been changing the order of the segments in those packets and then updating the Everquest game client so that it expects all the information to come in in a very specific order to display it. So MQ comes along and tries to decode it. After a while of human guessing they figure out the first segment of a 1000 characters might be level information, then the next might be npc information, then weapons, the direction of travel and so on. So they have MQ reading it based on that. Now patch day hits, and all of that order is scrambled. So it takes physical time and guess work to go through and match up what they know with every packet transmitted back and forth. Eventually as they start finding things out they can piece together the order of the packet. This is a slow laborious process of guesswork mixed in with a lot of testing (like for instance leveling a character to know when a packet piece goes from level 1 to 2 for instance). So part of that "it will be done when it is done" is the time process it takes of going through and decoding those packets to figure out the order. There isn't a way to speed it up (they have tried over the last 20 years and have got it down pretty well compared to the early days). There also isn't a way to predict how long it will take. Now as others have pointed out if you have the autologin setup where it doesn't update the eq client, and the eq server still accepts the packets from the old client then yes you may be able to play with RG if you don't patch. This isn't always a guarantee, it just depends on what type of patch Daybreak pushes out and if the server forces the packets back and forth between the client to be the new ones are not. In the meantime as others have pointed out, now is a good time to remember those developers who are doing this grueling work for our benefit.
