Ryan "Imago-Quem" Favale, EQII Graphics Programmer, has been working on the highly anticipated Shaders 3.0 since before Fan Faire.  He's been great about keeping in touch with the players via the official forums and posting "before and after" pictures of the project.  Many people were disappointed Shaders 3.0 didn't hit Test with GU54 this week.  When asked by players for a timeline on the project he posted:

I wish I could tell you before it hits the news, but decisions are always being made and if I say one thing then it's like a promise and I would get in huge trouble.  I can only repeat what's been announced already about release dates.

The planned date for GU54 is December 1, barring unforseen complications.  Kiara posted in the GU54 Test discussion thread that the new shaders are still undergoing analysis and performance tweaks.  In the meantime, Ryan posted a little teaser video showing the Dragon Armor in Shaders 1.0 vs Shaders 3.0.  See it below the jump!