Since the debut of the new Event on Monday, we’ve seen a flurry of activity as the realms battle over control of the Ghost Keep. Each cluster has seen the ghost keep actively summoned six times or more since the premiere. To help out those who haven’t gotten to check out the new content, we’ve decided to go ahead and put out a quick primer on how the event works and how you can aid your realm in securing the Ghost Keep!

The premise is simple. The realms race to complete ‘Supply’ quests that will allow the ‘Ancient’ NPCs enough power to begin a summoning process that will bring forth the spectral essence of a former Keep Lord for each realm (Lord Berkstead the First for Albion, Jarl Nottmoor for Midgard, and Chieftess Crimthainn for Hibernia.) Unless noted otherwise, the quests described below are available for levels 45-50.

On Thursday, May 15th, 2008 from approximately 4:00am PDT until 9:00am the EQ2Players site shall be down for database maintenance.  This downtime will last approximately 5 hours.

The title "Lead World Designer" might seem a bit misleading compared to what most gamers might believe the definition to be, but Cory Herndon knows exactly what his job duties entail. He was more than eager to share the details of his work as well as give me some juicy tidbits about some items we can expect in the relatively near future for Pirates of the Burning Sea.

Cory is the Lead World Designer for Pirates of the Burning Sea.  He oversees the writing process involved with the game and described the position as a cross between head writer and content idea guy.   Cory oversees a team that focuses on writing the background, storylines and mission quest text as well as the interaction and scripts for speaking NPCs in the game.

SWG Stratics and the Star Wars Galaxies Developers invite you to
attend a different type of chat on Wednesday, May 14th, 2008. The chat
will be held at 5pm Pacific / 7pm Central in the #StraticsHoC channel
on Stratics IRC. Full information can be found here.

How to play: 
Alternative 1: Lighters Aboard Ship, or LASH ship

There are some LASH lighters generated every few seconds beside LASH ships to crash players. LASH lighters have one point Durability and will suck after attacking players. They have high Ship Ramming Force. Players must wear the Ram Proof Shield, or destroy the LASH lighters before getting too close to them. Players can greatly reduce the damage wrought by LASH lighters through rational division of their duties.

Alternative 2: Carvel.

After a BOSS ship is killed, four boats are generated that will run away in four directions (similar to the NPC merchant ships sailing toward one direction). Only one of them is carrying the Treasure Chest to escape. Players can detect it by themselves or cooperate with other players to get the Treasure Chest.

Alternative 3: Gunboat

Gunfire on the right side of this BOSS ship is more powerful than the left side. The killing difficulty will be greatly reduced if players choose the right standpoint to attack.

All BOSSES can’t be grappled and have high Level ramming protection.

In order to prevent high Level players from taking over resources belonging to BOSSes, the location where BOSSes are refreshed will be constantly changed. Besides, there will be Level limits to enter fights against BOSSes of low and middle Level.

Low Level BOSSes: sea battle<Level 80  Middle Level BOSS: sea battle<Level105

Read more here.

Among the few dwarves who believed that precious metals still might be found in the Blue Mountains, Flosi, an old prospector, spent many of his long years seeking gold and silver in the mountains of his home. Players adventuring near Thorin’s Hall in the Blue Mountains may want to visit the old dwarf and perhaps help him recover what he lost…

gorIest game to hit the mmo world GOES INTO OPEN BETA

 

Groundbreaking Horror MMO Available to the Public

 

 

MARINA DEL REY, Calif. -- May 13, 2008 – MMO fans, the wait is over, registration for the Requiem: Bloodymare beta begins today. Gamers can begin playing on May 15, 2008.

 

Requiem: Bloodymare’s brand of horror is changing the face of massively multiplayer online games. With innovative ragdoll physics, buckets of blood and the unique Nightmare, DNA and Beast Possession systems, Requiem offers players gameplay they will not find anywhere else.

Official SOE Podcast #35 is live!!! Hear from Linda “Brasse” Carlson from thebrasse.com, we also would like to re-release our interview with Laralyn McWilliams from the Free Realms team. We chat about our ION Conference trip and EQII’s Update 45. Jason Ryan’s news gives us all of the info from many of the SOE titles unfortunately this Podcast some of the info is a tad out dated…! Ashlanne loses her gamer card, so stick to the forums to find out how you can help her get it back.

Be sure to tune in! You can get your Podcast goodness two different ways head over to the Podcast’s official site, and click on your preferred bandwidth or if you have iTunes installed select iTunes store, type SOE into the search box and click Subscribe! Your feedback is always welcome either on the Station forums or via email to Brenlo@soe.sony.com!

  - The RP/BP reward for participating in the defense of the Ghost Keep during the summoning phase has been decreased slightly.

  - The repeatable maintenance quests offered when the Ghost Keep has been summoned have had RP/BP rewards added to them.

A walkthrough of the event will be posted to the Herald soon to help understand the different phases of the event and how you can aid your realm secure their own Ghost Keep and keep it!

By the pen of Eylee Zephyrswell
A troll paralyzed by fear and superstition, Kruzz thrust himself upon our little band of adventurers. Easily one of the most curious of our companions, he acted as our cook, introducing us to a variety of food we would have never thought – or wanted to think of – eating. But I cannot claim that didn't keep us from starvation at least once. No one might have ever said they were happy to have him, but I doubt any, except perhaps Kaltuk, would have gone back and removed him from our party. I can say he saved my life, and I'm not the only one.

The Nexus War has begun.

The blue Dragon Aspect, Malygos, was charged ages ago by the titans as the guardian of magic. More than ten millennia ago, he watched in horror as Deathwing all but wiped out the blue flight. Maddened by grief, Malygos withdrew to his lair and paid little heed to the rest of the world, emerging only when it finally seemed possible to avenge Deathwing's terrible crime.

Angels Online: New Marriage System Arouses Great Excitement  

The long-awaited Eden expansion for Angels Online has been finally released, and with its release comes the brand new Marriage System. 

Since the Marriage System has been released, it has become the hottest topic among AO players. Today the official team brings us a grand wedding which has been witnessed by some player. He wrote: 

“Your wedding was the most luxurious I have ever seen; Just can’t believe that a wedding in game could be so grand. Red carpet, white wedding dress, florid fireworks, exciting audiences, all out of my imagination, just so sweet...”  

Click here for more!

My First Day in Angels Online

I’ve always been fascinated by angels. Whether it was the twenty-story high fierce Angel of Death marching through the land, sword in hand, administering justice, or the all-knowing Guardian Angel throwing herself in front of the herd of stampeding horses to save the life of a child, or even the sweet old man dispensing wisdom with a smile (and earning his wings with the tinkle of a Christmas tree bell), I’ve loved them! I even like the fat little babies with wings, swooping around shooting arrows at unsuspecting folks. So when I heard that IGG had a MMORPG called Angels Online, I was there!

But first, before I tell you of my adventures in the heavenly realms, a little background. (Cue bright sparkly music here — no organ music in Angels Online heaven!) Apparently back in the long, long ago humans and angels associated freely — so freely, in fact, that a human girl and an angel boy fell in love. Now, this wouldn’t be a problem except another angel was also in love with this girl: the archangel Lucifer. (Now why does that name sound familiar? …) Lucifer was so angry at this relationship that he turned the human girl into the morning dew and the angel boy into starlight. Then, to cover his tracks and because he’s this trouble-loving angel in general, he recruited an army and fought the heavenly forces for control of heaven. Lucifer lost, and he and his army were cast into hell.

The rumors and stories around heaven all say that Lucifer is busy plotting a rematch. There are whispers that he’s training a demon army, and hints that he intends to destroy Eden. Scariest of all are the tales that he plans another assault on heaven itself. To this end, Michael the archangel is training angels to return to the human world and help the humans, to fight the monsters and demons of Lucifer, and to save Eden.

And if I wish to join this noble cause, I must go to Angel College and learn the necessary skills. Sign me up! Where do I go?

Allow a little extra time to log in today, patch 2.4.2 has left the test servers and made its way onto live. No one particularly major inclusion is in this patch, just a lot of little tweaks.

Click here to see the complete patch notes.

Blizzard says the servers will be down for extended maintenance until 3 Pacific, but they seem to be up for now...

Since we have recently announced Fan Faire, I thought it would be a great time to ask the people planning on attending what type of panels that they would like to see. We always have the typical spells, content, and general topics that we cover but we all always open to suggestions! If you have always had an idea that you thought would work into our format please send in your comments.

Game Update 45 is coming to a US server near you, the morning of Tuesday, May 13th 2008! Less then a day to revel in the new weaponcrafting changes, less then 24 hours to hear that audible sigh of relief from your overburdened bank as you get more spaces, only mere hours until all the other great additions and changes arrive in EverQuest II!