SOE 12 Days of Holidays! Dec 13th-24th

Log in participating SOE games each day between Dec 13th and 24th and get a special something. This could be an in game item, a sale or a new feature. HERE is the official post and list of participating games. Happy Holidays!

EQ2 Grandfathering Characters Created Before F2P

If you are a vet of Everquest 2 and were looking to come back to game now that it's Free-to-Play but were sad to see your old character's race or class was not available in the free package rendering it unplayable, here is a light to brighten your day. Smokejumper (EQ2's Producer) has decided to grandfather in all characters created Pre-Dec 6th 2011. HERE is the producers letter stating the facts. Welcome back vets!

Kristin's Adventures in MMOLand Episode 5

I'm having a ton of fun with EQ2's Age of Discovery and the latest Game Update. After the extended overnight downtime getting it going I hopped in game and ran right for Frostfell Village. I got 2 server item discoveries one being the sled from the Frostfell Fanatic quest. So that was pretty cool. I spent several hours completing all of the Frostfell quests on my main.

I then ran to North Qeynos' tradeskill building and grabbed my first Tradeskill Apprentice. I plopped her into my main's home and office "Super Star Mansion". I have her learning an earring recipe as her first task. It says it will take 15 days but you can speed it along a little each day.

Then it was off to make a Beastlord. I decided on an evil Kerra named Purrdy. At first I didn't see how they were different than any other class. Then I hit level 18. At that point a new fancy Beastlord hotbar popped on my screen. Interesting..... Basically you have abilities that are only available when other things proc or are triggered like when your warder has "Weakness" active on them. It's similar to games like Aion where you can only use certain abilities if your opponent is knocked down, for example.

I got Purrdy to level 20 and headed over to Freeport to start with the new quests there. That's where I still am today. I did take a little time to pop my alts over to Frostfell Village for their daily gift from Santa Glug.

There's still a ton to do like playing with the Dungeon Maker. I am waiting a bit on that to see what other drops I can get for them. So far I've gotten drops from a random wolf, a random clockwork, a named crocodile, and a couple drops in Icy Keep. Most are mob spawners I think. So we'll see what else I come across this week and maybe this weekend I'll start designing a dungeon.

I hope you all are having a ton of fun too.

A helping hand for new Everquest 2 players

EQ2 goes fully Free to Play 12/6 and I hope it brings new players to the wonderful world of Norrath. It can be hard starting a brand new game with no connections, no coin and limited bag slots. I will be enthralled with Frostfell and the new Freeport revamp and the new Beastlord class and dungeon maker, but I will always find a few minutes to help out a new potential friend and Norrathian. So if you decide to join EQ2 in the near future and create a character on the Antonia Bayle server feel free to comment here on this post, message me on Twitter @Girlygamersite or find me in game most likely on my main "Twinklin". Introduce yourself and I'll toss you a few strong boxes for your inventory to make it a little easier on you. I'll also be happy to answer any questions you have when trying to figure out starting game mechanics or how to get around. I hope to see you in Norrath.

Farewell old drab dirty Freeport, Hello New SHINY Freeport!

The servers just went down in EQ2 for the implementation of the new expansion, game update, and Free to Play. The game update includes the new improved Freeport, rebuilt by Lucan now that he is back. I guess he likes shiny too. I took my one Freeport character "Milldew Millie" and for the last hour of the old Freeport's life, ran around to take some screen shots. Even though my dislike for Freeport was one of the reasons I played mostly Qeynos characters over the years I wanted to pay my respects since Freeport as it has been is no more. I had over the years snuck some of my goodies into West Freeport to RP in the tavern or do Heritage Quests. I will be heart broken when they redo Qeynos this summer as it's been my home for many many years and it will be so strange having it change. Here's a slide show of the old Freeport.

Kristin's Adventures in MMOLand Episode 4

So I had a decision to make this week. Do I, 1. Buy Skyrim, 2. Get SWTOR, 3. Resubscribe to WoW for 4.3 or 4. Get the new EQ2 expansion Age of Discovery. Since like most of America I'm poor I had to choose one and only one for right now. So I made a pros and cons list. It basically came down to which had the most options for me.

Skyrim looks pretty fun but there's a lot of talking to NPCs which isn't really my thing. I have heard so many great things about the game though. I have a friend with the game so I can just play theirs though I won't get my own Steam achievements. Plus it's single player and I love MMOs.

SWTOR ended up being really fun when I played it last weekend. A lot of the questions that I had early on were answered as I played more. But only playing to level 20 I couldn't get a full grasp on how soloable it is. Since my raiding and grouping is minimal I need a game that can keep me busy for a long time. Many games lose me once I hit max level because there's nothing to do beyond that except raid. I fear SWTOR will be like this so I would rather wait until my friends get to max level and see what they say about non raiding end game content. It also comes out only a few days before I take a holiday and so I wouldn't be able to play much until I got back.

WoW 4.3 has some fun stuff like Transmogrification and the new Darkmoon fair but DMF is only 1 week a month and since I solo most of the 4.3 content does me no good.

EQ2 Age of Discovery has a ton of new stuff like the new and improved Freeport, Tradeskill Apprentices, and Dungeon Maker. I listened to the Design your own dungeon podcast for a bit the other day and it seems that since you run the player created dungeons using avatars you can do some of them solo which is perfect for me. Plus it's more decorating. I also "know" EQ2. I know it can hold my interest long term being as there's a bazillion quests and has the best player housing available in any game. It's going free to play with the release of the new expansion which I hope brings me new friends. There's the new mercenary system coming with the expansion which will hopefully help me complete some of the not so soloable content. Plus there's always an in game event going on. Currently the New Halas City Festival is going on plus with the new expansion they're starting FROSTFELL!!!!

So looking at the pros from each game it ended up being a pretty easy decision. I went with Age of Discovery. It releases Dec 6th. I'm currently playing one of my very few evil characters so I can fully enjoy the new Freeport Revamp.

EQ2 New Halas City Festival and New Launcher

Today starts the New Halas City Festival. As always it will run for one week. Stock up on tokens and get your hands on the icy house items before they go away for 6 months. There will most likely not be any new items this month with the expansion on the horizon along with Frostfell coming soon. HERE is ZAM's write up on city festivals.

Also EQ2 released their new game launcher today so update yours. HERE is step by step instructions on how to update your game launcher.

EQ2 News! Expansion Release Date, New Martplace Items

MMORPG.com has announced the release date for the Age of Discovery Everquest2 expansion. December 6th. This will also be the release of the Freeport Revamp as well as the implementation of Free to Play on all servers. You can pre-order the expansion now.

There was also a few new marketplace items added this week.

Another kilt set...

The Clan McNaff Set (800 Station cash)

Earth Runed Bow and Shield (together for 300 Station cash)

and finally a CACTUS!!!

Succulent Plushie (100 Station cash)

WoW 4.3 Goes Live 11/29

Today is the day. 4.3 Goes live. This means the end of Season 10 arena, new Darkmoon Fair, Transmogrification, raid finder and lots more.

Full Patch Notes

WoW 4.3 Companion Pets, Mounts, Armor and MORE on MMO-Champion

 MMO-Champion.com has thrown up previews of tons of stuff being added in 4.3 including some things found in the game files that come from locations unknown. Want a peek at what new stuff you might be able to get your hands on? Here's some links.

4.3 Companion Pets
4.3 Mounts
4.3 Valor Point Rewards
4.3 Season 11 Armor Sets

Also remember 4.3 adds the Raid Finder, Transmogrification, and Void Storage.

Speculation is that 4.3 will go live on Nov. 29th or Dec 6th. If you want to get into that debate hop over to WoW Insider.

Kristin's Adventures in MMOLand Episode 3

Star Wars The Old Republic. Heard of it? If you haven't you've been living under a rock. For the past year it's been the game everyone was waiting for. A few months back Bioware announced a release date of December 20th. Beta has been going on for a while and I wasn't planning on participating because I wasn't planning on getting the game. I'm more of a fantasy fan than a Sci-Fi fan.

A friend of mine, who has done betas for the game, suggested that "it can't hurt to get into the open beta". So I applied a couple weeks ago and got in for this weekend. My friend has loved every class/race combo that she's tried so I logged in this morning for my first go at SWTOR.

I have to say I'm pleased. It's a very clean game. I turned all the graphics to max and put it on the highest resolution possible and have been running it with absolutely no lag and rather high FPS (averaging 50-55). It's very informative when it comes to starting out. There's lots of tutorial windows to read how to do things. I have run across a couple things that haven't been explained well in my opinion like the Social Points system. I do plan to look up things like these elsewhere to answer my questions. The graphics aren't very impressive. For me they're somewhere between WoW and EQ2 which are both old games and in my opinion something releasing 7 years later should have beautiful graphics (like Aion and Rift for example).

When I had watched combat videos several months ago I was less than impressed with the combat animations and spell effects but playing the game the effects are much better than the impression I got in the videos.

I have not played very far into the game and have stuck with only one class, a Sith Inquisitor. I'm going to play around with some more classes and perhaps I'll grow to like the game enough that I'll end up playing it at release. We'll see. If you're participating in the beta have fun!

EQ2 New Marketplace Items, Shadowed Deathcharger and Heartblood Armor Crate

EQ2 has added a couple new items to the Station Marketplace this past week. A new mount, the Shadowed Deathcharger and a new appearance armor set, Heartblood. Check out the EQ2 site for all the details. 

The Shadowed Deathcharger (1950 Station Cash)

Heartblood Armor Crate (1100 Station Cash)

Happy Turkey Day!

I hope everyone has a great weekend especially if you're carving up a bird. This Thanksgiving will be my first since giving up veganism. I'm looking forward to all the food I missed eating last year. What am I thankful for? My family, my pets, video games, computers, Twitter, and chocolate. Have a great one, stay warm, stay stuffed and be safe!

<3 Kristin

Aion only $4.99 Nov. 23rd-28th

Now is the time to get your copy of my favorite game and come play with me. Aion is having a holiday sale and is selling the game for just $4.99. Grab your copy NOW!

EQ2 Double XP Weekend and Black Friday Sale

 Starting Thursday the double XP will be turned on in Everquest 2. If you're lucky enough to have a long weekend it's a great time to bust out those alts and get to leveling. The double XP applies to adventure, tradeskill and AA. Also this Friday look out for big sales in the Station Cash Marketplace in EQ2. Clicky HERE for the full story.

Mists of Pandaria Talent Calculator

 The way talent choices are made in MoP is going to be quite different than the way we do it now. It's very simplified. Each class only gets to choose their specialization plus 6 talents. Talents are no longer tied to each specialization. Want to be a Shadowpriest with the "Desperate Prayer" heal? knock yourself out. Here's the TREES. I'm sure they are subject to change by the time MoP comes out but it'll give you an idea.

My prediction was correct.

WIN!

Pilgrim's Bounty in WoW

Pilgrim's Bounty November 21 - November 27

WoW will soon be having their annual Thanksgiving themed holiday event, Pilgrim's Bounty. It's full of quests that make you run all over creation to give people food. Completing all of the achievements for the event will give you a turkey vanity pet. The event is also famous for being a super easy way to level your cooking skill. Here's a full write up at WoWheadNews.

Moonlight Enchantments EQ2

Moonlight Enchantments: November 20-21, 2011

 It's that time of the month again. Time to grind rootbeer all day and all night for that creepy faun elder so you can get all the super awesome house items. If you don't know what I'm talking about you're probably better off. But if you REALLY want to know head on over to ZAM where they always have the great guides to in game events. 

 

Who do I think the next WoW commercial celeb is?

WoW has been making a big deal about the premiere of their new TV spot coming on the 20th during the Chargers Vs Bears game. Well, on their webpage Blizzard says, "This Sunday, an all-new World of Warcraft television commercial will debut on CBS during the Chargers-Bears NFL game (kickoff time: 1:15 p.m. PST/4:15 p.m. EST). The ad is set to air sometime during the first half… and when the star of this spot asks, “what’s your game?” you’d best have an answer ready."

If I better have an answer ready I'd assume it's someone bad ass and by this pic...

which to me looks like a flying jump kick. My guess... Yes ladies and gents.... Chuck Norris. M I RITE? We'll see on the 20th of Nov.

First Look: EQ2 Freeport Revamp

Here's the PCGamer exclusive EQ2 trailer for the new Freeport Revamp. Pretty glad I rolled a Shadow Knight not too long ago. :)

EQ2 Heroes' Festival Nov. 18th-28th

Here's some news! EQ2 will be holding their in game anniversary event to celebrate 7 years of EQ2. The Heroes' Festival was started a few years back as a way to celebrate EQ2s birthday in game. The festival always has lots of fireworks and some other goodies to be obtained by doing quests. Some repeatable, some not. For more info on the event visit the EQ2 site. There's also quest walkthroughs on ZAM. Happy Birthday EQ2!

Kristin's Adventures in MMOLand Episode 2

Well today seems to be a slow news day in MMOLand. Aion is having their several week long Shugo Event, EQ2 is prepping for Age of Discovery, DCUO is excited for Lightning Strikes, and WoW is all 4.3 and Mists of Pandaria right now. All which I've posted about already.

I've been spending a lot of time streaming games on TwitchTV. I'm brand new to it but it's given a whole new enjoyment to the games I play. I find streaming WoW I get the most viewers, I guess because it's so popular or perhaps because I was also streaming my webcam while playing for a bit which seems to make rooms a bit more popular when they can see the person playing. I also get a decent bit when I stream DCUO because it's now F2P and people are just getting into it and want to see what it has to offer. I don't get many viewers when streaming EQ2 or Aion. Perhaps because they are games with lower populations. That will hopefully change once EQ2 goes F2P next month.

And yes, I did go back to Aion this week. Writing this blog made me miss it. I've been leveling a gladiator character. She's quite a change from my ranger but definitely a lot of fun. I think I may even enjoy playing gladiator most. My ranger is very demanding. Always have to be moving, kiting, stunning. Gladiator is more "stand there and smack it" which can be enjoyable in it's own way.

Not sure how long I'll stick around Aion this time. Most likely just for the month and then when WoW 4.3 comes out I may hop back over there. Last night I picked my high 70s paladin back up in WoW while my account is still active for a couple more days. I had a look at the Season 11 armor which should be coming out with 4.3 and paladins will now have the coolest PvP armor or in my opinion some of the best armor overall in the game. No more power ranger paladins. All of my current 85 characters' sets are terrible (Druid, Priest and Shaman). I'm so sick of horns, thorns, fangs, and planks of wood or just plain boring priest gear. Transmorgification could help me resolve the issue but I really like the new paladin stuff. So we'll see which road I end up choosing.

Have fun in MMOLand!

More on DCUO's Lightning Strikes.

DCUO has posted the official ad for their next DLC "Lightning Strikes" on their webpage. So if you're looking for more info on the new flash inspired gear or other goodies coming soon hop on over and give it a read HERE.

Aion Shugo Event Showcase Nov 2011

Copied from the Aion official site...

 Shugo Event Showcase - November 2011

Hi, Dillimayznyerk here for the Black Cloud Trading Network. Today, I'm giving you the hottest deals for all Atreia. Count on the BCSN for amazing adventuring deals, nyerk!
Shugo Event Showcase

• Play Every Day Deals
  • (2 Hrs/Day) Nov. 16 thru Nov. 23
  • (4 Hrs/Day) Nov. 23 thru Nov. 30
  • (6 Hrs/Day) Nov. 30 thru Dec. 07
• Daru Days
  • Nov. 23 thru Nov. 30
• Cyber Monday
  • Nov. 28 (One Day Only!)

Play Every Day Deals

November 16–December 7, 2011

New Adventurer Guide: November kicks off the holiday shopping season at BCTN, and we're offering a super, amazing, COLOSSAL deal! To excite fledgling monster-hunting Daevas, akakakak, we're introducing a new and improved adventurer guide system! The items in this package are tailor-made for leveling Daevas.

Double XP: But wait, there's more! Sign on during weekends from November 16 'til December 7 and receive not just the normal experience from gathering, crafting, and slaying, but double experience! It's the perfect time to swoop up to a new level of power!

Special Prizes: Is this not to your taste, O Furless One? Then let's sweeten the deal! What could possibly make this deal richer? Well, from November 16 'til November 23, log in for only two hours each day and we'll give you an Arena Ticket! Then from November 23 to November 30, stay logged in for at least 4 hours, and receive an Enchantment Stone Box! Then from November 30 to December 7, if you stay logged in for at least 6 hours you will get a Manastone Box!

You do not have to be online consecutively for the time-frame. Once you hit the accumulative time needed for the prize it will be inserted into your cube. And to top that off, this is per character! You can only get these items once per day per character. This event will run from maintenance period to maintenance period.

Abyss Point and Rifting Promotions: We'd have to be cuh-RAZY to add even more to this deal, Akakakak—but wait, there's even more! We're throwing in the For War and Glory Abyss Point promotion and the Behind Enemy Lines rifting promotion!

Daru Days

November 23–November 30, 2011

Ever been stranded out in the cold of Beluslan? You can get just what you need during Daru Days! Sign on and complete Daru Days tasks during the festival, and BOOM! You, O Furless One, can have a coat of shiny, silky, luxurious new fur! Collect a Silver Fur Daru set that is stylish, warm, and guaranteed to get you all the attention you could ever want when you go out, nyerk!

Cyber Monday Super Shugo Deal

November 28, 2011 ONLY!

Cyber Monday is right around the corner, Daevas, and you know what that means. We at BCTN are proud to offer a special Cyber Monday deal that you cannot miss on the Shugo Lad pack companion! You can have a sturdy young male of my people apprenticed to you indefinitely to organize and haul your loot for you! Your Shugo Lad follows you everywhere, squeals in delight at your actions, and looks handsome, like all Shugos, while toting your loot. Giving you 24 additional slots to hold items, this little guy can carry a lot! He doesn't care, he lugs it with pride! During Cyber Monday, the Shugo Lad, whose faithful service normally goes for a price of $19.99, costs you only $9.99! That's right, just $9.99! Remember though, Dillimayznyerk can't guarantee he'll be able to give you a deal this good again, so get your Shugo Lad on Cyber Monday before it's too late!

DCUO's Next DLC "Lightning Strikes"

DCUO just announced their next DLC will be "Lightning Strikes" The content will focus on The Flash. You'll be doing battle against the Pied Piper and Abracadabra. Apparently you'll be using The Cosmic Treadmill to go back in time and make sure Barry Allen becomes The Flash.

A new Power set is also coming with the DLC... Electricity. Many players already knew this power was floating around in the game data for a while as some claim they saw it on the creation screen in the very early betas of the game. Since the last DLC introduced new controller power "Light", the new power Electricity will be a healer role.

The whole story is HERE on MMORPG.com.

WoW 4.3 Conquest and Valor changes.

Regular Battlegrounds will now offer Conquest Points.

Also some changes to Valor Points.

Aion 3.0 will have seasons.

In the 3.0 trailer some people noticed snowy weather in the new housing zones. Aion will have 4 seasons just like in the real world and they will correspond to certain in game months.

• Spring from March to May
• Summer from June to August
• Autumn from September to November
• Winter from December to February

No word yet on if these seasons will be limited to only the housing zones or if they will effect other areas of the game. Along with the snow or changing of leaves and blooming of flowers, at the beginning of each in-game month, there is a chance that special seasonal mobs will spawn in Elyos and Asmo housing zones. It seems these will be huge tree creatures which players can kill. I believe you can only do white damage in the housing zones so killing one of these mobs will take a long time or a lot of people. Killing them will rewards players with a random drop of a whale mount, packs of house decorations, as well as crystals and leaves needed for the quests for eternal wings.

Furthermore if these mobs spawn at a specific location (like near a certain lake) it will also drop additional rare items like eternal quality leaves needed to produce the Bike mount or other aether fragments which can be exchanged for rewards. As you can see because of its rarity, long spawn time, and huge demand, materials (leaves) needed for the Bike vehicle are very expensive…

It seems that, more season-related mini-events will be introduced in near future!  Thanks as always to Daeva's Report for having the awesome Aion info.

EQ2 New Marketplace Items, Personal Planetarium and Another Kilt!

A few new items were added to the EQ2 Station Cash store. Firstly the new Planetarium prestige home. The home's base item count is 500 (800 with max expanders). It can be purchased for 700 SC.

Next we have the Glowing Maj'dul light. This is that floating balloon light we all love so much. It's finally ours for 200 SC. The floating movement can be turned off and on too!

And we have another kilt, because you know there can never be too many kilts. The Clan McDowell set. The set includes the Clan McDowell Helm, Kilt, Sleeves, Tunic, Boots, and Gauntlets. It's available in the Marketplace for "a wee 800 Station Cash" (SOE's phrasing stolen for cuteness).

Next up is the Flametouched armwraps for 300 SC. When examined you can determine to have them appear on the left or right arm or BOTH!

Lastly another Petamorph wand, Naga guardian. Petamorph wands are used to change your combat pet into something fancy. This one can be purchased for 100 SC.

Here's the original article on Everquest2.com. Enjoy!

DCUO Game Update 6- New Raid, New Gear, Item Levels and MORE

DCUO has a big ol' game update that brings in the conclusion of the Fortress of Solitude raid series, new gear including Kryptonian military weapons, tons of bug fixes for movement, powers, and missions, and items now have levels (Think ilevel or gearscore in WoW). Here's the full patch notes.

EQ2 Age of Discovery Pre-Order Now Available! Gifts Galore!

EQ2 has made their next expansion, Age of Discovery, available for pre-order. The expansion is expected to release late Nov. or early Dec. so you don't have much time but pre-ordering the game and the collectors edition will give you tons of fancy gifts. (saving up my dollars as fast as possible). ZAM has the full write-up. Here's the stuff you'll get with your pre-order.

Unique Beastlord Warder Pet

Cloak of the Truespirit

Lavastorm Prestige Home

Armored Flying Pegasus Mount

Robe of the Truespirit

SWTOR beta codes

If you haven't gotten into the Star Wars the Old Republic beta yet and want to take part in their big weekend stress test, several sites are now giving away beta codes.

• PC Gamer
• ZAM
• Massively
• Curse

Maybe you'll see me there. Wasn't too keen on the game but might give beta a try to see if it can change my mind. Have fun all!

Aion 3.0 teasers

There's been a lot of stuff floating around about what will come with Aion 3.0. I'm seeing all kinds of great stuff. Aion players will finally be getting mounts, including flying ones (though the flyers seem to still be limited in flight time like the current ability to fly). Player housing is also a big new addition to the game. There's new instances and armor to go with it. Here's the official trailer.

Daeva's Report has been getting a ton of info from the Korean test server where the 3.0 update is available. They have a bunch of videos on their YouTube channel of the new mounts and some new wings that are coming with 3.0. All beautiful stuff.

Aion is by far my favorite game but my least played. I haven't found a super casual legion like the one I would need. I have mentioned my playtime is easily and frequently interrupted which makes PvP and grouping mostly impossible. I have tried to get a few friends to play so I wouldn't be so lonely in game but they don't stick around long as it's a bit more complicated of a game then say WoW.  I do tend to go back and run around solo until I get sick of being lonely LOL. If you know of a super casual Aion legion who won't expect me to group or do raids let me know. Thanks :)

DCUO Spooktacular Ends Nov. 14

DCUO's Spooktacular event ends on Monday. The event consisted of holiday themed drops from bosses and the vault, and a special Scarecrow instance you could do as a 4 man group. The instance could be done once a day for 2 candy corn tokens which were then used to purchase Scarecrow themed gear, a trinket or novelty stuff. The vault had the chance to drop a purple trinket called Mr. Boo. I was able to obtain Mr. Boo on 2 of my characters but not the one I really wanted it on /cry. Hopefully I'll get it today before the event ends.

Aion 2.7 went live Oct 19th, new armor and more.

Still playing catch up with the news. Oct 19th was the release of Aion patch 2.7. This patch offers The Crucible Coliseum a new 1v1 and free for all style arena, a new instance, some skill DP cost and cooldown reductions, and new gear. None of it looks like it really pertains to me as I don't pvp or do instances so I won't be getting any of the new gear but for those of you who do OMG it looks so hot. New Crucible Coliseum armor and weapon concept art. I really might have to get back to game and start PvPing in Aion and get me some of THAT! Here's the full 2.7 patch notes.

WoW real money vanity pet and Annual Pass mount

As I mentioned before I'm going to be playing catch up for a while but I feel it's my duty to post about this because, ummm they're cute.

Wow added a new pet to their Pet Store which is where you can purchase vanity pets and mounts for real money vs. in game gold. The Guardian cub. A baby version of what many people call the "Disco Lion" mount. The thing that is different about this pet is that it is tradeable and can be sold on the auction house. Perhaps Blizzard's way of reducing the purchasing of gold from gold selling sites. Many players thought this would be their pay day and from what I heard on some servers the first cubs sold on the AH for 20-30k gold. This however didn't last long as on my server within a few days the cubs were down to 6k gold. Some people feel in the future there will be fewer people buying them in the pet store and selling them once the "New SHINY" wears off causing the price to go back up and make them a viable source of gold again. I however feel there isn't an infinite number of people who are going to want to buy these cute little buggers off the AH. Once a lot of people have them they won't be buying any more. Only time can tell. Read More.

The other new item available from Blizzard is the lovely Tyrael’s Charger. To obtain this beautiful flying mount you must commit to subscribing to WoW's annual pass. This doesn't work like many games annual passes where you are charged all at once for the full year. Instead you choose. You can agree to subscribe for a full year and continue to pay your $14.99/month and in that full year you cannot cancel your subscription or you can choose other full year payment plans. In addition to the pretty mount you also get Diablo III for FREE and you are an automatic in for the next expansion's beta. Not too shabby. Read More.

EQ2 is epic again, and what happens to your characters?

This trailer makes me wanna smash Vox in the head with a giant stick. One thing I do wish they would have done in the trailer is say something like "customize your character your way" and show character creation for a few seconds and show how you can switch to SOGA models because if I was a new player seeing that trailer I'd think the character models were out of date as I'm partial to SOGA for many of the races. But in any case I feel revitalized and I hope it does the same for new players and brings them to the wonderful world of Norrath.

On a side note many are concerned about what will happen to their character slots when the F2P model goes live if they choose to not resubscribe and take advantage of the FREE.  Smokejumper has addressed this and ZAM has the write up. It says something to the effect of...

Character slots. There are several situations that people have asked about. Here are all the answers at once:

• Do I keep my character slots after the changeover?

The answer is "yes". If you paid for it on the marketplace, we don't take it away. You keep all character slots.

• If I was grandfathered in with the Station Access extra character slots when Station Access was changed last year, do I still keep those extra (grandfathered) slots?

The answer is "yes"

• If I was playing on EQII Live *and* on EQ2X, and have tons of characters on both servers, what happens when the conversion occurs and all my characters are visible on the character selection screen all at once?

This answer is a bit more complicated, and I'll explain, but the answer is "We're giving you extra character slots to compensate." Here are the details on this. Please read them carefully.

1. Everything you read below pertains *only* to characters that existed on your accounts on 11/10/2011. Characters created later than that date are *not* included in this solution.
2. This solution *only* pertains to players that have characters on *both* a Live server *and* EQ2X.
3. That being said, here's how it works: You have a number of characters on Live. You have a number of characters on EQ2X. Total those two numbers together. This is your total number of characters. Now subtract from that value, the total number of character slots that purchased for your account on both EQII Live and EQ2X. Now, further subtract seven from that value. (Seven is the base number of slots that a Gold membership grants you by default.) The resulting value is the number of character slots that we will grant you for free so that you can still access and play all of your characters. Make sense? (There's an example below, in #4, for clarity).
4. Example of #3 : Bob has 11 characters on Antonia Bayle (purchased four character slots) and 8 characters on Freeport (purchased one character slot). The total number of characters is 19. The total character slots purchased is 5. (19 - 5 - 7 = 7) So Bob will receive seven new character slots on his account on the day of conversion so that he can access all 19 of his characters without further purchase.

The ZAM article also addresses a few other things like Platinum subscribers getting "Age of Discovery" for free and the Freeport server becoming a normal server eligible for veteran rewards. 

Oh and did I mention... FREE STATION CASH! That's for players who continue to subscribe to the game after the switch over. 500/month. *kermit flail*. You can read all the details over at ZAM

WoW 4.3 Nov 29th?

I've been looking forward to WoW patch 4.3 as all I ever want is a little more content so I can come back to game. 4.3's new Darkmoon Fair might be able to hold my interest for a little while. Yesterday WoW Community Manager Bashiok posted on Twitter with a hashtag "hinting" that the 29th would be the 4.3 patch. Here's hoping.