Be Busy At work, and in game = Len forgets to do the News for several weeks:
First off we have Expansion News For Everquest: Seeds of Destruction
Welcome to EverQuest® Seeds of Destruction, the 15th expansion for EverQuest!
A new rift has opened in the Plane of Time. This rift leads to a bleak prophecy of the end of existence. The world of Norrath lies in ruins. The planet has shattered into millions of shards, spinning in a silent void around the rapidly blackening star of Ro. In the wreckage on a small shard of the world, a lone figure sits quietly tending a small seedling growing between the rocks. The lone figure is none other than the fallen god Zebuxoruk. Zebuxoruk is certainly insane, but has a unique insight into the current state of the world and possibly might hold the knowledge to guide adventurers in the quest to prevent the destruction of Norrath. Only he can direct adventurers towards specific moments in time where the armies of Discord were able to disrupt the timeline. If they are able to stop the forces of Discord, the destruction in The Void will slowly be repaired. If not, all hope will be lost.
For more Seeds of Destruction Lore read the Unfolding the Lore series. Level Cap Increase Players can now achieve level 85. New high level item sets, new Alternate Advancement ability lines, new spells, and new skill caps come with this increase. New Content New themed realms for adventurers to explore including Oceangreen, Bloody Kithicor, Field of Bone, Invasion of Earth, Kuua, and Discord. Travel through the rift in Time solo, with a group, or in raids to complete new quests, tasks, and events to acquire new items, spells, tradeskill recipes, and abilities. Mercenaries Mercenaries are NPCs for hire that will aid adventurers in their heroic endeavors. Their levels and abilities will scale appropriately and they will think and act for themselves with limited player guidance. They are designed for extra support or extra muscle in PvE encounters. Unlike player pets, these NPCs are not directly controllable by players, though the player can give them general orders. They function like a normal party member including taking up a group slot and taking a share of the experience. Mercenary Liaisons can be found in the Plane of Knowledge as well as all starting cities and will allow you to hire mercenaries based on their race. The Liaisons within the Plane of Knowledge will allow you to hire mercenaries of any player race. These merchants can be found using the Find ability. Before purchasing a mercenary be sure to read the descriptions, cost value, and restrictions. There are different levels and tiers available. Some mercenaries may not available until you have completed certain content but there are some apprentice and journeyman ones available to all. Mercenares have a one-time hire cost and an upkeep cost that is charged every 15 minutes. The hire cost is usually much higher than the upkeep cost. There are two classes of Mercenaries available - Tank and Healer.
Healer Mercenary: Healer mercenaries prefer to heal and buff their owner and others in the group rather than engage directly in combat. These mercenaries can also resurrect players upon death. Tank Mercenary: Tank mercenaries prefer to melee. They will taunt if it is set to the main tank role. Though it will still attack and behave as a secondary tank if it is not set as main tank.
If your group has someone with the puller role, mercenaries will only assist them when they and any NPCs chasing them are near camp. Any mercenary owned by the puller will stay back with the group. Like pets, mercenaries will not aggro NPCs on their own. Mercenaries can be suspended like a pet, though they will remain suspended forever or until you dismiss them. Mercenaries will be suspended automatically when entering most raid zones. They must also be suspended before you join a raid. If your mercenary dies, it can be revived after five minutes with an additional upkeep charge. Some mercenaries may not think your gold is worth them risking their life. Those with higher confidence in themselves will cost more money.
Second we have World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King:
IRVINE, Calif. - November 13, 2008 - Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. announced today that World of Warcraft®: Wrath of the Lich King™, the second expansion for the world’s leading massively multiplayer online role-playing game, is now on sale in North America, Europe, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, and Russia. The expansion will be in stores beginning November 14 in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand, and available on November 18 in Korea and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau. Details regarding the launch of Wrath of the Lich King in mainland China will be announced at a later date.
"Wrath of the Lich King contains some of the best content we’ve created for World of Warcraft," said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment®. "We appreciate the valuable feedback from our beta testers and the continued enthusiasm and dedication of players around the world, and we look forward to seeing them in Northrend." World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King sends players to the cold, forbidding continent of Northrend, where the malevolent Lich King Arthas Menethil seeks to bring an end to life on Azeroth. Players will fight Arthas’ undead army and unravel the mysteries of Northrend as they quest through new zones and dungeons, acquire potent new skills and abilities, engage in epic open-world player-vs.-player warfare with siege vehicles and destructible buildings, wield the runic power of World of Warcraft’s first Hero class -- the death knight -- and much more. World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King is now available at retailers on DVD-ROM for Windows® XP/Vista and Macintosh® at a suggested retail price of $39.99. A special Collector's Edition of the expansion is also available at a suggested retail price of $69.99. This limited-edition package includes the expansion, The Art of World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King hardcover book, an exclusive in-game pet, a behind-the-scenes DVD, two World of Warcraft Trading Card Game starter packs and two exclusive cards, a mouse pad featuring a map of Northrend, and the official World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King soundtrack CD.
On November 13, the official soundtrack will also be available for purchase and download on the iTunes Store (www.iTunes.com), with three exclusive tracks available only on iTunes.
The Wrath of the Lich King expansion requires the original World of Warcraft game, available for a suggested retail price of $19.99, along with World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade®, which sells for $29.99. These two products are combined in the World of Warcraft Battle Chest®, available for $39.99. World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King has received a Teen rating from the ESRB.
For more information on World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, please visit the official website for the expansion at www.worldofwarcraft.com/wrath.
And since i MISSED both, TODAY we have learned THIS tidbit 2.8 million copies in a day sold for Lich King:
IRVINE, Calif. - November 20, 2008 - Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced that World of Warcraft®'s second expansion, Wrath of the Lich King™, has sold more than 2.8 million copies in its first 24 hours of availability*, making it the fastest-selling PC game of all time. This eclipses the previous record of nearly 2.4 million copies sold in 24 hours, set in January 2007 by Blizzard's first World of Warcraft expansion, The Burning Crusade®. Wrath of the Lich King was simultaneously released in North America, Europe, Chile, Argentina, and Russia on November 13; Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand on November 14; and South Korea and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau on November 18.
In celebration of the launch, more than 15,000 stores throughout the world had their doors open at midnight to welcome thousands of expectant players. Several of these locations were attended by Blizzard Entertainment representatives, who met players and signed copies of the game.
"We're grateful for the incredible support that players around the world have continued to show for World of Warcraft," said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “Wrath of the Lich King contains some of the best content we’ve created for the game so far, and we look forward to seeing even more players log in to experience it in the days ahead."
"After a single day of availability, Wrath of the Lich King is already the bestselling PC game of 2008 at GameStop and ranks as one of our top-selling products so far this year," said Bob McKenzie, GameStop’s senior vice president of merchandising. "In keeping with the tradition established by their previous releases, Blizzard Entertainment has again created a product that not only reflects their high standards of quality but is clearly an instant hit with gamers around the country."
Prior to the launch of Wrath of the Lich King, World of Warcraft’s subscriber population had grown to more than 11 million players, further strengthening its position as the world's most popular subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game. More information about the new expansion can be found at the official Wrath of the Lich King website: www.worldofwarcraft.com/wrath.
summary:
51pt talents - implemented
Inscription profession implemented
changes to pets- implemented
new zones to get to northrend- implemented
massive and i mean MASSIVE changes to all classes (everyone has ZERO talents atm)
Implemented...
- Seeds of Destruction Zone Sneak Preview: All active EverQuest subscribers with accounts in good standing will be able to experience all new EverQuest Seeds of Destruction zones two week before commercial release! During this special event players can participate in quest lines and group encounters as they assist Antonius Bayle and preserve the future of Qeynos! Zones include the eerie devastation of the Void, the lush wilderness of Oceangreen and the perilous Temple of Bertoxxulous. Beginning October 7, 2008 seek out the herald of Druzzil Ro in the Plane of Knowledge to be transported to a time rift that leads to the preview content!
- Group Merge Ability: Looking to fill the last few spaces of your group? Groups now have the ability to merge with each other without disbanding from their own group! With this new feature, the group leader of one group can invite the group leader of another group to join his/her group. If the invitation is accepted, the two groups will merge together to form one group. This change merely allows groups to merge without having to make everyone drop out of their current group. All other group functionality should work as it did in the past. It does not increase the six person group maximum for groups.
- Group Window Enhancements: The following changes have been made to improve the Group Window - We've added mana and endurance gauges for group members. We've added a Group Roles infrastructure. When right-clicking on a member of the group, a leader will now have the roles sub-menu for role administration. If currently the leader of a group, right-clicking the player's health / mana / stamina window will also show the same role administration menu. We also added in the /grouproles command. A group role indicator was also added to the Player Info window.
- Target Window Enhancements: The following changes have been made to improve the Target Window - The target window will now display the buffs on target players, pets, and in the future mercenaries. The Inspect Buffs leadership ability is still needed to view NPC buffs. The target's buff timers displays in hours, minutes, seconds. We've added the ability to remove buffs from yourself, your pet, and in the future mercenaries from the target window. The ability to block buffs on you and your pet has also been added to the target window. The Target Window is now resizable.
- More Firiona Vie Character Slots: We've extended the amount of character slots available on the Firiona Vie server to 3 characters.
- Message to Custom UI Users: Due to the amount of changes being made to the user interface with this game update, custom UI users are advised to switch to the default before attempting to log in or if you experience difficulties when logging in.
*** Fan Faire Requests ***
These changes were made due to some of the feedback received at the 2008 Las Vegas Fan Faire.
-Added the ability for players to target nearest corpse and cycle through the nearest corpses via hotkeys. These will need to be set in the options menu to be used.
-Increased the range of emotes to match the range of say.
-Fixed an issue with damage shield mitigation on items.
-/target will now target the player instead of their familiar, as long as the player is within a reasonable distance of their familiar.
- We now display all bind points for a player when using /charinfo.
*** Spells ***
- A new resurrection spell has been added for Druids and Shaman. Wanderer Astobin and Mystic Abomin in the Plane of Knowledge library have the scroll for sale. The spell returns 90% of a player's lost experience and can only be used while out of combat.
*** AA ***
- Removed the group leadership AA Designate Main Assist since this functionality is given to all groups through the new Group Role system. Leadership AAs spent on this ability have been refunded in the form of regular AAs.
- Certain AA's that added extra riposte chances will no longer cause your non-rogue enemies to backstab you.
*** Quest & Events ***
- Monks should no longer get left behind after completing the Seventh Hammer portion of their Epic quest.
- Paladins should no longer get left behind after completing the Mujaki the Devourer event for their Epic quest.
*** Miscellaneous ***
- Items and coin are no longer left on a corpse upon death. The items will remain equipped and in their respective containers.
- Spells will now remain memorized on a character upon death.
- Players should now be able to equip items for which they don't meet the required level. In the inventory window, the item will be highlighted in yellow if the required level is not met. No benefits will be granted from this item other than being able to equip it.
- Added the concept of revive effects. When you respawn, you will receive negative effects for a while to compensate for having all your equipment and spells still memorized.
- /target will now choose PCs over NPCs when using a partial name.
- If you have a familiar buff but no familiar, it should no longer destroy any other pets you have when you remove the buff.
- All classes now keep their familiar buffs when the familiar is killed or dismissed, not just wizards.
- Fixed a problem with familiars for pet classes. If you have a pet, then summon a familiar, then zone, it will now keep your pet properly with only the familiar buff.
- Fixed some problems with the muted friends list for voice chat.
- Corrected a few issues with group and raid management functions.
- Groups are now somewhat persistent. If you log out and log back in you will still be in your group. Offline players should still be able to be kicked out of groups.
- Fixed a problem with /hidecorpse looted where the client and zone could get out of sync and keep you from looting for a while after that.
- Added /hidecorpse npc which works just like /hidecorpse all except it only hides NPC corpses.
- Drakkin rogues will now sneak at the correct speed when over level 50.
- Added in Group Roles infrastructure. When right-clicking on a member of the group, a leader will now have the roles sub-menu for role administration. If currently the leader of a group, right-clicking the player's health / mana / stamina window will also show the same role administration menu. Also, added in the /grouproles command. A group role indicator was also added to the Player Info window.
- Group members in other zones will now be notified when their group member (that previously logged off) logs back in (grey when they're offline, white when they're online). Their name in the group window changes color as indicated for online/offline status.
*** Voice Chat ***
- Slash versions of the commands are effective on playername for the channel you are in and only if you are the moderator (raid/guild/group leader)
- Unban only works via slash command since there the banned player is no longer in the channel and therefore no longer available to click on.
- /voicechat unban playername
-Unban only works to unban playername in the channel you are currently in, and only if you are the moderator (raid/guild/group leader)
*** UI ***
Several changes have been made regarding the design of user interface windows. Some of the changes are noted below:
- The group leader will now be displayed in a different color in the group window and player window. This will work in addition to /groupleader to find out who the group leader is.
- Updated the pet window to display timers in hours, minutes, seconds like the buff window.
- "Caster:" in the buff info window will now display the user name. Also, if there is no caster information available, the "Caster:" line should not appear.
- Added the ability to click on a group member and target out of zone / link dead group members. Using the function keys by default should also bring up the players in the target window.
- Invite, follow and disband/decline buttons are no longer required in the group window.
- Modified the spell gem window to auto-resize based on the number of spell gems activated via Mnemonic Retention.
- Added the ability when using custom UI's to target out-of-zone group members by clicking on their EQType's gauge.
- Fixed a bug seen in custom UI's where the spell name in the buff and short term buff windows would be "Unknown Spell" when there was no buff in that slot.
- In the group window, the gauge size can now be used by custom UI modifiers to set the size for gauges instead of having to change the background size.
We've revaluated certain aspects of how the arena system and current arena season will be affected during both the next content patch, and the launch of Wrath of the Lich King. For starters, the current arena season will end in respect to the ladder upon the release of our next major patch. What this means is, we'll be taking a snapshot of the current season's ladder just before the realms are taken down for patch maintenance, and our normal process will commence to determine who is eligible for the end-of-season rewards. Teams and ratings will not be wiped at that time, and will carry forward allowing players to earn points each week (and buy gear) until the launch of the expansion on November 13th. Almost immediately before Wrath of the Lich King releases, all arena teams as well as ratings will be wiped and arena charter NPCs disabled.
--
We want to provide some information about the direction of the Arena system. Upon the release of Wrath of the Lich King, players will find they are still able to access the Arena system at level 70 for rated matches. Those competing in the Arenas at 70 will still be able to attain items using Arena points and rankings; however, we do not currently plan to offer new items or titles for this bracket. Players who level past 70 will have their Arena points reset to 0 and be removed from all Arena teams in the level-70 bracket.
Two new skirmish brackets (71-75, 76-80) will be available for players who wish to hone their Arena skills while leveling in Northrend. Those who reach level 80 will once again have the opportunity to create new Arena teams and play in rated matches once a new season starts. New items, titles, and end-of-season rewards will be offered to the most successful teams at level 80. Additionally, the sets released for the Arenas in Wrath of the Lich King will no longer share aesthetic similarities with tiered raiding gear. We want those equipped with the best PvP rewards and those with the best raiding sets to stand out from each other. Players at level 80 will also have the opportunity to compete in two new Arenas featuring challenging new layouts, terrain hazards, and moving obstacles. [ Post edited by Zarhym ]
In the frozen wastes of the north, the Lich King Arthas Menethil rallies his undead army and schemes to bring an end to all life on Azeroth -- and in a couple of months, you'll begin your epic journey into Northrend to confront the Lich King and his minions yourself. Blizzard Entertainment's second expansion to World of Warcraft -- Wrath of the Lich King -- will be in stores on November 13 in North America, Europe, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, and Russia, and on November 14 in Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia. The expansion will be available in Korea and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau on November 18, and the launch timing for China will be announced at a later date. For more information, read the press release or visit the Wrath of the Lich King website.
Wrath of the Lich King will be available in both a standard edition and a special Collector's Edition (in select areas). The Collector's Edition will contain an art book, behind-the-scenes DVD, exclusive in-game pet, and more. For pictures and a complete list of contents, check out the Collector's Edition website.
