Event - Team Gladiator

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TEAM GLADIATOR - your day of glory

So you think you are tough? That your fellowship can stand up to anyone on your world?

Well now is your chance to prove that, its time to put your best armour on and sharpen your blades.

This weekend we will be inviting you to form a fellowship with eight of your closest friends to face the best the world has to offer.

Each contest will consist of up to four teams competing against each other in mortal combat, in a fight to the death. The winning team will be the one that has at least one team member alive when all their opponents have died.

If sufficient teams from each world wish to take part, there will be rounds of up to four teams competing in each bout. The winners of the bouts will go forward to the next round or the final.

So what are you waiting for? Gather your team in preparation.

The Rules:
Players will be Player Killer Lites except on Darktide (a separate contest will be held for true Player Killers on non-Darktide worlds if sufficient teams are interested).
Any clothing/armour/weapons/magic may be used.
Any buffs may be used.
Any player porting or logging from the contest area will be disqualified.
Any player not abiding by the LEM/LEO requests will be ported from the contest area.

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Time and staff permitting we will be running this event three times on each world to try and offer every player an opportunity to participate. The times chosen will allow players on GMT, EST and PST to participate at a reasonable hour.

Watch this thread for the schedule of events.
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Times are in EST (PST)

Darktide
Friday 18th, 21:00 (18:00)

Wintersebb
Friday 18th, 22:30 (19:30)

Verdantine
Friday 18th, 00:00 (21:00)

Thistledown
Friday 18th, 22:00 (19:00)

Morningthaw
Friday 18th, 23:30 (20:30)

Frostfell
Friday 18th, 01:00 (22:00)

Leafcull
Friday 18th, 23:00 (20:00)

Harvestgain
Friday 18th, 00:30 (21:30)

Solclaim
Friday 18th, 02:00 (23:00)
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Expansion Celebration Event - Free Items

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In celebration of the launch of Asheron's Call's second expansion, I will be throwing a party in Rithwic. I wanted to do it out on the Obsidian Span, but I could live without running my mule there, lol.

When: Friday, February 25th at 9pm EST / 8 pm CST / 7pm MT / 6pm PST / 2am GMT
Where: Rithwic Bridge on Morningthaw

Events:

One Fish, Two Fish - 25 Singularity Keys
Catch a random number of different kinds of fish.

Scavenger Hunt - 100 Singularity Keys
Find a small lot of random items that can be found throughout Dereth.

Lore Questions - 75 Singularity Keys
I will be asking a bunch of different questions in regards to Asheron's Call lore.

Being Dropped - 100 Singularity Keys, Majors, Tinkered Armor and Weapons, and More!
I am going to be clearing off a range of different items from my mule.

Rules:
The first person to answer a question or give me the required items, wins.

Bonus:
Anyone who comes wearing a robe of any kind will recieve a Singularity Key, until I run out. So essentially this will be first come first serve.

If anyone wants to help out with the event in any way, feel free to contact me via PM. Otherwise, hopefully I will see you all next Friday.

Make sure you bring your robes and fishing poles!

We have extended this contest 24 hours, and today, Wednesday Feb. 16th is your last chance to enter the beta key giveaway contest from Guild Wars Stratics! The game is slated to be released April 28th, and is an exciting title being launched by ArenaNet.

All you need to do to enter the contest is to tell us on this forum thread what you think the ideal group in Guild Wars would be.

Please make sure that the email address in your forum profile is correct, otherwise, you may miss out on this great opportunity for a very exciting game!

Today, 04:49 PM

We've made additional fixes that we believe will resolve the issue. We are watching closely to determine if any additional work is required.
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Alex "Ibn" Beckers
AC1 Online Community Relations

February 15, 2005 01:43 PM US Eastern Timezone

Turbine Entertainment Software Changes Name to Turbine, Inc.

WESTWOOD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 15, 2005--Turbine Entertainment Software Corp. today announced that the company has changed its name to Turbine, Inc. No longer just a contract software developer, Turbine, Inc. is focused on creating, publishing and distributing premier online games and entertainment to consumers of all ages.


Today's announcement marks a key turning point from Turbine's ten-year history as a software developer in the online video games industry. Turbine will apply its proprietary technology, service organization, production capabilities, brands and financial resources to bring world-class products and services into the online games markets in North America and around the world.

Stratics is pleased to announce a House of Commons with the developers of EverQuest2 on Thursday, February 17th. It will be at 5pm PDT / 8pm EDT in the #StraticsHoC channel on Stratics IRC.

You can connect to one of our IRC servers through the use of your favorite IRC client, such as mIRC, ircle, xchat, or whichever you prefer.

Connect to irc.stratics.com port 6668 or whichever server is closest to you:

• stratics.frws.com port 6668, USA - Colorado


• irc.glowfish.de port 6668, EU - Germany


• stratics.afraidyet.net 6668, USA - Atlanta


• irc.epaxsys.net port 6668, USA - Colorado

You may also connect through our handy Java link which may be found right here. You must have Java installed to use this which can be downloaded from the Java homepage.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Turbine Billing system currently experiencing issues creating new accounts.

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We are currently experiencing issues that may prevent players from creating new accounts on the Turbine Billing system.

These issues will impact new players as well as players who have not yet migrated. As forced migration has currently gone into effect, this may prevent players who are still on Zone Authentication from logging in to the game.

We are working very hard to resolve these issues, I will post a status update as soon as I have it.
__________________
Alex "Ibn" Beckers
AC1 Online Community Relations

The fix that was put in place to resolve this issue has not completely fixed it. Until we are certain that it has been completely fixed, we are turning migration off again.
__________________
Alex "Ibn" Beckers
AC1 Online Community Relations

We've added before and after shots of Sawato to our Before and After page as well as the first shot from the Halaetan Islands to our new Screenshots page!


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Alex "Ibn" Beckers
AC1 Online Community Relations

Tuesday February 15, 6:00AM - 8:00AM PST
Turbine Billing servers will be brought down for scheduled maintenance. Turbine Billing customers may be unable to log in during this time.

Thursday February 17, 6:00AM - 11:00AM PST
All worlds will be brought down to resolve an issue that is causing Broken Black Marrow Keys to drop at a higher rate than intended.

N3 ~ Kwip's "More Like Run For Your DEATH!"

"I don?t know what you guys were doing Friday night, but I was rocking the face off some Dires monsters in the Run For Your Life event that Turbine threw to celebrate my birthday!"

Kwip enjoys one of the new live events.

EQStratics previews the very soon to be released EverQuest: Dragons of Norrath expansion together with selected screenshots of the new in-game features to be added, such as the Guild Bank, Guild Hot Tub for Health and Mana Regen, as well as a Bandoleer for those fast weapon set or musical instrument swap. Check it out here: http://eq.stratics.com/content/features/don/donpreview.php


Carolyn "Sylvene" Koh
Exclusives & Relationship Manager
Stratics Media Group
We're Massively Multiplayer
http://www.stratics.com

Stratics is pleased to announce a House of Commons with the developers of Star Wars Galaxies on Wednesday, February 16th! It will be at 5pm PDT / 8pm EDT in the #StraticsHoC channel on Stratics IRC.

You can connect to one of our IRC servers through the use of your
favorite IRC client, such as mIRC, ircle, xchat, or whichever you
prefer. Connect to irc.stratics.com port 6668 or whichever server is
closest to you:

• irc.epaxsys.net port 6668, USA - Colorado
  
• stratics.frws.com port 6668, USA - Colorado
  
• irc.glowfish.de port 6668, EU - Germany
  
• stratics.afraidyet.net 6668, USA - Atlanta
  

You may also connect through our handy Java link which may be found right here.
You must have Java installed to use this, which can be downloaded from
the Java homepage.

We've just published the first screenshot using the new Throne of Destiny client, a side-by-side comparison of how Glenden Wood looks now and how it will look in the expansion pack.

Click here!

We'll be releasing another side-by-side comparison as well as the first shot taken on the Halaetan Islands on Monday, and more screenshots as the week goes on!

Tomorrow is the last day to enter this contest! Have a favorite hunting spot in EQ2? Share it in our forums and you will be entered into a drawing for a copy of the Collector's Edition of EverQuest2. Check it out here.

Good luck folks! This contest ends tomorrow, Feb 12th at midnight PST. The winner will be contacted by email, so make sure your profile info is correct!

Developer's Notes

posted on 09-Feb-2005

New Content and Functionality

• Two new tiers of higher wield-req weapons can be found in loot.


• New dungeons aimed at quick advancement and player combat, the Mausoleums of Hate, have opened on Darktide.

Miscellaneous Changes and Improvements

• The buy cap on vendors in Holtburg, Shoushi and Yaraq has been raised to one million pyreals.


• An early thaw has come to Dereth – snow has melted and snowmen and scarecrows have left the landscape.


• Outlying spawns in the Withered Atoll have been reduced in number.


• Withered Tumeroks no longer spawn with shields.


• We've fixed a bug that was causing spawn and item duplication in the Umbral Halls and Fortified Sewer Vaults.


• The War Room portal, part of the Drudge Hot Air Balloon quest, is no longer tied to a quest flag.


• Some creature spawns that were too close to player housing have been removed.


• The upper level limits have been removed on the Royal Oil quest dungeons.


• The Dark Idol can now be used on the new higher wield-req missile weapons.


• Nen Ai's pet Drudge Skulker will no longer aggro on players who attack a Drudge nearby.

Minor Details

• The Half-Moon Spear is now destroy-on-sell.


• The Untamed Siraluun Claw Hairbrush now has the correct name.

A typo seen when using the Drudge Flying Machine has been corrected.
A typo in one of Leopold's tells has been corrected

And the Rollout Article:

Rollout Article

posted on 09-Feb-2005

Amaroth looked down at his flesh. The grey was fading, but the form remained. He noticed that the same was happening to his brothers. It seemed the Master's magics weren't as long-lasting as they had hoped.


Urleg kicked the wounded Mattekar into the cell, then slammed the iron gates. The beast roared and crashed its massive body into the bars, rocking them in their stone moorings. "We cannot keep it here," Urleg growled. "This cage cannot hold."


"I know," Amaroth agreed. "He will be here soon. The beast will be his problem then."


Urleg hefted a boulder, then looked to his brother. "Shoktok is in position?"


"Yes," answered Amaroth, taking up his own weapon. "As should we be. No doubt, Lord Kresovus is rallying the Isparians against us. They will be here soon."


Urleg smiled, clearly relishing the fight ahead. "Excellent."


Many of this month's changes have already been described in detail in the Letter to the Players. Here is an additional topic that we'd like to discuss in detail:

Billing Migration

We have some news on the Billing Migration that we'd like to share

• Forced Migration is scheduled to begin on February 15. At this point all Asheron's Call accounts will be eligible for migration and all accounts must migrate in order to successfully log in to the game.



• Migration is scheduled to end on March 31.

We are still working on plans to ensure that accounts that cannot be migrated prior to March 31 (if the account owner is overseas or otherwise unable to log in, for example) are not lost. When we have more concrete information on how this process will work, it will be posted on the Asheron's Call website.

[08:30] This world will be coming down at 06:00AM PST\ 9:00AM EST\ 2:00PM GMT for a content update. Please logoff before that time. Thanks, Turbine Operations

About a year ago, Warcry Crossroads of Dereth and Turbine put up a survey asking our players what type of hardware they use when playing the game. Since a lot can happen over a year, we've asked WCoD if they could run that survey again, so we can get another snapshot of the types of PCs that will be running Throne of Destiny.

We ask that all AC players take a quick moment and fill out a
simple 8-question survey here:

http://ac.warcry.com/index.php3?content=showcase/hardware/index

Thanks to WCoD for hosting this, and thanks to all of our players who take the time to fill out this form!

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Alex "Ibn" Beckers
AC1 Online Community Relations

Give us your feedback on the February Letter to the Players!

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Better late than never, the Feb LttP is online!

Give us your feedback here.

One request -- please keep this thread focused on the topics specifically mentioned in the Letter. If you have comments on issues raised by Jessica's letter, there is a feedback thread for that letter here.
__________________
Alex "Ibn" Beckers
AC1 Online Community Relations

We've just posted the latest AC:TD Letter from the Team, with major news on expansion pack development as well as the live game. Check it out, and then give us your feedback here .



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Alex "Ibn" Beckers
AC1 Online Community Relations