Tuesday I was pleased to be invited to a Press Tour of EverQuest II Game Update 49, "Raising the Banner" (now on Test servers). With several other members of the press/fan site set, I followed Christine "Kiara" Renzetti, EQII Community Manager, on a whirlwind tour of some of the goodies in store for EQII players.

Our first stop was at a dig site in Sinking Sands. Here we met some D.I.R.T.Y. Excavators, largely of the gnomish caste. Apparently there are strange things to be found 'neath the shifting sands! Allakhazam is pleased to have people scouring Test for information on this intreguing event leading us to The Shadow Odyssey ; we've found nine new quests so far.  (Warning: That link is a spoiler!)

Next we discussed the introduction of multi-core support for animations, which many people noticed in the Test server patch notes . This support has been in high demand by the players, and Testers are putting it though its paces .