Kiara Posteth:

Beginning at 4am PDT on Thursday, October 30th, all log-in servers will be undergoing maintenance.  During this maintenance you will be unable to log in to all games and account management tools.  (Please note:  Players already logged in will not be knocked offline as long as they remain in a single zone.)

We expect this maintenance to take approximately 1 hour. Please watch the game forums & website for further updates regarding this maintenance.

We apologize for this interruption and will resume log-in services as soon as the maintenance is completed.

Scheduled Maintenance - 10/29/2008 4:00 AM Pacific Daylight Time

Beginning at 4am PDT on Wednesday, October 29th, all log-in servers will be undergoing maintenance.  During this maintenance you will be unable to log in to all games and account management tools.  (Please note:  Players already logged in will not be knocked offline as long as they remain in a single zone.)

We expect this maintenance to take approximately 1 hour. Please watch the game forums & website for further updates regarding this maintenance.

We apologize for this interruption and will resume log-in services as soon as the maintenance is completed.

Source: the EQII Network Status Page

Players asked and SOE has listened, and is making quite a few changes to Sprint Tourneys!

So, how does this help those of you who can't play in 10 or more events per week? Glad you asked. We'll be using a new calculation for the Sprint totals. Each week, Sunday through Saturday, you and everyone else will receive Sprint points for only the best four showings. For example: You had a great day on Monday and placed very well on the two events. Tuesday was a terrible day, and you just couldn't get your deck to work. On Wednesday, you rebounded and placed well again. For the rest of the week, you played OK. You'll receive points for the Monday and Wednesday events. The rest does not affect your schedule.

Read on for the whole post!

Fans of Star Wars Galaxies and EverQuest II will definitely want to listen to the newest SOE podcast, number 49, for interviews with designers from both games. GMs also share their favorite in-game Halloween moments. It can be found on SOE's podcasts page.

Tune in for our Halloween cast! This Podcast includes an interview from Niklas "Swede" Johansson, Game Designer for Star Wars Galaxies, another interview with EQII Designer Nathan "Kaitheel" McCall and Associate Game Designer Carlos "Gninja" Mora. In Quotes from the Underground, the GMs tell us about their favorite in-game Halloween Moments, hear about what the staff at SOE is up to for Halloween and listeners share their scariest in-game moments.

It's here!  The annual Norrathian Halloween event, Nights of the Dead, hit the live servers today with a BOO!  This year we see the return of Trick or Treat-ing and the classic Haunted House.  New features inclue a celebration in Maj'Dul, a heroic Haunted Mansion quest, and spooky crafting! 

See our Nights of the Dead guide for more info.

Would you like to own a 46" Sony Bravia V-Series LCD Flat Panel HDTV worth approximately $1,800? Would you like to accomplish this goal by playing Legends of Norrath? Well, you're in luck! SOE is holding the first tournament in a new Premier Event Series on Nov. 1 starting at 10 a.m. PDT. It's free and and is a 5-8 round contructed deck event.

The rest of the Top 16 prizes aren't too shabby, either. Second place earns $200, and third place earns $100 and 14 Legends of Norrath booster packs. The full prize list can be found after the jump or here.

For full details, read the official rules. The tournament is limited to 256 entrants. You must be 18 years of age or older to participate and be a legal resident of the United States.

From EQII Players :

Legends of Norrath ™ Ethernauts tells the story of the brave heroes who defended Norrath from the Void thousands of years prior to the events in The Shadow Odyssey!  It’s like a sneak peek into the upcoming MMO storyline.  For an even bigger peek, jump into the Legends of Norrath The Shadow Odyssey scenario from October 9, 2008 – November 12, 2008.  We’ll provide the new Cloudskipper deck for you to play with to relive this part of the Ethernauts history. 

EverQuest II players who beat the scenario will receive the Draught of the Vigilant (1EQII25) loot card and access to The Shadow Odyssey beta!* 

Some restrictions apply - read more at EQII Players !

Allakhazam Editor-in-Chief Andrew "Tamat" Beegle had the opportunity at BlizzCon to speak exclusively with the cast of the hit webisode sitcom “The Guild,” which follows the lives of the group’s members both online and off.

Before you read any further, head on over to www.watchtheguild.com and watch an episode or two (or go crazy and watch all 10) of season one. That way, you’ll truly understand the cast’s excitement for season two, which, according to creator Felicia Day, is scheduled to launch in mid-November.

Are you all caught up? Good. Andrew spoke with Felicia Day (Codex, healer), Vincent Caso (Bladezz, rogue/thief), Robin Thorsen (Clara, mage), and Sandeep Parikh (Zaboo, warlock) about the upcoming season, their impressions of BlizzCon and their other projects, all while discovering that the cast has a great sense of humor.

The video of the interview can be found after the jump.

In celebration of the Nights of the Dead (EQII's annual Halloween celebration), which is scheduled to begin October 22, SOE has released this fun video!

Find out more about this spooktacular event with EQII Allakhazam's (spoiler-free) Nights of the Dead wiki article or at EQII Players !

Kiara brings us another zone preview from The Shadow Odyssey : 

Only the most thrill-seeking, or fool-hardy, of adventurers would dare to combat the seemingly inexhaustible number of undead who shuffle about the uppermost halls of Befallen.

Those halls, now known as the Cavern of the Afflicted, were once a bustling center for military strategy to combat the forces of evil that threatened the surrounding countryside.

See more at EQII Players !