This just in from SOE!  Take a look at some of the zones coming with EverQuest II's highly anticipated fifth expansion!

After teasing the community mercilessly, Kiara brings us the Official Beta Invite !

Since today is Talk Like a Pirate Day (yeah, we totally planned it this way) the rest of our message will be brought to you in pirate speak!

Aye, please remember that registration int' the beta program does not guarantee admittance, but only puts ye int' the pool from which players will be randomly selected t' take part in the program. Also please remember that takin' part in our beta program means that ye accept the terms o' our Non-disclosure Agreement; e'erythin' included within the software and on the beta forums is co'ard by that agreement until otherwise stated. No aspect o' the beta program may be discussed on any public message shanty men; only on the pri'ate beta section o' the official E'erquest II forums. Ye'll ne'er get me buried booty!

If you don't speak pirate, try this link!

Kiara posteth :

The day we've all been waiting for is finally here!

Open beta registration will start on Friday, September 19th, 2008.

Stay tuned for the link and more information. Same ogre time, same ogre channel.

Watch here for more news as it becomes available!

Ah Veksar !  This dungeon is a preview to the launch version that will be available in the upcoming expansion The Shadow Odyssey(TM), scheduled for release on November 18th.  Haven't taken a look yet?  We got our hands on some video!

Wow, is it almost August?  EQII Players has a preview of all the great stuff coming up in Game Update 48, "Breaking Ground".

Read all about it at EQII Players!

Wow, where do I start?

I got myself up around 8am. Bludwyng promptly texted me that he was going to breakfast, but I had work to do and passed. Around 9 Kiara and I met for danish, and we parked ourselves at a lovely wine and coffee bar in the main lobby and proceeded to inflict DPS on cheese danish and talk to several devs and gamers about Fan Faire.

I had signed up for the G.I.R.L. breakfast (I know, I just had danish, but I woke up starving!), so I headed to that while Kiara went to start her work day. As an aside, all the developers, staff and, community personel have really put the hours into this event. Sure, it's their job, but desipte lack of sleep and overload from taking mass quantities of player feedback you can really tell that they love what they do. If you're here, don't be shy. SOE people love their work and if they're too busy to talk right then they'll say so.

LEGACY OF EVERQUEST ® FRANCHISE CONTINUES WITH ANNOUNCEMENT OF EverQuest ® AND EverQuest ® II EXPANSIONS AT FAN FAIRE

All attendees to Receive Both Expansions for Free as Part of Living Legacy Program!

LAS VEGAS , NEV. – Aug. 15, 2008 – Thousands of video game enthusiasts are in Las Vegas for the annual Sony Online Entertainment Fan Faire where the upcoming expansions for the online role-playing games EverQuest® (EQ) and EverQuest® II (EQII) were just announced. EverQuest® Seeds of Destruction ™ is scheduled to be available on Oct.21, and EverQuest® II The Shadow Odyssey ™ is scheduled to be available on Nov.18. As part of SOE’s extensive Living Legacy program designed to entice new and past EQ and EQII players into the games and reward the existing loyal playerbase, all Fan Faire attendees will receive the software for both expansions for free, an unprecedented offering.

“It is such a privilege to announce the upcoming expansions for two of our most popular games, EverQuest and EverQuest II, in a venue like Fan Faire where we are joined by thousands of our loyal fans, and it seems more than appropriate to give those fans access to both of the expansions for free,” said John Smedley, president of Sony Online Entertainment. “Both of these expansions are rich in content and adventure, and will provide our players with hours of excitement as they explore the online world of Norrath.”

Most of us remember them. Our only hope if we got stuck in a zone wall, or somehow summoned our corpse under a hill, and a host of other issues that would take forever to get a GM to help with. The Guides . They're celebrating 10 years of service to the EQ franchises, and I just want to say THANK YOU!

10 years ago, while EverQuest was in beta, a group of volunteers came together. These volunteers selflessly gave their time to helping players in EQ with customer service issues and spent time participating in impromptu quests to bring more enjoyment to the game. The volunteers were known then, as well as now, as Guides. Guides started out making appearances in EverQuest and grew into EverQuest II.

Over the years the program has evolved from guides helping with customer service issues full time and impromptu questing to questing full time and helping with very minor customer service things on a part time basis. Whatever the guides' roles have been throughout the last 10 years, without their selfless giving of time and their tireless efforts, the games would not have been the same. Guides, on behalf of all the SOE game connoisseurs, SOE Customer Service personnel and especially the SOE Community Relations team, we thank you for all you do!

Look back on the program and what they did, with 2 retired Guides.

Isn't it amazing what you randomly find in-game? Tonight, I was scouting out some raid-targets for my guild, and I came across an interesting little trio of people. Perched on an island at the back of Everfrost, and with some very interesting tags under their names. Being the collector of oddities that I am, a screenshot was in order, which I shall now share with you!

But what do they look like up close? Do they have anything interesting to say? Find out inside!

EVERQUEST® LEGACY HONORED WITH 10TH ANNIVERSARY COMMEMORATIVE BOOK

Initial Pre-Order Offered At Fan Faire Next Week In Las Vegas

SAN DIEGO, Calif.— Aug. 7, 2008 —

In celebration of the upcoming10th anniversary of the genre-defining EverQuest® online game franchise, Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE) today announces that EverQuest: The 10th Anniversary Collector’s Edition is in development and scheduled to be released early next year. The retrospective celebrating the first decade of the EverQuest phenomenon will be available online and at select retailers in North America.

"The EverQuest massively multiplayer online role-playing game was groundbreaking at the time, and we are thrilled to be able to celebrate this game and tell the story of the people, the art, the players and more, all of which contributed to the EverQuest legacy we know today," said John Smedley, president of Sony Online Entertainment.