Hey guys

I guess there's some questions here that definitely need answers, I'm not necessarily the person to give the answers but I can comment on some things.

ARK has always had an Events team, its had it from the time I was in ARK (beta 3). That team has continued to evolve and they do have more freedom right now than they have ever done in the past.

As for GM Events I seriously doubt any of you could tell the difference between a GM Event and an ARK Event, in reality there is no difference. If you consider a GM Event to be story related then we now also have ARKs involved in creating, producing and acting in story events.

In terms of storyline content, yes the last few months have been very barren. We are working hard to change that at the moment and I hope you will be pleased with what we've come up with. The first of these new storylines has started (incase you hadn't noticed) and more will be on the way after Shadowlands launch.

** hint ** http://forums.anarchy-online.com/sh...threadid=172244 ** hint ** http://forums.anarchy-online.com/sh...threadid=171095 ** hint **

I can't really comment on the animated series or working with the developers but I would like you to consider that Funcom has limited resources to use for creating new content, writing storylines, creating new media (movies, etc) and adding new features. We must prioritise our resources correctly and this does mean that things will change and some things might stop or get cut, we are only human after all.

Sallust: I was flying above West Athen a short while ago and contemplating what to do with myself with my time allotted on Rubi-Ka. While deep in thought this "Vision" appeared before me and declared itself to be of Alyssa's blood. Whom The Pilgrims know as the long anticipated savior of the Clans.

This Vision brought me an important warning that I must spread to all of you! Listen carefully and take full heed to these dire portents:

"“The eye of darkness that held those expelled from the world is opening by the hands of scientists and politicians.
They cannot be stopped!
Run for the hills, but realize you cannot run forever.
The eye is our destiny. Grow strong in the time that remains!”"

Listen carefully those of you who will.

Vixentrox: I have received a similiar vision. I thought perhaps I was seeing things as I wasn't able to properly scan it. But, I was with another and she seen it as well.

It said, "I, the last blood of Alyssa have come to you, a great evil will happen.

The Eye of Darkness that held those expelled from the world is opening by the hands of scientists and politicians. They cannot be stopped! Prepare yourselves, the dream is strong."

He said I had been choosen as someone who makes a difference when I asked why I had been chosen. It was a very, unnerving experience to say the least. After some quick investigations, it seems several others in the EndGame Alliance have also had visions.

I wonder if Omni has received them?

OMNI-TEK TO RECLAIM RIGHTS TO JOBE PORTAL OMNI-HQ, RUBI-KA (Sept. 1, 29477) - Omni-Tek announced today that it would reclaim its rights to the Jobe Portal. According to ICC commercial law, Omni-Tek has the right to exclusively review the Jobe Association of Metaphysical Exploration (JAME) research that was funded by Omni-Tek. According to Omni-Tek spokesman, Michael Dunleavy, “Omni-Tek funded almost 100% of the research conducted at the Jobe laboratory. As a result we are asserting the right to exclusive access to the portal work for review.” Dunleavy added, “Once our research group has had a proper chance to review the material at hand, the portal will be handed back to the Jobe scientific community intact and unharmed to utilize as they see fit.” Dunleavy did not indicate whether Omni-Tek will sell its stake in this portal technology to Lord Kaldrani Skallagrim. However, Dunleavy did indicate that OMNI-TEK will not exclude the implementation of a 'transportation tax' for all non-OMNI members wishing to utilize the Jobe Portal. When questioned if OMNI-TEK would lay claim on the extensive research facilities that JAME has erected as a foothold within the Shadowlands, Dunleavy answered that OMNI-TEK would not lay claim to these and was merely interested in the technology and it's applications. Lady Giljabet Skellibjalla, the spokeswoman for JAME only commented that: ‘Negotiations are underway, and we are working hard to solve certain differences regarding investments and the actual ownership of the portal technology. JAME controls and owns the portal and the technology on which it is built. That is clearly stated in the financial agreements, so although Omni-Tek invested in the research and the construction, it has no direct control over it. Our stance is that the portal is, and will be, run by JAME. And JAME will honor its agreements with all its investors who will all benefit from their investment in relation to their funding.”

When reading the MMOG Subscribers page you had a news item about, I also found the link to The Themis Group, when browsing their site, you can read that they were the ones who helped FC recover their act after the bad launch. They also have a few whitepapers detailing how they did it....
http://www.themis-group.com/whitepapers.phtml
Funcom Case Study
Very interesting read for those that are interested in business economics and MMORPG's

Greets

Dyna18

Meister: "Well, and who's Mental Projection might you be?"
Mental Projection: "Meister, I give you this message head it well. I am the ages...
I have been here forever and have guided you to this place...
I speak to you from beyond the crossroads themselves.
That is who I am and where I wait as I have waited Through the last ages."
Meister: "Well... and what can I do for you?"
Mental Projection:" From the first promises where given in the far past, through the trials of the ages and the plans I made to bring us all here."
Mental Projection: "I tell you this, as is your duty to know."
Mental Projection: "The portal of ages unlocking a world of wonders has been created by the hands of man and by the hands of man. A new world will now become its destiny. The portal is our destiny. Enter the portal, so mankind can grow, evolve as destiny intended us to!"
Mental Projection: "It is time to prepare to receive what is rightfully ours."
Meister: "I fully agree... If I know what it is that is..."
Mental Projection: "Tell your people to prepare for a war, as there will be one, but we will prevail and receive the benefits of the ages long gone."

An Arkansas mother was arrested after her 3-year-old daughter died sweltering in a closed car, while her mother played EverQuest, police told the Northwest Arkansas Morning News.

Mary Christina Cordell, 36, faces a felony charge of manslaughter in the death of her daughter, Brianna Cordell, Springdale, Ark., police spokesman Brian Simmons told the newspaper.

Cordell—who goes by her middle name, Christina—was being held in the Washington County jail on Aug. 25 awaiting a bond hearing, the newspaper reported. If convicted, she faces three to 10 years in prison and a fine up of to $10,000.

Authorities said Cordell and her boyfriend, Eric Long, 21, may have been so fixated with the online role-playing game EverQuest that she neglected to pay adequate attention to Brianna's whereabouts on Aug. 8, the day the child died, the newspaper reported. Brianna was found dead in the front seat of her mother's car at about 3:30 p.m. in the parking lot of their apartment complex.

Anarchy-Online (Confidence Rating: B)

Thanks to some new inside sources I’ve been able to get more accurate numbers for AO, for which industry estimates were previously anywhere from 50,000 to 200,000! Initially AO had a bad launch, and after peaking at about 60,000 subscribers shortly thereafter, they began to rapidly hemorrhage customers. Funcom eventually hired The Themis Group, a MMOG consulting firm, to stop the bleeding. Subscriptions settled down at around 30,000 and have since shown a slight rise with the release of their first expansion pack, The Notum Wars. However, actual announced subscription figures from Funcom have been rare. http://www.anarchy-online.com

What's up? (August 29nd 2003)
Well, well. The normal week comes to an end, but not the work week. Going to be a busy weekend, for sure.

The entire AO team are working as much as they can to have everything as close to perfect as possible before the 15.0.1 update next week (Wednesday). They even threw some of the work on my desk, so I'm forced to spend a little less of my work time on community matters. (It only means I spend more of my spare time on it, of course. No, I don't have a life. Next question, please. )

Shadowlands update
Just thought I'd repeat that Wednesday September 3 is the date for the Shadowlands update. This will contain all changes that will affect everybody, whether you buy Shadowlands or not. Check out the Test Server page for the preliminary build notes.

I you don't want to wait until Wednesday to try it out, become a tester.

Details about the downtime, like when, and how long, will be posted in the launcher when we have them nailed down.

Shadowlands trailer
The official Shadowlands trailer was released earlier this week. If you haven't seen it yet, check it out! You can find it on the Shadowlands Media page.

New social guidelines
The social guidelines for the bulletin board have been updated with better structure and clarity. Please familiarize yourself with them, and follow them, as they exist to make sure this bulletin board is the good player gathering place it's meant to be.

Also, since I'm awfully busy these days, and I'm (perhaps unfortunately) the only one who can lift supensions, now is not the time to cross the moderators.

The Battle of Stret, and the third Rubi-Kan civil war
August 30 29461 the third Rubi-Kan civil war started with the Battle of Stret, counting more than one thousand lives lost (permanently). This war lasted almost nine years, and ended with a permanent ceasefire and the signing of the Tir Accord on July 4 29470.

Some consider this the last of the Rubi-Kan civil wars. Others say the fourth one is still going on - the Notum Wars.

The Tir Accord was later annulled by Omni-Tek on October 18 29476, following the disappearance of the Council of Truth.

The current year on Rubi-Ka is 29477, and the calendar follows the out-of-game one.

---

That's all from me this week. Have a nice weekend. I hope I'll see you online.

In this Anarchy-Online Shadowlands Blueprint, we shed some light on the many new dungeons found in Shadowlands. As most MMORPG fans know, we invented a Gameplay On Demand (GOD) mission system with the original AO. Here, you could generate your own mission area for yourself or your team, a feature which has remained one of the most popular in the game... and one we notice is coming up in lots of other online games. With the coming of Shadowlands, we use the experience from three years of honing GOD, enabling us to implement a greatly expanded dungeon system - this time around, with lots of twists and a unique new Shadowlands graphical look. Read on to learn more.

Compliments of our upcoming Horizons Stratics site and Artifact Entertainment, we are immensely pleased to be able to present to you the exclusive, never-before-seen Horizons Summer Trailer - available nowhere else! While most MM titles don't even bother to address certain fundamental issues such as, "what's in the sky and how do I get to it?", HZ has got these answers and much, much more. This new movie is hi-res, kick-ass, and just plain huge (56MB), so we recommend that you try downloading during off-peak hours if possible (later evening through nighttime and early morning for best results - also, be sure to log into your Plus account before clicking the link).

• Horizons Summer Trailer!

This sucker kicks ass, showing off a variety of combat and new spell action with gigantic special effects. We're really looking forward to this game, and we're sure you are too (if not, you should be ;). So if you're not already a member, be sure to sign up to Stratics Plus so you can download this baby in all its hi-res glory!

And be sure to keep an eye out for the launch of our upcoming Horizons resource, HZ Stratics! In the meantime, visit our HZ News Portal in order to keep abreast of the latest Horizons developments.

OMNI - HQ, 27 August 29477. Today, JAME (Jobe Association of Metaphysical Exploration) under the leadership of LORD KALDRANI SKALLAGRIM and LADY GILJABET SKELLIBJALLA have finally been able to realize their long standing vision by stabilizing the portal between Rubi-Ka and what has been termed "the Shadowlands." The new conduit was successfully opened into a stable wormhole-like state for a duration of 60 minutes and allowed for supplies and volunteers to be ferried across. This portal, a closely guarded secret until now, is now believed capable of providing safe travel through to the parallel dimension. While the experimental stages of this technology resulted in an undisclosed number of fatalities, revolutionary strides in both portal techniques and the application of nano-technology have resulted in this phenomenal achievement.

JAME Research Station was erected within the Shadowlands shortly after the portal technology was discovered and tested to ensure the conduit indeed remained as stable as expected. Only an unexplained blowout of several power conduits in the research facility hampered these early efforts.

"In the recent months several successful attempts have been made to recreate the conduit and improve the security and stability of the technology and equipment currently used to create this passage into uncharted territories," exclaimed Lady Skellibjalla

Lord Kaldrani Skallagrim has decided that now it is time to share this breakthrough with the world and has announced that what he himself calls "the portal", will be opening and taken in active service in 14 days time. New colonists will be offered the opportunity to partake in an experiment exploring the odds of surviving in the hostile Shadowlands environment under the supervision of the scientists themselves. The existing inhabitants of Rubi-Ka will be offered the opportunity to aid in the exploration and colonization of this newly discovered dimension.

Bullitz: I started Anarchy-Online in December 2001, I was lucky to come across an experience player who befriended me and help me get on my feet. I was very lucky.

Its been a hot summer but thanks to cold beverages, beaches and cool people we have endured ... nontheless we now want things to get even hotter! Not making sense? Well let me explain a bit then!

Ancarim Iron Legion is holding their Sexeh Bikini Contest (tm) sponsored by Ancarim Suntan Lotion to attract Rubi-Ka’s hottest chicks to get their thongs and tops on and advertise why being a free clanner is so much better than ... well ... anything else
Know why clanners get the best tans and why we have the sweetest hunnies? - Yup you guessed it, we all use Ancarim Suntan Lotion (tm) ... and work out a lot! (the Longest Road is really really long).

Now Ancarim Iron Legion is giving out some prices, including 20 million credits and a lifetime supply of Ancarim Suntan Lotion(tm) to the hottest chick that also can come up with the best slogan for Ancarim Suntan Lotion(tm). The judges will be looking for sexeh bikinis, tans of different shades (of all breeds except atrox), dancemoves and of course the best slogan to pick the winner of the competition and receiver of the title «Bikini Babe of the year»! *wild applause*

The party and competition will be held at The Beach in Wine at 20.00 GMT, Sunday the 7th of September.

Music for the evening is provided by our very own DJ Mysticfixer (tune in for for some groovey summermusic at a website to be announced at the party).

Party on clanners! *runs off into the waves on a Surfboard of Azure Reveries*

And of course, dont hesitate to stop by http://www.ancarim.com and say hello, or check up on the latest info on the party

'Tis the Voice of the Lobster

'Tis the voice of the Lobster: I heard him declare
"You have baked me too brown, I must sugar my hair."
As a duck with its eyelids, so he with his nose
Trims his belt and buttons, and turns out his toes.
When the sands are all dry, he is gay as a lark
And will talk in contemptuous tones of the Shark:
But, when the tide rises and sharks are around,
His voice has a timid and tremulous sound.

I passed by his garden, and marked with one eye,
How the Owl and Panther were sharing a pie:
The Panther took pie-crust, and gravy and meat,
While the Owl had the dish as its share of the treat.
When the pie was all finished, the Owl as a boon,
Was kindly permitted to pocket the spoon:
While the Panther received knife and fork with a growl,
And concluded the banquet by eating the Owl

Lewis Carrol

Anarchy Online: Shadowlands has been one of the most eagerly anticipated expansions to a PC MMORPG in the history of online role-playing. After years of delays and setbacks, the beast is about to be unleashed upon the masses.

Drawing from an intensely creative storyline that was outlined in Ragnar Tørnquist's novelization, "Prophet Without Honour," Anarchy Online: Shadowlands takes the arid cyberpunk world of Rubi-Ka to a darker, more metaphysical level.

Today we bring you a first-hand tour of the expansion to end all expansions. If that wasn't enough, we've even included our very own commentary as 3 of our editors discuss the pro's and con's of every aspect of the game. Still not enough for you? That's alright, there's more where that came from. We've also complied a seperate tour gallery of over 200 screen shots from our adventure through Shadowlands.

Semi-present for a while
Hi everybody,

As we're closing in on the 15.0.1 upgrade and Shadowlands launch, I've been asked to help out with updating the in-game help text and some other stuff. I'm also trying to prepare a new Beginners Guide for SL launch, and get some more features covered in the online manual.

Due to this, I will have extremely little time for anything else for a while. I'll make sure to post my weekly update on Friday, and expect to do an update with new social guidelines (nothing new, really, just a better layout) tomorrow, but fear I'll have little or no time for other tasks.

So don't expect me to happen across the posts you make. If there's something you absolutely need me to look at, please send me a private message or an e-mail. Please do not overdo this though, or I'll just have to ignore it all to get this writing work done.

This also means other tasks that I cover alone these days won't be done regularly, e.g. updating the fan site listing and lifting suspensions. And I won't be around much in IRC, nor in-game. Hopefully this is only for a week or two.

Take care, play nice, and have fun.

You'll find hand-crafted static dungeons, each with their own theme and design, and each with their own carefully though-out challenges and rewards.

This is a complete turn-around for Funcom, who must surely be expecting the inevitable comparisons to Everquest with these new static dungeons. But in our opinion it's a giant leap in the right direction. Funcom has even recruited the talents of Doom 2 and Quake level designers, which demonstrates the company's commitment to creating dungeons which challenge and surprise.

I'd like to stress again that a single Funcom employee's *personal* opinion does not override Funcom's official policy on what is considered an exploit and what is not.

Since this is apparently becoming such a big issue I should probably make it a task for the exploit team to routinely monitor this exploit and issue warnings/suspensions and/or bans on a more frequent basis. ;D

In days long gone, the seed of life in Penumbra was abundant and out of control. It produced dense forestland with gigantic trees growing almost faster than they could be cut. The earth itself bulged and contracted from year to year depending on how and where the trees shot their roots, and the rivers and springs running from the mountainous north shifted accordingly.

When the cataclysm struck, it was in the middle of the Penumbran summer, then darkness crept over the land and winter came - endless, like a hell frozen over, ending life in its prime - and so it remained for eons. Yet life was destined to find its way back into this ice world.

Time is running out! There are just a few days left to claim your EverQuest: Lost Dungeons of Norrath beta account! EverQuest Stratics is proud to be able to provide twenty (20) LDoN beta accounts to our Stratics Plus members!

Entering could not be easier, as long as you are a Stratics Plus member you may fill out our simple online form. Be sure you're already logged into Stratics Plus when you visit the form!

The Lost Dungeons of Norrath is the largest EverQuest expansion to-date, featuring the most content ever delivered in an EverQuest expansion. The Lost Dungeons expansion features 48 new dungeons that span the old world of Norrath, focusing on several long lost locations, including the Rujarkian Hills and Deepest Guk. Encounter never before seen monsters that prowl the halls of these dungeons, waiting to challenge any explorer brave enough to venture in.

Lost Dungeons at a Glance

- Personalized Adventures tailored to challenge your group.

- 48 distinct zones. 19 more than any previous expansion!

- Raid adventures provide exciting new battles for up to 36 players!

- Customize your equipment with new Augmentations.

- Succeed in Adventures, and choose how you wish to be rewarded.

- Interact with the environment in new ways. Disarm, pick, or simply bash new chests, vases, coffins, tables, and more. Take what's rightfully yours!

Given the short duration of time we have to provide these accounts, we are just going to randomly give these away rather than run any form of contest. All entrants will be accepted and then twenty random winners will be chosen.

All entries must be submitted no later than 2:00pm on August 27th, 2003! Make sure you are logged into Stratics Plus and then get your entry submitted right now by visiting our submission form. If you are not a Stratics Plus member, this is just one example of many new exclusive offers we plan to have for our members. Consider joining now! You may learn more here.

If we really wanted to we could pull the plug on the bug with ease, disabling the second entrance to Smugglers. Its mainly there for RP reasons anyway, so why not? Occam's razor would've cut it off in a heartbeat, not even a flinch. However, removing the superflous door would probably just shuffle the bug anyway, not kill it. Foreman's doesn't have a second entrance (well, that I know of) and as mentioned it displays similar behavior. We're careful enough with our resources that we generally let symptoms be until the cause is known. If you don't with an MM, you will quickly find yourself chasing dominos. If I could flush the bug and ONLY the bug then I'd do so in an instant. After all it completely mangles my attempts at creating a start, middle and end to the den. Alas, there are babies in the bath water. Maybe not royal babies, but babies still. If the extra entrance was deleted I'm sure I'd miss the little description on the door's exterior. I'd surely miss the goofy teleporter room behind Ash having a meaning. After removing the room I'd miss the pile of gibs on the floor, a reminder of the days when people were farming DeCranum's off the technician whose spawn-time I'd fumbled. Adventurers would of course miss it even more than me! However, if there is any truth to the bannings going on I'll just have to get over it and delete the sucker. Though it must be said, if "Smuggler's Den" has some half-legal way into it, then it is almost strangely appropriate.

Also, I'm afraid I can't say that the above is the "once and for all" Funcom stance on the issue, just my personal take.

2. The bug is considered an exploit. Recently a few players have been using it on the beta server and unfortunately we witnessed it. Naturally, if you exploit and we catch you we take further actions on your account.

3. This particular exploit is already fixed on the beta server. The players who were banned used *another* workaround which I can obviously not share with you =D

The AO database is filled with such crap, querying for mission loot seems like an effort in futility. With symbiografts and weapons you’ll never use, Clicksaver appears to be a godsend. However, with the ability to spend time just letting the program find what items you want, one could flood the market with items that were meant to be somewhat difficult to acquire. Thus full suits of whatever armor is the flavor of the month can be acquired with few credits.

We recently noticed an enormous increase in replies we're getting to e-mails that are not sent out by us, but by possible Anarchy-Online players who have our e-mail addresses in their contact list and are infected by different worm types. Please read about one of those types at:


http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.sobig.f@mm.html


The recent e-mails have subjects such as:

Re: That movie

Re: Wicked screensaver

Re: Details

Re: Approved

Re: Thank you!

Re: Your application


We would like to remind you to always have a UTD virus scanner on your computer, to do frequent scans, and not to open any attachments that could be harmful. Thanks!

Interested in being one of the first to experience EverQuest's latest expansion? EverQuest Stratics is now offering twenty (20) beta accounts to EQ's newest expansion pack, Lost Dungeons of Norrath! These accounts are being given to our Stratics Plus members! Entering could not be easier, as long as you are a Stratics Plus member you may fill out our simple online form. Please make sure you're already logged into Stratics Plus when you visit the form!

The Lost Dungeons of Norrath is the largest EverQuest expansion to-date, featuring the most content ever delivered in an EverQuest expansion. The Lost Dungeons expansion features 48 new dungeons that span the old world of Norrath, focusing on several long lost locations, including the Rujarkian Hills and Deepest Guk. Encounter never before seen monsters that prowl the halls of these dungeons, waiting to challenge any explorer brave enough to venture in.

Lost Dungeons at a Glance

- Personalized Adventures tailored to challenge your group.

- 48 distinct zones. 19 more than any previous expansion!

- Raid adventures provide exciting new battles for up to 36 players!

- Customize your equipment with new Augmentations.

- Succeed in Adventures, and choose how you wish to be rewarded.

- Interact with the environment in new ways. Disarm, pick, or simply bash new chests, vases, coffins, tables, and more. Take what's rightfully yours!

Given the short duration of time we have to provide these accounts, we are just going to randomly give these away rather than run any form of contest. All entrants will be accepted and then twenty random winners will be chosen.

Time is running out! All entries must be submitted no later than 2:00pm on August 27th, 2003! Make sure you are logged into Stratics Plus and then get your entry submitted right now by visiting our submission form. If you are not a Stratics Plus member, this is just one example of many new exclusive offers we plan to have for our members. Consider joining now! You may learn more here.

What's up? (August 22nd 2003)
Friday already? Well, well, well. What do we have this week?

15.0.1 on test-live
The pre-Shadowlands update (15.0.1) has been moved to test-live, with all game changes for Shadowlands that will affect everybody. I leaked some of the content two weeks ago, but there's quite a bit more there to be seen, and tested.

We also added a new 15.0.1 forum under the Test Server forum, to keep the feedback and bug reports on this specific update apart from other discussions.

Ripped databases
Of course, the sites displaying ripped databases have the 15.0.1 database up and running by now, and "everybody" have seen that it contains the current version of Shadowlands items and nano programs. This of course starts a lot of speculations and discussions.

While discussion is good, please understand that this is not the final versions of everything, and you're also not seeing the full picture in those databases. The testers are still bound by an NDA, and thus can't really correct people who jump to the wrong conclusions. So try keep a cool head, and don't go off on a rant. If you want to participate in beta discussions, join the beta.

---

That's really all I have this week. Have a nice weekend!

Matt Firor (Dark Age of Camelot):
Even though many games have been released in the last year very few have survived or have succeeded in attracting a large audience. Even if the number of games does greatly increase in the coming years we've barely tapped the full potential of the PC gaming market, only a small number of the millions who go out and buy PC games have signed up for an online game. There is still plenty of growth in the market.

There are just a few days left to claim your EverQuest: Lost
Dungeons of Norrath beta account! EverQuest Stratics is proud to be able to
provide twenty (20) LDoN beta accounts to our Stratics Plus members!

Entering could not be easier, as long as you are a Stratics Plus
member you may fill out our simple href="http://www.stratics.com/plus/exclusives/ldon/ldonbeta.php">online
form. Be sure you're already logged into Stratics Plus when you visit
the form!

The Lost
Dungeons of Norrath is the largest EverQuest expansion to-date,
featuring the most content ever delivered in an EverQuest expansion. The
Lost Dungeons expansion features 48 new dungeons that span the old world
of Norrath, focusing on several long lost locations, including the
Rujarkian Hills and Deepest Guk. Encounter never before seen monsters that
prowl the halls of these dungeons, waiting to challenge any explorer
brave enough to venture in.

Lost Dungeons at a Glance

- Personalized Adventures tailored to challenge your group.

- 48 distinct zones. 19 more than any previous expansion!

- Raid adventures provide exciting new battles for up to 36
players!

- Customize your equipment with new Augmentations.

- Succeed in Adventures, and choose how you wish to be rewarded.

- Interact with the environment in new ways. Disarm, pick, or simply
bash new chests, vases, coffins, tables, and more. Take what's rightfully
yours!

Given the short duration of time we have to provide these accounts,
we are just going to randomly give these away rather than run any form
of contest. All entrants will be accepted and then twenty random
winners will be chosen.

All entries must be submitted no later than 2:00pm on August 27th,
2003! Make sure you are logged into Stratics Plus and then get your
entry submitted right now by visiting our href="http://www.stratics.com/plus/exclusives/ldon/ldonbeta.php">submission
form. If you are not a Stratics Plus member, this is just one
example of many new exclusive offers we plan to have for our members.
Consider joining now! You may learn
more here.

Also be sure to check out the site's movie section for an exclusive first look video!

• Exclusive Ultima X: Odyssey movie (Extended S+ double-length cut!)
• Play 3 Nexon MM games for 2-weeks free, including Shattered Galaxy
• Win one of 20 EQ: LDoN expansion Beta accounts
• 5 exclusive EQ: LDoN screenshots

This is just the beginning! Look out next week for an exclusive, hi-res Horizons gameplay movie and much more goodness to come. If you're not a Stratics Plus member yet, sign up or visit our features page for more benefits, including special forum features, ad-free browsing, and many more S+ only exclusives!

EverQuest Stratics is proud to be able to provide twenty (20) beta accounts for the new expansion pack for EverQuest, Lost Dungeons of Norrath! These accounts will be given out to our Stratics Plus members! Entering could not be easier, as long as you are a Stratics Plus member you may fill out our simple online form. Be sure you're already logged into Stratics Plus when you visit the form!

The Lost Dungeons of Norrath is the largest EverQuest expansion to-date, featuring the most content ever delivered in an EverQuest expansion. The Lost Dungeons expansion features 48 new dungeons that span the old world of Norrath, focusing on several long lost locations, including the Rujarkian Hills and Deepest Guk. Encounter never before seen monsters that prowl the halls of these dungeons, waiting to challenge any explorer brave enough to venture in.

Lost Dungeons at a Glance

- Personalized Adventures tailored to challenge your group.

- 48 distinct zones. 19 more than any previous expansion!

- Raid adventures provide exciting new battles for up to 36 players!

- Customize your equipment with new Augmentations.

- Succeed in Adventures, and choose how you wish to be rewarded.

- Interact with the environment in new ways. Disarm, pick, or simply bash new chests, vases, coffins, tables, and more. Take what's rightfully yours!

Given the short duration of time we have to provide these accounts, we are just going to randomly give these away rather than run any form of contest. All entrants will be accepted and then twenty random winners will be chosen.

All entries must be submitted no later than 2:00pm on August 27th, 2003! Make sure you are logged into Stratics Plus and then get your entry submitted right now by visiting our submission form. If you are not a Stratics Plus member, this is just one example of many new exclusive offers we plan to have for our members. Consider joining now! You may learn more here.

Re: 3rd Party Programs / Macro Programs
Hello Everyone,

It seems I caused quite a panic in the community yesterday.

Although the message is very direct in what it states, we do see the value in some programs to the community. We look at every program separately and have to determine the impact on the game, the players, and security in general. We cannot condone the use of any of these programs and they are clearly against the EULA, but we do not currently see the need to actively pursue those using the more benign programs, although all of these programs can lead to banning. Any program that manipulates the client, servers or datastream in any way has the potential to be damaging to the game, game mechanics, play fairness and even the security of all systems involved. In some cases the most seemingly benign program can cause a negative impact that can noticeably affect you for reasons unknown to you, and therefore you continue to use the actual reason for the issue.

Anything you use is at your own risk.
Please do not email customer support on this matter.

Best regards,

Jerry Godwin
Fadinaway
Customer Service Manager

Open AO Stratics Staff Positions!

If you are an active member of the Anarchy-Online community, if you are also knowledgeable about the game and its inner workings, if you furthermore like to contribute to one of the top-sites for everything about Anarchy-Online, then please read on and maybe we can soon welcome you among the AO Stratics staff!

The following staff positions are currently available:

• Content Editor

  The Content Editors create the guides, databases and other tools on AO Stratics for the community to utilize. Our large guide library has information about almost everything in Anarchy-Online and it will continue to grow. Creating informative and easy-to-use guides for our site, aswell as creating useful content and keeping the current content updated, is the responsibility of the Content Editor.

• Forum Moderator

  Our forums are open for the entire MMOG community, AO players or not, we have room for all. Moderating the forums requires dedication and a good ability to maintain a forum community, keeping it active, stimulating discussion and looking for troublemakers who need to be taken care of (*points to the whip with the engraved name "Psychobunny"*). Ideally each of our forums has its own moderator, so there are quite a lot of those positions available. However, we won't make everyone coming along a moderator here. If you want to be moderator on the Stratics forums, you need to be an active forum user for some time to be considered ;) To apply for a forum moderator position, please contact our Forum Coordinator "Psychobunny" at psychobunny@stratics.com with an application and why you would like to be moderator on our forums!

• Editorialists / Writers

  Editorialists or Writers write up informative, funny, sarcastic, journalistic, professional, detailed (or not) articles that are presented on the site for your enjoyment. While not all articles are about positive aspects, most are usually about the inner workings of a community or game, about general MMOG topics and everything else a journalist of the Stratics network thinks would be interesting for our visitors to read. These positons are largely "freelance" as we don't ask for regular submissions. Just 1 or 2 per month ideally.

• News Reporters

  The reporters on AO Stratics report news of course. All kinds of news about ingame events, official announcements, information that is useful to know about, interesting forum posts, general MMOG news etc etc. This field of work is the broadest one on our site, so if you want to have your name and news items appear on the mainpage, apply for this position. However, please be aware that being news reporter requires commitment to the position and regular postings are expected (at least once every 2 days ideally).

All of the above mentioned positions require a basic understanding of HTML/PHP/SHTML and excellent writing skills of the English language!

If you are interested in one of the positions, please send an email to meister@stratics.com (for forum moderator applications please email Psychobunny) with an application (including an example of your writing skills) and you are on the way to join the AO Stratics team if you qualify for the position you apply for. Please be aware that all staff positions on AO Stratics are on a voluntary basis and compensation is not provided (more details about that if you decide to join us, since there are of course a few perks for members of the press ;)).

We also offer to host fansites/informative pages/guides about AO on the Stratics network (becoming part of AO Stratics during the process). For evaluation if your site/guide qualifies for (free but advertisement-supported) hosting on the Stratics network and becoming part of AO Stratics, please contact meister@stratics.com with a link to your page and a description of the content.

GC (Games Convention) in Leipzig is the largest European gaming show, with more than 100.000 visitors expected through four days of "showtime". It starts tomorrow, and Funcom will be there. We have thus prioritized to have stand in Leipzig this year, not on ECTS.

We will have stand together with our German distributor, Koch Media, and you will find us right inside the main entrance between Sony and Microsoft. [...] I will speak English though, so if you are in Leipzig, please come by.

Game system changes and additions

Skills


• Parry now has a higher chance of success. However, it also requires that you wield a weapon suitable for parrying, and that the incoming attack is performed with a weapon that can be parried.
  
  
• Riposte has become an automatic skill, just like parry. If you succeed in riposting, you will block the incoming attack and perform an attack of opportunity on the attacker. This attack is instant and free, not interrupting any other actions you may be performing. Riposte is checked before Parry, has a lower base chance of success than Parry, and has the same requirements to defender and attacker weapons as Parry.
  
  
• New special attack: Backstab. This is available to Adventurers and Shades only, and only when reaching 340 or 110 in base (non-buffed) Sneak Attack skill, respectively. A backstab can only be performed on a target that's not paying attention to you, and only when located behind the target. A damage multiplier is added at 540 (Adventurer) or 235 (Shade) in skill, and a critical hit modifier will be added at 625 (Adventurer) or 420 (Shade) in skill.
  
  
• The rate of increase for doing a critical with Sneak Attack has been lowered when the Sneak Attack skill goes above 1000. It still goes up, only more slowly than below 1000 in skill.
  
  
• Dimach now increase in power above 1000 in skill. Martial Artists will also notice the attack recycling faster above 1000 in skill.
  
  Nano Technology
  
  
• Nano programs have new rules for stacking (working together) and overwriting (more powerful programs replacing weaker ones).
  
  
• Nano programs belonging to a program line will now have this line displayed in their description.
  
  Combat
  
  
• The aggression slider (also known as AggDef, or Def / Agg slider) now has a bigger effect on defensive skills.
  
  
• You can now switch combat target without ending combat, by pressing Shift + q.
  
  Teams
  
  
• When entering playfields that might exist in several copies, all members of the team will end up in the same copy. An exception is when the playfield is already well above its normal population limit, in which case team members will end up in different copies.
  
  Pets
  
  
• Player controlled pets are no longer affected by fear nano programs.
  
  
• You can select you pets (including service tower) with Shift + F1-F4.
  
  
• Modification to the Meta-Physicists' pets whose attacks "confuses and clouds the mind". They should now be operating correctly, and work in the following way: When used against a mob, they will prohibit that mob from moving or fighting while the pet's attacks continues to land. When used against a player, they will prohibit the player from moving, but the player can still attack (you are not getting the ability to perma-stun a player).
  
  
• Damages received and dealt by your pets can have there own color and can be muted seperatly from other damagetypes.
  
  Miscellaneous
  
  
• It's now possible to crawl. While crawling, you can only attack with ranged weapons, and the only way to end a crawl is by standing up.
  
  
• You can now relax in style by doing a /lounge command while sitting. Return to sitting by pressing x.
  
  
• The maximum number of missions a character can have at any time has been increased from 3 to 9.
  
  
• A jump limitation has been put in to prevent players from jumping too high.
  
  
• The amount of items an apartment can contain has been increased from 10 to 30.
  
  
• We have reduced the chance of taking damage when falling.
  
  Performance
  
  
• We made our Level of Detail (LOD) system a bit more intelligent. Objects in the world will change LOD more correctly.
  
  
• Several improvements have been done to performance in indoor areas, including lighting calculation, visibility checks and objects fading into and out of view.
  
  
• If trying to zone into a playfield located on a server with very low frame rate, the zoning will fail. When the server frame rate improves, you will be able to zone.
  
  Nano programs
  
  
• All start-up nano crystals have had their requirements to use lowered. You will no longer have to set any skills before uploading and using them. This step is part of our ongoing process to make the game easier to get into for newcomers.
  
  
• Some nano programs might have a minimum execution time. This means that no matter how high initiative skills you gain, the execution time will not go below this value.
  
  
• Programs designed to knock out people in Grid Armor now checks whether Grid Armor is worn, not the value of the target's AddAllDef modifier.
  
  
• Nullity Sphere now checks whether they're already running, not the value of your Field Quantum Physics skill.
  
  
• Several programs performing a nano shutdown effect on the user have had their shutdown values increased, and now debuff all nano skills with 4000 points.
  
  
• Adventurers' direct damage programs (nukes) now check whether the needed polymorph is running, and no longer debuffs the Matter Creation skill.
  
  
• Meta-Physicists' programs for reducing the chance of being interrupted while executing programs now actually do that, instead of increasing the chance.
  
  
• Meta-Physicists' Infuse with Knowledge buffs now last for 50 minutes as they were intended.
  
  
• The Meta-Physicists' Evocation line of pet buffs has been increased in duration somewhat. They start at 2 minutes in duration and scale up to 7 minutes. MPs are seen to need to continually pump their anger into their pets, but this longer duration will mean they only need to do an Evocation at the start of a fight, and not continuously during it.
  
  
• Executing them again will now recharge Fixers’ NCU buffs.
  
  World
  
  
• You are no longer allowed to summon players into Condemned subway.
  
  Combat
  
  
• Mobs see sitting and heavily injured characters as easy kills, and are very likely to attack them.
  
  
• Mobs will use all special attacks their weapons can perform. The amount of damage they can do with these attacks is limited, to prevent them from becoming too tough.
  
  Other changes
  
  
• Mobs no longer take damage from the environment, e.g. acid pools and lava.
  
  Tweaks and corrections
  
  
• You might find items that buff a stat called "Skill Lock Modifier". This is not a new stat - we just haven't used it much before. This stat reduces the time your skill is locked by 1 second per point. On e.g. a First Aid Kit - Skill Lock Modifier 5 would decrease the First Aid lock time from 20 seconds to 15 seconds. A lock can never be reduced by more than 50% of the original skill.
  
  
• We have fixed some misleading element in the description on the Bracer of Pacifism.
  
  
• Some weapons might have minimum attack and recharge periods. This means that no matter how high initiative skills you gain, the weapon won't attack more often than the total of these minimum periods.
  
  
• All weapons in the game have now got a new stat. It is called "Max Beneficial Skill". You have probably noticed that the higher skill you have with a weapon, the higher damage you do. "Max Beneficial Skill" is a cap that we have placed on all weapons for balance purposes - to give us better control with the damage weapons do. We have tried to make sure that this doesn't make many of the old weapons less effective, but there are many hundred weapons in the game (many thousands with all the variations), so glitches might have happened. In a few cases we might also consciously have reduced the effectiveness of certain weapons. The full skill is still used for determining your chance to hit with your weapon.
  
  
• Parrying now depends on the weapons used by the attacker and the defender. Parrying is only possible if the attacker's weapon can be parried, and the defender's weapon is useable for parrying.
  
  
• Forms used to change side to clan or Omni-Tek now requires that you do not have a negative faction rating with the side you're attempting to change to. They have also had their description corrected with regards to time between using two forms.
  
  
• A change has been made to the Bloodleech and Bloodslave rings. The amount of health regained when using these rings is now based on the amount of damage inflicted (75% returned for the Bloodleech and 67% for the Bloodslave, as before). If the target of the ring effect lowers (through reflects, for example) the amount of damage inflicted, the amount you are healed will also be lowered.
  
  
• The problem with zoning in a vehicle when you exactly match the requirement and still dropped you out of the vehicle has been fixed.
  
  
• The Primeval Skull can now be used by Nano Technicians.
  
  Technical
  
  
• New Graphical User Interface (GUI)! We have added major parts of the new GUI, which we will continue to expand on in the updates to come. To activate the new GUI, go to Options (F10), open the Misc window and select "Active new GUI". You'll need to exit the game and log in again for it to be activated.
  
  
• When shots fired from ranged weapons miss their target, the visual tracer now takes a more appropriate direction.
  
  
• Some bugs in the Short Transfer Uniform Controlled Kick system (also known as /stuck) have been fixed. The system will now work while swimming, provided you don't move around, and provide better arrival locations. Omni-Trans would like to apologize for any inconvenience the bugs may have caused.
  
  
• Fixed so that using chat refs and %t commands work on the same line of chat.
  
  
• 640 x 480 resolution is no longer supported. The minimum resolution is now 800 x 600.
  
  
• Your character will turn transparent when you move the camera close to him. This can be disabled/tweaked under he Option/Environment panel.
  

Just a friendly reminder.

It is a violation of the EULA to use any form of Macro or 3rd party program within Anarchy-Online. Use of anything that manipulates the client, client code, or datastream other than the Anarchy-Online Client itself or the Funcom Servers can be considered in violation of the EULA. We take an especially harsh stance on any programs that allow for the manipulation of gameplay or game mechanics, this includes the use of macros or software that offer the ability to use game mechanics without player supervision and / or interaction. Use of this type of macro or software is an offense that risks banning of the users account.


Regards,


Jerry Godwin
Fadinaway
Customer Service Manager

In this week's Peek, we shed more light on the improved Artificial Intelligence (AI) of the monsters in Shadowlands. In the feedback from players on what they would most like us do, this has been a fairly common theme, as in "Can you please improve the cleverness and attack options a monsters has while in combat?" We looked at this for some time, and we have come up with numerous solutions to improve the combat, making it more involving. AI. So, without further ado, we present some of the improvements found with the coming of Shadowlands. Some of these monsters will be truly hellacious to take down. Engage.

Interview with DJ Tarryk of GridStream Productions
Joshua Hardcharger Mandrake

Hey, folks. Ever wonder what it’s like to be the brains behind one of Rubi-Ka’s premiere audio entertainment organizations? Well, after you read this interview, you will have much less to wonder about!

I personally interviewed DJ Tarryk, mastermind and creator of GridStream Productions. I took the opportunity to speak with Tarryk at the recent ARK Expo party. Without further adieu, here’s the interview.

Hardcharger: A guy like you has probably been interviewed on multiple occasions, so I'll try to make this pretty good.
Tarryk: Couple times I guess. And trust me, it's not like it 'got old'. I'll enjoy it, I'm sure.
Hardcharger: So how'd you get tied up assisting the ARKs with this gathering?
Tarryk: Actually, I was initially approached by Xnemth, who expressed interest in throwing a rather large party that would span a couple days or more. Naturally, that's an offer I can't turn down. Well, that and I didn't have much going on for the weekend anyway. *grins*
Hardcharger: How'd it come about that you had AgtOrange as a co-announcer?
Tarryk: He originally contacted me as a coordinator for the event itself, and was my primary contact for setting up this party. After a couple relayed messages, it sorta fell onto the table that it would be a great idea to have an ARK help out on the air. Again, an offer I cannot turn down, and when we discovered how easy it would be to arrange, we both leapt at the opportunity.
Tarryk: I'm still not sure if there were any ulterior motives on his end. *laughs*

• Two free weeks of "Premium" access to Shattered Galaxy, the first massive multiplayer real-time strategy game!
• Two free weeks of Dark Ages: Medenia, an MMORPG with a fully-functional player government system!
• Two free weeks of Nexus: TK, a role-playing and lore oriented MMORPG based off of Asian mythology!
• If your already a Stratics Plus member click HERE for information on activating your free-game time, to learn more about Stratics Plus or to join point your browsers here.

Announcing the Southeastern Online Player Gathering! If you're an online gamer that lives in the Southeastern portion of the United States, and you're looking to meet other people with similar interests, this is the place for you! If you know of anyone else that would like to attend this gathering, feel free to send them here! It's not just limited to people in the Southeast. Anyone that is willing to make the trip is invited to attend. And it's not just limited to one game, or fansite. Any and all online gamers are welcome!

Agenda:

- Saturday, August 23rd, 1:00pm - Casual lunch meeting. Grand Buffet restaurant in Fayetteville, GA.

- Sunday, August 24th, 10:00am - Group Trip to Stone Mountain (Admission is $7 per car - see "Cost" below)

For more information be sure to check out our page at: Southeastern Online Player Gathering I hope to see you there! Guildenstern (Late of UO, now on Starsider, SWG & Harzah of Wintersebb, AC).

The Omni Connection

Why are there so many songs about Omnis,
and the losers on the other side?
Omnis are visions, freedom only illusions,
and Omnis have nothing to hide

So we've been told and some choose to believe it,
I know they're wrong, wait and see
Someday we'll find it, the Omni connection
Dave Marlin, truthdreamers and me

Who said that every wish would be heard and answered
when wished on the morning star?
Somebody thought of that and someone believed it.
Look what it's done so far

What's so amazing that keeps us star gazing,
and what do you think we might see?
Someday, we'll find it, the Omni connection
Dave Marlin, truthdreamers and me
all of us under its' spell, we know that it's probably notum

Have you been half asleep,
and have you heard voices?
I've heard them calling my name.
Is this the sweet sound that calls the young workers?
The voice might be one and the same

I've heard it too many times to ignore it,
it's something that I'm supposed to be
Someday we'll find it the Omni connection,
Dave Marlin, truthdreamers and me.

(with apologies to the great 20th century old earth philosopher: Kermit the Frog

What's up? (August 15st 2003)

Another week at an end, and another weekend of playing is ahead. Two more weeks for me to level like crazy before entering Shadowlands.

Shadowlands release postponed
I posted the press release on Wednesday, this thread, and I guess everybody know by now. I personally think this is a good thing, and I'm now confident that we'll get it all put together, polished and properly tweaked before the 15.0.1 update goes live on September 3rd.

And a reminder for you all: The only way to get the Jobe luxury apartment is by pre-ordering. I've heard rumors that we will apparently open it up to everybody later on. That is not correct. I'm guessing we might use it for competition prizes at some point, but that's all. If you miss this chance, there won't be another one. So if you want it (you know you do ), remember to pre-order.

ARK expo
The ARK expo starts on Atlantean today, and continues on Rimor tomorrow. ARK and GridStream get together for a ceremony, some partying, and the chance to talk face to face with numerous people from all ARK departments. Don't miss it!

For more information, check the news post and the thread about it.

---

That's really all for this week. Take care everybody, play nice, and maybe we'll meet in-game this weekend, as I have a few places to be and people to see.

Jorgen Tharaldsen (Anarchy Online):
For Anarchy Online we do not spend time to attract casual gamers. We focus all our marketing and PR efforts on dedicated gaming places, through print, online, events etc.. Reaching everyone else is just an added bonus.

This is canceled =/

Main reason is my forum account was suspened a few days ago, and I could not get out the info I needed 2 days ago. You can thank Cz.

Kinda depressed. I also wanted an ark reported but since its on the same day as ark expo.

In this sixth instalment of the Shadowlands Blueprint series, we continue to dive deeper into the Shadowlands universe. This time around, the focus is on the myriad of new monsters and beings you'll find in our upcoming expansion pack, or more correctly, a selection of the monsters. Fighting monsters is, after all, a vital part of the gameplay experience in Anarchy-Online, but with the coming of Shadowlands, it gets harder, madder and more involving than ever before. It takes you into a universe where nothing is quite what it seems.

Dragoncon AO Fan Meeting

If any of you plan to attend Dragoncon in Atlanta (www.dragoncon.com), please stop by the Piedmont hall for the 10pm Electronic Frontiers panel on online gaming to be held Friday Aug. 29th and then meet with Ziana and Doyen from ARK . I think that with the AO lewt they'll have, you'll have no trouble spotting them.

If you are going for sure please contact ziana@ark.anarchy-online.com and include your main character name in the email.


Dragoncon 2003, www.dragoncon.com, labor day weekend in Atlanta, will be hosting several gaming discussion panels. If you are going to Dragoncon, be sure to stop by these two discussions that will feature a representative from AO as a panelist.

MMORPGs: Past, Present, and Future
Representatives from several Massively Multiplayer Roleplaying Games discuss the history, current status, and future predictions for this exciting form of entertainment.
Hanover, time TBD.


Online Role Playing Games: Designer's Forum
Come talk to the people behind such products as GemStone III, DragonRealms, Meridian 59, RetroMUD, and EverQuest about the unique challenges they have faced in developing and managing online games. Panelists come from a wide range of fields, to cover questions related to community management, online console titles, game design, and eCommerce.
Piedmont, Friday, 10 p.m

Hope to see some AO fans there!


__________________
ARK Community Relations Director Xnemth & His Pirate L33t

• stratics.frws.com port 6667 USA - Colorado
  
• irc.glowfish.de port 6667 EU - Germany
  
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Just in case you haven't seen this announcement at the bottom of the original thread about the race, I thought it would be a good idea to post this separately.

As the person responsible for coming up with the idea for this race, I feel that I am responsible for its success or failure. Over the last few weeks, it has become obvious that the grand scale of the race which I had planned, and the value of prize awards which I had hoped for is far too ambitious for our small organization to support.
...

Hi my name Is ~Cookemonster~

Do you want to make money, have your name known through RK? If the answer to these questions is Yes then keep reading!

I am hosting the first ever Anarchy-Online Idol Contest

Winner will get 10 million credits, 5 million for the runner up, and 1 million for everyone me and the team of judges think did a good job. i.e. 2 or more judges agree it was good.

Time will be at 7 PM CST (Central Standard Time) on this coming Friday.

Place: Center of ICC

You must have an act ready.. It can be a song, a dance, something that makes us laugh, anything you can think of basically as long as it's done good. You can have more than one person in your act.

I also need 2 judges. The first two people to post "I want to be a judge" will be judges. Judges get 1 million credits for helping, but they can't be in the contest.

Tips to make your act a good one:
Script and Macro it
BE READY

WILL YOU BE THE FIRST EVER ANARCHY ONLINE IDOL?

Oslo, Norway, August 13th, 2003 - Funcom announced today that the release date of Anarchy Online: Shadowlands has been pushed back from August 26th to September 9th.

"With Shadowlands, we are literally adding a whole new dimension to our game," explained Funcom CEO, Trond Aas. "The scope of the projectis huge, and we have found that we need a couple of more weeks of testing and balancing before launching the expansion."

While fans will have to wait another two weeks for the expansion, Trond Aas is certain it will be worth the wait. "I'm convinced everyone will see the sense in our decision. The extra wait will be long forgotten once they start exploring the marvelous world of Shadowlands."

The expansion pack will include the full version of Anarchy Online, Anarchy Online - Notum Wars and Anarchy Online - Shadowlands, as wellas one month of included game-time for new accounts. Suggested retailprice is USD/EUR 29.99. Customers who pre-order Shadowlands prior to launch are entitled to an exclusive luxury apartment in the floating city of Jobe.

For more information, images and features, please visit
www.anarchyonline.com/shadowlands.

I just discussed leaking some info about 15.0.1 with Shadowgod. Doing research for the build notes, I came across several things I guess you might like. I wanted to ok it with Shadowgod first though, to not completely undermine the interview.

Now, I can't guarantee any of this, but it's scheduled in our system for the 15.0.1 update, and I believe all of it is already done, so it really should be there.

First of all, yes, the "mezz" pet is fixed (barring bugs found during testing). I saw today that it is confirmed as working by the designer at least, so that's a good sign. It will root and stun in PvM, and root in PvP.

Some other bug fixes:
- Infuses now last 50 minutes, as they should
- Interrupt modifier nanos now actually reduce the chance of interrupts, instead of increasing it

Other changes:
- All pets are no longer subject to fear
- Evocations now have a duration of between 2 and 7 minutes, depending on the level of the nano

New stuff:
- You can target your pets by using Shift + F1 to F4 (service towers are pets too)
- Pet damage (dealt and received) is now an own group with regards to colors and foltering, i.e. you can turn it on/off and color id separate from other damage

Hopefully that was all good news. Now I'll get back to leveling my new MP a bit.

When you join Stratics Plus not only will it remove all of the advertisements on our network but grants you access to a growing list of Flashlink member sites. As a member, your Flashlink ID grants you instant access to all other member sites that provide up to the minute gaming information you can't find anywhere else. With over 35 participating sites, you can always find the most recent gaming news, interviews, articles, demos, game play tips, spoilers, beta information, and much more. Your Stratics Plus membership with its Flashlink ID is your key to unlock complete access to all areas of our member sites - you will never miss out on the hot news about your favorite games again!

Access to all of the Flashlink member sites is just one of the many benefits of becoming a Stratics Plus member! The list of enhanced features offered and planned network-wide exclusively for our Plus members continues to grow. To learn more about Stratics Plus, what it offers, and how to become a member, check out "About Stratics Plus."

Two new Shadowlands interviews has been posted on mmorpgdot.com and gamegossip.com You find general information about Shadowlands in both of the interviews, as well as more information on the current status of Anarchy-Online in the mmorpgdot.com interview

What's up? (August 1st 2003)

Quite a bit happening this week, huh? I'm sure you've all seen some of it, and I'll try cover it all to some extent.

Shadowlands gone gold
Yes, Shadowlands has gone gold. That means the software version which is going to be on the CD in the Shadowlands box is done, has been written on a set of CDs and sent to the manufacturers who'll make all the copies needed for the boxes.

This does not mean we're done with it all. There's still content to come, tweaking to be done, and bugs to be corrected. All this will be updated about a week before launch, with an own portion to be downloaded and updated when you have Shadowlands installed.

Bulletin Board changes
This bulletin board has been getting slower and slower over the last few months. To counter this, we've done some changes, mostly on the market forums.

They will no longer contain old posts - any thread with no replies for the last three months will be removed completely from the database. To prevent people's post counts fluctuating due to this, we've also turned off post counting in the market forums, which people will notice by a drop in their total post count.

The first batch of posts to be removed was bound to be large (370000 posts), and a complete rebuild of the search index was needed. This rebuild is still ongoing, but should be done in about 6-8 hours. The entire search option has been disabled, but will be reactivated when the index is done.

If this doesn't help enough on the speed of the bulletin board, we'll have to look at other options. We're already set on adding some more hardware to the servers, which should hopefully help quite a bit, but that's some time off still.

Pricing increase
Everybody should've gotten an e-mail now with the new pricing for Anarchy-Online. Basically, the price for 1 and 3 months subscriptions increases, and the cost for 6 months subscription decreases. In addition we have a new 12 months subscription option, with a very good price, if I may state my own opinion.

The numbers:

$14.95 per month for 1-month
$11.95 per month for 3-month $35.85 total
$ 9.95 per month for 6-month $59.70 total
$ 7.95 per month for 1-year $95.40 total

Client update (14.9.1)
Yesterday we had a small client update, meaning a small download for everybody, and the removal of the "/start" command which could be used in the chat input to start Windows applications from inside the AO client. While I won't go into details (as that might put bad ideas in some people's heads) I can say this is because people might have used it for things it was not supposed to be used for.

Room lag and grid crashing
People have experienced that they get small spikes of lag when entering certain rooms in mission dungeons, and that their client disconnects when being moved to the grid by somebody. We've solved one issue related to this, and the fix will be in the 15.0.1 update in a few weeks. This only affects GeForce cards though, and only if you use T&L (Transform & Lighting - acceleration through the graphics card).

You can try out the fix yourself, actually, by just turning off the T&L in your graphics device settings in the launcher. Choose the option using only HAL instead, and see whether you notice any improvements. The lag and disconnected (caused by the lag, I guess) depend on other things too, so it might not have a noticeable effect.

I hope that didn't sound too cryptic, or was totally wrong. I'm not the tech guy here, after all.

• stratics.frws.com port 6667 USA - Colorado
  
• irc.glowfish.de port 6667 EU - Germany
  
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Our public forums are being moved to a new server due to critical hardware failure on the server our forums are currently installed on. No data (posts) have been lost, so no worries folks. The move will take place starting immediately, so if the forums become unavailable for a time, please try back again later. The amount of downtime experienced will vary from person to person depending on their internet provider. This move requires we update our DNS and this takes time to propagate out throughout the internet. So your mileage may very as they say. It can be as little as an hour to as much as twenty-four to forty-eight hours.

We apologize for the inconvenience this may cause, but it was unavoidable.

Regards,

Jhariden
Network Director

Stratics
http://www.stratics.com

The Massively Multiplayer Network

So... do you hate those advertisements that interfere with your ability to read the news on your favorite Stratics site? Do those ads with their flashy graphics distract you when you are seeking that vital clue to the last part of your epic quest? Are you just tired of the way advertising has become a necessary evil on the web? No problem, you can make all of that go away and help support Stratics at the same time with a Stratics Plus membership!

If you would love to experience Stratics advertisement-free, Stratics Plus is the answer. It removes all forms of advertisements from every web page on the Stratics Network and is only one of a growing list of enhanced features across our network offered exclusively to our Plus members. To learn more about Stratics Plus, what it offers, and how to become a member, check out "About Stratics Plus."

The Advisors of a Rubi-ka, an all volunteer customer service group that supports players of Funcom's 'Anarchy-Online' will soon be celebrating the induction of their one-hundredth group of volunteers. For the occassion, the ARK's are planning a huge party followed by the first ever ARK EXPO.

To help make these events truely memorable, the Advisor's have teamed up with internet radio personality Tarryk Kozar of Gridstream Productions. Gridstream is a webcast radio group that tailors it's programs to suit the unique tastes and culture of the AO Community and is well known for throwing some of the wildest parties to ever grace Rubi-ka.

The party and EXPO will be held over two days, Friday August 15th on the Atlantean server and Saturday August 16th for the Rimor server.

On both days the festivities will start with a publicly held ARK ceremony followed by the GSP sponsored party, and will conclude with the ARK EXPO. The EXPO is an opportunity for the players of Anarchy-Online to talk face to face with ARK's of all ranks and job types to learn more about the ARK program, it's purpose, and about the 'behind the scenes' work that goes into running such a program. All ARK departments will be represented at the Expo, from the well known and loved Bug Hunters of the test server, to the unseen and mysterious ARK's behind the Events Department.

All the info you need:

WHEN: Friday 15 August 8PM EST
WHAT: ARK Ceremony followed immediately by Gridstream sponsored party! Following the party will be the first ever ARK EXPO!
WHERE: Atlantean Server. Reet's Retreat main glass floor room the party, and the EXPO at the ICC Outpost in Andromeda.

WHEN: Saturday 16 August 3PM EST
WHAT: ARK Ceremony followed immediately by Gridstream sponsored party! Following the party will be the first ever ARK EXPO!
WHERE: RIMOR Server. Reet's Retreat main glass floor room the party, and the EXPO at the ICC Outpost in Andromeda.


What we've got going on:
Dance Contests!
ARK Fashion Show!
Huge dancers!
ARK created special effects!
The Gridstream Dancers!
Music provided by Tarryk Kozar and Gridstream Productions!
Special Item Give-aways and more!

Winners of the dance contests, give-aways and a few lucky citizens will recieve the first 'Jobe' emblemized shirts on the servers for their charachters!

Be sure to get registered to tune in Gridstream before the event so you don't miss out! It's free and painless *believe me, I just did it myself*. www.gridstream.com

Ok, that covers it I think, sooooo we'll see YOU at the parties!

Xnemth and his Pirate Leet!
Director, ARK Community Relations Department