We were swept away by the previews and our characters were automatically given level 75 status (among other things) on the Public Test Server. Now, the latest expansion of NCSoft's Lineage II, Chronicle 5: Oath of Blood, finally gets a release date. If everything goes according to plan, Chronicle 5 will be seeing the light of day on September 6. As such, the 10th Lineage II server (called Franz) will open to serve the many loyal fans of the MMO. Franz, like the Teon server, will be designated as a European server. Of course, players are free to choose the server they desire, but not that Franz will be used for castle sieges and other game systems.

Server downtime is expected prior to the launch and the following event items will be removed:

• Bead Ornament (Deck the Halls)
• Star Ornament (Deck the Halls)
• Fir Tree Branch (Deck the Halls)
• Flower Pot (Deck the Halls)
• All alphabet letters (L2 Day)
• Gunpowder (Playing With Fire)
• Magnesium (Playing With Fire)
• Squash Seed (Summer Squash)
• Large Squash Seed (Summer Squash)
• Pollen (Summer Squash)

Unfortunately, the replays created in Chronicle 4: Scions of Destiny, will not be compatible with Chronicle 5. Also, the maximum number of clans in an alliance will be reduced from 12 to 3. Clans are encouraged to re-group their alliances, otherwise they will be forcibly disbanded after the time of launch.

Go ask any gamer to name one of the hottest MMORPGs to date, and definitely, without batting an eyelash, World of Warcraft will be one of the most mentioned. Ask them then, what things are they willing to do just to get a hold of the game's first expansion, The Burning Crusade. Anything, they would say.

The associates and families of Blizzard's employees wouldn't have to go to such lengths, though, because the gaming company  began a Burning Crusade Friends and Family Alpha Testing. Argh! Now, we dig up for old family photos and files to prove even the most remote of relation to Blizzard employees.

Before playing the much awaited expansion, testers must have to read and acknowledge an end user licence agreement first. The contract contains a clause that forbids strictly mention of the program's existence: "The existence of the Friends and Family Alpha Test and all elements thereof (including without limitation this Agreement) is confidential, and your agreement to maintain secrecy associated with the Friends and Family Alpha Test until such time that Blizzard releases such information publicly."

It is, however, ironic that the said agreement is posted in full at the game's official website. When the Burning Crusade comes out later this year, it will feature two new playable races, not to mention flying mounts, extended level caps and more.

You gotta love interviews, especially when they've got video for you to enjoy. Gametrailers has picked up a video interview of Jeff Kaplan, one of the Lead Game Designers for World of Warcraft.

In this interview, Kaplan talks about the changes The Burning Crusade expansion will bring in. While we've been talking about these issues for a while now, such as the opening of new portions of the world, as well as the enhancements to PVP, the LFG party-finding system (Barrens Chat Worldwide FTL.) and the race/class shift that will occur in the expansion, it's nice to actually hear and see someone talk about it, making it more or less official by any definition of the word.

What's more, interspersed in the video are snippets of action for the Burning Crusade. Some of it you may have seen before, such as the flying mounts of Outland, but the whole package ties it all in. The Burning Crusade will bring a lot of changes to the game, and we can only hope that they'll bring a ton of new blood into the game we know and love, Blood Elves notwithstanding.

Download: [The Burning Crusade: Jeff Kaplan Video Interview]

In the latest issue of WoW Insider, the Insider tells us what's been going on this past month for the game, including a recap of the planned additions in 1.12, the upcoming trading card game, as well as a contest and an important interview.

Let's get started, shall we?

First, 1.12 is coming out with new additions to the PvP experience. While the time sink we know as PvP still remains, they're adding cross-realm battleground action, as well as world PvP objectives. They haven't expressly mentioned anything about how these new outdoor PvP objectives will play out on non-PvP servers, but if there's honor involved, you can be sure people will be flocking to these new game additions to see just how far these new features go in long-term honor farming.

1.12 will also play host to the rogue talent review, which will improve existing talents, as well as shift some talents earlier into their trees to offer more versatility and utility in build combinations. While we do wonder what you're going to do with improved garrote, there's probably going to be a lot of people praising the re-spec as much as there will be people getting annoyed by the changes.

This month also sees new avenues for people to enjoy Blizzard's franchises. First is a new Blizzard Art Contest for aspiring 2D and 3D artists. With categories including Best Cinematic Art, Best Diablo Art, Best StarCraft Art, and Best Warcraft Art and a $10,000 purse, it sounds like there will be tough competition, especially if being especially outstanding can lead an artist into working for their favorite company. Also, they're bringing out the buzz on the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game, which allows you to set up your own hero through his fighting deck to take on different enemies, with everything from newbie nightmare Hogger to Lady Katrina Prestor, aka Onyxia.

Leeroy Jenkins will also be making an appearance, featuring art from Penny Arcade artist Gabe. There better be an in-game buff for shouting his name in battle, or the game will lose its charm immediately!

Lastly, one of the more important developments for this new installment of the Insider is an interview with Tom Chilton, Lead Game Designer for WoW. In the audio interview, he discusses the intended direction of PvP in the future, which will try to bring the fun back into the system to replace the honor grinding that occurs today. Besides the introduction of new outdoor PvP objectives and cross-realm battles in 1.12, additions planned for the expansion want to focus on the quality of the PvP being played, rather than the quantity. Of these future additions, Arena Combat looks to be very promising:

Yes, one of our major features for the expansion that we're just now talking about is the Arena System. It's essentially a system of gladiatorial combat where players are going to be able to go into arenas in teams of two on two or three on three or five on five (at least that's what we're planning to start with) and duke it out on a ladder-based system to get some pretty cool rewards.

We've added the audio interview for you to listen to, and our source link also provides a text transcript of the interview. All in all, we hope that it brings some new blood into WoW that we haven't seen in a while.

Download: [WoW Insider: Interview with Tom Chilton]

Okay, before you wage a war with Germany for getting a free trial of Ryzom, you should know that it's not exclusive to Germans; it's just that the Games Convention will be held there so naturally they have easier access to it.

Gamers from all over the globe are of course very much welcome and encouraged to go to the Games Convention in which Nevrax, the developer of the massively-multiplayer online sci-fi RPG Saga of Ryzom, will participate to showcase The Ryzom Ring. 

The Ryzom Ring will be featured from the 23rd to the 27th of August on Hall 5, stand no. F32 where people can check out Ryzom's first expansion weeks before it even hits the market. So if you do decide to go to Lepzig, Germany for the Games Convention (you know you want to), don't forget to check out Nevrax's booth to be one of the first to try out the Ryzom Ring and create your own adventures in an online world!

For those of you who are still not in the know, the Dark Age of Camelot patch isn't done yet (but if you step in your shiny red shoes and wish hard enough, maybe it will be done in a jiffy). However, there are other updates on the game, so stick around for a little while.

First off, you might want to know what the omni-drain spell is. According to the Trade Goddess, the omni-drain spell not only damages your target, but also returns hit points, power points and endurance points to the caster or user of the tincture.

In the case of the spells being used for the tinctures, the return rates for each pool are:

• 100% of the damage dealt is returned as hit points.
• 60% of the damage dealt is returned as power points.
• 40% of the damage dealt is returned as endurance points.
  

As an example I’ll use the level 49 tincture’s spell, which has a delve of 100:

• You hit the Target for 102 damage.
• You steal 107 hit points.
• You steal 64 power points.
• You steal 42 endurance points.

(Variance and bonuses affect the damage and return amounts)

Also, the snare reactive tinctures are set up so that root/snare immunity is not triggered when they are proc’ed.The nearsight from the nearsight reactive and weapon tinctures trigger immunity, while the power drain weapon effect tinctures not only damages the target but returns 50% power to the caster/user per damage dealt on an opponent.

Also, here's a list of armor pieces and their respective textures:

• Aerus: Sigil Stitched, Sigil Etched, Sigil Bound, Sigil Ensorcelled, Rune Knit, Rune Stitched, Rune Scribed, Bespelled Woven, Embroidered Cruaigh, Ensorcelled Cruaigh, Spell Marked Osnadurtha
• Volcanus: Sigil Sewn, Sigil Marked, Rune Etched, Enchanted Woven, Ornamented Cailocht, Blazed Cailocht
• Stygia: Sigil Enchanted, Sigil Gilded, Rune Bound, Decorated Osnadurtha
  

Ancient preserved Heart and Ancient Lich Eye aren't used as ingredients for some alchemy tinctures anymore. Ancient Necrotic Fluid and Ancient Lich Tooth are used for the said alchemy tinctures instead.

Patterns for specialty armor recipes could be found at the epic zones, dragon zones, epic dungeons, other SI dungeons (such as Krondon, Iarnvidiur’s Lair, or Tur Suil), Passage of Conflict (anything that has the potential to drop a respec may now have a chance to drop a pattern), and legendary monsters in classic zones (the Legendary Afanc for example). High level monsters may drop patterns as well, so be on the lookout for those.

As the patch is still in the works, you can't sell potions to NPCs on Pendragon. Legendary Weapons are currently not available on Classic as well. However, the devs assure us that once they're done with with the fall expansion, they're going to come up with a decision regrading this issue. But don't you worry, we'll give you the latest dish on this cool MMO, so stay tuned.

Lead designer Jeff Kaplan is our inside man when it comes to exclusive behind-the-scenes update on World of Warcraft's first game expansion, The Burning Crusade. He reveals very interesting points on the addition of Blood Elves to the Horde race, adding Paladin as a choice for the Horde and Shaman choice for the Alliance, a new profession, jewelcrafting plus other juicy details. Just to give you a taste of what we mean by "juicy details" here's an excerpt from Robert Summa's interview.

Tell me (Joystiq) something that hasn't already been announced that is planned for the expansion?
The PvP system is the first big change that our players have been waiting to hear about for a long time. Basically, we recognized the flaws with the existing honor system. Our goal was not to create a system that involved a massive amount of time investment, it's counter to all of WoW's designer philosophy. We've never been focused on trying to be a time sink. Our PvP system in its current incarnation is very much like that, so what we've done is design a new PvP system that will go live with The Burning Crusade. It has three core components to it.

The first is the arena combat system. You'll be able to join a team: 2v2, 3v3, or 5v5. There are two different modes you can play: One is called practice mode to hone your skills and the other is competitive mode, which is level 70 only.

The rest of the interview awaits after the jump!

Game Update #26 is now up and running, and it seems like several elements have been added to the game in preparation for the launch of EverQuest's third expansion pack, Echoes of Faydwer.

One of the recent additions is the mysterious crypts that have appeared near the ruins of Nektropos Castle, one of the most popular landmarks in EQII, which provides challenges even for parties of level 70 characters.

Guild raiding has also been given a facelift as the raids offered by the cities have been redesigned to teach some basics of raiding. Each raid will now be intended for two groups and will scale according to raid level. Successful raids will yield award guild status, rare tradeskill harvests, recipe books, as well as spell scrolls of up to level 50. Higher level guild may cause bosses to drop rare armor molds or patterns.

The most exciting feature however, is that a new quest has been introduced which involves killing fencers, or in-game players who sell goods from the opposing cities. These fencers are known to frequent the Commonlands and Antonica. To embark on this quest, just talk to Ifrit Jankus in East Freeport or Banderspark in Qeynos Harbor.

Attempting to enter the Caverns of Time in World of Warcraft is usually met with either certain death, bad glitches or a suspension from play. Players have speculated as to what the Brood of Nozdormu has kept hidden behind a gigantic door and an entourage of dragons. Now, it seems, the truth has finally been revealed.

Time travel.

Specifically, the Burning Crusade expansion will allow players to enter the Caverns of Time to relive, battle in, and maintain important historical turning points in Azeroth timeline. As the expansion website mentions,

For the first time, adventurers will enter the domain of the Timeless One, where they will undertake missions to prevent the sabotage of three key historical events:

Young Thrall's escape from Durnholde Keep, the first step on the path to his ascension as the greatest warchief the orcs have ever known...

The momentous Battle of Mount Hyjal, where Jaina, Thrall, Tyrande, and Malfurion succeeded in turning the tide against the dreaded demon, Archimonde...

And the opening of the original Dark Portal by the crazed wizard Medivh – an action that ushered in the First War and introduced the mighty orcs to the world of Azeroth.

There isn't any mention of whether Brood of Nozdormu reputation will be needed to enter the caverns, but it stands to reason that you may need some amount of reputation to ensure the brood doesn't kill you on sight beforehand. 

Keep checking QJ for more World of Warcraft updates as we get them.

"After Venril Sathir's curse was released into the Nest and destroyed the dragon eggs, it was clear that the future of dragonkind was in danger...Six dragons who were children of the Nest proposed a plan to their elders -- the creation of a race to protect dragons and the Wyrmqueen's bloodline, something they had seen done once before.

"In human form, the dragons traveled to Freeport, looking for the right humans to suit this new race. The honorable dragons found many who sympathized with their plight and plans and agreed to help right the wrongs that mortals inflicted on dragons of the Nest by unleashing Venril's curse. Many humans considered it a great honor. The darker dragons were not so willing to negotiate and simply took the human subjects they desired..."

That, in a nutshell, is the story of the Drakkin, Everquest's first new race in seven expansions. We brought you news about this last month, and the expansion in which they will appear, Serpent's Spine, is scheduled for a September release.

Today, however, we got word of these very cool screenshots, giving us our first up-close and personal look at those who are the future of EQ's dragon-kind.

Everquest is from Sony Online Entertainment.