We here at the Vault Network would like to wish all our readers the merriest of holiday seasons. We our proud you have made us a stop for your news, information and community and hope you continue to do so in the future.



Enjoy our comic and our best wishes.

After some reports surfaced in the Indian media that India-based Zapak Digitial Media was buying SOE for $300 million and relocating the entire thing to India, a subsequent report was published by Reuters in which SOE denies that the company is for sale:

"MUMBAI (Reuters) - Sony Online Entertainment on Sunday denied an Indian media report that said Zapak Digital Entertainment Ltd, part of the Anil Ambani-led ADAG group, was buying Sony Online and said the company was not up for sale.

The Economic Times, citing anonymous sources and an unnamed Zapak official, had earlier reported that Zapak was set to buy Sony Online for about $300 million.

"Sony Online Entertainment is not for sale and the report that Zapak is purchasing Sony Online Entertainment is completely erroneous and false," a company spokesperson for San Diego-based Sony Online told Reuters over telephone.

Sony Online is the game development and game publishing unit that is part of global electronics maker Sony Corp's group."

Sounds like wishful thinking on the part of Zapak, or perhaps some rumor mongering to make their company look good? At any rate, good to know that the rumors are false.

Best wishes to all our readers from EQVault!

Thanks for reading and be of good cheer ... may your gaming be merry and bright!

Kwill

The next Legends of Norrath Promotion Weekend is set to begin at 2PM (PST) Friday, January 4, 2008 and conclude at 11:59PM (PST) on Sunday, January 6, 2008. During this special weekend, EverQuest® and EverQuest® II players should not only enjoy an increased rate of card pack drops, but will have the opportunity to obtain two brand new cards: Chocolate Goblin (2P3) and Protection of the Dain (2P4).

For now, these two new cards will only be available during this three-day promotional weekend, so don't miss out on the chance to get them!

Friday, January 11, will be our monthly Loot Re-Roll Weekend! Two new Loot cards will be added to Forsworn Booster packs. This month's loot cards will be: Visage of the Brownie Noble (2EQ23) and Insulated Mug (2EQII23).

Friday, January 18th, the Raid Drop program begins! 31 Legends of Norrath Raid cards for the Trakanon deck will begin dropping in EverQuest® and EverQuest® II. This program will last from January 18 - February 17.

Saturday, January 19 to Sunday, January 20, will feature loot tournaments in Legends of Norrath in which participants will receive the promotional card Mayong Mistmoore (2P5) with artwork by Jim Lee, and a choice of two loot cards: Bridle of the Viridian Cragslither (2EQP1) or Cloak of Di'Zok (2EQIIP1).

And last but certainly not least, January 26-27 is the January Legends of Norrath Championship Qualifier. This is a qualifying tournament for the Championships at GenCon!

Zatozia has posted this handy guide to the Frostfell season and events. Check it out for links to community participation, too.

Find your way into your home city to talk to Santug's elves to get involved with the quests and activities.

"Happy Frostfell Everyone!

It's that time of year again when everyone spends extra time with family and friends; when gifts are bought, given, and returned; when elves suddenly start wearing red, green, and gold combinations; when a certain ogre makes all other ogres say, "He's doing what?"; when a torturing dark elf gives out ice cream for good tidings?

To help keep you from missing anything this season, here's an overview of what's going on for EverQuest over the holidays.

Frostfell Adventures of the Past

As the air starts to chill and the frost begins to cover the ground, the season of Frostfell begins. No holiday season is perfect though and a couple of your fellow Norrathians need your help to make Frostfell a merry holiday for all! Visit your favorite major city to find out how you can help.

It wouldn't be Frostfell without a cheerful visit from good old Santug Claugg, the kind hearted ogre. Alas it seems that there is some Santug trouble and his goblins have gone to each city in Norrath looking for those who will help save their master. Talk to one of Santug's Frostfell Goblins and help save Frostfell!

New Frostfell Adventures

This year's Frostfell promises festive décor and special events within EverQuest. Players face new challenges, along with a very special rescue. It appears that someone has been kidnapping the Snowdwarves of Norrath, Santug's toy-making helpers. Without these toys, Santug cannot make his deliveries to all good Norrathian girls and boys, preventing the festival of Frostfell. Without Frostfell, winter will never end and Norrath will be trapped in an endless season of cold and darkness! Zoog in Great Divide is seeking help to discover where Santug's helpers have been taken, free them, and ultimately face the one who is behind this sinister plot."

A Frosty Experience Bonus!

To help celebrate the season of Frostfell, starting 12:00 noon PST, Friday, December 21, 2007 and remaining until 11:59 pm PST, Tuesday, January 1, 2008, adventurers will be surrounded by a frosty bonus experience increase of twenty-five percent. Enjoy!

The Vault Network is once again very excited to announce the launching of our latest site, The Witcher Vault. Please take a moment and drop by and check out all the latest in news, information, guides, databases and community for this exciting role-playing game set in a dark world where monsters are found in plenty.

The Witcher Vault

Check out how art concepts become Legends of Norrath cards in our exclusive feature for the Forsworn expansion, courtesy of SOE.

Forsworn, the first expansion set for the popular online strategy game Legends of Norrath™ (LoN), is available for purchase via digital download at www.station.com. Based on the legendary MMOs EverQuest® (EQ) and EverQuest® II (EQII), Forsworn expands upon the immersive Norrathian story arc, high-fantasy art style and thrilling gameplay offered with the premiere set of virtual trading cards, Oathbound, which was released in North America this past summer. Localized versions of the original online game and the new expansion are now live for players in France, Germany and the UK.

“Challenging even the most seasoned strategist, Forsworn presents further opportunities to duel friends and defeat foes with the addition of more than 230 unique cards, several new game mechanics and highly sought after loot items,” said Scott Martins, Director of Development, SOE Denver. “Bringing Legends of Norrath to the international markets of France, Germany and the UK has been a goal for us since the beginning of the development process and we are proud to see that come to fruition.”

Forsworn, the second release in the Legends of Norrath storyline, features enhanced multiplayer support that allows team-based 2 vs. 2 games, as well as cooperative multiplayer “raid” games against powerful AI opponents. Forsworn also boasts 22 additional loot items each for EQ and EQII, including player mounts, potions, clothing and spells and introduces an updated client with new content and bonus features for all registered users.

Available in both 58-card digital starter decks and 15-card digital booster packs, Forsworn cards will be available via digital download only from SOE’s Station Store. The digital starter decks (58 cards) will be available for $9.99USD (plus any applicable taxes), with digital booster packs (15 cards) selling for $2.99USD (plus any applicable taxes).

Get started by finding Zoog in the Great Divide. Santug has kicked the frost giants out of the fortress near the Spires and has made it a special toy shop!

Your reward is five "Potion of Adventures," which gives an experience boost.

Have fun!

Legends of Norrath Forsworn Sneak Peek: Draconic Weapons

Legends of Norrath™ Forsworn Launches This Wednesday!

On Wednesday, December 19th, the first expansion for Legends of Norrath will be available for play. Players of LoN will discover new cards and challenges in the Online Strategy Game, and players of EverQuest and EverQuest II will discover twenty two new loot cards with the launch of Legends of Norrath Forsworn in each game!

With some Forsworn's new loot cards, EverQuest adventurers have a chance of changing the looks of some their favorite weapons to the new Draconic Orientation style. Check them out here.

Need a last-minute gift for that LoN, EQ, or EQ2 player in your life?

Here's a chance to get the Firiona Vie (1P8) promo card and one of the Burning Touch (1EQIIP3) or Visage of Queen Pyrilonis (1EQP3) Loot Cards, as well as three (3) Oathbound Booster Packs, all in one package! This Tournament Pack will be on sale in the Legends of Norrath store from 12/17 at 3PM PST to 12/24 at 3PM PST.

From thr EQPlayers forums:

Here's some important news regarding the Bazaar.

Currently there is an issue when setting prices for stacked items in bazaar. Do not sell a stack of items worth more than 4,294,967 pp (platinum pieces) total.

Example:

If you are selling a bottle of water for 1 plat each and have in a stack of 20 of them, the total would be 20 plat this pricing would not be bugged.

However, if you are selling a bottle of water for 214,750 plat each and have them in a stack of 20, the total value would be 4,295,000 pp but you would lose lots of platinum due to the bug.

We apologize for the inconvenience and hope to have this issue fixed as soon as possible. Please note that due to the complexity of the issue, a resolution may not be pushed live until the beginning of the year due to the holiday break. However, the status for a fix is currently pending.

Scheduled Server Downtime on Wednesday

On Wednesday, December 19, 2007 at 5:00 am PST (PST is -8 hours GMT: 6:00 am MST, 7:00 am CST, 8:00 am EST, 13:00 GMT), all EverQuest Live servers will be coming down to push the release of the Legends fo Norrath Forsworn expansion. The estimated downtime is no more than 2 hours.

Have you tried the player run EQ Trivia game? It's fun!

Try EverQuest trivia #316 here.

Today I got an interesting letter in my mailbox, in criticism of some of my statements in this "Kwill's Quill" column, Classic Rock, Classic Server, in which among other things I stated that EverQuest has more depth and therefore long-term satisfaction because it's more difficult than other MMO's out there. (I assume -- the person never actually specified it was this column, but it makes the most sense).

This person argues in his or her letter that World of Warcraft is difficult in its raiding portion of the game, and some raid encounters have still not been defeated by many players world-wide, thus proving that there is still content unattainable by most players.

This argument fails to convince me that World of Warcraft has as much depth in play as EQ, just because a much newer game has some content that isn't accessible yet by casual players. Sure, they made some of WoW hard. Isn't that just making my point that for the most part it's a soloable game, and only small portions give a long term challenge?

He or she also suggests that "Vanguards failure was because, first and foremost, it wasn't finished. It was buggy and it didn't run on most computers. What does that have to do with difficulty or selling out? It didn't fail because of the game itself, it failed because of the state it was in at launch."

Yes, he is correct. VG had lots of techincal problems at launch. Still, I stand by what I said in my column. The basic premise of gameplay certainly was there when VG launched, even if the details weren't fleshed out completely. It was designed by Brad McQuaid to be old-school difficult (read any press release from before launch), and that just doesn't fly anymore with the majority of today's gamers. In fact, I would say that a great game can overcome all sorts of technical problems at launch, since gamers are a persistent bunch that will go to great lengths to play something that's really good -- I might offer Runescape as an example, with it's 2D graphics. It's one of the more popular MMOs out there.

To sum up, he or she says in the email, "Your entire premise is rubbish, drawing parallels between an industry that requires massive corporate backing and teams of people to create a product with one where you can really have a grassroots foundation."

Not sure what this means, other than he or she doesn't agree with me. Okay. Are you saying that the video game industry is not exactly like the music business? That's certainly true, but I think my comparisons are not completely off the mark here. Getting a commercially viable CD out there to WalMart takes teams of people and massive corporate backing, so where's the huge difference? (I am not saying that's the only way to get good music, grassroots stuff is great.) And indie games can work just fine with grassroots support. My column wasn't about either of those things, it was about EQ and its competitors, which are commercially supported "big box titles."

And in conclusion he or she asks, "Where are your comments regarding the final fantasy or lineage mmorpgs? Can you seriously say they are unsuccessful and/or somehow attribute their success to being a sold out, watered down, not-difficult experience?"

My answer to that is: I was comparing EQ and WoW, and threw in Vanguard to make a point, since the developer of EQ also wrote Vanguard in response to where EQ had gone content-wise. I was also making a point about EQ's value to the US MMORPG market. Asking about Lineage and FF is asking to me to compare apples to oranges, since even the experts agree that EQ and EQ2 are are of limited interest to the huge Asian market due to their style of gameplay (this does not include Japan by the way). The fact that as of last year WoW had a large share of the Asian gaming market should tell you something about it's gameplay, as well. FF and Lineage, on the other hand, are extremely popular in Asian markets, and haven't done as well here. Any more discussion on this should be in a completely different column.

But, judge for yourself. Have I missed the boat? Is it true, as this reader writes, that my "overgeneralizations are being mocked on messageboards where people who analyze and develop these games are quick to point out a few crucial omissions from your statements" ?

I value different points of view, and never claim my columns aren't based on my personal point of view and perhaps controversial. What do you think?

The frogloks on the Bertoxx server have issued a challenge to Grobb! All frogloks on Bertoxx may want to check this out in a couple of hours ....

Posted by Croakd on the EQPlayers boards:
"This is a Call To Arms to any and all Frogloks of any level on the Bertoxx Server. This Thursday Dec 13th at 10 am Pacific time, we will assemble to make an assault the home of the despised Trolls, Grobb. It has been inspired by the Great Marr that we bring righteous vengeance to the pusillanimous Trolls. We shall assemble our strikeforce at the Grobb Stone in Plane of Knowledge.

The gauntlet has been cast. The Trolls have accepted the challenge and intelligence reports indicate there will be a resistance force assembled. Possibly even a counter strike on the camps in Rathe Mountains. The cowardly Trolls have even solicited the help of the Ogres. Iregardless, vengeance will be ours. We shall strike a blow against tyrrany and extended camping trips. Tired of living like a hippy in the Rathe Mountains? Join our noble cause on Thursday Dec 13th. Spread the Word. Blessed be Marr."

He adds, "Any Frog of any Level is invited to attend. Low level Frogs will function as rear guard and mopping up of spiders and skeeters."

If you didn't see it, here it is!

*** Items ***

- Retuned portions of the "Tinmyn's Oil Can" task to be more in line with the reward.
- The enchant Palladium and Dwerium scrolls will do more checks before allowing you to scribe them.
- Increased the drop rates of the "global" Rank 2 spell drops in Secrets of Faydwer zones.
- Removed parry focus from several items when no classes could use it. It will remain on any items where some classes can use the effect.

*** Quests & Events ***

- Fixed an issue with the Golems in Crystallos that would sometimes have them hitting too hard.
- Increased the number of items that drop from the raids in Meldrath's Progression Quest from 6 to 12.
- Gridbar Galund will no longer eat items given to him allowing warriors to continue along their epic quest line.
- Fixed an issue with the Shaman Epic in West Freeport. Talking to the greater spirit should work now.

*** NPC ***

- The respawn time on Shei Vinitras has been changed to be persistent through server downs instead of having her spawn up to a day after the zone comes up.
- Increased the respawn time of Meldrath's Majestic Mansion's base population.
- The shadows created for the tradeskill quest in hills of shade should now be less dangerous to the rest of the zone.
- Increased the respawn time (time between NPC respawns) in many SoF zones.
- Merchant Sele has set up shop in Shar Vahl and sells some tailoring supplies found in other home cities.
- Increased the power of the pets summoned by the beastlord spell Howl at the Moon.

*** Tradeskills ***

- Cultural metal drops have been adjusted to drop in the proper content now.
- The level 60 to 64 spell parchments should now be properly dropping.
- Legacy Shimmering Nihilite will no longer twist the tools when it is cut.
- Eron now give the rewards for his quest in a less confusing manner.
- Elegant charms have had some mod effects added.
- Fixed a bug with the Elegant charm that prevented it from gaining stats properly from elegant armor.
- Fixed the naming issue with Legacy Pale Nihilite Recipes.
- The new shimmering Nihilite can now be used to make the old weapon components.
- Legacy pale nihilite can be cut the same way as crimson nihilite. This gemstone will undergo an odd transition from the cutting and turn crimson in color.
- The thickener needed to make enchant metal spells via spell research has been changed to invigorating thickener.
- High level humanoids no longer value tin and ruined pelts. Instead they value titanium and flawless animal pelts like they should have.

*** Tasks ***

- The quest to save the scout clockwork in the guardian has been updated to update the whole group. Because of this, the scout will now only repop at the rate of other NPC's in the zone, instead of the five minute repop he was on.

*** AA ***

- Removed the Mana cost from the Call Hither AA.
- Additional ranks of the Druid AA Nature's Boon should increase in healing as the description states.
- Origin and Silent Presence are no longer on the same timer.
- Fixed a number of text and description issues.
- Set all ranks of Steady Hands and Burst of Power to ignore delevel (IE: You keep the value of the AA if you lose the level you need to purchase the AA) to be consistent with other AAs that raise skill caps.
- Shaman were incorrectly left off the AA Hastened Call of the Wild and this has been fixed.
- The AA Foraging will now not be revoked if you fall below the level needed to purchase the AA.
- Modified the timers for Arcane Whisper and Fortify Companion so that they do not conflict.

- The EverQuest Team

As we reported earlier, the Season of Frostfell has begun! Here's the official word:

Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE) is decking the halls this holiday season with in-game activities and festive themed events in many of its live titles.

EverQuest ® and EverQuest ®II players will enjoy yet another year of the Frostfell celebration while the popular EverQuest online trading card game, Legends of Norrath™, will start a new tradition. Not to be outshone by its Norrathian counterpart, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes™ is celebrating the holiday season in Telon, and in a galaxy far, far away; Star Wars Galaxies™ players will enjoy the spectacular experience of Wookiee Life Day.

“This holiday season our development teams have donned their elf outfits and really gotten into the holiday spirit by creating some of the most vibrant virtual holiday content ever,” said Russell Shanks, COO and Vice President, Sony Online Entertainment. “It’s a joy for us to provide players with reindeer mounts, snowball fights and even a gift-giving tree, all of which can be found throughout these extravagantly decorated worlds.”

Holiday Game Play Features:

EverQuest
Winter brings many joyful celebrations to locations around the globe, and the world of Norrath is no exception. This year’s Frostfell promises festive décor and special events within EverQuest. Starting mid- December, EverQuest players will face new challenges as the holidays approach, along with a very special rescue. It appears that someone has been kidnapping the Snowdwarves of Norrath, Santug’s toy-making helpers. Without these helpers, Santug cannot make his deliveries to all good Norrathian girls and boys, preventing the festival of Frostfell. Without Frostfell, winter will never end and Norrath will be trapped in an endless season of cold and darkness! Zoog in Great Divide is seeking help to discover where Santug’s helpers have been taken, free them, and ultimately face the one who is behind this sinister plot.

See details of all the events in SOE titles below!

From EQLive:

Limited Tech Support hours on December 13th

On Thursday, December 13th Tech Support will have limited email support only. Both Live Chat and Phones will be closed. Full support will be available the following day. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

The Season of Frostfell has begun! Enjoy the treasures and celebrations through January 3!

Tripodnukem, of Norraths Wrecking Crew, Stromm Server, makes the argument that the ranger class is often one of the most forgotten classes in the game, but has a lot to offer:

"They are the kind of class that if played well, and they assist the TANK properly without drawing agro makes them invaluable to a group," he writes.

Check out his views in his featured editorial.

Have an opinion? Express it here on EQVault! Submissions welcome!