Lineage II, in unison with their Five-Year Anniversary, has released the largest expansion to date with the launch of Gracia which brings players a whole new continent to explore, refined PVP combat, new items, new skills, new clan features, and exciting new territory wars. Territory battles will allow any player, not just those in a clan, to participate in epic-scale conflict and obtain the same rewards as players with larger clans. Players can login now and visit the lands of Gracia by lying on airships available at the Gludio airship wharf.

Here's the official Lineage II Expansion notice:

Lineage II Celebrates Five-Year Anniversary with Largest Content Expansion to Date

 SEATTLE, Washington – April 29, 2009 – NCsoft®, the world’s premier publisher and developer of massively multiplayer online games (MMOs), commemorates five years of Lineage® II service in the West with the launch of Gracia^™ Final, the latest free expansion to the legendary Lineage II franchise. Gracia Final, the third part of the Gracia expansion series, brings Lineage II fans a whole new continent and refined player-versus-player (PvP) combat. Other highlights of the Gracia Final expansion include more clan features, territory wars, new items, and new skill effects.   

Players can log into Lineage II right now and experience the chaotic lands of Gracia, an entire new continent ready for exploration. To venture into Gracia, characters fly on airships available at the Gludio airship wharf. Characters who would rather reach the continent using their own devices can use the new aerial transformation skills Aurabird Falcon, Aurabird Owl, and the Kamael’s special Final Flying Form. While on the continent of Gracia, explorers can journey through war-torn lands filled with mysterious creatures and adventure in nearly 60 new quests.

The Gracia Final expansion also brings in Territory Battles, where any player, even those not belonging to a clan, can participate in epic-scale conflict and reap rewards from the local Territory Manager. Territory Battles provide a “capture the flag”-style PvP experience that rewards dominating clans with castle-related skills and additional revenue. In addition, the Gracia Final expansion introduces three-versus-three PvP arena battles at the Olympiad for the first time, and enables clans to earn additional abilities and membership.

“We are thrilled to celebrate five years of Lineage II live service with such a large content expansion,” said Sam Han, North American producer for NCsoft West. “This represents the largest content expansion for Lineage II to date, and we plan to keep them coming. We appreciate our loyal players, who have provided us with memorable experiences over the past five years. I encourage gamers ready for a change to join us in the new, accessible, rich world of Lineage II.”

In addition to the expansive new content Gracia Final provides, Lineage II players can celebrate the fifth anniversary with an in-game event that runs now through May 5th. During this event, creatures in the lands of Aden and Gracia drop special items engraved with certain letters and numbers. Players get rewards for acquiring the letters to spell “Gracia,” “Lineage II,” and “5 Years.” More details can be found at http://www.lineage2.com/archive/2009/04/5th_anniversary.html.

Lineage II is known as the gaming market’s premier PvP online roleplaying game, with a customer reach of more than 19 million worldwide. The game is rated T for Teen by the Entertainment Software Rating Board.

To find out more about Lineage II, please visit the website at: www.lineage2.com. 

The new update to Lineage II called Gracia – Part 1 has been live for two days now and the increase in leveling speed is well received.

Thanks to the brand new Vitality system, which rewards the player with an experience bonus for time either spent away from the game or in safe zones. New characters will start out with maximum Vitality, so they can begin improving their character’s advancement within minutes. An increase in rewards for accomplishing quests, battling boss creatures, as well as greater accessibility of items also enable players to increase their character’s level more quickly.

“Gracia represents a huge change to Lineage II,” said Tim Tan, NCsoft’s North American producer. “The increase in leveling speed allows players to create new characters and advance nearly twice as fast as before. This will allow players to experience the meat of Lineage II quickly, giving them the ability to visit new and exciting areas and cool high-level content much quicker than before. While this game is still a hardcore game, these changes with Gracia – Part 1 make the game much more accessible to new players. I hope gamers will take another look at what Lineage II has to offer.”

Continuing the storyline and changes brought with the earlier expansions, this first of three updates involving the land of Gracia, introduces a new terror with the strange dream-like inter-dimensional world of Kamaloka. Adventurers of varying levels can easily travel to Kamaloka and face a series of incredibly potent creatures that are tailored to the experience of the players. The expansion also offers a selection of new and improved skills, many new items, and improvements to the Cruma Tower, as well as other hunting zones.

The Lineage II North American Producer, Tim Tan share his views on the recently released expansion; Hellbound, Pet System Changes and also share some interesting information of future expansions.

Tim consider the addition of the Steel Citadel including Beleth and his minions the biggest accomplishment of the Hellbound update.

As for splitting up the content from the Kamael into Hellbound he say the following… The decision to split up the content from the Kamael into Hellbound was a natural progression. There was so much content to be created and ultimately experienced by the players at the start of the 1st Throne that some features had to be released at a later date.

A lot more is asked and answered, check out the full interview.

Not too long ago, we posted that NCsoft is about to reduce the grind in Lineage II -- which is a very welcome change, especially to new players.

Today the Lineage II team released further information about their upcoming update, Gracia Part 1. We've previously covered information about this major update, this time it’s the Vitality system which will get attention.

Several "system level changes" will be coming to Lineage II with Gracia Part 1 that reduces the leveling grind. Everyone are well aware that the grind in Lineage II is not to be taken lightly, having this adjusted with Gracia Part 1 will certainly be a welcome change, especially for newer players.

"…the process of building and leveling characters can be a very long and frankly tedious process in Lineage II, which may serve as a barrier for letting a much larger group of potential customers to fully enjoy our game…with the release of Gracia; they’ve completely changed the rules and made Lineage II even better and a lot more fun."

Furthermore NCsoft promise everyone that Lineage II remain hardcore for the elite PVP fan, while its "breaking down some barriers to entry with Gracia Part 1 and its new Vitality System".

NCsoft sent us an in-depth developer diary which you can read below.

Lineage II: The Chaotic Throne – Gracia

Leveling: Lineage II’s Big Change Click to see full image</center></div>One of our greatest assets is our fantastic group of players, who are a very dedicated, hardcore bunch that spend a lot of time and effort building up their characters and battling each other in big player vs. player (PvP) fights like castle sieges. However, the process of building and leveling characters can be a very long and frankly tedious process in Lineage II, which may serve as a barrier for letting a much larger group of potential customers to fully enjoy our game. While in the past the developers in Korea have continually built the game with this hardcore mentality firmly set, with the release of Gracia, they’ve completely changed the rules and made Lineage II even better and a lot more fun.

The big change is that leveling a Lineage II character is now extremely easier—and we say “extremely” in a fairly conservative manner. A normal new character that goes through the beginning quests can gain a few levels in just a few minutes, and players should find leveling now quite easily, all the way up to level 60 and beyond. Players that could spend several months of hardcore grinding to get up to a competitively high level will now be able to accomplish the same feat perhaps a month, if not less. They’ll also be able to get to their occupation changes a lot faster, so developing a selection of specialized characters is a much more realistic option. Building characters is now a lot fun and easy to do, rather than a long-term activity many players would rather do without. This drastic change in leveling is due to several factors.

For one thing, experience rewards for killing creatures and accomplishing quests has been increased across the board. This means that you’ll gain a lot more for generally doing the same things you always do. Running out of quests trying to gain experience, or continual creature farming, is not nearly as big of a factor any more. Also, new repetitive quests have been added in each race village to help out players even further.

We’re also introducing a cool new Vitality system. For one thing, you accumulate Vitality for not being logged in. You can also get Vitality points by staying in a peace zone, or by hunting raid or boss monsters (you’ll get a percentage of your earned raid points in Vitality points). New characters and existing characters before the update goes live also start out with the maximum number of Vitality points.

So what do you do with Vitality points? You consume Vitality when you kill ordinary creatures and gain experience, though Vitality won’t get spent if you’re taking on a quest creature, if you don’t get experience for killing a creature, or if you’re taking on a boss. When Vitality is spent, your experience and SP bonus is greatly increased, depending on how much Vitality you currently have. If you’re maxed out in Vitality points (Vitality Level 4), your bonus will be 300% of the normal experience and SP gain. If you have a few thousand Vitality points (Vitality Level 1), the bonus is 150%. Because Vitality is so easy to earn, players will be in the bonus consistently and the overall experience gain can be huge.

To help characters level even more, the buffs available to low-level beginning players can now be used all the way to level 62, and we’ve even added a few more buffs for players to use. These buffs like Haste and Vampiric Rage help out tremendously in dealing with Lineage II’s various creatures and quests, and makes solo play a lot easier.

With Gracia, Lineage II is now a lot easier to play, and the level barrier is not nearly as tough as it used to be. Players will be able to get to the high levels relatively quickly, and can enjoy some of the best parts of the game like PvP and castle sieges without having to spend a huge amount of time getting there.

Gracia Part 1 is expected to go live in August and the preview site which launched last week can be visited at: http://www.lineage2.com/gracia/.

The preview site of the next upcoming expansion for Lineage 2 has been finished and released by NCsoft NA. Gracia the 2nd Throne has a beautiful sky theme and the first part (out of two) with information is available on the new Gracia Preview site. With the second part coming soon.

Check out the Gracia Preview site

Today NCsoft sent us the background fiction of Gracia, which is the latest installment to the Chaotic Throne series for Lineage II. This area is rich with fiction and possibilities, so the next three scheduled expansions should involve Gracia. Gracia Part 1, which NCsoft is working very hard on, now, is expected to launch this August.

“To the west of Aden lies the land of Gracia. Ages ago, the empire of the Giants flourished here, but when they dared to rebel against the main god Einhasad, she smashed their

civilization into ruination with the Hammer of the Stars. Gracia became infamous…It is a hard, harsh, and barren land where survival is equally a matter of luck and skill.”

-- Lineage II Lore

Fiction behind Lineage II Chaotic Throne: Gracia Part 1

The goddess Eva so loved the world and its creatures that to protect it from the rising tide of monsters, she summoned the Kamael. Her desire was to bend their original god-killing purpose, and harness their immense strength to defend Aden. The results were, unfortunately, disastrous.

The awakening of the Kamael came at a high cost. To push them into the service of the Light shifted the natural balance of the universe. Just as there cannot be light without shadow, or summer without winter, so the benefits of the Kamael’s service to Aden offset the balance elsewhere…

The Doom of Aden

Without warning, the easy confidence of the people of Aden was shattered. Sudden disasters were reported throughout the land: whole fields of healthy crops blighted overnight, unknown plagues laid waste to villages, and the weather itself became strange and unpredictable.

People began to pay attention to what they had previously dismissed as the ravings of the “lunatic fringe.” Now those same dire prophecies of revelation and doom took on fresh and terrifying meaning. The sages sought to reassure the people, but their words lacked conviction—they had gazed into their crystal balls and read the cards; they too felt foreboding deep in their bones. Even the Orc shamans had prophesied that a long winter was finally about to descend.

The land’s adventurers and other citizens had been having strange dreams, where they fought against endless hordes of shadowy enemies until overwhelmed. Some would wake up with headaches or wounds; some wouldn’t wake up at all. The sages determined that the increasing tales of a dream world and the tales of prophecies had to be connected. They studied the bodies of the dream-killed and listened to the tales of the survivors. They offered a slew of competing and contradictory theories, speculations and conjectures, but there was one thing all agreed on: this was an omen of a great evil advancing towards Aden. To discover the exact nature of the threat, the sages feverishly scanned the stars and gazed deep into their crystals.

The Discovery of Kamaloka

It was a tremendous undertaking, but the sages’ efforts finally bore fruit as the symptoms of the crisis revealed their true nature one by one. The deadly dreamland was, they determined, a realm created by the power of darkness. The sages named it “Kamaloka,” the place between the real world and Hell. It was an apt name—the monsters encountered there, the Kaneus, were the stuff of nightmares.

The sages were unified in viewing Kamaloka as a threat. Some grasped the truth: it was a dimension that had broken off from the cosmic ether through the power of the goddess of death, Shilen. Although similar to the subterranean dungeons of the Seven Seals, it was far more dangerous—those, at least, were controlled by the Priests of the Seals—this hellish dimension was under no one’s control. According to the Priests, the doomsday scenario centered around the possibility that the dark force ruling Kamaloka could join its power with the dungeons of the Seven Seals. If that happened, they said, it may rupture Shunaiman's great seal and threaten the very existence of the world of Aden.

The course of action was clear: Kamaloka must be stopped before it unites with Seven Seals.

Following the Giran Assembly, representatives of the Ivory Tower contacted the Priests of the Seals with the Assembly’s demand: since this darkness threatened all life on the continent, the Priests must share their knowledge of the Seven Seals with the Wizards of the Ivory Tower. The Priests agreed. It was best to strike directly at the foe’s heart, they said; better to defeat the enemy before it comes. The magicians at Hardin's Academy subsequently hired masses of dreaming adventurers and used them—inhumanely, perhaps—to find the best route to strike deep into Kamaloka.

Fortune smiled on their efforts, and through a series of favorable accidents they finally found the combination they sought. In fact, their results exceeded all expectations: they managed to create a new dimension adjacent to Kamaloka into which adventurers from this world could teleport. They named the discovery the Rim Kamaloka and adventurers actively attempt to enter from this point to defeat the evil that lurks within Kamaloka.

The Source of Darkness

To the west of Aden lies the land of Gracia. Ages ago, the empire of the Giants flourished here, but when they dared to rebel against the main god Einhasad, she smashed their civilization into ruination with the Hammer of the Stars., Gracia became infamous as the wretched place where Emperor Shunaiman of old Oren expelled the worshippers of Shilen. It is a hard, harsh, and barren land where survival is equally a matter of luck and skill.

Upon the death the first king of a unified Gracia, the throne was contested by Karneia, the king's heir, and Kuserus, the king's brother. The resulting civil war caused a new level of suffering for a people already accustomed to hardship. In the midst of these troubles, the darkness began to whisper to the people of Gracia. The worshipers of Shilen, long hidden but still faithful to their dark mistress, began to spread their gospel of destruction. Inexorably, their influence spread across the land and the seeds of discontent grew into hatred. Gracia was plunged into darkness and chaos, affecting animals, commoners, royals, adventurers, and even magicians.

Though she did not fully recognize its significance or origin, it was her anxiety over this supernatural darkness that prompted Eva to summon the Kamael. She did not realize that in Gracia, Shilen’s realm was regrouping and descending upon the world until it was too late. Like the outermost ripple of a great wave, Kamaloka was simply the first indication in Aden of a far greater threat beyond its shores.

The land of Gracia had been reborn, as a land of darkness and death…

• Lineage 2 @ Curse

A couple of weeks ago the Lineage II development team interviewed clan leaders on various servers. The clan leaders share their personal experiences about Lineage II's castle siege system and also the fortress battle system.

“…unlike other games where you just go through the world doing the quests, collecting things, etc, Lineage II offered a far much more intense system of game play.”

-- Sovrath

What’s the most fun you’ve ever had in a Castle siege?

FeRsT ~ Kain ~: That would have to be when we took Rune on Kain from Teamjesus clan and Darkside/Ur/Bregan alliances. They had been zerging the server, outnumbering us to PvP, and we proved to them that with we could compete with equal numbers (about ten clans combined for the siege). We took them down from their status of server kings to show them that all they can do is zerg, and that was by far the best thing, especially seeing it was Fraps’d by Repsol, who is by far the best movie maker in Lineage II playing currently.

Sovrath from Hindemith: Our alliance had made some enemies on the server, and, as the history of our server has shown, when the majority of the populace wants a Castle ruler out, they unite and get them out. We rushed to Aden Castle and discovered that our alliance members and other friends numbered around twenty-one clans. However, the force united against us was around twenty-nine clans.

We all buffed up, making sure that we were in place, only to see a vast sea of players arrayed against us, waiting to rush when the siege time started. It was at that point the weight of the situation impressed itself upon me: unlike other games where you just go through the world doing the quests, collecting things, etc, Lineage II offered a far much more intense system of game play. This game is the players and what you do has consequences.

In any case, the siege took the whole two hours, and never relented for a minute. We fought at every gate, wall breach and entrance. We held them back most of the time, however, in the end their forces were great and their determination strong. Five minutes before the siege was scheduled to end they took our throne room. Even though we lost the siege, it was a great time and we definitely had shown that our forces could put up a formidable defense.

How about Fortress battles?

MysticLance from Gustin: Probably the one I did with four other people last week. I soloed two of the bosses with my Unicorn, which just really shows how easy a fortress can be to take if you're of the appropriate level!

Sovrath: One time I recall a small group from a rather distasteful alliance had signed up rather late in order to see if they could get in. Luckily, we had some clan members and with the help from one or two others we were able to repel them successfully. They never made it to the gates to be honest. Fortress Battles have been a great Clan event though they have all been against NPC’s.

Which do you find more useful, Castle or Fortress ownership, and why?

MysticLance: I find that Fortress ownership is more useful; generally, Fortresses give more diverse porting locations and, while in possession of a Fortress, you can still sign up to siege other fortresses or castles. Maintaining ownership of a castle renders you unable to help defend other castles without suffering significant penalties.

Jkoster from Lionna: I would have to say that the Fortresses add more excitement to the siege field, as it's not something that's exclusive to the level 75+ crowd. With the right numbers and classes, even clans comprised of mostly B-graders can manage a Fortress. In addition, the toys make it a lot more fun, and the setting lends itself well to the role-playing aspect of the game.

If you'd like to see improvements made to castle sieges and fortress battles, what would you suggest?

Jkoster: Extend the duration of possession on Fortresses. Seventy-two hours (assuming no other clan attempts to siege) is just too short. Many clans have members that only manage to log in once during that time, and they do not get any true benefit from the Fortress. As for Castle sieges, I would like to see them become more dynamic, similar to some of the dynamics of the fortress system (sub-boss NPCs, the Control Rooms, etc).

MysticLance: A huge improvement to Castle sieges and Fortress battles would be to remove the penalty of dying if unsigned (a full experience loss). Maintaining the disuse of Siege Charms on those siege fields makes sense in order to prevent a strong group of players from fighting on five siege fields at once with no consequence, but the risk of full experience death when protecting an allied clan's Castle is too harsh of a penalty. I'd also really like to see more useful Siege Summons, considering that a Castle Gate can be taken down faster by a party of Archers than by a Siege Golem!

What are your interactions like with other clans? Who usually dominates at Castle sieges and Fortress battles on your server?

Sovrath: My current clan tends to be more neutral though we have a decent reputation on the server. The problem is that server politics can play havoc on smaller clans so at times they tend to stay out of things if they can. There usually is an alliance, Redemption, which seems to dominate though they are very driven and usually have most of the Heroes on the server—that of course helps a lot.

FeRsT ~ Kain ~: I have been leading top clans on Kain since Chronicle 3. I have always interacted with other clans but generally people didn’t like me on the server. I prefer to out-skill and outclass people, rather than outnumber, and I’ve always been outnumbered, though it makes the game fun. I hardly ever will interact with more than two to three clans to achieve the goal of taking a Castle or crushing a large enemy force unless it is necessary to restore server balance like in the example of the taking of Rune Castle.

Currently UR&B Alliance, who is a Russian alliance made up of Bregan and UR clans, and the alliance of Darkside (made up of DV, TJ and ND) are the main force on Kain. They bring over eighty people to each siege, of which a majority of players comes with epic jewelry. Recently a large majority of the good players left Kain to Teon, Franz or Bartz, and this has left a large PvP gap on the server. There are a few clans putting up fights together but they are no match to this cluster of alliances, especially when they are out-geared, out-leveled and outnumbered.

Do you do anything special to prepare for a big Castle siege or other large-scale PvP battle? (training, eating, etc.)

FeRsT ~ Kain ~: I eat two large pizzas, five garlic breads to scare the vampires away, and two large bottles of Dr Pepper! Well, maybe not all of that. In Australia, the sieges normally start between 9AM and 1PM (or at the moment 7AM and 11AM) so I am lucky to wake up and prepare for them. I feel the best training is general PvP during the week, and nothing makes up for experience like a good leader.

Jkoster: I make sure my schedule is clear and that my clan and alliance members are aware of the siege time and location. I prepare in-game as much as I can, and then just show up. Occasionally, we formulate some sort of an actual plan of attack that actually works, but mostly we begin our battle planning on the siege field.

• Lineage 2
• Lineage 2 official website

Something many players of Lineage 2 NA have wanted for a long time now is server merges. Some of the reasons behind this is declining population on certain servers -- since with the introduction of server transfers, players went to other servers such as Bartz, Teon and Franz.

Lineage 2 is heavily dependent on guilds (named clan's in L2) and other players. If there's not enough players around, the game is simply not fun. Everyone deserve to experience the grand-scale castle sieges, pvp, fortress fights, 1on1, raids and all other adventures that await.

It seems as if NCsoft finally decided to merge the L2 servers in North America and Europe, like we've heard before, "It's about time"

So far the following information is available:

In an effort to maintain the very highest quality Lineage II experience for all of our players, we will be combining several of our North American servers. We aim to make this as smooth and painless a transition as possible for our community and believe that the end result will be a more lively and thriving server community for all.

Over the next few weeks, we will be here to answer your questions and address your concerns. The Lineage II community is as strong as ever, and our players remain dedicated, enthusiastic, and active participants. Our goal is to balance the population to ensure the best possible competitive environment for all and, in turn, promote server growth. Please read on for all the details.

Server Merge Date

• July 8, 2008

Servers to Be Merged

The server merge plan is based upon current server population balancing needs and the physical locale of the server hardware. Servers 1 through 5 are located in North America on the West Coast and servers 6 through 8 are on the East Coast. As such, only servers in the same physical location are eligible to be merged. With that in mind, below is the server merge plan.

• Server 2 (Sieghardt) + Server 5 (Erica) = New Server A
• Server 3 (Kain) + Server 4 (Lionna) = New Server B
• Server 6 (Gustin) + Server 8 (Hindemith) = New Server C

• Please note that the new servers will not experience any latency issues as a result of two server populations being combined on them. The new populations will still be below our very highest population servers.

The new server names are yet to be determined. We will be requesting server name nominations and creating an official poll from the top picks. This will be done in each individual server forum on the official website. We will take nominations until June 19th at 5:00 PM Central time. The names will be voted upon and ultimately chosen by each of the server communities.

After the merges, the old server names will be deleted and not used again.

Servers 1 (Bartz), 7 (Devianne), 9 (Teon), 10 (Franz), and 11 (Luna) will not be involved in these merges.

Account Services

In order to facilitate the smoothest possible merge, all account services will be turned off one week prior to the merge. We are also turning off all transfers to the affected servers on Tuesday, June 17, 2008 (after the regular weekly maintenance).

Characters

Characters will transfer over with all of their individual belongings, including all items and Adena in their private warehouse, inventory, and equipment slots. Individual character status and info, such as quest info and karma, will also transfer over intact with the exceptions of hero status and Olympiad points, which will be reset.

Dormant Character Deletion

• In order to minimize duplicate character names, all characters that are level 10 or lower and have not logged in for more than one year will be deleted.
• To prevent the character deletion, that character simply needs to be logged in once prior to the server merge.

Character Name Conflict Rules

• Details to be posted soon

Character Slots

• If you have more than a total of seven characters between two servers that are being merged, the seven characters that have the most EXP will be kept—the rest will be deleted.
• If you have more than a total of seven characters between two servers that are being merged, and their EXP is the same, the older character(s) will be deleted.

Miscellaneous

• All characters will be moved to the nearest town.
• Character creation will be turned off on the merged server for one week after the merge.
• All unique colored names from Battle Tournament will be reset.

Clans & Alliances

• All alliances will be disbanded.
• Clan information and organization, such as Clan Warehouse, Reputation Points, Clan Skills, clan level, clan leadership and ranks, etc. will be transferred.
• The in-game clan community board and clan crest will be reset.
• All clan wars will be ended.

Clan Name Conflict Rules

• Details to be posted soon

Castles, Manor, & Clan Halls

• All castles, manors, and clan halls will be reset.
• All clans that own a castle/siegeable clan hall prior to the merge will be reimbursed with clan reputation points.
• Castle Warehouse will be initialized and all items will be deleted.
• All clans that own an auctionable clan hall will be reimbursed with Adena (winning bid amount) two weeks prior to the merge. The reimbursed Adena will appear in the Clan Warehouse. Clans who purchase an auctionable clan hall after the two weeks prior to the merge will not be reimbursed.
• The manor system and all items associated with it, such as seeds, will be reset.
• All fortresses will be reset.
• The first castle siege time for a merged server is to be determined.

Olympiad

• Olympiad points will be reset.
• Hero status and associated hero weapons will be reset.

Miscellaneous

• Cursed weapons, Seven Signs Quest, and the in-game community board will be reset.
• Seal Stones and Ancient Adena will be transferred and deposited Seal Stones will be returned to your characters. Seal Stones that were contributed to the priest of each cabal will be converted into Ancient Adena and placed in your private warehouse prior to the server merge.
• The Hellbound stage unlocked will be set to the highest stage reached between the two servers being merged.
• Auction sales rewards will be deleted if you do not collect them prior to the merge.
• Pet names will be reset.
• Character's in-game email will be deleted.
• Friend lists and ignore lists will be reset.
• Raid points will not be transferred.

The Lineage II team is continuing to send information out about their recent update to the game, Hellbound. This diary by the North American production team talks about the fun departure that Fantasy Isle represents for our hardcore Lineage II players.

Lineage II enjoys its reputation as one of the most hardcore player vs. player (PvP) massively multiplayer online games in the market today, and its die-hard community reflects this in many ways. New players are coming to the game in greater numbers and enjoy the unrestrained gameplay and intense battles, and our recently released 4th Anniversary Edition box awards the loyalty of our long-term veterans with discounted player services. When our passionate players and clans aren’t involved in long-term castle sieges or fortress battles, what do they do to wind down or just want to have some fun?

That’s what Fantasy Isle is for. NCSoft recently added the island to the game as a place for players to explore, socialize, and have some fun. Fantasy Isle is a peace zone, where there is no fighting, except in special areas (like the Underground Coliseum), so all characters can enjoy it without worrying about being stabbed in the back (or worse). It’s essentially a giant amusement park.

The first thing you’ll notice upon arrival is that the Isle is completely different from the rest of the lands of Aden and Elmore. The environment is frequently bright and alive with color, featuring a beautiful town, lush fields of grass, jungles, hills and many other interesting places. As you can imagine, Fantasy Isle is not a small reef of land, but a huge island, steeped in its own mysteries and places to visit. The local people and creatures are all rather small and cute, and fit within the happy themes of the island.

In March NCSoft held an event to formally open Fantasy Isle, which they called the “Bunny Money” event. Players could travel to the island and hunt for pieces of various treasure sacks, which would contain various random goodies they were giving away. With a special skill you could discover all sorts of treasure chests, featuring Rabbit Transformation Scrolls and a special magic eye that let you see even more hidden treasure chests. This two-week event gave the players a chance to explore the wonders of the island while scrounging for some great stuff, including S-grade armor and shadow Agathion bracelets.

The opening of the island is just the start of what’s coming. For the release of Hellbound two new features were added to Fantasy Isle: the Underground Coliseum and the Monster Parade. Featuring a new type of team-battle PvP (essentially team deathmatch), the Underground Coliseum pits teams of players against each other in a series of matches—the team with the most accumulated kills wins. The winning team moves on to the next match, while the losing one has to sit out or enter in another series. Each team has to consist of at least seven players, and there are four different coliseums, split up by level, and one coliseum for players of all levels. Players can access the coliseums from Fantasy Isle, offering up another fun diversion from the normal style of play (or PvP) that regular Lineage II players know.

The Monster Parade occurs four times a day and is a procession of each type of NPC in the game, making its way through the play area of the Isle. Players will be able to see the wide variety of NPCs throughout Aden and Elmore in one place. Some of the participating monsters and NPCs will also show up at the performance area on Fantasy Isle, where they may partake in some special performances, including circus acts and even talent shows.

Of course, that’s just the beginning of what they have in store for Fantasy Isle, not the end. The Isle lets us hold large special events that all players can enjoy at once in one area, which also is a big plus for us. Bunny Money was just the beginning, and shows a fraction of what we’ll be able to do. Also, to keep with the amusement park-style theme, we’re looking to integrate all sorts of mini-games on the island, to keep the area fun, fresh and vibrant. When you’re on Fantasy Isle, they want you to relax and have some stress-free fun.

A sneak peak page has been put up that has information about the upcoming Event "Choose Your Destiny" in Lineage 2, which will be available this summer. Check it out for all the details, rules, and requirements of this unique event which allows eligible character to permanently swap their main class with one of their subclasses.

Sneak Peak Page

You can view the Hellbound Update Patch Notes by clicking here.

The Lineage II team has just released a dev diary that talks about several features in the Hellbound update (slated to go live on 4/23), as well as why they think the 4th Anniversary Edition retail box is a cool thing for players to get. They've included 15 screens that illustrate items they mention, like transformations, the two in-game items in the 4th Anniversary box, and fighting in the Underground Coliseum. They also show the lighter side of Lineage II, with screens of Agathians and a parade that goes through Fantasy Isle approximately four times a day.

Dev Diary: What’s So Cool about Hellbound and the 4th Anniversary Edition By the Lineage II North American Dev team

On Wednesday, April 23, 2008, NCsoft will be celebrating the four-year anniversary of Lineage II: The Chaotic Throne’s launch in both North America and Europe. This fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game is one of the premier player-versus-player (PvP) games in the market today, with a customer reach of over nineteen million players worldwide. With the game’s four-year anniversary coming, we wanted to do something special for not only our current players, who have been with us for a very long time now, but also appeal to those who have played in the past to come back and celebrate with us.

The Lineage II: The Chaotic Throne – 4th Anniversary Edition box includes a special edition DVD featuring the Lineage II game client and all of the previously released expansions, all on one convenient disc. If you’re new to the game or just haven’t played in awhile, you can just use the DVD to quickly update to the most current version. Those that buy the box can make use of a whopping sixty days of play time and get access to two exclusive in-game items, the Black Half Mask (a special head accessory) and a Pig Lollipop (which transforms you into a loveable pig – it’s fun!).

We’re also offering free or discounted Player Services for veteran players, depending on how long players have held an account. If you created a Lineage II account one year or more ago you will receive a free Character Gender Change. An account two or more years old will additionally get a half-price Character Name Change, and really long-term players (three or more years old) will earn all of that plus a half-price Server Transfer. Finally, the 4th Anniversary Edition box will include a mini poster with a map of the lands of Aden.

With the shipment of Lineage II: The Chaotic Throne – 4th Anniversary Edition we will also be releasing the next content update for the game: Hellbound. Also included in the 4th Anniversary Edition DVD, the Hellbound update adds many new changes and improvements to the Kamael, our last major expansion. Once you earn the trust of the local Hellbound natives, you will be able to gain access the Steel Citadel, a massive four-tower fortress. Each tower must be defeated in order—the Base Tower, Tower of Infinitum and Tully’s Workshop—before you can gain entry to the Tower of Naia and battle the raid monster Epidos before facing the ultimate boss, Beleth.

The Steel Citadel and an encounter with Beleth are just too tough for normal pre-Hellbound characters; with that in mind, we raised the game’s level cap from 80 to 85, and added a series of new high-level skills and quests to accompany the new level cap. Now a group of super-powerful characters may be able to best the Steel Citadel and take down Beleth.

Hellbound features a lot of other further improvements and enhancements that players will enjoy. For instance, players can now evolve their wolf pets into Fenrir wolves, which can be mounted and ridden into combat. The Baby Buffalo, Baby Cougar, and Baby Kookaburra can be further evolved into “improved” pets, making them better companions. We’ve also raised the level cap for pets to 86. A host of new common and rare transformations are now available, allowing characters to morph into various creatures or even raid bosses for short periods.

Like most updates, we’ve also added all kinds of new weapons, armor and other goods players can collect. All new top-level S-80 grade weapons and armor can be acquired, such as the Icarus Hammer and Wingblade, or the Dynasty Jewel Leather Armor. A new type of Agathion will also be available—Agathions are a different kind of pet (essentially really small, cute companions) that can perform a special trick when you’re fighting.

Lineage II features un-rivaled PvP combat on a large scale, and our recent updates have done a lot to make it even better. Clans wage long-term sieges over nine distinct castles. For those not involved in clans, or who are in smaller clans, we developed a Fortress Battle system, where small groups of players can participate and still get lots of benefits and access to specialized merchants (who sell some cool items). Both of these systems have seen additional changes with Hellbound; clans now have to be even more powerful to participate in castle sieges, and clan leaders who possess a Fortress can now summon and ride a Wyvern into battle.

To round out Hellbound, players will be able to do even more fun things on Fantasy Isle. If you ever wanted to know what a specific NPC looked like, just wait awhile on the Isle and eventually a parade of colorful personas will make their way through each area, roughly four times a day. Players can also participate in the Underground Coliseum, where they can gather in teams and battle each other in a series of deadly matches.

Ornery, the producer of Lineage 2 have provided us with some concrete information concerning when the new Hellbound expansion will launch. Along with the expansion's launch, the new European server, Luna will go live too. More information was provided about details surrounding the account services such as character transfers.

NCSoft just sent us this information about enhanchements to the pet system in Lineage 2. This will become available with the Hellbound expansion (coming this month).

Lineage II: The Chaotic Throne – The Kamael 1.5 (Hellbound) – Steel Citadel Feature

Monday 7th April/... Brighton, UK/... NCsoft Europe presents a new Lineage II feature – Hellbound & Steel Citadel. These are the two new high level areas that will launch with the Collector’s Edition on the 25th April – giving players a greater challenge to tackle.

Hellbound’s Steel Citadel

Since the introduction of the high-level grounds called Hellbound in The Kamael, adventurers have been seeking a way into the deadly Steel Citadel and battle the epic boss Beleth himself. Now with the new update they have the chance they’ve been waiting for. After earning an extremely high level of trust from the Hellbound natives, adventurers will soon learn from them how to gain access into the Steel Citadel and the riches within—if they dare. In fact, players should make sure their characters hit the new level cap (Level 85) before going in.

The task in store for adventurers to reach Beleth is not easy. The Steel Citadel itself is composed of four separate areas or “towers,” which need to be conquered one at a time before moving on to the next. Adventurers will start in the two-story Base Tower, featuring a labyrinthine first floor that features many rapidly spawning creatures, and a second floor, which is composed of several rooms and a long corridor. The second floor is where adventurers can gain access to the other three towers in the Steel Citadel—once they meet certain requirements for each.

Each adventurer in the party must possess Fiery Demon Blood, a special Base Tower-oriented buff, before they can gain access to the Tower of Infinitum. The tower itself has five floors, each with two large rooms—adventurers ascend the tower through one set of rooms and back down the tower through another set. Two major raid bosses are in the Tower of Infinitum: the Demon Prince and Ranku, both of which can be tough but well-organized parties should be able to take them down.

After returning to the Base Tower, adventurers can then move on to eight-story tower known as Tully’s Workshop. After clearing the initial levels they must defeat the raid boss Tully and then take on a set of more powerful creatures, including Darion’s Challengers and finally Darion himself. A deadly raid boss, Darion is clad in heavy armor and wields a large sword and heavy shield. He may use a combination of skillful attacks, such as slamming his shield and utilizing a specialized physical attack called the Black Dragon Claw. Once Darion is defeated, adventurers can then move on to the final tower, the Tower of Naia.

The Tower of Naia is composed of three floors and heavy, sophisticated machinery is spread throughout. Through a series of rooms adventurers will battle followers of Beleth and the raid boss Epidos, though they will only have a short amount of time to blow through each room. Finally, there will be the battle against Beleth itself—or more appropriately, one real Beleth and a number of fake Beleths (note that while they may be fake, they are certainly no pushovers). This will be one nasty battle, and Beleth has access to a series of deadly skills like Chain Lightning and Fireballs, to complicate the attack. Defeating Beleth, adventurers can say with pride that they have defeated one of the most difficult raid encounters ever devised in Lineage II.

Special Limited Edition collector's box to contain exclusive in-game items, artwork book, posters and Kamael statue

Wednesday 2nd April - Brighton, UK/... NCsoft® Europe, the world’s leading publisher of online computer games is pleased to announce the launch of the Lineage II Limited Collector’s Edition. This limited edition version is the ultimate collection for hardened fans and provides new players with a host of incredible, exclusive extras as they embark on their adventures in this stunning online role-playing game.

Lineage II is an epic massively multiplayer online fantasy adventure in which players must work together – and against each other – for economic and political control of the captivating Kingdom of Aden. Since its global launch in 2003, Lineage II has been an unprecedented sales success, with more than 17 million players worldwide and a universally acclaimed reputation as the premier player-versus-player MMOG.

Within the Limited Collector’s Edition, players receive the current version of the Lineage II game client; The Kamael. The first chapter in The Chaotic Throne saga and the largest update to Lineage II yet, The Kamael introduces a whole new playable character race along with numerous game enhancements courtesy of the brand new Hellbound update. The Limited Collector’s Edition also contains three game account codes – a full 30 day activation code, 14 day buddy code and 14 day trial code – together with an additional 15 days game time code, each printed on an attractive collector’s art card*.

In addition, owners of the Lineage II Limited Collector’s Edition also benefit from three exclusive in-game items that help enrich the player’s online enjoyment. These consist of the Black Half Mask accessory item, the Pig Lollipop, which allows players to transform themselves into a pig, and a token for discounts on the new Lineage II server features, such as name/gender change and character/server transfer.

Also included is a stunning 148 page, “The Art of Lineage II” artwork book, filled with examples of Lineage II’s strikingly beautiful character design, an exclusive mini-standee and a hand painted, limited edition Kamael statue, of which just 5500 have been produced. As a special bonus, 50 lucky Collector’s Edition boxes also contain a premium ‘golden ticket’, which is redeemable for a beautiful and extremely rare Dark Elf figurine.

Rounding out the Lineage II Limited Collector’s Edition are: an updated official soundtrack CD, featuring Hyo Beom Lim and Inon Zur; two exclusive A2 posters that combine to form an enormous A1 size image; and the official Lineage II map, reprinted on A2 “vintage” paper.

Mirko Gozzo, Marketing Manager at NCsoft Europe said: “Lineage II is one of our most popular and enduring titles and we are delighted to be celebrating its continued and growing success with such a fantastic Collector’s Edition. This limited edition box set is sure to be the centrepiece of many a gamer’s collection for years to come.”

The Lineage II Limited Collector’s Edition will be available from 25th April 2008 at all major retailers at a recommended retail price of £54.99 / €79.99. The standard edition box of Lineage II is available at a recommended retail price of £14.99 / €19.99 and at the PlayNC® store (http://eu.plaync.com/eu/store/). The game includes a 15 day time card in addition to the standard 30 days play; giving players a total of 45 days play time. Monthly subscription fee to the game is £8.99 / €12.99. The game is rated 12+ by PEGI (http://www.pegi.info). For more information please visit http://www.discoverlineage2.com

Trial, Buddy & Game Time Codes Explanation

Both Trial and Buddy codes allow the user 14 days of play within Lineage II: The Chaotic Throne. Once a Trial account expires, to continue, purchase of the full version of Lineage II: The Chaotic Throne is required. When a Buddy account expires the user may continue by adding more time to their account, either by NCsoft Game Time Cards or account subscription via http://eu.plaync.com (no box purchase is neceesary). Game Time Codes are used to increase subscription within the game. Time is increased via the accounts page within PlayNC.

We've gotten our hands on a couple of new concept art images. They are from the upcoming Lineage 2 expansion, Hellbound. View them below!

Though the largest free expansion in Lineage history, The Kamael, just launched in North America this past December, the Lineage II team has more coming your way…so soon!

Great new content is coming your way in Hellbound, a continuation of The Kamael and the final installment of the First Throne saga for Lineage II. This update includes high-end content and features requested by players, such as an enhanced pet system, high end skills/skill enchantments, and legendary transformations.

New Content: First introduced in The Kamael, the Hellbound area is the main focus for new content, making this area epic in difficulty and intensity. Reaching the raid boss, Beleth, requires large scale cooperative play and nerves of steel. In addition to beefing up the Hellbound area, high level skills, sub-classes benefits, new skill enchants, top tier items, and transformations are available with this update.

Level Cap: With the Hellbound expansion, the game's level cap is raised to 85.

Enhanced Pet System: Players can now nurture, train and level their own ride able wolf, as well evolve their current buffalo, cougar and kookaburra pets.

There is more information to come in the next few weeks about the features of Hellbound. But there is another bonus to this update: a new Lineage II retail box (called The 4th Anniversary Edition) which packages the entire Lineage II series, including the First Throne saga (The Kamael and Hellbound), with great benefits to players, including exclusive content at an exceptional value. More info on this new retail product will be available soon.

Hellbound preview website http://www.lineage2.com/ct15_preview/

Our Curse Lineage 2 contest winners have been chosen! We received several interesting stories of peoples adventures and experiences in the world of Lineage 2; Aden.

When the Exile Clan Takes Aden Castle

Mauluz submitted this story. We feel it's one of the best ones, as such, The Dark Elf Statue and a t-shirt of his choice is the prize.

“Today we stand here together, to make history! The King of Aden will be brought down and revolution will strike in the lands of Aden! By our hands, and our hands alone we will ensure to engrave our name into Statue of Aden! Trust in my leadership and I will guide us to a flawless victory! Blood will be shed, and lives will be lost, but I assure you my friends: WE WILL BE VICTORIOUS! FOR WE… ARE… EXILE!!!”

As the sun slowly hides behind a cloud, I can see the top towers of Aden Castle appear. Slightly blinded by the light I can see the masses of people gathered on the field. It’s way more than I expected it to be… There are at least 250 brave souls here. Each and everyone have trusted their lives in my hands. They trust me to ensure their victory and reach the goals… My hands are shaking but my voice was clear and strong. All my self-doubt that I’ve had in the last two weeks seemed to vanish as the field became more and more clear to me. She sun behind the clouds could not hide the reflection of its light on the shining armors of our men. The normally warm and green siege fields of Aden were now dark and cold. The Warsmiths were busy gathering up their iron and gun powder to load up the siege golems and every pvp-squad was assembled in straight lines of 9 people… How did it ever get so far… How did I come to deserve these masses of people to follow me blindly…

I close my eyes for a short second… So many things go through my head right now….

It all started about two weeks ago. I was talking a walk outside Aden town and as usually staring a bit on the Castle. It’s so beautiful… How its towers stand glorious in the green fields of Aden and how dominating it oversees on the dark Blazing Swamp lands behind it.

As usual I did my fair share of killing that day and as in any other day I’d take my break on the peaceful siege fields of Aden. All seemed to be the same as usual except for one thing… From behind a tree my co-leader and lover Marin appeared. She sat down next to me and said: “It could be yours, you know”. I smiled at her and said that dreaming is for fools. She turned to me, took my face in her hand palms and looked in my eyes dead-serious. She didn’t say nothing at first but those piercing eyes, man those eyes… Not loving, kind and warm as usual. She whispered softly but sharp to me: “Fade… You are the fool, if you do not realize the strength you have behind you. You’ve assembled an army greater then any other kingdom has seen before. The kingdoms of Bartz, Lionna, Sieghart and all of the others… None has seen a force as you made here on Teon. And you, my dear love, YOU are the fool for not taking what should be rightfully yours!”. I tried to smile, but I was a bit dazed by the straight forwardness of Marin. “But I’m not looking for domination, I just want to be strong enough to defend myself and have peace and fun among my people.” At that moment two of my strongest pvp-captains reported the downfall of yet another enemy alliance. “We’ve slain the last four of their groups and have taken their leaders hostage. At your command we will ensure the public execution to frighten off the carebear clans who might think us weak.” Marin stands up, puts a hand on my shoulder as she stands behind me with her back towards me. She lets go of me and the reality strikes me… My alliance has indeed become stronger then I could have imagined. I shouldn’t show them doubt or weakness… I should show them something to believe in and give them goals to fight for. It’s settled then… 14 Days from now we will lay our mark upon these grounds; the walls will crumble and our flags will rise high on the towers of Aden.

I open my eyes again and clouds seemed to have dissolved. A heavenly-like light was shining upon us and I raise my weapon to the sky. So many people and yet such a silence… I look at my firsts in command and I nod my head slightly. These teams are so perfectly trained, they barely need any leading, they just need a figure to follow. All squads run into positions and asif an earthquake goes through all of Aden, our army is on the move.

A deep iron forging sound appears from behind us and a 50 ft mechanical beast appears. The dwarf handling it is giving me a sadistic smile and as he fills the beast up with crystals it moves towards the first walls. The walls go down like a card-house and the castle-guards are slaughtered brutally by elemental forces of our mages combined with the piercing power of arrows. I stand in the middle over-looking the situation. My scouts report incoming enemy forces from the south and I send in my strongest pvp-squads to handle the situation. As the inner door is opened and my dagger-teams are taking out the castle-protection-crystals, I take a second to look over my shoulder… All the sounds of fighting and war seem to vanish as I stare into the eyes of my love; Marin. She looks at me proudly and yet stands behind me humble. I know I stand here today because of her, and I know I stand here today with this army because of more than 250 people who gave their lives for our alliance Exile. I take a deep breath and order for 2 protection teams to guide me into the throne room of the castle. This is the showdown between me and the King of Aden. A battle that will decide upon the lives of many people in the days after… A true stand-off between Exile and the current ruling force of Aden. Revolution is upon us and with the trust of my alliance protecting our Flags on the siege-field and fighting off any enemy who tries to approach, the fight begins. For four minutes I stand in the throne room with our last men fighting to the death to protect me while I engrave our name into the castle forever. And as the last good men die around me, I finish the engraving causing the guards kneel upon their new king!

As for the real story how this siege went… We had a real-life clan meeting with people from our clan coming to my home here in Holland. We had like 20 people in my home here in The Netherlands. Clanmembers from Germany, England, Belgium, Israel and Netherlands. I had a few laptops and pc’s setup so we could siege, but we kinda were planning to get drunk and go to Amsterdam to get more drunk. It ended up with everybody (on all floors of my apartment) in my room with beer and praying for me to finish the 4 minute casting on the Aden Castle. We would be the first Aden Castle holder of the Teon server and eventually managed to keep it for a total of 1 year. (with an interrupt every now and then). The evening turned out to be a huge celebration party and as the casting was finished and the capture of the castle was official, it was asif it was HAPPY NEW YEAR here in this place. Everybody screaming and cheering!! Without any doubt best gaming-career-moment ever! (And I’ve had a lot playing UT99 on LAN’s etc)

So to conclude the story / contest. The best moment you can have in Lineage is the moments you have with your friends there. That’s the beauty I’ve always loved most about Lineage. My alliance and all the people in it, until the very day I left it all behind me.

Exile.

Movie related to the story above here:

http://files.filefront.com/Exile+Aden.../fileinfo.html

Movie about my pvp-days, most enchanting days in Lineage:

http://files.filefront.com/Exile+Gank.../fileinfo.html

http://hosted.filefront.com/mauluz/

Ganking re-defined and Aden Sept 2005.

/Fade2Black - Leader of Exile - Teon, for nearly 4 years (retired now though).

Castle Sieging

Ether wrote this story. It's making it very easy to understand why the castle sieges in Lineage 2 can be very exciting. He'll win an Lineage 2 Kamael Poster and a t-shirt of his own choice.

By far, it must be castle sieging. Picture Giran Castle - tall glamorous structure surrounded by hills. Small white clouds lie scattered across a wide blue sky. The bright sun glaring out across the green pastures. On an ordinary day, the scene is incredibly peaceful, but on the day of a long awaited siege - such grounds become a battlefield.

I'm a massive fan of strategy, and it's extremely satisfying when an awesome, well planned strategy just goes into action flawlessly. With the majority of the alliance fighting the main battle up front, myself being a part of a mage/dagger side squad were waiting behind one of such hills near Giran Castle. Thirty minutes of impatiently waiting around with the other 20 or so restless people helped build up the suspense. Suddenly we were given the order to move, Sword Singers giving us the well needed Song of Wind, and away we went!

When your entire team consists of almost light armored/robe armored classes, the one thing we feared most were archers ready to pick us off one by one. Just rushing towards the Giran walls with people who you've played together with is just as exhilarating enough. But the excitement didn't stop there. We reached the wall, and started taking it down. Daggers slashing away at insane speeds, Mages throwing nukes almost comparable to a full military air strike...all of us constantly afraid of being caught out and swiftly countered by a party of archers. But miraculously that did not happen! The wall fell, and we were granted entrance to the inner castle grounds.

We all then feasted on the reward that awaited before us - the long awaited castle siege PVP. And without any obstacles holding us back - feast we did! Taking down enemy forces like a hot knife through butter - ears ringing with spell incantations and dagger blows, the occasional song, the well timed heals...everything falling together and eventually our clan leader taking the throne...that's by far my best PVP experience.

Immersion and Atmosphere

Aacrjimo tells us of his thoughts on the atmosphere and immersion that Lineage 2 has. For this he'll get an Kamael poster and a keyring.

The enchanting thing about Lineage II is certainly the epic atmosphere that is really effected by your actions as well as the actions of your clan. Open ended PVP lends itself to create unique political situations, which effect how everyone plays on the server. You can play the gracious political player or the bloodthirsty tyrant, and people will react to this and recognize this. Few other MMOs can claim the immersion that L2 has gotten.

The Beginning

Mhenph tells us about the moments when Lineage was brand new and how exciting and fun it was to explore the world and try crazy things. We will send him a t-shirt and a keyring.

Well my favorite moment of Lineage 2, was the first year definitely. I remember me and my friends starting the game, all level 10! Everyone amazed about the monsters, the towns, the high members and their equipment! I recall one special time i saw a blade dancer dancing, and i was like ! ZOMG!! This guy must play this for ages, and i pmed him and asked if he could do that "magic" again and he replied -sure. I went near his character and took several screenshots when he was going up, holding his swords and a red effect appearing around his body, sweet! LOL I sent the pictures to everyone of my friends. Those were great times!

Making parties to explore new areas, like one time we gathered everyone and went outside Gludin to try kill some spiders, red to us (they were level 21). Ahaha.. no one wanted to be the first one to attack it. But after some minutes of arguing a friend of mine went to attack the spider, we all followed him, right behind. I just saw my friend pulling his bow and sending an arrow, the next second, the spider attacks back almost kill him! And everyone running for their lives. LOL amazing time everyone laughing. Just pure enjoying the game. Everyday one of us had stories to tell, about things that happened in game. Now its just the wars, the pvp, farming adena, etc. All that excitement, and feelings are gone, the enemies appeared, the trash talk started, and the game lost that special thingy it had when we started. But after 3 years of lineage, i've some really good time playing it and nice memories and stories. Its just like Mauluz said you'll enjoy the game if you play with your friends and people you like.

Wedding Crashers

Ekaj crashed an in-game wedding. For sharing his story we will give him a t-shirt and a keyring.

An enemy clan we were at war with, BloodPledge, was having a wedding in-game inside their castle at the time. We got them to open the doors while at war with them and proceeded to kill everyone and pick up all of their "decorations".

Certainly one of the many amusing moments I've had in this game.

Old clan member still had the video on his HD and I uploaded it to my FF. Definately not a good quality video and it's pretty old.

http://files.filefront.com/WEDDINGCRA.../fileinfo.html

Another Castle Siege Story

Hather tells us about the first series of castle sieges that occured in Lineage 2. A keyring and t-shirt will be sent his way.

My favorite moment in Lineage 2, was back during the first series of castle seiges. I was in a guild on Erica called Dragonlords attacking the Dion Castle. Our rival's on the server, alliance wise, were seiging a different castle so we had only npc's to face. At the time I think I was around lvl 46 and a Spellhowler. We were all standing around our guild leaders as we were planting flags down on the seigegrounds.

Then my guild leader, Draconi, a warsmith summoned one of the first Seige golems on the server. THAT WAS AWESOME! That thing just kept going up and up and up into the air. (Although we had trouble using the golem on the door, and ended up breaking it down with just players) I remember that being a painful battle with each crack appearing on the door getting our excitement up to get into the castle and capture it. I recall dying about 50 times nuking the npc archers and getting peppered by about 12 arrows, I looked like a real pincussion. Sadly we did not end up capturing the castle at that time. But it was the most exhilerating experience I had in that game, then I just got addicted to Seiges.

Thank you to everyone that participated and congratulations to the winners!

NCsoft Europe Prepares To Launch New European Server For Lineage II: The Chaotic Throne increased demand for NCsoft's acclaimed MMORPG Lineage II celebrated with launch of additional EU server.

Thursday 6th March/... Brighton, England – NCsoft® Europe, the world’s leading publisher and developer of online games, will soon be launching a new European server for its hit massively multiplayer online PC game, Lineage® II.

Since its worldwide launch in late 2003, Lineage II has been an unparalleled success, reaching more than 17 million players worldwide and gaining a reputation as the gaming market’s premier player-versus-player (PvP) MMOG. Following the December 2007 launch of Lineage II’s latest expansion, The Kamael, which added a staggering gigabyte’s worth of new content to the game, demand for European server access is running at an all time high as new players rush to join long-time fans. By launching a new server, called Luna, alongside the existing European servers Franz and Teon, NCsoft Europe has quickly moved to ensure continued, instant access and smooth online gameplay for new and current players of Lineage II.

Lineage II is an epic, online fantasy adventure like no other. It offers a dynamic online world, drawn in exquisite detail and populated with wonderfully lush landscapes, intricately sculpted fortresses and beautifully realised characters. Players can storm massive castles, fend off majestic beasts, ride dragons into battle and conquer formidable rival clans as they aim to become part of the Kingdom of Aden’s political and social elite. With the launch of The Kamael players can enjoy an entirely new playable race, a mysterious breed of one winged soldiers with an affinity to dark magic, along with a completely enhanced new player experience that’s helped to introduce thousands of new adventurers to Lineage II’s incredible world.

“Lineage II is a remarkable game that truly encapsulates the very best that the massively multiplayer online RPG genre has to offer. With its deep, immersive gameplay and thrilling player Vs player combat the demand for server access across Europe continues to be incredible.” said Mirko Gozzo, Lineage II product manager at NCsoft Europe. “We’re delighted to be launching a brand new European server for a game that continues to go from strength to strength.”

NCsoft expects the new Lineage II server, Luna, to launch at the end of April.

The standard edition box of Lineage II: The Kamael is available now at major retailers at a recommended retail price of £14.99 / €19.99 and at the PlayNC® store (http://eu.plaync.com/eu/store/). The game includes a 15 day time card in addition to the standard 30 days play; giving players a total of 45 days play time. Monthly subscription fee to the game is £8.99 / €12.99. The game is rated 12+ by PEGI (www.pegi.info). For more information please visit www.discoverlineage2.com

NCSoft's Lineage II: The Chaotic Throne is a fantasy massive multiplayer online role-playing game for the PC, and a prequel set 150 years before Lineage. It has become very popular since its October 1, 2003 launch in South Korea, reporting 610,918 unique users during the month of March 2007.

Kamael/The Chaotic Throne which is the newest and largest addition to the Lineage II franchise. At more than 1 Gigabyte, Kamael is the largest expansion ever for the massively multiplayer online PC game and adds an entirely new playable race, new lands, ongoing fortress battles, instanced dungeons and new account services to the game, which has continued to increase in depth and story.

Thanks to NCSoft we got the following stuff that YOU can win:

• Dark Elf Statue (this one is really cool, check out the images below!)
• T-Shirts
• Key Rings
• Female Kamael Poster
• Male Kamael Poster

How do I participate?

There's three ways. We'd like for you to reply to this news post with either of the following (or you can include all three).

Most exciting PVP battle you have experienced in Lineage 2

Simply tell us about the most exciting PVP battle you ever experienced in Lineage 2. Having played Lineage 2 a lot myself in the past -- the PVP in Lineage 2 can get very intense and your adrenaline pumping. Share your experiences with us and have a chance on getting Loot!

Favorite moment in Lineage 2

Since Lineage 2 is a game which encourage group play heavily and guilds in L2 tend to be almost a must to be part of, there's a lot of moments you get to share with each other. Anything from Castle Sieges, doing long lasting quests.. back to how it use to be in Cruma Tower during retail. First time ever exploring a certain area, etc etc. The world of Lineage 2 is huge (see the map below) so there's plenty of experiences to share. I certainly have many memories of my adventures.

What do you think is the most enchanting in Lineage 2?

We're curious what you find to be the most enchanting in Lineage 2. What was it that captivated you? Music? Atmosphere? Gameplay? Story? Classes? PVP? People? Grind? Difficulty? YOU tell us!

Further details

Entries must be received between March 2, 2008 and March 9, 2008. Curse Inc. ("Curse") assumes no responsibility for lost, misdirected or late entries or entries containing incorrect or incomplete information. Winners will be notified by e-mail and must respond within seven (7) calendar days or an alternate winner will be chosen. Curse will select the prize winners from among all eligible entries received. The only entries that will be considered eligible entries are entries received within the time frames described above that contain the required information. Odds of winning depend on number of eligible entries received.

Winners will be contacted and all prizes will be shipped to the winners as soon as possible. Prizes are not transferable. No substitution of prizes for cash or other goods or services is permitted.

This contest is open to legal residents of any country, who are thirteen (13) years or older at the time of entry. Only one entry per person. More than one entry from any person or email address may void all entries from that person or email address. Employees of Curse and its affiliates, and immediate family members of such employees, are not eligible to enter. This contest is subject to all applicable laws and is void where prohibited. By participating in this contest, entrant agrees to abide by and be bound by these rules and the decision of Curse, which shall be final and binding.

We're very happy to announce that The Library: Items & Equipment database is now current. This is an ongoing work in progress, as many of the items still need screenshots and there are more items to add to the Miscellaneous categories, but we wanted to share what we have completed thus far. We hope you enjoy the changes!

Check out the official Lineage II Library.

I previously posted about server transfers in Lineage 2. Apparently most players have been transferring to the two European servers; leaving them extremely crowded. Due to this, Ncsoft have decided to suspend transfers to Teon and Franz for the time being.

Also, due to this and other events, Ncsoft have announced that they plan to open a new European Lineage 2 server this year. Putting the total number of European L2 servers at three. When is unknown -- but it's most likely sooner rather than later.

You can read about all this in detail here.

If you're interested in Lineage 2 and especially in making movies (replays) of Castle and Fortress sieges.. then you should definitely participate in the latest contest over at the official L2 website.

Read the rest here.

Wow. So it finally happened. Servers transfers, I mean. I use to play Lineage 2 back in the open beta and retail. I also spent quite some time in Chronicles 1. This was years ago--and even then, they said server transfers would happen very soon. Well, now we know what soon means to Ncsoft Austin!

A lot of rules must be met in order to be eligible for transfers. Read about it here.

NCsoft has rolled out two of the Account Services talked about briefly in our last Lineage II preview.

Included in the services is the ability to change your characters name, as well as its gender... something that hasn't really been made available in mass-market MMOs in the past, other than Ultima Online.

Coming in a few weeks to round out the Account Services will be Character Server Transfers -- allowing players to transfer to a new server if they're looking for a new home to play Lineage II on.

This isn't the only news out of the Lineage II camp, though. NCsoft has also introduced a new Referral Program that gives Lineage II players the opportunity to refer a friend and receive a free month of play.

To find out more, head over to the Account Services and Referral Program pages on the official Lineage II website.