Lineage II community, we hear you!

Lately, we’ve all witnessed a staggering increase in the number of Lineage II trial accounts that are being abused. As we all know, the purpose of a trial account is to give someone who hasn’t tried Lineage II before a chance to give it a test drive. Unfortunately, our trial codes are being used more and more, by individuals who are not true members of our community, in ways that harm the player experience. We have received an overwhelming number of requests from our player community to put a stop to this trial account abuse; so, we have made a reluctant, but absolutely necessary decision. As of today, April 29, 2008, we will greatly limiting trial account creation. Current trial accounts that have already been activated will be left active.

We will also be making some changes to how trial accounts can be acquired. For the time being, trial codes acquisition will be limited, but you will still be able to acquire trial codes via the Refer a Friend program. We will be monitoring all trial codes very closely. This is something that we believe will actually create a better atmosphere for our players in Lineage II and, especially since our community has requested this move, we are happy to oblige.

For those former and potential players who may in the future wish to use a trial code with the intent to simply try out Lineage II, though limited, trial codes are still accessible! You can get a trial code from an existing player via the Refer a Friend program. The Lineage II team will be monitoring this situation closely and will update our community on further developments and policy changes.

Thanks to our community members who report these abuses and do all they can to keep the game challenging, fair, and fun.

While our Lineage II players generally enjoy playing and advancing their own characters, they still like to have a different experience every once in awhile. Our players also crave something new and diverse—something they can't get in any other fashion. How about playing something one normally wouldn't play, like one of the game's many dangerous creatures? Players who have experienced Lineage I have seen something very similar to this with polymorph scrolls.

With The Kamael we expanded on this concept, which we call transformations. Moderate- to high-level characters can transform into a variety of creatures for combat and non-combat situations, utilizing a special talisman, skill or consumable scroll. Players level 50 and above from all classes can acquire the "More than Meets the Eye" quest from Necromancer Grand Master Hardin in his Academy. Once the quest is completed, players can then go to Transformation Wizard Avant-Garde on the second floor of the Ivory Tower to get their first transformation skill: Transform Onyx Beast. The player must also possess a Transformation Sealbook for that particular creature in order to learn the skill. The Sealbooks can typically be purchased from various vendors (for example, the Dragon Bomber Sealbook can be purchased from the Town of Aden Adventure Guildsman).

From there, as the player gains levels they can gain other transformation skills and Sealbooks. At level 55 the player can acquire Transform Doom Wraith, and then at level 60 players can get racial specific transformation skills. Each of these skills is geared towards a specific race, though another race may use them with some decreased attributes (exactly how much depends on the race). These battle-oriented transformations are known as combat transformations, where the character assumes the stats of the transformed creature. They also have access to a number of transformation-related skills; the higher the character level, the more skills become available. Combat transformations last thirty minutes and can only be used once every four hours.

A couple of the transformations are special cases, like when a Kamael goes through their third class change, or when the player acquires a specific item (like the Demon Sword Zariche). We also introduced non-combat transformations, which are generally more socially fun and no special skills are required.

With Hellbound we wanted to further add to the transformation system and give it a bit more depth and variety. Five new commonly available transformations were added for all characters that reach level 70. At the same time we introduced a series of very rare transformations, which allow the character to transform into an especially tough raid boss, like Ranku or Kechi. They won't be as powerful as that raid boss, but they'll be more powerful than the normal combat transformations. The Transformation Sealbook needed to complete the transformation process can be acquired by hunting certain types of raid monsters, so obviously these items will be highly sought after.

Aside from a couple of new, fun non-combat transformations, a set of class-specific transformations have also been added. Once the player reaches level 80 in their sub-class they can undertake a special quest to acquire it. These transformations into "divine" versions of their sub-class can be especially powerful and have a wide variety of specialized skills available to them.

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.

The week starting on 04/14 brought an interview with Producer Tim Tan and the results of MMOFury`s recent Fan Site Awards, read below:

WarCry Network - Hellbound Interview with Producer Tim Tan

Jordan Deam of the WarCry Network recently sat in with North American & European Lineage II Producer Tim Tan for a candid chat about the upcoming Lineage II update The 1st Throne - The Kamael: Hellbound™.

WarCry: What is a hardcore L2 player likely to be most looking forward to out of Hellbound?

Tim Tan: I would definitely say the challenge of the new aspects of Hellbound -not the update name, but the actual zones - actually getting into the Steel Citadel, and fighting Darien who's essentially Beleth's bodyguard, and actually encountering Beleth. That chain of progression is going to be the end all, be all of the PvE aspect of the game. So I think the most hardcore are going to be interested in doing that to get to the highest-end items in the game.

Check out the full interview here!

MMOFury Fan Site Awards Results

MMOFury's recent Fan Site Awards event has come to an end and the results are in! They received thousands of entries from fan sites spanning a wide variety MMO games. Congratulations to all the winners! You can see the entire winners listing here.

Lineage II - The Kamael - Interview @ Strategy Informer

Greetings folks,

Please, don't come after me with torches, oil and pitchforks. I'm just the messenger.

We are scheduled for a short downtime starting at 2 a.m. PST Feb. 1 for mandatory maintenance that is being done by the data center, which is beyond our control. This includes our sites and forums.

The downtime is estimated to be less than three hours and is occurring during the off-peak times. So if you happen to be a night owl or an early riser or our European/Asian friends, we are only down temporarily for maintenance, check back with the site later.

Thanks and have fun gaming!
~Kayhynn
Stratics PR Coordinator

LineageII SEA will still be on FREE Open Beta stage until January 22, but why wait when you can top-up now to avoid the rush and win premium in-game items just for being early?

1. Accounts will be available for top-up from January 17 onwards while activation of game time will start on January 22, 2008. If you load your account before January 22, no game-time will be deducted from your card until after the server maintenance of January 22, 2008.
2. All PH accounts with at least P500(PH) will be awarded with a Black Feather Mask during the scheduled insertion. Only one in-game item will be given per account.
3. All MY/SG accounts with 54rm(MY)/ 30sg(SG) worth of topped up game time will be awarded with a Golden Festival Mask during the scheduled insertion. Only one in-game item will be given per account.
4. The in-game items will be rewarded on the following dates:
   - January 29
   - February 12
   - February 26
   - March 11
   • To be able to qualify for the awarding of the said dates, players must be able to meet the requirement before 12nn of the Friday before maintenance time. (Example: a player must have accumulated top-up of P500 before 12nn of January 25 to be able to have the prize ready by the January 29).
   • If the account fails to meet the requirements before the said date, his/her account will be awarded the item on the next awarding day (if we based it on the previous example, player will need to wait until February 12 to receive the item).
5. Only one in-game item will be awarded per account
6. The in-game item will be awarded directly to the player's account during the server maintenance. It will be inserted to the warehouse of the player account's first character
7. Promo Period will be from January 17 - March 07, 2008

And this is just for starters! So stay tuned for more cool stuff in the coming weeks as we officially launch SEA's premier MMORPG: LineageII!   

Black Feather Mask & Golden Festival Mask

Can’t find one? Contact the list below for a seller near you!

Can’t find one? Contact the list below for a seller near you!