Server: Sartok
Host: Covenant of the Phoenix
Event: Castle War
Date/Time: December 27th, 2008 / 9:00 am - 1:00 pm CST

Details: Covenant of the Phoenix would like to invite all Sartokonians to an event they're calling Castle War!

Two castles on Jalen's Retreat will both be holding 3 randomly placed chests. A team is assigned to each of the castles. Whichever party is first to recover all the opposing parties chest items, return to your base castle and have all three recovered items on one character WINS!

For levels 11-30, the event starts at 9:00 am CST. At 11:00 am there will be a snowball fight. Then at 12:00 pm, levels 31-50 will battle.

For more information, contact Valdren in game, or visit the guild's event page.

If you or your guild have an event coming up that you would like to share with the community, please send a message to Amnerys on the Official Vanguard Forums.

This week we're spotlighting the guild Apocalypse from the Halgar server. We have a special interview with the guild's officers, and they talk about forming the guild and what they are up to these days.

If you or your guild would like to be featured in the Community Spotlight, just check out this post in the Official Vanguard forums, and send in your information and images. It's that easy!

All Vanguard servers will be restarted Thursday morning, 12/18/08 at 4:00 am PST. The downtime should be minimal and no game data is being updated. We apologize for the short notice!

Click through for more information!

Click through for more info on the Bridge of Destiny and Island of Garuzamut, the Arena of Games, enchantments and new race/class combos.

Server: Xeth
Host: Shadowfire and Wings of Justice
Event: Snowball Fight
Date/Time: December 20th, 2008 / 7 pm EST

Details: Everyone is invited to this snowball fight! There's just one catch. You have to sign up on one side or the other. You can either help Shadowfire invade Keejay Cove in northeast Qalia, or you can help Wings of Justice defend the island. (Of course, half the fun of a good snowball fight is pegging your friends when they're not looking, so they won't be strictly enforcing the sides.)

The fight starts at 7 pm EST and goes until everyone is too tired to go on!

For more information, see the official forum post for the event.

If you or your guild have an event coming up that you would like to share with the community, please send a message to Amnerys on the Official Vanguard Forums.

All Vanguard servers will be brought down Thursday morning, 12/18/08 at 5:00 am PST, for updating. The estimated downtime is about four hours. We apologize for the short notice!

Click through for more info on fishing, some screenshots of the first player-made galleons, Randolph and the Festival of Gloriann, and a sinister snowman.

Official SOE Podcast #52, our annual holiday cast, is live! Listen to an interview with EQ Lead Designer Rytan and an interview with Mark Tuttle, Global Brand Manager for our online strategy games. Plus, the jolly ogre Santug Clug stops in to spread holiday cheer.

So tune in! You can get your Podcast goodness two different ways: head over to the Podcast's official site and click on your preferred bandwidth, or if you have iTunes installed select iTunes store, type SOE into the search box and click Subscribe! Your feedback is always welcome on either the Station forums or via email…

Official SOE G.I.R.L. t-shirts are available for purchase through SOE’s Station Store, perfect for the girl gamer on your holiday list! Three different styles of the shirts will be offered, including two styles for women and one for men, all priced at $19.99 (plus applicable taxes). SOE will donate 100% of t-shirt sales to the G.I.R.L. Scholarship.

Click through for more info and to Purchase a G.I.R.L. T-shirt!

All Vanguard servers will be brought down Tuesday morning, 12/16/08 at 5:00 am PST, for updating. The estimated downtime is about four hours.

Be on the look out for an abundance of gifts and goodies! Those who have been very nice this year may find their treats granting them an extra little something special!

Click through for more holiday goodness. And to hold you over until the Festival begins, why not come on over to the Official Vanguard Forums and play our Festival of Gloriann Spot the Differences game?

Please be advised that SOE phone support and in-game support will be limited this Friday, December 12th. 

• Phone support will be unavailable on Friday, December 12th and will resume at 10:00am Monday, December 15th.
• In-game support will be available during their normal business hours, however response times may be delayed, response times will resume to normal on Saturday December 13th.
• Chat and email support will be available normal business hours on Friday December 12th.

We apologize for any inconvenience this might cause.

Server: Xeth
Host: Shadowfire, Wings of Justice, and The Commonwealth
Event: Xeth Newbie Night #11
Date/Time: December 14th, 2008 / 8:30-10:00 pm EST

Details: Shadowfire, Wings of Justice, and The Commonwealth are hosting their 11th Newbie Night to welcome new players to the game on Sunday night, December 14th from 8:30 pm EST to 10:00 pm EST.  They can be found in both Qa Riverbank and Veksal's Exchange.

Members of these guilds will be available in the outposts to give out buffs to help with adventuring, as well as some items that new players will find useful. They'll also be in regionsay / private tells and will be happy to answer questions, give advice, and generally chat and have fun.

This is a community event, and the hosts welcome anyone who would like to help out or participate.

For more information, see the official forum post for the event.

If you or your guild have an event coming up that you would like to share with the community, please send a message to Amnerys on the Official Vanguard Forums.

MMORPG has opened voting for their 2008 Readers Choice Awards, and is now accepting votes in the category of Best Overall Game. Vanguard is just one of the many MMOs nominated, and only you can make sure your favorite game is recognized.

Voting closes December 31st, so go register (it's quick and painless!) and make sure everyone knows that Vanguard is the best game out there!

This week we're spotlighting the guild Shadows of the Dragon from the Halgar server. We talked with Guild Leader Zipp and got the scoop on this casual guild. Lately they've been busy raiding and have been showing their might in APW. Read on to find out more about Shadows of the Dragon!

If you or your guild would like to be featured in the Community Spotlight, just check out this post in the Official Vanguard forums, and send in your information and images. It's that easy!

We apologize for the change, but this week's update has been delayed until Wednesday.

All Vanguard servers will be brought down Wednesday morning, 12/10/08 at 5:00 am PST, for updating. The estimated downtime is about four hours.

Server: Seradon
Host: Safe Haven
Event: Wardship Group Week 2: Thelaseen
Date/Time: December 9th, 2008 / 9:00 pm EST (6:00 pm PST)

Details: Safe Haven is hosting a dungeon run through Thelaseen for Wardship Armour quests and just to have some fun. Anyone is welcome to sign up. This new weekly group was intended to help finish wardship quests and/or get all the pieces for armour that you need. Last week was a VT run, this week is Thelaseen and next week will be Vi Rak.

Space is limited. To sign up, visit the event's forum post.

If you or your guild have an event coming up that you would like to share with the community, please send a message to Amnerys on the Official Vanguard Forum.

All Vanguard servers will be brought down Tuesday morning, 12/09/08 at 5:00 am PST, for updating. The estimated downtime is about four hours.

Account theft isn’t isolated only to those who choose to trade or share their Station accounts (which is ignoring the EULA!). As the Internet and online gaming population grow, so does the cesspool of scammers.

There are a variety of ways in which people will attempt to gain access to your account, and the list grows every day. Fear not, there are simple tips to ensure that your account is protected.

Read on for more information on account security.

Server: Seradon
Host: The Preferiti
Event: Pay It Forward
Date/Time: December 6th, 2008 / 6:00 pm EST

Details: The Preferiti are hosting their second Pay It Forward event. This event began because of the guild's interest in two things: helping to advance the community in anyway that they can, and to return the kindness that has been extended to them.

This event will be aimed at tier two (levels 11-20) in all three spheres.  Prizes include gear, consumables, bags, diplomacy cards, and many more items.

Pay It Forward will include Telon Trivia and Riddles for Gold, which was a huge success at their last event, and takes place in their chat channel. Chat channel information will be available in the event forum post.

If you or your guild have an event coming up that you would like to share with the community, please send a message to Amnerys on the Official Vanguard Forum.

This week we're spotlighting Rihdan of Seradon. He's a level 31 shaman, and an avid roleplayer. He also has a handful of alts, and his personal NPC would be a hilarious little gnome. Read on to find out more about Rihdan!

If you or your guild would like to be featured in the Community Spotlight, just check out this post in the Official Vanguard forums, and send in your information and images. It's that easy!

All of us here at SOE would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving. Have a great holiday! Be safe and eat hearty.

At SOE we are Thankful for...

• Two successful expansion launches

• Hoth!

• Free Realms Beta Sign ups

• Our families, who put up with our long hours and gaming habits

• Our friends, both in our worlds and the real world

• YOU!!!

Official SOE Podcast #51 is live!!! This is official SOE Podcast #51, our Thanksgiving Podcast! In this Podcast we chat with Hal the Lore Dungeon Hamster, we hear a "Dramatic Thanks," and we get to hear what our listeners are thankful for.

So tune in! You can get your Podcast goodness two different ways: head over to the Podcast's official site and click on your preferred bandwidth, or if you have iTunes installed select iTunes store, type SOE into the search box and click Subscribe! Your feedback is always welcome on either the Station forums or via email…

Phone and Live Chat Support will resume on Monday, December 1st from 10am to 7pm.

This week we're spotlighting Asadi of Seradon. Asadi is a level 50 Kurashasa Ranger who votes pirates and robots, and has a clever solution for life on a deserted island. Read on to find out more about Asadi!

All Vanguard servers will be brought down Tuesday morning, 11/25/08 at 5:00 am PST, for updating. The estimated downtime is about four hours.

The update has been moved to Tuesday this week because of Thursday's holiday in the US. Thanks for your understanding.

Click through to see more of Antioche's screenshots! If you'd like to submit screenshots of your adventures or your home to share with Vanguard Players, you can submit them by email to soefanart@soe.sony.com.