Sendaii the Hive Queen is Dead and the path to Dreadspire has been revealed, although the two events are not necessarily related.

We are currently progressing through the initial parts of the Depths of Darkhollow storyline, and while none of the encounters mentioned here have been much of a challenge, relieving Vishimtar and Overlord Mata Muram of their 5 month reign of our newspage was way overdue.

Admittedly the launch of DoD transpired sans too much adversity, albeit when encounters yield 54 day lockout timers instead of 4, this is definitely something that requires immediate attention. Also please make sure that those unlucky enough to be zoning from an untimely death as their guild completes an encounter actually receives the reward for the raid in question. Unfortunately I was not able to attend the Emperor Draygun and Council of Nine raids, thus the pictorial coverage is somewhat limited. Further updates to follow.

Post years of unchallenged reign, the newspage of Raging Fury was finally slain today, replaced with a graphical innovation that in my opinion is a vaste improvement of our informational relay channel to the Everquest Community.

Kenneth Weide, more commonly known as Knekker the rogue on Antonius Bayle, graciously offered us his talents when learing that we wished to enhance our webpage. On several occasions in the past, the guild has utilized Knekker's services, primarily through the signature picture that has become a tradmark of both his artistic abiLities, and distinct method of approach. Personally I must admit to being somewhat surprised at the temperance displayed by the artist upon learning that the design needed minor alterations for the sixth or seventh time, though I think I can safely speak for every party involved when I say that the end result is an epitome of our expectations.

There will come a time when Knekkers work will reap great renown, and without doubt he will shortly host an online gallery for more extensive display of his work, but until such a time arrives, you can view his prior projects on our forum through clicking here. On behalf of the entire guild, thank you kindly Knekker!

Despite installing a php based news updating system allowing for other members to update once in a while, there seems to be an eerie feel of reluctance towards accepting remotely connected to public display. Thus the readers will have to endure my rants for the time being. The two images included above were chosen merely as they are the main protagonists of our weekly raiding agenda, and to prevent the first update on the new page to consist solely of text. As insignificant as it might seem, the return of the Circle of Drakes event was highly appreciated, and added a tinge of something new to an all but redundant schedule. The announcement of the new expansion arrived not a minute too late, and as always before, new content lures the community into a state of eager acceptance, brooding silently whilst awaiting different challenges.

A few updates back we blantantly disclosed the fact that one of our most active wizards, Skyllah, still adorns herself with elemental clothing. Apparantly she is not alone when indulging in such planar remnants, through mail, I received information that amongst the wizards of Heaven & Earth, there resides a player by the name of Kilzadi who oddly enough also wears the cloak of combustion! Pure happenstance? Or does this cloak possess something exquisite and unique? Please feel free to attend Skyllah's historical lecture on planar armour in the Plane of Knowledge this Saturday at 16.00 near the Priest of Discord.

Added by Uren, last but not least:

Two words more than adequately sum up the new Vishimtar event, chain reaction, and despite the fact that I feel those words alone would suffice for an update, one has to give the developers credit for the way they have ameliorated this event. Every individual, regardless of class, play a vital role during the encounter, and should one of them falter slightly, the path downhill is relentless. We can only hope that the upcoming expansion will offer events similar to this one, it was highly enjoyable.

Recruitment wise we are currently looking for a shaman or two, apart from meeting our basic aa requirements all we deem a necessity is that you actually show up for raids. Our narrowing wizard branch would also benefit from an addition or two, please inquire from either Rahvin or Lilchantress ingame if Raging Fury seems an interesting choice. All we demand from potential future wizard members is that their back item surpasses Skyllah's cloak of combustion. Opening the quote session is Faernx suggesting a new logo for the guild.

Overlord Mata Muram fell for the first time on Antonius Bayle tonight, and with his dying wail, the entire continent of Kuua trembled visibly, from Dranik's scar to Riftseekers. Those that have already beaten this mob have more than adequately covered the basics of the fight itself, though personally I will not praise any encounter that ultimately bases the outcome somewhat on mere luck. Certain occurrences throughout the endeavour, based solely on luck of the draw, will render a wipe all but inevitable.

Amongst the favourite excuses used during this encounter were; "I clicked the mask, really, I did!", "I panicked and could not find my dodge button, but atleast I landed a heal instead!" and last but not least, the overall winner; "I was browsing for a cloak upgrade on lucy and missed it". One can only begin to guess who the latter excuse belongs to.

Having completed the Omens of War expansion, there are currently no encounters left unbeaten by Raging Fury, though I am certain we all eagerly await the new and improved Vishimtar event. Speaking of patched events, Antonius Bayle has once again been left behind in comparison to the other servers. Sometime during March, the Eye of Vishimtar was added to the final encounter in the Dragons of Norrath expansion, on all servers, excepting Antonius Bayle. I might be mistaken when it comes to the actual numbers, though I remember seeing a developer mentioning the fact that since the patch, Vishimtar had merely died about 20 times on all the servers. How many of these deaths originated on Antonius Bayle? Eight. Both Darkwind and Raging Fury killed Vishimtar four times each during this period, but the Eye of Vishimtar was never implemented on this server, in other words, we were forgotten anew, highly reminiscent of when Arch Magus Vangl was left unaltered for weeks post being fixed on the American servers. It is pretty disconsolate to witness the lack of attention towards our server time and time again, if nothing else, utilize post-it notes to remind yourselves of the fact that you are actually hosting a European server. One that actually requires your attention every once in a while.

Secondly, but equally important. While I remain uncertain of how this situation is on the other servers out there, Antonius Bayle has had a dramatic increase in regards to the usage of illegal aids. Post the merger with Kane Bayle a few months back, there have been countless incidents involving people warping back and forth throughout various zones, relocating themselves to a safe spot within the zone to heal prior to warping back in and engaging the mob. No drop items are being traded with equal ease thanks to recently added plug ins to Macroquest, these might have existed for some time also, though personally I had never even heard of such until it started infesting the server. What used to define your character, i.e. your equipment, is now available to anyone that is willing to pay the price for it, whether it be rotting items from within Anguish, or outdated Tacvi gear from someone having moved on to better standards.

Other online role playing games have suffered a similar faith, leaving behind a player base consisting of solely cheaters. Do you seriously intend to watch your own product be reduced to such a state while doing nothing? The monthly fees you might salvage through not banning these individuals might seem alluring for now, but rest assured that if the cheating progresses in the same pace it has now, the gaming experience will be all but ruined for most that still enjoy spending time in the world of Norrath.

Condoning the sale of droppable items and characters is one thing, I will not indulge myself in a rant concerning that issue, but these extremes that have been mentioned here needs to be addressed, immediately. It might not be possible to prevent the usage of it 100%, we are all aware of that, but through making a few examples, I am certain the usage will be highly limited. It is sad to behold unnamed players zoning into the Walls of Slaughter, warping to the zone in area of Anguish, and blatantly displaying their ability to do so, confident in knowing that as of yet, those responsible have not deemed this important enough to even remotely look into.

All said and done, we still enjoy the game, and thrive in overcoming the challenges it has to offer, but if your vision of keeping Everquest running for another 6 years bears any semblance to truth, action is needed, and it is needed yesterday.

Lastly, onwards to somewhat more jovial aspects. As many might have read, we recently lost our old message board + point database as those hosting it decided to display their authority in a childish manner. Merely a week later, a new message board and point database has been established, and as such I would like to utter a few words of gratitude to the people that dedicated their time and effort into restoring these vital functions of any raiding guild sans delay. First and foremost, Rigwit, who was responsible for tweaking the forum into a semblance of our old one, utilizing the already existing colour scheme and board functions, definitely easing the transition for many of us.

DeIllusional from Shadows of Doom greatly aided us in regards to implementing a customized item database in the eqdkp system, one that surpasses anything we have ever used in this guild before. On behalf of the guild, thank you kindly.

While displaying such a vast array of gratitude, two people that should have received thorough thanks as last year drew to an end were unfortunately ignored. Anthas and Uren literally led the guild in solitude through one of its toughest periods, having recently lost close to 60% of our older members due to various reasons. If not for the unprecedented display of devotion from these two members, our guild would be nowhere near its current level of progression. Thank you both.

As many of you might have noticed, our message board no longer exists. Our point system database along with our message boards were both hosted at a former guildmembers work location. While we still remain uncertain as to why this tantrum was thrown, rest assured that we will have a new message board + point system up and running shortly. Thankfully, alot of our newer recruits have IT backgrounds, and as such, I am actually glad we will finally get this over and done with, this has been a "threat" hanging over those of us that still play for far too long. Personally I never expected the people involved to go this far, but times of adversity display the true color of people I guess. Either way, this newspage will be the primary source of information for the next week or two. And lastly, for the worried members, I managed to copy the current point standings prior to the database dissipating, so worry not.

No particular reason for this update really, I for one got fairly fed up with watching the same old Vishimtar picture each time I loaded the page. Speaking of Vishimtar, we are still doing our upmost to kill him in a position that might actually resemble a decent corpseshot, though as of yet, such an oppertunity has all but eluded us.

Content wise, and I believe I am speaking for practically every high end guild out there, the weekly agenda is quickly becoming pretty repetitive, more precisely a Tacvi Clearing, Anguish clearing, selected dragons within the new expansion (read:two), and potentially an occasional MPG trial should the nostalgy arise. Add a day or two of working on the Overlord Mata Muram encounter, and you have the raiding schedule for the next few months laid out pretty plainly. Further content is sorely needed, and should this fail to be addressed within a reasonable amount of time, further server mergers will most definitely be required, i.e announce more raiding content!

Everquest recently celebrated its six year anniversary, and with it, by popular demand, Fabled mobs were introduced anew, this time in the Kunark expansion zones. Familiar faces such as Venril Sathir, Gorenaire, Talendor and Trakanon were all somewhat buffed up and made for an entertaining reunion, and as the search for presentable Vishimtar picture is still undergoing, the fabled celebrants will have to do for eyecandy.

A decaying dragon withered to the unrecognizable by the corruption festering beneath the mountains awaited a wary raidforce amid the eerie setting of the nest. Summoning an array of unDead servants to his aid, Vishimtar sought to spread the taint that seemingly had consumed the once lithe dragon, to no avail.

This encounter is possibly the most captivating challenge of DoN to date, not necessarily due to the difficulty involved, the dragon himself is quite easily bested once the correct strategy is applied, though the involvement of every member present definitely makes this fight one to remember.

Unlike the Mata Muram encounter, one slight neglect will not render the fight all but impossible, but merely prolong an already lengthy fight. As of yet we have not been able to allocate further content in the DoN expansion, and while the newest addition to Everquest has of yet been all but euphoria, one can only hope that further raiding content will be revealed. If not, completing an expansion in less than three weeks will surely be somewhat frowned upon, time will tell. Extremely poor screenshots this time around, one could almost think they were supplied by Finnemann!

Still mostly praise to the Dragons of Norrath expansion, albeit the lockout timers are somewhat excessive. Having to wait for nearly four days prior to repeating a 24 player event is all but disconsolate. Having said that, most of the encounters we've attempted so far are highly enjoyable, most definitely the Guardian of the Sands event, which proves the programmers have taken an innovative path in regards to expedition design and strategy.

Upon reaching Yar'Lir we discovered an apparent vanity issue, the dragon having indulged himself with several titles, most pertaining to weather related elements, though we will merely refer to him as Yar'Lir. Knowing that defeating this event would set in motion a one time dynamic event opening up the nest for our server, we all agreed that our weekly Anguish farm could easily be postponed to permanently alter the state of Antonius Bayle.

Through unlocking The Nest, we obtained access to the following monstrosity, it seems the Yar'Lir model is a popular choice for high end DoN mob design. Traits found amid the earlier Gates of Discord encounters were recognized upon playing around with the event somewhat, and hopefully we will return soon to engage the guardian of the dragon spawning grounds.

European servers have long been neglected in comparison to the American ones. I could mention GM events being arranged at 4 am, patches ending at midnight, pretty much rendering the entire day worthless for raiding. These are things we have long since learned to accept, our server being the oddity amongst the pack, located on a foreign continent. However, leaving the Arch Magus Vangl event broken on Antonius Bayle only is hardly a minor issue, it is pretty unbelievable considering the fact that we have two high end guilds located here, both deeply involved their learning process against Mata Muram. Having spoken to several raidleaders serverwide, they've all confirmed the encounter is working perfectly. Set aside five minutes of your precious time to patch the Anguish zone on the server that most likely utilizes it the most...I usually refrain from ranting about such issues, but this has been postponed for way too long now.

Prior to the Dragons of Norrath release, the general opinion was that the content of the new expansion would merely be an extention of the adventures found in the Lost Dungeons of Norrath, initially festering a hesitation amongst the players when deciding whether or not they would actually purchase the expansion.

While the mission system is highly reminiscent of the adventures found in the predecessing expansion, the DoN counterpart offers a very innovative and compelling progression quest, adding a sorely missed aspect to the game, namely an active player base outside of the normal raiding hours. The lack of new alternate advanced was somewhat frowned upon by many already at the peak of personal improvement, though the quest mentioned earlier has proven itself to yield quite significant rewards, a definite aid to any raiding guild.

Raidwise we have attempted two of the five dragons residing in the newly discovered lands beneath Lavastorm Mountains, more precisely Tirranun and Rikkukin. The latter supposedly offered quite an amusing encounter, though sadly I was not able to participate in the fight. Off the bat, Dragons of Norrath appears to be an entertaining addition to the Everquest saga, dissipating the faineant periods between actual raiding content, while having upgrades that will sough after by high end as well as low end players.

And to potential developers browsing this page; FIX THE AM ENCOUNTER IN ANGUISH !

Concluding this update, one of the most inappropriate zone crashes we have experienced of late, though as someone was kind enough to remind me of, it could have been much much worse, i.e during Jelvan. The actual crashing process did not occurr until Warden Hanvar's hitpoints moved from 1% to 0%, in other words, perfectly timed.