Here's a sneak peek at Wednesday's Game Update Notes. These notes are subject to change before the servers reopen on Wednesday.

Highlights

The Convorteum and the First Creation:

The Convorteum is a secluded area of the Underfoot that is the home of the First Creation and the heart of the conspiracy against Brell. It is a massive, inverted pyramidal structure sprouting from the ceiling of a huge, lava-filled chamber. Those that have been converted to the Faith of Self come to the Convorteum at times to show their loyalty to the First Creation and to show that they accept the tenets of the Faith of Self - place oneself above all others. This creates confusion in the minds of some, mixed messages that have lead to much sadness, loss and even madness.

The First Creation was the first and most loyal creation of Brell Serilis, and the very first sentient form he ever created. The First Creation chose to rebel against Brell. His tampering with the design of new races is subtle but in powerful ways, causing them to turn along paths that lead to destruction and harm to the Underfoot.

The First has done something to distract Brell, to turn his attention away from the Underfoot. Brell's loyal servants are not usually ones to question his actions or decisions, and few of them have even tried to discover what is wrong, or even understand that anything is wrong. But a few have, and the intrusion of upworlders gives the loyalists more options, more tools, to further their understanding of the problems in Underfoot.

UI

- Added a new stats pane on the inventory panel that displays many stats not aggregated elsewhere.
- Fixed several issues with the extended target window having phantom empty entries during raids.
- Changed:

- EQUI_Animations.xml
- EQUI_Inventory.xml
- EQUI_MercenaryInfoWnd.xml
- EQUI_MercenaryMerchantWnd.xml

Full patch notes can be read here.

If you got a PM from someone on the site called 'wowmanager' or 'interface121', saying:

I need your help, here is my post.or any variation thereof, do NOT click on the link and log in to that site. It is NOT WoWInterface. If you check the url closely, you will see that it is actually "Wowinte N face". (spaces added because we've censored the link). If you don't pay really close attention, it really looks like our site. It isn't. This is an attempted Phishing scam.

If you have already clicked the link and tried to login please change your password asap! They were showing a fake login page.

It's been announced! The 2010 SOE Fan Faire is going to be August 5 - 8, 2010 at Bally's Las Vegas. See the official Fan Faire website for details!

So who is going? I'll be there for sure!

Dolby has added another 'tab' to the front page news post block. Now if you click on the "Author News" tab, you can see the latest news from author's portals.

We've been rather quiet of late, but that doesn't mean we haven't still been doing things on the site.

We'd like to welcome two new moderators to the site, Zyonin and Shadowed. Our condol, errr, congratu, errr, thanks guys!

Dolby has tweaked the AddOn Search. Now if there is no result on your search or if it errors, it will redirect you to the advanced search.

Also, he has added new RSS feeds for comments made on any of an author's AddOns. Authors, please see your AddOn list for an RSS link.

We've had complaints off and on about difficulty finding some of the less well known resources on the site, so I've created a "directory" of sorts for the site. Check out the "forum" entitled Who's on first, what's on second? if you are looking for something and having a hard time finding it.

As well, there have been a couple minor "controversies" that have come up on the site. We've talked to Blizzard about both of them and this is what they've had to say about them:

The first has to do with LuaSrcDiet and other forms of code compression. It is Blizzard's opinion that this falls under the "no obfuscation" rule and as such is not allowed except with specific permission from Blizzard.

The second concerned a post telling people how to create and import custom mouse cursors into WoW. In talking to Blizzard about it, they said that MPQs are part of their proprietary software and as such are not to be altered or "faked" in any way (including creating your own "new" ones). They fall under the following sections of the EULA and ToU:

From the EULA:
WORLD OF WARCRAFT®
END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT

< snip >

2. Additional License Limitations.
The license granted to you in Section 1 is subject to the limitations set forth in Sections 1 and 2 (collectively, the "License Limitations"). Any use of the Game in violation of the License Limitations will be regarded as an infringement of Blizzard's copyrights in and to the Game. You agree that you will not, under any circumstances:

E. modify or cause to be modified any files that are a part of the Game Client in any way not expressly authorized by Blizzard;
From the ToU:
WORLD OF WARCRAFT®
TERMS OF USE AGREEMENT
Last Updated July 29, 2008

< snip >

2. Additional License Limitations.
The license granted to you in Section 1 is subject to the limitations set forth in Sections 1 and 2 (collectively, the "License Limitations"). Any use of the Service or the Game Client in violation of the License Limitations will be regarded as an infringement of Blizzard’s copyrights in and to the Game. You agree that you will not, under any circumstances:

D. modify or cause to be modified any files that are a part of the Game Client or the Service in any way not expressly authorized by Blizzard;

The EverQuest II expansion Sentinel's Fate is now live (for those that have a retail key, digital download access is 1 week later) along with game update 55. This expansion and game update have brought some changes to the default user interface. I have posted a compare of these changes here.

Please allow interface authors some time to fix their UIs before posting it doesn't work 100 times.

UI Notes:

• Icons next to the quest name now indicate quest difficulty and con color.
• Checkboxes have been removed from each quest part since the window no longer displays completed parts.
• Fixed examine information for spells and items with ward effects.
• The class AA trees have been rearranged so they no longer scroll vertically.
• Removed critical multiplier stat from spell examine windows and added it to the Crit Bonus tooltip in the Persona Window.
• Some changes have been made to the quest helper based on player feedback:
  • Reduced font size of title.
  • Quest text should be more readable on light backgrounds.
  • Less flashing.
• Quests now auto-pin themselves to the helper if there is space (This is an option you can turn off).
• The filter dropdown box on the Persistent tab of the Zone Reuse window (Alt-Z) now filters zones by locked/unlocked status.

GU55 & Sentinel's Fate patch notes
GU55 & Sentinel's UI Compare