GameDailyBiz got some comments from Mark Jacobs on what he thinks of SOE's decision to embrace the secondary market phenomenon - he makes his and Mythic's position very clear:

"We will gladly 'leave money on the table' to ensure that whether or not you like our games, that they remain as that, games and not an entertainment version of day-trading," - Mark Jacobs, President and CEO, Mythic

Though Jacobs is highly critical of SOE's decision, GameDailyBiz's characterization of his comments is probably unfair. This doesn't seem to be a company or personal rivalry so much as a higher-profile continuation of the same debate that's been going on for years.

As part of the "what comes next" decision process... your choices upon login:

* I do not wish to answer this poll.
* A server type that eliminates the ability for players to travel to Trials of Atlantis (to eliminate artifacts, master levels, and master level abilities).
* A server type that provides a range restriction or timer on all buffs that are currently concentration buffs.
* A server type thay limits the amount of experience a player can earn every 24 hours (to promote casual play).
* A server that allows realm invaders to enter opposing realm's home zones (The "home invasion" server).
* I am happy with the currently available server types and would not restart on any of these servers.

Mythic is continuing to work toward attracting new players to Dark Age of Camelot, now releasing the latest version of their free trial to the 1.25 million users of the Xfire utility. You can find the full press release here or in the discussion thread.

First off, there's now an autolink in our news posts to the appropriate forum thread, along with the nifty little reply counter thing. We're certainly not the first to have it, but we're not the last, either.

Secondly, our RSS feed from the Herald (the box in the upper right corner) is broken. Again. Apparently this is what happens when Mythic removes everyone with any kind of programming knowledge from the Herald team.

Lastly, the position of CoC News Monkey remains unfilled. If you're interested, shoot me an email, and I'll let you know about the responsibilities and perks.

I was going for the soup nazi voice there, by the way. Anyway, both Allakhazam and MMORPG.com visited Mythic's headquarters recently and got a heads up on what's planned for DAoC - the two articles are mostly the same (including the same screenshots and movie), but each has a detail or two the other lacks.

In these articles we learn that there will not be a free expansion this year. Instead Mythic is making some larger-than-normal patches. 1.76 will be a big patch, with guilds finally getting some love; there are plans for a GUI, guild dues, banners (standards would actually be a better word for it), RvR guild missions, and a way to 'encourage guild membership'.

In other news, Jeff Hickman (probably best-known as DAoC's longtime Director of CS) has been promoted to Executive Producer of DAoC. There's a haiku contest at the Vault. And last but not least, the 1.75 patch will be going live tomorrow.