1.76 kicked off yesterday, and there are some goodies for just about everyone...

• As one might expect from items that have survived since the fall of Atlantis, Artifacts can now be repaired without losing durability.
• Guilds now have a "merit system", whereby you can earn bonuses for your guild by reaching certain milestones with a guilded character.
• There's a bare-bones guild dues system.
• Guilds have "levels" based on Guild Realm Points.
• There are a bunch of fixes to the resurrection process - higher resses overwrite lower, casters get power back from unused resses, etc.

OK, not really - no swag or booth babes for me, unfortunately. But MMORPG.com is there, and they've got a preview of DAoC's next expansion, Darkness Rising. It's mostly a rehash of what we've heard before, but there's the revelation that the story will involve the demons from Darkness Falls (and may take place IN DF as well).

This isn't DAOC news, but it's more newsworthy nonetheless than what's come out of E3 so far. Mythic has gained the rights to develop a Warhammer Online game. The press release mentions that it should come out in 2007 (though a two-year development seems rushed, so I'd expect 2008), and also mentions RvR.

In actual DAoC E3 news, IGN's coverage mentions some of what we've heard about the expansion before, but adds a new detail - possible alternate mounts may include unicorns and nightmares.

In a surprising move, given that people can use the numbers to make any argument they want, Mythic has released the numbers on the recent in-game poll:

21% - I do not wish to answer the poll

21% - A server type that eliminates the ability for players to travel to Trials of Atlantis (to eliminate artifacts, master levels, and master level abilities)

5% - A server type that provides a range restriction or timer on all buffs that are currently concentration buffs.

1% - A server type that limits the amount of experience a player can earn every 24 hours (to promote casual play)

28% - A server type that allows realm invaders to enter opposing realm's home zones (the "home invasion" server).

23% - I am happy with the currently available server types and would not restart on any of these servers.

What do the numbers mean? Do they mean anything? Only professional pollsters know...

For a while now I've been hinting at big changes to come, and this is part of it - I've made race and class pages which tie together the various databases already made as well as some new ones. For the most part, this should be a behind-the-scenes change - allowing the list of guides on a class page to update when a guide is added to (or removed from) the database, for example. For the moment, however, the text on the class page can't be expanded or reduced in Internet Explorer (though it can in Firefox) - that should be changed soon. The design of the race page is also in flux, so don't be surprised if it changes a few times.

You can find the pages at: Classes.asp Races.asp

I'll be leaving the existing pages up and the nav bar links the same for a while, to make sure the new pages don't make anyone's computer explode or anything.

Not much is happening this week, as most likely not much will happen the next two weeks, as Mythic ramps up for E3. But the Roundtable happened LAST week - and thanks to Ulfhednar of Nimue, I've got a review up of what was learned there. In case you haven't heard, we're getting HORSES - so go read about it on the Clog.