So take care all and enjoy the summer :)

And don't be too harsh on Thorarin, he's an old dwarf by now ;)

-Jerelyn

Edit: it looks like the patch might be unexpectantly delayed until further notice :(
Edit 2: the delay is now official :( See this news item for details.
Edit 3: the new patch date is Monday the 11th. Servers will go down at 10:30

Tomorrow (July 7th) servers will be patched to version 1.75. This means servers will go down around 9:30 CET and they should be back some time in the afternoon. I recommend reading the full patchnotes as usual, but here are some of the most notable changes in this version:

• Support for server clustering (1.74). Excalibur and Prydwen will be clustered in the near future for higher population
• Darkness Falls access is no longer based on the number of keeps owned by each realm, but the number of towers (1.74)
• Several artifact droprates have been increased to be close to 100% (1.74)
• Tailors can now make generic leather linings to be uses in the crafting of chain armor, or cloth lining for plate in Albion (1.74)
• Shrouded Isles starting locations for characters have been removed, and the Shrouded Isles portals were moved to the classic world starting locations (Mularn) (1.74)
• Tower Razing to allow players to completely destroy enemy towers (1.75)
• RvR Missions (personal/group/realm goals and rewards in RvR) (1.75)
• Title system based on achievements ingame (1.75)
• Increased out of combat runspeed (1.75)
• Support for up to 4 quickbars, so you can make a special crafting bar for example (1.75)
• Monster levels in old starting locations (that are no longer in use as such) have been increased (1.75)

One of the network routers at GOA is experiencing a power outage today. The problem is being worked on, but as I'm writing this services are expected to be unavailable for at least a while longer. I was able to log onto Excalibur some time ago, but the backup router couldn't handle the load and thus game servers have been taken down for the time being.

You might want to keep an eye on this FreddysHouse thread for updates.

As of today, we've left the Fellowship of Midgard alliance and joining the Red Shadows alliance instead. Our reasons for doing so are numerous, but most importantly their Alliance Chat is much less restricted, which should help us find groups more easily.

Of course this doesn't mean you can blatantly spam alliance chat any more than you would be allowed to spam in guild chat. Basically use common sense when using alliance chat.
Red Shadows Alliance does have a Call To Arms system that functions more or less the same as the one we had in the LFoM alliance. I will update the alliance rules on the forum shortly.

You're encouraged to register and participate on the Red Shadows Alliance forum. Be sure to check out the event calender there.