Hi everybody,

Thought I'd give an update on a couple of things, seeing as it's Friday already. I'd like to make this a regular Friday thing, but I'm not sure I'll always have the time. We'll see how it goes.

Shadowlands
The beta testing of Shadowlands is rolling forward, and we've naturally been focusing on making sure the basics work, like zoning in the Shadowlands, and character creation. Soon moving into more game-play and content testing, I hope to have some news about open application next week, though I'll make no promise at this time.

For those who haven't seen the Giga show with Gaute and Jørgen showing some Shadowlands things, you might download a .wmv version of it on our ftp site. The direct link is ftp://ftp.funcom.com/media/nbcgiga.wmv. It's quite a big file, mind you.

14.8.2 and 14.9
The 14.8.2 update is scheduled for Wednesday May 21st, so expect some 3-4 hours of downtime starting around noon European time.

I don't have an ETA on 14.9 at this time, but I think a good guess is 5-6 weeks from now.

Bulletin board
Seems the latest changes here are well received, and people are already getting used to what goes where. I'd like to thank everybody for the feedback about the changes, and suggestions for the future.

I recently talked with our Operations department about the idea of linking access to special forums to a player's characters, which might be something we'll look into after Shadowlands. (They have a bit much to do before then.) This would open up many possibilities, e.g giving all organization leaders (with certain requirements) access to a forum just for them, or let the level 200+ people have their own "Veteran's Lounge". It's still just an idea, and not something we'll work on just yet, but suggestions for this are welcome.

Notum Wars
Some players have given me a lot of feedback and suggestions about land control PvP lately, focused on the situation of one side being totally dominant on a dimension. This feedback is greatly appreciated, and we are aware of the concerns. I can't promise anything will change anytime soon though (or that it will change at all, as that's not my decision), as the devs are of course extremely busy with Shadowlands, but I'll make sure to hand them all constructive feedback and suggestions I get.

Professionals
The Professionals program is seeing a halt in the dev feedback process right now, again due to pressure on the devs to work on Shadowlands, and due to my concience. I just won't pester them too much when I know they're already very busy, though anybody close to the coffee machine is a free kill, imo.

We're looking at filling the empty seats though, to make sure there are two Professionals for each profession. The feedback from the Professionals - especially their discussions - to the devs is still an important part, and discussions should see two people from each profession participating. Adventurers, Bureaucrats and Engineers will thus have an extra one appointed, preferably very soon.

I've been asked a bit on how to choose Professionals for Shade and Keeper, and will have to think of something there soon I guess.

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Ok, that's it for now. I'll be around, and try keep you updated.