It's been a hectic week indeed. We've seen the beta testing of Shadowlands progress nicely, Europeans now being charged in Euro (plus the introduction of VAT on subscriptions), and the Inner Sanctum dungeon, a new interesting camp, and lots of new items introduced on the live servers through the 14.9 upgrade.

Content upgrade: Inner Sanctum (14.9)
The three main content additions in this latest upgrade was the Inner Sanctum dungeon, the Hollow Island camp, and a multitude of new and interesting items - many of them linked to the dungeon and the camp.

We've gotten some great feedback after the upgrade; mostly confirming what we had already heard during the time it was on test-live. I would like to thank everybody for this, and look forward to see you figure out the game-play, tricks and puzzles out there.

"And if at first you don't succeed, then dust yourself off and try again." - Try Again, Aaliyah

Some comments to the feedback so far:

1. Some items are not possible to over-equip, but are deactivated (all bonuses turned off) as soon as you don't meet any of the requirements. This is intended.

2. A bug causes some items to be deactivated upon changing playfield like described above, even if you do meet the requirements. Unequipping and equipping the item again will make it function properly. We're looking into fixing this as soon as possible, but don't consider it a showstopper that justifies an extra update right away.

3. We'll be evaluating the feedback and development around Inner Sanctum in the coming weeks, concerning temporary keys and the game play inside. We currently do not consider any of it in need of adjustment, but will be keeping an eye on the dungeon (i.e. we'll be there with you, trying to best it ).

4. The issue with members of the same team ending up in different spawns/copies (also named Group Selectors - GS) of a static dungeon is something we're looking into, and hope to change in the future.

Euro and VAT (Value Added Tax)
European customers are now being charged in Euro, and due to a European Union E-commerce directive taking effect, EU residents must pay a VAT on the subscription. While I'm normally not the person to dig much into billing, I thought I'd add some information about this.

We regret, as much as anyone, to add VAT to our customers within the European Union (EU), but we are required to do so by EU regulation. Any issues regarding this should be addressed to the proper authorities within the EU. All non-EU based companies have been required to open a office within the EU or register as a non-EU company subject to local VAT rates, to accommodate this new VAT regulation. Funcom decided to open a office in Luxemburg. Currently, the country offering the lowest VAT rate within the EU for subscribers of Anarchy Online.

Euro has become the most important currency for Europeans - it is the currency for wages and costs for the majority of the European population. It is therefore, the appropriate currency within Europe, just as the US Dollar is the appropriate currency to charge customers within USA.

The reason why the Euro was not introduced to all European subscribers when the Euro went live is that there was no appropriate payment partner available handling Euros on credit cards.

If you have any further questions, please contact our marketing and sales department through the corporate contact form.

Shadowlands
New people are entering the beta testing all the time, and we're getting great feedback both about needed tweaks and the general mood of the Shadowlands. Again I'd like to give some big thanks to those participating.

Those who haven't joined the beta yet should note that Wednesday next week (July 9th) you won't need a full subscriber account to get into the beta anymore. Head over to Fileplanet's Shadowlands beta page for info and download.

---

That seems to be all this week. I'll see you people next week, when I'll hopefully have an internet connection at home again, so I can post and chat from home too.

Have a nice weekend!