In order to improve the player experience, we will be merging Worlds on Tuesday, March 27, 2012.

To ensure that the World merge is fair for all players, server transfers will be required for all existing characters. Players must select a new post-merge World for their characters, and will be reassigned automatically should they not do so by the established deadline. We urge you all to review the World Merge Summary and Notes Regarding the World Merge.

Read on for more details on the World merge and character transfers.

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All U.S. servers will come down on Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 7am PST for a hotfix. The expected downtime is one hour. EU servers will have their update at 5am London Time on Friday, February 10, 2012. Estimated downtime is two hours.

The full patch notes are available after the jump.

On Thursday, February 9, 2012 SOE will be broadcasting an EQ2 Players Sneak Preview webcast live on Twitch TV. Join host Linda "Brasse" Carlson (Director, Global Community Relations) as she interviews Clif Bate (Director of Commerce Services & Web Presence) and Abby Watt (Associate Web Producer). They will show a sneak preview of the Beta version of the revamped EQ2 Players website.

Join SOE on Thursday, February 9, 2012, at 4:30 p.m. PST, as they live stream this webcast on Twitch TV! The webcast is expected to last about 20 minutes.

The following thread located under “Updates” in the Official FINAL FANTASY XIV Forums has been updated:

[dev1237] Revamping High-Quality Items

Proceed to the thread.

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Square Enix is proud to join other companies in the video game industry that are taking part in the first ever Gamer Safety Week! Gamer Safety Week is intended to bring focus and awareness to issues such as protecting your confidential information, being aware of the sites you visit, and all around safer gaming principles. As part of that initiative we will be outlining useful tips for protecting your account, what to do in case your account has been compromised, and other ways to make online gaming safer for yourself and others.

Read up on the useful information regarding online safety and Gamer Safety Week!

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Here are the patch notes from this morning's game update (taken from the patcher):

*** Highlights ***

- Healer Mercenaries now have improved behavior and performance in their Reactive stance.
- Many NPCs in House of Thule and Veil of Alaris zones no longer see through Shroud of Stealth.
- In the Rubak Oseka raid "Time and Tides," High Priests and Templars will now wait a brief period before beginning to cast their snare spells.
- Kal'ture Ashan has arrived in Sunrise Hills to sell Alaran furniture.

*** Items ***

- Elegant, Stately, and Ostentatious Warmonger Leggings now modify the Frenzy skill.
- Some Veil of Alaris warrior and knight weapons had their AC increased.
- Kal'ture Ashan has arrived in Sunrise Hills to sell Alaran furniture.
- The Secondary Anchor can now be placed on guild plots.
- An Ancient Artifact now fits in type 20 slots in addition to 4,7,and 8.
- Bags of currency sold on the loyalty merchant are now lore.

It's time for MechWarrior Online's Developer Interview #4! Up today is Software Engineer Omid Kiarostami, Level Designer Thad Jantzi, and general Game Artist Kevin Meek. In today's big developer interview, all three individuals wax lyrical about the many joys associated with working on MechWarrior Online and at Piranha Games.

Some particularly juicy bits of information that did stand out from this interview were the fact that the team is really working hard to accentuate the difference between Light, Medium, Heavy, and Assault Mechs, and that the levels in MechWarrior Online are huge, by which Kevin Meek says they are "multiple kilometers huge." As to how this translates to legitimate gameplay remains to be seen. Take a read of the full dev interview (warning: it's long) over at the MechWarrior Online website!