At Fanfaire, SoE announced a new collectible card game that can be played from within EQ and EQII, and in fact between the two games - Legends of Norrath. I'll see what I can do about a proper write-up for the game, but in point form:

- free starter deck to all EQ and EQII accounts at the end of August when the game launches
- boosters can be purchased, but they are also loot drops in game
- rare cards can be claimed as in-game items. My fave: a drop-dead gorgeous cloak called the "Cloak of Flowing Waters" that grants featherfall. Another I love is the "Stein of Recollection" which will teleport you back to a pub in your home city - looks like you can talk to some other innkeepers to travel back to their establishments too. How Dwarfy is THAT?
- if you've ever played Magic the Gathering, this game is understandable. If not, it does not have a steep learning curve.

I can just picture people putting off raids and groups to play just one more round. Watch Wren's head explode in the next frame. Oh right, I didn't put in a next frame, but it happens, believe me!

Some time ago, I featured Grimwell and Gninja in my "Unrest Bites" comic. Back then, this site had just launched, Grim was very new to SoE and Gninja was a writer for IGN.

Some six months later, Grimwell considers himself an old hand as Community Manager for EQII. Gninja himself has landed a job at the behemoth known as SoE, though he has so many titles on his official sig that I'll just call him a "Go-fer" till I figure out exactly what it is he does. I think he may be Grim's harm-touch gimp. As for me, I'm still waiting to make money with the site.

Do ask Grim about the pouch of "vision dust" on the table. Go on, I dare you. It's always fun to watch him bury his face in his hands and sob like the girly-gnome sitting next to him. Elsewise, you can wait for me to write about it when I finally get around to posting my FanFaire coverage.

Meanwhile back to LEGENDS OF NORRATH.
It doesn't suck, and it's free to mess around with.
Can't go wrong with that!

Go talk in our forums about how much you love or hate online collectible card games, and how much SoE wants to slorp out your soul and money with this one.

Remember - noone is MAKING you buy the $1,800 worth of cards you need for that funky and rare in-game item. Really.

;-)#
Brasse