Team Edward to Norrath?

That I even know what “Team Edward” means kind of scares me.

Yesterday the EverQuest II team posted an item about Velious Winter Rewards.  I saw it come through on Twitter.  I did not click on the link.

Then regular reader Bhagpuss said, “Oh, hey, vampires” in reference to it.  Then I had to go take a look.

The winter rewards is a set of incentives to stay subscribed to EverQuest II while waiting for the next expansion, Destiny of Velious to ship.  From the post:

‘Tis the season for giving! Winter is here and there are only a few short months until the freezing tundra of Velious is open for exploration. Starting in December and ending in February, active EQII Live subscribers and EQ2X Gold and Platinum members (with accounts in good standing) who purchase the upcoming EverQuest ® II Destiny of Velious™ expansion will receive a set of in-game items as complimentary subscription rewards each month.

Each of the three sets is comprised of two amazing items, one of which is the new Ice Wolf Mount (pictured) and the new tightly-concealed Vampire Race, which has yet to be displayed to the public! The December and January mystery items will be revealed at the time the rewards are distributed.

Keep checking EQ2Players for updates about the upcoming EverQuest ® II Destiny of Velious™ expansion launch scheduled for February 8, 2011. Enjoy the rewards!

The eye catcher, which was completely new to me, was the mention, highlighted in red by me, of a new vampire race.

Vampire race?

This could either be huge, or it could be a shark jumping moment.  It could be an invigoration of the game, a way to explore new dimensions, or it could be a goth emo, over powered and soon-to-be-nerfed race disaster.

What is also curious to me is what will be the restrictions on the race if they are giving it away as a customer retention award.  To get it you have to get through three gates of the special, hitting the mark as a paid in full subscriber on December 14th, January 18th, and February 8th.  And you have to purchase the expansion when it comes out to collect.

February 8, 2011 Rewards

• Ice Wolf Mount
• New Freeblood Vampire Race

Requires that a player has qualified for both the December and January rewards and has purchased EverQuest II Destiny of Velious. Items awarded one per account and will be available when the expansion is released.

But what if you do not qualify for this event?  Are you going to be out of luck on your vampire dreams, or is this going to be a new Station Cash only race?

Something to keep an eye on.

And among all the prizes you may get as part of this promotion, the only one they will actually show you is Ice Wolf mount.

Ice Wolf on Ice

And should they be handing out wolves and vampires in the same event?  How did that work out?

And that wolf looks a little dazed or cross-eyed or something.  Did the vampires get him already?

Somebody call the producer.

Me, I am still waiting for beastlords to make an appearance in EverQuest II.  But I suppose playable vampires might make an interesting addition.

How about you?

(And this is my 14th post for December.  What is going on?  Yesterday I was posting kitty videos and suddenly there is all sorts of interesting stuff.)