Subscribers to EverQuest, EverQuest II, and/or Vanguard: Saga of Heroes will soon have Station Players premium services extended to them at no additional cost. Here is the story as announced on EQLive:

We are pleased to announce that beginning December 17, 2009, SOE will no longer charge separately for access to Station Players premium features for each of Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, EverQuest and EverQuest II. Access to standard and premium Station Players features will now be included at no additional cost for all subscribers to each of these games (with active, paid subscriptions in good standing.) Station Access subscribers with active, paid subscriptions in good standing will continue to have access to all Station Players standard and premium features.

From the patcher: Here's a sneak peek at the Update notes for Thursday, November 19th

*** Miscellaneous ***

- The Mission Teleporter window should no longer cause message spam.
- Fixed an issue with the Vitrik Wing Swipe ability not affecting the proper targets.
- Fixed an issue that caused custom UI’s to not display the correct right-click menus in the group window.
- Disabled the ability to make purchases on the marketplace during monster missions to prevent players losing items.
- /clear can be used to clear your chat window once again.

- The EverQuest Team

The latest installment of Underfoot's Unfolding the Lore series is out and fills us in on Kernagir, The Shining City:

Kernagir, The Shining City

Kernagir is also known as the Shining City, where the chosen of Brell Serilis go to live out eternity in Underfoot. It was constructed by the finest craftspeople of Norrath to serve and glorify Brell.

While other races have occasionally been granted access, Kernagir is mainly inhabited by dwarves, Coldain, gnomes, goblins, gnolls and other craftsmen of several trades. The highest tier of denizens in the city are the designers and architects, those whose inspirations and ideas fill the worlds of Brell's creatures with incredible innovations. With unlimited natural resources at their disposal and unlimited time to work with them, these crafters are free for their creative pursuits.

SOE has announced a 25% bonus to Station Cash cards redeemed between November 23 and November 29!

To take advantage of this offer purchase any pre-paid Free Realms Station Cash retail game card. Redeem your card online through www.station.sony.com during the promotional period. Remember that they're branded Free Realms but good in all SOE games that use Station Cash.

Only cards redeemed between Monday, November 23rd (after 10:00am PST) and Sunday, November 29th (before 10:00pm PST) will receive the 25% Station Cash value bonus.  Cards may be purchased anytime in advance, but to receive the promotional Station Cash bonus, cards must be redeemed successfully during the promotional period.  Once successfully redeemed, your Wallet Balance will reflect your new pre-paid Station Cash balance plus your bonus 25% Station Cash value.

The Station Cash granted through Free Realms starter card packs will not be included in this offer.

For a list of retailers and instructions on redeeming your Station Cash cards, see this post on the EQII forums.

For many of us, EverQuest served as our initial foray into the world of massively multiplayer online games, and this much-heralded title helped pave the way for blockbuster games like World of Warcraft and Final Fantasy XI. Despite being over ten years old, the Sony Online Entertainment devs are still hard at work on EQ, and they're nearing the release of their next expansion, Underfoot.

To give you a sneak peek of the new zones, SOE shipped five exclusive screenshots to the ZAM.com staffers, and now you can view them before anyone else! Check 'em out, and then go and view all of our Underfoot screenshots!

Here's a sneak peek at Wednesday's Game Update Notes (from the patcher):

*** Highlights ***

- AC and Attack values on food and drink will now be properly added to your character.
- Corrected the description on The Frightening Writ.  It now properly mentions that it grants access to a scarecrow mercenary rather than the title "the Haunted."  It will now grant access to the new title "the Gravedigger."  This title is retroactive - if you have already used your Writ, you will now have access to your Gravedigger title.
- All UI engine changes required by the expansion are now live.  Some patching of UIs may be required.   Most of the popular UIs should already be updated - check your favorite UI site.

The latest part in Underfoot's Unfolding the Lore series is out and centers in on Lichen Creep:

Lichen Creep

Lichen Creep is a lava-veined cavern that has been slowly mined out over eons for the valuable levitating stone ore that is used to power various creations in the Underfoot. Narrow veins of lava wend their way through the cavern floor and walls, occasionally forming small lava pools and giving the entire area a molten orange glow.

The journey into the depth of Underfoot continues at ZAM this week. We've seen some frightening screenshots from the Pellucid Grotto and couldn't help but be a bit horrified by the insectoid Cliknar. This week, we search the cavernous maw known as the Lichen Creep, and come away with a new respect for the plant-like substance. We have exclusive images from the zone, so if you want a sneak peek, click below.

With their latest expansion the EverQuest team is looking to drive adventurers into the very depths of Norrath to see what horrors and monstrosities lie beneath the bedrock of this fantastic world. Luckily, any potential heroes and heroines can get a nice sneak peek of their future hunting grounds here at ZAM, as the staffers have posted eleven exclusive new screenshots to showcase the variety of creatures lurking in the gloomy depths.

We've already seen quite a selection of the Underfoot realms these past few months, so make sure you check out all of the exclusive images here at ZAM.

Click here to see the new exclusive screenshots!

The latest part in Underfoot's Unfolding the Lore series is out and centers in on Arthicrex, the hive of those troublesome cliknars we've been battling over the past few weeks.

Arthicrex

Built by a race of ant-like creatures known as the Cliknar, Arthicrex is the great anthill of the Underfoot. The interior of Arthicrex itself is composed of winding circular tunnels and circular rooms, built from mud and trimmed with stone and chitin. Cliknar live crowded in spaces that most species would find confining.