NCsoft Europe announced a distribution deal with Ubisoft to exclusively distribute the French language retail box of NCsoft’s upcoming releases, including Aion: The Tower of Eternity. The agreement also includes the distribution of Lineage II: The Chaotic Throne.
Future will tell if Ubisoft gonna make a better marketing than NCsoft NA/Europe ever managed to get off. But hey, any marketing is better than no marketing.
Read on for the Press Realease

During this years Media Day on August, 31th 2008 NCSoft revealed details about 3 upcoming games.

The formerly known as Project M title got confirmed tobe another MMORPG called Blade & Soul. Blade & Soul is an Oriental Martial Arts MMORPG thats supposed to break the traditional confined and monotonous game play, providing players a completely new experience. Its utilizing the Unreal 3 Engine. Developed by Team Bloodlust (responsible for Lineage 2) this might explain why the latest updates to Lineage 2 lagging any major content additions.
Official Site: http://games.plaync.co.kr/bladeandsoul/
Gameplay Videos inside

Some more ingame details about Lineage 2: The 2nd Throne – Gracia, Part 2 poped up on plaync.kr.

Rewards for the 3 new 1-time Quests

Level 36: D-Garde Jewelry (increases MaxMP)
Level 61: C-Grade Bracelet
Level 73: A-Grade Shirt (increases MaxMP), SP, XP

Some pictures from the lvl 73 one quest (dunno if affects the Varka Silenos quest for S-Grade Armor Recipes or if a Ketra Orc variant of this quest exists):
Click for Screenshots

What a mess!

On topic before the rands;
I compiled all weapons and jewels incl. theyr Special Abilities and the newly introduced Rare Effects into seperate articles:

Dual Swords Fighter Weapons Kamael Weapons Mage Weapons Jewelry

The listed Special Abilities and Rare Effects might not be on par with the ingame descriptions. Thats due to the qualitiy of the original translation (provided by NCSoft NA/EU). Mostly anything got double-checked against the korean version and now lists the original korean SA and Rare Effects – including typos and erros i might have made during writting it up, so drop me a note if you find errors.
Rants on ...

The Public Test Server for Lineage 2 : The Chaotic Throne – Gracia Part1 (aka CT2.1) has finaly been launched by NCSoft for the NA/EU players. The current XP/SP/Drop rate is 1x, so testing most of the new stuff would take some time at this rate – considering that all the new and changed things are within the level 1 to 62 range, with the exception of 1 Hellbound related quest. Character boosts are supposed tobe announced within the next week.
Read on for Gracia Part 1 patch notes

With the korean PTS for Lineage 2 : Gracia Part 2 (aka CT2.2) being underway the first patch-notes poped up. Overall it looks like polishing / balancing what got added in CT2.1 but generaly lagging anything really new content wise. The korean preview site for Gracia Part 2 is also up at http://lineage2.plaync.co.kr/promotion/preview/gracia_part2/preview
Read on for the patch-notes

To get access to S80 Armor and Jewelry Recieps and Key Parts you can either farm the colored Shards on the Isle of Prayer or hunt on Hellbound and collect Ancient Tome of the Demon. To trade these into S80 stuff you need to gain a certain level trust and friendship with the local Caravan Trader on Hellbound.
Read on how to increase your Caravan Relation Level

NCSoft NA finaly brings the Choose your Destiny ‘event’ to Lineage 2 NA/EU. Players who wish to play one of theyr subclasses as mainclass can request the change on the PlayNC Account Management Page.
Read on for Requirements to Choose your Destiny

EllieBelly added the Get a Pet Quest to her quest database wich gets you a level 15 Wolf. Read the quest walkthrough over at Elliebelly.net
For more informations about Pets, their Buffs and Skills in Lineage 2 check the Improved Pets article in the Lineage 2 Knowledge Base.