As Lineage II's Goddess of Destruction update draws near, NCsoft is encouraging players to level up by taking advantage of the Double XP and Drops Week from June 8-15. Here are the perks you can enjoy during the event:

Double XP/SP

• All experience points and skill points gained from hunting monsters are doubled. This stacks with all Vitality-related items, but experience points gained from quests are not doubled.
• Just like during a Double XP/SP Weekend like we've hosted before, this server-wide setting affects all characters regardless of class, level, and account type.

Double Drop/Spoil

• Item drop rates and spoil rates are doubled.
• Applies to raid bosses and regular drops.

If you're interested in Goddess of Destruction, Lineage II's largest content update, then you'll be happy to know that NCsoft has been busy revealing all sorts of information on the patch's site. Here's an overview:

• New epic raid boss: Trasken the Earth Worm is a "monstrous being of immense power and a bridge from this dimension to another."
• New zone: Magmeld is a region to the far east of Aden continent that exists in another dimension.
• New feature: The new Provisional Clan Halls are instanced and available to a wider group of players.
• New Awakened class: Iss Enchanters are melee fighters that provide essential group support.
• New Awakened class: Wynn Summoners attack from range with magical spells and summon pets.

Keep an eye on the Goddess of Destruction page for more details on the upcoming update.

While NCsoft is planning to shut down the original Lineage in North America on June 29, the team is currently gearing up to launch Lineage II: Goddess of Destruction, the sequel's largest ever content update. Producer Marissa "Moxie" McWaters recently visited the Lineage II development team in Seoul, South Korea, and she brought questions from players with her on the trip.

Lineage II Creative Director Han Jae Hyuk took the time to answer a wide variety of questions about Goddess of Destruction and the game in general. He covers everything from classes and skills to his common work day. Check out his answers for all the details.

NCsoft has released a new reveal of the upcoming Lineage II Goddess of Destruction update. The reveal comes along with their 3-week long 7-year anniversary celebration. There's a lot of new information out, so let's break it all down:

• Combat: Following the 4th Class transfer, an entirely new set of skills becomes available that offer updated graphics and animations.  
• Content: With more than 30 new hunting grounds, 60 new raid bosses and more than 400 new weapons and armour pieces, this update offers the largest amount of new content for the game ever. Players have 14 new levels to explore from 85-99, with new found powers to use on their way to the top.  
• Classes: The Goddess of Destruction has vastly changed the world, requiring new heroes to awaken at level 85. High-level characters will evolve into one of eight new classes (Archer, Enchanter, Healer, Knight, Rogue, Summoner, Warrior, or Wizard), featuring exciting new skills and abilities to use as they face Shilen and her minions. 
•  Convenience: This massive update revamps seven years worth of content meaning that Lineage II players will enjoy a greatly improved levelling curve, new starting zone for all players, better item drop rates, and a myriad of other changes to improve the overall fun and convenience of the game. Players will also see the addition of instance based clan housing, which will offer 200 instances that are renewed on a monthly basis.

Not enough? The Lineage II website updated today with two new videos featuring the new Summoner class and The Goddess of Destruction trailer. Check out all the new pictures and sneak peeks over at the Lineage II official site.

Lineage II's seventh anniversary festivities kick off today, April 20, and runs for the next three weeks. There's a lot going on during the celebration, so we'll break it down with a handy list:

• Double XP, SP and Free Teleports (April 20-27): Celebrate seven years of Lineage II with seven days of double experience points and skill points and seven days of free teleports. Your characters also receive full Vitality when the event begins!
• Anniversary Account Reactivation (April 20 to May 4): All inactive accounts in good standing will be reactivated so that veteran players can play for free.
• Anniversary Subscription Rewards (April 20 to May 4): Receive special anniversary rewards with your subscription purchases ranging from a Hero’s Treasure Chest to a 7th Anniversary Cloak.
• Anniversary Letters Event (April 20 to May 11): Hunt all over Aden to find magical letter blocks dropped by monsters. Combine the letters to create specific words and turn in those words to receive rewards.
• Anniversary gifts: NCsoft will be giving out a 7th Anniversary Pack and an Anniversary Endgame Cloak on April 27, as well as a 7th Anniversary Bonus Pack on May 4.

As part of the celebration, Aion players can purchase armor skins inspired by Lineage II Dynasty Armor through May 16. Lastly, don't forget to keep an eye out for a Lineage II: Goddess of Destruction reveal on April 28!

In celebration of Lineage II's seventh anniversary, the Aion store is currently offering armor skins inspired by Lineage II Dynasty armor. These decorative costumes change the look of your Daeva's armor but not the stats. They're only available until May 16, so pick them up soon if you'd like to add them to your collection.

The Dynasty armor skins are 30% off through April 25. During the sale, you can buy the heavy armor, light armor or robes for $6.99 each, or pick up the bundle pack for $17.49.

NCsoft has released a new Lineage II: Goddess of Destruction CGI teaser trailer, and it's definitely worth a look. You can watch it after the jump. According to the official Goddess of Destruction page, more information will be released on April 28.

During our time at PAX East, we got our hands on the Goddess of Destruction tech demo, which was created as a tool to collect feedback from fans. Check out the article to get an idea of the direction that NCsoft is taking with the update.

It looks like Lineage II players should expect some permanent extended downtime every week. Due to increased processing time following the server merge, the regular maintenance window will be extended to a maximum of four hours from 7-11 a.m. Central time.

Also, the maintenance day is changing from Tuesdays to Wednesdays to streamline the process with other NCsoft games. The change will take place on Wednesday, April 6.

Lance Stites, the executive vice president of the NCsoft West Game Production Studio, has written a letter to the community to announce his departure from the company. "I’ll be taking a bit of a sabbatical, and spending time with my family touring some of America’s National Parks," he said.

Stites also outlines some of the other staffing changes that recently occurred at NCsoft. Aion Producer Chris "Kinslon" Hager left NCsoft several weeks ago, and Sean Neil has been promoted to fill the position.

In similar news, Lineage II Producer Chris "Cabel" Mahnken recently left the team to pursue other opportunities. Marissa "Moxie" McWaters was just promoted to the producer role, and we had the chance to speak with her at PAX East about the Goddess of Destruction tech demo.

For more details, you can read Stites' full letter after the jump.

Lineage II Producer Marissa McWaters plays the Goddess of Destruction tech demo.

During our time at PAX East, we had the opportunity to check out the North American debut of the playable tech demo for Lineage II's upcoming Goddess of Destruction update. Marissa McWaters, who was just promoted to producer for the game, explained that the demo was created as a tool to collect feedback from fans as we logged in and battled waves of enemies.

“This is a tech demo, so what you're going to see here isn't necessarily going to be part of the Goddess of Destruction update,” McWaters said. “It's just basically to show off the direction we're going with the graphics and the art. Also, some of the skills use combo skills, which we don't have in Lineage II right now. The demo uses several of the skills that are spread out through lots of classes to explain the direction that we're going in the update.”