"VO Welcomes Back It's Vets!!"

Got this in my mailbox today. LD, I'm looking at YOU!!

Hello elvis777, welcome to the fifth official Vendetta Online Newsletter!

You are receiving this due to prior interest in our game, with the
account: "elvis777". If you would prefer to not receive these emails,
see the bottom of this message for a very simple and permanent way to
unsubscribe, or to recover your account password. If this email is
unwanted, we're very sorry to have bothered you.

*Happy Holidays to our Long Lost Vendetta Online Veterans*

Previous Vendetta Online subscribers play for Free this holiday season!
Any player account which has not been subscribed since September, but
was previously subscribed at some prior point, may now play for free
through January 1st! Come back and check out the game, revisit old
friends and guildmates, play with new features and reminisce about old
conquests. Also, be sure to check out some of the upcoming in-game
Events, listed later in this newsletter.

We're also now taking PayPal payments directly, with the option of
recurring PayPal payments. More information later in the newsletter.

*Recent Changes*

- High Density Sectors. Most sectors in the central ring of Deneb (not
those with stations) will be replaced the evening/morning of Fri Dec
18th/19th. These sectors were already statically fogged some time ago,
in anticipation of the increased object count. The new sectors will have
much higher crystal density, and will represent the first production
test case for the "Universe Redux" process. Future sectors will be even
larger and denser, but more development work remains before this can
happen. High density sectors will have wide ramifications, as finding a
jumpable location can be more involved. Their intended future use as
"fogged reefs" in systems, which cannot be jumped across, has been
detailed in previous forum threads: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

- Shared Group Radar Extender. This new addon, if equipped by one member
of a group, will allow every other member of the group within 2000m to
view the radar output of every other group member (within 2000m). This
permits "cloud" radar-enhancement strategies, adding all the combined
radar data for everyone near an "AWACS" type vessel equipped with the
addon, plus increasing the grouped benefits of fog radar extenders. This
is of particular importance since Asteroid Radar Occlusion was added not
too long ago, and is now even more beneficial as we have begun rolling
out high-density asteroid sectors.

- Cargo Scanner. This addon permits players to scan the cargo holds of
other vessels and see what they are carrying. The immediate benefit goes
to pirates, who may now see which ships are the most beneficial to
attack. However, this scanner concept has long-range implications for
"smuggling" illegal or contraband items across Nation borders.
Particularly with the benefit of the..

- Cargo Scanner Blocker. This addon allows one to block incoming cargo
scans, and simply display a "Blocked" output. However, for some uses
this is still far too obvious, as a result we have the..

- Cargo Spoofer(s). A series of available addons, only as drops from
particular Hive enemies. These addons return a "fake" signal to cargo
scans. Each specific spoofer addon returns a specific signal, but there
are a variety available, and more will appear in the future.

- Addon Scanner. This allows a player to scan the addon loadout of
another ship, viewing their weapon or other loadout.

- Gauss MkII Turret. This weapon can be equipped on the multi-player
"turret" ports of certain Atlas and Behemoth vessels, increasing their
defensive power. Multiple players can fly these ships together, as
"pilot" and "gunners".

- Nation Defense Turrets moved to the inside of Nation wormhole borders.
The automated Defense Turrets for Latus H2, Ukari A10, Edras B11 and I2
have been moved inside of their respective Nation space, and are no
longer in grayspace. The turrets in Helios B7 and Ukari L2 still remain,
as Capitol systems (Arta and Pyronis respectively) use turrets on both
sides of all wormholes.

*Upcoming Development*

We're still working towards Station Conquest and expanding the existing
Sector Conquest to include more dynamic player-driven situations. Plus,
the generalized Universe Redux is also in process. Aside from the
sector-density and "reef" additions mentioned earlier, the Redux also
includes a redistribution of ores and minerals, coupled with changes to
trade routes and faction systems.

*Limited Edition Anniversary Merchandise*

We've (finally) launched some VO merchandise, after years of user
requests, and to celebrate our current Five Year Anniversary we're
offering a special limited-edition design that will only be for sale
through the 2009 Holiday Season:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

The shirts are available in a variety of colors, with light colors being
*considerably* less expensive than dark (due to the print supplier, not
us). However, when we had the light colors displayed (at the lower
price) people assumed black wasn't an option. So, just be aware that
there are a whole range of price points available. And remember, this
limited design goes offline forever on January 1st 2010!

*The Anniversary Edition Vulture*

We've chosen to extend the availability of the Anniversary Edition
Vulture through the holidays, ending on Jan 1st 2009 with the
merchandise. So, anyone purchasing a 3-month subscription that is
completely paid between now and Jan 1st will have permanent access to a
unique-looking Vulture.

Also, if you have any friends you'd like to introduce to the game, now
is a great time for them to try it out via our current Anniversary
Extended Trial Promo:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

*In-house PayPal Payments*

By popular demand, we have engineered an in-house PayPal handling
system, which is priced the same as our long-standing credit card
billing system. Additionally, recurring PayPal payments are also now
available. Although we have tested it quite thoroughly, problems with
any new system are always a possibility, so please be patient if they
arise and use the Customer Support system to open a "Billing" related
ticket if you find any problems (Note: you must be logged into the
website with your VO account to use the Customer Support system):

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

PayByCash remains as an option for many other payment systems, but it
will no longer be necessary to use PayByCash to make a PayPal payment.

*Upcoming Events*

In-game Events are a big part of VO culture, so be sure to check out these:

- The 201st Nation War! This coming Sunday Sunday Sunday, December 20th,
21:00 UTC, Sedina D-2. This traditional event pits pilots against one
another in a test of PvP skill, with multi-million-credit prizes and
sometimes even special trophy items.

- A TBA developer-run event will take place on Saturday, December 26th
at 21:00 UTC. Our last event, "The Dark Convoy" was widely considered a
success, with significant player involvement. The nature of the next
event will depend on various development factors still in flux, but
details will be posted to the forum as the event nears.

*Keep in Touch*

As always, stay up to date with the latest in VO news via our many outlets -

Facebook:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Twitter:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

RSS/Atom of VO News:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

VO YouTube Channel:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

That's it for now. We hope you can stop by during this holiday season,
and we wish the best to everyone!