POL News: On the Campaign Trail.

A surprisingly large amount of information for everyone in this POL update. Most of the time, the Campaign update notes are uninteresting for those that don't do Campaign or care about it for more than ANNM notes. This time though, there is a little for everyone. First, the announcement of Beaucedine Glacier [S] and Xarcabard [S] comes as no surprise and neither should the picture of the "gargoyle" mob, but the picture of it definitely acts as confirmation of it's inclusion in this update. I always thought that mob was rather interesting looking because it doesn't share a lot of style characteristics with the design of many of the other mobs in the game. I do like it's uniqueness though, and I look forward to kirring it! Also included in the update will be the new two tiers of Campaign Medals which is cool for the Campaign lovers, but the really important part is that the Campaign bodies will finally be released. Now I may be reading too much into this but from the wording on the POL site, there seems to be some indication that there will actually be more than just the Campaign bodies released and there might be some other gear available. Also, they mention that two more ranks of Campaign medals will be available. This is interesting because there is only one more rank in the .dats and it has been that way since the expansion was released, so that means that something has to be added in the update. The other thing is that they mention that these are the next Campaign medals and not the last. Does that mean we are in for several more ranks?

Finally there is the Union system. It just looks like this is a way to link players together during Campaign. The sign-up for this system seems a bit unclear because it says that you need to seek out a Campaign Arbiter while under Allied Tags and unless I am confused (good possibility) if a zone is controlled by a nation then there is no CA in that zone. I am sure it will make more sense once the update is released. The Union system might be interesting if it lets you do cross party/alliance abilities/spells to random people that are not currently in your party. I don't think it will go that far though, I think it will be more of a system that allows for distribution of items across a large number of players, like in Dynamis. The reason for this is because of the most important part of the update notes:

Great riches await triumphant Unions, including but not limited to the ancient currencies obtainable in Dynamis, a wide assortment of synthesis materials, and the spoils of vanquished Beastman Confederate captains. Such rewards will be distributed via Union treasure caskets after the conclusion of each battle.

Dynamis currency, synthesis materials (one would hope for Salvage items), and maybe the SCNM drops? I am quite intrigued at this, but update notes have a strong tendency to seem great but then bring you back to reality with low-drop rates or incredibly difficult conditions. SE does note that people that don't do anything will not get the rewards from the Union system, which is good, especially since they have basically nerfed pretty much all the ways to still get points while botting or AFKing.

Overall, a little something for everyone. Now I actually have to do some Campaign. For the full update notes check them out here.