Ryan O’Sullivan at AdventuresofTaas.com was able to obtain the Sentinel’s Fate Collector’s Edition and thought some might be interested in seeing the contents. His Sentinel’s Fate Collector’s Edition Unboxing.

When I launched EQ2Wire at the August 2008 Fan Faire, I had no idea that we would become a popular destination for (nearly daily) EQ2 News and Commentary. And so it is an interesting coincidence that the release of Sentinel’s Fate will mark the 18 month anniversary of EQ2Wire. What better way to celebrate than to give away Sentinel’s Fate Retail keys to our readers?

Contest Concludes

The EQ2Wire Sentinel’s Fate Contest concluded on February 16th. We awarded 10 Retail and 2 Collector’s Edition product keys!

Terms and Conditions

There were 10 first prizes and 2 grand prizes. The first prizes are Sentinel’s Fate retail edition product keys. The grand prizes are Sentinel’s Fate collector’s edition product keys. Digital purchase only. No physical box will be shipped. Winners are entitled to the product key assets only. Prize has no cash value.

One entry was accepted per day.

This contest was valid for any country except where prohibited by law (I think that’s just North Korea, sorry Kim Jong-il). Supported languages: English, French, German.

We are not responsible for winning e-mails being rejected, returned, or lost in transit. If a winning e-mail is bounced, we reserve the right to award the product key to an alternate. We reserve the right to verify e-mail addresses by contacting contestants as well as Sony Online Entertainment with your submitted information.

Contestants may only win once during the contest period.

If there is a conflict or indication of anything hinky with the entries, we may make substitutions. All decisions regarding this contest are final.

>> Download Highland Stalker Preview HD Video [22.5MB WMV]. <<
>> Download Highland Stalker Preview SD Video [13.8MB WMV]. <<

Guarding of the Reasoned and Guarding of the Learned

The Guarding of the Reasoned (right) comes with the retail boxes
The Guarding of the Learned (left) comes with the digital downloads.

Alan “Brenlo” Crosby has posted on his Twitter (specifically at TweetPhoto) a couple of screenshots of a saddle-only version of the Highland Stalker.

Download

I know I have been interested in a non-armored version and glad to see this.

Since the official announcement of the Collector’s Edition includes specific verbiage indicating that the only way to get the Highland Stalker will be in the Collector’s Edition, a safe assumption would be that there will be a choice in the box. More info as we have it.

We are thrilled to present the first snapshot of the new in-game Highland Stalker mount exclusively available to players who purchase the EverQuest II: Sentinel’s Fate Collector’s Edition ($69.99).

The announcement from EQ2Players:

This is the Highland Stalker mount! The Highland Stalker will be available to characters from level one through level 90 and will have a 50% 65% boost to run speed. One important thing to note about the Highland Stalker: This mount is exclusive to the Collector’s Edition of Sentinel’s Fate. There will be no other Highland Stalker mounts!

Also, here is a photo of the Highland Stalker (armored lynx) miniature you’ll receive in the Collector’s Edition box:

EQ2Wire Commentary

I think it’s the best-looking animal-based mount EQ2 has ever had. However the 50% runspeed is going to limit its popularity, to say the least. Our latest news is that the Highland Stalker will have a runspeed of 65%. Hopefully devs will provide a way to upgrade it to 70, 75, or even 80% with some stats, say by turning in the in-box Whistle, plus some raid dropped item, and turning it into a new mount.

And for this to be exclusive to the Retail Collector’s Edition would require a complete reversal of what we saw in Kunark/TSO where raid devs, group devs, tradeskill devs, live event devs all get in on the action of putting popular mounts anywhere and everywhere. Within 2 months of The Shadow Odyssey launching, the bear mount was available via grouping and raiding. EQ2Wire predicts that we’ll see this mount again, just with a name other than “Highland Stalker”.