SOE Live 2014: Thursday keynote liveblog announces EQ and EQII expansions, more

Are you looking forward to getting a hint of what's to come for your favorite SOE games this next year? SOE Live's Thursday keynote has just kicked off, and SOE notables like John Smedley are taking the stage to give fans a hint of the announcements coming over the course of the weekend. We're here live to give you the scoop directly from the devs, and we'll be keeping this post updated as it progresses. You can also can watch the presentation streamed live below.

• Keynote announcements on Friday have all the juicy details, so don't miss them!

• Four awards for Player Studio: Highest creator - BeastBuster with over $25,000 to date; Most Prolific creator - Rollen; Most Improved Creator - Jerry "Rawl" Dechant; and Most inspirational - Neko Zero.

• Player Direct awards -- you can see all full-length film on the official site.

• H1Z1 is coming out on the PS4.

• The Play it Forward initiative is gamers helping others, in game or in life.

• Tournaments: Prize money on the line for participants.

• Dragon's Prophet is introducing a new system where you find and raise dragon hatchlings.

• EverQuest is introducing a new category to Player Studio.

• EQ working on a new advanced looting feature.

• EQ's next expansion is The Darkened Sea.

• EverQuest II's 10th anniversary in November, the 11th expansion Alter of Malice is launching on 11/11.

• New classes for EverQuest Next will be announced tomorrow.

• A touching video tribute to EQII's Ribbitribbit was presented.

• SOE encouraged support for AbleGamers, Gamers4Life, and Military Gamers.

What happens in Vegas doesn't stay in Vegas, at least where SOE Live is concerned! Massively sent intrepid reporter MJ Guthrie to this year's SOE Live, from which she'll be transmitting all the best fan news on EverQuest Next, Landmark, H1Z1, and the other MMOs on SOE's roster.