Lineage II: The Kamael live today

Lineage II players have some extended downtime today while the game's latest free expansion is being rolled out to the live servers. The servers should be going down right now and are expected to come back online at 5:00 PM EST. But for those of you playing (or interested in playing!) this is good news, not bad. The First Throne: The Kamael is the game's 7th and largest expansion thus far — and NCsoft calls it "the beginning of a new era" for the game. So what is The Kamael all about? Keep reading to find out!

• A new race, the powerful, one-winged Kamael. (Why only one wing? We aren't entirely certain, but at level 79 they gain access to their two-winged Final Form.) The Kamael have a unique history in Lineage II: while the rest of the races were created by the Gods, it is speculated that the Kamael were created by the Giants for the purpose of combat. Unlike other races that start the game by choosing whether to be a mage or a fighter, the Kamael may only chose the latter option. Considered an "evil" race, they must spend the souls of their vanquished enemies to use their abilities and healing abilities only have 50% effectiveness on them.
• New zones: Hellbound (a level 80 only zone which will require a server-wide effort to open), the Isle of Souls (the Kamael's starting zone), and the Isle of Prayer.
• Ongoing fortress battles: Though Lineage II already has a castle siege system in place (9 castles), where warring clans can vie for control of castles and associated lands, these could only be competed for by large clans. The fortress system (21 fortresses) will be accessible to smaller clans.
• New instance dungeons: Instances tied to which fortress or castle your clan may have access to.
• New armor and armor slots: Shirts and bracelets (tied to special summoning abilities) as well as new S-80 level armor and weapons.
• Account services: for a fee, players will be able to change name, gender, or server.

Sound like fun to you? Sadly, you'll have to wait until 5:00 PM to jump on the live servers, just like everyone else! But in the meantime enjoy the our image gallery.