The Undead are coming...

Ever since the factions split into two alliances: the Order, comprised of the forces of Light, Nature and Machines and the Brotherhood made up of the forces of War and Magic, many have noticed the obvious imbalance.

Many have heard rumors of the Undead as the third faction to join the Brotherhood. Some may have even caught a glimpse of one, hiding in a recent screenshot of the day. Never before, however, has a full-blown preview of the upcoming faction been available... until now!

Thursday July 17th, three of the top gaming sites on the internet published previews of the 17 of the deadly combatants.

www.rpgvault.com covered the four cavalry and two airborne undead units, including the deadly Forsaken Dragon.

Each site has exclusive renders of the units as well as some of their abilities currently being tested in Beta.

While their statistics are generalized and will be adjusted in testing, we want as much feedback as possible about their abilities. They are very much still in flux and we are looking for suggestions on which ones you like and which ones need to be made cooler.

Check out these sites to take a closer look at all of the Undead troops, and stay tuned at www.playsaga.com for more developments on the Undead!

One of the most exciting new features in SAGA is one that we've tried to keep pretty quiet. Freebuild represents many months of player feedback about city management process, but also the management of territories and PvP battles.

From here on, buildings in SAGA will be freely buildable in almost any location of the map. Also, the number of resource production locations has been raised for each territory! Faster resource production will be necessary to finance the expansion of your kingdom as you bolster your defenses. Along with this addition, players will be able to build walls and gatehouses in their outer territories for the first time, which means players will also need to drastically re-think their Raiding strategies. Freely-configurable cities and territories in PvP battles means that players will need to rely greatly upon the configuration of their city. As a result, choosing your city's terrain will be very important! (Players can check out the player manual for an overview of what territories look like and what areas of them can be built on)

The limit on constructing buildings has also been increased in several areas. In City territories, You can now have up to 100 wall segments, 6 gatehouses, 20 wall tower upgrades, 8 watchtowers, 15 houses, 12 farms, 4 storehouses, 3 gold mines, 3 lumber mills and 3 stone quarries.

Similarly, each safe territory can now support up to 60 wall segments, 10 wall towers, 6 gatehouses, 8 watchtowers, 12 houses, 10 farms, 2 gold mines, 2 lumber mills, and 2 stone quarries.

Wilderness territories are identical to safe territories, with the exception of resource production - In a wilderness territory, You can build 3 gold mines, 3 lumber mills, 3 stone quarries, and 4 mana mines.

Current players who have already started constructing their cities (or finished, for that matter), will be able to move their structures once at no cost, and all players will now be able to move their permanent buildings (the Stronghold, Temple, Pigeon Roost and Market) at any time by clicking on the Sell Structure button. In both cases, the buildings will be added to the new 'gifts' section, allowing you to build them at your ease.

Feel like defending your shrines in a new way? PvP will never be the same again...

Last week saw the introduction of a brand new ongoing contest for all SAGA players. We'll now be accepting screenshots to update our Screenshot of the Day section. The exciting part? Players who have their screenshots selected receive a Free Booster Pack!

To participate, e-mail your screenshot to dmeyer@playsaga.com with your nation name, any necessary explanation, and a caption. It can be funny, pretty, or even a shot of when you got beaten silly in a PvP match.

Entrants are limited to a single screenshot per e-mail, and a single entry per day. Pictures are published 5 days a week (Monday through Friday), and entrants will be notified by e-mail if their screenshot is chosen.

Recently, SAGA introduced faction t-shirts for the five original factions. Available for $14.95, these t-shirts may just give your army that extra boost to their morale they need in combat: Each t-shirt ships with three randomly-chosen booster packs! (To say nothing of the fashion trends you may influence)

You can order your faction t-shirt at the SAGA T-Shirt site or by logging into "My Nation" on the main SAGA website and selecting "SAGA Store".

T-shirts are available for both men and women in S, M, L, XL, and 2XL.

Undead Faction Booster Packs are pre-selling fast!

If you haven’t already Pre-purchased some Undead specialty Boosters, you’d better get them fast! We've already sold many thousands of packs, and well over half of these limited quantity boosters are now gone...

These specialty packs are being offered to bring the Undead ‘up to speed’ with the other factions in population. But once these limited Undead boosters are sold, Undead will only be available in regular packs, where it will take many more booster packs to get the new troops and spells…

Please support SAGA by pre-purchasing Undead. The new faction is going to be released sooner than you might think…

Check out the Original Announcement for more information on the Undead Boosters and the www.playsaga.com homepage for more details on the Undead!

The second installement in our series of developer interviews has been posted to the Saga Developers Journal. Adam Ellis talks about what goes into quest creation, where ideas come from, and what he's working on right now.

Check out our interview with Adam Ellis, one of SAGA's Quest writers, at playsaga.blogspot.com.

Interview with Adam Ellis

In the most recent patch released, many changes have been implemented. Here are a few highlights:

• Freebuild has been instituted, where players have more direct control of their city's layout.
• The AI in enemy units has been enhanced - they will now seek to capture and destroy buildings.
• Minor adjustments have been made to the stats of several units.
• New quests have been added featuring the Undead.
• Several quests have been re-visited and corrected.

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