In a short post on the official forums, Everquest II producer Dave Georgeson announced that Destiny of Velious, the upcoming expansion for EQII, is nearing its closed beta phase of development. Georgeson told readers that Destiny of Velious is currently in the 'friends and family' in-house beta phase but will shortly enter closed beta.

Yup. That's right. "Destiny of Velious" is almost ready for beta testing! We're going into internal "Friends and Family" mode today and then we'll start authorizing players for Closed Beta testing when we come back in 2011. So that's great news. (TOFS, here I come!)

Additionally, we're doing two other cool things right before the end of the year.

1) From the 24th to the 27th of December, any Station Cash cards redeemed will be doubled in effect. This is our "Double Station Cash Stocking Stuffer" program if you see it mentioned elsewhere.

2) Also, we're doing Double XP Days from Dec 27th (monday) to Dec 30th (thursday). Most of you will be shocked to hear that we're doing Double XP not actually on one of the holidays and on weekdays instead of weekends. Don't fall down in shock.

So in summary: Velious beta soon, a bonus for stocking stuffers, and Double XP Days. Happy holidays! Enjoy Frostfell!

Read more here.