When the Reinforcement Program launched, it was impossible to upgrade from one tier to another. The reasons for this restriction are various and mostly technical: In an ideal world, we would allow anyone to upgrade any tier at any time. The funds raised by the Reinforcement Program have directly supported Natural Selection 2 development: They helped pay for the two most recent updates, Build 258 and 259, and have covered a small portion of the cost of the Eclipse remake. This is very cool, because it means that committed NS2 players are making this game better in a very real way. Of all the Reinforcement Program tiers, Shadow Tier is the most popular. However, a great many of you have generously and kindly purchased Supporter, Silver, Gold and Diamond Tiers. Last week, the Shadow Lerk and Gorge were released to celebrate NS2's 1st birthday. These lifeforms are available to Shadow Tier players. For a limited time, Silver, Gold and Diamond tiers can upgrade to Shadow and get all the Shadow lifeforms for only the difference in price between their original tier and Shadow Tier. For technical reasons, this upgrade path will only remain open in the short term, though we do not have an exact closing date yet. To upgrade a Silver, Gold, or Diamond tier to Shadow go to http://naturalselection2.com/shadowupgrade and authenticate for the upgrade using your forum account. An upgrade to Shadow Tier includes all the associated perks - Including access to a secret UWE project Twitter account, starting November 15.