Lost Pages of Taborea: Reminiscing on holiday events

There's been a lot of event play-time in Runes of Magic lately. The pumpkin festival carried on for a lot longer than was originally anticipated and transitioned into a short -- and smaller -- autumn banquet. Now, Christmas is right around the corner. I've been drooling over the Christmas trees that are already for sale in the cash shop.

RoM has seen a full year's cycle of events come and go twice now, and we are approaching the third Christmas. Now that long-term players have seen all the offerings, I wanted to peer into the place these holidays have in the world of Taborea and see how they add to our virtual lives. In this article, I want to share how I look forward to events and explore some of the great reasons to have them. 'Tis the season, and all that jazz. Let's take some time to look back and reminisce on RoM's holiday events and why we take part in them.

Apart from updates, holiday events are the only thing that really change the game world. There might be some additional graphics added in to give the appearance of Christmas, Halloween or what have you, but event activities are thrown in as well. Whether they are monster parades or hunting down jingle brothers on rooftops, these activities let us celebrate holidays in-game, and they serve as a break in the sometimes-monotonous routines we find ourselves stuck in. And let's not forget holiday items.

I think Christmas is one of RoM's best events. Last year's sometimes-annoying rooftop hunt was especially fun. I spent many hours just trying to get on top of houses. I'm not a huge fan of platform games; I tend to get slightly aggravated whenever I miss the jumps and fall into the lava or mysteriously deadly water that many platform games like to place under you. Seeing as how I usually miss the jumps more than make them, I tend to be more aggravated than amused, so I just don't play platform games much at all. I must admit, though, knowing that I am not really losing anything except some time and gaining a new title, I devoted all my attention to jumping in RoM's Christmas event. I think Runewaker also really capitalized on players' desires to try to get to nigh-impossible places. We as players love to test the boundaries of the game world. Unleash us into a brand-new world, and one of the first things you're bound to see are players who somehow manage to get on top of steep hills or on top of Varanas' outer wall.

A really fun holiday event is something I've come to look forward to in the same way some no doubt look forward to the McRib. Holidays in-game are a little bit of a fun break, a chance to get special items, and they stay rare. I'm sure the McRib would still sell if they threw it on the menu year-round, but because it's only available at certain times, there's a higher demand for it. I like having that feeling in RoM. It was this rare-factor I saw start to wane a bit with the recent pumpkin festival. The festival lasted a lot longer than originally planned, to the point that the attractions were ignored by all but a handful of players. Even I stopped doing most of the activities and went back to my daily routines.

In-game events have served the useful purpose of giving me a way to celebrate the holidays with other real people when I couldn't do that in real life. I moved to a new state a few years ago, leaving behind all my friends. I talk to them often on Skype, Facebook and via phone, but I pretty much was either at work or home alone. I've been able to carry a fun sense of real holidays into RoM using the housing features and the events provided. This past Halloween I went all out and decorated my house to invite players over and hang out. It's times like these that really add a lot to horizontal gameplay. I've spent probably spent months when I never gained a single XP point but had a blast every minute. I wish I would have recorded all the times that a bunch of players all donned pumpkin outfits and entered PK battles in my house. No, you can't harm each other, but two players can enter PK mode and attack each other in houses. It's just another small way that MMOs become more than just a game. They become a cultural activity in which the involvement of real people becomes more palpable.

RoM's

events have seen a number of food items coming and going throughout the year, but the titles and holiday costumes are the main prizes. The titles are perhaps top dog with their sometimes-insane requirements. I didn't even attempt to get Super Prankster this past Halloween. I went for the much easier title of Prankster and was happy to get it too.

I often dream about what it will be like to be at RoM's level cap and finally run all of the dungeons. Are these the times when players start to get bored and rely heavily on events to give them something different to do? Is endgame the point at which players turn a little more casual as they wait for the next game update? How important do events become? I can only guess that events will always hold that same special place for me as being a time for real people to get together and do things with and for one another.

What will the next year of events hold for RoM? Last year saw the same events only slightly tweaked from the year before, so it's most likely next year will be similar. The biggest thing I've been speculating on is totally new events. I'd love to see Runewaker throw in an event that catered a bit more to RoM's uniqueness. Adding an event that utilized player-housing or guild castles would do just that. Some kind of randomized hide and seek with NPCs inside a player's house or some special quests that temporarily gave players new walls come to mind. Holidays in siege war just sounds like it would be incredibly fun to me. I'd love to see siege utilized as a way to bring guilds together in a holiday decorated map where each guild helped each other to attain special items.

Conclusion

This article was not fueled by any foreign substance, but by sap. Yes. I get sappy around Christmas time, but the holidays are there for that. With Old Saint Nick coming 'round the bend, what have been event highlights for you? Have you attained every single event title from the past year? Do you have the ultimate motherlode of holiday treats stocked up in your bank? What is your favorite event, and why?

Each Monday, Jeremy Stratton delivers Lost Pages of Taborea, a column filled with guides, news, and opinions for Runes of Magic. Whether it's a community roundup for new players or an in-depth look at the Rogue/Priest combo, you'll find it all here. Send your questions to jeremy@massively.com.