2nd-anniversary
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Star Wars: The Old Republic reveals second anniversary rewards
The 20th of this month marks the two-year anniversary of Star Wars: The Old Republic, and BioWare is bestowing upon players a couple of gifts to celebrate the occasion. On December 17th, players who have an active Star Wars: The Old Republic account created on or before December 16th, 2013, will receive a pair of exclusive paint jobs (one for the Empire and one for the Republic) for their Galactic Starfighter ships plus faction-specific fireworks that players can set off for an impromptu pyrotechnics show. While all players with an active account will receive these rewards, the paint jobs can be used only if you have access to the Galactic Starfighter expansion. While subscribers gained access to the feature earlier this month, Preffered Status players will have to wait until January 14, 2014, and Free-to-Play members will gain access on February 4th, 2014. For the full details on the anniversary rewards or to sign up for an account, head over to the Star Wars: The Old Republic official site.
Allods Online pops the cork on its second anniversary
Considering how long Allods Online was launched-but-not-officially-launched, we think it's slightly inaccurate to acknowledge gPotato's claim that this is the title's second anniversary. Still, any excuse for a party, right? Starting today, Allods Online is featuring plenty of events, giveaways, and store sales to mark the occasion. Active players have another shot at taming a free grey wolf or earning a "Noble Hero" costume set during the anniversary. There's also a few special NPCs who will be accepting anniversary coins in exchange for an array of special goodies. If you're of a mind to spend some money, all of the item shops wares are available for 20% off through the 13th. GPotato is also giving veteran players 250 premium crystals and an anniversary gift package for those who have been in the game prior to today. The anniversary event goes from now until June 10th.
Star Trek Online handing out Odyssey starships for its second anniversary
It's been in the making for months now, but the wait is almost over. On February 2nd, Star Trek Online will release the latest in the line of Enterprises, the Odyssey-class (Enterprise-F) starship. Players are invited to do more than gawk at its power and majesty, as Cryptic is inviting all players level 5 or higher to take one for a test drive... and then take one home on the house. Cryptic notes that the new Odyssey will be available for only a limited time at the start of the month, after which it will disappear from the game for an indeterminate amount of time. Players who cannot fly the top-tier starship can nevertheless earn it for use at a later date. The Odyssey (and its corresponding Klingon Vengeance-class starship) giveaway is just the first part of STO's second anniversary events. From February 2nd through the 5th, the mischievous Q will challenge players to complete tasks in exchange for mystery prizes.
Archlord celebrates its second anniversary
If you haven't guessed by now, we here at Massively love MMO anniversaries. They're always great opportunities to celebrate a game's success and achievements, particularly in a field where it is so hard to get long-lasting titles off the ground. So we raise a glass to Archlord as it marks its second anniversary today. To celebrate this achievement, Webzen has a few treats in store for its players. Starting off, all Archlord players will enjoy two weeks of double XP, double drops, and double charisma points. If double XP isn't fast enough for you, then you can pop over to the special training server, where characters can be leveled up extremely fast and then transferred back to regular servers if they reach level 40 or higher. This training server will be up for a month, and Webzen is planning to hand out special in-game items for those who take advantage of it. Archlord has a new raid dungeon in the works for December called Battle Square, and is preparing a new chapter in its storyline that will go live at the same time. [Source: Webzen press release]
Fallen Earth kickstarts its second anniversary live event a week late
"At Fallen Earth? Our events are fashionable. We have fashionable events," the latest Fallen Earth blog begins. "How fashionable, you might ask? So fashionable that they arrive fashionably late." When the servers go back up today with the new patch, Fallen Earth's second anniversary live event will be ready to go. The six factions are duking it out over New Flagstaff and looking to recruit all the clones they can in order to win the war. Players can sign up for PvP or PvE service in any of the sectors and do their part for the glory of their faction (and be awarded a nifty novelty item for their participation). The live event will occur on Wednesday, October 5th, at different times for European and North and South American players. The patch contains a number of changes to the gathering and crafting systems in the game and also puts in place the new cosmetic appearance system. Unfortunately for the fashion-conscious, you can look at the wardrobe but not touch -- until October 12th, that is. When Fallen Earth goes free-to-play on that date, GamersFirst will flip on the switch for the wardrobe... and there will be much rejoicing.
Two years after the fall of the world: Fallen Earth's second anniversary
It's no secret that Fallen Earth is somewhat of a staff favorite here at Massively. While its combat system may not hold the same polish of other titles, it more than makes up for it in sheer exploration, incredibly deep crafting, an engagingly different game world, and the dark humor that seeps into every aspect of the game. In fact, Massively is what convinced me to give Fallen Earth a shot when it came out two years ago. At the time, I was just a regular gamer looking for something a little different than the elves-'n'-fantasy fare that 99% of MMOs were dishing my way. Fallen Earth's semi-familiar setting -- modern guns, post office boxes, motorcycles, sunglasses, giant mutated ants -- was at once familiar and foreign. It took me two solid tries to get into the game, but once I did, I was hooked. I've always felt bad that Fallen Earth never got more popular than it already is, although I can understand why. The post-apocalypse setting is enough to weird players out, and the paradigm shift from getting your gear via looting to building your own gear via crafting takes some getting used to. Plus, the troubles that Icarus Studios ran into early on didn't help matters any. Fortunately, the future looks bright for Fallen Earth, and as it celebrates its second anniversary, we should look back at this past year to see just how far this cult MMO has come. Clones, assemble!
Pirates of the Burning Sea celebrates 2nd anniversary
Can ye hornswagglin' scalawags believe it? It's been two years since Pirates of the Burning Sea cast off for the open oceans of MMO adventure. Since their initial launch two years ago, the team at Flying Lab have been busy refining the game, leading to an impressive bevy of changes from large to small. Now with their second anniversary looming, the Pirates of the Burning Sea crew have announced their intent to hold a rousing Second Anniversary party on January 23rd. Players who log in that day will be treated to PvP combat against the Flying Lab development team, as well as some choice anniversary finery for players to enjoy. If you've been considering checking out all the changes since launch, it sounds like a good time to weigh anchor and set sail for the PotBS site. They've got a 14-day trial for those who wouldn't mind fittin' in a little freebootin' adventure in their day-to-day.
Sword of the New World celebrates their second anniversary
Free-to-play MMO Sword of the New World, the game best known for letting one player control three characters at the same time, has reached their second anniversary. In true MMO style, the game isn't letting the event slip by unnoticed as they release a major content patch and begin a celebration, all in the name of the anniversary.Nocturnal Sonata, version 2.9, adds a brand new unique player character to the mix. In Sword of the New World, players can control their own characters, their "family," or add in storyline characters called unique characters once certain conditions are met. This update adds Claire, the small girl who can pack an insane punch. Claire comes with the ability to hold a two handed weapon with one hand, and her specialty is... well... cannons. Adding her to your party, however, requires you to earn the trust of one of the game's NPCs and Claire's adopted brother, Claude.The update also includes the new raid instance, The Secret Tower (as shown above), as well as a new buyable dungeon, Bahamar Ancient Dungeon. For the full details, check out the patch notes available at the Sword of the New World main site.
LotRO's 2nd Anniversary brings another "Welcome Back Week"
The Lord of the Rings Online is turning two, and its not just the current players that can celebrate. A number of incentives are being offered to lure former subscribers back into the world of Middle-earth, and emails spreading the word have gone out. There is a "Welcome Back Week" of the kind that we're becoming accustomed to seeing quite often now, starting on the 24th of April and ending on the 30th. This means that past subscribers can jump right back into the game for free during the week. The 25% experience bonus (on top of any rested experience bonus) of the last weekend will also be in effect, for all players.As well as this, special subscription pricing of US$9.99 a month (for 3-month or longer plans) is available again. Both current and former subscribers are able to take advantage of the promotional pricing, but 1-month plans remain at the usual price. For the last little treat, monsters in-game will be dropping rare loot that can be traded for anniversary gift boxes containing a range of special items. Stay tuned to Massively for much more detailed coverage of LotRO's birthday tomorrow.
Wowhead turns 2
Everyone's favorite -- well, mine at least -- World of Warcraft database, Wowhead, celebrates its second anniversary this June 26. The database, which originally started as a talent calculator that is reputed to have inspired how the official site's own talent calculators look, was launched in June 2006. Since its inception, Wowhead has steadily grown its features, from small things such as patch annotations and embedded tooltips to big and fancy things like stat weightings and 3D models and characters. To celebrate, they're holding a contest and a raffle, giving away cool gaming goodies from X-Keys every Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays to the main prizes of a top-of-the-line video card, a 24-inch flatscreen LCD monitor, and a custom-built gaming PC. Head on over to wowhead, register (if you haven't already), and give them some Happy Birthday loving. The promotion runs for two weeks starting today, but before you get all excited with the prizes, be sure to see if you're eligible. If, for instance, you're from Asia like me, the best you can do is have some cake and ice cream to celebrate on their behalf.
Kate Paiz interviewed for DDO's second anniversary
To mark the second anniversary of Dungeons and Dragons Online, RPG Vault interviewed the game's senior producer, Kate Paiz. The interviewer asked Paiz to give a basic explanation of the game, and to comment on the state of the game at launch compared to where it's at now, on its second birthday -- RPG Vault described the overall feel of the reviews that DDO received at launch as "good but not oustanding". Paiz said that she did feel that the launch reviews were fair, but that much has been improved now, especially the significant additions of PvP and solo gameplay.Paiz is also asked to look forward, to tell us what is coming in the future, and to say what makes DDO a game that people should try if they haven't before. She brought up Module 7, which includes the Monk class as well as some new low and high level content, looking after both veterans and newbies. At the end of the interview, she asked to hear from the players of the game about what they'd like to see added, with particular interest in any guild features that people have ideas for -- she mentions the importance of guilds in bringing new players to the game, and wants to make sure that things are kept interesting for these groups.
