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City of Heroes' Cord 'Thinktank' Carney details Dr. Kane's Mansion
Halloween is almost here, and of course that means that many MMOs are gearing up for seasonal events. One of those MMOs is Paragon Studios' City of Heroes. A new addition to the festivities this year is Dr. Kane's Mansion, and World Designer Cord "Thinktank" Carney has taken time out of his busy schedule to talk a bit about the creation of City of Heroes' Halloween event and Dr. Kane's Mansion. One of the key challenges, Carney says, was balancing the event so that it's accessible to new players brought in by the game's free-to-play transition as well as ensuring that it isn't a cake-walk for veterans. Also of note is the task of making the event feel dynamic and alive by providing a variety of NPCs you can speak to, a multitude of triggered events, and so forth. For the full article on the making of Dr. Kane's Mansion, head on over to the official City of Heroes site.
Halloween comes to City of Heroes
Most people look forward to Christmas for presents, but City of Heroes players look forward to Halloween. After all, the celebration of all things ghoulish brings with it the opportunity for players to gain that most coveted of rewards -- an extra costume slot. The Halloween Event has run in Paragon CIty and the Rogue Isles for many years, and this year doesn't just bring the event to the new region of Praetoria, it gives all characters a chance to earn some new badges and take part in some new monster-themed activities. The biggest addition to this year's event is a tip mission that sends you on a seasonally-themed mission arc, which can be started by hunting for tips while wearing one of the many costumes offered through the event. (Other costume powers are confirmed to work too, in case you'd rather be a Rikti.) Of course, the classic elements from years past have remained intact, with players getting a chance to collect special Halloween salvage and build themselves an extra costume slot. Take a look at the event page for a rundown of all the new badges and the event features, and log in to City of Heroes before midnight on October 31st to take part in all the festivities.
Love is in the Air begins tomorrow
Love is in the Air everywhere I look around.Love is in the Air every sight and every sound.And I don't know if I'm being foolish, don't know if I'm being wise. But it's something I must believe in, and it's there when I look in your eyes.Tomorrow will mark the start of the Love is in the Air season event. Theoretically, from past events, it should start around 4:00 a.m. sever time. But whether or not that ends up being true, you'll have to check for yourself.You'll need to get finish the achievement Fool for Love in order to get the ultimate seasonal achievement What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been. The thing is... you only have a few days to get Fool For Love, so hurry up. The seasonal event ends early next Monday morning.Ideally you'll want to set aside some time tomorrow night; you don't want to be waiting until Saturday evening to do this. Unless, you know, you and your significant other are into that sort of thing. (I'm talking about playing WoW together. Jeeze... get your mind out of the gutter. You don't think I'm just going to sit here and make gratuitous Valentine's Day jokes for the rest of the week, do you?)So what are you waiting for?"AFK honey, need to become a fool for love." %Gallery-15723%
An end to Hallow's End
Hallow's End went away today at 4am server time, just as sneakily as it arrived. The end of the Seasonal Event brought to a close about a month of the Scarlet Monastery being just about the most popular instance in the game. Some players ended the event completing the Meta-Achievement while others, like myself, fell short. With a mere twenty-eight minutes to go, I rounded up a bunch of guildies and used up about five summons to try and complete Sinister Calling.While I ended up missing the Hallowed Helm, two Squashling pets dropped out of five tries, which was a pretty good deal for the short time we had. We ran out of time on the last summon... as my guildie completed the quest to call out the Headless Horseman, he was able to utter the challenge but nothing came out from the grave. In fact, as the clock struck precisely at 4pm, the giant pumpkin disappeared, leaving us stupefied.It was a fun Hallow's End event, even if it did get rudely interrupted by zombies. I hope that unlike me, most of you got what you needed from the event. The mount would've been nice, but I suppose there's always next year. By that time, I hope Blizzard will update the encounter for Level 80 with matching new loot. The Headless Horseman has about 12 months to level up.
Planning for the Hallow's End title
A lot of folks found the article on planning for the Brewmaster title helpful, so we thought we'd put one together for the upcoming Hallow's End holiday as well. Getting all of the sub-Achievements for the Hallowed Be Thy Name Achievement will reward the title "The Hallowed," but frankly I think this one is going to be a little tougher than the Brewfest one. As with Brewfest, part of the Achievement is going to depend on getting very lucky with a drop, but it's also going to depend on getting lucky with a few other things.This, however, is going to be the first holiday after patch 3.02 hits with the Achievement system firmly in place, so you'll be able to track Achievements ingame for the first time (by the way, "Y" is the default hotkey for pulling up your Achievement screen). Even if you're not interested in the Achievement, you have another reason to participate, at least for the Headless Horseman kills: we're pretty sure his loot table's been updated and expanded, and you'll have a chance at a permanent mount drop (his horse, not the temporary broomsticks from last year).But if you want to be (Your Name Here) The Hallowed?
EQ2 GU42 goes live today with extra video goodness
The Game Update that didn't happen yesterday landed this morning much to the surprise of many EverQuest II players. Community Manager Gnobrin made the announcement last night in the official EQ2 forums. This is the starter's pistol shot that marks the beginning of the race to see which player of each of the game's 24 classes is the first to discover their class epic weapon.But wait, there's more. It also marks the beginning of EQ2's Valentine's event, Erollisi Day. To herald two major events in one free game update, the EQ2 team has put together an excellent teaser video highlighting the major features of the patch. In the video, not only do they show off the incredible particle effects of many of the as-yet-undiscovered epic weapons, but they also give a very disturbing picture of what goes on behind closed doors during Erollisi Day between a female Troll Ogre and her suitor. It has to be seen to be believed. (FYI, you must use Internet Explorer to watch it. Firefox cries and hides in the corner.)Keep an eye on the EQ2 official forums and here at Massively as we cover the unfolding of the epic weapons quests and track the first of each class to discover theirs.
Gollum wisshes you a merry Christmases
Lord of the Rings Online and Turbine are nearly done for the holidays, but not before a Christmas-themed wallpaper featuring none other than Gollum ... or is it Sméagol? No prizes for guessing what he wants for Christmas. Not that there was Christmas in Middle-earth, it was more Yule-tide, but ... oh, you know what I mean.Follow the link to download the full image at either 1600 x 1200 or 1024 x 768 resolution, or if you're the kind of LotRO fan to prefer something in-game, check out Dan O'Halloran's excellent Yule-tide quest guide.
Yule-tide quest guide for non-Hobbits
The Lord of the Rings Online Yule-tide festivities are comprised of a single level 1 quest resulting in a snow-covered tree for your front yard. Not quite on the scale of the Harvest Festival, but something fun to do and the reward looks great on your virtual lawn.The problem is that all the running around you do in the Shire can take forever if you didn't level a Hobbit. Massively has come to the rescue with your Yule-tide quest guide for Shire newbies. It's all you need to know to claim your tree and get back to farming for that Rift armor.OverviewLobelia Sackville-Baggins wants to play Grinch to the Hobbits' Yule-tide celebration. Somehow she has claimed the official title of Yule-planner and declared only wilty vegetables and an early bedtime for all, instead of an all night, multiple-course banquet meal and never-ending keggers of ale. It's up to you to find out how she wormed her way into the job and how to save Yule-tide for all the gluttonous, alcoholic, pipe-weed lovin' Hobbits. Head to Hobbiton and pick up Yuletide Woes quest from any named Hobbit in town Talk to all named Hobbits in area and find Invitation at Ted Sandyman's mill Take Invitation to Mayor Whitford in Michel Delving Find Bylaws book in the Great Smials library in Tookland and return it to the Mayor Find 10 Hobbits in Hobbiton to sign petition to dethrone Lobelia Present petition to Lobelia Talk to Gamgee to receive reward
LotRO celebrates the Harvest Festival
There are a lot of Fall seasonal festivals going on in MMOs right now. From WoW's Hallow's End with its flying broomstick mount and Headless Horsemen event to City of Heroes' Costume Contest. Lord of the Rings Online is celebrating the season in its own way with Middle-earth's first annual Harvest Festival. Announced today, but starting on Friday, October 26th and running through November 11th, Tolkien lovers can enjoy a number of unique events.
