winter-event
Latest
The Daily Grind: To what lengths will you go for 'free' limited-time goodies?
I like to think of myself as a person who covets his time and won't spend it frivolously grinding, but once in a while I fall for it. "It" in this case being a limited-time event in an MMO where a particularly tantalizing reward is dangled in front of me. Common sense will flee and I'll find myself neck-deep in an obsessive grind to get this free goodie. Neverwinter was the most recent that trapped me. I couldn't help it, you see. There was the promise of a cute little healing fawn companion if I'd only go fishing during the winter event. That sounded pretty doable, that is until I hit hour five of non-stop carp capture and realized that I was in for a real grind marathon to pull this off. Very long story short, I got the fawn but really wish I hadn't wasted so many hours doing it. That's my story. What's yours? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
LotRO players put on Winterstock 2014
A new player event is coming to Lord of the Rings Online this month: Winterstock! To fit the season, Winterstock will take place at the frigid (yet welcoming) Thorin's Gate on the Landroval server from January 17th through the 20th. The four-day event will showcase 19 bands playing in one-hour blocks during the afternoons and evenings for entertainment and amusement. Winterstock could be seen as the counterpart to summer's Weatherstock, which has been going on for years now. The event is hosted by the Lonely Mountain Band and is available to all. A full schedule of the band times is up on the LOTRO Players site.
Save Millennium City from Black Harlequin in Champions' Winter Event
It's winter in Millennium City, which means that it's time for Champions Online's annual Winter Event. Black Harlequin is once again attempting to deliver thousands of deadly presents to city residents, and the dev team has bundled the March of the Mecha Soldiers mission into a custom alert that includes "new rewards for the defenders of Millennium City." Players will also run across randomly spawning Christmas presents like action figure parts and various Christmas items. Be wary, though, as some of the gifts may be traps set by Black Harlequin.
Star Trek Online transmits plans for next two seasons, mid-year event
Executive Producer Dan Stahl is hardly shy in tackling the myriad Ask Cryptic questions, and today's Star Trek Online queries proved to be no different for him. While there was a hodge-podge of questions from players, it seemed as though the focus for many was on the future of the game and Season 8 in specific. Stahl said that Season 8 is due in the first half of the year, possibly in May, although there will be some content arriving this month for the three-year anniversary of the game. He promises that Klingons will "get some love" in Season 8 and hints at the vast wealth of additions coming with the update: "[It] will focus on adding new missions and storyline to the game in the form of a new adventure zone, new episodes, and another big feature, which is yet to be revealed." Following Season 8, Cryptic will then roll out a mid-year event and Season 9. The mid-year event was compared to the game's current winter event, with the possibility of taking place on Risa. Stahl is quite pumped for the year in general: "Season 8 and Season 9 are both going to be BIG releases. I'm very much looking forward to them because they represent the first big releases we will have been able to do with the increase to our live team staff."
City of Heroes retires free trials, reopens Winter Chalet
Freedom is coming for City of Heroes fans, and that means the existing free trial for the superhero MMO will soon be redundant. As of August 17th, players will find they can no longer create free trial accounts nor make use of the game's refer-a-friend feature (although Paragon Studios promises to unveil a replacement buddy program in the next few weeks). Free trial accounts opened before the August 17th deadline will last their full duration, so if you want to check out the game before it officially goes free-to-play later this year, the time is now! Current players will find even more reasons to appreciate their subscriptions: As of this morning, Paragon has toggled on a few elements of the game's winter event, including the Winter Chalet and ski slopes. It's more like sledding in August than Christmas in July, but now you have a reason to drag those cold-weather costumes out of storage.
City of Heroes extends the Winter Event through the end of the month
It happens, despite our best efforts. You play City of Heroes, and you really did want to take part in the Winter Event, but between the holiday rush, doing charity work, cooking dinner for your family, and the non-stop chupacabra attacks, you just didn't have the time to log in. But Paragon Studios is going to give you a belated gift to help rectify that unfortunate circumstance -- you're not going to miss the fun as long as you get a chance to play before the end of the month, as the event is now running through the 31st. This year's event is very similar to the event of last year, albeit with the added challenge of defeating the nefarious (and frosty) Lady Winter to prevent her evil schemes. Players can also collect special salvage to unlock special Enhancements and costume pieces, as well as acquire badges from previous years. The event is running through the rest of the month, so even if you've been a bit too swamped to enjoy the holiday season in City of Heroes before now, you've got more chances ahead.
Behind the Mask: I'm raiding for Christmas
I'm not a big fan of holiday events. For the most part, they're an excuse to grind a bunch of cosmetic stuff, such as titles/perks and costume pieces. The other possibility is random junk filling my inventory, like fireworks, candy, and other assorted goodies that just end up on the auction house. If there's any holiday missions or quests, people are more interested in doing them in the most efficient way possible, instead of killing mobs for experience. Since I like tangible benefits, holiday events generally aren't my thing. I usually end up soloing over the season or playing with a small group of friends. Bah humbug. The winter events in Champions Online are really no different from the events in any other game. They mostly consist of gathering presents, doing little holiday quests and getting an inventory full of random junk. But the devs included something silly that I'm looking forward to: an excuse to get teams to do the impossible. Buckle in, guys: I'm doing Andrithal and Mandragalore this holiday season.
Age of Conan 2.1 brings new minigame, Guardian revamp, winter event
Today is patch day in the world of Hyboria, and Funcom has quite a few changes in store for Age of Conan. Version 2.1 is currently on the live servers and it brings new social content, a new PvP minigame, and a Guardian class revamp. Still want more? OK, how does a winter solstice quest grab you? In addition to the items above, 2.1 also boasts a laundry list of tweaks and additions, among them adjustments to PvP minigame balancing, 18 new Gateway of Khitai quests, guild renown adjustments, and various and sundry bug fixes. While the jury is still out on the minigame balancing, the new game (The Call of Jhebbal Sag) transports players to the Pictish wilderness for a lengthy battle featuring capture objectives and resource stockpiles on a large-scale map.
The Daily Grind: What's your favorite in-game winter holiday?
There's nothing better to cement the mood of the holidays than a cup of hot liquidy beverage, a roaring fireplace (or, lacking a fireplace, a carefully controlled indoor fireworks display), and an internet-capable computer that allows you access to your favorite MMOs. Of course, this is the time of year when most MMOs pull out their annual winter-themed holiday events, which are packaged in such a way to offend no one while calling on the spirit of the season. So granted that you're fond of these holidays, we want to know which MMO winter event is your fave? It's not as if you lack choices at this point: Frostfell, Yule Festival, Wookiee Life Day, Winter Veil, Wintersday, First Night, Frostburgh, Solorius, Attack of the Misfit Toys, Festivult, Snowflake Festival, Starlight Celebration, Midwinter Festival, Festival of the White Hart, Snowdays, Junkadoo, Festival of Gloriann... the list just goes on and on. For a bonus question, what are your winter event goals this year? Do you have your eye on a special prize, decoration or outfit? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me: Vindictus, zebra stockings and giant spiders
It's not often that we in the Massively offices are just plain stumped, but today Nexon receives that rare badge of distinction. To usher in Vindictus' holiday event, Nexon has put together a 48-second video of pure insanity. It runs the gamut of snowball fights, mostly naked people wearing zebra underwear, giant spiders, pigs and one exhausted-looking Santa Claus. The festivities begin in Vindictus on Wednesday, December 15th and revolve around the battle with Laghodessa, a giant arachnid with a penchant for taking all the presents and drinking all of the egg nog. Nexon has asked the players to speculate about why their characters may have a vendetta against the plus-sized spider and for the players to send in their stories. Once players have defeated Laghodessa, they'll have the opportunity to craft a unique spider cloth armor set. Nexon's also throwing out a number of goodies, including free XP weekends, free boat trips and free potions for the taking. Head on over to Vindictus to read up on the event, or hit the jump and witness the holidays seen through the lens of the insane.
Champions Online: Did you enjoy Attack of the Misfit Toys?
For the holidays, Champions Online presented their fans with an especially nice surprise: a gigantic, slavering teddy bear bent on the destruction of...well, everything. So how did you like it? Randy "Arkayne" Mosiondz is the lead designer for Champions Online who created a forum thread today for fans to give feedback on their first ever winter event. The thread asks for your top three likes, your top three dislikes, and what you would like to see in future holiday events. Players have been giving feedback here and there up until now, but the thread will serve as a central place for the CO design team to hear how the player base feels. They'll take the answers into account as a guide to creating future events, so if there are some things that really stood out to you during the winter event -- either good or bad -- this is the time and place to be heard by the developers. The thread can be found at the official forums, so head over and give your take on the event.
Champions Online winter update goes steampunk, killer toys
The winter event/patch for Champions Online is adding a few new costume pieces, along with a pretty fun looking winter event. For all you steampunk enthusiasts out there, we won't keep you waiting, just head on over to the official event page and absorb the glorious monocle and arm pieces awaiting your characters. Unfortunately, the new pieces do need to be unlocked, but that's not such a bad thing since participating in the rather enjoyable sounding event is the only obstacle in your way. For instance, defeating Black Harlequin's giant white mecha teddy bear robot, Clarence, earns you that spiffy monocle. We can't wait to show that fluffy metal menace who's the boss around here -- and it's not Tony Danza... well, not unless someone makes a parody character. If you'd like to see more of Clarence, his killer friends and master Black Harlequin, then check out all the new screens in our gallery section below.%Gallery-17946%
EVE Online's snowball fights to end January 6th
While implementing "future Christmas in space" wasn't the most feasible option in EVE Online, CCP Games did revive their holiday tradition of giving players snowball launchers, with harmless snowball ammo. The snowball launchers sound and function like standard missile launchers, and upon impact the snowballs burst into a cloud of snowflakes. However it seems the cat's out of the bag in terms of baiting surprised targets into returning (live) fire in high security space, and having them put down by CONCORD -- EVE's NPC police. Perhaps it's just as well though. Soon those unused snowballs will melt, thus ending EVE Online's holiday celebration on January 6th. Needless to say, players who quickly tore through their snowball supply and are trying to replenish their cache will have to hurry. CCP Fallout, EVE's Associate Community Manager, writes that "capsuleers who bid on snowball contracts before this date, yet receive them after, will find themselves owners of a pile of melted snowballs upon delivery." So use 'em or lose 'em. They'll be reduced to puddles in just a few days, and since CCP Games doesn't do this every year, it might be your last chance for quite some time to try these out.
The Daily Grind: 'Tis the season
It's that time of year again -- when every MMO on the market decides to break out in some form of winter-y celebration. Festivities abound! AoC is handing out gifts, EVE offers snowball fights, Nexon holds festivals, Warhammer celebrates Keg End, Lineage II lets you save Santa, the World of Warcraft celebrates Winter Veil, Guild Wars players celebrate Wintersday, City of Heroes and Villains hold their uncreatively named Winter Event, LotRO hosts the Yule Festival, EverQuest II celebrates Frostfell, Final Fantasy XI hosts the Starfall Celebration, and probably a number of other events in a number of other games that have slipped our immediate notice. Whew! If you haven't been overwhelmed by the sheer amount of holiday cheer provided by that simple list of events, then here's the question(s) from Massively HQ to you. Are you celebrating this holiday season MMO style? Seeking out every seasonal quest and seeing how many MMOs have virtual eggnog to indulge in? Would you prefer not to have real world holidays barging into your virtual reality? Or does celebrating in real life provide you with more than enough holiday cheer for one lifetime?
Drunk and disorderly in Warhammer's Keg End holiday event
"Keg End is here, with the mud and the blood and the beer!!" It seems that most of the major MMO titles have gotten into the holiday spirit, including Warhammer Online with its Dwarf New Year's festival of Keg End. The event begins today, December 17th and continues through to January 5th. We knew a bit about Keg End before. Namely how it seemed to be an in-game event where it's perfectly OK to act like a violent drunk with a burning desire to blow things up, and then brag about it (with some new emotes). Well, Keg End promises to be all that and more, given the event info Mythic Entertainment released today. No matter whether you're Order or Destruction, there's plenty of fun to be had and hell to raise. The best part is you don't need to feel guilty or make excuses the morning after (it wasn't you, it was the 'Frothy Goodness' ale)... although you may be stuck with the new in-game title "The Drunkard" for a while. WAR has gone 1.1! Check out our full coverage of the 1.1a patch, along with our interviews exploring upcoming content and the open RvR changes. Plus, don't miss any of our ongoing coverage as Massively goes to WAR!
Celebrating the holidays with Lineage II's Saving Santa event
The holidays are in full swing across several of the games we've been covering at Massively. In fact, a number of massively multiplayer online games now have holiday-themed quests, items, and unique winter settings, and NCsoft is getting in on the action as well. The latest holiday event announcement we've gotten word of is happening in Lineage II with its Saving Santa Event, which will run from December 16th through December 30th.The holiday event pits you against one "Thomas D. Turkey" who holds Santa Claus captive. If Santa is freed, he will visit random players throughout the world, placing presents into their inventories. Some of the rewards include specialized buff scrolls for your occupation, weapon exchange tickets, a year-round Christmas tree, and for a rare few -- a Rudolph Agathion (pet).If celebrating the holidays in Lineage II sounds like your thing, you'll want to check out the full announcement for the Saving Santa Event.
Feast of Winter Veil begins tomorrow in WoW
It's that time of year again. The goblins of Smokywood Pastures have been shipping their treats to major cities and are getting ready to open up shop tomorrow in World of Warcraft. This year we suspect Metzen will get into trouble (again); we'll be sent after the Abominable Greench (again); everyone will be after the holiday goodies you can pick up like Engineering, Cooking and Tailoring recipes; and several instance bosses are going to be steamrolled for their festive winter hats. Added to the fun this year are the new achievements for Winter Veil, which involve many silly things to do: Complete a bombing run in Ogri'la while on a flying reindeer Throw a snowball at one of your faction's leaders 50 Honorable PvP kills while transmogrified into a Little Helper Wear 3 pieces of winter clothing while eating Graccu's Mincemeat Fruitcake 25 crashes with your Crashin' Thrashin Racer. (New present this year!) Dress up like a snowman and dance with another snowman in Dalaran If players are able to to gather all of the different Winter Veil achievements, they will gain the meta-achivement for the holiday, giving them the title "Merrymaker." Of course, getting all the different achievements will also net you 130 achievement points. Not that we're chasing achievement points or anything. Nope.
Winter arrives in City of Heroes on December 15th
Beginning on December 15th, 2008 and running until January 4th, 2009, City of Heroes and City of Villains will be celebrating their Winter Event as only your favorite superhero MMO could. All across Paragon City and the Rogue Isles there will be new special powers, a new winter-themed mission, the return of the Ski Challenge, special good or evil auras, candy canes, Gamester pranks and much more.Check out the complete run-down of the new goodies at the main website, as well as a new gallery of Winter Event 2008 images, straight from the screens of NCsoft. Happy Holidays!
LotRO's Yule Festival has begun!
The Town Crier is going to be busy these next few weeks as the Yule Festival has officially arrived in Lord of the Rings Online. These winter festivities include contests similar to those at other seasonal events in each of the starting zones: The Shire, Bree, Duillond and Thorin's Hall. There's a return of token collecting, gift boxes, the Inn League and more!In addition, we have a new horse for Yulemath, as shown in the screenshot above. You can certainly expect a complete guide to the Yule Festival coming very soon from us at Massively, but in the meantime, be sure to check out the official forums as players uncover more in-game goodies!
City of Heroes previews Winter Event
Not so long ago, City of Heroes players were treated to a preview of the upcoming Halloween Event, in which an unprecedented zombie apocalypse befell Paragon City and the Rogue Isles. Yesterday, the Test Server was host to a preview of this year's Winter Event: the ski chalet was opened up again, and if there's a better example of virtual coziness anywhere in MMOs, we're not sure what it is.The main attraction this year is a new ski run. Unlike the slopes of previous years, this is a corkscrew nightmare that involves teleporters, geysers and jumps along the route. More like a toboggan run than a ski slope, it's great fun to hurtle down at breakneck speeds; badges are even available for beating preset times.
