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Captain's Log: Leveling up and new lockboxes in Star Trek Online
I've said it once and I'll say it over and over again: It can be hard to write about a game in the weeks leading up to a scheduled event or content release. This week is no different. Star Trek Online's team is nose down into the final touches of the new material being released next week for the game's third anniversary, and new information about any of it has slowed to a crawl. However, in the interim, we have been given the information on the contents of Star Trek Online's newest lockbox as well as the specs on the new ships either contained in the boxes or available in the Lobi store. I also had the opportunity to take part in the most recent Q XP Weekend event and actually found myself having a lot of fun.
Ultima Online celebrates 15 years with regicide [Updated]
Ultima Online has a big anniversary today, one that you can only really celebrate if you're the first graphical MMO on the market. This marks the game's 15th anniversary, and that's definitely the sort of thing that merits a celebration. So the staff has decided to celebrate by deposing the current ruler and ushering in a new king. (We admit that the plot may not actually involve regicide, but kings are not usually known for their calm and peaceful surrender of power.) The changing of the king is the culmination of a seven-month plot arc, with the actual coronation of the new ruler sparking a major in-game event. If you're a former player, it's well worth jumping back in to check out what happens when power changes hands. You can also jump on past the break to see our own Beau Hindman livestreaming with the Ultima Online development team in celebration of the 15-year anniversary. [Source: Electronic Arts press release] [Update: UltimaCodex.com has a full transcript of the chat if you want to read it yourself!]
Ultima Online maps out remainder of 2012
If you don't mind being spoiled when it comes to your favorite isometric sandbox, then you might want to head over to Ultima Online's official site, where Producer Bonnie Armstrong has spilled the beans about the game's immediate and long-term future. Armstrong begins by laying a foundation for the game's updates, starting with Publish 78 any day now, Publish 79 around Christmas-time, and Publish 80 for early next year. She also revealed a lengthy list of features that the team is thinking about implementing for UO, including high-res art, a better UI, new sea creatures and encounters, and a battleground shard. Specifics about each publish's contents are still up in the air, although Armstrong says the team will post them soon enough. For Ultima Online's 15th anniversary, Armstrong says that Mythic is bringing back the Return to Britannia promotion for all of September. This means that any former UO subscribers will be welcome to come back and play free of charge. The team will be distributing anniversary rewards during the month as well.
Need for Speed World celebrates its second anniversary
It seems like only a scant few months have passed since we covered the launch of Need for Speed World, EA's street racing MMO. But NFSW celebrates its second anniversary today, kicking it off with a double XP boost for everyone as well as a free Chevy Camaro ZL1 for all registered players. In honor of the occasion, the dev team invited us to a group interview session culminating in a race-off during which we got to show just how hot (or not) our racing skills were. Lead Producer Marc de Vellis and Lead Designer Melvin Teo were on hand to answer our questions and talk about how the game has grown over the past two years. They enthusiastically discussed the ways they've developed NFSW as a result of community feedback, both in terms of game features and in terms of community interaction. Read on for a look at what changes they've made to keep their virtual drivers coming back for another lap.
Conquer Online 9th anniversary celebrations include a free trip to China
Reaching the nine-year mark is quite an accomplishment in the MMO world, and Conquer Online plans to celebrate this milestone in style with a number of special events, bonuses, and gifts both in-game and out. From now through May 31st, players can enjoy a variety of festivities and goodies: Ongoing special events like Crazy Lotto, Naughty Bunny, and Crazy Invasion. Special discounts on offers in the shopping mall, including a four-hour event on +3 stones from May 26th to 27th. A chance to prove which server is truly best in the cross-server Capture the Flag battle. A Nurture Pack with useful healing and XP items to welcome newcomers. VIP gifts. Special upgrades to certain event rewards. Oh, but that's not all! The pièce de résistance: Three lucky current Conquer Online players will win a free trip to China to take in the sights of Beijing and visit the TQ headquarters. To enter the drawing, players must credit at least one $15.99 or one $29.99 TQ Point Card during the period between May 15th and June 30th (the more you credit, the more chances you have), have at least one level 50+ character, and be at least 18 years of age. For full details, check out the contest rules. [Source: Press release]
Free Realms throws itself a nice big birthday bash
MMO birthdays are the best celebrations. Instead of getting your favorite game a lot of presents to celebrate its age, most games give the players presents. So it is in Free Realms, which celebrates its third year of operation today with a number of events and rewards for players. The most basic rewards don't require any real effort on the part of players; just logging in today nets you a Birthday Cake hat, and you can enjoy triple Station Cash for the rest of the day. There's more to the party, however: The game's offering a number of daily quests to help Queen Valerian produce the best birthday party ever. There's also the dread monster Cakenstein, a beast assembled from... well, you can probably guess from the name. The extended events will be running until May 24th, but the Station Cash promotion and the hat are only for today. So if you're a fan of Free Realms, log in and start enjoying the festivities today!
Some Assembly Required: Ten years warp by for Vendetta Online
If I were to start describing a game where players have zipped about one persistent universe as one of three factions in customizable ships vying for wealth and territory by mining, dodging hostiles, fulfilling missions, blasting one another to bits, docking at stations, blazing trade routes, and pirating for the past 10 years, you would say... Vendetta Online, of course! Perhaps the longest-running epic space-based sandbox MMORPG, the game hit a milestone last week that few others can boast: It turned 10! Although its major retail distribution was in 2004, Vendetta Online marks its anniversary as the day it was spotlighted in Penny Arcade during the game's completely open and public alpha (which means it basically launched since everyone could dive in and play) and the population exploded! A truly multi-platform MMORPG, Guild Software's game can be played on Windows, Mac, Linux, and even Android, giving pilots the freedom to log in when and where they may, even to surreptitiously check the markets or maybe sneak an event in while at work via a smartphone. After all, who wants to miss an event just because employment gets in the way? Luckily for those of us without an Android, Vendetta Online celebrated its decennial anniversary with some developer-run in-game events over the weekend. Always willing to join the party, Some Assembly Required strapped into a shiny new ship and blasted right into the thick of things in order to share in the festivities.
Jade Dynasty celebrating its two-year anniversary
Jade Dynasty is hitting the two-year mark on Wednesday, and the staff at Perfect World Entertainment wants to celebrate in style. And it starts today, with a doubled experience gain turned on from now until June 22nd. But that's only the smallest portion of the various anniversary events and prizes players can expect, which include special in-game giveaways on the game's various servers along with special quest events that can award items found nowhere else in the game. While most of the special events will be running for the length of the doubled experience event, a special site has been set up for a giveaway that goes live as soon as the clock ticks over to June 15th. There's also a cosplay contest for players and a special audiocast slated for some point during the anniversary week. Jade Dynasty players should take a look at all the festivities planned, which should more than satisfy long-term veterans of the game.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Ruining your own birthday party
There are few times when I wish that my columns came earlier or later than they did. As it stands, this column doesn't go live until at least nine of the City of Heroes servers have gone through the big Praetorian invasion event, and that's kind of disappointing on one level, because I would like to use it to warn people about what's around the corner. Then again, at least we can all be united in disappointment. Or maybe I can be told that on every server other than Virtue, the event has been a non-stop cavalcade of roses and badges and possibly free Incarnate shards. Lots of things are possible. If it weren't obvious already, the implementation of Wednesday's event left a bad taste in my mouth that I'm still trying to spit out several days later. And while I'd really like to say it's the sort of thing that's wholly understandable and I don't mind the technical problems that cropped up... I really can't. There's complaining about lag, and then there's complaining about an event designed to run into huge problems that ran into bigger ones.
The Road to Mordor: Festivals and you -- a love story
It's a shame that Lord of the Rings Online's fourth anniversary will probably be remembered more for being a mismanaged festival event than for the achievement that reaching four years signifies. But things are as they are, and the "Grindaversary" has now gone down in LotRO's history of what not to do for an event. If you're only tangentially tuning in to the LotRO news these days, last week Turbine launched its first anniversary celebration in the game (previous anniversaries were marked only by gift tokens dropping in the world). The celebration was a lesser type of festival that borrowed elements from previous events, namely, the horse races and the beer brawl. Players were challenged to participate in both to gain tokens to acquire special rewards, such as a new horse mount, housing decorations, and cosmetic outfits. The problem was twofold: The tokens were gained so slowly that it took a long time to get enough for even one moderately priced reward, and the only endlessly repeatable activity (the beer brawl) could be failed if you were knocked out of the area by another player. As a result, players heavily protested what should've been a fun time and Turbine ended up with egg on its face. In participating myself, talking with friends, and reading through the many, many responses to the event, I got to thinking about how Turbine's approached festivals over the past year or so and how the studio can learn from this to avoid another stumble.
Lord of the Rings Online anniversary bringing double XP, beer
The 2011 version of Lord of the Rings Online's Spring Festival may have passed into legend, but hope remains for Hobbits, Men, and fair folk when it comes to having a good time in the month of April (OK, Dwarves are invited too). Beginning this weekend, Turbine is offering double XP on monster kills to celebrate LotRO's four-year anniversary (yes it has been that long) as well as a number of events designed to put even the grumpiest denizens of Middle-earth in a festive mood. In addition to featuring horse races, new cosmetic items, and anniversary tokens galore, the event marks the return of the much-loved beer fight -- sorry, the Battle for Glorious Beer -- wherein players are tasked with clubbing their fellows around an ale-soaked arena in Thorin's Hall. The official LotRO website has a few details, as do the folks at A Casual Stroll to Mordor. The celebration runs from April 19th through May 2nd, while the double XP event runs from April 21st to the 24th. You can check out some new anniversary shots in our gallery below. %Gallery-9579%
Crashing the parrrty: DDO's producer joins the fifth anniversary festivities
What's better: birthdays or pirates? For Dungeons and Dragons Online Executive Prodicer Fernando Paiz, both are equally awesome, which is why DDO's fifth anniversary is smoothered in secret pirate sauce. In a birthday letter to DDO's playerbase, Paiz gushes about the game's accomplishments over the past half-decade, including its action-based combat, DX11 graphics and free-to-play transition. But all that is the past, as he talks up the myriad of in-game events that are currently happening in the game, which include fighting off pirates, collecting lost goodies and claiming your rightful booty. Paiz also expressed excitement about DDO's future, starting with the European F2P edition that's coming soon to the international community. He also hints at several developments that are coming down the pike for the game, such as a new crafting system, high-level adventure packs, and a never-before-seen content system. You can read the full producer's letter over at DDO.
Dungeons and Dragons Online looks back to the beginning for its fifth anniversary
It seems hard to believe that Dungeons and Dragons Online has been running for five years now, but there you have it. The game has become a darling of the free-to-play business model and attracted a great deal of attention since the conversion, but for the fifth anniversary, the game is looking backward. Specifically, it's looking to Smuggler's Rest, once the starter area for new travelers to Stormreach. Though long forgotten, it's not abandoned, and players of all levels will be sent back to help Euphonia Teles try to beat some rapacious scavengers from obtaining the map to Crystal Cove. Euphonia's Challenge: Treasure of Crystal Cove, which our own Rubi Bayer previewed just a few weeks ago, will be available from 10:00 a.m. EST on February 24th to the same time on March 2nd. In addition to participating in the event, players will be awarded a gift for characters created before February 22nd, with older characters getting more impressive hats to don as a show of age. There are also new items in the game's cash shop as well as a special experience and renown bonus for all characters from February 24th through March 1st, plus a Marketplace Egg-Hunt from now until March 6th. Dungeons and Dragons Online has been through a lot of changes over the years, but it's time to go back and celebrate the game's roots. %Gallery-65663%
NCsoft's Stites talks Aion anniversary
NCsoft's Lance Stites has weighed in on the one-year anniversary of Aion. Stites, Executive Vice President of Game Operations and Production, has quite a lot to say about the land of Atreia and the eternal war between its winged denizens. From thoughts on the launch-day server queues that were enraging prospective players this time last year, to the free content updates featured in version 1.9 and the more recent Assault on Balaurea, Stites summarizes a year of tweaks in a post over at AionOnline. In addition to his mini-retrospective, Stites also hints at the future, which includes "new western-specific events, continuing refinement to drop rates and experience, a 64-bit client to make performance better than ever and expanded pet functionality." Finally, he mentions the special one-year anniversary presents available to active players via the in-game survey system, as well as the unique Aqua Griffo pet gifted to loyal subscribers who've stuck with the game since launch.
Behind the Mask: An anniversary well-spent
Over the last week, I've been spending a lot of time playing Champions Online's anniversary event. In fact, I'd go so far as to say it rekindled my enjoyment for the game. While I've been playing CO, here and there, I think like many players, I suffered from a little burnout. The anniversary event itself wasn't really what cured my ills. The extra things involved in the event were just little fun add-ons to the game. The main tasks in the game were still there for me: run Serpent Lantern, run NemCon, maybe level an alt, mess around on PTS, and roleplay. Even the "big bang" Destroid attacks were only a decent diversion for a half hour or so. What really got my excitement going was the increased socialization. A lot of people claimed "the zones are empty," but that couldn't be further from the truth. I logged out one night in Millenium City #7 and logged in the next afternoon to Millenium City #20, with most of the lower instances completely full. That's close to 2000 players in just MC alone. I participated in a lot of roleplaying and hung out with the CORP guys during their RP event. I added over 10 people to my friends list last week. The main reason my burnout was cured? I gained an optimistic look at where the game is headed.
One full year of being a Champion
If you read about Champions Online in its first days, you would not have thought of it as a triple-A title. The game was full of bugs, the community management was not the best, and it just seemed like the devs were intent on shoveling out more broken stuff that barely worked. I think that, in particular, the first three or four months were the worst. If you were to go back in time and ask me about whether or not I thought CO would make it to its first anniversary, my response would have been: "Maybe, but it'll be bleeding subs if it even makes it that far." Since then, a lot of things have changed. I talked about the first six months of CO, but it's been a full year since that painful launch day patch. I'm not sure I'm even playing the same game anymore.
SWG players receive treehouse anniversary gift
If you're a Star Wars Galaxies player, you'll find a nice gift waiting for you the next time you log in. SOE has released the third in a line of recent seven-year-anniversary gifts for SWG players, and it's a schematic for some fun housing: a Wookiee treehouse. It's a single-use item, of course, but it will net you a pretty impressive new residence. The Wookiee treehouse takes up two lots, gives you 200 storage, and makes quite a statement on the surrounding landscape. If you'd like to check it out more closely, you can find a list of materials and several screenshots on the official SWG forums. [Updated to clarify that this is an anniversary gift, not a veteran reward!]
Mabinogi looking for moonwalkers
Mabinogi, the fantasy life MMORPG from Nexon, is gearing up to celebrate its second anniversary in North America with a new in-game event called Jump to the Moon. Nexon is keeping a lid on event details, as they are specific to individual servers and require a targeted number of 'moon-walkers' to activate. To participate, grab a friend to help you seesaw your way to Eweca. Once you've made the jump, check out the miniature cows, dancing pandas, and giant moon bunnies, and be sure to grab your Cow Robe reward. If your server reaches its moon-walker quota, you'll be able to enjoy the anniversary event over the weekend of March 26-28. You'll also receive a special Mabinogi Anniversary item. Check out the full press release for more details.
Wizard 101 celebrates their first birthday with a month of events
Most online games just do a single event for their birthday and then let it pass by. You might get an in-game item or two, but that's about it. But this isn't how Wizard 101 and Kingsisle Entertainment run things. No sir, they're doing a month full of events, and they want everyone to participate!This September is Wizard 101's first birthday and new events will be made available throughout the month. Right now, it seems that only two events (join their Facebook group for a in-game pet and a screenshot contest where you can win a poster signed by the development team and 10,000 in-game crowns) have been made available. Yet, there's still 2/3rds of a month left and 4 more events to unveil, so stay tuned to the Wizard 101 site for all of the information!And happy birthday Wizard 101!
One Shots: Ready and waiting
Any hero worth their cape can tell you that Atlas Park is generally considered to be one of, if not the, biggest hangout on many City of Heroes servers. Normally the statue near Ms. Liberty is a fairly laid-back spot for heroes to hang out and hold costume contests, but it truly gets to be fun when event monsters spawn there unexpectedly! Today's One Shots was captured by Ryan F. who was hanging out on Atlas' knee during the recent anniversary events and managed to capture this image of heroes poised and ready to deal with the next wave of nasties. Sunday is a popular day for people to log in and get some MMO time. So while you're out adventuring, why not take a snap of your favorite game? We'd love to see what you're up to. Just email your screenshots to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a brief description of what's going on. We'll post it out here and give you credit for sending it in!%Gallery-9798%
