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The Daily Grind: Do you like bonus experience systems?
"Rested experience" in MMOs seems like it ought to be a casual player's best friend, right? If you log out for long enough, the game will double your experience gain rate the next time you play... up to a certain point, of course, and only if you log out in the right spot (or only if you're a subscriber). But after a while, you get so inured to bonus experience that playing without any of it banked starts to feel like playing at a huge disadvantage. Double exp becomes the new normal, and old normal feels slow. I can't stand feeling like I'm taking the sucker's bet to play now at half the speed rather than wait. And that always makes me create and turn to a stable of alts to maximize my rested exp, which means I'm metagaming and playing characters I don't really want to be playing. Never mind the annoyance of always having to find a tavern or cantina to log out in, which is a breeze in some games and rather a pain in others! So what about you? Do you like bonus experience systems? 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!
Labor Day weekend brings bonus XP weekends to all
Labor Day weekend is upon us, and EverQuest II, Champions Online, Warhammer Online, and Vanguard are all getting in on the festivities. In addition to celebrating Labor Day, Champions will be celebrating its two year anniversary by giving players gift boxes, party favors, and new costume pieces. Meanwhile, Warhammer Online is keeping it simple with a 50% XP and RP bonus for all players. Vanguard players get bonus experience as well, whether it's of the crafting, adventuring, or diplomacy variety. EverQuest II is also providing bonus experience -- double experience, to be exact -- for AA, tradeskill, and adventuring experience. If you're a regular of any one of these games, or if you just want to pop in to see what the fuss is about, it sounds like this weekend is the right time to do it. See something we missed on our list of Labor Day weekend events? Tell us in the comments! [Update: Commenter Furdinand reminded us that Star Wars: The Old Republic's beta test weekends began today, and commenter Dartanis points out that RIFT's half-birthday celebration continues throughout the weekend, providing players with a wealth of bonuses.]
EverQuest II offering bonus experience
Once all the presents have been opened, the fruitcake has been eaten (or relegated to the duty of propping open a nearby door), and many folks are back to work, it might seem a bit glum after the weekend's festivities. Thankfully, if you're an EverQuest II or EverQuest II Extended player, you'll have something to look forward to. Sony Online Entertainment has decided to offer up a great late present to its loyal players in the form of four days of bonus experience! From 12:01 a.m. PST on Monday, December 27th until 11:59 p.m. PST on Thursday, December 30th, players will be treated to a whopping 100% bonus on experience. According to the EverQuest II site, that covers all AA, tradeskill, and adventuring experience gained during that period and will cross to the French, German, Japanese and test servers as well as the main EverQuest II and EverQuest II Extended servers. So get ready to celebrate the last week of 2010 with some free epic extra experience in Norrath.
Atlantica Online rings in the holidays
Christmas has come to Atlantica Online, and with it, a host of changes that are certain to excite both new and veteran players. In the most recent updates, players are enjoying sweeping changes in the game's tactical battle system, the opening of Santa's Villa, and a new dungeon to explore. Small groups of three 125th-level-and-higher players can head into the Ancient Lava Valley area and pit their skills against a host of monsters called the Flame Guardians. The overhauled battle system has opened up more control of battles for players, as well as introducing a solo mode for the Trojan War missions. As if that wasn't enough, players also have the option of adding a stable, which allows them to showcase two mounts of their choosing at their homes for other players to ooh and aah over. In addition to all of the above, Atlantica Online is also holding a 200% bonus experience weekend from December 24th to the 26th, perfect for getting your character caught up over the holidays. Those playing at other times won't be left out, however, as nDoors is running 150% bonus experience weekends in Atlantica Online leading up to the big Christmas event. To top it all off, players who log in Christmas day will be awarded gifts at certain times -- and the next day boasts a huge World PvP competition for those more interested in a festive holiday gankfest. Pop over to the Atlantica Online site to check out the details of their most recent patch and the various ho-ho-holiday events!
EverQuest celebrates Memorial Ding with extra xp and items
You may recall the ConnecDING promotion that Sony Online Entertainment ran some time ago. Well, the EverQuest team decided that after the interest sparked by the first one, they'd run yet another promotion to get even more people to come join their Facebook page and keep up on what's going on in Norrath. The good news is that the team managed to meet their goals and are rewarding players with a weekend of 125% bonus experience. Yes, indeed -- that's a full 125% on top of all regular experience you get in the game. The even better news is that not only are players getting a full weekend of sweet, sweet bonus experience, but there's also a slew of goodies available this weekend for free in the Station Marketplace too! Items range from simple solo experience potions and a humorous "Tome of Friends" (which spawns a "Little Black Book" floating pet) all the way up to group experience potions that offer 50% experience (normally 1400 Station Cash) a fae familiar, and more. So if you've been thinking about heading back to the old stomping grounds, or just working on some more AA points, this is a great weekend to play some EverQuest and take advantage of all the DINGstravaganza.
Fantasy Earth Zero celebrates launch with special events
It's launch day for Fantasy Earth Zero, the PvP-oriented free-to-play game from Gamepot USA and Square-Enix. The official launch alone would be enough reason for fans to be excited, but there's better yet to come, as the game is running several events to celebrate. The most obvious one is a week of boosted experience and money -- from today until the 25th of May, all players will receive a bonus 50% to both experience and Rings gained. It helps ensure that your time spent leveling now will be on the faster side, allowing players to dive into the high end of the game even faster. Players are also being given five free enchantments to help boost their prowess in battle within the same timeframe. If all that weren't enough, Mission Maps will be updating at a higher clip during the week after launch -- the Mission Maps exist as an alternative to spending money in the cash shop, which makes a higher turnaround help speed up progress further. All players who took part in the second open beta will also receive a New Soldier Set as a present, containing potions as well as an experience-boosting ring. Take a look at our gallery below for some special launch-day screenshots, and if you're curious, take a closer look at Fantasy Earth Zero itself. %Gallery-93240%
Catch up for Sentinel's Fate with a bonus exp weekend
Behind on your leveling? Stuck in a mire of experience? Looking for a quick boost to get you set for the latest expansion to EverQuest II, Sentinel's Fate? Well, starting at 3 PM PT today (6 PM for those of us on the east coast) you'll be able to get bonus experience to everything you do in EverQuest II! Leveling experience, alternate advancement experience, tradeskill experience, country experience, and western experience will all benefit from the bonus event. (Editor's Note: We don't remember country or western experience being in EQII, but hey, he is the executive producer, after all. He should know what he's talking about.) Your new experience buff will be running out on Monday at Noon PT (3 PM ET) so be sure to take advantage of it while you can! Get some more experience under your belt before Sentinel's Fate launches on Tuesday!
The Daily Grind: Does bonus XP draw you back?
It seems like many games are offering bonus experience weekends to draw people back in to their games. After all, it gives you a chance to level up far faster than you normally would, which is nice. The other side effect to these weekends is that it gets more people in-world, so someone thinking about resubscribing would look around and think "there are lots of people here, this place seems to be doing well" and maybe come back. Personally, I played a bit during the recent Lord of the Rings Online bonus weekend, and will undoubtedly poke my head into EverQuest to enjoy some double experience as well. That said, the times I tend to stick around are when I have a friend who comes and plays with me, or if I find some new friends who don't mind my play being somewhat erratic due to work. With that said, do you tend to return for bonus experience? Does it ever get you to resubscribe? Or do you just show up for the bonus weekends and then head back to whatever game you normally play?
Atlantica Online running bonus XP weekend with 'thank you' gifts
The popular free-to-play MMO Atlantica Online from NDOORS Interactive ran into difficulties with their extended server downtime earlier this past week. However, any player outcries over this haven't fallen on deaf ears. NDOORS states, "Even through the delays, you stuck through it with us, and for that we want to thank you the only way we know how - through bonus experience time!"All players are currently receiving a 150% experience bonus which will last all weekend, ending on Sunday April 26th at 11:59pm PDT. NDOORS Interactive adds, "As an additional 'thank you', we'll be sending all logged-in players an Artisan's Cube at 1pm PDT on Saturday, April 25th, and Sunday, April 26th. This box will give you the choice of some Skill Decrease Books, Waters of Life, Growth Vials, Secret Vials of Potential, or several scrolls." If you haven't given this particular game a shot in the past, the 150% XP bonus weekend sounds to us like an ideal time to see what Atlantica Online is like.
XP and renown bonuses for WAR transfer servers
With the recent server transfers made available to Warhammer Online players, Mythic enabled players to move onto several servers free of charge. Now they're offering limited time server bonuses for players making their trek onto the offered servers. The bonus itself is a 20% rested boost to experience and renown gain. It's a nice little cherry on top for players packing their bags and it should also help encourage some people on the fence to take Mythic up on the offer.Anyone interested in making a move (or seeing if they're even able to do so) can check out this handy list at their leisure. We're sure to see more of this kind of encouragement from Mythic in the future, at least where and when it's necessary.
Free play/bonus EXP weekend welcomes back lapsed LotRO players
If you're a former The Lord of the Rings Online subscriber who's thinking about returning to Middle-earth, or just looking for a way to kill a weekend, then you'll be interested to know that Turbine is hosting a "Welcome Back Weekend" event in the game.All former subscribers will be able to play for free between October 2nd and 6th. Additionally, everyone (old players and new alike) will receive 25% more experience during that period. This is obviously intended to re-hook veterans so they'll buy the Mines of Moria expansion when it comes out. Nothing wrong with that, we suppose.Oh, and it also uncoincidentally coincides (you see what we did there?) with the annual Fall Festival. We already asked you guys a while back what you thought of LotRO. Some of you expressed interest in returning to see what's new. Here's your chance, eh?%Gallery-32889%
Clarifications on EQ2's Bonus XP Sundays
After it was announced that there would be bonus experience on the two Sundays leading up to the EverQuest II expansion Rise of Kunark, it looks as though a few players have been confused about the finer details. A thread surfaced on the game's forums, that kicked off with one unhappy customer stating that the bonus experience was for US servers only. This was quickly cleared up by a community relations representative, along with some other questions that came up later in the thread. Here is a compiled list of the clarifications found in the thread: It is for ALL servers, not region-specific or US only When the clock ticks over, the bonus xp will be in effect -- no need to log out and back in If you already have vitality saved up, the bonus XP stacks with this Because the first bonus day, November 4th, is that day that clocks get turned back for daylight savings, there will actually be 25 hours of bonus on that day. This should apply for servers in all regions too -- from the thread, "everyone will get 25 hours of bonus time since the person turning the time on and off is going to be affected by that time change. I'll leave ya'll to figure that one out" So there you have it. Everyone gets to take part, and there's even a little bonus hour this Sunday -- better get some rest now so that you can last the full stretch.
