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Runes of Magic adds spring festival, region event and more
Frogster have released their latest patch for Runes of Magic, their recently released free to play MMO. This patch brought the first seasonal event, the Spring Rain Festival, which introduced an abundance of Easter Egg and Wabbit related quests.Game play changes include an equipment switch system, which allows you to maintain two sets of equipment slots once your secondary class is selected, and new PvP arena equipment sets. A new region event called Attack on Sergarth Outpost was also added, although not to unanimous approval. There are numerous bug fixes and changes to quests and abilities, including the Windrunner race having its entry fee reduced and the rewards adjusted accordingly. The full list of changes can be found on the Runes of Magic forum.
Runes of Magic Spring contest: Can you find the eggs on our site?
Didn't get quite enough exposure to eggs this weekend? Let us help you out a bit with a brand new contest held by the good folks at Runes of Magic. Starting today, Massively readers will have the opportunity to participate in a unique competition to help celebrate RoM's Spring Event.The basics of the rules are simple: check out our Runes of Magic category page (multiple pages) and hunt down small Rune Eggs of various colors. Count up the number of blue, green and red eggs hidden on the page and report them on an official form for this event. These eggs will be hidden throughout the category pages, in images, posts and anywhere else we could sneak them in. This contest ends on April 19th, so get moving! Read below the cut for complete details.
The Daily Grind: Your favorite spring holiday event?
For many people this weekend will be a time of chocolate and seeing family. For others, this may well prove the nice and quiet time (and days off from work or school, depending) to get in some extra MMO time. Lord of the Rings Online has the Spring Festival, World of Warcraft has Noblegarden. We've recently had Bristlebane's Day in EverQuest II, and there were St. Patrick's events in everything from FusionFall onwards. That said, all of these events are vying for you to log in and enjoy - to give you a bit of spring-tinged cheer; but which one has consistently proven to be your favorite? Which game do you think has the most awesome, well-scripted, fun spring events?
Wandering through the hedge maze of Lord of the Rings Online's spring festival
Festivals come and festivals go, but how many games feature something as neat as a hedge maze for their spring festival event? A hedge maze with quests even!Tony over at MMeOw has put together a pretty nice overview of what the hedge maze in Lord of the Rings Online is all about. He goes over exactly why you want to chase chickens through the bushes, how to get through the maze in the fastest time possible, and the enjoyable parts of putting up signs of misdirection throughout the maze.Even if none of this sounds like it interests you, one of the possible prizes you can get is the fish slap emote, /fishslap. We are 100% confident on our side of the fence that none of you out there can turn down getting access to /fishslap.The maze isn't the only part of the spring festival, as all of the original trappings of last year have returned. The quests for the Inn-League, the eating contest in the festival grounds, and the other events are still making their yearly appearance. But if you're looking for a nice write-up of the hedge maze, look no further than MMeOw.
Official World of Warcraft websites feature Spring Festival gallery
Earlier this week, the World of Warcraft community sites (multi-regional) updated with a gallery from WoW China. Chinese WoW players participated in an event called, "I Love World of Warcraft, I Love Spring Festival" that combined a passion for WoW with the Lunar New Year celebrations. Chinese players submitted pictures of themselves that incorporated both of these things and the community picked their favorites. This is, by far, one of my favorite galleries that any of the official community teams has ever done. As a blogger here on WoW Insider, I see every day just how much community has been built up around this game, and I know very well that there are faces behind the characters. I've met many of my guildmates in person, and I hear similar stories every single day through WoW Insider's tipline. I love seeing the faces behind the characters, and that is exactly what this gallery does. Sure, they posed for these things and they're not exactly candid, but it still shows that the game is very personal.We're all players, but we're also people. I much prefer galleries that display that, rather than yet another mount gallery. Mount galleries are cool and all, I just like this better. Go on, check it out!
LotRO's Spring Festival features aMAZEing new content
The Lord of the Rings Online Spring Festival is now in full swing, and you may be pleasantly surprised by the fact that this festival offers a few differences from previous festival events. Sure there's the new(ish) horse, and the other usual suspects in Hobbiton, Thorin's Hall, Duillond, and Bree's Horsefields, but this season we have a maze!Detailed in a recent developer diary, the Hedge Maze is "intended to bring players together for a new challenge that will take place in a more close-quartered public instance than we've seen previously in the game. There are chickens to be caught, Elves to be scolded, signs to be posted, records to be beat, and a very sinister surprise at the center of it all." This festival also brings a new notification system for these events, getting the word out to those who may not read the official LotRO forums. Check out the complete dev diary and the official forums for more on this year's Spring Festival.
Massively Spring Event coverage in pictures (and a video)
Springtime brought many events to our favorite MMOs and Massively was there to report on them. From St. Patricks Day to Easter to April Fools, there was no end to seasonal fare. Click the images below to take a tour of the pictures and places of Spring 2008 in MMOs.Easter More event coverage after the jump.
One Shots: Now that's a talented Burglar!
We have to admit -- this Lord of the Rings Online screenshot took us a bit by surprise. Sure, everyone's heard about the famous burglar Bilbo Baggins, but I strongly suspect that even dear, old Bilbo wouldn't have been able to pull this particular job off. Today's One Shot comes to us from Shoukichi and portrays a "theft" most foul. You see, the poor Town Crier has been robbed of both his shoulders and feet by someone who was out to spoil the Spring Festival fun! Of course, the crier, being the stand-up guy he is, remains on the spot just carrying on with his duties as needed. But he certainly looks unhappy about his missing appendages! Do you have a strange, glitchy, off the wall screenshot you snapped? Perhaps you found an easter egg or a pop culture reference in your game that is just fabulously cool. Whatever your reason, gather up all your screens and send them in to us at oneshots@massively.com. This column is all about you, so jump on in and get your screenshots shown! (please no UI if possible!)%Gallery-9798%
Massively surveys MMO Easter events
Seasonal events are often the most popular in-game events in many of today's MMOs. But each game's designers have to find a way to slip these real world celebrations into the lore and mechanics of their persistent worlds. Let's look at this year's crop of Easter events transmogrified into online fun.Some designers do little more than blatantly throw in eggs hidden in the bushes such as World of Warcraft's Noblegarden. You can spend the day in the newbie zones and collect eggs that hold minor items. Not very much to this, especially considering the way Blizzard has been revamping other seasonal events like Hallow's End into something drool worthy. Fortunately, our friends at WoW Insider have created a gallery of the 25 best Easter Eggs of WoW. Not the kind of Easter eggs mentioned above, but the little hidden in jokes placed in the game by the designers from 'Snakes on a Plane' visual gags to Clint Eastwood nods to 'Firefly' shout-outs.You can begin your tour of these hidden gems by clicking on the first picture below, check out what little Noblegarden does have to offer in the second gallery or continue to read about Easter events in other MMOs after the jump. Gallery: Burning Crusade Easter eggs Gallery: Noblegarden
Celebrating St. Patrick's Day MMO-style
Though not many Americans can quite tell you why they are celebrating St. Patrick's Day or wear a bit of green. they do love an excuse to head to an Irish pub and drink a Guinness. And this year is no different with the holiday being observed anywhere from March 15 to March 17 this year. A few MMOs are getting in on the action as well. EverQuest II is celebrating all week long with their pub-crawl inspired Brew Day Festival which has in turn inspired a video parody. And Pirates of the Caribbean Online has turned the seas green as well as offering shamrock tattoos and green hair to players to customize their avatar.Even Lord of the Rings Online is slipping in its own St. Paddy's Day celebration with a quest that rewards you with a giant size keg during Spring Festival. Tapping that beast gets you so drunk, your character passes out and wakes up in another part of Middle-earth! Better in-game, than in life, eh? Finally, if Virtual Worlds are more your style, there are sure to be many player run St. Patrick Day events in Second Life. You may have missed yesterday's float parade, but you can always visit virtual Dublin any time of year. %Gallery-18489%
LotRO reminder: go get your keg!
A brief reminder, dear readers, that Lord of the Rings Online has been updated to Book 12 Patch 1, and that means that "Bullroarer's Challenge - Advanced" is back in the game. Remember to finish the quest for your Inn League Keg before the end of the Spring Festival, so that you too can enjoy being plastered beyond the state of consciousness, and find yourself in an exciting new location upon awakening. If you need to catch up on the pre-requisites for the advanced challenge, our Spring Festival guide has you covered. The only step not featured is the one that has just been re-added, and it's simply a more strictly timed version of the drunken fence hopping you will have already completed to get that far. Good luck!
Massively visits the LotRO Spring Festival
Spring has sprung in Lord of the Rings Online, and the Spring Festival is well underway. We've gone and taken a look at everything that is on offer, taking lots of pictures along the way, and we're happy to report back now with our findings. Although it is unfortunate that the teleporting keg is unavailable for the moment, there's still plenty to do! You can click the picture at the top to start at the beginning of our guide, or check out each sub-category; the flower picking/gift boxes quest line, the Inn League quest line, and the festival grounds and dance session
LotRO Spring Festival extended, drunken keg quest temporarily disabled
Earlier when we reported on the commencement of Lord of the Rings Online's Spring Festival, we brought attention to the Inn League Keg. You know, the one that has the potential to get you so wasted that you pass out and wake up in a different area of Middle-earth? Well, a note on the forums has announced that the quest that gives the Keg as a reward has been temporarily disabled, so it cannot be obtained for now.Before you get too upset, note the "temporarily" in the above -- the message states that the Keg will be made available again in an upcoming patch. As a way of saying sorry, the Spring Festival has been extended by one week, so it's not all bad. Check out our previous Keg post to see a video of the drunken antics.
LotRO's Spring Festival launches today
Lord of the Rings Online 1st annual Spring Festival begins today. We're in the game gathering details and shiny screenshots as we speak. But one thing we already know, there's a new Tavern League quest and the reward is quite...amusing.Completing the new seasonal quest line will grant you a keg you can place in your home. Anyone can draw a drink from it. But beware, there's a catch.As you drink, your vision becomes blurrier and you'll have trouble walking straight. Pretty standard stuff for MMO drunken fare. But here's the kicker. If you drink too much, you'll pass out and wake up in a totally different part of Middle-earth. Don't believe us? Watch the video after the jump.At least you wake up with your trousers still on. Those things cost hella DKP.
All the World's a Stage: The passing of the Beast
All the World's a Stage isn't just a column for loony and creative geeks, playing with roles every Sunday evening.The Lunar Festival has been with us for a few days now, and I can tell you as one living in China, the real life version of this holiday, the Chinese Spring Festival, is quite the treat. Everyone seems to walk around charged with a special happiness, traveling all around the country, glad to be reunited with family after spending months away. Shops are closed, streets have more people walking than driving, and nights ring loud with the sound of fireworks bursting from all around you.The WoW version is a pale imitation, to be honest, but it does manage to capture a portion of the Spring Festival's spirit. While setting off fireworks is not the awesomest eye-candy, it's not that bad; also, traveling all over the world to visit the Elder ghosts scattered all around Azeroth is charming in its own way. The main thing that's missing, however, is a real understanding of what the holiday is all about.Few Westerners realize that the annual attack of the monster "Nian" (on which the story of WoW's Omen is based) forms the mythological backstory for the Spring Festival -- sort of an equivalent of the Nativity story of Christmas. The Chinese words for "Celebrate the New Year," Guo Nian, could also be literally translated as "The passing of the Beast." If we look at the symbolism behind this Chinese myth, it can give the Lunar Festival new meaning for our characters in Azeroth as well.
