xp-bonus
Latest
The Daily Grind: Have you ever been put off by double XP?
Marvel Heroes features a bunch of firsts for me. It's my first prolonged exposure to the Marvel universe. It's the first ARPG I've enjoyed, and it's the first game that's kind of annoyed me with its promotional XP bonuses. Let me explain. I hate leveling in MMOs. I don't play MMOs for leveling or progression and 99 percent of the time these tropes act as timesinks that get in the way of what I actually want to do in a virtual world. So, normally I love, love, love double XP. Well, last week in Marvel Heroes I was blowing through the levels so fast that I ended up way ahead of the story in terms of level-specific areas. I want to play through the story once, enjoy it, and then go about speed leveling, trying all the other characters, etc. But that was almost impossible to do since I couldn't log in without levels and loot bags hitting my character in the face! Anyway, it's my own fault for starting the game during a promotional period, and I'm not really complaining as much as I'm looking to start a discussion topic. So, how about it, Massively readers? Do XP bonuses ever seem counterproductive or annoying, or is it just me? 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!
Would XP bonus weekends or zones get you leveling an alt?
Even with today's ease of leveling (and the promise of more help to come), getting a new alt up to 90 can still be a mind-numbing grind. A new character project is all fine and good when you have a deadline ("raid-ready within X weeks when Player Z goes on leave of absence") or a partner in crime to keep things rolling along. But what a long, lonely road is the journey to 90 when all you've got to look forward to are the same old quests or the dubious risks and pleasures of the dungeon finder. But what if the fat, juicy carrot of an XP bonus weekend or bonus zone were dangling right in front of your eagerly twitching nose? Time-specific XP boosts be quite the motivator -– after all, if you don't hop on them while they're active, you lose your chance to double your gains. Would an XP bonus weekend or zone nudge you off the couch and into Azeroth with another alt?
RuneScape doubles rewards in minigames this Winter Weekend
Wondering what to do this weekend? If you play RuneScape, you can take advantage of the special Winter Weekend running from 7 p.m. EST (midnight GMT) tonight through the same time on Sunday night. As part of an ongoing series of winter celebrations, this weekend's festivities will offer double the rewards in the following seven minigames: Castle Wars; Soul Wars; Trawler; Pest Control; Big Chinchompa; Evil Tree; and Shooting Star. As an added bonus, anyone who is a member during the month of December also gets a special additional 50 percent XP boost for 30 minutes each day with Festive Aura. So jump on in and take advantage of these holiday specials before they disappear! [Source Jagex press release]
Darkmoon Carousel increases XP and reputation gains
WoW Insider received various reports via Twitter and email of a bonus to reputation and experience granted by taking a ride on the Darkmoon Carousel. Further investigation indicates that this is indeed the case. The carousel works similarly to the maypole-styled stick during the Fire Festival, in that the longer you spend spinning the longer the duration of your buff. The buff is named WHEE! and increases experience and reputation gains by 10%. It's very fast to build up, and you don't actually have to ride the carousel itself to gain the buff, just be near to it. If you want to stand on it but not mount one of the carousel mounts, that's just fine too. To access the Carousel you'll need at least one Darkmoon Ride Ticket in your inventory. Fortunately, these can be bought 5 at a time in books from Kae Ti, the NPC in the tent through which you enter the Carousel. If you have a Darkmoon Ride Ticket in your inventory already, one will simply be subtracted from your total as you walk into the Carousel area. Don't confuse the ride tickets with Darkmoon Prize Tickets, which have an almost identical icon, but are rewards rather than access tokens. The Prize Tickets are a currency and appear with your Valor points and the like, while the Ride Tickets stack in your bag. If you get onto one of the carousel's mounts, and can't seem to get off, type /leavevehicle into chat. You can also keybind this function via the WoW Key Bindings menu. Mists of Pandaria is here! The level cap has been raised to 90, many players have returned to Azeroth, and pet battles are taking the world by storm. Keep an eye out for all of the latest news, and check out our comprehensive guide to Mists of Pandaria for everything you'll ever need to know.
Today's Warhammer Online update unifies RvR currency
If you've played MMOs for any length of time, chances are you have come upon the dreaded "inventory full" message during your adventures. Warhammer Online is no exception to this phenomenon, and you don't have to be a certified packrat to run out of room when juggling the game's multiple RvR currencies. Even with the dedicated currency bag, the sheer volume of different types fills it quickly. But thanks to today's Game Update 1.4.8, Warhammer Online players will be able to convert all those crests, medallions, insignias, and emblems into a single currency -- war crests. In the patch notes released last Friday, Mythic Entertainment detailed the unification of RvR currencies, outlining the specific conversion rates and RvR reward distribution. It also announced the addition of a new novelty vendor (where players can spend those newly acquired war crests on special experience, renown, or influence gain buffs) along with other equipment and merchant changes.
Star Trek Online announces junior officer appreciation weekend
We all know how the story goes: Starfleet captain goes out on an away mission, kills some of the locals, and comes back home to a hero's welcome. Bah! What about the little guys? What about the poor redshirts who were callously thrown to the lions so that their captains could sit and watch from the comfort of space, huh? Well thankfully, Cryptic Studios is not blind to the contributions of Star Trek Online's junior officers, and the studio has announced a junior officer appreciation weekend in their honor. From today, April 27th, until Monday, April 30th, STO players will be able to give back to their valued junior officers in the form of up to 50% bonus commendation experience for all duty officer assignments. In addition, captains can receive a free purple-quality duty officer "with a unique active roster power," and any duty officer packs opened during the course of the event will each contain a free additional green-quality or better duty officer, so if you're looking to pad out your junior officer roster after the redshirt massacre that happened last mission, now's the perfect time to do so. Just head on over to the STO official site for the full details.
Trion launches RIFT's Carnival of the Ascended anniversary events
It's hard to believe that RIFT is a year old, but it is, and Trion has taken the wraps off a substantial world event to celebrate. The Carnival of the Ascended kicked off yesterday, with festivities that include four weeks of bonus XP, various minigames and rare reward opportunities, and "hours of new solo, group, raid, PvP, crafting gameplay, and more event quests than ever before," according to Trion. RIFT is a high fantasy MMORPG that features two opposing factions, dynamic quest content, and a customizable class system. More info on the one-year anniversary event, including images of many of the reward items, can be found at the official RIFT website.
Dawntide closing beta server for massive world revamp
The curious saga of Dawntide continues, and the next chapter includes a wipe, a world revamp, and two weeks of sheer unadulterated mayhem. The fantasy sandbox has had a rough go of it in 2011, first with funding issues and then with all of the trials and gameplay tribulations that come with bringing an indie MMO project to fruition. Due to the large-scale world re-design, the title will be going dark for a couple of months beginning on December 19th. The game's open beta server will be wiped, and the devs at Working as Intended will be constructing and populating "a new, more interesting, detailed and visually appealing world." Prior to the wipe, players will enjoy skill gains at five times the normal rate as well as no-holds barred PvP in every corner of the game world save for the starting towns. WAI is also allowing players to keep their equipment upon death until wipe day, but the official website notes that these changes are only temporary and will not be returning when the server reopens in January or February.
Aventurine hosting free Darkfall weekend, quadruple XP
If you've ever wanted to see what all the Darkfall fuss is about, this weekend would be a great time to clear your calendar. Aventurine is making the fantasy sandbox accessible to everyone for free, and the devs are also quadrupling the normal experience gain through Sunday. Previously active accounts have been reactivated, and new players can sign up on the game's official website prior to rolling a character. Darkfall is set in the harsh realm of Agon, a huge medieval fantasy world filled with dungeons, dangerous mobs, and open PvP. The game also features full corpse-looting, crafting, and clan-based warfare. Check out our Darkfall Choose My Adventure series for an in-depth look at the title's gameplay and community, and be sure to hit up the gallery below for the latest screenshots. %Gallery-139865% [Source: Aventurine press release]
Dark Age of Camelot unveils its 10th anniversary masterpiece
It's not every day that an MMO turns 10, and Mythic is taking full advantage of the situation to hype up Dark Age of Camelot's impressive milestone by treating players to a few goodies. First up is a highly detailed mural depicting the conflicts, races, and classes of DAoC over the years. Mythic has been revealing the mural piecemeal over the last few weeks before finally unveiling it today to the playerbase. In addition to this poster, Mythic's unleashed Producer Stuart Zissu to film a video laying out the plans for the game's celebration. Zissu talks about the new training hubs designed to get beginners on their feet, epic encounters in the world for groups to tackle, moral arcs that give players concrete choices to make, UI changes, and the 10th anniversary t-shirt. Players logging into the game in October will also find that they'll be enjoying several bonuses to XP, crafting, and more. You can watch Zissu get the crowds pumped up for the party after the jump!
Bonus round: RuneScape kicks off a weekend of extra XP gain
RuneScape players, it's time to put your key in the ignition and slam the pedal to the floor -- you have a full weekend of bonus XP ahead of you! The weekend kicked off at 7:00 a.m. EDT this morning and will continue until the same time on Monday, September 12th. During this weekend event, RuneScape subscribers -- not free players -- will enjoy a hearty bonus to their training activities rate. The bonus multiplier begins at 2.7 times the normal rate and decreases in percentage every half-hour played after that, until it hits 1.1 times the normal rate of XP gain, at which point it will remain until the bonus weekend is over. This bonus rate will not be used up if a player is logged out or in the game's lobby and does not affect quest XP, XP rewards at the end of activities, assist XP, the circus, and XP that is awarded via items. Because of the unique nature of the Summoning skill, Summoning will be locked in at a 1.1 bonus rate for the duration of the event.
The Road to Mordor: Power to the levelers
With Rise of Isengard creeping up on us, I've seen an increasing number of people begin to freak out about it, not because they're upset it's coming but because they're not prepared to partake in the expansion on day one. Now, this might not be important to you, but I assure you it's quite important to many -- lots of people like to be in on the excitement from the very beginning, and it's a special kind of torture to contemplate having to sit there and listen to your friends oohing and ahhing over the new zones and content while you're still poking your way through Moria. So because of this, some players really, really want to get a character up to level 65, prepared to do a dive roll right into Dunland when September 27th hits. It's understandable. Even I, a normally laid-back type of guy, am pushing hard to finish up Enedwaith with my Lore-master so that I'll have one character good to go on I-Day (that's Isengard Day). But what about those who don't have a level 65 in their pockets? Is it too late to get your act in gear and get up there before it's too late? Of course it isn't. I'm pretty convinced that you could even roll a fresh toon today and get him or her up to the endgame by I-Day, depending on how much time you can dedicate to it. Today we're going to look at a few leveling tips I've picked up over the years to aid those of you who want to kick in the afterburners of the leveling process so that you can make sure you're where you want to be. It's not even that hard!
Recruit-a-Friend program comes to EverQuest
Sony Online Entertainment's Recruit-a-Friend program (otherwise known as the powerlevel-your-alts-with-multiple-accounts program) has been a hit in EverQuest II for quite some time now. It's only natural that the initiative make its way to the original incarnation of Norrath, and SOE's Piestro has posted a notice on the official EverQuest boards marking just such an occasion. Recruits and recruiters will enjoy a wealth of benefits including in-game mounts, bonus Station Cash, Legends of Norrath booster packs, a unique title, and of course, loads of bonus XP. Check out all the details on the o-boards, then hit up the official RaF page to get started.
DDO and LotRO prep bonus weekends for all
We're not even at the dog days of summer -- more like the puppy days -- and Turbine is already throwing players a bone with special bonus weekends in both Dungeons & Dragons Online and Lord of the Rings Online. And thus we hit our canine pun limit for the day. DDO is bumping the experience factor up by a respectable 25% across the board and throwing in a +1 loot bonus (meaning better loot in chests) for good measure. It's a great time to come back to the game, too, as players can enjoy the recently released Update 10. Meanwhile, LotRO is encouraging you to farm mobs like crazy, as monster kill XP is going up by 50% (which can stack with the 25% XP trinket from the Rise of Isengard pre-order). Currently, the game is hosting its annual Summer Festival. The four-day bonus weekend for both games runs from today through Sunday, June 26th.
Funcom inviting former Age of Conan players back for free, giving away bonus XP
By Crom (or is that Mitra?), Age of Conan is having a birthday! Yep, Funcom's version of Hyboria turns three this week, and active subscribers are invited to claim a number of free potions that boost PvE, PvP, and alternate advancement experience. Each character on an active account is entitled to a single claim of all three potions through the end of May. Former Age of Conan players haven't been left out in the Cimmerian cold, either. Funcom has turned on all inactive accounts, also through the end of May, so patch up and come back to Hyboria on the house. Finally, Funcom is running a third-anniversary sweepstakes with prize packs that include free game time plus the original AoC client and the Rise of the Godslayer expansion. Check in with Massively all weekend for more Age of Conan anniversary coverage including an interview with Craig Morrison and more!
PSA: Gears of War 2 multiplayer treating 31 times XP this weekend
Want a really nice Halloween treat, Gears of War 2 multiplayer buffs? Epic Games and Microsoft have ratcheted up the XP bonus by 31 times, the only trick being that you must play beginning today (October 29) through Monday, November 1, in order to reap the rewards of their generosity.
Flying Lab details Pirates of the Burning Sea F2P conversion
Flying Lab Software, makers of the Pirates of the Burning Sea historical naval MMORPG, recently decided it was time for the subscription-based business model to walk the plank. While Flying Lab CEO Russell Williams penned an introductory devlog breaking the news late last week, the piece was light on the details, setting the stage for a more in-depth look at the decision from a gameplay perspective. Flying Lab game designer Jason "Mr. Nutty" Gettel checks in with another devlog designed to address introductory questions that current players and tire-kickers may have about the title. While there's nothing revolutionary about Flying Lab's take on RMT (it features the standard item shop, along with the equally standard no-game-breaking-items-for-sale mantra), it's good to see it spelled out after Williams' somewhat cryptic announcement. One interesting wrinkle that bears watching is the way Flying Lab is implementing perks for Captain's Club members (the new name for monthly subscribers). Among other things, subbers will enjoy an experience bonus as well as increased loot and faction gain over their F2P brethren. Read the full article on the game's official website, and be sure to look for Massively's exclusive Flying Lab interview in the coming days.
Lord of the Rings Online announces another Welcome Back Weekend
Lord of the Rings Online is opening the doors for former players again, in another Welcome Back Weekend. If you've got an expired subscription to Lord of the Rings Online, you'll find that your account has been temporarily reactivated. You don't need to do anything, just download the client if you need to and log in to find your characters waiting for you. As usual, the definition of "weekend" in LotRO is pretty generous, with the offer active now and continuing through the 25th. You'll find a few bonuses while you're in Middle-earth as well. Travel at all the stable-masters is free, and there is a 5% XP boost for the duration of the weekend. (Even better, that 5% bonus stacks with rest XP!) If you've been away from LotRO for a while, take some time over the next few days to check out what's new, on Turbine's dime!
WoW Rookie: Recruit-a-Friend
New around here? WoW Rookie points WoW's newest players to the basics of a good start in the World of Warcraft. Visit WoW.com's WoW Rookie Guide for links to all our tips, tricks and how-to's. Your evil plan has come to fruition: your significant other, best buddy, school pal or co-worker has finally confessed an interest in playing World of Warcraft. Send your buddy a Recruit-A-Friend invitation, and let the bodies hit the floor. You're about to cut a mean swath through Azeroth while enjoying some sweet side benefits: 300% XP bonus for both you and your recruit (when grouped) 10% reputation bonus for you and your recruit The ability to summon one another to each other's locations across the world 30 levels of "free" XP from your recruit, granted to any of your lower-level veteran characters A free month of game time for every recruit who upgrades to a retail account The ever-so-sweet, exclusive Zhevra mount for one of your characters, once your recruit pays for 60 days' worth of game time
Patch 3.3 PTR: A little extra XP bonus
The sneaky database over at MMO-Champion has uncovered a little spell/aura/attribute hidden in the patch 3.3 PTR files that hints at some extra XP from future versions of heirloom gear. Currently, with two pieces of heirloom gear, you can get up to a 20% bonus (the chest and shoulders each give a stackable 10%, while heirloom weapons give nothing). But this Heirloom Experience Bonus +5% "spell" grants an extra 5% experience, so it could be that in the future, we'll see pieces of heirloom gear that have an extra bit of bonus on them -- maybe gloves, cloak, or a belt -- that will bring the total bonus XP up to 25%. There's no base level or other identifying information on this attribute (we call it a "spell," but really, given its information in the game, it seems like a gear-specific ability), so we can assume that it'll be a full 1-80 bonus, just like the current heirloom gear in the game. Unfortunately, we haven't actually uncovered any new heirloom items yet, so we have no idea if this stuff will show up in patch 3.3 or the expansion. And of course, just because the bonus applies from 1-80 doesn't mean the gear can be worn that whole time -- it sure seems like Blizzard wouldn't necessarily want Worgen and Goblin alts speeding past Cataclysm lowbie content. But we'll see -- in the meantime, look for a little extra heirloom power, coming soon. Thanks, Gene! Patch 3.3 is the last major patch of Wrath of the Lich King. With the new Icecrown Citadel 5-man dungeons and 10/25-man raid arriving soon, patch 3.3 will deal the final blow to the Arthas. WoW.com's Guide to Patch 3.3 will keep you updated with all the latest patch news.
