3rd-anniversary
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Pick up a SWTOR stronghold for practically nothing
If you haven't planted roots in Star Wars: The Old Republic's strongholds or are on a quest to collect them all, then BioWare has a nice surprise for you. Buried in the patch notes for this week's Shadows of Revan expansion is an announcement that the studio is selling two of its strongholds for a pittance. "To celebrate our impending 3rd anniversary, the Dromund Kaas and Coruscant Strongholds are now available for three credits!" BioWare posted. Typically, these strongholds go for 5,000 credits or 50 cartel coins.
Order and Chaos Online goes free-to-play
The hit mobile MMO Order and Chaos Online has gone from reducing its up-front client cost to eliminating it completely. This past week, Gameloft dropped the price for Order and Chaos Online, making it officially free-to-play and gifting existing players 150 rune stones and a shining golden dragon hatchling for their financial support. The game originally launched as a subscription model, transitioned into a buy-to-play title for $6.99 back in 2012, and now will have to lean on in-game shop purchases to rake in revenue. Order and Chaos Online is celebrating its third anniversary with in-game gifts and quests. The MMO recently added a new PvP mode, Battlefield, that allows players to duke it out in 2v2 and 4v4 matches.
Star Trek Online fan video ushers in third anniversary
It's not just the developers at Cryptic who are throwing their effort behind the third anniversary of Star Trek Online. Fan and player STOLilyGarrett put together the latest in her series of STO anniversary videos and it's a doozy. Over the span of two minutes, this video sweeps and swooshes past many of the incredible landmarks, starships, and interstellar vistas that came into being during the past year. It's a really neat fan effort that's received the thumbs-up from the Cryptic team, so we wanted to pass it along to you. You can check it out after the jump.
Star Trek Online celebrates two million 'captains'
On the verge of its third anniversary, Star Trek Online has good reason to celebrate. In a state of the game post, Executive Producer Dan Stahl says that the title is growing by leaps and bounds: "You may have noticed that more than two million captains are continuing their voyages in Star Trek Online. With sustained increases in daily participation, the game is richer and more alive than ever before." Stahl looked back over the accomplishments and milestones of 2012, including Star Trek Online's transition to a free-to-play format. For the game's third anniversary, the team is releasing a featured episode on Thursday that will have a special reward for those who play it between January 31st and February 14th. The reward will be an Ambassador Class (the Enterprise-C model) for Federation players and the Kamarag Class for Klingon fans. Stay tuned for an on-air interview with Dan Stahl about STO in tomorrow's episode of Massively Speaking!
Webzen pops the cork on its third anniversary celebration
Good things come in threes, they say, and nobody knows this better than Webzen. In 2009, Webzen came on the scene as a free-to-play publisher and set up an online portal to serve as a nexus for all of its games. Since then, the company has released three MMOs through its service and recently crossed the three-year mark. With all those threes, it's time to celebrate! To celebrate its third anniversary, Webzen is throwing events in Archlord, MU Online, and Soul of the Ultimate Nation. By participating in these in-game events, players can win an assortment of prizes ranging from an Xbox 360 to in-game currency and items. The third anniversary events will start tomorrow and run through April 18th. Webzen's Head of Global Publishing, Jihun Lee, reflected on the company's achievements: "With the start of MU Online, Webzen.com has received much support from our users. As a result, in three years we have been able to become one of the leading global game portals. With the service experience of free-to-play online games, we are making all efforts to meet the users' needs and provide better services." [Source: Webzen press release]
Atlantica Online celebrates three years with in-game events
Atlantica Online, Nexon's quirky tactical MMORPG, has been running for three whole years now. You know what that means, right? Anniversary celebration time! From now until November 16th, players can celebrate Atlantica's third anniversary by participating in a variety of in-game events. For starters, there's the Hunt for the Warlord's Poem. Players have to hunt down monsters that have stolen fragments of Khun Phaen's poetry. Completing this task will net players "Khun Phaen's Carrier Pigeon, a Title: People's Champion, Khun Phaen Skill Books, and other essentials." If you'd rather put your combative skills to the test, you can take part in the third anniversary Grand Championship Battle Royale, which will take place on October 31st at 6:00 a.m. EDT and again at 6:00 p.m. EDT. The top four players will receive a prize of precious NX Credit. Lastly, Nexon is asking players to take a picture of either themselves or their avatars with a sign reading "Happy Anniversary Atlantica!" Players who submit such a picture will be entered into a drawing for 20,000 NX. For the full details, head on over to Atlantica Online's official site.celebrates three years with in-game events
PotBS devs share some cake with Massively
How did you celebrate your third birthday party? We imagine that the Pirates of the Burning Sea developers celebrated it a lot like you might have: with pirates, talking birds and the occasional PvP fight. Of course, you probably didn't choose to participate in an interview with the best MMO website in existence, mainly because it more than likely didn't exist back then. Our trusty eyepatches in place, we waylaid Russell "Rusty" Williams (Flying Lab's CEO) and Jason "Mr Nutty" Gettel (Lead Designer), who answered some of our "burning" questions. So sit back, put your bib on, blow out your candles, and click past the cut to see what they had to say on this special anniversary!
The Road to Mordor: Happy 3rd anniversary LotRO!
Every Friday, The Road to Mordor brings you the latest in Lord of the Rings Online news, guides and analysis. Three years ago, I was leafing through a computer gaming magazine and found myself intrigued at a multi-page spread for a new MMORPG called Lord of the Rings Online. The very thing that pulled at me was that LotRO, as they described, was blissfully low magic in a way that World of Warcraft's glitzy shinies was not. Instead, here was a world that was a little more realistic in scope, a lot more beautiful, and connected to a killer IP to boot. I was hooked. As we celebrate LotRO's third anniversary this week -- don't forget to log on to get your Writ of Virtue -- it's amazing to reflect on just how far this game has come. It may not be the multi-million subscriber hit that some had hoped for, but it's more than respectable in player numbers, community growth and general respect in the field of MMOs. Two expansions and several content patches later, we've walked with the Fellowship of the Ring from Bag End to Weathertop, down the long road to Rivendell, through the dangerous Mines of Moria, and out into the beauty of Lothlórien. We've experienced two new classes, housing, fishing, the skirmish system, crafting dungeons, a new player experience overhaul, the Lone-lands revamp, several major holidays, and the successful reestablishment of the Shire's postal service.
LotRO parties down with 3rd anniversary goodies
It may be the waning days of the Third Age in Lord of the Rings Online, but the third anniversary is waxing strong. In honor of three years of the road going ever on, Turbine has invited players back to LotRO to celebrate in style. As part of the party, all players logging in between April 21 and June 30 will receive a spiffy Writ of Virtue: The Writ of Virtue: This special scroll will show the Bards that you know the value of revelry and celebration! The Writ grants a passive skill that gives you a 20 percent discount with Bards all across Middle-earth. In addition to the Writ, all monsters across Middle-earth will drop special tokens, which can be exchanged for anniversary gift boxes in the major cities. Turbine is also enticing players with their ever-popular $9.99/month subscription plan, which can be locked down by signing up for 3, 6 or 12 month tours of duty. You can read the full announcement over at the LotRO site!
Vanguard celebrates three years of Telon
It's been over three years since Vanguard: Saga of Heroes launched to a very rocky start. Many didn't think the game would last far beyond one, but here we are, celebrating the third anniversary of Telon! The last three years have seen many improvements to Vanguard, from new dungeons, to performance enhancements, to even letting the players choose which bugs the developers should fix. Sure, the game's future may be a little cloudy, but let's live in the here and now! Enjoy the things we have while we have them! The game has survived for a third year, which is three more years than most gamers gave it credit for. So, to celebrate the third anniversary, current players can jump into the game to visit the Historian of Telon in New Targonor, Ahgram, or Tawar Galan for a special anniversary gift package. If you're stuck at work, then swing by the Vanguard Players website and take a look at some of the fond memories of the game's player base. If you want to get a deeper perspective, however, check out Beau Turkey's look back at his time in Vanguard on Spouse Aggro.
The best of WoW Insider: December 2-9, 2008
Joystiq's sister site WoW Insider celebrated our third anniversary this week, just after the game we play celebrated its fourth. So it was a week of looking both back and forward, as we checked out our top 10 most popular stories of all time, and covered all of the latest and greatest secrets in Northrend and the new expansion. From polar bears to proto drakes, here's to many more years of both World of Warcraft and WoW Insider. News Loken the most dangerous mob in the gameA look at the game's stats pages shows we've got a new player-killer in town. Storm Peaks daily quests reward a polar bear mountDo your dailies, get a mount. Blizzard legal targets private serversBlizzard lays the smack down on anyone running an unauthorized server. Ghostcrawler's thoughts on Death KnightsA dev tells us what he thinks of Death Knights and where they're at. Seeking the Time-Lost Proto DrakeHere's a practically free mount, a 100% drop from a soloable mob. The catch? Good luck finding it. Features WoW Insider's top ten stories of all timeOn our third anniversary, we take a look back at some of the biggest stories we've posted so far. Wrath 101: The sons of HodirAn endgame reputation grind that's "God of War meets WoW." The Queue: Trinkets, sigils, and death by OrcsOur Q&A column has instant insight every day on what players want to know about most. WoW, Casually: 7 reasons to make a Death KnightSeven reasons for casual players to try out the newest class in the game. Know Your Lore: DalaranHere's a look at the history of the game's new Northrend hub, and these are some historic streets we're walking.
WoW Insider Show Episode 13: Review of every patch from 1.2 to 2.3
Though we had a long list of news items from the past week to cover on Saturday's podcast, we threw it all out the window. Instead we honored WoW's 3rd Anniversary by covering every patch since launch. Relive three years of new content additions, class revamps and expansion mudflation with me, Krystalle Voecks and Turpster.This special podcast had to run an extra 30 minutes for a grand total of an hour and a half in order to get through all the patches!We also snuck in a quick discussion about the Shatner and Mr. T WoW commercials. Krystalle adds in her own Top 5 list of celebrities she feels should star in future WoW commercials and what race/class they should play. I don't think anyone disagreed with her number one pick (hint: not Chuck Norris.)If you missed the live podcast, you can now hear it stream on WoW Radio's site. Join us this Saturday for another live episode covering all the hot issues in our beloved World of Warcraft.
Breakfast Topic: Favorite patch
In honor of the 3rd Anniversary of the North American launch of WoW, we devoted almost the entire WoW Insider Show yesterday to talking about all the highlights since launch. We went patch by patch and talked about what we remembered from each. It was great fun to relive the memories.For those of you who don't listen to our weekly podcast on WoW Radio every Saturday at 3:30pm EST, it will be downloadable tomorrow or Tuesday. In the meantime, I thought it would be great to take a poll to find out what your favorite patch was since launch. I'm intentionally leaving out the original game launch and Burning Crusade launch.%Poll-6191% Vote on the above and tell us why below!
It's WoW's birthday and you may be getting the gift
As we mentioned yesterday, it was World of Warcraft's 3rd anniversary of their North American launch. In celebration of the birth of the 800-pound gorilla of MMOs, Blizzard wants to give you free loots.The first week it's $100 J!nx gift certificates. In the second week it's World of Warcraft action figures. And for the last week they are handing out an Apple iPod Touch and 2-year WoW subscriptions to five lucky winners.There are, of course, eligibility requirements, but the basics are that if you have an account in good standing and are 18 or over then you are automatically entered in for a random drawing every day. Check out their official rule page for all the details.When it comes to contests, nothing beats just showing up to qualify. And who wouldn't want to have their subscription paid for?
Put on your party hats - today is WoW's 3rd bday
Three years of subscribing, questing, farming, enchanting, disenchanting, guilding, deguilding, raiding, wiping, crashing, rp'ing, pvp'ing, min/maxing, faction grinding, level grinding, key grinding, mount grinding, token grinding, epic mount grinding, repairing, upgrading, socketing, reporting, ignoring, voice chatting, instancing, trolling, flaming, unsubscribing and resubscribing.Not to mention Barrens chat, Chuck Norris, Toyota Tundras, Shatner, Nihilum, server queues, omgwtfbbqs, nerfs, un-nerfs, buffs, debuffs, level cap raises, talent shuffling, guild drama, cyberdrama, Brewfest drama, fishing tournaments, population imbalances, keyloggers, outdated AddOns, forum petitions, uberguild notoriety, Leeroy Jenkins, Jeopardy, Community Manager burnout, Blizzcon mania, ninja looters, drama queens, bank robbers, afkers, market manipulators, pre-mades, bugs, glitches, dot shockers, pewpewpewers, qqers, class hate, class buffs, off-spec ascendance and core spec bitterness.And people wonder where we find so much to report on.Happy Birthday, World of Warcraft from the WoW Insider team.
