anniversary-celebration
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Final Fantasy XIV celebrates a year since its relaunch
As of today, Final Fantasy XIV has made it a full year since its successful relaunch. Producer Naoki Yoshida took the time to celebrate with a special letter from the producer, looking back at the past year of operation, both the pitfalls and the highlights. He also thanks the fans and especially the Legacy players for having stood by the game from a rocky inception to the present, and looks forward to upcoming patches, the pending Fan Fest, and the as-yet-unrevealed expansion. Today also marks the start of a seasonal event to celebrate the anniversary, featuring new minipets, a new emote, and new items for players to enjoy. The event will run until September 8th, giving everyone time to complete the sequence if they so choose. So here's to a year of the resurrected game, and let's hope for many more to come.
Aion EU celebrates F2P anniversary with XP and drop boosts, 4.5 announcement, and infographic
Two years ago today, Gameforge converted Aion EU to a free-to-play game. And just like for the first anniversary, the company is offering special celebrations as well as announcing a new update coming in April. This year, however, Gameforge also includes a new infographic to show off a few interesting statistics about the game at a glance. Players who log in between now and March 5th will find XP and drop rate boosts in effect. On top of that, Daevas can look forward to the chance of acquiring additional Aion coins. Then on April 9th, update 4.5 will bring the second Engineer class specialization, the Rider, to join the current choice of Gunner. The infographic, seen below, highlights various statistics since the fantasy game went F2P, such as favorite classes and how many hours of play time have been invested in it. The game is also now playable in Spanish, Italian, Polish, and Turkish alongside English, French, and German. [Source: Gameforge press release]
Lend your ears to Guild Wars 2's Queen's Speech update
Have you been aching for clues as to what ArenaNet has in store for the first anniversary of Guild Wars 2? We've received word that Queen Jennah is preparing to deliver her state of the nation address to the citizens of Kryta, but ArenaNet isn't ready to spoil what might happen next. The answer to whether Tyrians should await further developments with anticipation or dread may literally be up in the air. Players, on the other hand, have plenty to look forward to: As characters created at launch reach their first birthdays, they'll receive a gift in the form of a miniature Queen Jennah, a 24-hour birthday booster item, and an experience scroll. Completion of the event meta-achievement will award an infinite watchknight tonic that will allow you to turn into one of Jennah's spooky clockwork gynoids whenever your heart desires. Other features include a new trebuchet mastery trait line and Healing Oasis skill in World vs. World, as well as an increase to the rate of world experience gain. From August 23rd, the Black Lion Trading Company will run a 10-day sale during which limited weapon skins and items from the past year will be available for purchase. The Queen's Speech update goes live on August 20th, and GW2 will mark its one-year anniversary on August 28th.
Celebrate RIFT's second anniversary with 2.2 and the Carnival of the Ascended
What's a party without a dragon piñata or two? Luckily, RIFT fans won't have to find out as the annual Carnival of the Ascended will have those and plenty more for revelers joining in the game's second anniversary celebration. But the carnival -- with its games of skill, pie-stomping contests, and special anniversary cape -- is not the only goody in today's 2.2 update. Besides the previously revealed features, PvP gets a tier 2 attunement of war. Want to see what awaits in the update? Watch the trailer after the break. As an added bonus during the anniversary, from March 21st through April 4th all subscribers will receive a 20% increase to kill XP or planar attunement, prestige, guild XP, dungeon currency, zone event currency, and planarite. And don't forget that players can return for free from March 21st through 25th. [Source: Trion press release]
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!]
The Secret World will open to everyone during one-month celebration next weekend
Besides answering questions from viewers while hoofing it around London and Kingsmouth, the developers of The Secret World revealed this tasty tidbit during the official livestream that just wrapped up: TSW will be open for anyone to play next weekend. To mark the one-month anniversary, Funcom will be hosting events, giving players fireworks to set off, and offering rewards for completing a set series of missions. But more than that, gamers interested in checking out the game will be able to log in for the weekend and experience it for themselves. Players will be able to use accounts created for beta even if they did not purchase the game; those who don't have an account can make one in order to participate. The devs promised that more details would be forthcoming. If you've been waiting for a chance to delve into the conspiracies of The Secret World and see what all of the hullabaloo is about, mark your calendar. And we'll keep you informed as more details are released! [Source: The Secret World official livestream]
Anarchy Online celebrates its 11th birthday
Has it really been 11 years since Anarchy Online burst onto the scene with one of the smoothest launches of all time? It must be -- Funcom is throwing a birthday bash for its faithful players. There will be two birthday celebrations, one on the Atlantean server on Friday, June 22nd, at 1:00 p.m. EDT and one on Rimor on Monday, June 25th, at 1:00 p.m. EDT. Both in-game celebrations will be marked by spawning events, special mobs, and in-game items. If you're down with the party scene, the community will be throwing a monster rave to end all raves. Funcom hinted at a few of the surprises, including new costumes, action figures, vehicles, and the love of a duck and a cake. The studio will be handing out a free jet pack for all players who log in during the celebration.
World of Tanks celebrates its first year
Bring on the armored confetti! World of Tanks is celebrating its first anniversary, and Wargaming.net is "tankful" for the over 24 million registered players worldwide. Has the growth caused some shell-shock? "Our growth over the last year has been nothing short of amazing. A year ago, no one in the company could possibly imagine that World of Tanks would have skyrocketed like this," said Wargaming.net CEO Victor Kislyi. So what have all these users been up to over the last 12 months? They have participated in 350 million battles, fired more than 75 billion shells (scoring 48 billion direct hits), and destroyed more than eight billion armored vehicles. On top of that, World of Tanks secured the Guinness World Record for the Most Players Online Simultaneously on One MMO Server in January 2011 with 91,311 simultaneous players. The game has even broken that record multiple times, reaching a hefty 450,000 players online at one time. WoT has no intention of resting on its laurels; Kislyi assures us that "the game isn't slowing down anytime soon." In fact, he says, "We have massive expectations for the upcoming year, and we'll continue to drive game development that will keep our players engaged and excited." Join in the celebration: Watch the video after the cut and then check out our one-year retrospective in next week's The Firing Line. [Source: Wargaming.net 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!
Celebrate five years of Rappelz starting today
For better or worse, free-to-play games are often seen as having a rather disposable lifespan, with the expectation that they'll be here today and gone tomorrow. And that's certainly true in some cases, but in the case of Rappelz, it's entirely wrong. Not only is the game still running strong, but it's been running for five years, quite a milestone for any game. Fans of the game are likely unsurprised that the game is celebrating in a big way, and that celebration starts today with a video contest and a 55% boost to experience. The experience boost will last until October 5th and is just the tip of the iceberg for a series of events that lead up to the game's true anniversary of November 2nd. Players can also take part in a video contest to show off their in-game pets, with the winners receiving gaming headsets and one grand prize winner getting a free bundle of cash in the game's shop. Rappelz players are going to have a couple of months to enjoy all of the celebrations, so if you've been itching to log back in of late, now is the time. %Gallery-134581%
Celebrate City of Heroes' 7th anniversary with the devs!
Few MMOs make it to seven years, and fewer still retain a sizable, fanatical playerbase the way City of Heroes has. From its humble origins as a different type of online RPG through its growth in fame, power and two expansion packs, City of Heroes has mimicked the superhero archetype in more ways than one. The devs at Paragon Studios want to celebrate this seven-year milestone with the coolest crowd on the block: namely, CoH players! While there will be no in-game events this year due to content coming in May, the devs will be available for a meet and greet this Thursday, April 28th on the EU and NA servers. Check out the schedule to see when and where you can hang out with your favorite dev and perhaps unload a burning question or two. The team will also appear later that day in a special UStream live chat event. Stay tuned to Massively, as tomorrow our Mild-Mannered Reporter column will be throwing the confetti and blowing kazoos to mark this auspicious occasion!
Final Fantasy XI lays out plans for its anniversary celebration
As of May 16th, Final Fantasy XI will have been running for nine years. That's quite a milestone for any game, and it's the sort of thing that deserves quite a celebration. Square-Enix outlined plans today for the full-featured cavalcade of events, starting with the nine-year anniversary art contest that's just kicked off. But players with a dearth of artistic talent needn't worry, as they'll still get to participate in other events, such as the 2011 Vana'diel Census, which will be collecting a plethora of interesting trivia about characters across the globe. Still not enough? Of course not. There's also an anniversary Mog Bonanza around the corner, complete with a variety of prizes as always. And the Adventurer Appreciation Campaign is set to start up on the day of the anniversary itself, letting players who want to celebrate the game's history do so in style. Whether you've been with the game since its launch many years ago or just got into it recently, you can enjoy the many ways Final Fantasy XI commemorates its birthday.
Play Champions Online for a week without paying a dime
How much of a game can you experience in a week? Do you think you could hit the level cap? Could you make a full army of alts? Could you make friends and have a reason to keep playing? As part of its anniversary celebration, Champions Online is inviting players to see what they can do with a week of unfettered access to the game. From September 1st to the 7th, anyone can register and play the game completely free, whether or not the player has purchased the game in the past. All that players have to do to take part is sign up on the official page, which means registering an account if you haven't done so previously. Then, for the whole of that week, you'll be able to access everything in the game as if you were a normal subscriber. To sweeten the deal for existing players, there will also be a promotion running in the C-Store, with nearly everything at a 20% discount. It's hard to say no to a free week of a game, so if your interest is piqued, sign up for a free week's worth of Champions Online now.
Champions Online unveils plans to celebrate one year since launch
While it was discussed in passing with the last State of the Game address, it's well worth reiterating that Champions Online is going to be a year old in September. With the uncomfortable number of games who've fallen on hard times over the past year, it's well worth celebrating an anniversary in style. And Cryptic Studios plans to do precisely that, with their recently-unveiled anniversary plans running from August 27th to September 6th for all of the game's players. During the duration of the celebration, the Renaissance Center area will be decked out in all the celebratory finery, complete with contact NPCs wandering about. These NPCs will offer characters one gift per day, with more gifts available from defeating enemies in certain areas. Each gift works as a useful consumable item, and on top of those gifts there are new perks to collect and special anniversary costume pieces to collect. Champions Online players should take a look at the full rundown of events and take part in the near future.
