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'Stranger Things 3: The Game' arrives alongside the show on July 4th
When the Duffer Brothers said Stranger Things 3: The Game would tie in with the third season of the Netflix series, they weren't kidding. Bonus XP's suitably retro beat-em-up is due to launch on the Switch (and most likely other platforms) on July 4th, or the same day Stranger Things 3 is available to stream. The title has you playing one of 12 protagonists from the series and battling through events from the show, including the Starcourt Mall that has been at the center of Netflix's teasers from day one.
RIFT brings back a trio of fan favorite events
Trion Worlds is hosting a reprise of three popular RIFT events that are running from now through October 15th. Currently running is the Temporal Flux event through the 11th, followed by Budgie Madness from the 11th through the 13th; the events conclude with Unicornalia from the 13th through the 15th. Players can earn special rewards during these events, in particular bizarre and fun mounts. RIFT is also running a 25% bonus to XP and various goodies from now through the release of the expansion on October 22nd.
EverQuest II begins a month of bonuses to prep players for level 100
Are you ready for EverQuest II's level bump to 100 when the 11th expansion, Altar of Malice, launches next month? If not, then you've got a month of bonuses ahead to help you prepare. Starting today at 3:00 p.m. EDT and lasting until Tuesday, November 11th at 2:59 a.m. EDT, All-Access members will receive a 25% bonus to experience. This includes adventuring, tradeskilling, and Alternate Advancement points. Additionally, all players will receive double Etyma, the coin used to purchase gear and items from the Tears of Veeshan merchants. (And yes, this double offer stacks, so paid members will actually be receiving four times the Etyma!) Want more? The 2014 Summer Ethereals and Artifacts are also making a comeback for this limited time. Check out these flaming weapon drops in the clips below.
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!
Stop the Reaper of Souls with 50% bonus XP weekend in Diablo 3
Need a little help carving through the Angel of Death's armies? Blizzard is offering 50 percent bonus XP this weekend for it's gothic clicking simulator, Diablo 3. You'll have until 5 a.m. PST, April 7 to reap the bonuses from Blizzard's offer, which the company noted on a blog post is intended to celebrate the achievement of more than 1.5 million players completing Act 5. Blizzard held another 50 percent bonus XP event last month, though that was intended to brace the world for Death's coming. Now that we've had bonus XP to prepare for his arrival and celebrate his defeat, it'll be interesting to see what justification Blizzard gives should another weekend of bonus XP occur - Death's sister's boyfriend's aunt celebrating a half-birthday, perhaps? Unfortunately, only nephalem with access to a computer of either the Mac or PC variety can partake. Sorry, console-bound adventurers. [Image: Blizzard]
Earn 50% bonus XP in Diablo 3 this weekend
The fires of hell have opened up (unless you live in Minnesota, where you just got slammed with another Blizzard) and Diablo 3 is offering another weekend of increased XP gain for all characters. Personally I'm having a blast in Diablo right now. Reaper of Souls' adventure mode is holding my attnetion like nothing else has in a very long time. Plowing through packs of enemies on Torment 1 or 2 and getting gear that actually matters is an amazing experience. Plus, the legendary gear has interesting bonuses on it that make the gameplay that much more fun. If you haven't picked RoS up yet, do so now. You won't regret it. Lylirra Over 1.5 million players around the world have stopped Death since Reaper of Souls™ launched last Tuesday, March 25. To celebrate this achievement and help support your ongoing crusade against the forces of evil, all nephalem who log into Diablo III this weekend will receive a +50% bonus to XP! This bonus XP period begins in the European region tonight, April 4 at 17:00 p.m. CEST and ends on Monday, April 7 at 5:00 a.m. CEST. Thank you so much for being a hero of Sanctuary. We hope you have fun this weekend, and we'll see you in Westmarch! source
Get ready for Diablo III's expansion with a 50 percent XP boost
Hey look, it's more Diablo III news! It's almost like there's a forthcoming expansion or something. In any case, Blizzard is offering 50 percent bonus experience, which should give you a head-start on the new Paragon leveling system. The bonus period ends on March 24, and it only applies to PC and Mac versions of the game. If you want a full run-down of everything new and improved with the recent 2.0.1 patch, click past the cut and watch the What's New video.
Archlord sunsetting on January 1st
Archlord will be no more, as Webzen has decided to sunset the title. The company announced the closure of the fantasy title on the official site: "Unfortunately, we have come to a difficult decision to end this long journey we have enjoyed and cherished together. We understand that this will disappoint many of our players. We will be disabling client downloads and cash shop for the game on the 11th of December. The game will be closed on January 1st." There is a silver lining to this, however. Webzen will be throwing a 400% XP and drop event from December 11th until Archlord's closure. In addition, the company urged the community to transfer interest to Archlord 2. [Thanks to Skurvel for the tip!]
EverQuest's 14th anniversary celebration begins early
Hey there, EverQuest! You're looking mighty fine for a 14-year-old game. What's that, you say? You want us to come party with you? And you're willing to start a little early? Indeed, tomorrow is EverQuest's 14th anniversary, and SOE is kicking off the celebrations a day early. New anniversary missions that were designed at 2012's SOE Live are now active, as is all of the previous anniversary content. Double XP is also in effect to give your characters a boost. The developers released a few fun facts about EverQuest for its anniversary, including that the number of NPCs (344,935) is more than how many people live in Tampa Florida. Also, if you created a character on launch day in 1999, then according to Norrath time, that character would be 280 years old.
Turbine gives bonuses to welcome back players
It goes without saying that many Turbine players were disheartened by last week's excessive downtime. To make it up to the players, the studio announced that it's turning on the happy bonus switch in some of its games as a way to welcome fans back. Lord of the Rings Online players will get 100% more XP per monster kill and an increased drop rate for lootboxes until February 26th. These bonuses come on top of the 250 Turbine Points that will be given to established players as compensation for the downtime. Dungeons and Dragons Online players will see +2 quality loot in chests and receive +25% Heroic and Epic XP. These bonuses last through February 20th.
Dark Age of Camelot runs bonus weekend
Mythic has a special treat for the Dark Age of Camelot players who patiently waited through some recent downtime: a generous bonus weekend starting... right now. The bonus weekend affects the different server rulesets in a variety of ways. All servers will generate 200% more XP and 200% more bounty points in specific areas. Realm points are also being handed out like candy, although you'll need to consult the master chart to figure out how your server benefits. The bonus weekend goes from today (Wednesday) through Monday, January 28th.
RuneScape runs double XP weekend
Rev up those fingers, comrades, because they're going to be put to good use this weekend. RuneScape has another double XP weekend in store for any player who wants to see his or her avatar skyrocket through the levels. During the weekend event, all subscribed members will receive double XP for all standard skills. In addition, Jagex is tossing a bone to free players by offering them a 1.2 multiplier for the same length of time. The bonus XP stacks with other XP boosters. The event begins at 8:00 a.m. EDT on Saturday the 27th and continues until the same time on Monday the 29th. [Source: Jagex press release]
Warhammer Online celebrates fourth anniversary with rewards and bonuses
Belch forth a mighty "WAAAGH!" today, for Warhammer Online is now officially four years old. EA Mythic's dark fantasy title came on the scene in 2008 with a strong emphasis on PvP combat. To celebrate the occasion, Mythic announced that all players will enjoy 10 days of bonus XP and RP starting today. Also as part of the festivities, fireworks can be looted from corpses during this time. Why are so many warriors carrying fireworks? Discount sale, of course. Finally, Mythic is rewarding the faithful who have stuck with WAR for all four years with a new portable mailbox at the end of the month. The devs used this opportunity to remind players that patch 1.4.7 is on course to go live later in September after the Wild Hunt event. The team's also working on a new random live event and an upcoming community patch.
RuneScape hands out summer goodies to subscribers
If you've paid your dues and gone behind the velvet curtain in RuneScape's exclusive VIP club, swag beyond your wildest imagination awaits. Jagex is piling on the incentives for its members, but only if they stay on board from August 1st through September 30th. Players who subscribe to RuneScape for the next two months will find themselves rolling in 350,000 bonus XP per month, an extra daily spin on the Squeal of Fortune, and several cosmetic items including a tropical islander outfit. Jagex is also dangling one of four mysterious "powerful" items as a reward, although the specifics of these items are currently under wraps. The studio also released a behind the scenes video for RuneScape's Gielinor Games. You may watch it after the jump, but only if you've eaten all your vegetables.
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!
RuneScape's mad, mad, mad, Mad May approaches
With the virtual flowers in bloom and the birds and bees merging together to form a hybrid class (beerds), you should expect life and vitality springing forth out of your MMOs this spring. RuneScape is embracing the season by hosting an entire month of prizes called Mad May. Taking place during the titular month, Mad May will dowse subscribers with bonuses and freebies. First up is an extra daily spin on the new Squeal of Fortune game, which offers players a chance to win a variety of prizes every day. Following that is a hefty 5,000 Loyalty Point boost for members. These points may be redeemed for a whole bunch of new items, including emotes and auras. Finally, Jagex will cap off the month by rewarding all subscribers with 250,000 XP on June 1st. In addition to the Mad May bonuses, RuneScape will see the return of Wild Weekends during the month. Details about what the Wild Weekends will entail are forthcoming, as is a special behind-the-scenes look into the game's upcoming projects.
RuneScape bonus XP weekend generates workshops, strategy videos
If there's one thing we've learned about the RuneScape community, it's that these players are very, very serious about bonus XP weekends -- so serious, in fact, that there are forum threads, workshops, and videos devoted to helping players get the most out of these events. Starting tomorrow at 8:00 a.m. EDT, RuneScape will be throwing open the gates to a truly insane bonus XP weekend. Unlike most MMOs that try such events, RuneScape won't just slather a steady percentage increase all over players' XP bars. Instead, players will log in to find that their first half-hour of play has a 2.7x multiplier for training activities, and then every 30 minutes after that the rate will decrease until it bottoms out at 1.1x for the remainder of the weekend. The bonus XP will go away on Monday at 8:00 a.m. EDT, and if you want some tips on how best to maximize this opportunity, hit the jump to watch one of the aforementioned help videos. What, you thought we were joking? [Source: Jagex press release]
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.
The Daily Grind: Should max-level characters give account XP bonuses?
I recently hit EverQuest II's adventuring cap for the first time (yay!), and aside from being surprised that it finally happened, I was also in for a bit of a shock when I logged into the character select screen the following day. You see, EQII gives each character on your account a 20% XP bonus per max-level character. So all my subsequent toons will enjoy an extra 20% XP across the board, and if I were to get another guy to 90, all my toons would then have a 40% bonus (up to a maximum of 200%). While this is fantastic for players like yours truly who despise the leveling process, it seems like an odd design decision given that a lot of people like to grind. Also, EQII has more leveling content than most MMOs put together, and it's crazy to think how much of it you'll miss if you get even more bonus XP. Sure, you can chronomage down a few levels and do zones that you blew by, or you can adjust your XP/AA ratio (or turn off XP altogether if you want), but the bonuses still speed up the curve significantly. What about you, Massively folk? Do you think max-level characters should grant bonuses to the rest of your toons? 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!
