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DOFUS brings the holidays to players, then blows them up
The colorful world of DOFUS seems well-suited to a holiday celebration, especially with the amount of character embedded in the game's graphics. And one is taking place on Kwismas Island, beyond a shadow of a doubt. But there's still something else for players to look for, something that's far less merry than the dungeons of the island (whose merriness is already a rather dubious quality). It's the newest class of the game, the Rogue, a class focused on guns, explosives, and the use of both in tandem. Capable of summoning a variety of elemental bombs as well as making elementally charged pistol attacks, Rogues are the 13th class in the game, available as a premium feature now. All DOFUS players can enjoy Kwismas Island, however, previewed in our gallery just below. Take a look at the Rogue teaser video past the cut, and consider the possible combination of holiday dungeons and heavy explosives. (It beats fruitcake and caroling.) %Gallery-111466%
Ring in the end of the year with Warhammer Online's Keg End
Warhammer Online players have things to be thankful for this year, not the least of which being the 1.4 patch. And as the end of the year approaches, it's the traditional time for players to celebrate the passing of the old year in the game via copious amounts of liquor and the usual helping of ultraviolence. That's right, it's time for another round of Keg End, with Order and Destruction alike taking part in the festivities and competing for chances at the coveted Golden Stein. Aside from the boastworthy exploits of the festival, players will also have giants to face off against, with special rewards for those capable of felling these enemies. There are also rare world drop items for players to look for, including your own personal keg handler or a battlebrew backpack. Warhammer Online players are encouraged to take a look at the official preview of the holiday event, which runs until January 4th to ensure that everyone has plenty of time to ring in the new year with a proper toast. Or a proper inebriated violent rampage, one or the other.
Wookiees, witches and (Star) Wars: SWG breaks out Game Update 19
It's a busy day for Star Wars Galaxies, as Game Update 19 jumps to lightspeed with a trio of exciting events. First up is the return of Wookiee Life Day, "a time to reflect on the renewal of life and to remember those who have passed on." Wookiee Life Day was first introduced in the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special and has become a beloved fixture of SWG since its inception a few years ago. New features to the holiday this year include the ability to plant a Life Tree anywhere you like, four new paintings, a Wookiee Life Day robe, a collectible badge, and an R2-D2 ornament. Game Update 19 also brings the next chapter of the Witches of Dathomir, which began a little over a month ago. Players can travel to the planet of Dathomir and decide which clan of Force-sensitive Witches they'll align with: the Nightsisters or the Singing Mountain Clan. Finally, a new expansion pack to the trading card game is available, titled The Price of Victory. You can read up on Game Update 19 at Star Wars Galaxies, and travel back in the Massively time machine to revisit our chat with SWG's Teesquared on the patch.
Spread some holiday smiles in Final Fantasy XI
Any game with holiday events could do far worse than taking inspiration from Final Fantasy XI. With each event having eight years of refinement, there's always plenty to do for adventurers in Vana'diel, and the latest round of the Starlight Celebration is no exception. But there's a brand-new wrinkle, since the keepers of all holiday events in the game (the Moogles) have continued their high level of service (they've screwed up again) and provided adventurers with a delightful new game (that involves racing goblins on chocobos). In keeping with tradition, this year also includes a bit of fiction to go along with the event, and the rewards and frills from previous celebrations will be available as well. Players can take a look at the guide from last year for an idea of what to expect, but even with that knowledge, this year's new card-hunting game promises to be unique. Final Fantasy XI has seen its last major patch this year, but there's still going to be plenty to do for the holiday season.
Familiar faces and holiday places in Final Fantasy XIV
While Friday saw a massive news bomb dropped for players of Final Fantasy XIV, life in Eorzea continues, albeit with a touch of a specter hanging overhead. Still, one can only hope that the first Starlight Celebration in the game will help alleviate some of that sense of doom and gloom. To the surprise of nearly no one, the celebration features a number of gifts for players, as well as a three-piece set of thematic attire that can be either crafted or received via helping needy children. It's also one of the first glimpses at the game world's backstory beyond those tantalizing glimpses in story quests. But perhaps you couldn't care less about the celebration and just want to go toe-to-toe with something more dangerous than a marmot. The December update should be good for what ails you, with the most recent preview offering up several new notorious monsters as well as two returning enemy groups. Flans, of course, have been a staple of nearly every game in the series -- but goblins are a welcome returning foe from Final Fantasy XI, complete with the same design and mercantile nature. Final Fantasy XIV players don't have a definite date for the update just yet, but it should be in the very near future, possibly even this week.
City of Heroes gearing up for winter festivities
The holidays are anything but a time to relax in City of Heroes, as pretty much every holiday has one villain or another seeking to unleash some diabolical scheme. That means that characters have to race into action to stop it, all while enjoying special badges, prizes, and limited-time events. This year's winter holiday season promises to be no different, as the beginning and ending times for the Winter Event 2010 have just been announced by the Paragon Studios team. Running from December 17th to January 2nd, the event promises to feature all of the attractions of the prior year while adding a few new wrinkles. Aside from the obvious transport of the holiday to Praetoria (totalitarian police states like Christmas too), players will be tasked with stopping the nefarious plot of Lady Winter following Lord Winter's defeat last year. City of Heroes players have a fair idea of what to expect from the winter event, but that doesn't mean it's any less fun to log in and start throwing snowballs for justice.
Deck the halls with Coralax costumes in City of Heroes
At one point in development, the Coralax were going to be the new epic archetype for the villainous crowd in City of Heroes. Now, they're just another low-level villain group with some memorable looks to them. But for the next twelve days, they can be something more -- namely, they can be your new clothing. No, you aren't getting missions to skin the Coralax and wear what's left as a hat. The Paragon Studios team is taking the opportunity to give away the never-before-seen costume code for the aquatic humanoids via social networking through December 23rd, skipping the weekends. While similar giveaways have happened in the past, they've always been with costume codes from a recent convention. The Coralax costume is totally new and unprecedented, and that means whoever snags one owns a unique part of the game's history. Since the team won't be announcing where the codes will be dropped next, it's up to players to keep a close eye on Twitter, Facebook, and the forums to try and snag a code in time. Good luck to City of Heroes players eager for the new costume, because nothing says the leadup to the holiday season like a mad dash for something everyone wants.
War of Angels open beta begins
Just in time for the holidays, Neowiz Games has started its early gift-giving by announcing the open beta period for War of Angels. The free-to-play title featuring four classes and ongoing PvP conflict is now available for public consumption, and has a few Thanksgiving surprises in store for beta participants. If you're able to push away from the dinner table long enough to retrieve stolen turkeys for an NPC named Catherine, she'll reward you with a gigantic bird mount called a Pajareu. In addition to the holiday content, War of Angels now boasts new gear and weapons for players of all levels, new quests, and website leaderboards to assist you in your post-holiday bragging. Closed beta veterans may also be gifted with a Halo of the Pioneer item which will temporarily boost their leveling speed. Check out all the details, and sign up for beta, at the official website.
Reminder: Attend our Global Agenda Halloween event this Thursday at 7 PM
Did you forget about our Halloween event in Global Agenda? You forgot, didn't you? Tsk, tsk. Well, good thing this post is here to remind you! This Thursday, please take out your level 30 characters and join us in Global Agenda for a frightfully fun Halloween raid mission with the developers! All you need to do to participate is log on between the hours of 7:00 p.m. EST and 9:00 p.m. EST and queue a level 30 character up for a raid. Raids are starting when you see the red flashing lights in Dome City go off! The Global Agenda developers, Hi-Rez Studios, will be queuing up for raids as well, so you might just run into a few of them while you play! If you're still not high enough level but want to try out the raid, don't forget about the new microtransaction boosts. They could get you the experience you need! If you're not in a raid, then join the Massively.com editors in City Chat as we tease you all with Global Agenda trivia! Winners of the Global Agenda trivia contest will win the raid instance's Halloween swag -- so if you're a lower level player, you can always try to get some flair by answering some questions about the game! Either way, we invite you to come have a great night with us in Global Agenda, so don't miss out!
Massively Mob Halloween event: Global Agenda's Oasis Checkpoint... Of Doom!
Happy Halloween Mobsters! It's another Massively.com community event, and this time we're getting spooky! The team at Hi-Rez Studios has put together a brand new Halloween-themed raid, and you're invited to come along and raid with the developers! Next Thursday, October 28th, join us in Global Agenda from 7:00 p.m. EDT to 9:00 p.m. EDT to lay the smack down on some ghostly robots inside the game's level 30 raid queue. In celebration of Halloween, all of the level 30 raid queues will be converted over to run the brand new raid mission: "The Oasis Checkpoint... Of Doom!" During our two-hour-long event, the staff of Hi-Rez will be jumping into the raid queue to play as well, so you might get the chance to play with one of the Global Agenda developers! Not level 30? No worries! You have plenty of time to level up before Thursday, or you could use a Global Agenda boost to double your experience while you play. (Use boost to get through?) Plus, while you're waiting for the raid to pop, Massively.com editors will be in Dome City, holding a Global Agenda-themed trivia contest. Ten lucky contest winners will get Halloween head flair for their character, so you can celebrate Halloween all the time! So be sure to join us next Thursday, and keep an eye out for a post on Tuesday where we'll break down the entire schedule of events!
New content update adds epic battle to Runes of Magic
Looking for a challenge to tear up in Runes of Magic? Well, if you think you have what it takes, Runewaker Entertainment and Frogster Interactive have a brand new epic battle for you -- the world boss Amboriar! The new patch, 3.0.5, The Guardian's Awakening, throws open the doors on this new fight for Runes of Magic players, as well as offering new difficulty modes to Raksha Temple for level 58+ players that will scale all the way up to 125% at the diamond level. (We're going to bet there are some equally epic loots to match!) Along with the new boss battle and more difficult dungeon, this patch also kicks off the Pumpkin Festival, Runes of Magic's Halloween event. Players can pick up quests to protect a pair of pumpkins, smite stinky vegetables, and generally have all manner of silly holiday-themed fun. If you're curious about what this update has to offer, check out the five new screenshots and video of Amboriar below, then pop over to the Runes of Magic site for the full patch notes. %Gallery-88042%
Pre-Cataclysm event image gallery
As we mentioned earlier, the next pre-Cataclysm event is currently being tested on the PTR. We've now gone through the Horde version of the event ourselves (it's still a little buggy) and nabbed some screenshots to share with you. We'll do a full writeup later today, so stick around and we'll fill you in on all the details soon. Be warned: The gallery includes spoilers for events coming up in the next patch, so if you'd like to be surprised, move along. Might I suggest to the priest section? %Gallery-102854%
Mabinogi rolls out Independence Day events
Get ready to say Happy Birthday America with Mabinogi's 4th of July Fireworks Event. The free-to-play fantasy MMORPG from Nexon is celebrating the holiday weekend with an Independence Day promotion that begins July 1st and runs through July 6th. Players can grab fireworks from general shops in the game, shoot them off as high as possible to win in-game prizes, and check out the special messages that will appear when the fireworks are launched. Also new for the holiday weekend is the Ice Capture the Flag event, in which players attempt to steal watermelons from the opposing team while freezing enemies in place with a special event weapon. Finally, players can also take part in the Premium Treasure Chest event, in which treasure boxes will drop from mobs all over the world of Erinn. Check out the official website for all the details.
Vana'diel's Feast of Swords returns to Final Fantasy XI
Amidst all of the Final Fantasy XIV news, it would be understandable if players had a bit of a harder time remembering what holidays are coming up in the venerable Final Fantasy XI. But it would be very sad to miss out on this one, the time-honored Feast of Swords that gives everyone a chance to swing wooden blades at animated samurai armor. It might seem a bit odd to have such a holiday presented as foreign in a Japanese game, but that's always been one of the oddities of the setting. Per the custom, there's a short fiction piece detailing the lead-in to the event, which continues the trend of Final Fantasy XI's moogles being portrayed as inscrutable meddlers. The holiday proper begins on April 27th, with the usual procedures. Talking to an event moogle gives you a special blade, and finding a moogle in one of several zones lets you enchant the blade to hunt the local armor. You won't be able to fight anything else, but it's all worth it when you slay the creature and get your ever-coveted cosmetic event rewards. In short, it promises to be fun times for adventurers of all levels, although possibly less fun for animated samurai armor.
Patch 3.3.3 PTR: Zarhym clarifies new holiday boss mechanics
So one of the new changes coming in Patch 3.3.3 is that one will be able queue up using the dungeon finder in order to fight world event bosses such as the Crown Chemical Trio or the Headless Horseman. However, the actual extent of the changes is a bit more involved, as Zarhym clarified in a recent forums post. Here's the rundown:
Champions Online winter update goes steampunk, killer toys
The winter event/patch for Champions Online is adding a few new costume pieces, along with a pretty fun looking winter event. For all you steampunk enthusiasts out there, we won't keep you waiting, just head on over to the official event page and absorb the glorious monocle and arm pieces awaiting your characters. Unfortunately, the new pieces do need to be unlocked, but that's not such a bad thing since participating in the rather enjoyable sounding event is the only obstacle in your way. For instance, defeating Black Harlequin's giant white mecha teddy bear robot, Clarence, earns you that spiffy monocle. We can't wait to show that fluffy metal menace who's the boss around here -- and it's not Tony Danza... well, not unless someone makes a parody character. If you'd like to see more of Clarence, his killer friends and master Black Harlequin, then check out all the new screens in our gallery section below.%Gallery-17946%
Dungeon Fighter Online begins the Dawn of Retribution
It's the holidays, and the elder spirits of Dungeon Fighter Online are in a giving mood! The first major update to the game, the Dawn of Retribution, fixes three main areas that have been giving players some trouble with the game. If you felt things were going a bit slow, then worry no longer as the leveling curve has been reduced, speeding up your progress through the advancement tree. Less grinding, more punching monsters into the dirt where they belong! For the newer players entering the game, the lower level dungeons have been made easier and the tutorial has been revamped. So not only are the starting instructions clearer, but the starting dungeons won't beat you as hard as they use to. There's also the usual holiday event added to the mix, where snow will fall on the ground once per day for an hour. If you're there when it's snowing, you'll be enjoying a 20% experience boost during your adventures! There's also loot to steal off of Chrismas goblins and the special notorious monster, Snowblin. So get out there and get dungeoneering!
Hello Kitty Online joins the Toys for Tots charity drive
Hello Kitty and Toys for Tots, two names that are pretty recognizable at first glance. Well, the two are teaming up for the holiday season, as Aeria Games is using Hello Kitty Online as a platform to drive charitable contributions in a pretty unique way. Instead of offering a buyable pet and giving the proceeds to Toys for Tots, HKO players will get to search the grand virtual lands of Sanrio for Short Sticks, Webley Webs, Shells, and Bramble's Comfort. Each set of items collected will go to creating a special in-game Crab Plush Toy for you and will add one more donation to Aeria's real life toy drive. That's right: An in-game quest with a real life reward of helping get toys to children for the holidays. That's one quest that you can't drop from your log. GMs will be picking up item sets on December 14th, 15th, and 16th. For the full information on what needs to be collected to make a set, check out the event page on HKO's main website. Don't miss out on this great chance to help children in need!
Atlantica Online dev journal: Thanksgiving festivities
It's time for this newest installment of NDoors Interactive's biweekly developer journal here at Massively. We've already covered the Stimulus Package event and the game's one-year anniversary, so now we turn to the upcoming Thanksgiving event. Here's what they had to say: Thanksgiving time in Atlantica Online has never been so festive, as we are introducing two new in-game event items this year. Players will be introduced to an NPC who will offer them a special Thanksgiving quest. The rewards for fulfilling that quest are new additions to your formation, as well as a new clothing item for your avatar.
MapleStory celebrating Valentine's Day with in-game event
Love is in the air in MapleStory, as they're joining other massively multiplayer online games in celebrating Valentine's Day. The festivities will run through February 24th, and will include a mix of unique in-game items and quests for the lovey-dovey crowd. On that note, players who want to tie the knot in-game also receive 15% off on their wedding tickets. Nexon provided the run-down of what's in store for MapleStory players with this extended Valentine's Day event. You can check out the details after the jump:
