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Unwrapping the mystery of GW2's Wintersday boxes
You've heard plenty about it, from the history behind the holiday to the schedule of festivities. And now it is upon us! Yes folks, Wintersday in Guild Wars 2 is finally here with its assortment of seasonal activities and holiday-themed goodies. And among those goodies are special mystery gift boxes available in the gem store. What exactly comes in a mystery box? That's what Massively's Richie Procopio, aka Bog Otter, aimed to find out in his latest video. Richie understands that folks may be wary of spending their gems on the unknown. The boxes are said to contain up to five personalized Wintersday gifts plus an additional themed item as well as a chance to contain new minipets and rare, themed weapon skin tickets. But is it worth the risk? To give you a better idea of what random loot awaits fans in the mystery boxes, Richie -- rechristening himself Bog Guinea Pig -- took the risk upon himself and unwrapped a number of boxes for you in his video. Check out what gifts he received after the break.
Winter holidays around the virtual world
Ho, ho, holy crap -- there are a lot of in-game events this time a year! It must be that people are in a celebrating mood or something. Well, we've survived a rocky and exciting 2012, and with any luck we'll make it through the apocalypse to open gifts and eat large dead animals with loved ones. Getting around to all of your favorite in-game festivities can be a full-time job, especially if you don't know what's new and when the events are wrapping up. We've tried to help you out with our annual holiday guide, so pack a snowball and leap with us into the thick of the excitement!
RIFT releases Update 2.1, begins Fae Yule
You've gotten a taste of the new festival content, you've seen the huge raid, but nothing will prepare you for RIFT's 2.1 update quite like this post will. Trion Worlds took the curtain off of its first post-Storm Legion update today, triggering the game's seasonal Fae Yule celebration as well. The centerpiece of Update 2.1 is a 20-person raid called Endless Eclipse. The new endgame raid is not the only challenge being added, as Trion's patched in a new expansion-themed chronicle, updated the PvP conquest system for level 60 battles, and added weekly crafting quests for high-level adventurers. With Fae Yule's second round in the game, Trion's shoved in plenty of more activities and rewards. There's a nifty sledding minigame, holiday-themed instant adventures, lots of dailies, and merry decorations for players' dimensions. This update comes out on the heels of Trion's announcement that the studio was suffering layoffs.
Guild Wars 2's Wintersday event schedule announced
The most wonderful time of the year is heading to Tyria this Friday, which is when ArenaNet will be kicking off Guild Wars 2's Wintersday celebrations. It all begins on Friday, December 14th, in Lion's Arch, where Zommoros the djinn will transform his home, the Mystic Forge, into a giant snow globe. There, players can take part in a new jumping puzzle (which happens to be a giant snowman), have snowball fights with other players, and be part of a chorus of holiday bells. But that's only the beginning. Each day after that, Toymaker Tixx will be making his way to each of the capital cities of Tyria, with each stop featuring new and exciting holiday activities. He'll begin in the Sylvari Grove on the 15th and end his journey in Lion's Arch. But of course, Tixx's being an Asura means that his toys probably aren't the most stable of constructions, and the holiday event will go out with a bang as the toys in Tixx's workshop go haywire, bringing about Toypocalypse! It's up to players to "defend Tixx's present-delivering dolyaks and the gigantic toy-making machine from waves of maniacal toys." So get on out there, Tyrians; spread some holiday cheer and save Wintersday.
Flameseeker Chronicles: Have a holly, jolly Wintersday
Wintersday is steadily creeping up on Tyria -- on both Tyrias, as it were: Guild Wars is getting its annual holiday decorations starting the 13th, and Guild Wars 2 will join in the festivities on the 14th. The holiday event lasts through January 2nd for Guild Wars and 3rd for Guild Wars 2, so maybe don't fret so much on when you're going to get in to enjoy the goings-on. That's a nice change from the somewhat abbreviated schedule of the October and November content updates. But be warned, hero: There's a war on Wintersday. Don't believe me? Read on to find out.
APB locks and reloads for Christmas
All Points Bulletin is preparing for a bloody Christmas siege -- and if you can get through this holiday event without saying, "Now I have a machine gun. Ho ho ho," then you are better people than we. The game is kicking off its holiday festivities on Wednesday, December 12th, and has a few twists from last year's event. During the event, players will need to seek out Elves for a few new missions. These Elves aren't messing around, either; they're prepared to hand out weapon skins and cool threads for the street-tough. The studio also floated the rumor that there will be a snowball grenade launcher up for grabs. The studio has a 12-day promotion starting on December 13th for shoppers. Each day, the cash shop will hand out a different surprise gift to those dropping money on the title. [Source: Reloaded Productions press release]
Wintersday is coming to Guild Wars
Just because Guild Wars 2 is getting a big, exciting Wintersday patch doesn't mean that the original Guild Wars will be barren. Starting at 3:00 p.m. EST on December 13th, the game will have holiday decorations up in a few major cities. You'll be able to pick up Wintersday quests in Lion's Arch, Kamadan, and the Eye of the North. Snowball fights and tournaments will be making a comeback, as will the repeatable quests in the Secret Lair of the Snowmen. These activities will all be available until 3:00 p.m. EST on January 2nd. The finale event will run in Lion's Arch and Kamadan every three hours from 3:01 a.m. EST on January 1st until 3:01 a.m. EST on January 2nd. According to the official website, two brand-new costumes, representing Lyssa and Kormir, will be available. We're betting that's a clerical error, since you can go to the game's store and buy Lyssa and Kormir costumes right now.
PlanetSide 2 players score a double XP weekend
Are you a bad enough dude to capture territory for your chosen faction in PlanetSide 2? Quite possibly. But a lot of players have had difficulty even logging into the game due to usual launch week issues. That hasn't stymied the game's popularity any, but if you were hoping to get some sort of compensation for your trouble, you're in luck. The team has announced via Twitter that players will get double the XP this weekend as a reward for sticking out server instability. But wait! You already have an experience boost applied, you don't want it to go to waste! Not to worry; it's also been confirmed that players with a 10% boost active will still benefit from both boosts at once, resulting in even faster gains. So whether you've been heavily impacted by the launch issues or not, you can take pride in leveling faster over the next couple of days.
Star Trek Online reveals holiday rewards
If the sound of Q's Winter Wonderland returning in Star Trek Online got you excited yesterday, then just wait until you see the rewards. The developers posted on the bounty of goods that players can earn and win during this holiday event. To earn the rewards, players will need to accumulate collectables by participating in the various holiday activities. Those collectables can be traded with other players and cashed in to purchase Tribbles, winter jackets (now with stylish midriffs!), scarves, winter weaponry, and snowmen pets. Fleets can work together to build a Breen ship ornament in their starbase. However, the big prize of the event is a Breen Chel Grett Warship. The warship is free for the taking to captains who run the footrace 25 times out of the 35 days of the event.
Star Trek Online expands Q's Winter Wonderland
Q's Winter Wonderland -- Star Trek Online's holiday event -- is preparing to return to the sci-fi title on Thursday, December 6th. When it arrives, players will discover a few new tricks up Q's sleeve in this enchanted wonderland. The dev team has added a central gazebo with vendors, a snowball fight against magically animated snowmen, and a footrace down a slippery path. There are plenty of new rewards as well, including costumes, winter gift boxes, and the ability to breed epohh pets. All of the old activities will be returning as well. The event continues through January 14th and can be accessed by talking to Q at Qo'noS or Earth Spacedock.
Asine Hitama's Team claims top prize in EVE Online New Eden Open
Although in-game tournaments are nothing new to EVE Online, one with a cash prize is. And over the past few weekends, teams have been vying for a $10,000 jackpot in the first ever New Eden Open. After working through the brackets of the double-elimination tournament, the final match-up pit the top two teams in a best-of-five series. In the end, Asine Hitama's Team ultimately beat RONIN and the Pixies to claim first place and the cash along with in-game prizes. Third place was determined in a best-of-three match series, where Goggle Internet Crime Fighters topped the Expendables. Congratulations to the winners! For more details on how the tournament played out, see EVE Evolved's in-depth look and watch the matches in their entirety on CCP's own3D channel.
Vanguard expands F2P perks, introduces lockboxes
Vanguard has become even more accommodating to free players as today's update lifted the restriction against such players using uncommon items. SOE says that this now opens the door for free players to equip almost 20,000 additional items and weapons. It seems that Vanguard isn't able to escape all the trends of free-to-play, however. As the Festival of Gloriann rolls in next month, so do new lockboxes to the game. These lockboxes have a chance of containing a rare item like festive horses and cool pets, but are only openable by using cash shop-purchased keys. The patch also contains tweaks to the newly opened City of Brass, a resurrection gem in the marketplace, and performance tweaks.
Guild Wars 2 welcomes Wintersday next month
While hardcore Guild Wars players probably knew to expect it, the news that Wintersday is coming to Guild Wars 2 is welcome nevertheless! ArenaNet has just announced that the game's second holiday will be arriving on December 14th and will continue until January 3rd. Modern Wintersday is a Tyrian holiday that binds several different celebrations together with the mutual love of toys. An Asuran Santa Claus, Toymaker Tixx, will be traveling to all of the major cities to hand out toys to the good little boys and girls. And yes, that means you, even though you've been flirting with the "naughty list" this year. The official Wintersday page is sparse as of yet, but keen-eyed visitors can spot some cool pieces of concept art, including one of Tixx's awesome airship.
Guild Wars 2 starts Lost Shores, previews new PvP map
Hot on the heels of Halloween 2012, Guild Wars 2's Lost Shores content update seeks to prove if the masterminds at ArenaNet can keep up the pace and quality of their releases. The multi-stage event began today at 3:00 p.m. EST and will continue through Sunday, November 18th. Massively has you covered on all the info, from a primer on the event to the official schedule to a spoiler-free look at the new content. If you have a couple minutes before rushing into the game to check out the event, you might want to stay tuned for a 15-minute video on the game's new PvP map, Temple of the silent Storm. ArenaNet PvP Coordinator Jonathan Sharp takes us through all of the intricacies of the new map mechanics.
Fiesta celebrates five years of operation with a cavalcade of events
Five years is a respectably long time for an MMO to be running, and Fiesta is hitting that milestone this month. That's especially notable as the free-to-play title launched in 2007, when the very concept of a free-to-play game was still in its infancy. But like many MMOs, the team behind the game at Outspark isn't just celebrating internally. Instead, players are going to be reaping the benefits of the game's long life through several events, both in-game and out. Players can start off by taking to the streets in the Birthday Grand Prix race and taking part in the new High Roller event, searching for dice across the game's zones for special prizes. Then there's the Anniversary Dance Event running across the servers at the end of the month, a chance to get together with old friends in the game and dance until you stop. You can also enter to wear a pair of JustBeats Monster Headphones by Dr. Dre on the official Facebook page. Whether you're an old veteran or a new player, if you're a fan of the game, be sure to take part in one of the events before the time runs out! [Source: Outspark press release]
Leaderboard: Poor planning or poor circumstances?
If you missed playing Final Fantasy XIV on Saturday, well, you're not getting to play again for a while. The world sort of ended. Unfortunately for the people who were playing Saturday evening into Sunday morning, attempting to actually play during this world-ending event resulted in frequent disconnects and server crashes from the sheer number of people teleporting hither and yon. The epic finale before the trailer wound up mostly just being a confusing mess on the server. Final Fantasy XIV isn't the first title to implement a huge live event that caused a server-breaking mess. Today, our question centers on magnanimity vs. culpability. When these sorts of server events happen, is your first reaction that the development team should have planned for this popularity instead of letting the whole thing go cross-eyed? Or do you say that the team probably did everything possible and that there's a certain point past which planning doesn't help?
Guild Wars 2 updates Lost Shores page with video, schedule
Hey karka, leave our kids alone! If you find yourself saying this at some point this week, it's probably because you're neck-deep in Guild Wars 2's latest content update, The Lost Shores. ArenaNet's updated the official page of the update with lots of time-specific information as well as a teaser video for the big event. The first stage of Lost Shores begins on November 16th and tasks players to defend Lion's Arch. On the next day, the tides will turn as players seek to retake the town. The 17th is also when the new area, Southsun Cove, opens for business. Finally, there will be a one-time event on November 18th in Southsun Cove, where the invasion and counter-attack will come to a head. You can watch the trailer after the jump, and don't forget to check out our Lost Shores primer!
Guild Wars 2 reveals schedule for the Lost Shores
If you're a Guild Wars 2 fan, you probably don't want to miss a minute of the upcoming Lost Shores event. Of course, that means you need a little time to plan your days -- beg off of visiting relatives, pretend you're sick for work, stock up on canned food, and so forth. In foresight of precisely this eventuality, the Guild Wars 2 community team has revealed the event's schedule so that everyone can prepare accordingly before this one-time event goes live. At 3 p.m. EST on November 16th, the first event chain will kick off. This will be followed by another kickoff event on November 17th and a final culmination on November 18th, both mirroring the 3 p.m. EST start time. While the 16th and 17th will still have content for players who miss the starting bell, the 18th's event will run for several hours and will not come back around, meaning that if you only catch one part of the event, be there for the ending.
EVE Online readies $10,000 tournament
EVE Online is ramping up for its New Eden Open, a six-day tournament with a prize pot totaling $10,000. Currently, 524 players are registered to participate in 27 teams, although CCP admits that the tournament didn't fill up to the 32 teams it had hoped. The studio has, however, closed the door to any further registrations. A dev blog illuminates some of the nitty-gritty details leading up to the tournament, including where and when teams can practice and how the absence of a full roster will affect the elimination brackets. Of most interest, however, is the schedule for the tournament. CCP breaks the event down day by day as the New Eden Open proceeds from November 17th through December 2nd. The studio also announced that it will host contests and giveaways for viewers during the tournament, although details on these are still forthcoming. For more information on the New Eden Open, check out our EVE Evolved column on the event.
Guild Wars 2 teases players with The Lost Shores
Guild Wars 2 is riding high off its recent Halloween event, but that's not the only event that's hitting the game. A new teaser has just been posted for the next event hitting the live servers sometime this month. Deep within the Sea of Sorrows, something is stirring, and the result will lead to an event that we're told will change the face of Tyria forever. We're told that specifically by the teaser page, that is. So what will The Lost Shores actually entail? There's no way to know just yet, although some guesses can be made from the handful of teaser screenshots posted to the site, hinting at something vast being dredged up from the depths. What is certain is that this will be a one-time event, something that you can take part in when it happens or miss out on forever. Keep your eyes peeled for more information, and for now, just join us in wondering what might be down there a-stirring. [Thanks to Prantik for the tip!]
