in-game-events
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Marvel Heroes kicks off Big Ten Week
Ten months ago, Marvel Heroes launched. Most games would save their big celebrations for a year or half a year or something else, but Marvel Heroes is celebrating the not-quite-a-year mark with the Big Ten Week. And what's coming back for this week? Well... everything. Every big holiday rush up to this point is coming back in one way or another, with the festivities lasting until Friday, May 2nd. Did you enjoy the whole bonus loot rotation from the Don't Fear the Reaper event? That's back. What about the St. Patrick's Day rewards? Yes, those too, with legendary recipes and the Luck of the Draw promotion (buy a hero and get another random hero for free, buy a costume and get another random costume for free). Winter holiday gifts, Lunar New Year gifts... it's an explosion of celebrations. If that's the sort of upgrade you like to see, you can check out the full list of repeats on the official announcement. And if you're looking for a free random hero this weekend, apply the code RNDMHRO to your account. More free things!
World of Warcraft kicks off Noblegarden
Maybe you're a little burnt out after eight months of raiding World of Warcraft's last content patch. Do you know what you need? You need to cuddle some bunny rabbits. It's time for Noblegarden once again, and that means hunting for eggs, putting on bunny ears, getting a seasonal mount, and generally traipsing around in the woods for colorful treats. And if you've already gotten the rewards in previous years, well... the treats are still nice, yes? The official event page serves as a good top-level overview of player activities during the event. In short, players will be collecting eggs, doing daily quests directly related to collecting eggs, and giving chocolate (found in eggs) to vendors for egg-related prizes. Players have a week to collect their eggs, as the event runs from today until April 28th, more than enough time for all the Azerothian egg-hunting you could want. (Hopefully.)
Champions Online hosts FoxbatCon in-game
We're moving into the heart of convention season, when people move across the country to stand in lines and buy trinkets representing our favorite hobbies. So why not also pick up some trinkets in Champions Online to represent your character's favorite hobbies? It's time for FoxbatCon, the in-game event that celebrates the intensely campy 1960s television series focused around the roguish scamp known as Foxbat. After all, who wouldn't want to be surrounded by cosplayers inside of a superhero game? The FoxbatCon event will run until April 11th, allowing players to pick up Foxbat Swag Bags from defeated villains full of convention-themed prizes. Players can also take part in missions (some of which will be introduced during the event) to earn Foxbat Creds, which can be redeemed for even more con swag. If you're eager to celebrate the camp value of an old (fictional) show, jump into the game now for the full experience. [Thanks to matixzun for the tip!]
Shroud of the Avatar celebrates one-year Kickstarter anniversary with giveaways and events
Shroud of the Avatar is bearing down on its one-year anniversary since the title was successfully funded on Kickstarter, and Portalarium has several giveaways and events planned for the occasion. The events planned include several hour-long developer hangouts, an all-day hangout telethon on April 7th, and access to Release 4 for backers on the 7th as well. The studio will be giving away an Alienware gaming laptop, a trip to Austin to visit with the team, Founder adventure pledges, and weekend passes for Release 5. Portalarium also announced that it's creating a fourth housing lot size to fit castles for Lords of the Manor. It's a four-fold increase in size over city lots and even comes with a moat -- because why have player housing if you're not able to drown your visiting friends?
Marvel Heroes promises a weekend of luck and legends
March 17th is St. Patrick's Day, and that means it's time for everyone to get lucky. Especially players of Marvel Heroes, since the game is running its Lucky & Legendary Weekend in celebration. And what does that boil down to? Why, it means you have a lot of options to get lucky with legendary items in (potentially) legendary ways. You might need to get a bit lucky to get everything you want, though. The biggest element of the weekend event is crafting the legendary Pot of Gold, crafted with dropped pieces of rainbows that can be found during the event. There's also a new random costume case that allows for a chance at all sorts of different outfits for your heroes and a game-wide reworking of drops to be more festive for the duration of the weekend. So if you feel like staying up all night to get lucky in the game, you've at least got some convenient reasons for doing so.
RIFT willing to ban players for toxic forum behavior
Official game forums have a reputation for being hopelessly toxic. It makes a certain amount of sense, too; being an utter jerk in the forums usually means that at worst you'll be banned from those forums. So RIFT is taking things up to the next level. If you choose to be persistently awful in the forums, you can eventually have your ability to play the game suspended. Readers with a long memory will note that Sony Online Entertainment has discussed similar possibilities in the past, hoping to encourage a more positive and engaging atmosphere all around. The Carnival of the Ascended is rolling back into the game and helping create a more positive atmosphere as well, giving players a plethora of minigames to enjoy. RIFT Junkies has a full guide to the event available now, walking players through the steps necessary to unlock mounts, pets, and fun cosmetic pieces. So enjoy the addition... assuming you haven't run afoul of the more aggressive behavior policies. [Thanks to Cederhill for the tip!]
Aura Kingdom hacked and emails stolen... or maybe not [Updated]
Recent hacking of Aura Kingdom apparently resulted in stolen email addresses that are being used to pester users players are reporting that they're getting invitations sent to their Aeria Games email address from an individual asking them to join an Aura Kingdom private server. Fortunately Aeria Games does not store credit card information, so it seems as though that information is safe. An Aeria Games GM responded to the claims by saying that the company is investigating the issue: "Thanks for reporting this. We'll look closely into this reports. We will let you know if we need more information. Also note, we do not process any payments, this is done through the service you utilize to buy AP. So this is not something we store." [Thanks to Thomas for the tip!] [Update: Aeria has contacted us to update us about the situation and provide an official statement: "We have investigated this issue and would like to confirm that we have found no evidence of our servers or players' account information being compromised. This includes the email addresses that were reported to have been affected in this article. We have, however, found potential security vulnerabilities through third parties unaffiliated with Aeria Games. We caution against providing contact information to these unaffiliated entities and encourage all players to change their passwords on a regular basis to maintain account security."]
Massively's Valentine's Day roundup
When a mob hits your eye with a big sharpened spike... that's not really amore! In fact, it's downright painful. But it's February -- a time when love is in the air, hearts are aflutter everywhere, and pink and red festoon your favorite MMOs. So in the spirit of the season, go ahead and give that mob an extra-hard love tap, right from... er, to the heart! And don't forget to collect whatever treasures it had for you because we all know Valentine's Day isn't all about the love; no, it's about the loot! Want to know where to get your hands on something special for this holiday? There are plenty of celebrations throughout the MMOverse offering a plethora of events and goodies. Check out some of the various Valentine's events and specials going on now.
Mabinogi update introduces Doki Doki Island, Valentine's Day events
Just in time for Valentine's Day, Nexon America has announced a new update to its free-to-play title Mabinogi that will add the romantic Doki Doki Island to the game. The new area will also introduce the Soulmate system, which makes romance more of a game than it already is. On the island, players can "create a profile" by talking to the Matchmaker, who will then match them with their "soulmate." Side-by-side, players and their soulmates can "explore charming landmarks such as the Harmony Torch in the town square and participate in events to accumulate Romantic Points." When enough Romantic Points have been earned, soulmates gain the ability to fly, presumably through the power of love or something equally inspirational. Aside from hanging out with their hopefully-not-axe-murderer soulmates, players can also take part in a variety of new minigames and daily quests centered around Doki Doki Island or scour the beaches for cat's eye gems that can be exchanged for items such as an exclusive armor set. To top it all off, beginning on February 26th players will be able to celebrate their newfound powers of flight by taking part in the Seize the Skies event, which will allow players to test their aeronautical prowess against one another in competitions for prizes and bragging rights. If this romantic getaway sounds up your alley, you can join the fun over at Mabinogi's official site. [Source: Nexon America press release]
The Elder Scrolls Online offers a look at making dark anchors
Look, we realize that this might be a minor spoiler for the story of The Elder Scrolls Online, but those huge portals of darkness tearing open the sky and shooting anchors into the ground? Those are not good news. The Dark Anchors are visible manifestations of Molag Bal's power, an attempt to pull Tamriel into his realm of Coldharbour, and the latest development diary explains exactly how these pulling mechanisms were conceived and designed. Originally, anchors were smaller in scope, but the team wasn't happy with the idea that these were local things. As a result, steps were taken to ensure that Dark Anchors were visible from far away and had wide-ranging effects, giving players a solid indication that something Very Bad was taking place. If you want to gaze deeper into designing the yawning maw of darkness, take a look at the full development blog for more details on how the anchors took shape.
SWTOR suffers from the Rakghoul plague again
Last week, we began to see the warnings from Alderaan of wild beasts attacking random citizens in Star Wars: The Old Republic. Today, Massively has discovered that it is in fact a new outbreak of the Rakghoul plague that hit Tatooine nearly two years ago. Addalar Hyland, the director of Galactic Solutions Industries, confirms these reports after sending multiple teams to investigate the attacks. Governments of both the Empire and the Republic are asking citizens to be wary when traveling as the plague is highly contagious. Based on the image above, we discovered that it could be spreading off the origin planet of Alderaan and might have made it to the Imperial fleet. If you have skills that might assist in ridding the galaxy of this lethal plague, we urge you to watch this video below then report to the nearest GSI representative immediately.
Aura Kingdom launches into open beta
Closed beta is now a thing of the past as Aura Kingdom moves into its open beta phase. As of today, anyone can hop into the free-to-play game and experience this new anime-styled world. Players can also take part in various GM events going on daily throughout open beta. Events include a screenshot contest (Can you capture a pic of a GM running by at superhuman speeds?), boss spawns, GM hide and seek, item matching, and more. A schedule of events can be found on the official site. Additionally, on Fridays at 7:00 p.m. EST, GMs will host welcome sessions to answer questions, and Saturdays will have live tutorials broadcast on Twitch at 5:00 p.m. EST to help new players get started. To learn even more about Aura Kingdom, check out Massively's Ride and Shiny. [Source: Aeria Games press release]
Lunia goes offline on January 1st
It's been a rough year for MMOs, with several high profile titles going dark over the last 12 months. Unfortunately, it looks as though 2013 has a last-minute casualty to add to the pile in the form of Lunia, the free-to-play action-arcade RPG from All-M. According to an update on the game's official Facebook page, Lunia will be taken down permanently on January 1st, 2014. The game's website is also set to be disabled on the same date. Fans of Lunia can still share memories via the Lunia Facebook page, which will remain open even after the game's servers power down. [Thanks to Mehighlow for the tip!]
Chaos Theory: Cramming your Krampus in before TSW's holidays end
Christmas 2013 -- it's quite a different experience in The Secret World than in other MMORPGs. Instead of offering some colorful cutesy characters based on the jolliest aspects of the season, TSW's festivities draw on the darkest parts of our lore to bring you a Christmas devil, a demoness, and undead Mayans. The only carol you hear is a twisted Jingle Bells whispered in the hellish Niflheim dimension, though wave after wave of horny Hel jokes fill the air. But even with all the differences, one thing is definitely the same: the stress of running around trying to get things done in time! As much as I am grateful that a form of last year's End of Days event has returned (I did ask for it after all), the fact that there are three events -- A Mother of a Season, Ever-Ending Days, and Whispering Tide -- happening simultaneously is a bit overwhelming. Add the whole real-life part of the holiday season to the evil RNG, and I am truly scrambling to complete my holiday wish list of pets, achievements, and apparel. I am even struggling to get the lore. (And you know that makes for a very unhappy MJ!) Luckily, the holiday events don't end until January 2nd, so I am going to make a push to finish up as much as I can. If you happen to be in the same boat, here are a few hints to help wrap it all up. If, however, you are one of those people who got everything done early, feel free to skip to the end where I have penned a more appropriate take on a holiday favorite in honor of the season. Hopefully it will become a new cherished tradition!
Storyboard: You ruined your own event
You're running a roleplaying event, and it's going well. It's lively, people are having fun, characters are playing off one another well, it's ideal. So you decide to push things a little further, to take things up a little more, and the next thing you see is people mumbling excuses and leaving until you're left with one or two people who remain less as a function of fun and more as a testament to bitter determination. What in the world happened? I'll tell you what happened: You ruined your own event. This has kind of been a week for me of people ruining good stuff, which makes this week's column unintentionally apropos. A lot of roleplaying events start out great, with everyone invested and happy to be present, but they quickly dissolve when a few well-intentioned but poor choices are made by the people running the event. And while I can't chronicle every possible pitfall, I can at least talk about the most common ones that I see again and again.
Krampus has arrived in The Secret World
Bust out the holiday cheer, Krampus is here! The holidays have officially arrived in The Secret World with the start of the all-new Christmas event, A Mother of a Season. Until the 2nd of January, brave groups of adventures can follow Krampus into the realm of Niflheim to fight even more enemies, and even call forth Hel herself. PvPers can try and become the Lord of Misrule, a five-minute title that grants special abilities during PvP. Of course, there are plenty of themed goodies and loot as well, not to mention the return of the End of Days event. Today's patch also brought a handy new addition to the game: a pet inventory. Now you can free up your bag space by clicking on all your pets and moving them to the new pet window (shift + p), earning an achievement for each pet collected.
RIFT celebrates Fae Yule with festivities
It's holiday time in Telara, and that means the Fae are back to their old tricks of hiding, stealing, and re-hiding gifts during RIFT's Fae Yule celebration. Will players find all the gifts stolen from the dragon cults that are scattered across the zone? If so, they can collect and complete six different artifact sets! This year's celebration also includes a Very Merry Warfront, tours of Telara's holiday Dimensions, and plenty of special festive zone events, Instant Adventures, rifts, footholds, special gifts, and more. Even raid bosses are in a giving mood during the season, occasionally dropping an extra loot chest for adventurers. Get a peek of the wintry wonders in the trailer below. Fae Yule lasts until January 9, 2014. [Update: Fae Yule has been extended a week until the 9th, and store items will be available for purchase through the 15th. Thanks to Potaco for the tip!] [Source: Trion press release]
Anarchy Online rolls out in-game holiday events and deals
The holiday season is well and truly upon us now, and that means celebrations in your games as well as the real world. Anarchy Online is kicking off a multi-tiered event that features as many leets as players can cope with, starting with the arrival of Santaleet and his missions to aid his armies of Elfleets against the evil Grin'Cha. Rewards include a number of previous holiday event rewards, which adds extra incentive for players to take part in the Elfleet rescue. There's also a new tree-themed dress, a free Gift-wrapped leet morph for everyone, a Gingerleet pet for members, and yes, even promotions for people getting into the game. Until January 2nd, purchasing six months of membership will reward you with an extra two months, while 12-month purchases award an additional four months. Both deals include experience boosts, and 12-month packages even throw in a special helping of Victory Points. If you're going to be running around saving leets anyway, it's a nice extra present to leave under your own tree.
Wintersday livestream to offer sneak peek into Guild Wars 2's new content
Just as winter returned this year, so, too, will Guild Wars 2's Wintersday holiday! The six-week celebration, dubbed A Very Merry Wintersday, brings with it some seasonal content for players to enjoy. Kicking off on December 10th, the festival features plenty of events and activities, from Toymaker Tixx's workshop to Toypocalype to the Bell Choir. The whimsical Winter Wonderland jumping puzzle also returns. And as befitting any good winter holiday, players will be able to belt one another with snowballs! Besides all the holiday cheer, this Wintersday release also includes new healing skills (one for each profession) and Ascended armorcrafting (which allows those plying the armormaking trade to raise their skill to 500). Why wait until the 10th to get into the Wintersday spirit? Check out the Wintersday video and screenshots below, and tune in to the devs' livestream preview on Monday, December 9th at 3:00 p.m. EST. [Source: ArenaNet press release]
Ever, Jane meets Kickstarter goal
Good news, Austenites: Your shared dream of a backstabbing dinner party MMO is one step closer to coming true today as Ever, Jane has met its Kickstarter goal. "Thank you all so, so much!" Lead Developer Annabel Smyth gushed. "I can't quite put into words what I feel right now -- overjoyed, overwhelmed, over... over the moon, if you'll forgive the cliché. Thank you, thank you, thank you!" The Jane Austen-themed title passed its $100,000 funding goalpost just before its campaign month was finished. The team said that while it will continue to run the free prototype, the weeks ahead will be concentrated on setting up an account system, establishing funding stretch goals, and hosting in-game end-of-year parties.
