seasonal-events
Latest
The Think Tank: The desirability of world-changing game events
World-changing events can have a huge impact on MMORPGs, both positive and negative. Guild Wars 2's living story, which laid waste to Lion's Arch and face-lifted several other areas in the game, is well-known for its permanent plot-based world changes, but EverQuest II, World of Warcraft, and many older games have also dabbled with brazen alterations to the landscape... and players aren't always happy about it. For today's Think Tank, I asked the Massively writers what they think about such content: Are we fans of permanent, comfortable, unchanging worlds, or do we prefer game worlds to change over time and in our absence, even if that means virtual places we once loved can no longer be visited?
Anarchy Online prepares 'huge' fall patch
Funcom's Joel Bylos posted a producer's letter today for Anarchy Online, promising a major patch for the game later this year. Among other features, Patch 18.7 will include changes to the Martial Artist and the Trader classes and will begin to automate seasonal events. "In the 18.7 branch, we have placed out all seasonal spawns in the game world and we will start testing on the closed beta in the upcoming weeks to ensure the automated system works as intended," Bylos reported. The "huge" patch will be put on the test server this summer with a release date sometime before Halloween.
Final Fantasy XIV is heating up another round of the Moonfire Faire
Veterans of Final Fantasy XIV remember the struggle of last year, the desperate battle to protect the land of Eorzea against a rampaging fire. A battle so desperate that it could be fought only by having men and women dress in skimpy swimsuits and make kissy-faces at fire elementals. This year, the battle must be waged again, but this time adventurers will be dressing up in traditional Eastern clothing. Yes, the Moonfire Faire is upon us once again. From today and running until August 13th, players will have the opportunity to take part in the event by speaking with event NPCs located in each of the major cities. There are no details on precisely what the event will entail, although the mechanics are likely to be similar to last year's equally ridiculous offering. There's also no word on whether or not this year will also allow players to unlock special wallpapers, although it's certainly possible. So if you're in the mood to beat the heat in-game, log in now and start chasing some fire elementals!
Final Fantasy XI brings out another Mumor event for the summer
Summer means different things for different people, but if you're familiar with Final Fantasy XI events of years past, you know it includes a summer event out of place anywhere other than Vana'diel. Fantastic Fraulein Mumor is coming around once again on August 2nd through August 14th, and just like previous years, there are plenty of fun activities for adventurers of all ages at this seasonal stage show. And just like with previous years, the stakes of the lore have been upped just a little more this time around... But that's not the biggest draw for most players -- that would be the variety of cosmetic rewards and seasonal minigames that the event brings with it. This year is no exception, with players able to take part in the stage show to help ensure Mumor and Uka emerge victorious against demonic forces. Successful participants will earn a new yukata to show off participation, as well as unlocking new levels of challenge in the goldfish scooping minigame. And really, if you're a fan of FFXI, isn't the promise of taking part in the yearly magical girl event reward enough?
The Daily Grind: Which in-game item did you work for the longest?
Most MMORPGs are loot-centric games, and whether the gear is required for basic gameplay or relatively meaningless "flair," often times acquiring certain items takes quite a bit of time and effort. Hi-Rez Studios' 12 Drops of Christmas promotion recently concluded with the gifting of an abominable snowman helmet to the Global Agenda die-hards who managed to make it through the lengthy set of challenges. While most of the tasks were pretty easy to accomplish in-game, coordinating the events with hectic holiday schedules took some doing, and I had a couple of close calls when it came to meeting the objectives and squeaking in under the deadlines. Today's Daily Grind asks about your prized rare loot items and the hoops you had to jump through to obtain them. Which item took you the longest time to acquire, and how long did you work for it? 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!
SOE extends EQII Frostfell event
The holidays are one of the busiest times of the year, and if your year-end schedule prevented you from taking part in EverQuest II's seasonal festivities, SOE has a bit of good news in store. The annual Frostfell events are being extended by a couple of days (through January 11th to be exact), so you still have time to finish holiday-themed quests and grab the time-limited items. The event features a number of quests scattered throughout Norrath's cities, as well as the Frostfell Wonderland Village which you can access through the magic closets in Qeynos Harbor, West Freeport, Haven, Kelethin, Neriak, Gorowyn, and New Halas. Full details are available on the official EQII website.
A Calendar of Celebration
Life returns to normal in Lord of the Rings Online, after a brief and somewhat surreal few weeks of picking flowers and chasing chickens through a large, sudden and inexplicable hedge maze, all of which was presumably meant to celebrate Easter, after a fashion. Only of course, it being Middle-earth, you can't really get away with actually calling it "Easter", so instead it is the "Spring Festival", a curious mirrored event which parallels, but never quite touches, a popular celebration and holiday in our own lives. It is a strange thing, and by no means the only example; Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween, Valentine's Day, St Patrick's Day, Chinese New Year, and many more, all of which find themselves disguised with varying levels of subtlety and applied to any number of MMO worlds, regardless of existing genre or back story. In most cases the inclusion of these holidays runs at odds with any kind of established setting or lore, so why are such great lengths gone to in the express purpose of breaking the fourth wall in the name of contemporary festivities?
Breakfast Topic: Did you accomplish what you wanted during the Love festival?
For better or worse, the Love is in the Air festival is over. Though there was much wringing of hands over the drop rate of the Bags of Candies, the location of Red Roses and enforced hour downtime between Pledge looting, many players managed to procure the title "Love Fool." Others are busily scribbling hate mail to Blizzard about how they are never going to get their Violet proto-drake because of this. (Pro tip: We're not Blizzard so please don't send it to us. Really. No, really.)I managed to snag my title early Sunday evening after finally getting my last candy heart and then shamelessly /shouting in front of the Ironforge Auction House to mend broken hearts. This is the first festival I've achieved a title though I can't tell you why I chose this one. Probably because there was no PvP involved. Which will take me out of the running for the Children's Week achievement that involves no less than 2 PvP activities.Enough about me. Did you get what you wanted out this event?%Poll-26371%
Love is in the Air begins tomorrow
Love is in the Air everywhere I look around.Love is in the Air every sight and every sound.And I don't know if I'm being foolish, don't know if I'm being wise. But it's something I must believe in, and it's there when I look in your eyes.Tomorrow will mark the start of the Love is in the Air season event. Theoretically, from past events, it should start around 4:00 a.m. sever time. But whether or not that ends up being true, you'll have to check for yourself.You'll need to get finish the achievement Fool for Love in order to get the ultimate seasonal achievement What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been. The thing is... you only have a few days to get Fool For Love, so hurry up. The seasonal event ends early next Monday morning.Ideally you'll want to set aside some time tomorrow night; you don't want to be waiting until Saturday evening to do this. Unless, you know, you and your significant other are into that sort of thing. (I'm talking about playing WoW together. Jeeze... get your mind out of the gutter. You don't think I'm just going to sit here and make gratuitous Valentine's Day jokes for the rest of the week, do you?)So what are you waiting for?"AFK honey, need to become a fool for love." %Gallery-15723%
Breakfast Topic: Are server outages driving you to other games?
I hate to be blunt about it, but I've heard quite a few WoW friends tell me that the rampant server crashes that have cropped up since Patch 3.0.2 have driven them to other MMO's until Blizzard fixes the problem. Many other games are offering Halloween/Fall Festival type activities including City of Heroes, Lord of the Rings Online and EverQuest 2 and many of us have played those titles (and still do!)Are you waiting it out, slogging through or heeding the siren call of other online games?
Planning for the Hallow's End title
A lot of folks found the article on planning for the Brewmaster title helpful, so we thought we'd put one together for the upcoming Hallow's End holiday as well. Getting all of the sub-Achievements for the Hallowed Be Thy Name Achievement will reward the title "The Hallowed," but frankly I think this one is going to be a little tougher than the Brewfest one. As with Brewfest, part of the Achievement is going to depend on getting very lucky with a drop, but it's also going to depend on getting lucky with a few other things.This, however, is going to be the first holiday after patch 3.02 hits with the Achievement system firmly in place, so you'll be able to track Achievements ingame for the first time (by the way, "Y" is the default hotkey for pulling up your Achievement screen). Even if you're not interested in the Achievement, you have another reason to participate, at least for the Headless Horseman kills: we're pretty sure his loot table's been updated and expanded, and you'll have a chance at a permanent mount drop (his horse, not the temporary broomsticks from last year).But if you want to be (Your Name Here) The Hallowed?
Massively surveys MMO Easter events
Seasonal events are often the most popular in-game events in many of today's MMOs. But each game's designers have to find a way to slip these real world celebrations into the lore and mechanics of their persistent worlds. Let's look at this year's crop of Easter events transmogrified into online fun.Some designers do little more than blatantly throw in eggs hidden in the bushes such as World of Warcraft's Noblegarden. You can spend the day in the newbie zones and collect eggs that hold minor items. Not very much to this, especially considering the way Blizzard has been revamping other seasonal events like Hallow's End into something drool worthy. Fortunately, our friends at WoW Insider have created a gallery of the 25 best Easter Eggs of WoW. Not the kind of Easter eggs mentioned above, but the little hidden in jokes placed in the game by the designers from 'Snakes on a Plane' visual gags to Clint Eastwood nods to 'Firefly' shout-outs.You can begin your tour of these hidden gems by clicking on the first picture below, check out what little Noblegarden does have to offer in the second gallery or continue to read about Easter events in other MMOs after the jump. Gallery: Burning Crusade Easter eggs Gallery: Noblegarden
Around Azeroth: The Brazier of Dancing Flames
While many players on the Public Test Realm and delving into the mysteries of Sunwell Terrace, Kadathwack of Cenarion Circle has been collecting Burning Blossoms. They are gathered during the Midsummer Fire Festival which, though not due until June, is currently on the PTR. He has turned in 350 Blossoms to acquire a new festival reward: the Brazier of Dancing flames. Worth the price?Do you have any unusual World of Warcraft images that are just collecting dust in your screenshots folder? Because we'd love to see it on Around Azeroth! Sharing your screenshot is as simple as e-mailing aroundazeroth@wow.com with a copy of your shot and a brief explanation of the scene. You could be featured here next! Remember to include your player name, server and/or guild if you want it mentioned. We prefer full screen shots without the UI showing. And please, no more sunsets. No, really. Ok, only if it's a sunrise in new Patch 2.4 lands. We'll take those anytime.%Gallery-1816%
Some players getting coal in their mailbox for Winter Veil
Have you been wreaking havoc with the Seed of Destruction glitch on the PTR? Skinning Taurens for leather? Or maybe just abusing the Arena rating system? Whatever the reason, not everyone got a Winter Veil recipe in their mailbox yesterday.Everyone should have received something in the mail based on their tradeskill professions. But not everyone did. And since those who do get them can't give them away (they're BoP), it has created a market for those who can make them and cries of foul play for those who didn't get anything.At first, Blizzard directed players to petition in-game, but then they realized the problem was more widespread. Now they are looking into the script that determines who receives what recipe in their mailbox. They aren't giving out any details right now, but ask players to hold off on petitioning until they can figure out the root of the problem.Until Blizzard determines the problem and implements a solution, you'll have to hit the Auction house, Guild bank or qq in the Trade channel if you want Red Winter Clothes or Hot Apple Cider.[Thanks Keeler for the tip!]
New Winter Veil details revealed
This year's Feast of Winter Veil seasonal event will run from December 15 through January 2. It will include all that we've grown to love from Christmas in Azeroth: presents under the tree, snowball fights, Smokywood Pasture vendors, searching for the missing reindeer Metzen and waiting to talk to Greatfather Winter. But, just like Hallow's End, Blizzard is adding a few new twists to this year's festivities.The Preserved Holly used to temporarily transform your mount into a Reindeer will now work on flying mounts. We had a head's up on this a while ago when the models were discovered on the PTR.Also, /kissing any Winter Reveler NPC will grant you a new item called a Handful of Snowflakes. You can use this item to create a light snowfall around any other player.A new present will be available under the Winter Veil tree: a mechanotoy non-combat robot. Again, we saw this one coming courtesy of MMO-Champion.And finally, Blizzard released a list of bosses that will be putting on festive clothing to celebrate getting slaughtered by college kids home for the holidays. This year's Holiday-garbed piñatas are: Grand Warlock Netherkurse (Shattered Halls) Grandmaster Vorpil (Shadow Labyrinth) Exarch Maladaar (Auchenai Crypts) Captain Skarloc (Durnholde Keep) Nethermancer Sepethrea (Mechanar) High Botanists Freywinn (Botanica) The boss transformation only runs from December 25 to January 2. Don't forget that WoW Insider is in the festive mood as well. We're giving away Feast of Winter Veil TCG sets. If you want to enter to win, you better hurry. The give away ends at 3:00pm EST today.%Gallery-11481%
Hallow's End quest guides for 2007
Hallow's End has grown quite a bit this year. Adding to the old favorites of Innkeep Trick or Treating, PvP Smoke Bombing and Wickerman raids is the new Daily Quest to trigger the 5-man Headless Horseman event in the Scarlet Monastery graveyard wing. Considering this new mob drops Flying Broom Mounts, Evil Pumpkin Pets and Purple Jewelry, you can guess that he is going to be quite popular with the players.New guides on defeating the Headless Horseman have sprung up around the Net. The fight doesn't seem too difficult for a group of L70s, but you can get an overview of all three phases and the loot table and WoW Wiki.Also check out this excellent Hallow's End guide that covers all the activities for the holiday and lists the reputation gains and item rewards associated with each quest. Now put on your scary face and go get some Hallow's End goodies.Looking for the new 2008 WoW Insider Hallow's End guide? You can find it right here.
