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MMOG Holiday Quickies
Holidays are always interesting times of the year in MMOGs, as development teams gear up for live events that change the face of the typical worlds we play in. Everquest 2's Holiday is in full swing, with the Frostfell event. Aggro me has a review for the curious. Planetside is featuring Holiday headgear, and Ultima Online offers up goodie packs with trees and presents. Azeroth's Feast of the Winter Veil has snowballs, lost reindeer, and once again has players selling cookies for outrageous prices on the Auction House. Ahh...the holiday spirit. City of Heroes/City of Villains is going all out this year (possibly to make up for the lack of a Halloween event this year). Heroes and Villains both have their own version of the event, with a mysterious Gamester entering the arena for some general holiday mischief. Finally, Final Fantasy XI not only has the Traditional Starlight Celebration, thanks to the Moogles, but just had a massive patch that's (as always) causing some stir in the player community. Happy New Year to all, be you Carebears, Gankers, or Forum Trolls! Update: 12/27 20:31 GMT by Z : Some users pointed out that I neglected to mention Red Moon Rising, Eve's new expansion, and the Guild Wars Holiday event. I promise, folks, it has nothing to do with malice. Some game events just catch my eye more readily than others, so thanks for keeping things Holiday cheery!
Then again, my submission is still sitting in the queue and hasn't been rejected so... who knows.
Gonzo Granzeau
"Nothing the god of biomechanics wouldn't let you into heaven for.." -Roy Batty
I was wondering if I would ever be able to find out what all the different MMORPGS did this season.
A train station is where a train stops. A bus station is where a bus stops. On my desk I have a workstation...
from the how-do-you-say-ho-ho-ho-in-elvish? dept.
Isn't Santa Claus already an elf? (Granted, this is under debate, and he & his various forms/clones/whatever in U.S. department stores usually speak English to us anyway, but still...)
You can hold down the "B" button for continuous firing.
...obligatory "holiday quickies" joke here.
-William Brendel
Maybe we will get a nice EvE-Online timbit on the main page when they do their massive server upgrade and get on the top 500 list of super computers later this yesr.
Guild Wars doesn't get a mention? 3 major cities (and a major PvP area) got a snowy overhaul decked out with trees and giant gingerbread cookies and such. 'Wintermas' themed quests, where you fight Grentches and Humbugs, or destroy all of a settlement's presents. Candy cane weapons! Gingerbread and Peppermint Candy shields! Egg nog! Snowman Summoners! Gifts traded in town via a mini game in which presents spawn around town, and you have to get them to a young child before the 'Grentches' blow them up! And PvP Snowball fights complete with unique snowball combat skills (Avalanche, Yellow Snow, etc.) And on New Year's Eve, an epic battle between the God of Death and the Goddess of Life to determine if the world will ever see spring! (Think Combat Groundhog Day).
A Tale In The Desert (Ancient Egyptian non-combat MMO) had its own bit of revelry for the new year. We got to witness snow (Yeah, in egypt, but it was a nice effect!), as well as obtaining presents (boxes dropped at snowstorm locations).
Giftwise, we got chocolates, fireworks, and an extra waypoint. The last of which is used for marking locations you can warp immediately to, so that's a benefit.
It may have been light compared to other MMO's, but at least folks were being brought together. Which is the spirit of the holidays and of ATITD.
Yes indeed, the Guild Wars "Xmas" changes (called "Wintersday" in the game) are very extensive, with many different zones affected by snow cover and massive festive decorations, quests, games and special consumables, and with all loot tables everywhere featuring extra drops for crafting candy cane weapons.
Loads of fun goodies are available too of course, including items that provide a strong in-game boost outside of the festivities. For example, whacky snowmen golems that you can hire as henchmen for your team and which are stronger than regular henchies. And candy canes which you can double-click to wipe out your Death Penalty after dying --- uber!!!
The battle between Grenth and Dwayna will involve PvP using the candy cane weapons that we've been working all week to obtain. We won't know the details of this until Wintersday itself, but GW has such an impressive skills-based PvP system (levels almost don't matter, only how good you are at using the hundreds of skills in each of your two professions) that it's bound to be terrific.
Very impressive work by ArenaNet/NCsoft, and not a bug in sight despite the collosal makeover. (I have no connection with them, other than as a satisfied player.)
"The question of whether machines can think is no more interesting than [] whether submarines can swim" - Dijkstra
(Shameless—but relevant—fan site plug, with hopefully useful info...)
I'm the admin of the ParagonWiki, a CoH/CoV wiki. Last week, I wrote an article called Winter Event 2005 in which I've tried to cover in-depth everything that CoH/CoV has done for the winter holidays.
If I missed anything, feel free to edit it. It's a purely fan volunteer effort, so although I don't really believe in hell, if you vandalize it, I'm pretty sure you'll end up there.
There's no love for PSO here! Blue Burst just got Toward the Future and Saint Rappies, in addition to all the lobbies and towns being decorated with wreaths and trees. All the other PSOs have the normal christmas gear (I assume the DC indy-servers do, and GC definitely does) and there are... SAINT RAPPIES. The best monster ever turns Christmas-y. How did this not get covered?
I don't think he's claiming that. But I think Alarash is trying to say that the currently Christian holiday of Christmas is itself being subverted by the world at large for their own use. After all, if we're going to basically force the rest of the world to march with us in economic lockstep for holidays, etc., then we have to expect that they're going to put their own spin on the cultural baggage that goes with it.
Please mod this post only if you think others should/n't read this. I have enough ego^H^H^Hkarma. Thanks!
On the other hand, consider that not only does SOE have ridiculously better lawyers than poor ol' Turbine, but SOE also does all of Turbine's distribution. I would predict a sea of quiet on this 'un.