Events, in-game

It's that time of the week again, people! Time for those unlucky few who missed our livestreams as they went live to click beyond the cut and enjoy my favorites of the week. It's hard picking them out, so I reach out to the team and ask which ones deserve to be highlighted. Honestly, all of the livestreams deserve the spotlight, but it should be no surprise to find out that individual streamers find their own streams to be the best of the best. I tend to agree, and every week I am surprised at just how no-nonsense and informative our streams are. Be sure to bookmark our livestream schedule calender so that each week you can tune in to your favorite. Feel free to suggest titles for streaming and to chat it up with our streamers live as they play!

This week we have MJ returning with her favorite games like EverQuest II, Aion, The Secret World, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, and Guild Wars 2. Richie joins in with his current favorite, Guild Wars 2, and I round things off with an hour spent with the Ultima Online developer team, a goblinball session with community leaders in Allods Online, and a tutorial on building a house in Wurm Online! Trust me, if there is one goblin-kicking, dev-interviewing, house-building livestream series that you should watch, it's this one!

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[Thanks to savvy reader Kassandra for the tip.]

A major component of the Riders of Rohan expansion for Lord of the Rings Online is the epic journey of the fellowship. In the latest video dev diary, developers discuss the game's return to the core of the Lord of the Rings story. It is during this part of the adventure that the war in Middle-earth gains momentum and the fellowship falls to pieces. You can watch the dev diary after the break.

Turbine has also released a number of screenshots highlighting this year's Harvestmath Festival, which is going on now through October 14th. During the festival, players can explore the Haunted Burrow beneath the Party Tree, participate in games of skill, join the horse races, and even play tricks on various citizens of Middle-earth. New Harvestmath-themed housing items as well as a new Harvest-brew steed are available. Check out the Harvestmath images below.

[Source: Turbine press release]

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At the end of last month, Reakktor Media announced that the free-to-play space MMO Black Prophecy would be closing down for good on September 26th. Today, the studio posted a message on its Facebook page reminding players of the goodbye parties and inviting them to join with devs during the game's final hours to send it off into the sunset.

The parties will be held tonight, first on the two EU servers Shinava and Kemmura at 3:00 p.m. EDT (9:00 p.m. PM CEST), and then on the US server Altair at 9:00 p.m. EDT. The servers are scheduled to shut down permanently in the morning.

Ultima Online has a big anniversary today, one that you can only really celebrate if you're the first graphical MMO on the market. This marks the game's 15th anniversary, and that's definitely the sort of thing that merits a celebration. So the staff has decided to celebrate by deposing the current ruler and ushering in a new king. (We admit that the plot may not actually involve regicide, but kings are not usually known for their calm and peaceful surrender of power.)

The changing of the king is the culmination of a seven-month plot arc, with the actual coronation of the new ruler sparking a major in-game event. If you're a former player, it's well worth jumping back in to check out what happens when power changes hands. You can also jump on past the break to see our own Beau Hindman livestreaming with the Ultima Online development team in celebration of the 15-year anniversary.

[Source: Electronic Arts press release]

[Update: UltimaCodex.com has a full transcript of the chat if you want to read it yourself!]

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Yup, it's that time of year again: Pass out the party hats and douse the crowd in confetti 'cause Aion has grown another year older. And what a year it has been! Known universally as the terrible twos, this past year has been anything but for the fantasy game.

Much has happened in the world of Atreia since the last annual roundup. With two major content updates and an expansion, Aion has significantly increased the available content in-game. Not only that, but the move to free-to-play significantly increased the game's availability. If you haven't been in-game recently, now is a good time to stretch your wings and return to Atreia. And if you head back within the next month, you can join in the anniversary celebration.

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Live MMO events have long since fallen by the development wayside in the pursuit of scripted "dynamic" events. It used to be that game studios would send paid GMs into the game to roleplay with players in a tabletop-like scenario, conducting large-scale storytelling events and spawning enemies, locations, and items. Ultima Online, which celebrates its 15th birthday this week, is particularly well-known for these sorts of events, but they've seldom been replicated in later generations of triple-A MMOs.

TERA, apparently, hopes to change that with the implementation of Flash events, "spontaneous events focused on small groups of users and run by staff." They might seem a little out of place in TERA, but they could be a niche worth resurrecting. Live, impromptu events might have the disadvantage of involving only small groups of people and not the entire population, but that's exactly what makes them so intriguing for the players who happen to be in the right zone at the right time when one of these events starts.

What do you think? Do you wish more studios would get over their crush on pseudo-dynamic events and return to live events?

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!

It wasn't that long ago that if you ever asked me what my favorite season was, I'd respond without hesitation, "Spring!" Being a Midwesterner means that spring is the rescue of winter doldrums and the march to summer. However, the past few years have swayed me to a different answer. I honestly feel that autumn has so much more to offer.

Maybe it's that my favorite holiday, Halloween, lies smack-dab in the middle of it. Perhaps it's the fragrant smells and gorgeous sights of leaves turning. Definitely it has something to do with bonfires, hot apple cider, hayrides, and fleece jackets.

So even while the last vestiges of 80-degree weather clings to my state, I'm already eager to dive head-first into a pile of leaves. Barring that, I'm more than content to revel in RIFT's newest festival, Autumn Harvest. Now with 100% more MEAD!

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Black Prophecy is counting down the days until its execution, and chances are the governor is not going to call. With the shutdown of the space MMO scheduled for September 26th, Reakktor Media announced that it will be throwing a Shutdown Party the night before on the 25th.

The studio urged players to "hang out with old friends and the Black Prophecy GMs as we see this ship off on its final voyage" during the fiesta. The party will feature PvP fights and in-game prizes, although those prizes will be short-lived.

The celebration will take place next Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. EST on the EU servers and 9:00 p.m. on the NA one. The shutdown will happen at 3:00 a.m. on the following morning.

Like a lot of MMOs released in recent years, TERA launched with a bang and then dwindled, forcing En Masse to first lay off staff back in August and then lay off servers in preparation for yesterday's realm merges. And yet the studio seems determined to keep the game alive in the West, promising content updates and small-group, impromptu flash events run by event staff, the likes of which MMO players rarely see outside of old-school games like Ultima Online.

Curious about what all these news bytes portend for the game's future, we sat down with En Masse Entertainment Producer Chris Hager to discuss the reasoning behind the server merges, the effect of the layoffs on the game, and whether TERA might just be the next title to go free-to-play.

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TERA has consolidated to three servers today, but the latest dispatch from producer Chris Hager doesn't dwell on that. No, this dispatch is all about what the game has in the pipeline, starting with more events for players to enjoy. Hager lays out plans the team has made for the fall, like new small-scale events run by the staff on a more regular basis alongside weekend events targeting larger groups of players. The update doesn't mention dates, but it does give several ideas of event types (random races or scavenger hunts as flash events, increased dungeon rewards for weekend events).

Hager also stresses that the game is rolling out further content updates starting with the return of crafting quests and a large-scale Berserker update. There's another large patch due out this fall as well as significant changes to Enchanting, and there are undisclosed further projects being developed jointly by En Masse Entertainment and Bluehole Studios. Players looking for more details can glean a few from the official letter.

Belch forth a mighty "WAAAGH!" today, for Warhammer Online is now officially four years old. EA Mythic's dark fantasy title came on the scene in 2008 with a strong emphasis on PvP combat.

To celebrate the occasion, Mythic announced that all players will enjoy 10 days of bonus XP and RP starting today. Also as part of the festivities, fireworks can be looted from corpses during this time. Why are so many warriors carrying fireworks? Discount sale, of course. Finally, Mythic is rewarding the faithful who have stuck with WAR for all four years with a new portable mailbox at the end of the month.

The devs used this opportunity to remind players that patch 1.4.7 is on course to go live later in September after the Wild Hunt event. The team's also working on a new random live event and an upcoming community patch.

Treasure hunters, prepare your picks! Folks who have been awaiting the return of Lord of the Rings Online's minigame treasure hunt event should head to The Treasure Field in Ered Luin quickly. The event is now live on all servers but will last only until September 23rd. According to Turbine's latest patch notes for the 7.4 update, there are also new rewards to be found buried deep in the ground.

Players who don't want to take the time to ride out to the field on their own can travel via the special festival announcer NPCs located in West Bree, Michel Delving, Thorin's Hall, and Celondim. More information about the event can be found in the Road to Mordor's treasure hunting guide.

This week Firefall gave fans an inside look at what each of its development teams is up to for the next development cycle, revealing a strong focus on PvE content. Path of Exile ran another public stress test this weekend to see how the servers would cope with a full-scale deployment, and Blacklight: Retribution's $30,000 US 30 days of fight contest has officially ended.

Diablo III developers gave a sneak peek of the upcoming patch 1.0.5 update, which aims to reduce monster damage, rebalance defensive abilities, and introduce "uber" versions of several bosses. Players also found a way to farm treasure goblins this week with an odd quirk of the Puzzle Ring legendary.

Upcoming MOBA SMITE revealed details of Thor, god of thunder, in a new video. League of Legends officially released its devestating new dark mage Syndra this week and started a new video series that asks professional players about their favourite champions. Finally, Wrath of Heroes introduced new Dark Elf assassin Zathis and detailed its new Alchemy system, which lets players convert their old tactics and masteries into something useful.

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