Merry MMO Christmas

By: Jasmine Greene

Wednesday November 21, 2007

Spend the Holidays With...Your Guild Mates?
Everyone knows that the holiday season is a time to get together, get drunk and kill some goblins. That’s right, I said it, kill some goblins. With the ever increasing popularity of MMORPGs, players have two families: one in RL (or real life) and the virtual family. People can connect with each other through the game by forming parties and guilds. Parties are all fine and good, but joining a guild is a pretty big deal. You get to share money based on ranking in the guild, help each other out on quests, pool trade skill components, and overall become like an extended family. What better way to have people log on than to have seasonal events and items? Many MMOs incorporate different holiday elements. Below is a list of what’s going on this holiday season.

WoW (World of Warcraft) – Perhaps on of the best MMOs to date, World of Warcraft does not disappoint. From December until January, Greatfather Winter has come to the major cities to celebrate Winter Veil along with his legion of Snowmen (which can be found in Orgrimmar and Ironforge). Unfortunately with all the cheer-spreading that he’s doing, he’s hungry and is looking for adventurers to get him his milk and cookies. Besides this quest, there are several other quests, items, and shops available only during this time period. They are listed below:

Smokeywood Pastures' Missing Shipment

Smokeywood Pastures needs a few brave adventurers to investigate the disappearance of a shipment of holiday goods. Rumors are the shipment are in the possession of the Abominable Greench, found somewhere in the snowy regions of the Alterac Mountains.

Metzen the Reindeer

Disaster has struck! Metzen the Reindeer has been kidnapped! Metzen is one of Greatfather Winter's eight reindeer - and property of Smokywood Pastures. The Jinglepocket Goblins have received two ransom letters from groups claiming to have Metzen. Concerned adventurers should visit Ironforge or Orgrimmar for more information.

There are several holiday-themed items littered about as well during this time of cheer. There are snowballs available that you can throw around. Buy them from a shop or an engineer, if you choose. Also, visit Jinglepocket Goblins’ Fare Shop, which sells Greatfather Winter’s ale, mistletoe, and gingerbread cookie recipes. And don’t forget, on December 25th, check Orgrimmar or Ironforge for some presents left behind by those industrious goblins.

Guild Wars – one of the few MMOs that allow free access to servers, Guild Wars is great for players looking more for a PvP system rather than the tried and true grinding and quests. Obviously, building up guilds and parties is the point of the game. Once you’ve leveled your characters, go ahead and attack the neighboring guild. It’s all fun and games. Guild Wars offers different selection of weaponry, dropped items, tunes, etc. This year, however, Guild Wars is asking for submissions from players for a Wintersday hat design. The winner obviously gets the hat displayed online but also receives a package from Ideazon, makers of the game. In addition, five other contestants will receive Ideazon prizes, and fifteen others will receive an in-game miniature.

Check out Wintersday for more details on how to apply and the actual prizes. Besides the contest there are some other nice additions. If there are no changes from last year, players may expect some of the following from previous years. Many of the major cities are decorated in the seasonal faire, and players will now have access to the Snowball Arena, and a new NPC that resides outside its borders. Get into the spirit with some of the yummier combat items, such as the Gingerbread Shield and the Candy Cane Bow.

Ragnarok Online – Brought over from Korea, Ragnarok Online has become an instant favorite among many MMOs due to the cutesy sprites and enemies. I mean I almost feel bad killing the porings, they’re so adorable. Much like other MMOs, RO will feature certain holiday themes. There will be gifts popping up around major cities, dropped items such as candy canes, and of course you can get some holiday treats from the Kafra Girls that you can exchange with your loved ones. There’s an entire town that only appears during Christmas time and is only available if you download the patch. This, of course, is called Christmas Town.

The landmark for Christmas Town is, natch, a giant Christmas Tree. But that’s not all. Do you have three red socks with holes in them? Trade them in to Santa Claus and receive a gift. And if Poring-slaying is your MO, scope out the Santa Poring for your competitive needs. Santa Porings will drop candy, Santa Hats, and the ever-special Santa Poring Card, which can only be received during Christmas.

Even though Christmas Town is only accessible for this one time, there is a dungeon where it is Christmas all the time. Toy Factory seems to be Santa’s workshop, but a workshop of all the rejected toys. All of the toys from toy soldiers to boxes are dangerous. And beware, the Stormy Knight resides here.

FFXI – What would a list of MMOs be without FFXI? Join the world of moogles once again and battle your way to the best Christmas ever. The Starlight Celebration can’t start unless some adventurers help to ward off the treants that are terrorizing the towns. You have to defeat the treants to have a successful holiday and help the moogles live at peace once again. There are several stores that are only open during December 19-December 31 time period (may change) as well as some new NPCs and items. Stores are located in Northern San d’Oria, Port Bastok and Windurst Waters. A list of the items to be found include: Dream Coffer, Dream Platter, Dream Stocking, Dream Robe (and the ever-elusive Dream Robe +1), Candy Cane, Candy Ring, and even a Roast Turkey. Besides Christmas, FFXI also celebrates New Years. The mini-New Year's events are themed on the coming year's animal in the Chinese Zodiac. Next year is the year of the Rat.

There are many other MMOs out there that have holiday themes, however these are the most popular. If you own any, take a look and see what your other family is up to during the winter season.