As a final salvo to greet 2011 with more cheer and less QQ, Blizzard implemented a host of Cataclysm expansion hotfixes to World of Warcraft, three of which gained the most whining among players.

First, druid bears saw a major nerf to Frenzied Regeneration with healing amount down 50%. Frenzied Regeneration has been an amazing rock for bear tank survivability, but Blizzard deemed it too powerful in dungeon and raid encounters. Another possible cause for its nerf is the potential for abuse in PvP, as shapeshifting druids can easily climb back to the pink of health given a full rage bar, a related glyph, activated Survival Instincts and access to this spell. Bear druids aren’t too happy about the change that might gimp them in both competitive raiding and rated PvP.

Second to ruffle feathers among the WoW playerbase is the change of Graveyard Rats from “critter” to “beast,” making it harder for guilds to get the Critter Kill Squad achievement. Crafty guilds sought out the low-level Graveyard Rats in Gilneas City and killed the numerous fast-spawning Graveyard Rats for a fast climb to 50,000 critters killed, an achievement that unlocks the popular Armadillo Pup. Now it’s back to farming bunnies and Deeprun Rats.

The third change to bring on a torrent of QQ is the Tol Barad reward fix, upping the prize for successful attacks to 1800 Honor Points from 180. Defenders who have had an easier time in the battleground due to game mechanics that favor their side are now forced to choose: Lock out the attackers from the Baradin Hold raid or lose the game on purpose to reap the generous Honor Point rewards. PvP players are complaining that the change has fixed the match so that both sides are conspiring to trade wins, making fights boring and moot on top of being utterly biased to defenders.

When SOE announced that the Freeblood vampires are now available at the Marketplace, the initial reaction of everyone in EverQuest II was split into either “What the heck?” and “How much?”

Players are split on how to take news so far. Many are incensed that the free race, previously promised for the seventh expansion in February 2010 as part of the Velious Winter Rewards, is being “nickel-and-dimed” through early sales via the cash shop. Others are shrugging off the profit aspect because SOE isn’t really forcing anyone to purchase it.

No matter which side you’re on, it’s undeniable that the Freeblood vampires as a race are causing a lot of ruckus because of their unique features. Freeblood characters can customize the look of their Inner Self Illusion, a hidden demon that comes out on command to drain health from enemies.

They also get access to three special items: The Freeblood Contract that grants access to an estate, the Cloud of Bats mount form, and the Ferocity of the Freeblood effects that spices up your unarmed combat animations as a vampire.

SOE also released a short trailer on Facebook that shows the Freeblood vampire in action. This could tip the scales if you’re on the fence on whether to pony up for early access or be patient for the next two months, comforted by your still-intact Christmas bonus cash.

The winter seasonal event of Final Fantasy XI known as the Starlight Celebration kicked off over the weekend, signaling the start of a crazy holiday rush to find hidden trading cards, join the Smilebringer Boot Camp, and acquire gifts from all sorts of shenanigans.

Goblins are back to their mischievous ways as they try to beat their sworn rivals, the button-nosed Moogles. The goblins are intentionally breaking the rules and riding Chocobos to find the trading cards hidden by the Moogles. There was an outrage of course (Kupo! Kupo!) and you will have to retrieve the buried trading cards before the goblins do.

Just keep your eyes open for patches of overturned soil on the ground, and soon enough you’ll have a full set of cards to trade for various rewards. Strength is in the numbers for this card hunting task; Square Enix has confirmed that the more party members you have while searching, the more cards you will recover.

If you don’t want to get your hands dirty digging up cards, you can practice your best smiling face and bring joy to FFXI world. The Smilebringer Boot Camp will be open for the rest of the Starlight Celebration and will provide seasonal rewards care of the satisfied Smile Sergeant quest givers (just smile, don’t laugh, they’re really called like that!)

Free gifts can also be had with little effort. Festival moogles are on standby to dish out holiday tasks, from keeping Vana’diel safe to collecting important items lost in the mad shuffle of the season. And if you have FFXI Gil to spare, vendors will be hawking their goods in all the major cities, which, as you may have guessed, will have already exploded with sparkling decorations.

Like it or not, the Starlight Celebration will keep you in a bright and pleasant mood in the next couple of weeks so suppress that urge to be a goblin Grinch and just have fun!

Athene (right) who has been crowned “The Greatest Paladin in the World” by his cult-like followers is at it again with his tag-mobbing ways, which helped him level the first 85 character in the Cataclysm expansion of World of Warcraft, at least according to WoW Progress records.

Using a new character named Forscience of Neptulon (EU) instead of his famous Paladin toon, Athene used the controversial method of mob-tagging to level up, which involves him engaging enemies but leaving the actual killing to his dozen or so fans. He did this up to level 85, which proved the fastest method for leveling compared to running dungeons or questing due to the high spawn rates of his grinding area.

Forscience also had an xp boost from heirlooms and a cache of finished quests which he turned in once he logged into the new expansion. The heirlooms stopped working at level 81 and above. (Blizzard has since hotfixed the heirlooms to stop working at level 80.)

Detractors said that even if the mob-tagging was a legitimate way of leveling, Forscience should not be considered the first 85. The honor should be given to players who had no help whatsoever. Fans though defended the achievement as legitimate, citing as reasons an informal consultation of a Blizzard GM on the matter.

No actual in-game prize or distinction will be awarded to Athene aside from bragging rights, but whichever side you might take in this debate, it’s clear that mob-tagging worked like a charm. Forscience leveled to 85 faster had a solid 2-hour lead against the second placer, Owld of Xavius (EU).

Want to know how he did it? Watch the video below:

You’d think porting over trademark ships and recreating races would be enough to give Star Trek Online the flavor it needs to be authentic to fans, but developers plan to ramp up the content and atmosphere even more in Season 4 for a more immersive experience.

“The next step forward is continuing to make the game more “Star Trek.” This includes more story, more locations and factions from the universe, and generally more elements that allow the game to feel like the shows. There are a ton of features on our backlog to get to, but in general, the motto is ‘More Like Trek,’” said Cryptic Studios in its December Ask Cryptic newsletter.

With the impending arrival of Season 3 features like the Foundry content generation system and Episode replay system, Cryptic acknowledged that the framework needed to expand the game world is there.

Aside from additional content from TV episodes and lore, Season 4 and beyond should also bring gameplay improvements. “For Season 4, we want to introduce “Crew” as an important gameplay element of your ship. We would like to see departments within your ship have leaders, such as “Chief Engineer,” as well as a staff of individuals who when assigned to “Engineering” provide a specific bonus.”

Fans though would have to wait a lot more before they can get the full experience of seeing crew members roaming around the ship interior. Ground combat is also expected to get a major overhaul after two Seasons of only minor fixes.

“In Season 4 we will be releasing a major update to ground combat, which will help PvP, so that is something on the books to start with. For additional PvP support, we are looking into ways to incorporate PvP into upcoming story updates. There is also a chance we may release an additional PvP map in Season 4, but my estimate is that it will be sometime between Season 5-6 where we will start to see some major PvP features hit Holodeck.”

Season 5 could even activate Sol System maps, which Cryptic Studios confirmd as being in the pipeline, and which fans have long been clamoring for since the game launched.

Age of Conan is taking a smaller but faster approach to content gating by releasing its major 2.1 update in staggered phases, with the initial content landing this December. AoC developer Funcom said this will provide better pacing than dumping all the content  in “one mega update.”

The first leg of the 2.1 update will bring a new PvP mini-game called “The Call of Jhebbal Sag”. Funcom said adjustments have been made to the new PvP mini-game to prevent abuse and facilitate fun. These include tweaking the amount of capture points, the duration of the mini-game and the scoring mechanics in general.

Age of Conan will also see a new Winter festival filled with quests that “help the Aesir celebrate the winter solstice.” And like previous seasonal events, there will be rewards for successful completion of these quests when you help the guard the festivities from disruption by the troublesome Vanir.

By early 2011, raiders will see more action-packed content in the form of new six-man instances in Pai-Kaing, new encounters in the Jade Citadel, and even low-level auto-content dungeons that scale in difficulty depending on the level range of a character.

The Paikang storyline revolves around the machinations of Emperor Yah-Chieng as he tries to crush the Insurrection against his terrorizing regime. Meanwhile, the Jade Citadel storyline delves into the epic assault on the Emperor himself and his cadre of minions, including a living Zodiac.

Finally, class changes are underfoot to ensure questing and raiding are enjoyable for all players. The focus is on balancing class damage and other core abilities, but the most interesting change seems to be the possible use of PvP specific stats. Nothing is final yet, according to Funcom, but the inclusion of separate stats for PvP could bring a whole new dimension to builds in the 2.1 update.

Dungeon bosses in Dark Poeta and Beshmundir Temple are now dropping more Fabled and Eternal gear, giving groups more incentive to conquer the difficult encounters.

World Named Monsters are also giving away more rare items.

Even newer players are getting a leg up on the gearing up department;  everything from general monsters to treasure chests are handing out more than enough Heroic and Fabled gear.

Most Daevas are thrilled with the changes. Before Aion 2.1, it required a lot of grinding to collect respectable gear for PvE or PvP. Now that loot is more easily obtained, players can become competitive in a shorter amount of time and have more shiny gear to show off during the upcoming holiday events.

For more information on the Golden Daeva update, read the full Aion 2.1 patch notes here.

Blood flowed freely in Age of Conan as German players gathered in the ring for some Roman-style gladiator fights. Assisted by an enthusiastic and creepy AoC Community Manager (who claims to have taken “pictures where none of the players could safely venture”), the event seems to have satisfied the killing urge of PvPers and the purses of Hyboria’s underground economy.

“Besides the tournaments, players found a city sprawling with life. The traders offered their goods: flesh and wine! The courtesans did their best to distract the attention of the crowd and earn some coin and the local thieves were sneaking through the crowd looking for a loose purse. Outside of the city, raiders attacked innocent bystanders and the organized city watch came to their help quickly and with full force, driving them off into the sunset with the tail between their legs!”

Glad to see AoC tries to stick to its barbaric roots even in impromptu role-playing. Now, to get those blood stains off our monitors before they dry off…

If you’re not the type to hang out in forums or hunt down fan-made tutorials for Final Fantasy XIV, Square Enix has done part of the legwork for you. It has compiled a list of frequently asked noob questions on how to more easily navigate and play their newest MMO.

While other online games get flak for holding your hand too much, Final Fantasy XIV has gone the opposite direction — after the initial opening quests, the game leaves you pretty much on your own. The lack of in-game guides has made life hardest for those new to MMO gaming, but at least this newest Q&A has the makings of a beginner crutch.

Help topics include how to decipher the detailed maps, how to properly assess an enemy’s strength to avoid one-shot deaths, and a handy chart on when you can unlock those all-important class, regional and local quests.

Square Enix also confirmed in the Q&A that the upcoming late November version update will widen the availability of regional Disciple of Land levequests to all three city-states, easing the need to travel to and fro when all you really want to do is hang out in your linkshell’s homebase in either Limsa Lominsa, Gridania or Ul’dah.

EQ2X is the free-to-play option for the EverQuest II game and is a great way for those curious about adventuring in Norrath to give it a go. As advertised, you won’t have to pay a full month’s subscription but expect the content and features to be quite limited. Still, there’s five years’ worth of dungeons and quests to keep those who give it a try occupied.

The free Staff of the Rising Phoenix is an appearance-only item that can be claimed until October 3. It’s available at the in-game Marketplace on the Freeport server and should provide additional natural lighting when taking screen shots in dark places.

It’s got a lively bright flame, that one.