Korean game publishers have launched a wave of events and content updates to coincide with May's Family Month and the holiday season, raising expectations among gamers. NCsoft is running various events offering additional rewards in titles including Aion, Aion2, Lineage II and Lineage Classic. Netmarble (251270.KS) has updated its collectible RPG "Seven Knights Re:BIRTH" by adding a new hero, "Omok." Pearl Abyss has launched the regular season of Black Desert's "Solare's Spear," and Nexon has updated its online FPS "Sudden Attack" with a new battlefield, "Old Palace," for the Speed Weapon Challenge mode, featuring traditional Korean aesthetics.
◇ NCsoft Launches May Holiday Events Across Game Lineup = NCsoft is running various events across six of its service titles during the May holiday period.
In "Lineage II," the "Gardener's Invitation" event runs through May 20. A daily flower basket-making event is held, and clearing the event boss grants buff effects through a "Flower Basket." Users on the Awakening server can participate in the "Family Month, Emblem Enhancement" event during the same period. By hunting monsters in designated fields and opening the "Warm Family Emblem Storage," players receive three types of emblems. Enhancing the emblems and registering them in the event collection yields various stat enhancement effects.
"Aion" is running two events until the regular maintenance on May 13. Users can earn additional rewards by completing daily quests in specific regions on each server. On the Israfel server, completing quests in the "Silentera Canyon" region yields a Top-Grade Ancient Crown and a Medal of Honor, while on the Siel server, completing quests in the "Mesa" region yields Sacred Medal of Honor fragments and Projection Retuning Stones.
"Aion2" is running the "Fresh Breeze Festival" event through May 20. Users can activate the new "Fresh Season" pass and earn the event currency "Fresh Lime (Event)" based on cumulative connection time and the number of Expedition/Transcendence clears. The event currency can be exchanged for rewards including the Fresh Leaf Tiara (Engraved), Abyss Retuning Reward Ticket (Engraved), Odd Energy (Engraved), Content Usage Recharge Ticket Box (Engraved) and Spirit Stone of Revival (Engraved). The "Fresh Event Mission," which allows players to earn additional event currency by completing missions such as character login, scroll usage and Expedition/Transcendence clears, is also underway.
"Lineage Classic" is running the "Lindel's Dreamland Adventure" event until May 6. Users can enter "Lindel's Dreamland" or "Lindel's Deep Dreamland" for 30 minutes a day, depending on their level. "Dream Paper Cranes," obtained by defeating monsters such as "Terrifying Drake" and "Dream-Eating Nightmare" that appear in the event dungeon, can be exchanged for items including "Dwarf's Cogwheel (1 hour)," "Lively Return Scroll" and "Lively Green Potion."
"Lineage M" is running the "To the World of Innocence! Children's Day Gift Box" event until the regular maintenance on May 6. Using the "Children's Day Gift Box (Event)" obtained from event trial dungeons grants one of various coins or "Dragon's Premium Diamond (Event)." During the same period, the available usage time for all special dungeons in Reboot World, except for "Talking Island of the Past" and "Elmore Legion Annihilation Operation," is extended by one hour. On May 5, special Children's Day push rewards will be sent via in-game mail.
◇ "Goddess of Victory: NIKKE" Tops App Store Sales Charts in Korea and Japan = Shift Up announced that its title "Goddess of Victory: NIKKE" reached No. 1 in App Store sales in both Korea and Japan as of April 30, following its 3.5th anniversary update. After topping Google Play sales charts in Korea and Japan on April 27, the game also reached No. 1 on the App Store, sweeping both major markets in Korea and Japan with a single update. The game is also maintaining top sales rankings in other key regions including Taiwan and North America.
The achievement mirrors the trajectory seen during the 1.5th anniversary update. At that time, NIKKE reached No. 1 on the Japanese App Store twice during the update period, and the 3.5th anniversary is following a similar hit pattern by reaching No. 1 on both Google Play and the App Store. Notably in Japan, the game has reached No. 1 on the App Store nine times in total, cementing its position as a long-running hit IP.
The 3.5th anniversary excitement has extended to a global event driven by user participation. With this update, NIKKE ran a user-participation cheering event, and users worldwide took part in missions to achieve the highest cheering target. As a result, a special thank-you performance in London by "T.T. STAR," the protagonist of the 3.5th anniversary event, will be broadcast live worldwide. The event, in which user support brought an in-game idol's stage to life in reality, is being praised as an example of NIKKE's immersive fandom experience.
◇ Netmarble's "Seven Knights Re:BIRTH" Adds New Night Crows Hero "Omok" = Netmarble has updated its collectible RPG "Seven Knights Re:BIRTH" by adding a new hero, "Omok."
Omok, a member of the Night Crows' "Spirit Mage Bloodline," is a magic-type hero who increases the magic attack power of all allies and supports ally survivability through a Guardian Spirit buff.
An event scenario, "When We Became Each Other's Forest," which reveals Omok's story, has also been released. Users can complete the story and challenge events to earn various rewards, including Legendary Hero Summon Tickets and Shining Skill Enhancement Stones.
Along with this, a feature has been added to the hero synthesis system that allows users to select two "(Old) Seven Knights" heroes as wishlist items, guaranteeing one of the wishlisted heroes after 200 synthesis attempts.
Netmarble has prepared various events to mark the update. The "Children's Day Event" allows players to earn points through content play to receive rewards such as one Shining Skill Enhancement Stone and 20 Hero Summon Tickets, while the "1st Anniversary Eve 7-Day Attendance" event gifts 20 Hero Summon Tickets and 20 Pet Summon Tickets simply for logging in.
◇ Pearl Abyss Launches Black Desert's "Solare's Spear" Regular Season = Pearl Abyss has launched the regular season of Black Desert's "Solare's Spear." "Solare's Spear" is PvP (player-vs-player) content in which three Black Desert adventurers form a team and compete in skill using identical equipment, eliminating gear gaps. This season runs through June 24.
Adventurers can choose between practice matches and ranked matches. The battlefields consist of six arenas: Olun's Valley, Kelmorn Wasteland, Gaifinrasia Temple (Ground), Neftak Outpost, Yoru's Fang and Dark Follower's Lair.
The scoring and tier system for "Solare's Spear" has been overhauled. The top tier, "Solare," will be awarded only to the top 30 adventurers among those who have earned more than 2,401 points. Winning streak bonus points and losing streak penalty points have been added to enhance the excitement of competition and challenge.
The reward system has also been revamped. Adventurers can earn more "Solare's Tokens" through gameplay than in previous seasons. "Solare's Tokens" can be exchanged for items such as Essence of Courage, Essence of Glory, Main Weapon Exchange Tickets, Awakening Weapon Exchange Tickets, Corrupted Immortal Oil, Gold Bar Boxes and Dark Moon Alchemy Catalysts.
Node wars and conquest wars have also been revamped. For node wars, "Ulukita" and "Edania" have been added as new territories, while the existing "Mediah" and "Kamasylvia" territories have been removed. The duration of construction-style node wars has been extended from one hour to two hours, allowing for strategic combat through fortress construction. Victory rewards for node wars have also been expanded to allow adventurers to earn more gold bars and Medals of Glory.
Conquest wars have been restructured with enhanced tactical elements based on offensive and defensive formations. When a defending guild (alliance) exists, only siege warfare will take place, and the conquest war ends when the defending command post is destroyed. The duration of conquest wars has been shortened to a maximum of two hours. The territories for conquest wars have also been changed from Valencia (Tier 1), Calpheon (Tier 2) and Mediah (Unlimited) to Balenos (Tier 1), Valencia (Tier 2) and Mediah (Unlimited). The newly introduced Balenos territory is a castle-less melee battlefield, offering field combat distinct from siege and defense warfare.
