Halloween is probably second only to Christmas in terms of holiday popularity. Ask just about anybody what their favorite holiday is, and they'll probably list one of those two (if it fits the culture). Naturally, as MMO players, we have fun celebrating it in our virtual worlds just like we do in the real world. And boy, this year, do we ever celebrate. Just about every active MMO out there had (or has) something going on. The 2009 lineup included:

• Final Fantasy XI - Harvest Festival
• City of Heroes - The Deadly Apocalypse
• EverQuest II - Nights of the Dead
• Fallen Earth - Days of the Dead
• Warhammer Online - Daemon Moon Rising
• Aion - Harvest Revel
• Guild Wars - The Mad King's Revelry
• Runes of Magic - Pumpkin Festival
• Lineage - Cavern of Chaos
• Lineage II - Spooks and Scarecrows
• Age of Conan - Nights of Lost Souls
• EverQuest - The Haunting of Norrath
• Legends of Norrath - Brraaaaaainss!
• Star Wars Galaxies - Galactic Moon Festival
• Exteel - Hey, sweet! Paint!
• Free Realms - Super Spooktacular
• Champions Online - Blood Moon

Most of these events last a few days into November, so if there's any one in particular you're dying to experience, you might still have a chance if you have a subscription laying around. If you're not able to visit any of these in person, we have screenshots from many of these events in the gallery below. Enjoy!

Here in Redefining MMOs we've been over terminology, working with lore, the place of soloing in our online games, players acting as developers, and attempting to get away from the carbon copy feel of the genre. With all of that in mind, where could we possibly head to next? Well, how about dealing with persistence?

One persistent world holding thousands of players simultaneously, a world that continues even when you log off. That was the dream, wasn't it? Having an insane number of players all occupying the same game space? Having you and 100 of your closest friends (or perhaps enemies) battling it out over loot, bosses, pvp, and anything else the game had to offer? Persistence has long been one of the central aspects of the MMO genre, where "one continuous world" rules over all. So is persistence what defines an MMO or is it not that clear cut? Perhaps persistence is nothing more than a pesky piece of unpleasant pie and maybe we shouldn't define our genre by it as we do now.

In this issue of Redefining MMOs, I'm going to tackle the thorny issue of persistence, from its definition down to what we perceive the word to mean. I'm also going to include a discussion on two very different games -- 1 vs. 100 and Chromehounds -- and put both to the MMO persistence test. Then, as the article all comes together, I'm going to tackle the biggest question of them all: "Does persistence matter?" If you have an opinion on this week's subject, feel free to leave a comment on page 3 or even write your own "Redefining MMOs" blog post and leave a comment with the URL.

NCsoft is taking a whirlwind summer tour across the Globe. First stop is in San Diego, California at Comic-Con where games, geeks, and comics will collide on July 23-27. The NCsoft booth (#5920) will feature game stations set up for attendees to play CoX, Exteel, Tabula Rasa and other NCsoft games. Also City of Heroes fanzine artist, Dave Hamann will be present to draw character sketches.

In Europe, during July 29-31 Aion: Tower of Eternity will be playable to western journalists. This will be the first time in a year since the last firsthand look took place. NCsoft Europe is hosting the event at their Brighton England, locale and this is a select press event. However, one of the biggest gaming events is taking place August 20-24 in Leipzig, Germany. NCsoft is headed there and will be present at the Leipzig Games Convention in a big way. Attendants there will find a special surprise in Hall 3 Booth B20, Aion will be setup on several demo kiosks for the public to play, the first time outside South Korea.

Once again, NCsoft and ArenaNet will be making an appearance at Seattle's Penny Arcade Expo this year. The NCsoft booth (#642) will be packed full goodies during the weekend of August 29th through the 31st, and they will be showing off some of their new and old favorites, including Exteel, Dungeon Runners, Guild Wars, City of Heroes, Tabula Rasa and the brand new Aion.

As they did last year, ArenaNet will be holding contests where participants can win valuable prizes. Developers will also be on hand to meet and greet with the players. Possibly the most exciting news is the fact that ArenaNet will hold another after-party at the Game Works across the street from the Washington State Convention & Trade Center, as they did last year. This is your chance to meet the folks at ArenaNet in a more casual setting and even challenge a few to an arcade game or two!

In a game that is mostly arena PvP between giant bipedal robots, we'd imagine that would be about all we'd need to know, right? We have all we need in the game with giant weapons, mechanaught add-ons and a hundred different ways to blast holes in our enemies. Or do we? Well, as it turns out, Exteel actually has a back story, and you can find it over at GameZone.

In this story, we learn about the struggle between four colonies on the recently-inhabited planet of Natha. Each of these colonies has their own ideals and their own reasons for warring against the others. Some are refugees from Mars, some from Saturn and some from Jupiter, but they're all at war with each other. The reason they were once unified has crumbled away, and now they must continue their skirmishes in their metal behemoths until a resolution is found.

You guys sure do talk a lot of crap in-game. Let's see if those bragging rights really do belong to your clan. Now everyone really knows who the heck the top bots in Exteel are with the latest ranking feature on the Exteel website is live which displays player and clan ranks. There is no extra software to install, no manual profiles to keep up to date, all you have to do is log on and smash each other into smithereens. You can also search for clans and pilots too see where they stand, there's actually some jerk out there named Legolas. You know what to do if you see that player roaming in-game. Both ranking lists will update every 24 hours, early in the morning and the ranking system is currently in-beta so players can expect more features later down the road.

Be sure to check out our Exteel coverage, or jump right into the game by downloading the Exteel client.

Heaviest of Exteel's early-era Mechanaughts, the Boomrocker is also one of the best support models available for pilots who can afford the armor and upkeep. Admittedly, it's slower and heavier than newer models, but it's also sturdier, and has a greater capacity for heat regulation. Additionally, the head is equipped with dual Mechanaught Processing Units (MPUs), so you can purchase and equip two skills at the same time.

Weighing in at 54K credits, the price tag is not minor, but it's also not prohibitive. And when you consider its classification as a Heavy, when the Trooper is classified as a Medium, it's a fairly sweet deal for the dosh. Yes, it's a support unit, but when you consider how much damage it can deal in close-quarters fighting, support can also equate to kicking opposing Mechanaught butt.

Now, a word of warning: we've already mentioned that it's not the fastest bird off the blocks, and it doesn't have the highest mobility. If you do get into a fight where you wind up on the front lines instead of supporting your troops, conserve your energy and reroute it to weapons and shields: don't try to boost or jump unless you can't avoid it, because the Boomrocker is just an eensy bit of a pig when it comes to sucking down the juice. Still, between the armor and the weaponry you're packing, the tradeoff in protection and penetration should more than make up for the occasional sphincter-loosening worry when the your team observes the solid biowaste impacting the rotary impellers.

Exteel is set to release its newest patch very soon, and in it we'll see the implementation of Clan Mode where players will be able to create and manage their own clans from the Exteel website. These clans will have their own set of restrictions on use, but seem to be something the Exteel players have wanted for a long time.

To create a clan, you'll need to be at least level 20, and to join a clan, you'll need to be at least level 15. The clans are only able to enter clan battles once they have 8 or more players, but if that number ever dips below 8, they will have 37 days to re-enlist, or the clan will dissolve. The clan battles themselves are much like Team Deathmatch, but the points are deducted from the opposing team's score for each kill and assist, instead of adding to your own score. This new Clan Mode patch also brings with it 7-day items, changes to the online store, four new weapons and much more. Check out the complete patch notes for more details.

Exteel is already six months into launch, and it stays kind of quiet not often talked about in MMOG circles. If you haven't heard about this one it's a free-to-play MMOG where players can take up giant robots and smash each other into bits like retro-rats. Several Massively readers even gave it the thumbs up in our launch post. As for recent news we covered the Trooper recently, and the new Last Stand battle mode that interjects a PvE element into the game. The latest information comes from Jae Hwan Kim, Exteel US Producer, in this interview with WarCry.

A genuine concern exists regarding Exteel's well being and sustainability because the game is an Eastern esque MMOG supported by micro transactions. There is a lot more room for failure in the Western market for this type of MMOG. According to Kim, Exteel is doing great and broke a concurrency record last week which is always good news for any MMOG. Also in the interview Kim talks about a few new features coming soon such as the new Clan battle mode, NCcoin versus in-game credits, along with his quick thoughts on game balance. Be sure to check out the official Exteel website where you can download the relatively small client.

What is it that keeps us playing, months and years after our first trip through the character generation screen?

The obvious answer is that we're still having fun. Maybe you've been playing World of Warcraft since release or earlier, you've got an alt of every class, epics to make a GM weep with envy, but you still get that little tingle of excitement every time you log on, that keeps you coming back for more.

What kind of enjoyment do you get from your MMO? Hopefully you are actually having fun with it. If not, I suggest you seek help, or go play Vanguard. Just kidding, maybe.

That being said, how do you quantify 'fun'? Exactly what is it about WoW or EVE Online or any other MMO that keeps you coming back for more? The steep climb to yet another epic flying mount in WoW has pushed me perilously close to burn out over the past few weeks (the impending release of the new 40K rulebook may also be a factor) so I've been thinking, more than usual, about what keeps us going in situations like this.

In previous developer letters from NCsoft, we learned about some of the entry-level Mechanaughts available in Exteel, their free-to-play robotic wargame MMO. In the most recent letter, we learn much more about the advanced Mechanaught known as the Trooper. This bipedal robot is the successor to the Frontliner and can absorb more damage, use energy more efficiently, regenerate energy faster, is much more responsive, and is a lot more accurate.

Also in this letter we get some detailed information on the Last Stand battle mode. This is an extremely useful mode where players can battle against scores of AI opponents and hone their skills, winning matches and accumulating hard-earned money for PvP battles. Plus, Last Stand matches can be played with a fewer group of players without the concern for finding enough people for balanced teams. All you need is some friends and that's it!

I've made my name here at Massively reviewing MMOs; it's what I do. This week brought to my attention that not all the games here at Massively are as massive as you might believe – no I haven't gone and reviewed a game where you play as a tiny ant fighting other tiny ants...on a grain of sand. Though I must admit that it sounds like a totally awesome idea! It would rock, so consider it copyrighted. Instead, using my patented Random Augmented Nuclear Dart Yaw machine, or the R.A.N.D.Y Machine for short, I have managed to select a game that I don't think quite belongs here.

If giant robot fighting is your thing (and, really, who doesn't love a good giant robot fight every now and again?), than NCsoft's free-to-play Exteel is your game. Today the NCsoft developers have passed along a dev paper where they discuss the Trooper Mechanaught, highlight available weapons, and cover the game's Last Stand battle mode. Want to hear what the developers have to say? Read on!

The announcement was made recently that NCsoft developer HawkSteel has assembled his own unofficial Exteel tournament, without the official support of NCsoft. The idea behind this tournament is to get teams of players to battle each other in a round-robin style format to determine the overall winner by accumulating Tournament Points (TPs). Each team battles another team per round in three separate matches in the following battle modes: Capture the Flag, Team Deathmatch and Territory Control.

There are no prizes, as the tournament winners will only feed off of the prestige and honor of being the best of the best. Be sure to check out the extensively-detailed rules over at the official site for more information. May the best laser-gun-wielding-robot win!