The 13th Anniversary Update

Welcome to the 13th Anniversary Update! Today marks 13 years that Network Nirvana is in business, and as anyone who has played NirvanaOnline for a while now, 13 is kind of our lucky number. Read on to discover all of the sweet new features and content we're sending your way today as part of our free 13th Anniversary Update and celebration! Also, don't forget to tune into NirvanaOnline tonight for the reveal of DreamlandOnline, the next major game world coming to NirvanaOnline on June 1st!

A Word From The Director:

Hey there! Many of you know me from the in-person workshops and from seeing me online. My name's TJ Nissen and I'm the Game Director, Owner, and Creator of NirvanaOnline! With this update, we sought to correct a lot of errors in our design philosophy over the years. Previously we've focused our efforts on adding new content and activities to the game, rather than fix up old content or redesign old systems. With the 13th Anniversary Update, we wanted to take a step back and take a look at the objectives of NirvanaOnline as a whole. We wanted to re-evaluate some of our content like Pulsis Rituals and Arenas and breathe new life into them by giving players a tangible reason to go and complete those activities. With the advent of the badges system for NirvanaOnline, we've seen players seek out Badges for all kinds of content, and we've seen that system bring them to new areas of Nirvana that they never knew existed. With this in mind, we've reworked all of the activities in the game that were previously unable to utilize this system, and added Badge support for every single one! Additionally, we're proud to present the Public Events and Treasure systems, that will bring players together throughout the hour, and then send them to new corners of Nirvana to cash in their loot from doing so! That said, we've been very hard at work these last two months, secretly working on a number of top-secret projects that we're very excited to share with you. On that note, I want to say thank you to every single one of you that has supported us over the years, and we look forward to another 13 incredible years of NirvanaOnline!

Public Events:

This is the big one. Public Events have finally landed in NirvanaOnline! These rotating mega-events spawn twice per hour, first at 20 minutes after the hour, and then at 40 minutes after the hour. The Director is a new character that has appeared in NirvanaOnline to assume control of this new system. He will announce to the chat when a Public Event has started, and will also identify the Warp that players need to type in to quickly access the event. Players should be on the lookout for his announcements in-game, because these new Events are some of the most rewarding activities we currently have to offer!

Many of the initial offering of Public Events consist of revamped Pinnacle Activties from around the game that weren't receiving hardly any attention anymore. We took a look at each of these activities and reworked a number of objectives to make them more exciting, and more friendly to casual players. Additionally, we added a new Treasure system to the game (more on that later) that will help make Public Events feel like some of the most rewarding activities in the game aside from Vaults. Here's a breakdown of the Public Events you can expect to see appear in NirvanaOnline starting today:

The Menagerie: The Menagerie is back, and this ultra-rare Pinnacle Event is ready to reward our most die-hard treasure hunters. Empress Voria has invited you to her underground Menagerie beneath Arkoneux to compete in a royal ritual of avarice and fortune! This event has been reworked from the ground up. Players will no longer die if they fail to complete an objective in time, and instead players will be rewarded for the objectives they do complete. Each of the 12 objectives that are completed before the time runs out will increase the rewards granted to all players at the end of the event, provided that players manage to defeat the final boss!

The Shrieking Forge: The Shrieking Forge is back, and Emperor Ifrit has invited you to participate in a most auspicious activation of his prized forge. An ancient weapon is up for grabs, but you'll need to help stoke the kilns and repair the forge in order to obtain the highest reward from this activity. Similar to the Menagerie, this event will no longer kill all players who fail to reset a valve in time. Instead, the event will increase the power of the final reward weapon depending on how many objectives the group managed to complete in time.

S.T.A.M.P.E.D.E: This Public Event is brand-new and was designed specifically for this update! The S.T.A.M.P.E.D.E. Public Event is still in beta, and we're still making tweaks to it, but the bones are already there. Zane Wyndham has invited players to participate in his race-based research project in Arkoneux. Players are invited to join in this Event and help Zane Wyndham collect data on his new line of horse automatons. Players are released into an all-new Race course and are each presented with a reward for reaching the end of the course within the time limit! That's right, every player that reaches the end of the race will be given a reward for participating!

Trick or Treat: It's time to grab some candy! The Trick or Treat special event returns to Chernobyl Carnivale year-round! Head to each of the four corners of the Midway and summon a Trick or Treater. Lure them back to the fountain in the center to sacrifice them and steal their candy. When enough candy has been collected, all players receive a prize! We have removed the obstacle course from the end of this activity and will be repurposing it elsewhere in the future.

The Ghost Reactor: An electrical anomaly has appeared near Chernobyl Carnivale. The Vexation Priest of Vampirism has summoned his Ghost Reactor and asks that you make ritual sacrifices to him to strengthen his connection to our reality! This event has been streamlined and now displays your score without taking up space on the sidebar. Players will also find that the lag produced by this event has also been greatly reduced, thanks to streamlines in the loading process.

The Great Lady's Exhumation: The Great Lady's Ghost has been terrorizing Adytum. It's up to you to lay her ghost back to rest! Head to Adytum and complete a ritual to free her spirit and then defeat the amalgam that has possessed her. Doing so will reward all participants greatly!

The Tower of Babel: Finally, the Tower of Babel makes its return to NirvanaOnline. We've reduced the need to collect Menagerie Materials to start this event, and now the event will occur naturally like other Public Events. This activity is very much the same as it has always been, but now with no startup cost, and even better rewards! Assemble the Tower of Babel by defeating Void Constructors in time. The more sections of the tower that you purify, the better your rewards will be!

Incursion Reform:

Incursions around our 24-player activity type, essentially referred to as "Overpowered Vaults". These activities are without a doubt the hardest in the game. In fact, these activities are so hard that almost all of them have never been beaten by average players! With that in mind, we've devised a way to help you get your hands on some of that sweet, sweet Incursion loot.

Over the summer, we introduced Keys of Incursion that allow players to access Incursions around NirvanaOnline. This system was a great first stepping stone, but in today's update we've completely amped up the concept while bringing back an old mechanic. Coward's Dowries have appeared in all Incursions around the game and take place in between each phase of the level. Players now much possess a Key of Incursion to enter any Incursion in NirvanaOnline, and using a Coward's Dowry will consume that Key in exchange for a piece of Incursion loot from each Incursion's unique loot pool. Even better, the quality of the gear you obtain from each Coward's Dowry will increase with each phase of the Incursion you managed to complete. For example, the first Coward's Dowry from the Bellatraux Laboratories Incursion might theoretically give you a piece of gear with 20 enchantment levels attached to it. Making your way to the second Coward's Dowry would give you a piece of gear with 24 enchantment levels, and the quality and number of enchantment levels will continue to increase the further you delve into an Incursion.

Arenas Reform:

One of the main issues with older game worlds is that many of the activities there had seemingly no reason to complete them. With our first set of reformed activities, we aimed to remedy this by given players a tangible reason to visit Arenas throughout the game. By checking the Badges section in the Advancements tab of the pause menu, players will notice that there are new badges associated with obtaining a number of kills in each specific Arena. Upon completing the set number of kills, players will get a notification that they've completed the Arena, and will be given a number of Echelons, Credits, and a Badge for doing so!

Dungeon Reform:

Another activity type found in NirvanaOnline that was overdue for a little love are the Dungeons. These pockets of open-world exploration have been spitting out armor sets and weapons since their introduction to the game 5 years ago. Since then, we've updated them to include kiosks that would give some limited rewards for collecting all 4 pieces of gear from a regular Dungeon. In today's update, we've removed these kiosks and have introduced new Badges that will unlock automatically when a player has all pieces of Dungeon gear in their inventory. Additionally, we've increased the rewards for completing a Dungeon (they now give 25 Echelons for a regular Dungeon, and 75 Echelons for an Apex Dungeon). Lastly, we've also included tooltips in the Badges for each Dungeon that will help players understand what pieces of gear they are looking for, and where to find some of the harder-to-reach Dungeons!

Pulsis Ritual Reform:

Next up on the list are Pulsis Rituals. To be honest, these were always fun for the first one or two runs, but they often quickly lost their appeal. Now, we've brought new life to these activities by making them infinitely replayable, presenting a new challenge, adding Badges, and giving out Treasure Items. Players will notice immediately upon starting a Pulsis Ritual that they now have a 2.5-minute countdown timer on them. At the end of the countdown timer, the players that activated the Pulsis Ritual will die, so players will need to work fast. Waves of mobs will appear and will need to be dealt with in order to collect the reward from the Cursed Chest in the back of the Pulsis. If players are successful in killing all of the enemies in time and open the chest before their countdown expires, they will be rewarded with Credits, Echelons, Treasure Items, and a shiny new Badge!

Additionally, to celebrate the Pulsis Rituals getting a massive rework, we're happy to announce that we've released a new Apex Public Ritual in NirvanaOnline. Pulse Perfekted is now available for all players!