Once again, the chill of winter is upon us. Which also means that Christmas and all the Legacy related stuff that comes along with it. And this year, a few things will be the same and some will be different.

What's the same? The Advent Calendar will be making an appearance of course. What's different however is the fact that unlike the last couple of years where most of the items are gag items/gifts, this year will have many items that will entice and excite. Yes, a few traditional items/gifts will be the same. Because why break traditions?

Also I would like to address something that I'm sure some think I have forgotten about. The near apocalyptic loss of the Wastelands. In order to make up for that little mishap, the Double Gains week that typically happens during Christmas time...will be extended. That means starting Dec. 16 (early as possible) until Dec. 29 at 23:59 server time (literally what the clock in the upper right corner of your browser shows) will be Double Gains.

For those who don't know or need a reminder of what Double Gains include:
-Double Experience from PVP and Hunt
-Double Item Experience
-Double Honing Experience
-Double payout from jobs
-Double Warfare points
-Double energy per hour (400/hour)

Please note that buffs from books and the boon shop do not stack.

As for if there will be a platinum sale as normal during Christmas, I will let Zorg announce that if he decides to do so.

Hope everyone is having a good holiday season so far!

Ok, I nerfed the rewards from the CBells by a bit.

The optional Shards now give 25/40/60 less than previously based on recipe tier, but Abstruse rewards remain unaffected.
To those who got the better numbers, well, congrats.

Not many of those though.

Okay, so, Cow Bells are now going to have some value to the, and they are going to help those who are actively participating in the WLs actually get something that allows them to catch up to the older veteran when it comes to Abilities.

Cow Bell Crystallization has been revamped as a recipe.
This affects all 3 tiers.

All tiers will require 2 Null Crystal Shards as the base, and all tiers will allow 1 optional Crystal Shard of any type, or an Abstruse Crystal.

The optional shards will give XP based on their rarity; Fires giving the more than Oranges, etc.
Abstruse Crystals are however king here, and will give the most out of all of them.
Do note that Nulls cannot be used as an optional Shard.

Obviously, the higher tiered recipes will get you more XP per craft, so keep that in mind.

Also, Abstruse Crystals now drop from Crystal Entities.
They're rare though; rarer than Fires. So good luck with that.

Note: Right now, there is a visual bug when it comes to crafting being used on targeted items; the XP rewarded after a craft shows the base XP reward, regardless if you are overleveled, or if you used any optional items.

This is a visual bug; you are actually rewarded based on the calculation you see while choosing the items; the text in red.
I'll fix this when I get back.

Halloween is over (despite what the Legacy banner tells you) and Shadress has vanished from the Hive for the time being. In the short time she was here, many of you challenged her. Ultimately, she was only impressed with a small handful of you. Those individuals were:

Shade, Mary, Persephone, UnicornBob, bigchaos, greggy, smythe, matt770, Zach, Merkleman, Mert, Pjay, blenok, Cartucho, Gryll, and motodragon

But of everyone who fought her, some of you actually brought her down.

Graponis, dagreek, Kage, crippler, and MrItrickzu

Those who defeated her were granted the Shadress banner, a Toolbox, and a Voodoo doll by default. Everyone else were sent items for participating.

Also want to give a special shoutout to Merkleman for despite not being an Avatar, kept attacking Shadress so she would gain fatigue so everyone else could dispatch her more easily