Mark the day on your calendars, people! January 25, 2012 marks the end of Aion's Veteran Reward system! After 28 months of giving out awesome veteran rewards, NCsoft is planning to put a stop to this program with the advent of update 3.0. You will have up to the end of February to claim all of your rewards, so make sure you do so before the change sets in!

As of this writing, there is no indication that a new Veteran Reward System or one similar to it will take its place, although the team stresses that they have "many exciting plans in the works for Aion," including play housing and new mounts!

You gotta give credit where it's due: those marketing heads at NCsoft really know how to dress up a Double EXP / Double Drop weekend event with fancy words! Aion's Atreian Winter Festival is landing for the month of January, and with it comes, well, Double EXP / Double Drop weekends for January 13 - 16, January 20 - 23, and January 27 - 30.

I suppose you could say that this particular event derives its "Winter Festival" motif from the Daru Fur Set that is currently on sale for a limited time in the NCsoft store for a mere $9.99. This offer will only be available from January 11 - February 1, so if you want to maximize your celebration partaking, consider picking up the Daru Fur Set and then going out to level up / hunt for loot every weekend. Super celebrations!

Is this a sign of things to come? Aion Europe is officially making the shift to free-to-play in February 2012, According to an official FAQ posted on their website, all of Aion's quests and story will be available to all players for free, with a Gold Package available for players who want some bonus items while they level.

There doesn't appear to be much information regarding the actual revenue system that will be used (or what items will be sold), but chances are high Aion's F2P model may follow Lineage II's recently adopted free-to-play system.

The holidays have come to Aion! Santanyerk is being especially kind this Solorius with a double XP weekend (naturally) as well as hosting Crab Fest, a festival dedicated to these delicious crustaceans. Apparently there are two crabs in particular, named Sunshine and Glimma, who are visitng Atreia, so if you want to celebrate Crab Fest, get chatting with them.

New Solorius themed weapon skins are also on the way, with Snowman Shields, Holiday Wreath Staves, and even Christmas Tree... spears? I'm assuming that's a spear. We'll go with that.

Get the full details on Santanyerk's Solorius Festivities on the official Aion page!

This event name is getting a little bit ridiculous, but Aion's Shugo Event Showcase Tweet Event is giving out some sweet rewards for anyone brave enough to bring the competition to Twitter. All you have to do is tweet about the Shugo Event Showcase with the hashtag #ShugoShop between November 23 until November 25 @ 5:29pm PST, and the Aion Team will randomly select 10 tweets to receive a gift bag of 3 Fabled & Eternal Socketing Supplements.

So, once again for you kids in the back, just tweet the Shugo Event Showcase and throw in the hashtag #ShugoShop, and you could be frollicking about in a vault filled with 3 Fabled & Eternal Socketing Supplements. Oh my!

If there's one thing everyone loves, it's free swag and double experience events. Well, this month leading up to Cyber Monday on November 28th, Aion is ramping up thier Shugo Event Showcase, an amazing series of in-game promotions ranging from free loot, double XP, abyss point and rifting bonuses, and even a special half-off deal for the Shugo Lad Pack companion in the NCstore.

The first third of the event, simply called the "Play Every Day Deals," will see a new and improved adventurer guide system (more survey items?), as well as free items for players who play Aion for a certain amount of time each day. At the moment, from November 16 to November 23, players who play for at least 2 hours will automatically receive an arena ticket in their inventory. From November 23 to November 30, players who play for at least 4 hours will receive a free bonus Enchantment Stone box. Finally, from November 30 to December 7, anyone who players for at least 6 hours will receive a free bonus Manastone box. Throughout all of these days, Aion will also be running with Double EXP for gathering, crafting, and slaying, as well as running Abyss Point and Rifting Promotions.

From November 23 to November 30, Aion will be running a special "Daru Days" event. Players will be able to collect a "Silver Fur Daru" set to keep them warm in their adventures.

Finally on November 28 only, players can get half off on the Shugo Lad companion pet from the NCstore. Normally priced at $19.99, be sure to grab this 24-slot storage pet for a mere $9.99.

Oh, and one last thing... There's a trailer for this event. It's an odd trailer. Don't even ask about the trailer.

NCsoft is celebrating Halloween in Aion, Lineage II, City of Heroes and Guild Wars. Here's the schedule:

• Aion's Harvest Revel.Oct. 26 to Nov. 9. This year the Harvest Revel stars the witches of Sanctum and Pandaemonium, tasking you with harvesting souls. Reward bundles for these quests include Sugarcrook’s Sack, Witch’s Sack, Witch’s Hoard, Witch’s Surprise and more. Each bundle contains a number of possible prizes – including Halloween costumes, scrolls, amulets and Harvest Ale.
• Lineage II's Halloween Treats. Begins Oct. 26. Your highest level character per server, per account will receive a Halloween Hat, a Halloween Gift Box and a Golden Jack O’Lantern Mask 7-Day Pack.
• City of Heroes – Dr. Kane’s House of Horror. Through Nov. 2. This event will add even more panache to the existing Zombie Apocalypse and Deadly Apocalypse, as you venture into a nightmarish mansion full of danger. Take on the doctor’s zombie horde as you make your way through this terrifying house of horror. Will you be able to stop the doctor from creating a zombie army?
• Guild Wars – The Mad King Thorn. Through Nov. 2. Once a year, Mad King Thorn and his spooky cohort visit the land of mortals for a creepy celebration full of holiday quests, the Costume Brawl PvP event, Halloween-themed guild vs. guild battles, two new costumes, and lots of other tricks and treats.