Space MMO Star Trek Online is scheduled to turn a year old on February 2, and it plans to mark the milestone with a 20% reduced price for its lifetime sub option. This lowers the cost by $60 to $239 from the original $299.

While we’re sure that more freebies and perks will be announced for existing pilots in the game, this initial salvo should convince avid Trekkers to do the MMO equivalent of tying the knot.

A month’s worth of subscription to Star Trek Online costs the industry standard of $15 so plunking down $239 for a lifetime sub means a player should plan to stick to the game for more than a year and four months (That’s us being all math-geeky.)

Lifetime subscriptions are the most hardcore commitment any MMO gamer can make, at least for those few who offer it. So if you’re a trekker who just can’t get enough of all sector space skirmishes and episodic explorations on alien planets, then sign up for a lifetime sub here. Reduced price ends on February 4.

Every year that an MMO stays online is a cause for celebration, what with newer games closing down even before turning a year old. For Final Fantasy XI, turning eight called for another round of free FFXI gil for its loyal fans, who only have until tomorrow to join the million-Gil raffle sweepstakes.

The 8th Vana’versary Mog Bonanza will stop selling raffle marbles–the Vana’diel equivalent of a lotto ticket–on January 18. Be sure to purchase up to 20 marbles at a token cost of 2,000 gil each, for a chance at a handsome Gil or gear payout.

Rank 1 winners whose picked numbers match all five drawn in the raffle will get to split 50% of the total marble sales, meaning if you are the sole winner you get to bring home millions or even billions of Gil. Rank 2 and Rank 3 winners also get some prize Gil for matching four and three numbers, respectively.

But more than the free Gil, Rank winners will be thrilled at getting rare gear of their choice. There are dozens of rare weapons and accessories available for redemption like the Kraken Club and Novio’s Ring.

The final draw is on February 3 so go purchase the raffle marbles at the city Moogles. And when you do win, make sure to redeem in on or before February 21.

In what surely is a sign that some measure of balance has been achieved across Aion servers, NCSoft ended its months-long free character transfer service today.

Players still looking to change realms can do so, but now it’s on a case-to-case basis with NCSoft evaluating each request based on a set criteria. Aion revealed these manual transfer criteria late last month, which basically only allows these exceptions:

• Uniting separated family members who have a history of playing together
• New players who figured they chose the wrong server to sign up on
• Characters of the same faction

If you don’t even vaguely qualify for these manual transfer criteria, the best course of action will be to put up the cash for a paid transfer service. Call it a cash grab, but for those who returned only recently and want to find a new home, a paid transfer could be worth it to avoid the imbalance problems still present in some realms.

Last year, Aion implemented a controversial World Merge that led to an explosion of Asmodian dominance and Elyos whining, forcing NCSoft to offer free character transfers in an attempt to restore order. The manual transfer service–and to a lesser extent, the gated paid transfer service–should stabilize the semblance of faction balance achieved over the past months.

“The manual process is designed to protect the server populations while still helping the players that are allowed to move. It is more labor intensive, but we feel it is a better service for those of you still trying to transfer before we switch to a fully paid service” explained NCSoft in in an official blog post announcing the end of free transfers.

It’s been three weeks since Blizzard launched the new Cataclysm expansion and broke record books as it sold more copies in its first 24 hours than any other PC release to date. Part of what made this third and latest World of Warcraft expansion so popular is the exciting revamp of Azeroth and the talent trees for all classes.

Far from resting on their laurels (general reception to the class talent changes have been positive), Ghostcrawler and the rest of his design team are already planning to tweak them  some more based on the data they’ve gathered in playtesting in the live realms.

Ghostcrawler said that the healing situation in PvE dungeons and raids “is working out pretty much as intended” leading us to believe that the out-of-mana dilemmas most healers are complaining about will stay for good during the whole  Cataclysm expansion.

Tank balance overall also “seems good at this point in time” based on the threat numbers and the equal use of all four tanking specs–Protection paladins, Feral bear druids, Blood death knights and Protection warriors–even up to the progression-level Heroic raids.

This leaves us with the damage dealers, which Ghostcrawler admitted as needing the most work in terms of PvE balancing. This is not surprising given that more than half of all specs in the game are damage dealers, but what players are furious about are the allegedly wide gaps in performance between top DPS and bottom rung DPS specs.

Meanwhile, PvP balance has gone to a less burst-dominated paradigm with the decreased strength of Mortal Strike debuffs and larger health pools. The focus of developers now is devising possible nerfs to offensive dispels like Purge and Spellsteal, which have been deemed “too powerful” in the current match-ups. Crowd control, interrupts and self-healing effects might also get reduced duration in the next round of patches.

For a more detailed reading on what the class design team is looking into changing in the near future, read the full blog post on the official community site here

Want to be there when the final kinks on the seventh EverQuest II expansion are ironed out? Well, then heed the call and register for the Destiny of Velious closed beta, which will begin promptly on January 5 next year.

By then those spiked eggnogs will have lost their potency and you’ll be focused enough to report bugs and other nasty inconveniences that managed to survive past testings. Destiny of Velious will not have an open beta for the general public so this is like the exclusive advanced preview of the long-lost landscapes of Velious and the hostile denizens that harbor its secrets.

Fan Faire 2010 attendees have a leg up because their registration will lead to a sure slot at the close beta. But all the others will have to pray to the RNG gods to get one a beta acceptance e-mail, which will be sent out between January 3 to January 5. Be sure to go online or at least keep that new e-mail-capable Android phone you got for the holidays right beside you so you can jump on the sneak peek privilege the second it comes popping in your mailbox.

If not, you can always amuse yourself with conspiracy theories on what the heck those Freeblood Vampires are up to.

Ever since announcing last week a new playable Freeblood vampire, EverQuest II players have been dreading the arrival of Twilight wannabes in Norrath. But the first batch of lore released about the Freeblood vampire seems determined to bring a palatable sexiness to the sharp-tooted mythological creature.

In the form of letters written by a certain D’Ryil, it’s shown that the Freeblood vampires might be hunting down the secrets of the power-obsessed vampire Mayong Mistmoore and her tragic bride Tserrina. Both Mayong and Tserrina had dabbled in dark forces and their journals provide insights on the transformative process of vampirism.

D’Ryil tells Verilos that it is urgent for them to acquire Mayong’s and Tserrina’s research notes in order to “accomplish our goal of strengthening our bloodline.”

This meticulousness makes the Freeblood so much more interesting that you can’t help but wonder what their ultimate goal is. Do they want to strengthen their bloodline and exact revenge on the other races that have shunned them? Have they contracted a sort of vampire disease that is need of a cure?

All these questions will surely be answered as the big reveal draws near. The Freeblood vampires are scheduled for release next year and is a loyalty reward for EQII players who keep on playing until February 2011. Until then, we will have to subsist on these lore letters and maybe wishful thinking while watching Interview with the Vampire.

Vigilance will be rewarded in Aion this December as faithful Daevas who log on to the game at designated times from December 4 to 12 will get up to ten free Solorius festival gifts.

Each day brings a new gift, NCSoft announced on its website, and will delivered along with a short player survey. These gifts–or tempting bribes, if you’re a glass-half-empty kind of guy–range from enchantment stone-filled boxes to green Solorius stockings filled with black, white and other colored dyes.

The most exciting freebies though are the Watchful Ailu pet eggs and costume packages for both male and female toons. The “A Sunny Gift” costume package includes a summer hat and a Daeva’s icebox while the “Cool Swimsuit Box” should contain figure-flattering trunks or one-piece bikinis. We know it’s December and the cold weather should banish any and all thoughts of semi-naked revelry, but Aion is one of the few games that goes all out on their costumes.

Be sure to log on during these times to bag the gifts and remember that there are pre-designated gifts — if you want the costumes but can’t be bothered with all those Radiant and Crusader tokens, you’re best bet is to have a perfect attendance from Day 1.

Age of Conan players should start sharpening those swords because the 2.1 update will deliver dark dungeons one after another.

Set for a staggered release beginning December, the 2.1 update will introduce two new end-game instances set in Pai-Kang, new raid encounters in the Jade Citadel, one new end-game solo instance in Kara Korum, and two new solo instances that will scale for players between levels 40 and 80.

Most of these new dungeons, according to Content Producer Per Storløkken, explore the chaos surrounding Emperor Yah-Chieng and his rule over Khitai. “We really wanted to bring the story of the emperor, the insurrection and the evil that threatens Khitai to a satisfactory conclusion for players, so the content in Pai-Kang concentrates on that.”

The Pai-Kang six-man instances will align adventurers with the Insurrection in the hopes of stopping the Dark Legion, which is sowing madness and corruption in two populated districts. Meanwhile, the Jade Citadel raids will take place inside the corrupted tower, where the Emperor and his cadre of minions await. Both sets of dungeons should provide a challenge for would-be heroes.

For soloers, the new Kara Korum instance will provide hefty rewards for daily completion. And for those who have more time on their hands, the 2.1 update brings along more solo player content. What’s new here is the auto-content generation aspect, which means solo dungeons won’t look and feel exactly the same–a nice touch to make leveling feel less of a bore.

Frightening beasts and glorious armor await Final Fantasy XI players in the Heroes of Abyssea battle add-on ($9.99), the third and final one in the series, slated for release on December 6.

Empyrean armor sets in their completed form are now on full display in the Heroes of Abyssea preview site alongside three featured monsters: Orthrus, Alfard and the tongue twister-named Khrysokhimaira. Square Enix has also released the full trailer, which showcases an action-packed romp in line with the past two battle add-ons, Vision of Abyssea and Scars of  Abyssea.

If you’re looking for a reason to grab this battle add-on, then do it to complete the regal Empyrean armor sets. You will be able to obtain body and arm pieces complementing the head, leg, and foot pieces obtained back in Scars of Abyssea.

Art directioon also continues to be superb for this third iteration, from the monster profiles and wallpaper art of artist Jun Suemi to the polished rendering of in-game armor and encounters.

Once purchased, Heroes of Abyssea will be activated together with the December version update changes.

What started as isolated skirmishes on the far-flung regions of World of Warcraft has escalated into full-scale assault of the Alliance and Horde capitals. Part four of the Elemental Invasion event has begun, and both factions need your help in repelling the elementals.

Horde players will need to defend Orgrimmar and Thunder Bluff, while Alliance players should protect Stormwind and Ironforge. Only level 80 toons (or at least those powerful enough not to get two-shotted) should attempt to join the front lines because even the staunchest NPC guards can’t protect you from a potentially brutal beating.

Once the elementals have been subdued, a window for counterattack will open up allowing you to take on four mini-bosses. These are Grand Ambassador Flamelash in Blackrock Depths, Crown Princess Theradras in Maraudon, Kai’ju Gahz’rilla in Zul’Farrak and Prince Sarsarun in Ruins of Ahn’Qiraj.

Rest won’t come easy even if you manage to down these elemental lieutenants. Deathwing himself will soon break out of Deepholm and bring the world to its knees. Known as The Shattering, the arrival of the black dragon aspect will occur in Patch 4.0.3a and will usher in the revamped regions of Azeroth, including a devastated Barrens and flooded Thousand Peaks.

It’s the final act before the launch of Cataclysm on December 7 so make sure you don’t pass out from all the action.