[CONTEST] Holiday Giveaway is OVER!

[Thesawolf]

(drumroll..... and the winners are...
Geez... you folks made this hard! (sorry it took so long to finalize the judging) But east coast and west coast cabal mates deliberated and here's the results (drumroll):
NOTE: I will be friending winners on Steam or contacting them in-game or via the respective forums to get contact information to dispense their respective prizes.

For the new/trial player tier:
1st place goes to... Mr. Goat (Lewda) and your induction moment into the Illuminati

Grats on your copy of The Secret World: Massive Edition!

2nd place goes to... ohnoes (PuntzFiore) and your first glimpse into the Hollow Earth

Grats on your copy of the base game of The Secret World!

3rd place goes to.. WheelofMorality_Turn3 (Chavonne) and your discovery of Pangaea

Grats on your grab bag of Steam goodies! (and one of our cabalmates is giving you an extended 30 day trial key w/bonus xp boost and extra bonus points because she feels your Pangaea shopping pain)

For the current/vet player tier:
1st place goes to... Boss-Defeater451 (PerpetuaMobile) for your insight into your Bogeyman experience

Grats on your 4mil pax and 4 QL10 blue signet bags donated by 'Every Perfect Gift'!

2nd place goes to... Andrea (on Steam) and your AHA moment at the Ankh

Grats on your 2mil pax and 2 QL10 blue signet bags!

3rd place goes to...Nzoth (on TSW forums) and your Joelzilla experience

Grats on your choice of either a set of TSW Steam goodies pack OR 1mil pax and 1 QL10 blue signet bag

THANK YOU so much for everyone's submissions! Wish I had more to give out for runners up and whatnot.. because we were torn by alot of submissions but HAD to narrow it down to these for their photo and story. Hopefully, we'll have another giveaway like this in the future. Thanks again and grats to the winners. Look for my communications!


ORIGINAL POST BELOW:
Unfortunately this is a Steam-based contest, but if you know of anyone wanting the game or want to participate and have a Steam account, feel free to head over to: http://steamcommunity.com/app/215280/discussions/0/617321352151149557/
and post your contest submission there or over at: http://forums.thesecretworld.com/showthread.php?t=82968

Here's the jist:
[CONTEST] TSW Holiday Giveaway!
Salutations folks! In honour of the release of Issue 10 and the upcoming end of the year holiday season (whatever you might celebrate it as), I've decided to put together a little giveaway for players of our little Secret World.

Who
This is applicable to trial users, new users and current/vet players. There will be 2 tiers of prizes to accomodate new/trial and current/vet players. NOTE: Current/vet players are considered those with Issues 1-7, as included in the massive edition

What
I would like to see and hear about your coolest moments in TSW. We've all had that moment while playing, whether as a trial player, new players or vet player, where you stop and go.. I love this damn game!. If you have a screenshot of it, post the link. If you don't.. go back and get a screenshot! Then I want to hear about it. Tell us what's going on in the screenshot, where you are or what you were doing and what made it your A-HA! moment. NOTE: ONE submission per person.

When
The contest runs through to 19 Dec @ 1200PM EST.

How
Take a screenshot! (Tip: Use Alt-Z to remove the UI, if you are in a safe place to take your pic. Then Alt-Z to bring it back up) If you use the Steam client, just hit F12, and upload it after your game session to your Steam-stored screenshots, view it and then copypasta the link into your submission in the Steam discussion thread. If you don't use the Steam client, hit F11, then navigate to your The Secret World install folder, then to screenshots folder. Find your desired pic and then upload it to a service like imgur.com and then provide the link to wherever you uploaded it.

Then tell us a little bit about your pic like your toon's name, what you were doing or where your A-HA! moment was. When posting your submission, just indicate if you are a new, trial or current/vet player and you will be submitted for that particular tier (this way you can shoot for something applicable to you). Current players with the content already included with the massive edition, please don't submit as a new/trial player.. give real newbies and trial people a chance. This gives new players a chance at an account upgrade, trial players a chance to own the game, etc. Myself and my cabal mates will then internally vote on our favourite submissions and award prizes accordingly.

PRIZES
NEW/TRIAL PLAYERS TIER
1ST PLACE - 1 copy of The Secret World : Massive Edition (Steam)
(Steam link - http://store.steampowered.com/app/261130/ )
(note.. for new players that only own the base game, this would give you the massive edition upgrade code and an extra base game code you could giveaway!)

2ND PLACE - 1 copy of The Secret World (Steam)
(Steam link - http://store.steampowered.com/app/215280/ )

3RD PLACE - a near-complete set of TSW Steam goodies. This includes a full set of TSW Steam trading cards (Akma, Kirsten Geary, Richard Sonnac, Assault Rifle, Blade, Blood, Chaos, Hammer, Elementalism, Fist, Pistols, Shotgun, Kingsmouth Town, The Scorched Desert, The Besieged Farmlands), 5 steam profile backgrounds (Alex (uncommon), Zuberi (rare), Mei Ling, Revenant (uncommon), Rose), 4 steam emoticons (Templar , Dragons , Orochi , Cthulhu (rare) ).. sorry.. couldn't get hands on any extra Illuminati ones, and 1 Booster Pack (containing 3 random cards.. might contain a foil one!)

CURRENT/VET PLAYERS TIER
1ST PLACE - 4 meeeeelion PAX (4,000,000 pax) + 4 QL10 (Blue) Signet Bags
(graciously donated by 'Every Perfect Gift')

2ND PLACE - 2 meeeeelion PAX (2,000,000 pax) + 2 QL10 (Blue) Signet Bag
(graciously donated by 'Every Perfect Gift')

3RD PLACE - a near-complete set of TSW Steam goodies (as listed above for the new/trial players tier) -OR- 1 million PAX + 1 QL10 (Blue) Signet Bag


Look foward to seeing/reading everyone's submissions!

(I will be reposting submissions here, as well, so folks can get inspired to join in with their own submissions perhaps )

[Thesawolf]

Mr Goat, a new Lumi player named Lewda, posted:

Mine is a bit stupid I guess. Basically first "mission" for illuminati, where you need to find illuminati HQ by fallowing graffiti signs on walls. It felt so epic for me. You never get something like that in your usuall MMO, you just go from A to B and slay X of Z, there I had to go this old warehouse, and instead of having marker on map I actually had to watch world itself, look for clues and go through labyrinth, till I find HQ, I never was excited for MMO story till I tried TSW.

And I'm new.

[Thesawolf]

WheelofMorality_Turn³, a new trial Temp player named Sia "Chavonne" Birch, submitted:

I hope I'm doing this right. Thanks for running this contest! I am a new trial player. My character's name is Sia "Chavonne" Birch and she is a Templar. My "I love this game!" moment was not something profound, spooky or supernatural. It was this --



Walking through London was amazing. The people in the bar. The Morninglight people trying to get me to join their cult. The music playing from the record store. But then.. I found the clothing store Pangaea. I realized then that I would never be able to keep money on my character again. All the shoes! All the shirts! I was sad to see there weren't any dresses except on the item store.. but in time, I'll have some money (and I hear some bonus points?) to get something tasty.

I know it's lame but that's my aha! moment. I had fun taking the screenshot too! I was waiting for that right moment Chavonne looked over her shoulder and gave that sly look of "What outfit do I make now?"

Thanks again for running this contest and your helpful posts I've seen throughout these forums.
#crossfingers

[Thesawolf]

Gerza71, a vet Dragon player named Reddona posted:

Gee you make it difficult. I have to go through 2700 pics from my three characters, choose 18 to pick one. I am a Vet player. OK here I go.

This is a cut scene of the start of the mission 'The Orochi Group' (I think) in the Blue Mountains. In this picture I like the look of Reddona (dragon) while she is listening to Maryanne about her concerns what is going on in the Orochi camp across from her camp site. And wondering what Maryanne looks like under her suit.


(Reddona listening to Maryanne)

I know I have to choose one. There are two other I liked to picked.

[Thesawolf]

Dongly, a vet Templar player named Lady-Pyre submitted:

A few years back, a Dev created a Copy of Nassir in Marya Base Camp, East, Scorched Desert during a radio show (I miss Blues, ain't seen'em in awhile) for an event the community hosted. Nassir gave out a bunch of fireworks (because he likes Boom booms) to people and yeah-- impromptu dance party

[Thesawolf]

I am, of course, not eligible for the giveaway, but I still wanted to share my A-HA moment

I had a lot of little "I love this damn game" moments along the way.. like following the haunting Siren's Song in Kingsmouth. The Polaris dungeon. My first game event (2nd anniversary event during the summer). But this..



was probably my A-HA moment. It was the Cabal Recruitment Fair event. Where everyone was doing Q&A sessions for their cabals and signing up folks. During all this, people were hanging out, chatting, /dancing all while GridStream (http://www.gridstream.org) had DJ Trevalin livestreaming playing music, running cabal PSA's and hilarious in-game PSA's for places in London and Kingsmouth, etc.

I had my first dose of how interwoven real life and the Secret World life could be. I saw tons of people.. learned how to do a Meetup.. learned alot about the cabals. discovered the wonderful world of livestreams with GSP and then RFG (http://www.radiofreegaia.com) with a healthy dose of optional RP. It's at that point that TSW had fully hooked me

[Medrina]

I know I'm not eligible but I am sharing anyway!

I just wanted to say, this game has SO MANY moments for me! I absolutely love the story and so many of the amazing amazing NPCs that have been developed. I remember early on the first few times I heard the banter of the German man and the English woman hanging out in HG I cracked up, and pretty much every cutscene with Hayden Montag is perfection. I have probably a bazillionty screen shots from all over the game, from cutscenes or just random posed hilarity (so many "I'm on a boat!" pics...) so I really can't narrow down one moment because there have been so many times I just HAD to screenshot something because of how brilliant it looked.

There is, however, something I do over and over and I always take a screenie: The Polaris final boss helicopter scene, which has two of the best character expressions you see in the game.

The first is the upnod of whoever is sitting opposite you (It's alphabetical so whoever has the first name is in that shot). I run with my husband a lot, whose toon is "Aberlour," so I have SO MANY upnods from his character saved because I love the expression!


"Sup, girl?"

Also, once the heli is disturbed, you get that "WTF?!" shot from the two passengers across the way, and it always looks so awkward and hilarious!


"Did you just grab my ass?" "What?! NO!"

I freaking love this game!

[Shigy]

lol I love your take on that second SS Medrina

[Thesawolf]

Aleizter over on Steam forums submitted:

I hope this is right, but this is the reason I love The Secret World. It's walking over a ridge and suddenly finding myself in a cool, Halloweeny, creepy place like this. That makes me say out loud, 'This is Cool as Sh@#t!' TSW is my first MMO, my friends tried to get me on WOW, and Destiny, but they weren't me. The Secret World is mos definetly ME!

[Thesawolf]

I know I'm not eligible but I am sharing anyway!

I see no reason why you wouldn't be eligible Even vet players can do with a couple meeeelion pax.. maybe go Pangaea shopping

And the funniest thing.. on your second SS, that's the exact same comment I made when I first ran that with some friends.

[Thesawolf]

DeadPandas (Aardwulf) over on Steam submitted:

Hi, this is my character, Aardwulf, as she was leaving the carnival in Savage Coast (?). I havent able to get very fair yet and despite seeing so many awesome places, I couldnt get a safe pic or pose for them. At least here I could get a snapshot without dying. I better upload somethin before its too late. I am a current/vet player QL3 ?.

[Thesawolf]

Vet player Kittycrafter over on Steam posted:

I liked relising that i was finally strong enough to beat something with 4K HP without dying easily, it was quite a nice experience at the time.

[Thesawolf]

Current player Boss-Defeater451 (PerpetuaMobile) over on Steam submitted:

Well... the first time I am posting on steam but... Well, here is mine:



This here is Rae 'PerpetuaMobile' Peak, facing off against the Bogeyman. I already enjoyed the game alot, with the need to dodge strong attacks, the setting, the mood... and then I came to the amusement park. I like two things a lot: video games and amusement parks. So, going to a 'zombie-infestated haunted amusement park of doom', I was rather looking forward to it. The first mission was fun, though I seriously question the sanity of your character for deciding to ride the roller coaster (and who is charge of the plants in the park. Seriously, so many branches in Rae's face...). The third mission... didn't quite pay off for me, but the second one had the awesome climatic fight with the above boss. He was tough, dodging all those attacks... and then came the final attack, the insta kill one. I died about twenty times, often forcing me to retreat from the instance just to repair my gear, and while I had some frustration trying to figure out how to get past it, it resulted in some... hilarious deaths (such as trying to jump over the attack... and getting blasted in the fence.) Ultimately, I decided on trying to use an emote on him, pretty sure it wouldn't work, but still trying it. ... I won that one. Noted it down afterwards: 'has weakness to spitting on him'.
Sometime later, I decided to look the mission up in walkthrough... and I read you had to get out of his line of sight. I have no idea if I was accidently standing in the right place or not, but if I did, I did not so consciously. All by all, awesome fight. (For those interested: removing the UI sadly prevented me from using a spit emote, so I couldn't get it on the screenshot. Heck, the screenshot is one second before Rae gets blasted in the face yet again. How nostalgic... To finish the mission, I decided to be safe over sorry, and used cover this time.)

[Thesawolf]

vet player djolenisa (Godfury) posted on the TSW Forums:

This is a screenshot from last year's End of days event where we were confronting the final instance boss. The cutscene perfectly shows how epic he is. If you check the player characters top the lower left (my brother and me), you will see how small they are and they are looking at the monster with "what the hell" stare! Screenshot perfectly shows what horrors we as players have to face on daily basis...



Gabriel "Godfury" Angelos
Templars

[Thesawolf]

Vet player freymarch (Aureolin) on Steam posted:

Here is mine:



Here's my main, Shane "Aureolin" Alistair. I'm pretty sure everyone who has been in TSW long enough remembers the first time the "Guardians of Gaia" event came on. It was a pretty hectic event but everyone was very helpful, cooperative and just plain amazing. Despite all the trouble everyone had with the horrible latency and the fps problems for some, everyone still strive to do their best in taking down all the golems regardless of their rank or equipment. I've had some little moments where I thought that this game is amazing but massive events like these really shows how awesome everything is, not just the game, but all the players in it too.

This screenshot is also from the last year's event. I thought it would ruin the spirit of the contest if I put on the recent ones of me following GK around like a stalker this year so here's one where a lot of us "Golem Hunters" are walking with the GK in Shadowy Forest and waiting for SF Golem to be summoned.

Oh, and if it's not obvious yet, I'm a current/vet player.

[Thesawolf]

vet player Nzoth posted on the TSW Forums:

I'm a vet player. My in-game character is also Nzoth, and I play on Arcadia.

The greatest in-game event I've ever experienced in an MMO remains the first anniversary celebration in TSW. There was a palpable festive feeling in the air, and the way the community came together was fantastic.

But by far the highlight had to be one particular golem fight on the first day, where Joel Bylos put in an appearance. What happened next, you ask?

Awesome happened.

[Thesawolf]

Current player Andrea on Steam forums submitted:

New player here who purchased TSW:ME few days ago, and must say it's quite awesome, started playing less than a week ago, and already got hooked into the game, wish i played it sooner, spooky atmosphere and creatures crawling around at night fits perfectly.

My A-HA! moment was when doing The Ankh for the first time got to meet, and be chased down by a little friendly guy, who wanted to do give me a free haircut, barber shop costs quite a bit, bet you all agree.

[Thesawolf]

2 days left, folks, until we close the giveaway and announce our winners!

Get your submissions in soon (not Soon™ but soooooooon). Remember, the giveaway is open to ALL types of players! Whether you are using a trial key, a new player with basic edition or a current/vet player with every Issue out there. We want to see YOUR A-HA! moments.

[Thesawolf]

Vet player Chihaya on the Steam Forums posted:

I've had so many fun memories in TSW that it's hard to pick just one I'd have to go with the filth dungeons that were available prior to Tokyo's launch. Why this? Well the excitement of knowing that the portal to Tokyo would soon be open and not knowing just what I'd face there! Plus I got to beat up filth monsters on a regular basis, who doesn't love doing that?

[Thesawolf]

Trial player ohnoes (PuntFiore) over on the Steam Forums submitted:



The Phantom Tollbooth sure has changed. I know the screenie might be a bit lame, but that movie was the first thing that came to mind when i zoned into Agartha.

My characters name is Bruno 'PuntzFiore' Jones.
I'm a trial player, or was until lastnight/way early this morning when it expired.
I've had a few ah-ha moments. One being the the modern setting, i've followed the game for quite awhile so i was already aware, but after playing Wow since shortly after launch it was a really nice change of pace. But i think my BIG one i'm going to go with is the free form skill system, being able to pick from what ever you want, given point limits and tiers. This is the first mmo i've had a chance to play that's set up like that and i found it to be quite a nice change and enjoyable. Actually, i have no idea if their are other mmos out the with a similar skill system so i guess that's moot. So i think that's it, unless i'm missing anything.