Diablo 3’s first season started just over four months ago with the introduction of a new game mode that included a competitive element and a leaderboard to show who was doing well. Now Blizzard have announced that the end of the season is in sight and the second season is just around the corner.

Blizzard hope that they can bring Season 2 along for February 3rd, although they’ve stressed that the date is a target rather than a goal and that it could start any time before or after that although they’ll “do their best to adhere” to it. Currently seasonal characters will be carried over to the non-seasonal pool along with their items and paragon experience.

Around the same time should be a patch for the game which is already being tested on the Public Test Realm and also had a showing at the last Blizzcon. No one can say if patch 2.1.2 will actually be ready for when Season 2 goes live but it’s a fair bet that Blizzard are aiming to bring them both out at around the same time.

Those of you paying attention to the MMO The Elder Scrolls Online might have noticed something’s gone missing recently from its page of subscriptions. It’s now no longer possible to subscribe to the game for longer than 90 days, with the six month option having been removed shortly before 2014 ended.

The French forums did put up an explanation for the disappearance of the six month subscription when a moderator told users that it’d been removed simply because the 30-day and 90-day subscriptions were proving more popular among the community.

However, past trends with previous MMO games suggest that something else might be going on behind the scenes at Zenimax Online. See, removing longer subscription times has been done with other MMOS. And those MMOs usually had the longer time periods removed as the first steps towards making those MMOs free-to-play mode MMOs.

There’s not a lot of evidence to support the theory that this is what’s happening to TESO, but given that the game hasn’t done as well as expected it would seem a sensible move to alter its model. After all, the game is a decent one. I will admit that. The only thing putting me off right now is that it isn’t good enough in my mind to justify the cost of the monthly subscription.

Until we do know if anything is going on with the game’s model, players have a new update to look forward to this month which will bring Champion and Justice Systems to the game. About time as well.

DayZ continues to develop, even now that creator Dean ‘Rocket’ Hall has departed from Bohemia Interactive as he said he would eventually. Bohemia have just released a DayZ patch that adds in new items, areas and features to the game.

Among the new items is the Chainsaw depicted in the image below. A traditional zombie killing weapon, and one that many find a favourite despite its noise being a zombie magnet. There’s also a medieval-style greatsword if more traditional fare is your preferred go-to (they can be found in castle ruins in case you’re wondering). Christmas trees are also now dotted around the bigger cities on the maps and will spawn plenty of loot beneath them for you, provided you get there before someone else and don’t fall foul of any other survivors who are also aiming to snag the same items as you.

Also added is the ability to dig plots for gardens anywhere you please now instead of waiting to find a greenhouse to plant your seeds and grow food to survive. Of course, it’ll require you to have the right tools to dig it and keep it fertile, but effort will reward you with a constant food source provided you want to make a camp in just one place.

The last ‘big’ thing added to the game in this update is slightly more sensitive. Apocalyptic situations are hard on survivors and not everyone is able to cope… so some choose to find a quick way out. Previously you could do this by walking up to another unknown survivor or jumping off a high building but now you have the option to use any weapons you pick up to end your own life. No animation for it right now though.

Years ago Blizzard released an expansion to the then much younger MMO known as World of Warcraft. With it came the introduction of a new class for your player character: the Death Knight. They were named a ‘Hero Class’ and could start the game at Level 55. The only barrier was that in order to have a Death Knight you needed to already have a character that was over that level before you could create one.

Fast forward to the WoW of today, many expansions and updates later and Blizzard now see that barrier as unnecessary. So they plan to remove it entirely.

“With availability of the level 90 character boost, we feel the requirement to have a character level 55 or higher to unlock the Death Knight as a playable class is no longer relevant.” said community manager Nethaera. “The plan right now is to remove the limitation sometime next week, at which point players will be able to start a new Death Knight (which still begins at level 55) without first having to reach level 55 on another character.”

Although it’ll be of most benefit to new players, they will still need to wait a little while. Nethaera notes that in order to remove the barrier to creation, they will need to make some client-side changes so Blizzard will plan to include its removal within a scheduled content patch.

The next patch will be the introduction of the Blackrock Foundry raid during the early parts of next year, or barring that possibly Patch 2.1 at the latest.

ArcheAge, the sandbox pirate MMO is getting a new update for the winter season which includes among other things a new boss – a large red dragon. How Christmassy.

The Version 1.2 Build 4.16 will introduce the new dragon world boss to the lands of Karkasse, and already some of their minions will be found in the area the dragon is to appear. Wyrmkin will roam the zone and fight with you. You’ll need to seek out the Evenbards for their knowledge on how to deal with this particularly fiery new threat. Another large threat is the Dahuta cult which has grown in strength with the update and now has a base located under the Arcandian Sea. Raid it for some good loot.

In less threatening updates, the Winter Maiden Festival has set up in Erenor, bringing with it multiple stalls and events for players to engage with. There are even quests to complete, which will bring rewards upon completion. Building snowmen, stuffing stockings and multiple other things, all to bring cheer to the land.

As is usual with updates, there are also bug fixes, including ones to do with teleport books that lead to houses that no longer exist, re-use timers on Old Jars being increased and the removal of ‘ice skates’ from horses.