I must admit, that is a pretty sweet server effect. Can say without a doubt it's the first time I've heard of anyone implementing something like this. Keep up the good work.

Friday, November 28 marks the first annual Mining Festival! Sponsored and hosted by the Miners Local 41 guild, this joyous festival celebrates the planet's bounty of ores and gems underfoot.
+ For one day only, get your limited edition Blacksmith's Pick. This special pick, in addition to enabling the Mining ability, also grants the wielder a 2% bonus to all blacksmithing combines. Claim yours from the Commemoration Ministry hologram in New Nexus!
+ During the one day Mining Festival activities, Miner Slopruf will be trading special trinkets and treats in exchange for mined ores. These items will only be available during this year's festival, so don't miss your chance!

Starting Saturday, November 29, the server will be undergoing an extensive redesign of the new player experience and starting area. This will be a complete overhaul of Beial Island and will add a very cool introductory segment to the game. This is being done to improve the gaming experience of all new players coming into the game and will add an element of immersion and suspense that has, to our knowledge, never been done before in any MMO. We have recently brought on several new team members to work on this and other projects, and have assembled what I personally consider to be a development "Dream Team" including a combination of coders, world builders, writers, and customer service representatives. We apologize for the extended downtime, expected to last up to one week, but we are confident that these new additions to our game will create lasting and memorable gaming moments for all players, new and old.

Just going to say this: Anyone who shuts down their server for revamps for this reason is actually pretty awesome and dedicated. I'd rather play through a good server that is polished instead of a mediocre server with no heart put into it.

Good luck with the revamps!

Cool sounds like worthy dedication