Masquerade 2026!

June 27, 2026 1:49 pm

Who is ready to dance?

Things are a little different this year. Before we get to the details, just know that the Masquerade will last until July 15.

Dance Floor

On the ballroom floor, you will notice some changes!

💃 The dance rooms are back on the Masquerade Forums! Join a dance room where you can step onto the floor and the Auto Dancing Machine will pair you with another dancer every few minutes. Each pairing will earn you 2-5 trinkets (lounge or steelworks) with up to 80 per day across ALL dancing booths. You will always have a partner, whether it is another user or one of the gossips!

💃 You can only be in 3 dance rooms at a time.

💃 At the bottom of the page, you'll see active Masquerade achievements to help you keep track of things! There are a few new achievements for you to work towards.

💃 Don't forget, you can also use the Mystery Dance feature!

Foods and Drinks!

🍸 You'll see a 'Sidelines' section below the floor where you can bring a Libertine Lounge food or drink to various NPCs. They will cycle out throughout the holiday. There are a few NPCs that will not accept drinks and at least one that will not accept food.

🍸 Why should I feed or provide drinks to NPCs? You will be rewarded for your help! Instead of new items to the Steamworks Menagerie, we've added the small pool of items to the various NPCs on the floor. If you provide 3 items to an NPC, you will get to pick your prize out of that NPC's pool.

🍸 This is an excellent year to catch up on past Steamworks Menagerie and Libertine Lounge items. There are 17 years worth of items, after all!

Olivette's Shop

To dance on the floor, you will need to be wearing an item with the word 'mask' in the name.

🎭 Olivette is in the ballroom this year building masks instead of opening Migrating Masks. She has a higher chance to create a new mask for you but you could potentially get an old mask too! These older masks include masks that once restocked in the Holiday Shop, like the Mardi Gras Face Mask, or from other holidays like the Orange Wreathed Red Rreign Mask. Make sure you CLICK/Select each item when crafting for a mask for the 'craft' button to work.

Note: We've moved everything back to legacy this year (dance rooms were on kumos!), so there may be a bug or two. You can report any you come across here. Thanks everyone!

Note : This is just the first day, there will be more to come! Perhaps a robot or two may challenge you.

June 28, 2026, 5:08 pm by

A big THANK YOU to whoever changed the lounge so I can just click on what I want multiple times and not have to keep going back and forth to the shop. That's great and appreciated.

June 28, 2026, 5:08 pm by

Thank you for bringing back the dance card. <3

June 28, 2026, 4:56 pm by

P.S. "they are in the main ballroom" Is this something we need to join extra, nothing to do with booths or mystery or dance with the user above? Where is this explained, I thought I had understood everything, that was going on this year... :-(

June 28, 2026, 4:51 pm by

Are those stupid Gossipers actually doing anything besides eating and drinking at our costs - like, for example dance with users?

I know there was lots of interaction with them in the booths on the Kumos holiday plots...

June 28, 2026, 4:45 pm by

Thank you ! I was thinking "I want to give the NPCs the Lounge items but it's a lot of backtracking"

and ooh potential new steampunk items

June 28, 2026, 4:23 pm by

Eek, you said you haven't seen them. At any rate, they are in the main ballroom, so you should be able to see them soon. The forum dance rooms only have three NPCs. I think Abigail and Anthony need to be added to them.

June 28, 2026, 4:22 pm by

ah yes I've seen them in the feed section too, but not on the dance floor to dance with - I just opened every dance floor on the first page of the masq forum, but the only NPCs that show up in ball rooms made by players are Gossip Cassandra, Gossip Georgiana and Gossip Boudewijn, never Abigal or Anthony! was just wondering if that's a bug, or lack of patience ;)

June 28, 2026, 4:22 pm by

Abigail and Anthony are in the main ballroom only, of which you are a dancing member (you're listed in that room.) That's why you've been seeing them. The rest of us in forum dance rooms do not have access to them. That's the issue. If Abigail and Anthony could be added as NPCs to the forum dance rooms as well, that would fix the issue.

June 28, 2026, 4:18 pm by

nevermind! I believe Keith is getting (or has gotten) that back!!

June 28, 2026, 4:17 pm by

That is one of the reasons we went this route for the NPC interaction. We wanted y'all to have to do something for the new items/retired stuff, but also wanted to get y'all to use those pesky lounge trinkets more. I am also guilty of just buying stuff from the clothing/book/etc shop. The restocking of masks sucked because there isn't a lot there for getting items. So things would go very fast unfortunately! I'm still going to mess with the odds some to help users get some of those newer ones. :)

June 28, 2026, 4:13 pm by

They show up in dance rooms, so you should eventually come across them. I haven't danced much, so I haven't seen them but they have popped up to be fed for me. As far as letting people know how many - it also helps to know when you'll next be able to choose a prize (every 3rd time). On my list! That and the news side bar - the way we do that has changed a bit and I just need Keith to move it back to legacy from Kumos haha. Thanks for the feedback! The chatting with her is an interesting point. As far as dancing, you can still use dance=USERNAME with people to dance like you have in previous times. Or the mystery dance. It should still take you to the right places? If it doesn't, please let me know. As far as them all being rave/food, I understand it's a bummer. 👀 I'm talking with artists about doing some other mass-themed items in other places (like garden!) that will def have some steampunk influence. As far as items being added to the store, no. These will just be through the NPC interactions this year. There won't be a wave two of new items to the NPCs. I will likely (i'll do a news post if/when I do) add more retired items but nothing new. I am talking with an artist right now about a few items in other places though! And I'm stressing steampunk love ;) I'm not familiar with that! Can you expend a bit more? 👀 If it's possible we missed something I'm glad to talk to about getting it back! This year, there will be no items added to either shop. It's purely "catch up". That's not to say next year we won't have new shop items! I love the idea of them asking for other consumables. We could introduce that a bit later in the holiday. <3 As for the dance floor, I think it's just based on what room you are a part of? Have you joined any through the forums? like previous year dancing with one? Or this? I'll talk about the wishlist bit with Keith!

For everyone asking for links on the homepage sidebar - yes it will happen soon! The way we used to do it was on Kumos so I'm just waiting on Keith to move the panel back to legacy. :)

if you haven't gotten any tokens and there isn't a bug thread about it, could you make one? Easier to keep track.

Oh, that was actually meant for Boudewijn (nice catch ). Let me add it to him.

June 28, 2026, 4:07 pm by

This is a fun change to the event! As someone who only really collects clothing, I've never had a use for the Lounge trinkets. To me, the ability to now use those trinkets to buy food for the NPCs in exchange for an item I am more likely to enjoy is much more fun than just transforming my Lounge trinkets into Steamwork trinkets.

I also like the change to the mask shop. In years past, I never really saw much stocked in that shop because I don't take the time to constantly check it. Now I have the opportunity to get the new masks without having to buy them from user shops at inflated prices. It's much more accessible to the average user, so I appreciate that. Thanks for giving us these new features!

June 28, 2026, 3:59 pm by

I think the Red Neon Halo was overlooked. Hopefully sees this and throws it in the pool. Boudewijn could use another new item (currently only giving one new item.)

June 28, 2026, 3:52 pm by

I've gone through all the NPCs so far and no red halo yet...also checked the forums/the Masquerade 2026 NPC Forum and no mention of which NPC has it. I'm guessing it's one that will be released in the future. Can't wait for that one though! <3

June 28, 2026, 3:46 pm by

Do we know where [item2=Red Neon Halo] is? I don't think any NPC is giving it out; the Item Directory says there's none anywhere.

June 28, 2026, 3:39 pm by

The drink and food finally have a purpose! nice! xD This is interesting, let's see how it goes. And I like seeing the NPCs attending and saying a few lines.

BTW, how about letting us choose a ball room or a rave dance floor? :D

June 28, 2026, 3:05 pm by

Thanks for letting me know its not just me ❤ appreciate you :)

June 28, 2026, 2:53 pm by

I don't think I'm getting anything from auto dances either! :(

June 28, 2026, 2:47 pm by

Yes buttons on the news page for mystery, lounge & steam shops would be great. And I don't think you get trinkets for every dance, sometimes you get other stuff. But I wish it said what we got for the auto dances instead of having to guess.

June 28, 2026, 2:31 pm by

Im not getting any trinkets for the 3 dance room dances :( Anyone else having issues?

June 28, 2026, 2:29 pm by

Could we possibly get links to the libertine lounge and the menagerie on the homepage sidebar or on the dance floor page? I'm honestly having trouble navigating this masquerade :(

June 28, 2026, 2:15 pm by

I like that Masq was changed up since it definitely has been kinda dull! I do generally prefer it when we're able to obtain holiday items year-round because it's so convenient, but I'm not super concerned this year since the item pool is pretty small and I don't think I'll need a lot of them, so I should be able to get everything I need.

Would it be possible for there to be an indicator if an item in the NPC's prize pool is on your wishlist or not, like a border or the little heart appearing on hover? I keep having to go to account search for every item and it's a bit tedious.

June 28, 2026, 2:12 pm by

I agree with a previous post, I wish I could buy more than 1 item at a time from the lounge shop. It's time consuming going back & forth for 1 item. I already have the few things I wanted from the NPCs so only need to feed them for the achievement.

June 28, 2026, 2:09 pm by

If I have already danced with all the NPC's how do I get the achievement if it is not showing up?

June 28, 2026, 1:36 pm by

What happened to the duels? Were they discontinued? 2 days of dancing & haven't seen a single one. I want to duel!

June 28, 2026, 1:35 pm by

Like Mythology - I hope the new items get added into a yearly tab (like, at the end of Masq) so that these items don't become over inflated in user shops and so that people who didn't come dance can still get them. (it would also just be weird to have a random missing year tab in the shop!!) Although I am totally enjoying this interaction of feeding the NPC's and getting to choose my prizes. And I love Andreas suggestion of implementing a NPC or two who needs new clothing....gives us something to do with the steamworks trinkets.

June 28, 2026, 12:57 pm by

So my original opinion was very 👎👎 as I couldn't figure anything out (where were the new items, is bribing NPCs totally random before they give you something, is what they give you random, etc.).

I do appreciate the note added that you get something from the NPCs after giving them 3 items, that you get to pick from a pool, and that some old items are mixed in there.

I still have two points of confusion and/or frustration:

Is there, or will there be, a point of steamwork trinkets going forward? Outside of "maybe I should get around to buying the old stuff I've been too lazy to deal with"? — if the answer is "tbd" I would like to suggest either reformating an NPC or two to asking for a clothing (I mean, after a few days there's gotta be drinks spilled and clothes ruined, right?) and/or consider adding a consumable? Like the vesnali shop has an intel booster, which keeps my coins in check. Something like that or maybe a neat weapon mod? (drunk curse, food blessing, steam/cyberpunk themed ones that do something neat)?
Is the dance floor ever not full? Is there some kind of queue or something I just didn't notice? Regardless of how long I watch the timer, leave the page open, or click step on the dance floor it always full.

June 28, 2026, 12:37 pm by

The dance rooms are mixed together with regular posts. Here is a dance room you can join. Once you click "Step onto the floor" it will automatically set you up with partners.

June 28, 2026, 12:07 pm by

Please explain what you mean by dance room. I went to the forums and see THREADS for dancing with other users, which don't put me into any kind of "room". I can invite someone to dance but that is 100% exactly like last year. When I go to that dance floor, is that what you mean? There's no auto anything anywhere that I can see. If I dance with someone and then just stay there do I auto dance? I am getting no notifications of anything happening.

Is the Grand Ballroom supposed to be unuseable? It is 100% of the time full for me.

June 28, 2026, 12:03 pm by

Is it possible to get the dance cards back that we had last year, I think we had them last year? I know we had a kissing card to keep track of our kissing booths that we joined.

June 28, 2026, 11:54 am by

The first bulletpoint in this post (using a dancer in a red dress) links you to the forums where you can join user-created dance rooms. You can join up to three. At this time, two of the NPCs appear to be missing from user created dance rooms, so hopefully that is addressed soon.

June 28, 2026, 11:47 am by

I cannot figure out how to find the other dance rooms, only the the Grand Ballroom. How do I get to the other ones? I cannot join because the dancefloor is always full. It's really frustrating. Will there be links to the other dancefloors added? Will they allow more people on? Cause so far i haven't been able to do anything.

June 28, 2026, 11:04 am by

I too like many others here, liked the way we had items put into the original steamworks and lounge tabs. The new way through NPCs is okay, but I like to go back throughout the year and buy things when I want and having new items locked behind NPCs during an event is not something I'm fond of. One idea is to put new items in the Steamworks and Lounge tabs (even if there isn't many items) and old retired items could be put with the Npc's? I like the new Npc feature, just not for the new items.

June 28, 2026, 11:03 am by

Looking at the ball rooms, has anyone noticed that the randomization is kinda...crap? I hate to be so negative but I'm rarely picked and I see the same people on the dance floor. I've seen people go 2 or 3 times in a row or one couple goes and then they're up again. Again, I know there's so much going on and there will be bugs, but I feel like the distribution isn't as fair in ballrooms /: Also, do we get rewards for those dances...?

Otherwise, I am having a really fun time this year & really thankful for all the hard work you guys have put out this year! <3

June 28, 2026, 11:02 am by

-I am disappointed that most of them are wearable and food, AND that all of the wearables are within the Lower Ziara/Cyberpunk theme. I miss the Steampunk items arriving, so even with the small set of new items the fact that almost NONE of them are steampunk/Upper Ziara themed just makes me a little sad.

I expect there to be a W2 (though still small, totally fine) with Steampunk items because I too was a little surprised at the lack.

June 28, 2026, 10:51 am by

Feedback/Opinion on the event changes:

-Still no way to know what you got from Auto Dancing unless you go to your inventory. Will this be addressed?

-I do like the crafting of masks but I wish you could more directly interact with Olivette, maybe chat with her to see if this changes the outcome of the mask you get?

-How can we access the duel feature if you cannot even get to the dance floor??? or even visit your Dance with the Gossips??? Am I missing something?

-Achievements don't really seem to have much of a point to get them with no incentive prizes, but that is also just an opinion

-Are the new items going to be added to the store after Masq? Locking all the new items behind NPC interaction instead of being able to purchase them in the store will cause the purchase from User Shops to soar sky high with artificial inflation, not to mention that everyone who missed the event or couldn't participate full to be unable to purchase these items, which they could do if the items get added to the Menagerie/Lounge, since they're open year round, unless that part is changing.

-I understand that there's a much smaller pool this year due to a smaller art team and I understand that their time is limited however...

-I am disappointed that most of them are wearable and food, AND that all of the wearables are within the Lower Ziara/Cyberpunk theme. I miss the Steampunk items arriving, so even with the small set of new items the fact that almost NONE of them are steampunk/Upper Ziara themed just makes me a little sad.

-Will we ever get more storyline stuff/plot stuff again, especially relating to Masquerade?

June 28, 2026, 9:16 am by

lil suggestion; for the masq header ("Masquerade

Ballroom
Olivette's Workshop
Forum"
	
	having a link to the shops

June 28, 2026, 8:07 am by

Can't change my status to a dance link because the site logged me out of Kumos. Ever since the Kumos site was implemented I've only been able to change my status there because if I try doing it on the regular site, "enter" just takes me to the chat section.

June 28, 2026, 6:25 am by

P.S. I LOVE that it shows, if and how many items I've given to which NPC. Now at the beginning it helps to know, whom I have not seen before and in the long run, which I have neglected and might want to get more of their items!

June 28, 2026, 6:10 am by

I enjoy the new set up. It's fun and ... different. However, I prefer the holiday shops over the NPCs, knowing, I don't have to hoard an unspecific amount of the items, but can go to the shop and buy, what and when I need. And of course the NPC interaction is very time consuming, on top they revert after account searching or the like in the same window and you have to scroll up past the achievements list to them and ask to display the prizes again (the prize pool doesn't stay open).

Also, weirdly enough, the hover of the food you give to the NPCs pops up unasked for and a ton of those stay open for a while, blocking view/access to the items I want to give (I've taken to feeding them a ton and then collecting several prizes at once)

I have a ton of most of the retired (so far) pricy items, getting those I still want/need via the NPCs would be enough for me and rather have the Libertine/Steamworks items, even though there are only a few, available unlimitedly in a 2026 tab.

June 28, 2026, 4:53 am by

so I'm hoping to dance with Anthony and Abigail, but the only dance room I've seen them is the grand ballroom. However, I cannot join there because the dance room is full. Is this correct, or do they show up in people's own dance rooms too?

June 28, 2026, 4:53 am by

It might be better to change the format of the chat/autodancer so they're separated and you dont have to hunting through autodance messages to find a user's chat/reply if possible. At first I was annoyed by the changes, mainly the trinkets, but i also realise i dont use lounge trinkets anyway so at least i have a reason to use them now lol.

June 28, 2026, 3:54 am by

Also more lore more lore, I love NPC interactions!!

June 28, 2026, 3:23 am by

I think the changes rock, I've been having fun feeding the NPCs and crafting masks

June 28, 2026, 3:04 am by

I've already gotten some Wishlist treasures and old expensive pretties that were way outta my price range!! :DDD

June 28, 2026, 2:55 am by

Hi everyone!

I'm trying to address everything since I was last on.

⭐ "Why change things that aren't broken" - it's tiring for us and users to do the same things for over a decade. We've put out multiple times (see daily goal page) that we have a very limited art team on very low hours. So we have a very limited amount of new items. We had to balance that out. ⭐ We want you all to do more activities to get things, so crafting masks is something introduced. ⭐ Steamwork trinkets are not useless. There are a lot of people that need older items, so getting them is still important. ⭐ I will take a look at the numbers for the new masks to increase their output some ⭐ For NPC prizes, you'll see on their lists there are not a lot of new items. There are easily more retired items; I will likely be adding more retired items later in the holiday! ⭐ We made it so you could CHOOSE prizes from the NPCs so you can prioritize the newer items over retired. I've also included some achievement based retired items. ⭐ This isn't all that is going to happen during the holiday. We have challengers coming! ⭐ I will add the various links to the sidebar soon. If y'all look back in the comments, I ended up stopping working around 1pm PST.

June 28, 2026, 2:23 am by

I finally saw a new NPC on the sidelines - Anthony, so that answered my question about additional NPCs. I'm almost done collecting the new items.

June 28, 2026, 2:20 am by

Do the automatic dance room dances don't tell us what we received for the dance? If they do I'm missing it. They should tell us.

June 28, 2026, 2:12 am by

Most of the NPCs want food and drink, 1 only wants food. But you have to give 3 to the same NPC to get the prize list to choose from.

June 28, 2026, 2:06 am by

If you gave 3 items to 1 NPC a link will come up for your to click to choose from a list of prizes

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Masquerade 2026!

Dance Floor

Foods and Drinks!

Olivette's Shop

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