The anniversary rebuild is on hold
The rebuild announced for 2026 is not happening this year. The 11th anniversary runs in the same shape as before, from 12 August to 9 September. Maximum Attack E and Anniversary Badges both stay; what changed instead is how badges drop.
This year's event
The official thread put it this way: "due to unforeseen circumstances, we are repeating the former Anniversary Event format". The announced rebuild did not happen this year, and both Maximum Attack E and Anniversary Badges stay as they were.
| Dates | 12 August – 9 September 2026 |
|---|---|
| Quests | Eleven Maximum Attack E quests (Forest, Caves, Mines, Ruins, Temple, Spaceship, CCA, Seabed, Tower, Crater, Desert) plus August Atrocity. Each runs 5–10 minutes and cannot be failed |
| Badges | Bronze (all difficulties) / Silver (Very Hard and Ultimate) / Gold (Ultimate only) / Platinum (Ultimate only, extremely rare) |
| Where they drop | Anywhere, not just in the event quests. Drop rate modifiers do not apply — the rate is the same however many players you run with |
| Milestones | Ultimate clears are tallied, and the least-cleared quest sets the server's progress. Boosts unlocked this way apply everywhere, not only in the event quests |
Rappies that are scared off instead of killed do not drop badges.
Changes from the 10th anniversary
| The roll | Badges are now independent of enemy drops — one enemy can drop both a normal item and a badge |
|---|---|
| Who gets one | Rolled once per monster as a party drop, so everyone in the party gets the same badge (with Classic drops it goes to the floor instead) |
| Where it goes | Straight into your character or shared bank if there is room, otherwise to the floor. Notifications can be toggled per character with /badgenotify |
| Spotting them | Badges on the ground hover up and down so they stand out from other red boxes |
| Milestones | Shuffled and expanded, aiming for bigger rewards per unlock |
| Gold shop | Two additions: Heart of Flight Fan (turns certain slicers into Flight Fan) and Blue Powder Coating (changes the colour of certain weapons) |
The badge rate modifiers carry over from last year.
| Three most-cleared quests | −25% only while at least 500 clears above the median |
|---|---|
| Three least-cleared quests | +25% |
| August Atrocity 1 / 2 | +25%, always |
Type /badge in game to see which quests currently carry a modifier.
What the event quests are for
Badges drop wherever you hunt. Three things still only come from the event quests.
| Event quests | Hunting anywhere else | |
|---|---|---|
| Badges off enemies | Yes | Just the same |
| Badges for clearing | Yes Number and type depend on difficulty |
None |
| Badge rate modifier | +25% on the bottom three August Atrocity always +25%, top three −25% |
Does not apply |
| Milestones | Only way to move them | No progress |
If all you want is badges, hunt wherever you like. Drop rate modifiers from party size do not apply either, so they pile up while you play solo as usual. The event quests are for the clear rewards, the +25%, and moving the milestones. Milestones follow the least-cleared quest, so all eleven have to be run fairly evenly for the number to move — and in return, every boost unlocked applies to everyone.
How many badges a clear awards is not stated in this year's announcement or on the wiki, beyond depending on difficulty.
Source: Ephinea forums, "11th Anniversary Event Thread" (12 Aug 2026)/Ephinea PSO Wiki — Anniversary event
What was announced
This is the shape described in the September 2025 announcement. It has not been implemented this year, and nothing says it has been dropped either. The removal of Maximum Attack E and of the Anniversary Badges were both stated outright as "no plans to change".
| 2017 – 2026 | As announced | |
|---|---|---|
| Quest | The event version of Maximum Attack E | A new series, all of roughly equal difficulty |
| Forest-only runs | Possible, and the most efficient option | No quest will be Forest-only |
| What drops | Anniversary Badges Bronze → Silver → Gold → Platinum |
A differently coloured token per quest No ranks above or below |
| Buying things | Trade ten at a time for the rank above | Combine several colours e.g. Item Ticket = 2 red + 2 blue |
| Running one quest only | Still gets you all the way to Gold | Missing colours, so nothing to buy Though tokens are said to be tradeable |
| Milestones | Continue as they are, along with the extra boosts during the event | |
| Platinum Badge | Your pick of six weapons | An equivalent stays Name and source undecided |
Token names and costs are placeholders. None of this shape is in play this year.
The response in that thread was mostly positive, with several posts thanking the staff for keeping the year-round Maximum Attack E. What several players asked for was that the name Platinum Badge be kept if the item works the same way. The worry raised was that levelling the difficulty might be taken far enough to make the quests dull, and there were requests to keep them runnable solo or in a small party.
Source: Ephinea announcement, "Regarding Future Anniversary Events" (2025-09-20)
Why they wanted to change it
Badges drop per quest clear. A faster lap therefore pays better, and Forest is the easiest area in the game. Staff pushed back against this three times over three years (see How it changed over the years). The 10th anniversary still ended like this.
| Quest | Clears | Note | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forest | 142,197 | easiest area | |
| Subterranean Desert | 89,351 | ||
| Central Control Area | 41,240 | ||
| Mine | 35,608 | ||
| Cave | 29,007 | ||
| Crater | 28,286 | ||
| Ruins | 26,521 | ||
| Spaceship | 25,755 | ||
| Temple | 25,699 | ||
| Control Tower | 25,438 | ||
| Seabed | 25,417 | fewest |
Final clear counts for the 2025 event, from the official event page.
Forest ran 5.6 times as often as Seabed, the lowest. The bottom eight bunching up between 25,000 and 36,000 looks like people running each just far enough for the milestones and stopping. Adjusting the payouts never broke the pull of the efficient quest. That is what the announced rebuild of the quests and the currency was for.
Badges you already have
The shop quest, "Anniversary Badge Shop", can be selected year-round, event or not. Its rules are unchanged.
| 10 Bronze | → | 1 Silver |
| 10 Silver | → | 1 Gold |
| Gold | ✕ | cannot be traded up into Platinum |
| 1 Platinum | → | your pick of Sealed J-Sword / Psycho Wand / Heaven Punisher / Handgun: Guld / Prophets of Motav / Sonic Doll |
The Platinum list is the same six this year, and the weapons come with 0% in every category. The Bronze, Silver and Gold shops are unchanged too, apart from the two Gold additions.
Source: Ephinea PSO Wiki — Anniversary Badge Shop
How it changed over the years
The shape it has now was set in 2017. After that, the only things touched were how milestones counted, and whether badges carried over.
| Year | Dates | What changed that year |
|---|---|---|
| 20161st | 11 Aug – 1 Oct |
Called "Ephinea Summer Event". Three badge types, run on Maximum Attack 4, no milestones yet. It was extended partway through, making it the only seven-week event. |
| 20172nd | 13 Aug – 10 Sep |
The current shape starts here. Maximum Attack E arrives, the Platinum Badge brings the count to four, and milestones are introduced. It has held ever since. |
| 20183rd | 6 Aug – 3 Sep |
Badges were year-numbered and replaced annually. Last year's could only be traded three-for-one, and anything older was dead. Photon Sphere went from 50 badges to 70. |
| 20194th | 2 Aug – 6 Sep |
Counting was tidied to Ultimate kills during the event only. Weekly rotating boosts were dropped in favour of running everything from the start. |
| 20205th | 17 Aug – 14 Sep |
The last year of year-numbered badges. Otherwise much the same as 2019. |
| 20216th | 7 Aug – 4 Sep |
Badges become permanent. The 5th Anniversary Badge was converted into the generic Anniversary Badge, and older year badges could no longer be traded. From here they carry over. |
| 20227th | 6 Aug – 6 Sep |
Weekly boosts went back to rotating. Milestones were "rebalanced and spaced out further". |
| 20238th | 5 Aug – 5 Sep |
First push-back. Counting moved to all Ultimate kills, so hunting outside the event quests also made progress. |
| 20249th | 12 Aug – 9 Sep |
Second push-back. Counting moved to the clear count of the least-cleared quest, so running one quest alone stopped helping. |
| 202510th | 11 Aug – 8 Sep |
Third push-back. The three most-cleared quests took a −25% badge rate, the three least-cleared got +25%. Forest still finished 5.6× ahead. |
| 202611th | 12 Aug – 9 Sep |
The announced rebuild is on hold. Badges now roll separately from enemy drops, come out the same for the whole party, and go straight to the bank. Two additions to the Gold shop. |
Sources: the announcement thread for each year (2016/2017/2018/2019/2020/2021/2022/2026) and the Ephinea PSO Wiki
Still unknown
These will be added here once they are known.
- What the milestone rewards are. All sixteen tiers (1,000 to 20,000 points) still read "? ? ?" on the official page
- When the announced rebuild will happen. The thread only says the former format is being repeated due to unforeseen circumstances; nothing is said about what comes next
Sources
- Ephinea forums, "11th Anniversary Event Thread" (12 Aug 2026)
- Ephinea, "Anniversary Event 2026!" (live milestone progress)
- Ephinea announcement, "Regarding Future Anniversary Events" (2025-09-20)
- Ephinea, "Anniversary Event 2025!" (10th anniversary results)
- Ephinea PSO Wiki — Anniversary event
- Ephinea PSO Wiki — Anniversary Badge Shop
- Ephinea news archive
This page is a personal summary, not affiliated with Ephinea or its wiki. Event details can change, so check the official announcements for the final word.