- I haven't been able to spend as much time in Age of Conan this week for various reasons, but was able to make a couple forays into Conall's Valley in Cimmeria. It seems I'm still in the honeymoon phase with the game since I'm still having a great time whenever I do log in.
- The zone is beautiful. I know I said that about Tortage, but Funcom has really captured the barbaric north here. The villages are all huts with a couple wooden buildings and log palisades with muddy paths between them. Then when you step into Conall's Valley, you literally have to follow a path down the hill, past moose and wolves and rabbits, into a valley. And it's not just a ramp to change elevations. There are switchbacks and log bridges where the path has fallen away. But the most beautiful and terrifying sight is just east of the cleverly named Cimmerian Settlement. Just past the wall seperating the Cimmerians from their Vanir enemies is a field of corpses skewered on pikes. This grotesquerie hits you right in the face with the brutality you see in this conflict.
- Quests here are the standard "Kill Ten Rats," "Collect Ten Rat Tails," and "Fed-Ex" style. However the story dresses all of these up real pretty so you won't care as much. They do tend to mix multiple objectives in the same quest which makes them a little more interesting. The last quest I completed last night had me kill ten Vanir guardsmen, kill a specific Vanir supply master, and collect a supply crate from the camp. Nothing unusual but themed nicely.
- I've quickly gone from level 21 when I left Tortage to my current 26. That's over the course of only two good play sessions and a couple stray hours here and there. Either the early leveling curve is a little low or I'm burning through content too fast. We'll see if the level 30 speed bump is still there as other people haved warned.
- There are, of course, other lands to explore and I have several breadcrumb quests leading me there. But now that I've found the next outpost, the just-as-cleverly named Mysterious Glade, I want to see what else I can do to lay waste to the Vanir invaders.
One of the most common questions asked regarding
Star Wars: The Old Republic and the easily accessible Jedi is,
"Who's going to take on an army of Jedi?" We've long since
had the answer tucked away here at Massively, but now
BioWare has been kind enough to illustrate it for us
in their latest timeline update, which features the fearsome Mandalorians.
The nomadic Mandalorians are strikingly unique and much like the Jedi and Sith in that sense they're not an actual species; yet war is their singular goal in life. Their mantra is that strength is not merely good, it is great, it brings honor through battle. Thus, it's no surprise that Mandalorians are generally opposed to the Jedi and get along better with the power hungry Sith. At this point, the Republic Trooper's coutnerpart is pretty obvious. That powerful Jedi army doesn't seem so intimidating against legions of Sith, Bounty Hunters and bred-for-war Mandies, now does it?
We highly recommend you check out the timeline video. It's not only informative, but quite entertaining if you've got even the slightest amount of interest in
Star Wars: The Old Republic.
Filed under: Lore, New titles, News items, Star Wars: The Old Republic
Mandalorians smack down the Jedi in SWTOR's new timeline update originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Over the past few weeks, the developers at
Cryptic Studios have been walking readers through the various powers that will be available to
Champions Online players, from
Energy Projectors to
Martial Arts, as well as
Power Replacers. Now they're giving us a look at the game's Mystic power sets -- Sorcery and Supernatural -- for those players who want to dabble in the dark arts.
Do you know your Circles of Power from your Circles of Summoning? When should you use a Sigil instead of an Invocation? The
Champions Online devs explain all matters arcane in this latest, and final, "All About Powers", and discuss their intent to create subsets of Mystic powers that better fit a given character's concept. Whether you're looking to create a Primal Shaman, a Necromancer, or a pure Arcane-type, you might enjoy this
latest dev blog on the official Champions Online site.
Filed under: Super-hero, Game mechanics, New titles, Champions Online
Champions Online devs reveal Mystic power sets: Sorcery and Supernatural originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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What in the World? #3 / ArchivesIt's a new Friday with a new snippet of What in the World #3!We are on Week #2. There will be 4 total snippets...
I haven’t been playing EVE Online for long. I only signed up to the 14 day trial last week and I’m still getting to grips with the game and it’s hugely complex OS like interface. I’m currently still spending a third of my time deciding on what do to and two thirds figuring out how [...]
Original post from: We Fly Spitfires - MMORPG Blog
How To Rob A Bank In EVE Online
Updates to America’s Army 3 have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The specific changes include:
America’s Army 3
Improved console help
Added Clan support. Add clan tag in Account Settings. You must change information while in single player mode for now.
Admin VOIP Improvements
New “version” console command to see the [...]
Virtua Tennis comes back smashing! The latest in this sports sim series from Sega is now available for download via Steam. Save 10% on Virtua Tennis 2009 until July 10th.
News republished from the official Steam website
Filed under: Fantasy, EverQuest, Expansions, Lore, Races
It
began as a rumor but was
confirmed at SOE Fan Faire 2009 --
EverQuest's 16th expansion will be called
Underfoot and is coming in November of this year. We've mentioned some of the features that
Underfoot will bring to the game, like the expansion progress window and new zones, and
Sony Online Entertainment is also updating the game's lore.
The lore update explains the subterranean Plane of Underfoot and some of its notable inhabitants, namely Brell Serilis, the Duke of Below. But mostly it provides
EverQuest lore fans with a history of Underfoot, from the time it was shaped by the gods to the creation of Norrath's races. It's all part of the official
EverQuest Underfoot announcement
over at EverQuest Players.
SOE updates EverQuest lore for Underfoot expansion originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Filed under: MMO industry, Opinion
Syncaine posted
an interesting article on his blog discussing why he thinks there hasn't been much uptake in the majority of MMOs released since
World of Warcraft. Basically, he believes that just because you enjoy playing
WoW, it doesn't mean you'll enjoy other MMOs.
The post goes on to say that there are many more non-MMO gamers than MMO gamers out there who simply can't fathom spending a monthly fee to repeatedly
kill ten rats or grind out the perfect PvP character over several months time. They have much more accessible and engaging singleplayer RPGs or FPS games for that, right?
The main point he aims to make is that designers should stop chasing non-MMO gamers and focus on those who are already fans. On the other hand, hasn't our genre become a bit pigeon-holed as of late? Isn't the biggest and best part of an MMO the community aspect and not the DIKU-based über-grind? We hope so! Couldn't we maybe expand our acceptance of what MMOs are and
challenge the boundaries of what they could be? Maybe that's a viable route toward making those who do not care actually care.
Being a WoW fan doesn't mean you're an MMO fan originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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The third week of Aion Closed Beta testing is well underway and I am once again playing, against my better judgment (burnout, y’know), and having fun. I was asked during the last beta weekend to write up a comparison of WAR and Aion. Occasionally I do receive requests and I always try to answer them [...]
Yesterday I was adventuring a bit with Shaden, my Lupin, in Skysong. Lupin is the assasin/rogue-like faction in Jade Dynasty, providing the high damage melee, in part due to high rate of critical hits. The weapon of choice is a glaive, which she happily throws at the enemies like a bumerang at short range.
The bulk [...]
Darren is.......
disturbed.... about the price of a mount in Runes of Magic:
Here’s the deal….and I’m absolutely disgusted by this. A “permanent” horse in Runes of Magic, it is 199 diamonds…let’s call it 200 cause that’s what it really should be (…seriously guys…time to start rounding things up…). 200 diamonds cost $10.94 Canadian.
Are you seriously telling me, with a straight face, that a digital HORSE costs me $10…FUCKING..DOLLARS!!!@!@
Okay... so maybe "disturbed" doesn't quite illustrate the emotion he's feeling. How about
incensed:
Again, lets look at Bethesda…who is still the only one who seems to get that delivering content and, good gawd, EXPERIENCES(!!!!) should be the point of RMT. Right now, I can buy Operation Anchorage for 800 Microsoft Points on XBox Live. That works out to about $14.95. I get entire EXPERIENCE(!!!), which gives me, let’s call it, 5-8 hours of new content. Compare that to a $10 horse. Seriously…..what experience does that horse give you that’s even close to that value? Wheeee….it gives you the experience of traveling 60% faster. Really?! You’d all pay that? Remember…this is the low-end, permanent horse. The others were $5-10 more than that if you wanted to buy it. That gives you what experience exactly?
Before I go any further, let me lay my bias out on the table: since
leaving World of Warcraft I have fallen out of love with the traditional MMO subscription model to the extent where a mandatory subscription plan is a severe impediment to me trying out an MMO.
RMT Done RightWith that out of the way, let me address the two major problems with Darren's argument against the pricing of mounts in Runes of Magic.
1. Fallout 3, ownership of which is a prerequisite to the "Operation Anchorage experience" that Darren is comparing a Runes of Magic horse to, costs $50 to purchase (half price this weekend on
Steam, however). So before a player gets the joy of blowing up baddies in Alaska for a measly $15, they must first have invested a sizable chunk of change into the game.
Runes of Magic, in stark contrast, allows players to happily
play for free for as long as they would like before (optionally) investing in a horse; there is no monetary barrier to entry in the game. By the time a player is ready to invest in a Runes of Magic mount, they should already have a fairly good idea whether or not they like the game. Fallout 3, on the other hand, is a gamble - you need to shell out your cash up front, and if the game turns out to be not to your liking then that is your own tough luck.
2. Runes of Magic does not force you to spend money to acquire a mount. It is possible to acquire enough in game currency to purchase yourself a horse if you so desire; your wallet can remain firmly shut. Fallout 3, on the other hand, presents the user with no such comparable option. You either pay Bethesda $15, or you do not experience Operation Anchorage.
The freedom of choice that is built into Runes of Magic allows players to make value judgements about the worth of their own time. Perhaps you're short on money but have quite a few hours with which to grind gold - if this is the case then you can obtain your mount by spending your time. Or maybe the opposite is true - you have ample real life funds, but cannot afford the time it would take to acquire the necessary in game funds.... you can still get your mount by spending your money.
Empowering players to make the decision that is best for them is the key, and Runes of Magic allows this whereas Fallout 3 does not.
SummaryDespite Darren's heated objections, mounts in Runes of Magic are an example of RMT implemented correctly
*. The game is free to play for as long as a player would like, while at the same time offering a compelling feature for less than the cost of a month of game time in a traditional MMO. If the cost is too steep for individual players, then they are allowed to obtain the mount by spending time acquiring in game funds (which is an activity that benefits the game's community by keeping that player busy an logged on). Win-win.
* - Other examples of "RMT implemented correctly" include Wizard101 and DDO Unlimited. These games have a different model which is more in line with the "experiences" that Darren would like to buy.
I’m not sure why I’m posting this…oh yeah. Just because it’s awesome.
[Via GeeksAreSexy]
City of Heroes continues to fulfill items on the long list of player requests, next up being the option to change your height and gender, the only to pieces to the costume editor left static. While I think it's neat you'll finally be able to make that Mr. Hyde knockoff you've been waiting to build,
Grinders today reflects other possible gameplay options.
On a side note, I wonder what this'll do to the character gender debate. Now in CoH, your character doesn't need to have a gender, just a costume slot does. You could make a character that is in fact five distinct characters. Food for thought.
Have a funny story of your own? Submit your tale complete with a screenshot to
lemuel@massively.com. The best will also probably involve boobies in some form or another. Or just put in the comic.
Lemuel Pew is a webcomic artist and MMO player with the attention span of a guppy. Between sketching gamers in cartoon form and making glib social commentary, he draws an online comic called Blank It. Feel free to watch his Twitter at your own risk.Filed under: Super-hero, Comics, Humor, Grinders
Massively webcomic: Grinders - Gender Eqality originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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This weekend is going to be a time for many to get together and do some grilling out and partying! Meanwhile in Azeroth, the Midsummer Fire Festival is wrapping up, so we wanted to take a quick peek in and see how things are going there. Today's
World of Warcraft One Shots finds us in the company of Hollyberry from the Bronze Dragonflight EU server. She writes in:
Dizzy dizzy and even more so.... tripping the light fantastic in Duskwallow Marsh out side Theramore, is Hollyberry, Night Elf Druid - taking time out from her adventures to enjoy the festival...We hope you all have a fun, relaxing, and safe weekend with friends, family, and fire - or fireworks! If you manage to catch some MMO time, why not grab a screenshot of your favorite MMO and send it in to us here at
oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a brief description. We'll show it off and give you credit for sending it in!
Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Screenshots, One Shots
One Shots: Playing with fire originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Darren has gone back to give Runes of Magic another try and seems to be more disposed to like it than he was the first time around.
But then he hit a snag. He started looking at the Real Money Transaction, or RMT, aspect of the game and did not like what he saw.
Specifically, he saw [...]
I got my baby Dirge up to level 20 today. I have 2 (maybe 3) more quest to do in Darklight Wood.
Around level 18 i started to have a problem, up until that point i was able to kill mobs before they killed me, by the time i got to 18 i was dying more [...]
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The Star Wars: The Old Republic team has sent out notice of two lore updates on the official site. Find out what's new and grab the links by clicking below.
The Mandalorians have returned to confront the Jedi Order.
Star Wars: The Old Republic's comic "Threat of Peace" has just entered act 2 and the storyline is continuing on as the march to beta and launch continues. On the frontlines of the battle for ...
read more
#1,114 - How games and game communities are actively punishing the grind.
Good games reward initiative and punish complacency. Some MMORPGs get this formula backwards, punishing initiative and rewarding boring activities, which is why these MMORPGs are typically not...
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The Fans Have Spoken 2v2 is Back
Returning before they ever left, 2v2 PvP Arena teams will still be counting towards gear rewards. The furor over losing the 2v2s was fairly loud so it appears that Blizzard is compromising:
...
read more
Today's edition of the MMO Underbelly focuses on the real dirty side - the way people behave in open chat. But is it getting cleaner?
The first 500 went overnight so we have been given another 1000 sets of beta/gift keys for Dragonica Online!
The News: Sega has announced an official release date for espionage-based RPG Alpha Protocol. The game is set to hit shelves on October 6, which as previously reported puts it right in the middle of the holiday season. Sega has also added a descriptive subtitle: "The Espionage RPG."
Our Take: Alpha Protocol has us intrigued, but the title of the game doesn't seem very distinctive, and new RPGs can have a hard time catching audiences in the holiday rush. We're hoping Alpha Protocol doesn't find itself lost in the crowd. Check out our latest preview for more details on the game.
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