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Archive for December, 2009
Face of Mankind goes “retail”
Dec 30th
The open beta isn’t open anymore and the roleplaying first-person shooter MMO has converted into the real thing. Face of Mankind has gone into the “retail” phase and has put all of their accounts on a “premium trial period” to get a taste of what a paid account has to offer. The premium trial period will last until December 29th, so be sure to make your mind up quick.
Good news for veterans of the game, however, as you won’t need to subscribe to play this time around. Face of Mankind is instead taking a free-to-play/subscription approach, putting things like access to civilian clothing usage, department creation, carrying a third weapon, and faction leadership and other benefits solely in the hands of paying subscribers. Free-to-play accounts can still play and progress in their faction up to rank 4, own 10 clones, and have 20 spaces of inventory.
The pricing for the game is also extremely reasonable. Face of Mankind’s monthly fee is only $9.99 a month instead of the usual $15 a month that most MMOs charge. Multi-month subscriptions are also being offered at discounted rates, so there seems to be a plan for everyone.
So good hunting for those who are taking More >
Leading a life of crime in Earthrise
Dec 29th
Today’s post-holiday Question of the Week for Earthrise concerns the game mechanics of being (and killing) criminals in the post-apocalyptic MMO. Players who opt to become felons will build up “Criminal Karma”, what seems to be a sort of quantified notoriety. From what the developers are saying, it seems that going outlaw won’t be a trivial choice, given such characters will be kill-on-sight in the more secure regions of Enterra island. Also, it may be difficult to wipe the slate clean if a character has a shady past.
According to Moll, the Earthrise Community Manager: “Criminals cannot clear their records, nor do they generate additional Karma by killing other criminals in safe zones.” She adds that criminals who hunt down other criminals won’t do so to repair their faction standings, rather there may be a good chance of obtaining loot by taking out a fellow wrongdoer. However, beyond such scenarios where ‘evil fights evil’, Earthrise’s law-abiding citizens will have incentives for killing the criminals of Enterra; successfully knocking off criminal players will garner them extra Contribution rewards (faction standing).
The Earthrise developers also stress that the game will have safe(er) zones where the general populace will be protected from criminals More >
The Daily Grind: Do you vote with your wallet?
Dec 29th
There are certain changes, usually big ones, that don’t exactly produce… positive reactions. In fact, they generally produce screaming rants and huge doses of rage at how they were handled and implemented. You know the sorts we’re talking about. Star Wars Galaxies and the Combat Upgrade. Ultima Online and Trammel. Final Fantasy XI and the nerfs to Beastmaster “catch and release” tactics. All loathed changes, many of which led to an exodus of players.
Really, leaving a game can be the best way to express displeasure with a change. It’s the surest way to send a company the message that they’ve done something that will no longer justify your monthly subscription. On the flip side, your individual impact is small, you once loved the game… a lot of players will choose to rough it out, in hopes that things will improve or with the knowledge that the changes can’t be all that bad. And for games where you have a lifetime subscription or are experiencing it free-to-play, your absence isn’t really a deterrent at all.
So, do you vote with your wallet? When you’re fed up with what’s been done, do you head off for greener pastures? Or are you of the More >
NCsoft sings a familiar tune with Aion security warnings
Dec 29th
If you’ve been watching the increasingly insistent security warnings from NCsoft in the Aion community, your first reaction is probably to assume that it’s another round of hackings a la Guild Wars. Don’t be so quick to jump to that conclusion however, because while the warnings are pretty familiar this is a bit of a different situation.
With Aion’s recent huge (and sometimes hilarious) push to ban gold sellers, the RMT traders are looking for new ways to make a (dis)honest living. And they’re starting with some pretty official-looking phishing attempts in-game. Aion Support Tweeted a warning a while back, and Andrew “Tamat” Beegle echoed the sentiment last night, pointing back to the security warnings on the main site.
Unfortunately, gold sellers are persistent. And while it’s a relief not to have them hanging around in game anymore, they didn’t decide to step away from their computers and find a different way to make a living, they just changed tactics. So let’s be careful out there.
Breakdown of skirmish rewards for Lord of the Rings Online
Dec 29th
The Lord of the Rings Online expansion Siege of Mirkwood has been out for almost a month now, and players are beginning to get a good feel for how things work in the new areas. However, some of the most enjoyable areas can also be the most complicated, and there’s a lot to figure out.
Merric from A Casual Stroll to Mordor is helping with this, and has started a great guide to the skirmish rewards system. The first two parts are all about cosmetic clothing and items, and we have to say it’s a very thorough job. The first guide includes a quick explanation of skirmish marks and how they drop, and follow up with a chart including each type of mark, a screenshot of the tooltip, and where it can be found. Scroll down a bit more and you’ll find a similar chart featuring each type of cosmetic clothing available and the requirements to acquire it. Part two, released this morning, carries the same format and covers items such as cloaks and backpacks.
The guides are a must-read for any Siege of Mirkwood fan, and our thanks to Merric for the time and effort put into them. We look More >
Age of Conan December community letter released
Dec 29th
Age of Conan Game Director Craig ‘Silirrion’ Morrison posted the December community letter today, and he’s clearly feeling very optimistic about the future.
The 1.06 update cycle was the focus of most of the letter, with Morrison reminding players that it is currently up and available on the test server, and encouraging players to check it out (particularly the Guild Renown system). The Age of Conan team has put in quite a bit of work and are anxious for players to put it through its paces.
Of course, the other big area of focus was the upcoming expansion Rise of the Godslayer and the excitement of the recent live beta broadcast. The letter also included a quick rundown of where progress on the expansion is right now.
Players had some questions after reading the letter, particularly regarding PVP Towers, and Morrison was quick to step in and chat with the community in the thread, keeping them up to date on what is happening in that arena. The full letter (and thread) can be seen here.
Kung Foo! Closed Beta Is Not Far Away
Dec 29th
Perfect World Entertainment released its latest cute style martial arts MMO Kung Foo! based on legendary comic book written by Devin Grayson recently. Kung Foo! delivered a newsletter titled “Kung Foo! Closed Beta: Enter If You Dare!” as a closed beta test invitation to players today! It is clear that the closed beta for Kung Foo! is not far away!
» Kung Foo! Updated Game Details and Screenshots» Kung Foo! Art Works» Kung Foo Key Features
Greetings Citizen of Foo!
You may have survived the first wave of Sand Ninjas and bunnies, but that is only the first test to prove your worthiness on the journey to find your inner foo. The world of Kung Foo! is calling out for a hero. Now is your chance to answer the call by snagging your exclusive closed beta invite into Kung Foo!
Through the power of social media, simply follow the official Kung Foo! Twitter account and do your best to get our attention with a FOO pun. Something like ’May the FOO be with you’ or ’Got FOO’ but no copying!
Once in the closed beta, please feel free to tweet about how much we love you more than everyone else!
Full Size
Foo is the ultimate martial arts mash-up More >
One Shots: Tilting at snowmen
Dec 29th
While many living up north enjoyed their white Christmas, many others are ready for all the snow to go away already. In the Lord of the Rings Online, it would appear that this Dwarf is either well into his holiday cups, or just feels like attacking snowmen to take his frustration out against the winter. This fun little snowman was found by Florin E., who writes in to tell us about it: I just saw the easter egg “little castle of sand” and I am really excited. I’m going to find it by myself, I love this. I do not know if you have already published this easter egg. Long time ago I was farming ore near Thorin’s Gate and I found this snowman. Note: you can [also] see a little snowman in the Matthom house in the Shire.
Dragons under 50 Artists’ Brushes
Dec 29th
We are familiar with various dragons in MMOGs; where there is a fantasy MMOG, there are dragons. You can find 14 MMOGs with the word “Dragon” in their names, such as Dragon Ball Online, 9 Dragons, Dragon Nest, Dragon Oath and Dragon’s Call and so on… Dragons frequently take the roles of a boss or a mount in MMOGs.
AION 1.5 – Shadow of Dragon
The Design Inspiration has collected 50 legendary dragon illustrations by many talented designers. Pick up your sword and battle your way into the world of dragons.
Designed by Ertaç Altınöz(Left),Kerem Beyit (Right) Designed by Kerem Beyit
Via: The Design Inspiration
Final Fantasy XI Developer’s Tour: The November version update
Dec 29th
There’s a new version update out on the Vana’dielian streets, and that means we’ve journeyed to Jeuno to meet up with our super-seekret contacts at Square-Enix and talk shop on what’s new in Final Fantasy XI.
This latest expansion pack, A Shantotto Ascension, comes bundled with the November version update, as is customary for the past few updates to the title. So, in addition to being able to pay 10 bucks to attempt to foil Professor Shantotto’s aspirations of having her own empire, the game has been updated with a brand new crafting system called synergy, the new ability to add “slots” onto your items and upgrade them with evolith modifications, more job updates, and an improvement to the existing wedding system!
As you can see, it’s a busy time in Vana’diel, and we got to jaunt around the world and find out more. So come along, follow in our adventurous footsteps, and find out what all the fuss is about!
The Legend Torn, Her Empire Born
The tour opened up with a long journey (and by long, I mean a magical teleport that took two whole seconds) to the bustling town of Windurst, where I was introduced to a cutscene featuring the More >