The ultimate massively multiplayer online role-playing game news source
Archive for February, 2010
5 Cute MMO Monsters That are Not To Be Messed With
Feb 22nd
5 Cute MMO Monsters That are Not To Be Messed With
By Yuliya Geikhman Yuliya Geikhman has a degree in teaching, but would rather teach others about the wonders of MMOs. She (yes, she is really a female gamer and not a guy pretending) has a life and a husband, but spends much of it glued to Atlantica Online (and other ftp MMOs).
You’re exploring the world of an MMO when you notice an adorable raccoon watching you. You approach it (squealing inwardly at how cute it is). There’s no way something that cute could be dangerous! You reach out to pet it… and with one swipe of a little paw, you’re dead.
It was over before it even started. just because a monster is cute, doesn’t mean it won’t kick your butt. In fact, MMO developers seem to find some twisted humor in making powerful monsters look absurdly adorable.
Full Size
Why? Maybe it’s supposed to let our guard down. Or question our role in killing this cute “monster.” When we kill an epic, demonic, monstrous looking monster, we might feel some sense of righteousness. But how can we justify harming a cute little critter?
And so, it owns us instead.
Here are 5 MMO monsters More >
WoW plushies from Pet Store: Gryphon Hatchling, Wind Rider Cub
Feb 22nd
The newest additions to the WoW Pet Store are jumping out of the virtual and into the real. All plushed and cute-like too!
Not only can they be useful to appease your upset girlfriend because you have more date nights with WoW than with her in any given week, but you can also get something for yourself in the process.
For example, buying the US$ 25 Gryphon Hatchling plush toy will get you a download code for an in-game equivalent. If you prefer something else, then you can go for a Wind Rider Cub plush toy/in-game pet combo instead.
But you better hurry. These cuties are available for a limited time only — and your relationship with your girlfriend might be too, if you don’t pacify her quick.
Via [Cinema Blend]
Related Articles:
- WoW: Burning Crusade gets green light in China
- It’s happened! WoW user-base has stopped growing!
Guide to Lunar Festival achievements
Feb 22nd
The Lunar Festival runs this year from Sunday, Feburary 14th at 9:00 am server time through Sunday, March 7th at 9:00 am server time. That’s right, folks; you’ve got three weeks to get everything done. The basics of the holiday involve talking to a number of Elders to honor them, receiving Coins of Ancestry in return, and then using the Coins to purchase fun holiday items. The To Honor One’s Elders meta-achievement is also a requirement for What A Long, Strange Trip It’s Been. In general, this is not a difficult holiday, but it is time-consuming; you’ll need to hunt down a lot of NPCs. Because of the mileage you’ll rack up doing this, it’d be a good time to do World Explorer if you haven’t already done that, or pick up flight paths that a character doesn’t yet have.
We’ve updated and expanded our 2010 guide to include exact coordinates for every Elder in the game, and I’ve also arranged them in what I hope to be the most straightforward way to reach them all. Let’s get started.
Elders of Eastern Kingdoms
In order to honor an Elder, all you need to do is find and talk to them (which is generally More >
Patch 3.3.3 PTR: Zarhym clarifies new holiday boss mechanics
Feb 22nd
So one of the new changes coming in Patch 3.3.3 is that one will be able queue up using the dungeon finder in order to fight world event bosses such as the Crown Chemical Trio or the Headless Horseman. However, the actual extent of the changes is a bit more involved, as Zarhym clarified in a recent forums post. Here’s the rundown:
Continue reading Patch 3.3.3 PTR: Zarhym clarifies new holiday boss mechanics
Plush Wind Rider Cub and Gryphon Pets Now Available!
Feb 22nd
From World of Warcraft.com
The Azeroth Flight Master’s Association is pleased to announce that two of the world’s most popular and luxurious modes of transportation just got a little plusher. The Wind Rider Cub and Gryphon Hatchling, the first in a new line of cuddly, crafty stuffed critters, are now available exclusively through the Pet Store in the online Blizzard Store.Each plush toy comes with a code that gets you a matching account-bound non-combat companion to travel alongside you in the game — and because these creatures are too young to care about Horde and Alliance politics, they’ll tag along with you no matter what faction you’re on. Take the nearest flight point to the online Blizzard Store and get yours today.
Play Silkroad Online in German and Spanish Now
Feb 22nd
Seoul, Korea, February 22th, 2010 - Joymax, a leading online game developer and publisher, announced that the company will launch Silkroad Online German and Spanish language service in the second quarter, earlier than the original plan.
Silkroad Online: Legend IX – Heroes Of Alexandria Teaser
The reason behind the decision stems from the overwhelming response from Turkish service launch on last November. Numbers of Active User and New Registered User has shot up to three times more than usual since the launch.
A success in multi-lingual service in Silkroad Online shows Joymax’ localization and market needs analysis capabilities. “Silkroad Online traditionally shows a strong presence in the Middle East. Now with its German and Spanish service, Silkroad Online expands its fan base to Europe and South America.” Said Jina Song at Joymax.
Full Size
About Joymax CO., Ltd
Beginning with the game “Final Odyssey” in January 1999, Joymax published numerous titles for the PC platform. With its accumulated know how and development power, Joymax continues to produce game products for various platforms.
Joymax’s first MMORPG “Silkroad Online” launched in November 2004 and has since grown to service not only Korea but over 200 international countries.
Full Size
Going forward, our goal is to become a global entertainment company providing various multimedia contents More >
Allods: Item Shop Blues
Feb 22nd
Item Shop PR Mess
As much admiration as Allods Online has gained since its first beta test, it certainly is not enough to keep the vast majority of the player base from crying out in frustration over the lack of information on its item shop and the prices that were eventually set.
Today Massively brought the views of most of the Allods community front and center and Gala-Net, the publisher of Allods, has quickly responded to those views.
“We wanted to take an opportunity to apologize to the community for our lack of communication. We made a mistake by not letting you, our most passionate players know when the item shop was going to go live and we didn’t make the effort to learn more about how all of you feel regarding the contents of the item shop. Because of our lack of communication to you, many of you were wildly taken back by what you saw in the item shop today.” – Stated, inarakatt, from Gala-Net.
This goes to show how important open communication is between the publisher and player base, even on an issue that would be more internal than transparent. I guess if you want to launch an item shop More >
The Lawbringer: Unconscionability
Feb 22nd
No, no, please, AHHH!!!! I never agreed to this! Oh yes you did — see the “Being tortured by random NPCs” clause in your EULA.* There’s no such thi-aieeeee!
So the last two weeks we’ve talked about some provisions in the End User License Agreement and Terms of Use that you might not have known about. Remember, all your pixels are belong to Blizzard, and Blizzard is in ur raid, banning ur cheaters. Given that, you may be wondering if there is any way for you to get some of those provisions changed while still being allowed to play the game. (Like all addicts we know quitting is not an option.) The answer is “Technically, yes,” using a concept called unconscionability. (I have been informed that this concept is far more beloved of crusading law students than practicing lawyers, so I apologize for last week’s improper characterization.)
Before we get too far into this idea, I want to make something perfectly clear: your odds of winning a court battle to get a contract provision altered for unconscionability are about the same as successfully raiding Ulduar in blues. Yes, it can be done, but that guild run took insanely skilled players, lots of tries, and More >
The Lore of warcraft, part 1
Feb 22nd
One of the most frequent questions I’m asked as someone that’s entirely too interested in Warcraft story and lore, is where to go to get story information. How, exactly, do you find all of these story elements when they are literally scattered across several different games, comics, manga and novels? How do you know what should be taken as official lore, and what to throw away as mere speculation? Where, exactly, does someone just starting out with World of Warcraft find story information when they’ve got no idea where that story actually starts?
It’s a difficult question to answer, and you’ll see why later in the article. The Warcraft storyline is made up of several different parts, spanning several different games, and the time line is continually changing and developing as these games are released. Here’s a brief list of places you can go to get started:
Warcraft I, II, III and World of Warcraft: The easiest way to start learning the story behind the games is to play through the games themselves: Warcraft:Orcs & Humans: This game takes place during the First War between the orcs and humans. While no longer in print, you can still find copies of this game More >
Grand Chase’s new features update
Feb 22nd
Ntreev USA announced today, an all new skill tree for Amy, the 7th character in Grand Chase, along with a new dungeon – Victor’s Fortress – and Jin’s new 4th job, Rama. Amy’s Skill Tree and the new dungeon launch tomorrow, while Jin’s new job is already available in the popular online action-brawler MMO, Grand Chase.
“Amy is one of the favorites among Grand Chase players, and Amy’s Skill Tree has been the most requested feature for the past two months,” said Chris Lee, CEO at Ntreev USA. These new additions are what fansare waiting for and we are happy to give them something exciting like the skill tree and new skill attacks.”
Amy’s Skill Tree and Special EventsAmy, the 7th character of Grand Chase and a fan favorite is getting her own Skill Tree! Skill Trees are “upgrades” for jobs and characters that allow for new and different skills to be used to revamp the character and/or job. To celebrate the release of the new Skill Tree, starting tomorrow, February 24th through March 9th, there will be special limited items on sale and Amy will receive an extra boost when playing with others in the same dungeon, in addition to free Amy More >