|
|
News feeds from popular websites with Coverage of the latest MMO News Announcements Patches Downloads and Videos
MMORPG News Feed
Blizzard claims another next-gen MMO, planning new Battle.net features, hints StarCraft 2 Beta
Blizzard apparently has yet another project in the works, and so their game portfolio is not just limited to the big three we know today. Senior vice president Rob Pardo of Blizzard claimed in a recent interview with German news site OnlineWelten that there was another "unknown" game cooking in their kitchen.
Before the interview, we all heard that Blizzard was looking for new blood to help them on a mystery next-generation MMO project. This project is the same unannounced game that Pardo said existed. No other details on the project were divulged, nor were any hints aggressively milked.
On that note, however, the senior VP did clue in to Blizzard's plans to revamp Blizzard's premier online multiplayer service, Battle.net, which will result in the inclusions of new features. Though asked about future costs in utilizing the service, Pardo did not care to comment if the new features would incur additional costs on the players' part.
Now here's the kicker: Blizzard hopes to unveil their ideas for expanding Battle.net's feature list by the time they implement StarCraft II Beta. This officially confirms the rumors that a Beta will be conducted to test the real-time strategy engine, units and tactics within real-life multiplayer matches, even though the "when" portion is still up in the air.
For World of Warcraft gamers, don't you worry - Wrath of the Lich King's progress will not be hampered by the inclusion of Diablo 3 to Blizzard's workload - or at least they hope so. As with any of their games, WotLK will ship "when it's ready," and not before it passes the developer's high standards of quality.
We hope to get our mitts on more updates, so stay tuned while we dig up details. Find the full video interview by OnlineWelten directly at the source link given below.
Related articles:
Official MMORPG forums and those who abuse it
 Ok, before you skip to the bottom of this article and post a comment, please read the post since I know that a lot of people who play MMORPGs will immediately have a knee jerk reaction to this rather touchy topic.
Now that that's out of the way, I've always wanted to talk about how depressing the forums can be to a player. For the record, I know that it is pretty much the same in all popular MMORPGs like Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures or even World of Warcraft, but that doesn't make me or any of the other players who agree with what I have to say happy about it.
Simple fact, there are people who feel that they can post whatever the hell they want on the forums, confident that their anonymity will protect them. For those of you who will protect these people's actions by saying that they have the right to their opinion, yes they do have a right to their opinion.
However, stating one's opinion by politely disagreeing with someone is not what some posters have been doing. Sense of decency? Who cares about that, I'm hidden behind my avatar!
I've heard people defend these individuals who are antagonistic by saying they are simply "passionate" about the game or what they are saying. Well, to be honest, being passionate about something doesn't give anyone the right to act like a total jerk the moment someone disagrees with them.
Now moving on to trolls. These guys post things just to get a reaction from the community. Why? They give out different reasons but one of the more common answers you get from these individuals is they do it to "get a laugh."
So if you hate these guys as much as I do, please ignore their posts and don't reply. Let them have their brand of "fun" on their own. Hey, maybe they'll start flaming themselves out of boredom, or even better, leave and never return.
Now, I've always been an advocate of the whole "don't post if you've got nothing to say" school of thought but that's just me. What do you guys think?
Warhammer Online: a look at the Bastion Stair
 We're back once again with another bit of lore from EA Mythic's Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. The Bastion Stair, which can be found at the Chaos Wastes, was created by the Lord of Skulls and promises power for those who would wish to serve the forces of Chaos.
Those who would enter the Bastion Stair will find themselves in an anti-chamber with brass lining and a fanged skull which drools molten brass. In the same room, you will also find three doorways which lead to different areas of the dungeon, each one home to one of Khorne's armies and champions.
The last wing of the Bastion Stair, called the Steps of Fury, is home to the Brass Legion, a demonic army which guards five sealed gates players have to pass through in order to proceed. Once the seals have been opened, players will them have to go face to face with Kaarn the Vanquisher.
If he is defeated, the way to the top of the Bastion Stair is opened. Those who truly wish to control the Rift of Rage will have to go there and defeat, what could possibly be, the greatest foe they have ever faced: a Bloodthirster of Khorne.
Who will rest control of the Rift of Rage from Khorne? The answer will be given once Warhammer Online goes live.
European and North American WotLK beta registration pages now up Update
It looks like today IS the Wrath of the Lich King beta day. We've just learned that the beta opt-in for WotLK is now live in Europe.
You can find the beta opt-in signups by visiting the Account Management menu on your European WoW account. Once there, you should see an added option to sign up for the beta. The screenshot above shows you what to expect once you try to sign up.
As for North America, there's also some good news. Eyonix reminded players to "stay tuned," as the beta signups for that region are coming "super soon."
In any event, what are you waiting for? Go sign up for the beta already if you're on the European realms!
UPDATE:
US accounts can now sign up for the Wrath of the Lich King beta by visiting the following link. Just remember that being chosen for beta is random, so even if you sign up early, it doesn't promise you a shot at the Wrath beta. Anyway, stop reading this post and sign up!
Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures - July 3 patch update
 When the July 2 update went up, a lot of subscribers of Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures thought that the patches were done for the week. Unfortunately, this isn't the case as shown by the recent downtime we experienced earlier today. So what made Funcom suddenly call for another patch session so soon after the last one?
Apparently, the developers from Funcom forgot to re-export one of the tables for the game which caused the sockets of certain items to disappear. Not to worry though as the developers have already fixed the problem and all previously socketed items have been restored, complete with any gems they previous were equipped with.
This kind of sucks since I (and a couple other players) was hoping to get in some game time before heading off to work today. Oh well, at least they fixed a major issue with the last update that many players have complained about in the forums.
DC Universe Online party at Comic-Con, first-look screenshots revealed
 
While Marvel's own MMO title never got it off the ground, its DC counterpart (DC Universe Online) seems to be having more success as Sony Online Entertainment recently revealed some first-look screenshots of the game. Based on the artwork of world-renowned artist Jim Lee, the in-game images certainly capture the flavor of the DC universe in all its stylized comic book glory.
In addition, fans of the game can also get a chance to meet with some of the developers and score some neat swag at the exclusive DC Universe Online party at the Comic-Con event this July 25. However, invites are pretty limited so make sure to make DCUO your top MySpace friend as soon as possible if you want to make it to the party.
You can also check out some of the exclusive concept art wallpapers found on the source page, which you can accessible through the link we've provided. In any case, you can view the rest of the in-game, Gotham-themed images below. Enjoy!
  
Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures - should we keep subscribing?
 Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures has been out for almost month and a half now. On the official forums the community has polarized into two distinct factions: those who won't be continuing their subscriptions to the game and those who will gut it out. Now the question is, what is the right move to pursue at the moment?
Now, some of you guys may say that I won't be able to establish the answer to that question in one article. You're right. What I can do, however, is give you guys a few facts that might help you make a decision.
It won't be an exaggeration for me to say that the game is buggy as hell. The game still has a number of memory leaks that need to be addressed, there are a number of class skills that don't work, and there are quests that can't be completed. To top it all off, Funcom's customer service isn't really that good and the patches have been substandard at best.
 Yes, I will admit that there are times that it feels like I'm paying to play an extended beta test version of the game and that Funcom seems to have fallen into a number of pitfalls that other developers of successful MMORPGs experienced back when they were starting out.
However, despite of these problems, the game is still playable. I can honestly say that I'm having fun despite all of the issues that I previously mentioned.
The memory leaks are horrible, but I've never really experienced them as often as some have reported. Not having a number of my class skills working just sucks, and to be honest, I wonder when Funcom will get to that. The quests are slowly being fixed.
Funcom's customer service will probably improve when they decide to get MORE PEOPLE to help manage the growing community and the patches, well, at least they fix a few of the problems in the game.
Now that I think about it, I guess I will continue to play Age of Conan. Why you may ask? Because the game fulfills the one basic thing I look for in any video game, it is fun for me. And as long as it remains so, I will keep handing Funcom my US 15 dollars.
Analyst: Wii not a fad, PS3 software will equal Wii's, 360 leads in US and UK
 Video games have come far since the days of 8-bit Mario. Reports from DFC Intelligence - a consulting firm for the video game market - show that there are now 11 countries that have an annual video game revenue in excess of US 1 billion. By 2009, the industry is expected to reach US 57 billion.
The reports continue to say that among the three consoles that make up this generation, the Wii is expected to rank in first when all is said and done. DFC analyst Jeremy Miller says that:
The Wii not only has unique features and a broad demographic appeal, but Nintendo is dominant as a software publisher. For many third party publishers this means they will have much greater success on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, even if Wii sales continue to be strong.
So is the Wii a fad, as many others have claimed before? Not according to sales. In fact, analyst David Cole says that: "The Wii does not appear to be a fad and it has the chance to be one of the best selling systems of all-time."
On Sony's camp, analysts from DFC believe that the PlayStation 3 will equal the Wii in annual software sales by 2012, which would be more than halfway into its 10-year cycle. They make no mention of how it would do with hardware sales though.
They note that the Xbox 360 is still the leading platform in "some of the top markets, most notably in the US and UK." In this report, they make no mention of the 360's future, but David Cole did comment last month that the 360 will come in third place in this generation.
So which is the most profitable platform for games in 2007? Amazingly enough, it's the PC. According to a report, PC online game revenue alone passed US 7 billion that year, not including retail sales. That amount is expected to reach US 19 billion by 2013. I'm guessing these revenues come from MMOs, but DFC wasn't clear on that account.
RuneScape gets price increase for new subscribers
 It was recently announced that the subscription costs of Jagex Ltd's RuneScape will be raised. According to the news post on the official website, all those who subscribe to the game after August 4 will have to pay a fee which will be increased by 0.30 in the UK and US 0.95 in North America.
Current subscribers shouldn't worry though since they will not be paying any more for the game than they already are. Their subscription fees will remain the same unless they let their membership lapse for more than two weeks after August 4.
Interestingly enough, this is the first price change the game has undergone since it was first launched in 2002. So if you're not a paying member but plan to be, you might want to subscribe now to avoid the price increase.
Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures July 2 patch notes
 Hail fellow Hyborians! Funcom has rolled out yet another patch for their MMORPG, Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures. Unlike the previous patches, this will take the developers six hours to put up instead of the usual five so that they can do some additional maintenance on the servers (much better than the extended downtime we experienced last patch!).
The developers have been quite busy, as can be seen a number of fixes implemented in siege combat and quest fixes. In addition, the developers also added a number of tradeskill fixes that players have been asking for.
We're not going to keep you guys any longer. Here's the patch notes for the July 2 Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures update. Enjoy!
Player Classes- Mage
- Tome of Erlik now has effects and sounds.
- Purge now has sound and particle effects associated with it and should now go on the appropriate cooldown. Purge now provides 5 seconds of immunity in addition to removal of effects.
- Misdirection now has received a better visual and should no longer look like a lightning strike.
- Weakened Protection will no longer refresh itself after the player cancels his own Absorb buff.
- Rogue
- Mountaineer, Distraction, and Concealment effects are now innate in the feat and will not take up space in the Rogue's buff window. They will still provide a buff to the Rogue's teammates.
- Distraction will now properly apply to the Rogue's teammates.
- Bear Shaman
- Reaper Claws will no longer disappear when you zone.
- Conqueror
- Feint Attack combo animation speed will now scale correctly for both male and female. Now the male and female should do equal damage.
- Necromancer
- The splash damage of the Deathless Acolyte: Magus has been increased from 10 to 30 , with 4 meter range and a maximum of 5 targets
- The Deathless Acolyte: Reaper and Deathless Acolyte: Arcanist now have 30 splash damage with 2 meter range on a single additional target
- The Deathless Acolyte: Arcanist's chance to trigger the Arcanist's Knowledge has been doubled
- The Arcanist's Knowledge effect will now display the current stack count in the buff GUI
- Casting Frost Blast will no longer cause the Necromancer to get stuck in a casting animation
- Flash Freeze now additionally decreases the casting time and increases the damage of Freeze
- Freeze will now clear the target of all Necromancer damage-over-time effects when cast, this will reduce the chance of it breaking accidentally on damage
- Ice Shackle no longer has a chance to break on damage
- The debuff effect applied by Wither Soul should now have the appropriate icon
Combat- Thrown weapons have had their range increased: Light throwing weapons now have a range of 15 meters, up from 12. Heavy throwing weapons now have a range of 18 meters, up from 16.
- Generic NPC crowd control effects have been tweaked. Resistances from feats and other player effects should now help against NPC crowd control. Stun, knockback, charm, and fear will now grant the player immunity.
Massive PvP- Battlekeeps now have resurrection points for the attackers, that are located near the front gate of the city.
- Fixed an issue that disabled Siege Weapons if the target was out of range.
- NPC's will properly respawn when a building is repaired.
- Players are now able to use a siege weapon after the player using it has gone linkdead.
- Players now get a notification when they are about to get teleported out during a Massive PvP battle.
- Damaged playerbuilt curved walls now have correct collision so they can not be walked through before they are completely destroyed.
- Lacheish Plains: Several holes have been closed in the West Battlekeep so players can no longer bypass the walls there.
- Poitain: Several holes have been closed in the West, South and East Battlekeeps so players can no longer bypass the walls there.
Mounts- Moving around while mounted should now correctly interrupt spell-casting.
Items- Fixed a tooltip error on the crossbow Skysmite causing the bonuses to be illegible.
- The recipe for Steelsilk Belt has been changed to Fine Steelsilk Belt.
- The recipe for Steelsilk Leggings has been changed to Fine Steelsilk Leggings.
- Selling a gemmed item to a shop and undoing the sale will no longer remove the gems.
Playfields- Armsmans Arena
- Doors should no longer be targetable in the Arena.
- Fixed an issue where players managed to get locked inside the monster cages in the Arena. You should now be able to get out using the Lever.
- Lacheish Plains
- all the levers for each door in Stonehammer battlekeep should now work properly.
Tradeskills- A progress bar will appear whenever gemcutting is performed.
- Crafted armor pieces no longer incorrectly have more defense rating than normal pieces of armor.
- Resolved a level check for the response to give when character is below level 70 and tries to learn gathering Oak.
- The Weaponsmith workshop plan can now be correctly learned from the Architect trainer.
- Blue Iron can again be mined from the correct mineral veins.
Quests- Stonecutter Trainer: Fixed a dialogue issue so the trainer will now accept Basalt and Adamant to resolve the quest.
- Cannibal Commotion: Fixed an issue where Attadeus would become stuck and not allow you to update the quest.
- The Bearer of Ill Tidings: The Field of the Dead quest "The Bearer of Ill Tidings" and "Allies of the White Hand" are now level 48.
- The Den of Wolves: The goal name was changed from "The Den of Wolves" to "Kill Plains Wolves".
- The Wolf Hunt: The goal name was changed from "The Wolf Hunt" to "Kill Yukagi Wolves".
- Death to the Undead: The goal name was changed from "Death to the Undead" to "Destroy Conriocht werewolves in the Haunted Forest".
- Greater Prey: The goal name was changed from "Greater Prey" to "Kill werewolf Rippers, Antagonizer, Slasher and Slicers".
- The Curse of the Werewolves: The goal name was changed from "The Curse of the Werewolves" to "Kill Conriocht Menaces, Slayers and Goremuzzles".
- Fit for a Chieftain: You will now correctly receives the item 'Fur of Bloodclaw' in the quest inventory.
- Attack of the Savages: An issue where the goal text was not clear has been changed to "Kill Raiders at the Guard Post".
- Castle of King Conan: Pallantides now doesn't display an exclamation mark over his head unless you can get the quest from him.
- Tortage: Renton should now have one coherent look as opposed to changing look between quests.
- Paetus & the Nemedian Crown III: Gavion now gives the player the map and letter back when he ask the player to go talk to King Conan about this treason. Players will need to delete their old quest "Paetus & the Nemedian Crown III" and speak with Gavion again to continue this quest line.
- Lusts of the Flesh: You now get a cask of Tainted Ale to give to Tuthmekri. Players who want to finish this quest will have to delete it from their quest journal and get it again.
- Master of the Silver Peacock: Vistrix now finaly gives in and surrender his teeth on defeat. You are now able to complete this quest, and thereby advance to The Black Ring Citadel.
- Alchemy quests: The dialogues with the Alchemy trainer should now all work correctly and give and complete the needed quests.
- Common Gems II - Return to the Gemcutter: The quest can now be completed by handing over the needed gems to the trainer.
- Tear 2 gathering quest - Return the Illustrium: The quest can now be completed by handing over the illustrium to the trainer.
- Woodcutter quest: Players will now be able to get the 'Gathering Oak' quest when having the correct level.
NPC- Tarantia Noble: Zhu-Khang no longer has flickering clothing.
- Armsman's Tavern: Sarissa's upper chest should no longer go through her dress.
- Tortage Jungle: Poacher Marksman should no longer shoot invisible arrows at players.
- Eiglophian Mountains: Added two vendors to the Mountain Hunting Lodge.
- Conall's Valley: The Gravesinger now has an improved look that fits more with the description of him.
- Conalls Valley: Supply Master Vorgir has been given a slight makeover and should look better now.
- Tortage Underhalls Day: NPCs will now respawn slightly quicker than before.
- Lacheish Plains: Tiggle Knucklebone has been removed from the playfield to stop players from confusing him as a Trader.
- NPCs will no longer inappropriately recieve player buffs such as Lotus Overload, Blood Pit, Embrace Death, Overpower, and Pact of Dread.
- Vendor bought resources have been reduced in price.
- Sanctum of the Burning Souls: It is now possible to spawn the Dark Beast boss just by interacting with the Sacrificial Altar while holding a Ritual Chalice. The specific quest requirement has been removed.
Localization- French: Many of dialogues that were still in English have been translated.
- all languages: All Feats, Special Abilities, Skills, Spells and Combos have been reviewed are now fully and consistently translated.
General- Updated/improved descriptions of following abilities/feats/combos: >From the Darkness, Overpower, Blood Rage Stance, Secondary Laceration, Crippling Bloodbath (Crippling Bloody Hack), Improved Inspire, Focus, Burning Vigor, Covenant of Invulnerability III,
- Focus, "Secondary Laceration" changed to "Conquest"
- Players will now be able to exit Dance state while in combat.
|
|
|
MSN Messenger
