• Category Archives Archlord

  • Archlord is Coming Back To America

    Posted on May 13, 2010 by Omali Comment

    Yep...

    I have not paid nearly enough attention to Archlord and, to be honest, I apologize for it. Not only do I have to start this out by bringing you back into the loop, but I had to do enough research into the Archlord archives just to bring myself up to speed. Last we left Archlord, back in January, I announced that Webzen, who had taken over hosting from Codemasters last year, was opening up a new server: Deribelle, which would play host to increased experience and drops, where players could transfer from the shutdown North American servers.

    I am still not 100% back up to speed on Archlord, so if any players are viewing this I would love some information. Deribelle is still there, but American/Australian players are still without a server in their area to play on. There are currently four European servers and one Asian, and from my research of over 70 pages of Archlord threads, most of these servers shut down on a regular basis due to stress and server load.

    Much of this might be attributable to the number of players attempting to reach the servers from America and Australia, who will be happy to know that Webzen has just announced the upcoming opening of Gracia, a server for American players. How for American servers is it exactly? So for American players that only American players, of the North and South variety, can transfer their characters over to this server when it opens for beta May 27th, for a live launch June 3rd.

    As is usual for new servers on Archlord, the new server will play host to events as well as upped experience and drops. Hopefully I will have something to talk about by the time this update hits, but by Archlord’s way of getting into the news, that might not be until October.

    This entry was posted in Archlord, Live and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

  • Archlord Says Hello 2010: Good, Bad, and Ugly

    Posted on January 14, 2010 by Omali Comment

    Archlord is one of those titles I don’t get to talk about much, because it falls into the category of games that are small enough that any announcement made is heard within the radius of your average MMOs local chat. So when the companies give status updates on the title, I jump on it like, well, myself on status updates.

    Last we heard from Archlord, back in early October, the game had shifted from Codemasters to Webzen, not only offering to transfer characters and their currencies, but bringing in a new swashbuckling class. Webzen has been busy for the past few months, and 2010 is when we will see the fruits of their work:

    On the good side, Webzen is starting out the year with a new server. Deribelle, as it is named, will play host to increased experience, better loot drops, and item giveaways to welcome the new players. Later next month will see the release of a multi-language client, bringing German, Portugese, Spanish, and French into the game. The Chaotic Frontier, a new dungeon, features level scaling, allowing players of any level to jump right in and experience the wonders it has to offer, with loot scaled of course.

    Sadly, there is no good without evil, and the new Deribelle realm comes on the heels of two of the four European servers shutting down.

    Despite the setback of two lost servers, there is no doubt (at least in my mind) that Webzen wants to make Archlord work for those who are still loyal to the title. For those of you who have not given the title a try, now is as good of a time as any. It is free to play, after all.

    More on Archlord if I get to talk about it this year.

    This entry was posted in Archlord, Live and tagged , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

  • 2009: Surprise Sequels and Drama Aplenty

    Posted on December 31, 2009 by Omali Comment

    2009 in a nutshell...

    2009 has come to a close, and has brought us plenty in terms of surprise sequels and drama. Here is a comprehensive list of the surprise sequels and drama that hit this past year.

    (more…)

    This entry was posted in Aion, Archlord, D&D Online, DUST 514, Eve Online, Everquest, Everquest 2, Planetside, Ultima Online, Upcoming, Vanguard and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

  • A Downward Spiral Does Not Mean Death.

    Posted on November 21, 2009 by Omali Comment

    I like to take some time every now and then to detail certain parts of MMO Fallout, usually terms and expressions I use, that generates the most feedback from fans. More recently, I’ve had a few questions about my consistently ending certain product articles (Star Wars Galaxies, Age of Conan, Planetside, and several others) with “More on ____’s downward spiral as it appears.” Some of the readers appear to be under the impression that I’m calling the deaths of these MMOs, lovingly pointing out that I have said from day one that I will never predict the death of an MMO.

    Well they are right, at least on the last point. When I say downward spiral, I always have facts to back myself up, and I am not always referring to subscriber numbers. Take Funcom for example, who not only cut off 20% of their staff, delayed a non-dated MMO, announced a massive revenue drop, and somehow is still finding the time to develop a free to play kid MMO. When I say Funcom is in a downward spiral, I mean financially that company is in a downward spiral, that changes direction depending on your hemisphere and leads right into the septic tank.

    I don’t call death because, to be honest, it’s redundant. Dwindling subscriber numbers? Yes. Financial ruin? Yes. Ponzi Scheme? Stargate Worlds. Calling death on an MMO is akin to calling yourself a soothsayer and predicting that someone would die, but they would have financial gain at some point before they do. Not when they’ll die or what the financial gain is, and all that can be chalked up as everyone dies and, generally, everyone has an income at some point in their lives. Blamo, you’re the most generalized soothsayer in all the land.

    (more…)

    This entry was posted in Age of Conan, Archlord, Asheron's Call, Live, The Secret World and tagged , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

  • Archlord Is Back!

    Posted on October 9, 2009 by Omali Comment

    archlord2

    Ok, you caught me. I have to admit, however, that for a title that was as widely panned as Archlord (As I mentioned in my previous news bit, Archlord was panned for being “dull and repetitive” among other issues) Archlord is quite resilient. Last September we learned that the free to play title was to be shut down after Codemasters lost the rights to run the title in North America and Europe. Ever since the title launched, it was wrought with controversy, as I mentioned coming across quite a large number of claims of corruption within Codemasters, and convenient bans for people who purchased large amounts of in-game currency (The game runs on a micro-transaction  format, shop currency is specifically what I am referring to).

    Archlord shut down on the first of this month, for two days when the newest host, Webzen, officially launched the new North American and European servers. Webzen is offering a transfer service to players coming over from Codemasters, that is expected to complete on the 14th. In order to sweeten the deal, Webzen updated the game offering transfer players some microtransaction currency, and the new Archlord now features a female-only swashbuckling class.

    A change of pace should be just what the doctor ordered for Archlord, but it may be too little too late. I foresee the next news story you see here on MMO Fallout related to Archlord will be its shutdown notice.

    This entry was posted in Archlord, Live and tagged , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

  • Codemasters Loses Archlord Rights

    Posted on September 5, 2009 by Omali 2 Comments

    archlord2

    Just as I’m talking about the battle over the future of Dungeons and Dragons online, here comes news from another sector of the internet: Codemasters has lost their rights to operate the MMO Archlord in the United States and Europe. Instead, the servers will shut down on October 1st, only to be reopened a couple days later by the new host, Webzen.

    As far as MMOs go, Archlord in the west was the MMO that never was, isn’t, and never will be. The game by itself received unfavorable reviews, with Gamespot summing it up in two words: Dull and repetitive. The title was smashed for its countless hours of dull grind, with little reward, in a world that often seemed to be populated only by yourself. It isn’t any surprise that it took only ten months after release for Archlord to ditch the subscription rate, and go completely free to play, ala Guild Wars. Nowadays Archlord is described as “empty and full of bots.”

    What caught my attention was, in every location I found discussion on Archlord, the discussion regularly turned to one factor: Corruption from Codemasters. Shady bans and a response along the lines you would expect from your local Wal Mart or Mcdonalds. Players being conveniently banned after spending large sums of cash on the in-game currency (Archlord kept its microtransaction service), and more. According to some of my sources, this activity is almost a mirror image of RF Online, another MMO published by Codemasters in the west.

    This may not be the end for Codemasters driving MMOs into the ground. According to several of my sources, Turbine is looking to bring their MMOs home, meaning Codemasters may lose its European publishing rights to Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons and Dragons Online.

    If you have any dealings with Codemasters on LOTRO, DDO, RF Online, or the soon to be murdered and then resurrected Archlord, please drop us a comment.

    This entry was posted in Archlord, Editorials, In Plain English, Killing MMOs, Live and tagged , , , . Bookmark the permalink.


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