Year: 2010

Star Trek Online: Could Be Going F2P?


Set phasers to freemium!

Since Star Trek Online’s launch, the game has been doing pretty well for itself. Granted, it probably hasn’t jumped into the top-10, but if the quantity of updates is anything to go on, Cryptic must be happy as it is with their current population. Of course, no company would say no to more customers. With the recent swapping of Dungeons and Dragons, Global Agenda, among others, and the upcoming model change to Lord of the Rings Online, we can only sit back and wonder how many other MMOs will change to the freemium model, and if Cryptic’s Producer Daniel Stahl has anything to say about it, Star Trek Online may as well. In a forum posting, Stahl said:

“I could easily see STO going into a hybrid model similar to what Lotro is doing. In that model, subscriptions stay as is – but you allow people to play for free but heavily limit what they can do – which in essence creates a robust way to demo the game and then if you want to keep playing, you either pay for every little thing you are interested in, or you subscribe and don’t have to worry about it.

Turbine seems to have some interesting plans and looking at how DDO has turned around, its worth taking note.”

Pardon my correction, but from my experience with Dungeons and Dragons Online, the system isn’t about “heavily limiting” what free players can do. Stahl is correct on all fronts, however, with Dungeons and Dragons making a massive turnaround for Turbine when the title changed models.

Could a model change be exactly what the doctor had in store for Cryptic? More on this as it appears.

Aion: Server Merger Plans? How Do Those Work?


Assuming the GM's don't murder you first.

You would think that, given NCsoft’s history with MMOs, that they would offer their wisdom to the Aion Development Team in regards to the upcoming server mergers. On that thought, Aion could go to virtually any MMO that has run a server merger in the past and see how they accomplished what must feel like an amazing, never-before-performed feat to the Aion team. As much as I hate to say it, the old method works fine, as follows:

  1. Character creation for existing accounts is shut off temporarily until the server merge.
  2. Characters without conflicting names are transferred as-is.
  3. Characters with conflicting names are given based on seniority (age of the character), presuming the senior character is active.
  4. Characters forced to change their name are offered free name change tokens.

Instead, Aion is opting to require everyone to change their names, with the inevitable result being that the more famous players will lose their names, players who preordered the higher priced editions just for the early name reservation will be out of luck, and the ensuing clusterload to the servers will end up with thousands of people all trying to get their names back at the same time.

The story gets better. Aion wants you to know that they recognize what a name means to a person. It is not just an identifying set of symbols for you meat sacks, but it gives personality and depth to your toon. So instead of making the process more efficient, Aion is adding another layer of bureaucracy to the mix:

“If you’re unable to regain your name after the server merges, and feel that another player took it to consciously harm you or your reputation, we’ll have a way for you to submit an appeal for manual review (‘manual’ equating to ‘live human being’).”

I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to waste hours trying to access the name change service after the server mergers, only to lose my name and then spend a month or two on the line with customer service trying to negotiate and explain exactly why I think I deserve the name more than the other guy. This is of course before NCsoft tells me that the other person did not constitute name theft.

NCsoft should be paying special attention to players who paid for the ability to reserver their names, and those who paid for the ability to change their names. Those players should either be given priority access (characters who reserved their names should be entered into the new database a day or two early), or at the very least compensated for the money they spent specifically for their names.

According to Community Manager Ayase on the AionSource forums, consideration is being given to name change ticket buyers and preorders (collector’s edition), but nothing is set in stone as of yet.

I can only imagine that NCsoft might have something to do with NCWest’s inadequate tools. More on Aion’s Server merger as it appears.

But wouldn’t it be ironic if enough people left over this that another server merger was needed?

PLEX To Become A Normal Item In Eve Online


I bought a PLEX once.

When PLEX, the cash-to-subscription-time item, was introduced to Eve Online, it was created special from the rest. You couldn’t undock with PLEX in your ship, meaning the item was bound to the station and its marketplace. CCP was so worried about the volatility of PLEX being introduced into the game that these restrictions were put into place, if temporary, to allow the item an introductory period of sorts until the kinks could be worked out and the game could become used to it. Luckily, with the upcoming changes to PLEX, many of these restrictions will be removed.

So what does this mean? You will be able to undock with PLEX, as well as placing PLEX in courier contracts. The restriction on redeeming (and reverse-redeeming) items only at NPC stations is being removed, as well as allowing players to convert ETC into PLEX when not necessarily at an NPC station.

This does, however, mean that you can lose PLEX if your ship is destroyed. A player who destroys you may find your PLEX as part of your loot, or it may be destroyed in your ship’s explosion. As with Eve’s other items, refunds are out of the question. CCP’s reasoning behind these updates is that they do not want items to have a special status, and would prefer to have item prices be determined by the players, rather than some system set up.

The updates go live next week (13th). More on Eve Online as it appears.

Wizard 101: So Popular, Server Can't Handle Popularity


Alright Meow, who broke the server?

Wizard101 launched two years ago to the wide open arms of children and some adults alike. Since then, the game has seen numerous major updates, including player housing (something many MMOs still can’t attest to), a fairly intuitive and advanced pet system, among other updates. For the kid’s MMO, one that oddly enough has a “death magic” class, Wizard 101 has been skyrocketing to popularity while running off of a freemium payment model (Players can play for free, pay a subscription, or purchase perks individually using a cash shop).

Kingsisle Entertainment’s game has become so popular, in fact, that the servers are being bogged down with the sheer number of people trying to log in, resulting in this week’s announcement that a temporary limit to players will be instated until server issues can be fixed.

Given the titles that are closing up shop, or consolidating a large portion of their servers, it’s good to see at least one title that is doing well enough to have troubles accommodating all of their players. More on Wizard 101 as it appears.

Wizard 101: So Popular, Server Can’t Handle Popularity


Alright Meow, who broke the server?

Wizard101 launched two years ago to the wide open arms of children and some adults alike. Since then, the game has seen numerous major updates, including player housing (something many MMOs still can’t attest to), a fairly intuitive and advanced pet system, among other updates. For the kid’s MMO, one that oddly enough has a “death magic” class, Wizard 101 has been skyrocketing to popularity while running off of a freemium payment model (Players can play for free, pay a subscription, or purchase perks individually using a cash shop).

Kingsisle Entertainment’s game has become so popular, in fact, that the servers are being bogged down with the sheer number of people trying to log in, resulting in this week’s announcement that a temporary limit to players will be instated until server issues can be fixed.

Given the titles that are closing up shop, or consolidating a large portion of their servers, it’s good to see at least one title that is doing well enough to have troubles accommodating all of their players. More on Wizard 101 as it appears.

Blizzard: Yea, Sorry About That Whole Privacy Thing…


More trolling!

“We’ve been constantly monitoring the feedback you’ve given us, as well as internally discussing your concerns about the use of real names on our forums. As a result of those discussions, we’ve decided at this time that real names will not be required for posting on official Blizzard forums.”
–Nethaera, Blizzard Forums

I imagine by “discussion,” Blizzard is referring to the thought of an impending mass exodus of players. Good news, WoW’ers! As you may have guessed from the above quote, Blizzard has retracted their planned update that would place real names in plain view on the Blizzard forums. The other parts of the update, including rating posts and comment threading, are still scheduled to debut on the Starcraft II forums, but you will no longer have to worry about your name being available for all to see.

The real question in all of this is: Who at Blizzard was thick enough to think this would tide over well with players, or that this would somehow stop trolling?

Red 5 MMO: No, Seriously, It's Still Coming Out


Why the last time...

Red 5 Studios was founded by World of Warcraft veteran staff, and continued the tradition that Richard Garriot had upheld just a year prior: That for some reason new companies formed by old MMO vets have a habit of imploding in on themselves, if they ever even release a product. I also mentioned that Red 5’s MMOFPS appeared to have been scrapped in favor of a new MMO geared towards the Chinese market. Fast forward one month, and you have The9 (estranged ex-Chinese World of Wacraft host) buying the majority stake in Red 5 and FireRain. Since then, there hasn’t been much word from Red 5.

And there still isn’t. Production on Red 5’s MMO is still reportedly underway, with information coming soon.

“The game has not been put on hold or delayed. While we are using a highly-modified version of the Project Offset engine, the closing of the Intel team does not impact our ability to complete our own project. We look forward to releasing more information abouto ur project in the near future.”

We’ll see.

Red 5 MMO: No, Seriously, It’s Still Coming Out


Why the last time...

Red 5 Studios was founded by World of Warcraft veteran staff, and continued the tradition that Richard Garriot had upheld just a year prior: That for some reason new companies formed by old MMO vets have a habit of imploding in on themselves, if they ever even release a product. I also mentioned that Red 5’s MMOFPS appeared to have been scrapped in favor of a new MMO geared towards the Chinese market. Fast forward one month, and you have The9 (estranged ex-Chinese World of Wacraft host) buying the majority stake in Red 5 and FireRain. Since then, there hasn’t been much word from Red 5.

And there still isn’t. Production on Red 5’s MMO is still reportedly underway, with information coming soon.

“The game has not been put on hold or delayed. While we are using a highly-modified version of the Project Offset engine, the closing of the Intel team does not impact our ability to complete our own project. We look forward to releasing more information abouto ur project in the near future.”

We’ll see.

No More Trolling on The Blizzard Forums!


You's Trollin!

To call the Blizzard forums a veritable hell-spawn of trolls where intelligence and reason go to die would be an insult to the resting grounds where intelligence and reason truly go to die, and hopefully that will change when the troll’s names start appearing on the forums. In an upcoming update, Blizzard will incorporate the Realid system into their forums, meaning that instead of:

[username]
[character]

You will see:

[Real Name]
[Username]
[Character]

But why, you ask? I’ll let Blizzard’s own Nethaera explain:

“The official forums have always been a great place to discuss the latest info on our games, offer ideas and suggestions, and share experiences with other players — however, the forums have also earned a reputation as a place where flame wars, trolling, and other unpleasantness run wild. Removing the veil of anonymity typical to online dialogue will contribute to a more positive forum environment, promote constructive conversations, and connect the Blizzard community in ways they haven’t been connected before. With this change, you’ll see blue posters (i.e. Blizzard employees) posting by their real first and last names on our forums as well.”

Thanks Blizzard. Now instead of having my thread flamed by some nameless 4chan loser, I can have my thread flamed by some named 4chan loser who then proceeds to spam my facebook account, order me some delicious pizzas, harass my friends, and leave threatening phone calls on my voicemail, or to have the sociopath I beat in a duel stalk me home from work because he wants to show me his real life dagger skill level.

I hope all of you who play World of Warcraft, or any of Blizzard’s other games will be posting under an assumed name. I think we’re going to find that World of Warcraft is played by a lot of Ben Dovers.

There's Funcom In My ArenaNet, And I Like It.


You drunk Scottish cyclops.

Those of you in the Age of Conan beta will probably remember various nights spent sitting in a bar, knocking back an ale, and beating the crap out of your up-to-then drinking partner. Of course, along with a few other features heavily advertised (npc raids on player villages, among others) for launch, are well aware that two years after Age of Conan’s launch, most of these features are set for a release date one week after never. Drunken bar fights were silently swept under the rug and haven’t been heard from since, at least until now.

But not in the game you’d expect. Taking a cue and miss from Funcom, ArenaNet announced that Guild Wars 2 will feature drunken bar brawls. Speaking in a recent developers blog, you will not only be able to get insanely drunk, but the ale you drink will have various effects, including a noxious belch that poisons anyone drunk enough to stumble into its cloud. Smash your stein over someone’s head, and use the remaining shard as a shank! Kick someone into a table, splintering it, and then beat them to unconsciousness with the pieces of the table. The goal is to play dirty, you’re in a drunken bar fight, not Sir Lancelot’s jousting academy!

ArenaNet wants bar fights to feel like true bar fights, otherwise “why bother having them?” Of course, there are more lighthearted activities to be had in your city of choice.

More on Guild Wars 2 as it appears.