2010 – Page 50 – MMO Fallout

Mythic Taking Back Dark Age of Camelot

After eight years of publishing Dark Age of Camelot, European GOA will be handing the title back to its developers, Mythic Entertainment. Mythic will be handling the maintenance of the European servers starting in a couple of weeks. As for information on times, character transfers, and versions, localizations, and other details, Mythic had this to say:

“We are currently working with GOA to take over operation of the game and its European community, and will soon be providing details about pressing player questions such as existing subscriptions, character transfers, game versions, localization, and more.”
-Andy Belford on Dark Age of Camelot Europe

Luckily, unlike last year’s move of Archlord from Codemasters, this move isn’t marred with controversy (Unless you include the usual claims that this, much like any other news, is a sign of the game’s coming demise). I am interested in seeing how Mythic will be handling the transfers, although my guess is that players will have the option to transfer characters over.

As with anything, anything can happen. More on Dark Age of Camelot moving back in with its parents as it develops.

City of Heroes: Keep Your Accounts Safe

2010-01-06 23:07:52 — Ilamo cannot protect from those he cannot see...

Another day, another development in the ongoing NCsoft security issue. Amidst widespread fear of account theft, security holes, and random account logging, with Guild Wars and Aion leading the pack, it was only a matter of time before City of Heroes joined the pack warning users to increase their awareness. The reminder is standard trade: Keep your account safe, don’t share your details with others, change your passwords regularly, and try to stop downloading porn from shady websites.

“After investigating certain claims regarding current account security we discovered no malicious compromises having occurred in the manner described.”

I have an Aion player with an inactive, looted account that would disagree with you, but I do understand that Aion and NCsoft Master Account business is out of the hands of City of Heroes and the Paragaon Studios that develops it. Oddly enough, when snapping the screenshot above, I received a spam email from a gold farming advertiser. The account name: Aion Wars. Awfully convenient.

Oh well. I’m not going to saddle Paragon Studios with an issue NCsoft should be dealing with. Again, best of luck to those whose accounts have been compromised, and more on the 2009 NCsoft Account Issue as it appears.

NCSecurity: Phantom Hacker Steals Aion Account

G_Unit_pictures — G-Unit doesn't handle account theft.

(Important) Continue reading down to the bottom of the article. There is a follow up link at the bottom to a more recent explanation.

So I’ve been following the recent account thefts over at NCsoft (namely Aion and Guild Wars) pretty closely recently, not only because I play City of Heroes and if this account theft issue bleeds to other games it could affect me (gasp), but because the stories just keep getting stranger and stranger.

Case in point: An Aion account that was reportedly stolen, and looted of all of its items. The password was not reportedly changed, but the account was cleared of all items. In itself, this story doesn’t sound very exciting. Hundreds of accounts over a variety of MMOs get the same treatment every month. The account theft took place on December 19th and 21st, but take a good look at the account subscription history:

Analysis after the break…

Continue reading “NCSecurity: Phantom Hacker Steals Aion Account”

Champions Online Unlimited Demo Getting More Unlimited?

screenshot_2009-08-18-13-43-41 — No longer the last thing demo players will see...

Earlier last year, slightly over two weeks ago to be exact, I reported the announcement that Champions Online would be joining the unlimited beta group, releasing the tutorial for free forever. Players have the opportunity to play through the first fifteen levels, fight off the Qulaar invasion, and apparently making me look like a bribed spokesperson, or possibly a fanboy:

“At least with Champions Online, you’re not seeing the best the game has to offer, suckering you into buying the title, followed by immediate disappointment when you realize that you just bought a house based on the mailbox and the garage door, to find the rest of the building had been burned down in a fire.”
-Omali, MMO Fallout, on Champions Online

My apologies to Age of Conan and Warhammer Online fans, and my condolences to the families of the keyboards you broke in the process of writing me hatemail.

But there are more important things afoot! The MMO Fallout super sleuths (myself stalking dev posts on various forums) were able to come up with this quote by Cryptic Studios’ Daeke, showing that the company is giving strong consideration to opening up more of the game for the unlimited demo’ers to play.

That quote, of course, after the break.

Continue reading “Champions Online Unlimited Demo Getting More Unlimited?”

Cryptic Wants Your Feedback on Christmas Event…

screenshot_2009-09-13-13-20-53 — likely won't listen to it...

Part of my job here on MMO Fallout is to point out the flaws in developers, and in today’s case: Cryptic’s major issue is that, for how much they hype up their player communication, they do not listen to players. I said this several months ago (You Have Public Tests, USE THEM) after problems arose concerning easily fixed issues with the Halloween event.

The issues that arose out of the Halloween event were easily fixed, and many of them were fixed that night. The most ridiculous, however, was the two hour countdown that each portal had on it until the next opportunity to participate in the event, meaning players spent more time hopping instances hoping that their portal of choice wasn’t taken. Issues also arose with perks not being handed out correctly; I myself missed half of the Halloween perks, despite several attempts at the undead heroes, because the system simply refused to acknowledge my participation in the fight.

And here comes the Christmas event, after the break.

Continue reading “Cryptic Wants Your Feedback on Christmas Event…”

Funcom: Going Casual

With Funcom working on an expansion to Age of Conan, as well as the upcoming The Secret World, and the engine change to Anarchy Online, I admit I was both surprised and concerned when the announcement came that Funcom’s new division, Sweet Robot, would be working on a kid’s MMO: PetsVs Monsters. After playing Pets Vs Monsters: The Beta, the concern has relegated itself to my lower intestinal track.

But who knew? The same company that brought us layoffs and greatly lowered revenue is also bringing us more casual titles! Granted, this is nothing new. Back in a time when Ritual Entertainment made great first person shooters, they were gobbled up by Mumbojumbo and are now creating casual titles. Funcom announced that they have even more casual kid MMOs planned for the future, with Pets Vs Monsters in open beta currently.

Continue reading “Funcom: Going Casual”

Fallen Earth: Take A Note, NCsoft.

If Funcom's money was gold-backed... — Fallen Earth will take you to the bank.

What is the difference between Fallen Earth and Aion? Ok, sure, there’s the wings, the combat, the currency, the crafting system, the point of view, the lore, the engine, and pretty much everything else. But what is really different about Fallen Earth? Given up? Fallen Earth doesn’t have the same problem with gold farmers that Aion does.

But how does Fallen Earth do it, you may say? In a recent interview with Massively.com, Project Manager Colin Dwan had these points to make, which he did after this break.

Continue reading “Fallen Earth: Take A Note, NCsoft.”

World of Warcraft: Misses You, China

duke-nukem — Minister of Culture, at your service.

Hello, China! Enjoying your World of Warcraft? Between the switch from operators (The9 to Netease), subsequent banning, delay of The Burning Crusade expansion (yes, I said Burning Crusade), reopening under a test phase (no new registrations), and subsequent rebanning, it is unlikely anyone in China did much enjoying of World of Warcraft. China’s General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) has required that Blizzard and Netease change some content in the game, not specifying what. Certain content already altered in WoW China includes piles of bones being changed to piles of sacks, and the undead showing less bone and more skin. Players do not leave corpses, but leave behind gravestones. Players and monsters also spew green and black blood.

More after the break…

Continue reading “World of Warcraft: Misses You, China”

Your NCsoft Master Account: A Ticking Time Bomb?

I’ve been sitting on this article for a while now, and it seems like the best time as ever to put it forward. NCsoft is currently investigating heavy allegations of massive security holes in the master account system. As I’ve reported before, the number of stolen Guild Wars and Aion accounts has gone up dramatically in the past few months, which NC originally pointed towards a compromised fansite as the source of the theft.

Definitely the most serious, and frightening, of the allegations posted on Guild Wars Guru was that it doesn’t take any skill to hack an NCsoft master account. In fact, according to users, all it takes is spamming log in/log out, and eventually (through the process of happenstance and timing) you may find yourself logged into someone else’s account, able to change passwords, jot down personal details, and clean out accounts without ever being detected.

More after the break…

Continue reading “Your NCsoft Master Account: A Ticking Time Bomb?”

Dungeon Runners: What Happened

“Dungeon Runners just isn’t cutting the mustard. If she were a ship, she’d be taking on water. Yeah, she’s been taking on water for a long time now. Are my cryptic references too hard to decipher? The game just isn’t profitable. And, the first rule of business is to be profitable!”
-Stephen Nichols, NCsoft, on Dungeon Runners.

Today marks the first day of a new year, as well as the death of two MMOs: Dungeon Runners and Metaplace. Dungeon Runners shut down earlier this morning following an event that saw a giant bomb explode in the game’s main city: Townston. Here at MMO Fallout, “What Happened” has to be my least favorite section as, despite popular opinion, I don’t get my jollies from watching companies fall.

Continue reading “Dungeon Runners: What Happened”

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