Author: Admin

[Community] The Demand For Legacy Servers


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Free servers are the MMO equivalent of regular game piracy, they’re likely never going to fully go away and developers have different approaches on how to deal with them. The gaming community is split on how private servers should be regarded, and there are plenty of legitimate and illegitimate reasons for their existence.

If Nostalrius has proven anything, it is that vanilla World of Warcraft continues to be the holy grail of a large number of MMO gamers. It proves that there is at least heavy interest in the concept. Whether or not those players, plus the unknown quantity of gamers who want vanilla WoW but won’t play on pirate servers, will translate into a profitable venture is unknown, but that’s just it: The number is unknown.

To not misquote Blizzard, they never really talk about profitability when it comes to classic servers. Rather, the answer is generally about artistic vision and supporting the live game going forward. I have little doubt that an official classic server with the Blizzard seal of “this won’t get shut down pending a lawsuit” would be profitable, and I’m sure that their bean counters have come to the same conclusion. So the only choices are artistic vision and technical feasibility.

On the technical side, it’s hard to argue that such a venture would be impossible. It’s been done, numerous times by people working out of their house, in fact it’s been done better. Nostalrius was capable of supporting a massive number of players in a server.

I suspect, and don’t hold me to this, that a classic World of Warcraft server is and for years has been on Blizzard’s potential project list. When Jagex launched RuneScape 3 along with the Evolution of Combat update and players began leaving the game, I suspected that if the population dropped enough that they would launch a classic version of RuneScape 2. Lo and behold, I was right. I feel that World of Vanillacraft doesn’t stray too far from that theory.

Because creative vision doesn’t mean jack when your subscriber numbers are falling and your customers are badgering you to please let them give you money. Right now, Blizzard is in a place where the ebb and flow of expansions and microtransactions are keeping that ace firmly placed up Blizzard’s sleeve. Should those sales dip, I have a feeling Blizzard will come across a functioning version from 2005-2006, and all of a sudden those claims of artistic vision will have been just a prank, bro.

And just as with Old School RuneScape, I suspect that WoW Vanilla would do amazingly well within its first months, enough to fund the hiring of dedicated developers and get the content train rolling in a way that didn’t diminish from the old school style of play. You’d gradually see small tweaks and bug fixes turn into regular content updates, kind of like Old School RuneScape, and who knows? In a few more months its population could rival that of the main game.

But, like I said, we’ll never know until Blizzard tries. Jagex has Old School RuneScape, Daybreak Game Company gave its blessing to Project 99, hasn’t sued the Star Wars Galaxies emulator, Lineage II has its classic servers, etc.

I’m not saying Blizzard is obligated to provide a classic server, but never say never.

RuneScape Shuttering Perpetually Busted Mini-Game


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Say goodbye to your underground cat-fighting ring because it is being removed from RuneScape this week. Rat Pits, a mini-game first introduced in 2005, is widely regarded as RuneScape’s worst mini-game and has been mostly abandoned for years. The premise is simple: Cats were the first pets introduced to RuneScape, so players could take them to rat pits and compete against other cat owners in whose pet could kill the most rats within a certain amount of time.

How do you make such a simple concept unappealing? Allow your cats to die. For what was a pretty significant time investment, your cat could die and unlike players would die permanently. That meant going back to Gertrude and starting all over from the kitten stage. The rewards were almost nonexistent, a paltry sum of coins, with the possible penalty for losing being grinding out another cat.

It also doesn’t help that Rat Pits has been the cause of several game-breaking bugs in the past, from allowing players to massacre the pets of others unimpeded, to duplicate items, and more.

Mod Kelpie posted on Twitter to tell players to get in before tomorrow’s update.

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(Source: Twitter)

Nosgoth Shutting Down Next Month


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Nosgoth will shut down its servers at the end of May, according to a post on the official website. Anyone who made a purchase after March 1st will be automatically refunded as soon as possible, likely within the next two weeks.

It is with a heavy heart and an immense sense of sadness that we must announce the end of Nosgoth’s development. Servers will continue to run until 31st May 2016, during which time you will be able to play the game as normal. After that date, Nosgoth will be taken offline for the last time.

Nosgoth is a team-based shooter based on the Legacy of Kain series, launched on Steam in 2015. Steam Charts shows an average of one thousand concurrent players over the past few months. The announcement doesn’t mention much about the future of the Legacy of Kain series, other than to say that it independent of Nosgoth’s performance.

(Source: Nosgoth)

Warframe Celebrates Three Years With Pharaoh Update


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Digital Extremes is celebrating three years of Warframe with events and giveaways. Playstation 4 and Xbox One users can log in today and enjoy the new Sands of Inaros content update, bringing with it new game modes, a new quest, a new Warframe, new weapons, and more. Console players who log in over the weekend will also find anniversary goodies in their account:

All console players that login to Warframe between April 8 at 2 p.m. ET and April 15 at 2 p.m. ET will automatically receive the Dex Sybaris, a Lotus-themed lever action rifle that’s equal parts elegance and executioner. Players will also receive the first and second anniversary gifts from previous years, the Dex Furis and Dex Dakra. Each is equipped with a Catalyst, includes a Weapon Slot and is ready for action.

More information can be found on the official website. Digital Extremes has also provided this gigantic infographic.

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Blizzard Threatens Private Server, Refuses Demands For Classic Server


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Blizzard Entertainment is in the news today over its legal threats against one of the most popular classic server emulators available (or at least that was available). The server group, known as Nostalrius, played host to over one hundred fifty thousand active players and nearly one million accounts, shut down its servers after receiving a letter from Blizzard’s legal department, warning them of real legal action should the server remain in operation. The owners of the server have also promised to release the server code to the public to create more private servers.

The news of the server shutting down has rekindled public demand for a classic World of Warcraft official server, one that can operate without the threat of being shut down by Blizzard’s legal force. In the past, Blizzard has refused to open a private server over their devotion to the live game and belief that such a project would not bring in much in terms of revenue. Considering the number of people playing on the Nostalrius’ service, a number of gamers might disagree with that sentiment.

(Source: Massively)

Neverwinter Still Addressing Level Grind


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Despite its advances over the past months, Perfect World Entertainment is still working on balancing the level 60-70 experience in Neverwinter to be less of a grind. Today’s update on the official blog focuses on the Elemental Evil campaign quests:

We’ve been analyzing the current state of content from 60-70 and we agreed with the sentiment that it felt too grindy compared to the 1-60 experience. We knew we had to do something to improve the experience, but the big question was, how? We had to be very careful how we changed the experience, because it’s a massive task and affects existing players.

The plan of action goes as such: Elemental Evil was introduced as a retroactive quest, one that players could start at level 60 and use as an alternate form of leveling. Rather than having the campaign use repeatable quests, players will run through the campaign once. In fact, vigilance quests are leaving entirely with the only repeatable quests in their respective areas unlocking once the player has completed all four zones.

Neverwinter will have a double experience weekend beginning April 7th and running through the 11th.

(Source: Neverwinter)

Elder Scrolls Online Is “Huge and Thriving”


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In celebration of Elder Scrolls Online’s second anniversary, game director Matt Firor has taken to the official website to reminisce on the past two years. In addition to showcasing his own character’s progress since the 2014 launch, Firor also noted that the community is ‘huge and thriving,’ a statement that will no doubt be questioned in the comment section below.

Over the last year, we have grown our family by leaps and bounds. We launched the console versions of ESO, which opened the game up to millions more new players. We added three DLCs’ worth of content, allowing players to explore the Imperial City, Wrothgar, and Hew’s Bane. And we will continue to make the game better every day. Our population is huge and thriving, and we are happy to share our enthusiasm and nostalgia with you.

Cue the demands for hard numbers in three, two, one…

(Source: Elder Scrolls Online)

Black Desert Online Community Votes In Pathing


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Daum has posed a simple question to its players: Would you like it to be possible to auto-path allowing players to level up stats while away from their keyboard?

We wanted to put up a simple poll to get an idea of how many people would like to see the Auto-Path Loop feature added to our version.  For those who have not seen this feature, it allows you to make a series of marks on the map that create a green pathing line, once laid out your character will follow this course repeatedly.  If you do this with a mount you are given the option to auto eat carrots to keep your horses stamina up.  Overall this mechanic allows you to level your breath, strength, and horse while AFK.

So far, 84% of the voters have replied yes, more than two thousand as of this article being published. The proposal has been applauded by many as an alternative to reduce the tedium of training the associated stats, as well as allowing merchants to train horses to higher levels to make them more available on the open market.

(Source: Black Desert Online)

Crowdfunding Fraudsters: Life Is Strange 2


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Update: And the campaign has been shut down.

2a:  a person who is not what he or she pretends to be :impostor; also:  one who defrauds:cheat

Today’s Crowdfunding Fraudster comes to us from Kickstarter, for Life Is Strange 2. You may be thinking right now, “Connor, Life Is Strange was a completely legitimate game. It was published by Square Enix for crying out loud. How could a crowdfunding effort to make a sequel be fraudulent?”

The answer is simple: This campaign isn’t being run by developer Dontnod Entertainment, nor is it manned by publisher Square Enix. This campaign was started by a fan Scott Ashby, trying to raise twenty thousand dollars to persuade Dontnod to make the sequel a reality. According to the campaign page, there are two options should this be successfully funded: Give the money to Dontnod to fund the sequel or use the money to buy the rights to Life is Strange and hand it over to another developer to make said sequel.

Despite the money going to someone else to create the game, the campaign creator has already made some promises on how the game will be including 16 different endings, a musical mini-game, and other game features. Quite presumptive to think you can raise nowhere near the amount of money that such a game would require to develop, but to also hold said money ransom unless your demands are met. Whoever donates at the $1,000 level will be allowed to write the backstory for Principal Wells with every $1,000 donation after that being allowed to voice a character. Because that’s exactly what you want in a story, character plots that are essentially fanfiction and amateur voice actors.

So obviously the campaign is filled with as much ambition as it is lacking self awareness or a basic understanding of how the gaming industry works. Ashby does not have the rights to the game, is not making anywhere near enough money to buy said rights, can’t compel the developer anyway, and in some distant parallel universe where this campaign had any hope of succeeding, could simply walk away with twenty grand in his pocket and say that at least he tried.

Ultimately the sincerity of the campaign creator is irrelevant to the ultimate outcome: That backers will not see a return on their investment, and fans of the game could be tricked into thinking that this is somehow legitimate. The sooner that this project gets shut down, the better.

(Source: Kickstarter)

In Plain English: Bassett V. Electronic Arts Dismissed


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It’s been over a year since we last checked in on the curious case of Justin Bassett and Electronic Arts, so a brief history may be in order:

Justin Bassett sued Electronic Arts over the company shutting down their game servers even though the games are still available in stores with online play advertised on the box. EA attempted to take the case into arbitration, citing their EULA, and Bassett argued that the arbitration clause was not valid as it was added later on. EA argued that Bassett agreed to the new EULA when he attempted to log into the online servers. Last year, the judge sided with Electronic Arts and threw the case into arbitration.

As I said back then, we will probably never know what the final ruling was as arbitration results are almost always sealed to the public. What we do know is that, as of last month, the case has been dismissed with prejudice.

Plaintiff Justin T. Bassett (“Plaintiff”) and defendant Electronic Arts Inc., the parties to the above-captioned action, stipulate and agree, pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a)(1)(A)(ii), that Plaintiff hereby does and shall voluntarily dismiss the above-captioned action, and all of the claims within it, with prejudice.

What does that mean? Dismissal with prejudice bars Bassett from bringing an action on the same claim in the future.