Author: Admin

Announcing Flying Ostrich Media


Hello MMO fans. I’d like to take some time to point you to a new venture I have started with a friend, called Flying Ostrich Media. FOM is similar to MMO Fallout, except it will function as a general gaming news website rather than focusing on a specific genre like MMO Fallout does. We will be focusing on news, previews, reviews, and editorials, as well as (hopefully) videos and a podcast. to go along with. To be clear, nothing is happening to MMO Fallout. I will still be updating here just as much as I did before.

Check us out at: http://flyingostrichmedia.com/

Brilliant! Aion Performs Weekly Sweep of Block List


Don’t you get tired of blocking people who are harassing you, only to later wonder if it is safe to remove them from your list? What about gold farmer accounts, how can you be sure that they haven’t been banned? They could be waiting just around the corner to surprise you with cheap gold at fast delivery speeds and customer satisfaction guaranteed. And no one needs that after a long day at the Pottery Barn picking out new bed sheets. Luckily, NCSoft has just the idea: Periodically sweeping banned accounts from everyone’s ignore list.

Starting with tomorrow’s maintenance, every week we will be clearing players’ block lists of permanently banned accounts! This means that banned accounts–including RMT spammers!–will no longer take up space in your block list! We will continue to perform this function every week.

(Source: NCSoft)

Darkfall: Unholy Wars Will Feature Safe Zones For All, Safe Cities For Reds


In thirteen days, Darkfall will shut down and make way for the launch of Darkfall: Unholy Wars on November 20th. As launch of Unholy Wars comes closer, Aventurine has been letting information trickle out via the Epic Blog, videos posted on Youtube, and through interviews with varying websites. In an interview with MMORPG.com, Aventurine discusses the new combat mechanics, boating, skill training, and a few other topics. At the end of the interview, the topic turns to the flagging system, detailing Aventurine’s new plans for red-flagged (criminal) players and the introduction of safe zones:

In reality we are keeping the whole turning red situation when you kill other players in place but turning red does no longer mean you get attacked by NPC guard towers. It is just there to indicate to other players you might not be someone they can trust. What they do with the information is up to them. However because this would make the entire world rather chaotic we felt we needed to create some areas where players can perform some basic activities in peace. All the racial capitals and satellite faction cities as well as surrounding areas where players will make their initial steps have all PvP actions disabled.

This change will no doubt annoy some of Darkfall’s more hardcore group. You can read the rest of the interview at the link below, it contains quite a bit of information.

(Source: MMORPG.com)

Questing On The Side With Side Quest


When we last saw Side Quest and Fractal Entertainment, the fledgling browser MMO was busy licking its wounds from a low turnout in its recent Kickstarter campaign. Of the ten thousand desired by Fractal Entertainment, the Kickstarter funding managed to bring in only two. However, not willing to give up, the folks at Fractal have released a playable version of Side Quest on the main website with the obvious hope that potential players put off by the “investor” phase will give the game a try and see its real potential. So over the past couple of weeks, I have dived into Side Quest, and I think it is about time to give my impressions on the game as a point of concept, not necessarily dealing with bugs (this is nowhere near completion, after all) and what not.

Jumping In…

Side Quest is a goofy, self-parodying side scroller with an equally ridiculous crew that makes me pine for the days of Dungeon Runners and gathering quests at Pwnston so I can take my +2 hammer of seal clubbing and just beat the crap out of a bunch of mobs. Making good on its Kickstarter advertising, Side Quest features a whole lot of single player, from the random fields that you will run through to gather gold and experience, and the quest story line that actually gives a bit of diversity and challenge. At the beginning of the game, following a short tutorial, you will have to choose one of five characters as your “main” character. This person is directly controlled and cannot be removed from the party at any point. The other four can be mixed and matched to your pleasure, and fall into the RPG archetypes.

Side Quest is controlled Patapon style: Your party of three moves through the level on its own, attacking enemies as you see them. While your two NPCs will do their jobs by themselves, your main character is the one that levels up and gains new abilities and stats. If you want the game to be easier, I suggest taking Krug (the tank) as your main role. If you want the game to be incredibly difficult, take on the role of healer. Then understand why your healer curses you out in World of Warcraft. Abilities and potions are lined up in the hotbar and activated with the number keys.

The loot system derives from some Facebook games. Each level contains a progress bar that fills as you complete the level over and over again, unlocking new difficulty levels as you go. When an enemy mob dies, it explodes in a shower of gold and experience that must be picked up with a simple hovering of the mouse. Chests drop additional experience and gold and are activated with a simple click of the mouse. While there are plenty of “filler” levels that are good for gold and experience and equipment boosts, the actual story quests are where Fractal Entertainment are showing off their creativity.

There is one quest, for example, that has you traveling down a river with your party. You must steer away from hazards while simultaneously beating away the tentacles of a large octopus attacking your raft. Steering is easy as clicking on the correct button, but you must manage between beating back the tentacles, steering, and repairing damage. On another quest, you are tasked with moving forward in a mess of bushes. Whenever you attack the bushes, creatures come from behind and you must turn around in order to fight them (which slows your progress). This one took me a couple of times to beat, as your healer (who is normally in the back) is constantly exposed to danger. You have to balance forward movement with keeping yourself from being overwhelmed from behind.

There are plenty of other activities already in Side Quest. You can head over to the arena (pictured in the first shot) and battle other player’s crews for ranking and arena points which can be used on potions and equipment. There are a number of daily quests available as you travel around and gain access to new areas and quest hubs. Fractal has promised that more cooperative and competitive multiplayer features will be coming at some point, but for right now the arena square you off against another player’s team controlled by AI. The other player is not actually at the computer. You can also play a game of Card Slayers, an interesting card mini-game.

The problem that Side Quest has is that the very early portion of the game is hand holding to its greatest extent. In other games, players exaggerate by saying that the game can be played on auto-pilot mode. In Side Quest, apart from picking up loot and experience that drops on the ground, the very early levels actually are on auto-pilot. The characters move themselves, attack by themselves (until you start getting special abilities), and heal by themselves. And the initial areas are so easy that all I had to do for the first hour or so was to click to enter the level and wave the mouse around to pick up loot. It’s easy to misinterpret this as representative of the rest of the game and lose interest.

In short: Side Quest isn’t a half-assed indie World of Warcraft clone, nor is it an open world sandbox MMO. In fact it isn’t really much of an MMO at this juncture. But what Side Quest has shown is already becoming a fun, unique experience, and the development team is very passionate about their game. You can play Side Quest at http://www.side-quest.com/

Bioware Isn't Afraid To Re-Restrict You Freeloaders


Good news, free players! In a recent forum post by Lead Designer Damion Schubert, based on feedback via the public test realm (where free to play is currently undergoing trial), Bioware has decided to ease up on some of the restrictions on free players. You will now be able to enjoy a second quick bar, as well as five warzones instead of three per week. Additionally, Cartel Coin item locks will be reduced to three days for free players and two for subscribers. But don’t think that these changes are permanent. If Bioware gets even the slightest hint that you are cheapening the experience for their subscribers, all cards are on the cutting board:

That being said, one of our golden rules is that the Free-to-Play experience should not cheapen the experience for paying subscribers. If it turns out that the Free-to-Play conversion results in a degraded Warzone experience once we go live for subscribers, you can rest assured that we will quickly make adjustments to the system to ensure that subscribers have an optimal experience.

With the competition of so many free to play MMOs, The Old Republic still lands somewhere on the more restrictive side towards free players, like limiting the player to two hotbars. The Old Republic will feature a “preferred” player status for previous subscribers and those who purchase something from the cash shop, that removes more of the limitations.

(Source: The Old Republic)

Bioware Isn’t Afraid To Re-Restrict You Freeloaders


Good news, free players! In a recent forum post by Lead Designer Damion Schubert, based on feedback via the public test realm (where free to play is currently undergoing trial), Bioware has decided to ease up on some of the restrictions on free players. You will now be able to enjoy a second quick bar, as well as five warzones instead of three per week. Additionally, Cartel Coin item locks will be reduced to three days for free players and two for subscribers. But don’t think that these changes are permanent. If Bioware gets even the slightest hint that you are cheapening the experience for their subscribers, all cards are on the cutting board:

That being said, one of our golden rules is that the Free-to-Play experience should not cheapen the experience for paying subscribers. If it turns out that the Free-to-Play conversion results in a degraded Warzone experience once we go live for subscribers, you can rest assured that we will quickly make adjustments to the system to ensure that subscribers have an optimal experience.

With the competition of so many free to play MMOs, The Old Republic still lands somewhere on the more restrictive side towards free players, like limiting the player to two hotbars. The Old Republic will feature a “preferred” player status for previous subscribers and those who purchase something from the cash shop, that removes more of the limitations.

(Source: The Old Republic)

RuneScape's Infrastructure Needs Work, Jagex Admits


Consider this a serendipitous moment. Jagex’s latest bonus experience weekend has come and gone, and it was certainly an eye opening event for the developer. While previous weekends ran as members only events with the experience bonus degrading over time, this weekend the event was open to everyone, at a flat rate all weekend. In fact, as Jagex points out in the weekend wrap-up, over 4.4 million hours were played collectively. Unfortunately for the players, the weekend of fighting, looting, farming, fishing, and cooking was held back by an uninvited guest. Players experienced great difficulty logging in over the weekend, and those who were able to log in were hindered by severe lag which lasted the entire weekend.

This level of activity was unprecedented, and at peak times some worlds experienced notable lag. The log-in servers also felt the strain, meaning that some users had difficulty logging in or switching worlds. While we kept everything running over the course of the 48 hours, we’re aware that this was frustrating to those of you who were affected.

Luckily, Jagex is treating this as a learning experience. As a result, the team is working hard to upgrade the game’s infrastructure and optimize the engine. And hopefully the next event will not face the same issues.

(Source: RuneScape website)

RuneScape’s Infrastructure Needs Work, Jagex Admits


Consider this a serendipitous moment. Jagex’s latest bonus experience weekend has come and gone, and it was certainly an eye opening event for the developer. While previous weekends ran as members only events with the experience bonus degrading over time, this weekend the event was open to everyone, at a flat rate all weekend. In fact, as Jagex points out in the weekend wrap-up, over 4.4 million hours were played collectively. Unfortunately for the players, the weekend of fighting, looting, farming, fishing, and cooking was held back by an uninvited guest. Players experienced great difficulty logging in over the weekend, and those who were able to log in were hindered by severe lag which lasted the entire weekend.

This level of activity was unprecedented, and at peak times some worlds experienced notable lag. The log-in servers also felt the strain, meaning that some users had difficulty logging in or switching worlds. While we kept everything running over the course of the 48 hours, we’re aware that this was frustrating to those of you who were affected.

Luckily, Jagex is treating this as a learning experience. As a result, the team is working hard to upgrade the game’s infrastructure and optimize the engine. And hopefully the next event will not face the same issues.

(Source: RuneScape website)

Age of Wushu Will Sell Abilities, At Least In China


I had a chance to see Age of Wushu at New York Comic Con, which intrepid sleuths should take to mean “there was a line about two hours long to play it.” The people I did manage to watch play while staring over their shoulders, however, seemed to be having a fun time. Regardless, news broke this week from Age of Wushu in China that the developers have installed two cash shop exclusive skills. While it is unlikely that this system will be anything but popular in China, Snail Game is walking on eggshells if they expect the same system to work in the western hemisphere once Age of Wushu hits North America and Europe.

For their defense, the two skills are mostly for cosmetic reasons, versions of other skills that simply have better animations. RuneScape does this in a similar fashion by selling premium animations for actions like chopping wood and cooking food. According to players in the Chinese game, the skills aren’t very useful barring perhaps one or two, and players are buying them for little reason other than to feel special. While Snail Games has not dived into the realm of selling advantages, gamers should certainly keep an eye on the game’s Chinese servers.

Age of Wushu is a level-less, skill based game.

(Source: MMO Culture)

Gamigo's New Owner Should Focus On Advertising


Pop quiz: Why would a newspaper publisher have interest in an MMO developer? That is rhetorical, I can’t give an honest answer either. Regardless, back in 2008, for some reason newspaper publisher Axelrod Springer AG purchased the majority stake in Gamigo. Since then Gamigo has published some very high quality games, from Jagged Alliance Online to Black Prophecy, and a number of other games. Unfortunately as the communities of many of Gamigo’s games will tell you, few of the titles in their library have had an opportunity to shine, and some have even been shut down, due to a simple lack of exposure to the marketplace. Ask around and odds are not a whole lot of people will know that there exists a Jagged Alliance MMO, or Dungeon Empires, or that Black Prophecy was one of the best looking free to play MMOs on the market.

So I can only hope that someone from Samarion, who recently took over Gamigo, reads this and understands a simple fact: You have to make people aware that your games and company exist. Throw some money into advertising, get your name out there, and show everyone what you’ve got.

(Source: Gamasutra)