Author: Admin

Everquest’s Massive FAQ: Making Sense of It


Everquest goes free to play this Friday and in preparation Sony has released a Frequently Asked Question list that covers everything, and I do mean everything. The list is enormous, and many questions overlap one another, so I’ve decided to create a list to consolidate most of the important points.

See the entire FAQ here.

  • A welcome pack will be given to all players.
  • Veteran rewards will accumulate on all accounts.
  • There will be multi-month subscriptions at a reduced rate. Existing subscriptions will become gold.
  • You need a reoccurring subscription for the monthly 500 station cash. If you have station pass, the EQ and EQ2 monthly cash does not stack. Yearly subscribers will receive 500 station cash monthly.
  • You will receive 500 station cash from each game if you subscribe separately (no station pass), but this is not advisable.
  • Silver membership is an upgrade in the store for 500 station cash, it is a separate purchase and should not be confused with “spend 500 station cash.”
  • All accounts will be upgraded to House of Thule, gold members will still have to buy Veil of Alaris if they haven’t already.
  • Alternate advancement point cap can be raised.
  • Legends of Norrath cards will still be handed out each month.

Free Limitations:

  • If you allow your subscription to expire, your gold races/classes will be locked. You will have to resubscribe or purchase to unlock those characters.
  • If you purchase Veil of Alaris, you still have access to it if your subscription lapses.
  • Free/Silver can buy from the bazaar but cannot use “trade mode.”
  • If you drop back to free with gold rank spells, you will keep the spells but they will only have rank 1 effectiveness.
  • You will not lose any platinum if you are over the limit and lapse, you will simply not be able to gain more currency.
  • Prestige gear (gold only) will not be lost on lapse of subscription, it cannot be used.
  • House of Thule augments are prestige, this will change when free to play comes.

RuneScape Free Trial Returns?


Last month I posted an article about a 14-day membership for new accounts. The trial was unannounced and held rather ambiguous requirements as to who could participate (at the time it appeared to be UK-only), and remained unmentioned by Jagex until later in the month when Mod Hippo posted to announce that the trial had ended.

With today’s update to RuneScape, it appears that the trial is back. Upon character creation, users are reporting seeing this:

I am checking up on the RuneScape forums to see if I can find any comment by Jagex staff and will update with any more information.

Play The Old Republic Free, March 15th Through 19th


You know you’ve been wanting to try out those Old Republics that the kids all seem to be getting into these days. But you don’t want to spend sixty bucks on a game client for a title you might not enjoy? Well, Bioware has your back. Starting March 15th and going through March 19th, you will be able to play The Old Republic absolutely free of charge. There are restrictions: Level is capped to 15 (40 for trade skills) and bound to origin/capital worlds. Weekend pass holders will also be restricted from general/trade/pvp chat, cannot send or reply to email, use the galactic trade network.

It is worth noting that this is not a welcome back weekend, and the offer does not extend if you already own The Old Republic. Prior subscribers who have allowed their payments to lapse are not included in this weekend. If you purchase The Old Republic during this time, the start of your subscription will cancel any remaining time in the weekend pass, so wait until the 19th to redeem your code.

Also, there is a small note that Bioware reserves the right to delete trial characters on abandoned accounts without notice, although there are no plans to do so at this moment.

No, there are currently no plans to delete characters created as part of the Friends of Star Wars: The Old Republic Trial. Should your friend decide to purchase the Game, their trial characters will still be on their account. We do however reserve the right to delete trial characters on abandoned trial accounts without notice.

(Source: SWTOR website)

Need A Scroll of Resurrection? Comment Below


If you’re like me, you would like to have a scroll of resurrection for the Cataclysm upgrade, free level 80 character, etc, but don’t know anyone who still plays World of Warcraft. Luckily for myself, I’m already subscribed to the twelve month annual pass and ineligible for this promotion anyway, but as a service to our good friends out there MMO Fallout is offering scrolls of resurrection.

For me to send you a scroll of resurrection, submit your realm name and character name in the comment box below. I need both, and this will only work if your account expired before March 4, 2012, and the reward will be transferred once you purchase a subscription. Your comment will be held in moderation and will not be approved, your username/realm will remain private and only visible to myself.

Note: The invitations were working before, but it appears that they are now restricted to my area. North America/Canada/Latin American players only.

Mists of Pandaria Dropping Support For Windows 2000


I apologize for this article being about two months late, but in a post on the World of Warcraft forums, Blizzard has announced that in preparation for the launch of Mists of Pandaria later this year, World of Warcraft will no longer be compatible with the Windows 2000 operating system.

In preparation for the upcoming release of Mists of Pandaria, updates to World of Warcraft will no longer support Microsoft Windows 2000. Microsoft ceased support for this version of their operating system in 2010. Players still using Windows 2000 are encouraged to upgrade prior to the release of Mists of Pandaria.

According to a user on the same thread, World of Warcraft is still playable on Windows 2000 by replacing OS .dll files with other versions. As a developer, Blizzard is widely known for ensuring that their games work on as many computers as possible, going as far as including operating systems long after Microsoft had ceased support. Still, all good things must come to an end, and users will have to upgrade if they want to continue playing.

More on World of Warcraft as it appears.

Everquest II And Cancer: A Froglok's Story


This is a depressing post but I need some help.  My 6 yr old son has cancer and was recently given 6 – 12 weeks to live.

He has a frog that he likes to run around Tenebrous Tangle Island on; however, it is sparse and he has requested to add trees, fences, stairs, animals and all kinds of  other  items to make his  island fun and exciting.

Are there any decorators out there that would be willing to assist in adding these items (and any others their imagination poses) to help me make the island even more fun for him.  I don’t know how much I’ll be able to accomplish on my own while still providing him quality time to enjoy it.

Any takers, please send an ingame mail to any of my following toons:

Myrose, Mistymountain, Martine, Minuet

Thank you in advance.

MMO Fallout would like to extend our thoughts and wishes to Ribbitribbit and his family, and a big nod to the Everquest II community for joining together to create one of the best looking houses, and to Sony for promoting the event and getting more people involved.

If you want a link to the Everquest II thread, click above. Check out the video below for a slideshow made by user Cyliena. You can see videos of the actual Ribbitribbit’s reaction to the house here.

Everquest II And Cancer: A Froglok’s Story


This is a depressing post but I need some help.  My 6 yr old son has cancer and was recently given 6 – 12 weeks to live.

He has a frog that he likes to run around Tenebrous Tangle Island on; however, it is sparse and he has requested to add trees, fences, stairs, animals and all kinds of  other  items to make his  island fun and exciting.

Are there any decorators out there that would be willing to assist in adding these items (and any others their imagination poses) to help me make the island even more fun for him.  I don’t know how much I’ll be able to accomplish on my own while still providing him quality time to enjoy it.

Any takers, please send an ingame mail to any of my following toons:

Myrose, Mistymountain, Martine, Minuet

Thank you in advance.

MMO Fallout would like to extend our thoughts and wishes to Ribbitribbit and his family, and a big nod to the Everquest II community for joining together to create one of the best looking houses, and to Sony for promoting the event and getting more people involved.

If you want a link to the Everquest II thread, click above. Check out the video below for a slideshow made by user Cyliena. You can see videos of the actual Ribbitribbit’s reaction to the house here.

Ilum To Be Deprecated In 1.2, PvP In Warzones


If planets are children, Ilum is the son who plays by his own rules and inevitably is shot and killed at the end of the movie due to his own recklessness.  Since The Old Republic launched last December, the high level planet Ilum has been the subject of major bug and resource exploits, controversial bans, players grinding valor points by trading kills, and more headaches for Bioware.

As a result, Stephen Reid was seen on the Old Republic forums stating that Ilum will be deprecated in 1.2, to be reconstructed Vader-style to be more fun. Until then, rewards gained from Ilum will now be gained in warzones.

As we said during the Guild Summit, the PvP team is ‘going back to the drawing board’ with Ilum. That means they want to rework it to be fun and engaging. We accept there are issues with the current design and want to ensure that what we end up with is enjoyable for PvP fans. We have no ETA on when a redesigned Ilum might be available, but when we do have more news, we’ll share it.

In other news, Stephen Reid also mentioned that while Bioware would like to see a Mac client for The Old Republic at some point in the future, there are currently no plans to develop one.

(Source: TOR Forums)

TERA Beta Preview Part 3: Prisoner of Azerbaijan


[Editor’s Note: I highly recommend reading Part 2 before you read part 3]

I’ve mentioned before on Twitter and in discussions that I support a combination of a localized auction house and player owned shops that can be spread over the countryside. Granted, my business tactics come from a time where I could set up my shop NPC outside of a large raid dungeon and stock it with health/mana potions, buff potions, resurrection scrolls, etc, but that is a story for a different time.

For the beta, I want to say that it is working like a wonder. My Popori archer made it to level 16 this weekend without experiencing any bugs. There was one server outage this time around, but otherwise the connection in my server went along fine even at peak hours. Zones were once again overcrowded at all times of the day, however, but that is to be expected with only a few servers running and should space out at release.

First thing’s first: I was able to preview crafting and all I can say is that it is generic, but useful, and incredibly expensive. Buying the materials from the Weaponcraft materials vendor for my first weaponcraft quest cost me thirty thousand gold, of which I received one hundred back as payment for completing the quest. I did manage to get some real armor crafted, and considering the extremely slow rate at which looting mobs has been providing me with armor and weapons, crafting is looking to become a very useful asset.

Otherwise crafting is a simple method of gathering materials, buying stuff you can’t find on the field from vendors, and watching a progress bar load. And then once you no longer have use for a specific material, dump it on one of the ten thousand vendors carrying work orders for it. Crafting materials are in extremely high demand, and I hope that the outrageous prices that players are willing to throw for them in beta rolls over to the live game.

Leveling is still a rather mind-numbing grind of quests asking me to kill X-mobs, but I’ve noticed the inclusion of a new quest type: Guild quests. There are also special “suppression order” (repeatable) quests, and they were my number one annoyance this weekend. As far as I know, this is an intended “feature,” that in each quest you are generally required to obtain “proof” of a kill, meaning a drop. For myself, the drop rate on “proof” is so low that I managed to kill somewhere around forty centaur before the quest ticker moved up by one.

Again, I complain but TERA offers some of the most fun I’ve had in a recently released MMO. The action-combat is still the highlight, and in case the pictures don’t say it, the game still looks absolutely gorgeous. There are two closed beta tests left, with one open beta in April. I will see you then!

I received a few complaints last time for not talking about the lawsuit between NCSoft and Bluehole Studios, some people saying I shouldn’t be promoting TERA until the outcome of the trial is determined. One important factor you should know with the lawsuit against TERA is that even though NCSoft won in Korea, the game was still able to launch. I have very little doubt that even if NCSoft were to gain victory in the states that the court would actually shut down or prevent TERA from releasing.

gPotato Sunsetting Two More Games


For every day that goes by, the odds of successfully importing a free to play MMO from Asia to the west become more difficult. Several years ago, the only competition that a publisher had to contend with consisted of similar titles with an insane amount of grind, poor localization, and an almost nonexistent customer support to match the “pay to win” cash shop. Now that the Western free to play market is no longer a place where subscription games go to die quietly, the market has become ever more saturated with each passing fiscal quarter, and the market has only grown less tolerant of poor imports.

Last December, gPotato shut down Tales Runner. More recently, the publisher announced that on March 27th, two more games will meet the same fate. Luna and Prius Online will both be turned off at the end of March. To compensate players, gPotato is offering compensation packages including cash shop currency reimbursement to use on their other titles.

So far in 2012 we have seen or will see the launch of TERA, The Secret World, Guild Wars 2, Neverwinter, and a whole lot more. and the free to play conversions of Aion, Star Trek Online, and Everquest (to name three), and the deaths of Everquest Online Adventures, Earthrise, and Lego Universe (so far). In an already crowded and competitive market, developers and publishers must become increasingly vicious to keep their games afloat and to not be tossed to the sharks.