Author: Admin

Runes of Magic Coming To A Browser Near You!


of Magic

Back in the day, you may remember that Dungeon Runners was set to receive a transfer to the web browser shortly before death. Due to the nature of MMOs being the opera singers (read: fat) of the gaming genre, free to play titles have a harder time gaining new customers when that means convincing someone who is jumping from title to title to sit down for another multi-gigabyte game they may hate after five minutes. Now, games like Runescape and Battlestar Galactica and FusionFall work with small downloads, through the browser. Turbine, Sony, and Blizzard attempted to fix this as well by offering streaming downloads, where you only download a portion of the game, and the rest downloads as it is needed.

Last year in October, Frogster released a 3.5gig client for Runes of Magic, carrying the same functionality at a smaller size than its 7gig counterpart, as well as carrying higher optimization and better performance. Apparently this wasn’t far enough, as Frogster has announced through press email that Facebook and browser based versions of Runes of Magic are coming, fully functional. Expected to be arrive in Q2 2011, Runes of Magic browser edition will open up a legion of untapped customers.

I can only hope that Frogster will invite me to swim in their money jacuzzi after this update goes live.

Rift: **** Your One Additional Server!


Just enough time to kill a FFXI boss.

Rift’s head start launched out the door yesterday, and almost immediately the title was punched in the throat, dragged into a back alleyway, and beaten with a metal club for all of its bandwidth. Of course, those of you familiar with MMO launches will be well aware of the launch-day queue lines, matched and surpassed only by lines for new rides at Disney Land. Everquest added one new progression server due to the overwhelming demand. Trion, on the other hand, has added over 20.

At the start of the day, Trion had added in 13 servers, comprising of seven US servers. Over the course of the day, ten more servers were added to continue alleviating stress on existing shards. Depending on how the game goes at the true launch, more servers may have to be added to compensate for the additional, additional load.

Being who I am, I have to add my voice of pessimism. Once the pre-launch hype wears down and the post-free-month community settles in, the excess servers will likely be merged. Of course, Rift could continue growing after launch, in which case you are free to take this article, sharpen the edges, and use it to murder me in my own apartment.

http://forums.riftgame.com/showthread.php?87152-New-Servers-for-Head-Start-(Updated-5-00-pm-PST)

Community Concerns #3: The Revival


I'm legally required to remind you to game responsibly.

Today’s “Absolutely Brilliant!” comes from user Gnatbug on the MMORPG.com forums. Gnatbug has a list of rules for how to go about buying an MMO, and although he may be a little too selective (#4), he hits right on the money.

Rule #1) Never Pre-Order unless you have played in the open beta of a game!

Rule#2) Never buy a lifetime subscription before you have played a game!

Rule#3) Always google the game to find out what others think, then make up you mind.

Rule#4) If Cryptic is developing…a game WAIT 5days before buying it …Just to make sure it has content!

Rule#5) HE WHO HAS GAS …Travels at the back of the line!

#5 couldn’t be more true.

Age of Conan: Loot PvP Server Coming!


Mortal Age of Darkfall Xsyon Online.

In the past, Everquest has been one of the few MMOs to dabble in, shall we say, unconventional alternate rule servers. Sure, most games you come across nowadays have some combination of PvE, PvP, and RP, and you can’t get much better than a PvP-RP server, when striking someone with your sword as you scream “you must construct additional pylons!” before your World of Warcraft guild gives you the final boot for “vagrant sarcasm.” But that was years ago when I was still interested in Starcraft. The problem with alternate rule servers is that updates have to be coded once for each ruleset, to balance and work out bugs. As Ultima found out, your bastard sword (their word, not mine) of Gargoyle slaying worked fine when gargoyles were NPCs, but when they become a player race, the weapon is suddenly very overpowered.

The Age of Conan team has desired to implement alternate rule servers, and up until now just haven’t had the utilities. In this month’s monthly development update, Craig Morrison talks about how some players just aren’t satisfied with the level of ass-whooping they can dish out in AoC, and want to take that limit further:

“However, as we have gone on we see that there is clearly a very dedicated, and very loyal, group of players who long for a more brutal and demanding PVP environment. It has become increasingly apparent that the desires of that section of our playerbase simply want something a little bit further away from the experience that the mainstream majority are comfortable with.”

Can you guess what that mechanic is? Trust me, if you just blindly dive into an article, the surprise isn’t ruined from the start. Funcom plans to implement two (one for US, one for EU) PvP servers for Age of Conan, featuring full loot. The following rules will apply:

  • One character limit, no transfers.
  • No NPC guards.
  • PvP re-enabled in Tortage areas that were previously removed.
  • Other PvP systems may be changed.

The specifics are not in on the Age of Conan loot system. Morrison was able to confirm that equipped gear will likely be off-limits from looting, and that the loot will likely be a combination of inventory items and generated loot (so Age of Conan is becoming like the 2008-early 2011 PvP in Runescape?). Expect more news before the server launches in early May.

We hope to have the new rule-set ready to roll out in early May, but we will hopefully deploy a version to the PVP test dimension prior to that for some public testing. Keep your eyes on the weekly community updates for more information as to when that will happen.

Mortal Online: Still Not Profiting, 2011 A Better Hope?


Spiders everywhere.

The only thing I love more than reading financial reports is reading financial reports auto-translated by Google. With the release of Mortal Online’s 14-day trial, our next bit of discussion pertains to the company’s annual financial report, released a little earlier today. The short: Mortal Online is remaining stable, growing at a small rate. Star Vault has plans to increase advertising in the near future, but requires more money as the previous ad money was spent on development. Although the subscriber rate is growing at a positive pace, Mortal Online has yet to achieve profitability, even with the new cost management.

With the new cost structure, the Board expects that an additional approximately 1500 players to achieve break-even, a goal that we hope to achieve in the second quarter of 2011.

Hopefully the mass sale of stocks, as well as new players being introduced via the 14 day trial, will bring Star Vault some much needed income to sustain the company until they reach the point of profiting.

More on Mortal Online as it appears. You can read the whole financial report here.

Bots? In My Asian MMO?


More likely than you think...

Asian MMOs live and die like rats. They appear quickly, populate an area with many of their clone offspring, and several years down the line it becomes difficult, nay impossible, to get one of the major gaming publications to even take a passing glance at that carcass in the streets, other than to pinch their nose and complain about the smell. Mmosite.com may be a sensationalist, almost tabloid-esque, news source whose community will gather like a lynch mob whenever a new game carries the title “subscription based,” but I do use regularly browse their news and forums to get a glimpse at the current happenings in Korea/Japan/China. They also give a lot of space for Asian MMO developers, offering them blogs and server space to get their game out. In a way, they are the nega-MMO Fallout.

Did I mention MMOSite was sensationalist? Now, of course I won’t knock on the site for desiring a controversial topic to write about, but it feels like every few months MMOSITE runs an article about the latest big-name MMO from China/Korea being overrun by cheaters. In this case, the game is TERA, and they point out that bots are getting by quite easily in this action-based MMO due to the presence of areas filled with mobs that have low health, low attack, and spawn frequently. Due to the number of bots clogging training areas, allegedly “many” legitimate players are quitting the game out of frustration.

MMOSite has a point, however. I’ve yet to see a substantial number of free to play games in Asia die solely because of the level of botters, but TERA is not a free to play MMO. TERA launched with a subscription, meaning players are far less likely to just ignore the large number of cheaters, and the game’s life expectancy will take a hit if cheaters are not addressed.

TERA launched last month in South Korea, and is set for a North America/European launch sometime later this year.

 

NetDevil Selling Lego Universe, Layoffs Abound.

Lego Universe will no longer be maintained by NetDevil, as the game and development team have been bought up by Lego Team.


Jumpgate Evolution's future in question.

I love Lego, so I am perpetually looking for a reason to talk about NetDevil’s Lego Universe. It isn’t often that an IP holder takes direct stake in an MMO based off of their property, so the news comes as a surprise that the Lego Team has bought up the development team for Lego Universe, the MMO that launched last year. Lego Universe, for those of you who don’t remember, is a kids MMO that features many of the features of a standard game, but with the added ability to customize the aesthetic look of your creations.

We can speculate for hours as to why Lego Team bought the developers, and whether or not they felt the game’s future was in uncertain hands with NetDevil, but Gazillion’s (owns NetDevil) President David Brevik had this to say:

“The transition of members of our team to the LEGO Group allows us to conclude the work-for-hire segment of NetDevil’s business and lets us expand our internally-published, free-to-play game businesses based on our own properties and licensed properties. Gazillion is wholly focused on developing, operating, and publishing the next generation of browser-delivered games We’re proud of the LEGO Universe game that our team built, and we are certain that it has a bright future.”

My ideas? I think this has to do with the ongoing lawsuit headed by Codemasters against NetDevil over the developer not releasing Jumpgate Evolution in a timely manner. Either NetDevil is having money issues and sold the game and team, or Lego Team is concerned about the long term viability of the company and bought up the game. On the positive side, this means that customers of Lego Universe will keep their beloved game, and with the development team staying on board, this means no sudden major changes in development focus.

NetDevil is a subsidiary of Gazillion Entertainment, and known for the defunct MMO Auto Assault. The company has several MMOs currently in development, including the aforementioned Jumpgate Evolution, Marvel Universe, and Marvel Super Hero Squad Online.

Mortal Online: 14 Day Trial


Fight now, and let spill the dogs of war?

Wanted to try out Mortal Online without the need for purchasing the game? Those of you paying attention will be aware that a free trial has been on the list for a while now, but hampered due to Star Vault’s desire to continue patching the game before advertising it to the general public. The wait, however, is over! Announced via email and through the game’s forums, players may now create a trial account here, download the client here, and soon be experiencing the full frontal nudity that is Mortal Online.

Limitations, you say? There is a limit of 600 skill points and a cap of level 60 for all skills. Other than that, you have 14 days to wreak havoc on your fellow players in the nudist colony. You may want to check up on the servers before you go in, however, as Star Vault’s Henrik Nystrom posted a couple days ago:

Dear community,

Our entire host network in Europe have operation issues at the moment. This is affecting our server at the moment. We got reports that servers running a game called World Of Warcraft is effecting these network at the moment via Frankfurt……

This could affect our server connections and they are working to solve it as we speak.

A game called World of Warcraft…Nope, not ringing a bell. Whatever it is, surely it can’t be big enough to cause lasting server problems.

Classic Jobs Coming To Final Fantasy XIV


Cherry Blossoms.

“Possible introduction of traditional names such as paladin, monk, white mage, etc.”
-Final Fantasy XIV Lodestone

Final Fantasy XIV features nineteen classes, and for the most part the names are rather straightforward. We know what to expect out of a fisher, botanist, miner, armorer, blacksmith, goldsmith, culinarian, etc. However, from the perspective of someone who has never played Final Fantasy XIV, can you tell me what a Thaumaturge does? A Thaumaturge is a magic class that specializes in damage, incapacitation, and using your own HP to heal your party members. For a regular Final Fantasy player, the Thaumaturge are probably closer to black mages.

There are plans in place to change the job names back to their more classic versions (archer becomes ranger, etc), and the update is welcome, albeit a low priority task. Learning the jobs in Final Fantasy XIV is basically a measure of applying new terms to old concepts, and aside from a few extra minutes of confusion, is not that big of a deal.

As for me? Well I’ll keep spending a lot of my time in Final Fantasy XIV making screenshots to use as header images, like the one you see above.

Buy Star Vault Stock! Only 5 Cents A Share!


Let's not lose our heads over this.

Mortal Online has been creeping its way towards success since its launch last year, and not unlike the mass of polyps in my face, removing the problems is going to require a lot of work, time, and perhaps some major surgery. As it stands, however, Star Vault has taken the “no publicity is better than bad publicity” approach, one that I myself have encouraged and several other MMOs featured here are currently using, and Henrik Nystrom is holding off on advertising Mortal Online until the game reaches a marketable state.

Unfortunately, development doesn’t pay the bills, and likely not even Henrik can continue using the family coffers forever. Star Vault, on a Swedish trading website, announced that 9.9 million Class B shares will go up for sale for .36 SEK each, a figure which rounds to about 5 cents USD per share. I don’t think it takes an expert to know that those are extraordinarily low stock prices.

Hopefully this influx of cash will mean faster development toward that era of marketability that Star Vault so greatly desires and likely needs at this point. I mean, it has to get worse before it can get better, right?

More on Mortal Online as it appears.