Author: Admin

“Big” Planetside Announcement On The Way?


Somewhere in an MMO Fallout post...

Planetside is hitting its seventh birthday soon, and I still believe that no other MMO has come close to the enormous battles that Planetside has presented since its launch in 2003. In fact, here is a community video recently highlighted on Sony Online Entertainment’s website, highlighting the action of the game. I’ll give you a few minutes.

Back? Being at Planetside’s age, and considering the current state of the game’s population, any “big announcement” is going to be met with a lot of speculation. By speculation, of course, I mean claims that the big announcement is the game shutting down. But can you blame them? Servers have been consolidated down to one, and my understanding from MMO Fallouters in the field is that botters have become quite an issue over the past year or two.

Well, there is a big announcement coming: On the 18th of May to be exact (and not just the season finale of House MD). A countdown timer appeared in the Planetside News section, alongside the above comic. You can follow the countdown in the link, or just wait until early on the 18th.

MMO Fallout will continue to cover any Planetside News as it appears. Could this be an official announcement of the elusive Planetside 2?

"Big" Planetside Announcement On The Way?


Somewhere in an MMO Fallout post...

Planetside is hitting its seventh birthday soon, and I still believe that no other MMO has come close to the enormous battles that Planetside has presented since its launch in 2003. In fact, here is a community video recently highlighted on Sony Online Entertainment’s website, highlighting the action of the game. I’ll give you a few minutes.

Back? Being at Planetside’s age, and considering the current state of the game’s population, any “big announcement” is going to be met with a lot of speculation. By speculation, of course, I mean claims that the big announcement is the game shutting down. But can you blame them? Servers have been consolidated down to one, and my understanding from MMO Fallouters in the field is that botters have become quite an issue over the past year or two.

Well, there is a big announcement coming: On the 18th of May to be exact (and not just the season finale of House MD). A countdown timer appeared in the Planetside News section, alongside the above comic. You can follow the countdown in the link, or just wait until early on the 18th.

MMO Fallout will continue to cover any Planetside News as it appears. Could this be an official announcement of the elusive Planetside 2?

Mythic Shuts Down Merchandise Site


Batton down the beer steins!

MMOs, as is the case with most forms of entertainment, regularly don’t see anywhere near as much success outside of their main product and, in many cases, online stores are kept to a minimum, if they are kept at all.

Players who attempted to purchase anything from the Mythic Store today were met with the above notice. The official reason is “business.”

It was a business decision, if you have anything specific you were looking for send Andy a PM on the boards and he will look into helping you out.
-Mythic, on the Mythic Store Closing

No doubt a disappointment, as the Mythic store held quite merchandise for Ultima Online, Warhammer Online, and Dark Age of Camelot. The closing of the Mythic Store has raised the usual bout of questions, and of course the regular course of trolls coming out of the woodwork to proclaim the death of Warhammer Online.

Warhammer Online has been having its ups and downs over the past few months, and the recently unveiled ability to have characters on both factions on the same server has stewed fears of even more server merges, a fear that would be in Mythic’s best interest to address, on a wide scale (whether it be true or not). As I’ve said before on MMO Fallout: If you (the company) do not fill the holes, someone else will fill them for you, and you will not like what they fill it with.

So this may be just another victim of Mythic’s cost cutting venture. Should any other news arise, you will hear it here.

Aika Online Cash Shop Woes End


Available Again...Forever!

It isn’t very often I get to start out an article with “and finally the saga is coming to a close,” because (despite my own objections) stories like these tend to go on for a long, long time, or simply fade away into obscurity to the point where no one is talking about it anymore (because I also watch the communities for further news on ongoing stories). I don’t like to lead people on, which is why I only update ongoing stories as important events occur.

So with great pride, I can finally say that the Aika Online cash shop issues are coming to an end! Earlier this month, I talked about how Aika Online under gPotato was only meant to work in North America. Unfortunately, the company allowed players from virtually any country to register and play. When the time came for the actual developer to put their foot down and demand IP restrictions, gPotato had already launched the cash shop one week prior. The end result was that non-North American players found themselves locked out of the game, and their purchases.

Well put down those credit card chargebacks, folks, because after a couple of weeks gPotato is back with great news: The IP blocks will still be put in place, however anyone with an account created before the blocks can still play, all items and characters intact.

It’s good to see Aika’s continued track record of listening to their customers, and even better to see another saga come to an end.

APB Subscription: Best of the East, Eve Online, And Subscription!

All Points Bulletin looks to take the Eastern approach to subscription, but with an option that doesn’t hurt hardcore players. Recently announced, All Points Bulletin will offer several options for players:


The west is very different than the east, in terms of our paid MMOs. A lot of people are already aware of this, but many paid MMOs in the east work on a pay-as-you-go plan, where players purchase a set number of hours, much like the cell phone plans many of you will be aware with. Over in the West, we are used to simply paying a set monthly fee, be it anywhere up to the industry standard of $15 a month. For hardcore players, this is a godsend, as they can get the most for their money. For casual players, the monthly fee may not seem worth it, down to the player who can only get online every weekend or so.

All Points Bulletin looks to take the Eastern approach to subscription, but with an option that doesn’t hurt hardcore players. Recently announced, All Points Bulletin will offer several options for players: For the casual, players can buy hours in packs of 20 hours for $6.99 (USD), or choose from a 30 day ($9.99), 90 day, or 180 day “unlimited package” with no time limit, with discounts for the two bigger packs.

But wait! There’s more! Buying APB includes 100 RTW (currency) that you can spend towards game time and other perks. In addition, APB will include a marketplace where players can trade their customizations. RWT can be turned into in-game currency or game time.

It’s good to see a game literally including the best of all worlds, in terms of subscription. Want that flat fee? You’ve got it. Don’t play much and can make that 20 hours last a long time? You’ve got it.

All Points Bulletin launches at the end of June and is currently in beta. Preorder for extra perks and more time.

Why Even THINK About a Star Trek Online Sequel?


Set Phasers To Nonsensical!

Here at MMO Fallout, I consider myself the “odd man out” as far as MMO-oriented websites go. I’m not a big name, most studios that are not named Quest Online have likely never heard of me, most of my viewers are not the commenting type, and I only occasionally get my articles noted on bigger websites (MMOCrunch, Keanandgreav, etc). That being said, I still strive to be as professional and consistent as possible, which explains why my head spins when I see others who make my snark look professional by comparison. Case in point: Eurogamer’s review of Darkfall and Gamespot’s review of Global Agenda.

MMOs are a long term investment, both for the developer and the player. With a larger-than-norm development budget, not to mention several more years in the oven before it’s finished, a developer has to make back enough money not only to cover the initial costs, but also the maintenance and updates post-launch. With the market ever-changing, presently it is moving towards large updates that are free. Understanding this, it becomes much easier to figure out why developers wait years, usually until the original is no longer a viable contender in the market (See: Planetside 2).

Over at CVG.com, they asked the question on no one’s mind, is Cryptic Studios planning on a sequel to their Star Trek MMO, released just two months ago? The answer, as you guessed, is not just a no, but an absolutely no. Never. Cryptic responded by saying that they have ruled out the possibility of ever releasing a Star Trek Online sequel, barring a future new engine.

“I’m not really sure it makes sense to create a sequel in the MMO market. Typically, you see an MMO called a sequel because either a new team worked on the property or the original team wanted to reboot their IP.”

That’s another for the quote wall.

Alganon Officially Released…Huttah!


I am on a horse.

Alganon’s been on the live list for as long as I can remember, which dates to around last December when the game “launched.” Of course, what started out as a launch was quickly demoted to a “soft launch,” preceding all of this hubbub between Alganon and a few ex-employees.

But, as those of you who receive Alganon email will know, today marks the day when Alganon officially launches. But a launch isn’t all, players will find a near-gigabyte patch released today, with a whole host of fixes and changes:

  1. Completely new path finding mechanic for mobs. NPCs should no longer go underground.
  2. Overhauled starting areas.
  3. Brand new UI to feel less like an anonymous MMO that sounds like Shmerld of Shmarcraft.
  4. Improved server stability.
  5. A whole host of bug fixes.

As promised by Derek Smart, a few features not intended for release have been removed temporarily, starting with thrown weapons. The improved server stability is a welcome update, and one that had previously baffled me with the high amounts of lag, considering I was the only person within /who range while I played.

MMO Fallout will certainly be watching Alganon to see how this “true release” affects the title. You can pick up the Alganon client for cheap, for the time being at least, and afterwards there is no monthly subscription, although the game does feature a cash shop and a free trial.

Why not pick it up today?

Alganon
Alganon Free Trial

Guild Wars Five Years: Steam Sale This Week


Here at MMO Fallout, we work diligently to make sure that you have available to you, all of the information and best ways to get your hands on titles for the lowest prices possible. With the fifth anniversary of Guild Wars, Steam is offering the title on sale this week with the following prices, all in USD:

Games are on sale this week, so pick them up!

Age of Conan: Offline Leveling With No Respec


Play Age of Conan or die, my lord.

A growing trend in several MMOs ever since Eve Online popularized the mechanic, has been offline training: skills and abilities that level even though you are offline. Eve Online and Alganon are just two games to utilize this feature, with Age of Conan recently joining the fray:

In games like Eve Online, considering your character is not under a level system, the research done into your character can make a difference in what ships you can pilot, your weapon loadout, replacing the traditional leveling system. In Alganon, your offline research tree has more to do with small boosts to stats than anything else. Extra damage with certain weapons, extra defense against certain elements, and more. The offline progression doesn’t have a make-or-break impact on the game, but it is nice to have any advantage you can.

If Age Of Conan is one thing, it isn’t subtle. Rather than opt to give players simple stat increases in an alternate training tree, Funcom wants to give you levels while you are offline. Every four days you will receive a level in your account, in order to distribute to a character of your choice. Your account must be active, and the character receiving the level has to be at least level 30.

This should help casual players with hardcore players just seeing it as a small help. Despite some claims, there isn’t much danger of this “replacing” grinding for levels, as it only replaces one level every four days. For those who don’t want to take part, you are always free to leave the levels to accumulate, and use them on an alternate character one day, or just let them rot.

More on Age of Conan as it appears.

Dungeons and Dragons Online: TV Advertisement


Quick, Someone Get This Demon 3D Glasses!

Television advertisement is a barrier that few MMOs break if their names are not World of Warcraft, so it’s good to see Turbine’s Dungeons and Dragons on the semi-big screen.