Category: Editorials

Jagex: Balancing Amazing Prizes With…Well, Amazing Prizes


In order to balance the circulation of powerful items, many MMOs use what is known as either Bind on Equip or Bind On Pickup. The former allows you to trade the equipment, provided you haven’t used it yet. The latter renders the item unable to be traded once you pick it up, making the item vendor trash if you don’t meet the class restrictions or already have better gear.

For a game like RuneScape, bind on pickup is mostly nonexistent outside of quest-related items, as well as certain sets of items that decay over time. In today’s update, Jagex implemented a daily spinner game that can be played for gold, resources, and even powerful weapons/armor. Squeal of Fortune costs nothing to play and can be played once (twice for members) each day.

So how does a company balance the idea of potentially injecting a mass of free high level gear into the game? Simple, my dear Watson. High level equipment obtained through this mini-game is branded “lucky,” and cannot be traded to other players, or even dropped through the standard death mechanics. If you die with it, however (skulled, losing everything on death) it will be destroyed and irretrievable.

Granted, there is the issue of Jagex’s big traded prize: 10 million gold. I have faith that Jagex is ensuring that the ten million gold isn’t achieved too much.

Funcom Q4 Finances: Project A Unveiled


In their third quarter finances, Funcom predicted a lower revenue for quarter four on account of the initial fervor over Age of Conan’s free to play ending. In the presentation, released today, Funcom reaffirmed this by posting a revenue loss of 11% quarter over quarter.

While Age of Conan remains Funcom’s primary source of income, revenue for the title was down compared to the previous quarter when Funcom launched free to play. Bloodline Champions, Funcom’s MOBA, saw an increase in profits thanks in part to the launch in Russia.

Quarter 1 2012 revenues are expected to be even lower due to a further decreased revenue from Age of Conan. Age of Conan, Anarchy Online, and Bloodline Champions continue to generate a positive cash flow for Funcom, brought down by the costs of developing several titles.

The finances also make reference to “Project A,” an MMO in the conceptual stage.

(Source: Funcom)

TERA Beta Preview #2: Electric Boogaloo


This past weekend marked the second closed beta for The Exiled Realm of Arborea, and my second full weekend of ignoring everything in the Area chat channel for the sake of my ignore button. My last preview was mostly done through Twitter, during which I managed to level up to 9 before admittedly logging out.

I know a lot of people say this, and I will happily join the bandwagon in praising how gorgeous TERA looks. TERA is heavily stylized in an eastern setting, and not just because there is a race dedicated to looking like fat, adorable dogs, cats, foxes, raccoon, gerbils, etc.

Continue reading “TERA Beta Preview #2: Electric Boogaloo”

Developing: John Smedley Discussing Region Restrictions


[Update] From SOE’s Facebook page.

ProSieben and SOE Continue to Work Toward a Solution –

SOE and ProSieben worked throughout the weekend to develop a plan that will allow our players to access and play on any server regardless of where they are in the world. Our community is our top priority and rest assured, all of your concerns have been heard.

We continue to work together with ProSieben and appreciate your patience as we work around the clock to work out critical technical details. We will share more information as soon as possible. [Brasse]

[Original Story]There is relief coming for Sony Online Entertainment fans, both present and estranged. A little earlier today, SOE’s John Smedley tweeted:

“@j_smedley: We’ve come up with a plan to allow ALL players to play on any servers they want. More details to follow.”

Sony has been in hot water this past week over an announcement that European publishing would be handed over to German ProSiebenSat.1, a side effect of which being that while existing European customers would still have access to their characters on US servers, new accounts would be restricted by region.

I will update this as more information appears.

Stream Of Thoughts: Everquest Online Adventures


I’ve never had an opportunity to play Everquest Online Adventures on the Playstation 2. Released in 2003, Everquest Online Adventures was one of the first MMOs to hit the consoles, and reportedly still has a rather healthy community to this day. For the fact that the game hasn’t been sold in brick and mortar stores for years, it still manages to get by with a subscription and minimal updates.

[This article is ongoing, and will be updated as I play]

4:30: That’s enough for today, I have to get to an evening class.

4:25: I prefer to play with the controller over the keyboard. It keeps me from talking to other people, or at least it would if there were any other people.

4:16: Everquest Allakhazam says I need to be level 10 for the next quest.

4:15: Did I say level 13? I meant level 8.

4:13: I am level 8.

4:06: False alarm. Adessa is sending me to Logger Kripps to convince him that the monster is dead.

4:05: Guess I don’t have to go to Logger Kripps after the quest, I have to go to Adessa.

3:57: I have a thousand monies, my wallet has outleveled my ability to equip anything that the vendors have to offer.

3:52: Only in Everquest can the same NPC that killed me with three quarters of its health left be completely demolished the next.

3:50: I killed the rat and I’m heading back to the Logger to turn in the quest. How many other MMOs can boast 40 minutes for a quest that runs down to killing a single rat? None, that’s how many.

3:25: The usual ritual while I wait for half of my health bar to recover. Laundry, quick trip to Greece, etc.

3:20: The rat despawned. Turns out he respawned in an area filled with other monsters I can kill even less.

3:05: I never get tired of the old Everquest model of placing aggressive over-leveled mobs right next to the ones I need to kill.

3:04: Still working on grinding up to kill that giant rat.

2:45: Turns out I should look before I laugh. Guard screams about monster, turns out it’s just a rat. It killed me anyway.

3/6: 2:44: I’m playing again. Still level 7 warrior, working on a quest to find a guard.

Continue reading “Stream Of Thoughts: Everquest Online Adventures”

Let's Talk: MMOs For Your Kids


If Lego Universe has a legacy to leave behind, it is a page in history soaked with the sorrow of children and parents who simply want to give them a game that they can have fun with and perhaps learn something from. Since I wrote the bit on Lego Universe and children with autism, the stories of the parents have made their way all over the Internet and I’ve received more requests for alternatives and suggestions of said alternatives than I can count.

Lego Universe is a game that won’t be replaced any time soon, the combination of freedom to build and the outstanding community are unmatched by anything else on the market. When suggesting games for kids, I wanted to miss a few caveats that others have a habit of falling into. So here are some games, both online and offline, that can somewhat substitute Lego Universe.

Continue reading “Let's Talk: MMOs For Your Kids”

Let’s Talk: MMOs For Your Kids


If Lego Universe has a legacy to leave behind, it is a page in history soaked with the sorrow of children and parents who simply want to give them a game that they can have fun with and perhaps learn something from. Since I wrote the bit on Lego Universe and children with autism, the stories of the parents have made their way all over the Internet and I’ve received more requests for alternatives and suggestions of said alternatives than I can count.

Lego Universe is a game that won’t be replaced any time soon, the combination of freedom to build and the outstanding community are unmatched by anything else on the market. When suggesting games for kids, I wanted to miss a few caveats that others have a habit of falling into. So here are some games, both online and offline, that can somewhat substitute Lego Universe.

Continue reading “Let’s Talk: MMOs For Your Kids”

Darkfall's New Player Experience: Safe Zones


As someone who enjoys playing video games even more than I do writing about them, I am sympathetic to the plight of the newbie. After all, I’ve played enough of other games to have gotten a good feel for Darkfall when it released a few years ago, but I understand that there are plenty of others who will have a harder time getting attuned, not only to twitch controls in an MMO but the overall idea of free for all combat in an open world environment and full loot rules.

While I’m sure at least one person will object to the idea of a new player experience being something other than a mace to the face by a fully geared veteran, Aventurine has laid out some plans for the new new player experience.

The training areas consist of a series of chambers where new players can train before they move on. Training starts with basic movement and progresses all the way up to spellcasting and combat. This training process is actually a nice adventure with an epic ending, before new players earn their pass and are transported to the actual world. The goal is to ensure that, before entering Agon, new players become familiar with the basic mechanics, as well as the essence of Darkfall, and they can do this at their own pace.

Additionally, it will become a lot harder to steal someone else’s mount as the creature will remember its owner for a short period after dismounting, leaving enough time to de-summon the mount without having to worry about another player running in and riding off. There are a few other new game systems revealed in the blog post, which you can check out at the link below.

(Source: Darkfall Epic Blog)

Darkfall’s New Player Experience: Safe Zones


As someone who enjoys playing video games even more than I do writing about them, I am sympathetic to the plight of the newbie. After all, I’ve played enough of other games to have gotten a good feel for Darkfall when it released a few years ago, but I understand that there are plenty of others who will have a harder time getting attuned, not only to twitch controls in an MMO but the overall idea of free for all combat in an open world environment and full loot rules.

While I’m sure at least one person will object to the idea of a new player experience being something other than a mace to the face by a fully geared veteran, Aventurine has laid out some plans for the new new player experience.

The training areas consist of a series of chambers where new players can train before they move on. Training starts with basic movement and progresses all the way up to spellcasting and combat. This training process is actually a nice adventure with an epic ending, before new players earn their pass and are transported to the actual world. The goal is to ensure that, before entering Agon, new players become familiar with the basic mechanics, as well as the essence of Darkfall, and they can do this at their own pace.

Additionally, it will become a lot harder to steal someone else’s mount as the creature will remember its owner for a short period after dismounting, leaving enough time to de-summon the mount without having to worry about another player running in and riding off. There are a few other new game systems revealed in the blog post, which you can check out at the link below.

(Source: Darkfall Epic Blog)

Did ProSiebenSat.1 Accidentally Leak Vanguard Free To Play?


Color me interested. For at least a year now, Sony has slowly escalated the slow moving striptease that is the prospect of a free to play Vanguard. John Smedley has made comments of the Vanguard team hiring new staff, who have begun patching the game and even adding in an updated new player experience, and back in November a user tweeted to John Smedley: “how about making vanguard saga of Heroes ftp… If not just kill the game already,” to which Mr. Smedley responded “stay tuned.”

Sony’s ongoing fiasco with Alaplaya over European hosting may have accidentally produced some juicy tidbits of information. In an IRC discussion, the community manager for Alaplaya may have accidentally let slip that Vanguard is heading free to play:

With the launch of DC Universe, we will introduce a new in-game currency that is similar to StationCash. It will not be Alaplaya Points. Your Station cash will be converted to our currency and you will be able to use it with EQ2 and Vanguard.

Granted, this could just be a misunderstanding. Vanguard isn’t even listed as one of the games set to transition to Alaplaya.

(Source: EQ2Wire)