Category: Editorials

Checking In With The BBB: October Edition


A Bureau For Better Business

My calendar says October 1st, so it must be that three month time of the month again.

Blizzard Entertainment: B

  • Blizzard’s score has remained unchanged since July’s article.
  • “Recent complainants allege the company closed accounts on 130,000 users without providing notice, and accused them of using “hack” techniques to cheat on gaming. Most of these complainants deny any illegal usage, and in some cases, they challenge the company to provide them some proof of the alleged violation.”

Cryptic Studios: A-

  • Cryptic’s score has soared since July’s C+ rating.
  • “Our complaint history for this company shows that the company responded to and gave proper consideration to most complaints. However, more than one complaint is unresolved meaning the company failed to properly address the complaint allegations or their response was inadequate.”

EA/Mythic/Bioware: A

  • EA’s score has remained unchanged since July. There is nothing of special note.

Funcom: A+

  • Funcom’s score remains unchanged from July.
  • “BBB had previously identified a pattern of complaints concerning customer service issues. The company discussed with BBB in October 2008 ways to correct the cause of the customer complaints. Complaints have decreased in volume since the meeting.”

Gala-Net: F

  • Gala-Net’s score remains unchanged, and for the same reason.
  • “Our complaint history for this company shows that the company responded to and gave proper consideration to most complaints. However, more than one complaint is unresolved meaning the company failed to properly address the complaint allegations or their response was inadequate.”

Jagex: C-

  • This is based off of one resolved complaint.

NCsoft: B-

  • NCsoft’s score remains unchanged from July, for the same reasons.

Sony Online Entertainment: A

  • SOE’s score remains unchanged since July.
  • A consumer’s account is not terminated simply because the consumer stops playing the game. The BBB recommends that consumer read and understand the terms and conditions of this service prior to signing up.

Square Enix: A+

  • Square Enix’s score up from an A in July.
  • “Our complaint history for this company shows the company gave proper consideration to complaints presented by the Bureau.”

Turbine Inc: A+

  • Score unchanged from July.
  • Nothing of interest to note.

Ultima Online Going Pokemon Model, Favors Booster Packs


This is not a screenshot from Ultima Online 1.

For a game that launched thirteen years ago, Ultima Online is still doing well for itself as one of the few MMOs on the market to bring competition to the Everquests in the field of “how many paid expansions can we pump out?” Ultima Online this past year saw the release of Stygian Abyss, a part of the Ultima world many of you haven’t seen since around 1992 with Ultima Underworld, bringing with it new skills, a new race of gargoyles, and new housing tiles (yikes). More importantly, the Stygian Abyss dungeons brought in what all Ultima Online players love, non-consensual PvP.

Last month (August), we learned that Ultima Online would be moving away from the expansion pack model, and moving towards a booster pack system, allowing shorter development time, lower price, and faster turnaround. The whole plan would culminate in a rate of two boosters per year at fifteen dollars each (think the MMO answer to episodic gaming, but not the way Valve does it).

This fall will see the release of Adventures on the High Seas, focusing on sailing (I don’t see the connection) and the new pirating skill, alongside new ships, pirate NPCs, and a new boss encounter (the Rarely Ignored Autonomic Armament beast.) The fishing skill will also be receiving an update, with a new cap and new things to catch, and presumably will allow you to hone your torrenting skills from “waste of time” (pirating Tabula Rasa) to “how did you find that?” (downloading the Tabula Rasa collector’s edition dog tag, but digitally.)

The booster back is currently in open beta on Ultima Online’s website.

Darkfall 2010 Update Coming, Get Darkfall On Sale…


Why? Because It's Awesome!

The search terms coming to MMO Fallout are trending towards Darkfall, so a large update must be coming soon. Earlier this year, I talked about the Darkfall 2010 update and really haven’t given it much notice since then, as I wanted all the features to come together before-hand. I don’t have the time to go back and update previous articles, so I try to do as little reporting on well-wishes as possible, as my traffic shows an article from January can get just as much attention as an article from yesterday. That being said, I’m going to wait for the full patch notes to be released before I start screaming about what’s being added in.

Until then, you can buy Darkfall on Gamersgate for $14.97, 50% off of the title’s $29.99. I’ll have more on Darkfall’s upcoming free expansion in a few days, assuming it goes all to schedule.

Update: The Darkfall 2010 update has been delayed until tomorrow (Wednesday).

Sorry Europe, Still No LOTRO F2P For Now…


Barcodemasters

Earlier this month, Lord of the Rings Online went hybrid-cash-shop in North America, with Codemasters’ European venture trailing behind due to perceived issues regarding preparation for this enormous event that would undoubtedly bring a major influx in population to the lands of Middle Earth. Earlier this month, Codemasters issued a release stating that they were aiming for the end of the month (September), but not to quote them on that estimation. Until that time, however, Codemasters has opened up all old accounts, granted a 5% experience boost, and have opened up free travel.

Well the end of the month is here, and if a notice from Codemasters is anything to go off of, the free to play launch is not coming today. Earlier last week, Codemasters updated their thread once again with a statement that the transition will not be coming for another couple of weeks. Until then, of course, European players can still enjoy either their own servers, or playing on North American servers.

More on Lord of the Rings Online as it appears.

It’s Finally Over! QOL Vs Allen Ends In Settlement.


OBJECTION!

File this one under “oh thank God!” Yesterday brought wonderful news from Derek Smart of Quest Online. The ongoing back and forth lawsuit between Quest Online and David Allen has ended. In a press statement, Quest Online announced:

Quest Online, LLC, today announced that the lawsuit filed in the Maricopa County Superior Court (Case # CV2010-010391) in June 2010 against previous LLC Manager and Alganon creator, David Allen, has been settled with the purchase of Mr. Allen’s equity in the LLC; and that Mr. Allen is no longer associated with Quest Online, LLC.

There isn’t much to be said about the terms of the settlement, other than that Quest Online apparently purchased the rest of Allen’s equity in the company, and that Allen no longer had any association with Quest Online. Now we can finally get back to Alganon, and speaking of Alganon, did you know that the game no longer has a client price?

More on Alganon as it appears.

It's Finally Over! QOL Vs Allen Ends In Settlement.


OBJECTION!

File this one under “oh thank God!” Yesterday brought wonderful news from Derek Smart of Quest Online. The ongoing back and forth lawsuit between Quest Online and David Allen has ended. In a press statement, Quest Online announced:

Quest Online, LLC, today announced that the lawsuit filed in the Maricopa County Superior Court (Case # CV2010-010391) in June 2010 against previous LLC Manager and Alganon creator, David Allen, has been settled with the purchase of Mr. Allen’s equity in the LLC; and that Mr. Allen is no longer associated with Quest Online, LLC.

There isn’t much to be said about the terms of the settlement, other than that Quest Online apparently purchased the rest of Allen’s equity in the company, and that Allen no longer had any association with Quest Online. Now we can finally get back to Alganon, and speaking of Alganon, did you know that the game no longer has a client price?

More on Alganon as it appears.

City of Heroes/Villains/Rogues Says Welcome Back, Weekend!


Not this weekend.

City of Heroes may be six years old, but NCsoft is still committed to keeping the old super geezer alive. Last month saw the release of the latest full expansion pack, Going Rogue, allowing both heroes and villains alike to grey in the lines between heroism and villainy. This past April brought in Ultra Mode, the brand new higher graphics settings, and numerous other free updates.

Paragon Studios wants you to enjoy City of Heroes for all of its splendor, with a welcome back weekend, and not only do they want you to enjoy Paragon’s new ultra mode, but the team is opening up Going Rogue for the weekend. As stated on the website, Going Rogue content is only accessible up until level 14, and your powersets will become unavailable after the weekend is over if you don’t own the expansion.

The welcome back weekend begins Thursday, October 7th, and continues until Sunday, October 10th at midnight Pacific time.

Henrik: This Patch So Epic, It's Like Mortal Online 2!


This is a Mortal Online picture, right?

Mortal Online has been trucking along at a slow pace since its launch several months ago, but there’s no doubt that the game has had its hitches. Over the past couple of months, Star Vault has been pushing forward the miracle patch that is the Epic patch (named after Epic Games, the company that created the engine), that will end all of Mortal Online’s woes. Okay, not all of them but you get the point.

Henrik Nystrom of Star Vault is very excited for the Epic patch, to the point where he believes it will be Mortal Online 2.

[23:17] <@HenrikNystrom> epic patch is getting closer, we just want it to work well, and of course to live up to most expectation
[23:17] <@HenrikNystrom> As, there is indeed major differences

[23:19] <@HenrikNystrom> if you wont notice a diff, then I dont know hehe..
[23:19] <@HenrikNystrom> We are talking Mortal Online 2
[23:23] <@HenrikNystrom> like I said before, it gives tools yes, and also instant changes and fixed,
[23:23] <@HenrikNystrom> but also the possibility to fix tweak other areas better
[23:23] <HobboBobbo> instant?
[23:23] <@HenrikNystrom> yes, the most critical issues will get an update along with that update.
[23:23] <@HenrikNystrom> hence thats why we focus evertghing on this patch

You can read the full log in the link, but everything is getting fixed! Lag, login issues, a new installer, high resolution, a new inventory(?), new AI, GM capabilities to help players, more PvE rewards, pet improvements, and a lot more. Henrik also revealed plans to advertise Mortal Online once the new patch is out. This sounds like a lot of change, Henrik…

[03:04] <@HenrikNystrom> but I think it will be worth it, as it wont look like the mo you are used to anymore

Thank you Henrik. I still have Mortal Online installed on my system, so I might check it out when the Epic patch goes live.

More on Mortal Online as it appears.

Henrik: This Patch So Epic, It’s Like Mortal Online 2!


This is a Mortal Online picture, right?

Mortal Online has been trucking along at a slow pace since its launch several months ago, but there’s no doubt that the game has had its hitches. Over the past couple of months, Star Vault has been pushing forward the miracle patch that is the Epic patch (named after Epic Games, the company that created the engine), that will end all of Mortal Online’s woes. Okay, not all of them but you get the point.

Henrik Nystrom of Star Vault is very excited for the Epic patch, to the point where he believes it will be Mortal Online 2.

[23:17] <@HenrikNystrom> epic patch is getting closer, we just want it to work well, and of course to live up to most expectation
[23:17] <@HenrikNystrom> As, there is indeed major differences

[23:19] <@HenrikNystrom> if you wont notice a diff, then I dont know hehe..
[23:19] <@HenrikNystrom> We are talking Mortal Online 2
[23:23] <@HenrikNystrom> like I said before, it gives tools yes, and also instant changes and fixed,
[23:23] <@HenrikNystrom> but also the possibility to fix tweak other areas better
[23:23] <HobboBobbo> instant?
[23:23] <@HenrikNystrom> yes, the most critical issues will get an update along with that update.
[23:23] <@HenrikNystrom> hence thats why we focus evertghing on this patch

You can read the full log in the link, but everything is getting fixed! Lag, login issues, a new installer, high resolution, a new inventory(?), new AI, GM capabilities to help players, more PvE rewards, pet improvements, and a lot more. Henrik also revealed plans to advertise Mortal Online once the new patch is out. This sounds like a lot of change, Henrik…

[03:04] <@HenrikNystrom> but I think it will be worth it, as it wont look like the mo you are used to anymore

Thank you Henrik. I still have Mortal Online installed on my system, so I might check it out when the Epic patch goes live.

More on Mortal Online as it appears.

Final Fantasy XIV: No, Subscriptions Should Not Be Convenient…


Excuse me, I'd like to return this game.

Playing Final Fantasy XIV requires a base $9.99 monthly fee plus $3 per character, leaving you with a $12.99 monthly cost assuming you only create one character (and with the ability to be all classes, there is no need for a second character, quite frankly). Assuming most of the visitors to MMO Fallout have played a subscription based MMO before, many of you are likely assuming “well, I’ll just put in my credit card info, and set myself up for the monthly charges.” You would be completely wrong.

Rather than going for a traditional subscription system, Square is instead running a Square-Bucks system, also known as Crysta, that is used for everything from account services, to planned cash shop items, to your subscription. Of course, proprietary cash system means what else, but forced increment purchases. In this case, you can only purchase Crysta in $5, $10, $20, $30, $50, or $100 purchases, making you fork over fifteen dollars for a twelve dollar subscription, so that three of it may go to…consider it a savings account. Your alternative is to pay through a company called Click and Buy, although depending on who you ask, the company’s reputation is rather dubious for unauthorized charges.

Those of you who played Final Fantasy XI and are returning for XIV are likely asking, since when was Square Enix ever about convenience for their customers? If the lack of an auction house, non-functioning patcher, fatigue system, and leve limits, weren’t a clue, all one has to do is look at the twenty hour bosses in Final Fantasy XI.

Don’t get me wrong, Final Fantasy XIV will do great…in Japan, where Final Fantasy sells like Fanta in the Sahara, but will likely remain a niche title in the West. The problem doesn’t stem from bad gameplay, but from lack of user friendliness that doesn’t even come close to “hold my hand, Square.” More importantly, however, is that Square has shown some quick movement in the past couple weeks to make the game more user friendly. After a large number of complaints by players, Square finally added in hardware mouse support.

At the end of the day, Final Fantasy XIV is like a fine wine, one that you can’t reach because the company put it on the top shelf, you are five foot three, and the only staff on the floor who can get it for you is currently texting his girlfriend in the frozen food aisle, and will be with you “in just a minute.”

More on Final Fantasy XIV as it appears.

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