Category: News

Grab Your Compensation Packs In ArcheAge


It’s a regular day in the neighborhood as Trion Worlds is once again apologizing for a bad launch bringing its servers down for a very long period of time. If you logged into the fresh start, or even the legacy servers, over the past couple of weeks, you are entitled to a list of freebies including 15 days of extra Patron time for existing Patrons.

As a thank you for your patience and understanding while we work through recent server difficulties, we are offering the following FREE rewards to all players who logged in to ArcheAge between 07:00am PSTon Dec. 10 and 07:00am PST on Dec. 22:

  • Bound Iron Eviscerator (Legacy) OR Bound White Reindeer (Fresh Start) mount
  • 15 Day Patron Time Extension (PATRONS ONLY)
  • 50x Warrior’s Medals
  • 50x Merit Badges
  • Login Badge

Redemption follows the usual rules: Log on to the Glyph website and you will find the available packages on the list at the price of free. Redeem them to your chosen character and they will be available in game. For those of you receiving both the patron extension and other items, please note that they are two separate packages.

(Source: Trion Worlds email)

Turbine Reneges On Private Server Plans, Shutting Down Asheron’s Call


Turbine Entertainment has announced that Asheron’s Call and Asheron’s Call 2 will shut down on January 31st, 2017, following the news this week that Dungeons & Dragons Online and Lord of the Rings Online would be spun off into a separate company with Turbine continuing to focus on the mobile gaming sector. Those of you who have followed the game for the past few years now will no doubt be wondering what happened to those private servers that Turbine announced nearly three years ago?

They aren’t coming. According to a post on the forums, while private servers were planned, the team at Turbine was unable to make the plans a reality.

We had hoped to be able to hand off our servers to the community, so our most loyal players could continue their journey through Dereth. Unfortunately, this is something we were unable to do.

Both games will be free to play until the servers shut down, with new account creation disabled entirely.

(Source: Asheron’s Call)

Valiance Online Nears Alpha Testing


City of Heroes feels like a long lost relative, when the title left us just a little over four years ago, but in that time a number of development studios have been working around the clock to bring us the spiritual successor. Valiance Online, one of those successors, is gearing up to present us with a working product as Silverhelm Studios has unveiled the coming playable alpha. The game will be available at the start for backers with servers opening up to the public afterward.

Check it out at the official website. Recent updates to the game include:

  • Combat improvements
  • Character generator 3.0
  • Addition of passive character traits such as water breathing, robotic, perceptive, etc.
  • Updates to the navigation system
  • Replacement minimap
  • Extensive “futuristic” updates to the environment
  • Release of list of archetypes in development including multiple pet classes
  • Integration of player character database in the game and website
  • Development of special rewards for investors
  • Major server code optimization
  • Preparation for Steam integration and launch

Snapshots: Captain America Arctic Costume


Today’s Snapshot is from Marvel Heroes, introducing a pretty awesome looking new costume for Captain America. The costume is currently available in the Marvel Heroes in-game store and can be bought with cash shop currency or likely found through the one in a billion costume drops.

[Video] 11,000 Penguins Fight 4,000 Santa Clauses For Science


Epic Battle Simulator is an upcoming game that allows you to simulate epic battles, in case the name wasn’t obvious enough for you. To showcase their new rendering system, the crew stuck 11,000 penguins against 4,000 Santa Clauses. The results? Not many presents going out on Christmas this year, but the strong possibility of another March of the Penguins movie. And isn’t a movie narrated by Morgan Freeman present enough?

Merry Christmas! Here’s 11,000 penguins VS 4000 Santa Clause’s. This video showcases some of the new features to the crowd rendering system. Units now navigate complex terrain, Bodies now pile up, movement and avoidance improved and smoothed.

Daybreak Game Company Is Now Publishing LOTRO, DDO


Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons & Dragons Online are no longer under the leadership of Turbine Entertainment. In an unexpected announcement, both development teams have been spun off to form Standing Stone Games. Rather than staying on and acting as publisher, that role will be taken by none other than Daybreak Game Company. The entire announcement is below:

Greetings,

Today we have some momentus news! The game teams responsible for The Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO) and Dungeons & Dragons Online (DDO) are now moving from Turbine to Standing Stone Games, a newly formed indie game studio. In addition, we’ve partnered with Daybreak Games to provide global publishing services. They’ve had a long, successful history developing and publishing MMOs, and we’re happy to lean on their expertise.

With the announcement out of the way, I wanted to talk to you about what all this means.

We’re embarking on an exciting adventure as Standing Stone Games, a newly-independent studio staffed by people who have been working on DDO and LOTRO for many years. The teams remain very much committed to both games and are thrilled to continue development and operations of these games as an independent studio. This is an opportunity for us to bring about our dreams while still working on two of the biggest licenses in video games. It’s a huge honor, and for you this means your games will continue to grow and improve. We love to focus on games with a high level of depth and scope, and we can’t wait to show you what the future brings.

Although a great many exciting things are happening on our end, you’ll be able to continue playing the game(s) you enjoy with as little interruption as possible. Our development continues on track, and the plans we have already announced remain firmly in our future view. Again, although we are a new studio, we are also the same developers who have been and will continue to work on our games.

Our success has always been possible because of your support. As we move forward, this is more important than ever. The ultimate goal of our new studio is to continue to bring you amazing experiences. We are excited for the future, and we’re thrilled to have you with us on this journey.

Here’s to great games, epic adventures, and memorable times with friends!

~Sev

There are plenty of questions left to ask, like whether the two games will be brought under the umbrella of Daybreak’s All Access service and what this means for Turbine Entertainment, whose only major game in nearly ten years (Infinite Crisis) was met with poor reception and shut down close to its launch.

(Source: LOTRO)

Lineage II Cancels Hero Coin Resets


Lineage II players by now are used to the annual reset, an event that takes place every January and resets your Hero Coins. As it turns out, the reset has been causing a great deal of frustration and confusion in the community, and NCSoft has taken notice.

In an announcement posted to the official website, NCSoft has announced that the annual reset will be going away starting this year, meaning there won’t be a reset in January 2017 or afterward. As a result of the change, there will be alterations made to the hero coin store. Details will be coming in the future as to those changes.

Hero Coins in Lineage II are accumulated by buying and spending NCoin, the cash shop currency.

Our thoughts: I have a feeling that costs are going to rise for items in the Hero Coin store now that NCSoft has a reasonable expectation that the amount on hand is universally increasing.

(Source: NCSoft)

Enjoy Black Desert Online For 7 Days


If you haven’t played Black Desert Online yet, but you want to, then you are in luck. Starting now and running through January 4, you can get your hands on a free seven day trial for Black Desert Online. The trial involves no content restrictions or progress loss, you can pick up where you left off should you decide to buy the game.

In addition to the seven day trial, all BDO game packages will be 50% off for the same time period (through January 4). Purchasing the Explorer’s Pack will get you access to the Noel Costume Set, while those who own the game can receive the costume by purchasing it through the store or referring other players.

Check out the free trial at the official website.

Charge $10 On Neverwinter For A Pet


December 15 marks the start of Neverwinter’s Winter Festival, and that can only mean one thing: A charge promo. From now until January 12, purchase $10 or more in Zen and receive a Simril Helper companion.

Get a little help this holiday season with the Winter Festival Charge Promo! Players who purchase $10 or more worth of Zen will get the SImril Helper companion. This companion will provide bonus Light of Simril during the Winter Festival!

Neverwinter on PC and Console is also celebrating the holidays with a double experience and 20% off services sale running from now until the 21st.

(Source: Simril Helper)

Grab Your 7 Free Ubisoft Games Before December 18


Ubisoft is giving another chance to get your hands on the seven free games handed out during the UBI30 event. Celebrating the company’s 30 years of existence, the UBI30 giveaway is a great way to get your hands on some of Ubisoft’s best titles from Beyond Good and Evil to Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon. All you need to get these titles is a uPlay account and to head over to the promotional website. Log in with your account and the games will be activated and ready to install.

In other free game news, Xbox users can get their hands on Lost Oddyssey for free for the time being.