Category: News

Warcraft Legacy Server Survey To Be Presented To Blizzard


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Nostalrius isn’t the first, nor will it be the last World of Warcraft private server to meet the wrath of Blizzard’s legal team, but the shuttering of this service has undoubtedly opened a can of worms that I don’t think many people anticipated. Between a petition receiving over two hundred thousand signatures, a press that finally seems bent on supporting the user call for vanilla servers, and a ridiculous amount of coverage even outside the gaming press, Blizzard has effectively been forced to respond and take the Nostalrius effect seriously.

As it turns out, the Nostalrius team has been invited to Blizzard to become the ambassadors of the vanilla-demanding community. Nothing is being promised, but the team wants you to answer a poll on what kind of server you want. The poll asks some details, whether you are currently playing WoW (legitimately or otherwise), and why you decided to use private servers if you have. It also asks quite a few questions on your favorite eras of WoW, why they were your favorite, etc.

It’s a bit of a time investment, but well worth it. Hopefully we’ll hear more when the Nostalrius team returns from their meeting.

(Source: Survey)

Wild Tera Update Adds In Woolen Cloaks


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Massively multiplayer life simulator Wild Tera thinks you should wear a cloak when you go outside, to avoid catching a cold. Luckily the latest update has just what you need in order to craft such comfortable wear. Update 8.3, deployed this week, allows players to dye woolen cloaks in a variety of colors, by boiling them with certain ingredients.

Woolen cloak can be colored by boiling with the addition of various ingredients. The ingredients you have to figure out yourself.

In addition, the folks at Juvty Worlds have added a few updates to the pet system. It is now possible to find horses of various colors and breeds, including some that are rare and hard to find. If you don’t like the idea of losing your pet, it is also possible to buy permanent versions at the shop that cannot be lost. Available in the shop now are horses, deer, boar, wolf, brown bear, and also unique rare breed – a black and white bear.

Wild Tera can be played by buying one of several early access bundles. Check it out at the link below.

(Source: Wild Tera)

IPE Update: Motion To Dismiss Digital Homicide Lawsuit Presented


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Romine V Stanton refers to the ongoing lawsuit between James Romine (Digital Homicide) and James Stanton (Jim Sterling) over alleged defamation by the latter causing damage to the reputation and sales of the former. Last we heard, James Romine had filed a motion to amend his complaint and is now suing for over $15 million in damages, including $5 million in emotional distress. The defense, on April 5th, filed a motion to delay their response which was granted with the new deadline being May 5th.

Well the deadline is here and the response was filed yesterday, finally giving us a response from Stanton and his lawyers, of which he has two. James Romine is still being represented by himself, owing to the fact that he can’t get a lawyer to take his case. The brunt of the 31 page response aims to persuade the judge to dismiss the case on the grounds that Arizona does not have jurisdiction over the case, seeing as Stanton has no presence in the state, makes no sales in the state, nor is he aware if anyone does or does not watch his videos from Arizona. Humorously, he also notes that he has never even visited the state.

Stanton’s response is a motion to dismiss the case, defending his writing/videos as protected speech and that commentary on DHS is clearly opinion. I’ll let Stanton sum it up:

 I am appalled that my opinions and writings on the subject of DHS, its games, and its use of an alias on the Steam service to distribute its games can serve as a basis for a libel lawsuit. As a writer and entertainer, I am well within my legal right to express my opinions, disclose my discoveries, and be part of online commentary regarding video game companies like DHS and video game distribution services like Steam. The Article is clearly protected speech and use of words like “chicanery,” “the Wet Bandits,” “weirdness” and “weeeeird” to describe DHS is clearly opinion.

MMO Fallout will have an update hopefully early next week on how Judge Tuchi rules.

Cheat Makers Are Still Shady, Black Desert Online Botters Figure Out


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Here at MMO Fallout, I’ve made several attempts to warn people of the dangers of downloading bot software and doing business with gold farmers in online games. Not only do you risk the safety of your accounts, but you also take a chance of having your computer compromised and your identity stolen. Gold farmers, it may surprise you, have a heavy hand in actual crime, and I’m not talking about selling gold to teenagers/adults who feel inadequate in their electronic wealth. I’m talking about people who deal in actual stolen credit cards and often steal from their own customers.

Such is the case, once again, as botters in Black Desert Online recently found out that a popular program was bugged with a keylogger. Users are logging into their accounts to find their characters wiped and items stolen. Hopefully this will serve as a lesson for players looking to get ahead through illegitimate means, but given past history it is only a matter of time before the next incident.

(Source: Reddit)

The Park Out On Xbox One and PS4


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Funcom’s experimental title The Park is out today on modern consoles, letting games of all stripes to experience the same horror that PC players went through last Halloween. Set in the secret world of The Secret World, The Park puts players in the shoes of Lorraine, a mother desperately searching for her son Callum who becomes lost in the dilapidated amusement park.

“We are very excited about bringing ‘The Park’ to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and this launch holds special significance for us, not least because it is our first console release in almost ten years,” said Funcom CEO Rui Casais. “’The Park’ feels truly at home on PlaySation 4 and Xbox One, and it was the perfect title for us to get back on the console scene again.”

MMO Fallout reviewed The Park on PC and found it to be a fun, short game albeit highly predictable and unappealing to those outside of the “walking simulator” genre. You can check out our coverage here.

(Source: Funcom press release)

VAC Bans Will Extend To Accounts Linked By Phone Number


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(Editor’s Note: The article incorrectly stated incorrectly that the ban on associated accounts lasted three months. The ban on the phone number itself lasts three months, the ban on accounts is permanent. Thank you to Matt in the comments for correcting our mistake.)

Imagine a world where cheaters use burner phones to mask the identities of their individual Steam accounts, not unlike drug dealers, because just such a scenario could become more prevalent with a recent policy change at Valve.

Presently, if you are caught cheating in a VAC-protected game you are banned from VAC-enabled servers on that game. But what is stopping a person from buying Counter Strike: Global Offensive when it goes on sale for fifty cents (or whatever low price it hits during seasonal sales) and stocking up on 10+ accounts? Or Team Fortress 2 which is free to play? Nothing, and it is a noticeable problem in both titles.

Valve is taking on the issue two-fold: The first is to institute a matchmaking system for Counter Strike: GO that only links players whose accounts have phone numbers attached for two-factor authentication. The second is to ban any Steam account associated with that phone number if one of the accounts cheats. The bans on associated phone numbers lasts for three months, during which the number cannot be applied to any other account.

The benefit is that it is effectively impossible to buy a new phone only to find out too late that the guy who held the number before you was VAC-banned and still on probation.

(Source: Engadget)

Surprise! DC Universe Launched On Xbox One Today


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Daybreak Game Company previously announced that DC Universe Online would be heading to Microsoft’s latest console generation, and the less patient of you need wait no longer. As of noon today EST, you can download the free to play superhero MMO on Xbox One and create your dream hero or villain. While there is no cross-platform play with PC and Playstation gamers, content on the Xbox is on par with what is available on the other platforms.

While the game is free to play, you do need Xbox Live in order to play.

(Source: DC Universe)

Guild Wars 2 Polling WvW Content


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How should Arenanet prioritize world vs world content? They want to know, and they’d like you to tell them. In a post on the official website, players have been invited to vote on which project the team will work on next.

The polls are open until May 4th.

(Source: Guild Wars 2)

ArcheAge Producer Letter Discusses Security, Servers


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ArcheAge senior producer Merv “Khrolan” Lee Kwai has posted a new producer letter for April 2016, discussing a range of topics from security to server structure. The post starts out by commenting that the western ArcheAge is only one update behind the Korean version.

So where does ArcheAge stand? You may recall Trion warning not too long ago that they would no longer be going easy on certain players for “minor offenses” and had sent a final warning to correct their behavior. The end result, naturally, is that not everyone responded and as a result players were banned. So far this year, 750,000 accounts have been banned for a variety of offenses from gold farming to bot use.

While some players took us up on our offer and corrected their actions, others didn’t and found themselves permanently banned from ArcheAge, regardless of their tenure with the game. It was hard but necessary for the integrity of the game, and players far and wide have expressed their support for our stance on hacking and exploiting.

Last year saw ArcheAge merging servers, prompting players to ask if more servers will be merged in the future. While Trion Worlds has no more mergers planned for the foreseeable future, the company instead intends on offering incentives for players to move/create characters on said low-population servers instead.

Our initial proposal is still in progress (and not final), but the goal is to highlight the appealing qualities of those servers to new players, players who are leveling, players who want to gear up in a less stressful environment, and players who may have trouble finding land. These ideas include providing boosts to experience or vocation, tagging them clearly in the server selection screen for new players, and allowing free inbound character transfers.

The letter goes on to discuss a number of planned updates, re-introducing rapid fire abilities that were altered from their Korean versions and moving event schedules to more reasonable timing. You can read the entire letter at the link below.

(Source: ArcheAge)

Construction Hits Planetside 2


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Daybreak Game Company has deployed the latest major update to Planetside 2, introducing the ability for players to deploy custom fortifications. The three factions are now competing, in addition to territory, for Cortium, a resource that can only be harvested using 4-man transport vehicles known as ANTs. An ANT also grants schematics to create new buildings like Cortium silos and HIVEs which generate victory points over time.

Cortium, a powerful new mineral, has recently been unearthed. This limited resource allows for the near-instantaneous deployment of player-built fortifications. The discovery of Cortium has prompted the deployment of Advanced Nanite Transports (ANTs), which harvest the mineral and convert it into material that can be used in the field.

In addition to Cortium, the entire continent of Indar has been reconstructed. Numerous outposts have been renovated or outright removed in order to make room for player-built bases.

(Source: Planetside 2)