News – Page 393 – MMO Fallout

Jagex Releases DarkScape: Hardcore RuneScape

Today marks the launch of an experimental new version of RuneScape, one which none of you likely saw coming. DarkScape, as it has been called, is a new version of RuneScape with a twist. Unlike its relatively safe counterpart, everywhere in DarkScape is open for player vs player combat. You can be attacked at any time, at any point in the world, including places that used to be safe zones in RuneScape’s PvP worlds (banks).

But don’t think that this is just RuneScape with the option to kill anyone you want. In DarkScape the world is divided into three zones, with each zone yielding better rewards with a wider range of players who you can attack, and who can attack you. Cities, while open to player vs player combat, are patrolled by guards of varying power, capable of taking down adventurers who get out of hand. Each of the three regions has its own separate bank account, grand exchange, and more.

The other side of this server is that all content is available for free players, even that which is members only on standard RuneScape. Members receive a 50% experience boost as well as better drops, double bank space, and double items kept on death. In addition, DarkScape will not be updated alongside standard RuneScape content. As the game develops, Jagex plans on taking it in its own direction guided by players (similar to Old School).

Check out DarkScape at the link below.

(Source: DarkScape)

Both Everquest Titles Reveal Upcoming Expansions

Everquest and Everquest 2 are set to receive their next expansions, and yes I said expansions. In both cases, more details are expected to be released on October 1st, alongside a live stream where Daybreak will be running through some of the new zones.

For Everquest, the expansion includes 15 new raids accompanied by new AA’s, new gear, new spells, and more. The news post also notes that this is the last chance to get your hands on Darkened Sea collectors items.

We wanted this expansion to have content that reached beyond the highest-level players. So, in addition to new and updated zones for levels 105, we are including two instanced raid zones for levels 75 to 105 to play in together! These “level agnostic” raid zones will balance themselves to the highest level player in your raid. It just so happens that these two level agnostic zones are the original Plane of Fear and Plane of Hate! So if you never got a chance to raid in those planes, or long for them, you can relive those days with a broader range of players when we launch.

For Everquest II, the expansion promises content that everyone can enjoy, from dungeons to raids, new items, and plenty of new things to craft. Similar to EQ1, the latest expansion Altar of Madness is 50% off in the store and will no longer be available to purchase after October 1st.

The 12th expansion for EverQuest II includes a sprawling overland and loads of content with quests, advanced solo and heroic dungeons, and a healthy number of raids including x2s and x4s. Not only that, but we’re doing level-agnostic versions of each of the new dungeons! We have a couple of new types of items to talk about as well as an updated Deity system to give you details on! Tradeskillers, we’ve got new quests and recipes for you as well!

More information is coming October 1st.

(Source: Everquest, Everquest 2)

ArcheAge 2.0 Rolled Back After Major Server Issues

If you’ve been out of the loop as I have for the past couple of days, you may have missed the launch of ArcheAge 2.0. Thankfully, you didn’t miss much, as an issue with the Glyph authentication system resulted in over 90% of players being denied access to the game.

As many of you are aware, earlier today we attempted to launch Update 2.0, Heroes Awaken, to ArcheAge. While the lands of Erenor were ready for you, our Glyph authentication systems unfortunately encountered an error that did not allow a large number of people to connect and join the launch. After reviewing our logs, only 10% of players who attempted to log in made it into the game. Over 90% of you were unable to join the launch of Update 2.0.

Trion Worlds assures players that the issue is unrelated to the 2.0 update and server merger. To give the technicians more time to analyze and come up with a fix for the issue, the servers were rolled back to their prior state before the update, with any marketplace purchases and APEX purchases being refunded. Update 2.0 is scheduled to launch today, Sunday, in waves beginning with the European players.

Additionally, we will be splitting the launch of Heroes Awaken by region and by server type. We are targeting to open our European servers 1:00 PM GMT (3:00 PM CEST) on September 13, followed by our North American servers opening at 1:00 PM PDT (4 PM EDT) on September 13. Our Legacy servers will be opened first, our Evolution servers will open second, and our Fresh Start servers will open last. There will be a half-hour delay between each server type opening.

(Source: ArcheAge)

APB Reloaded Compensating For Downtime

If you hadn’t noticed, DDOS attacks have become common enough that nowadays they’re just a regular thing that happens every so often. Pick any major game service, be it Xbox Live, PSN, RuneScape, World of Warcraft, etc, and odds are it has experienced service disruption in recent months due to these attacks.

In the case of APB Reloaded, Reloaded Productions has thanked its community for bearing with them over the course of recent attacks. As compensation, any player who has logged in between June 26th and today (September 10th) will receive two free inventory expansion selectors.

Over the last couple of months, we’ve seen DDOS attacks on the rise again for APB as well as other games. While we’re working with our Mitigation provider to combat these new types of attacks, we know that it’s an unpleasant experience for our players. As a small token of appreciation, we’ve delivered 2 codes for Inventory Expansion Selectors, this is for all players that have logged into a district from June 26th to today, and is good until September 22, 2015.

(Source: APB Reloaded)

Asheron’s Call Still Offline, No Remedy In Sight

Asheron’s Call went offline two weeks ago for extended maintenance, and it still hasn’t woken up. In a post on the official forums, Turbine staff have been giving daily updates on how things are progressing, but so far the company has no idea how much longer the maintenance will take.

We’ve identified additional engineering work that will be required in order for us to reopen the worlds to you, and are currently working through the best way to get that work done. At this time we do not have an ETA on when the worlds will reopen, but we expect to have more information for you within the next couple of days. We apologize for the delay, and know that we are working to get the worlds reopened to you as soon as possible.

(Source: Asheron’s Call)

RuneScape Shop Now Accepting Bonds

Jagex Ltd, makers of the MMO RuneScape have announced a brand new way to use bonds, tokens that can be purchased and traded on the in-game market. Starting today, it is now possible to purchase goods in the Jagex merchandise store with bonds, for a limited time. In a press release sent out today, players can redeem six RuneScape bonds (approximate value $30) for a voucher that is good for any t-shirt from the merchandise store.

The codes are only available for a limited time and in limited quantities, so all interested parties are encouraged to step up now. RuneScape bonds can be purchased for $6 and traded on the in-game market or redeemed for treasure hunter keys, membership, and Rune Coins. Its purpose is to simultaneously allow players to buy gold with real money without the risks of third party black market sellers, and to allow players to effectively pay their way through RuneScape without actually paying real money.

(Source: RuneScape press release)

Perfect World Drops Neverwinter Expansions Onto Xbox One

Xbox One players have officially closed the gap in content with the latest addition to Neverwinter on the new generation console. Today marks the launch of four expansions, including the latest module Elemental Evil, bringing the total number of expansions to six. Players will enjoy an increased level cap, the Oathbound Paladin class, new adventure zones, as well as four end-game campaigns, and more.

Executive producer Rob Overmeyer praised the update for the amount of free content added to the game.

“With six expansions’ worth of free content released since launch, our team continues to support Neverwinter and its players with all new locations along and outside of the Sword Coast filled with challenging dungeons to crawl and wicked monsters to battle. We’re excited to continue our support with the Strongholds expansion in 2015.”

(Source: Perfect World press release)

Wildstar Free To Play Won’t Be Reflected In Next Report

The latest news to come out of Carbine Studios is that Wildstar will officially launch as free to play on September 29th. With the third quarter financial reports expected to release at some point in mid-November, now is a good time to point out that Wildstar will very likely show a continued dip in sales. The reason for this is that, while quarterly finance reports aren’t released until November, the period that the third quarter covers falls between July and September.

What does this mean for you? Not a whole lot. For NCSoft and Wildstar, it means that any revenue increases that come after the free to play transition won’t be reflected until the fourth quarter finances are released in February 2016. A small but important distinction to make when NCSoft releases their report later this year.

More coverage to come as events transpire.

Pathfinder Online Has Three Employees Left

Pathfinder Online, currently in early enrollment, has three employees left. In an announcement on the official website yesterday, Acting CEO Lisa Stevens revealed that the majority of the Goblinworks team has been laid off due to a lack of funds. The company is currently seeking outside investments in order to ensure that the game can make it to open enrollment, however right now the three employees and servers are being supported by the community.

Due to the commitment that you have made to the game, your current subscriptions are able to keep the core team employed and the servers live. We will continue to move the game forward with that team and keep the servers live as long as the continued financial support from the community is there.

The bad news accompanies even further bad news, that CEO Ryan Dancey has resigned his position due to personal reasons. Given Dancey voicing his disapproval of the community’s outreach efforts earlier this year, the news that Pathfinder is facing financial difficulty may not be all too surprising.

According to the news post, Pathfinder presently has enough funding to keep the servers up through September. Anything after that is wholly dependent on subscribers.

(Source: Pathfinder Online)

Hi-Rez Announces Support Returning For Tribes

It’s been more than two years since Hi-Rez Studios announced that development would cease on Tribes Ascend, owing to the fact that the game just about broke even in terms of revenue versus cost to develop. While much of the community has long since given up hope of Hi-Rez ever returning to the game, given the ongoing success of Smite, the recently announced Paladins shooter, CEO Erez Goren announced via Twitter that the company now has the resources to go back to their old games.

With the success of Smite and Paladins, we have more resources than ever in the Studio. We can now afford to go back and improve older game.

Right now we only have confirmation of a new map and small updates, but a further Tweet also indicates “continuing support.”

Tribes will be getting a new map and some other small changes as well as continuing support. PTS in about two weeks if all goes well.

Tribes players will no doubt be happy to hear of the game’s revival.

(Source: Twitter)

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