News – Page 450 – MMO Fallout

Darkfall Changing Territory Control

Aventurine has revealed details regarding some upcoming changes to the territory control system in Darkfall Unholy Wars, set to change the world as you know it. Set for implementation by the time you read this article, control points will now exert an area of influence, each of whom offer their own set of buffs in gathering, gaining prowess, and looting creatures within its sphere.

Clans that are able to conquer linking territory will be happy to see that these buffs stack when in their area of effect, encouraging clans to go out and take over neighboring keeps. Activity within the region will also generate resources for the clan in the form of an automatic tax.

Check out the patch notes at the official website.

(Source: Aventurine Press Release)

The Average RuneScaper

Jagex CEO Mark Gerhard posted an article on the RuneScape main website to discuss demographics and dispel a few myths about RuneScape this past weekend. According to the metrics, 84% of RuneScape’s population are male, and 90% of the overall population plays the game in English. The average RuneScape account was created in 2009 and has a total level of 1614, with only 1% of the population with an account worth at least one billion gold coins. Over half of the population plays out of North America.

The bot nuke in 2011 saw 95% of gold farming bots disappear overnight, although they managed to make their way back over the next couple of years. 2013’s round of anti-bot technology and the release of bonds (PLEX) have diminished to “almost rock bottom,” in the main game. Jagex is moving its sights over to Old School RuneScape to target bots. And speaking of old school, while the Evolution of Combat update saw an unreleased number of players part ways with the game, Jagex notes that a lot of those players returned to play on the Old School servers.

You can find the full article along with some handy charts at the list below.

(Source: RuneScape)

Molten Games Suffers Massive Layoffs

Molten Games, the San Diego-based developer founded by ex-Blizzard and Sony Online Entertainment employees, has lost its funding and laid off its staff. The studio was in development of Blunderbuss, a “core” MMORPG built on the Unreal Engine 4 and featuring action combat.

The layoffs were confirmed by the San Diego chapter of the International Game Developer’s Association on the group’s Facebook page.

We’re getting word from contacts at Molten Games that the studio has lost its funding and laid off its employees. They are currently seeking funding to continue development. Let’s be proactive and help our fellow developers land on their feet.

Molten Games was originally funded by NCSoft, who were not able to comment on the matter as an investor with no role in management.

(Source: Gamasutra)

Design A Costume In Champions Online

Do you have a great idea for a costume? Want to see that costume available in Champions Online for others to enjoy? Cryptic Studios has announced a costume design contest where one winner will see their creation available for purchase within the Champions Online cash shop.

Throughout the next few weeks players can submit their costume design, consisting of a 1) visual component, and 2) a written description. Don’t worry if you’re not an artist, as long as we have something visually to go with, anything will work. Players will post their entries on the forums, and we’ll choose our favorites to feature. Once the submission period ends, we’ll select five finalists and post them for the community to vote on.

The winner will also receive 3000 Zen ($30 value) as well as four copies of the costume to hand out to friends. Five runner-ups will receive a smaller dividend of prizes including Zen and exclusive action figures. The contest runs from today up until April 21st, with the winner announced on April 28th.

(Source: Champions Online)

NCSoft Lowering Hero Coin Costs

Lineage II’s Hero Coin program launched approximately three months ago to some heavy criticism over the outrageously expensive reward system. As players spend more NCoin, they receive Hero Coins that can be spent on items in the reward store. We began to question just how much NCSoft expects some of its players will spend, as Hero Coins reset annually and some of the rewards require spending in excess of thirty thousand dollars.

NCSoft announced on the Lineage II website that prices for most items are being dropped by at least 40%. In addition, NCSoft is running promotions to increase Hero Coin gains. The move is unlikely to quell criticism of the game selling rare and valuable equipment at expensive prices.

(Source: Lineage II)

Guild Wars 2's Megaservers

April 15th sees the launch of the latest content pack from Guild Wars 2, and Arenanet is finally ready to show off the last major feature to be added: Megaservers. Under this new system, players will no longer be separated into separate versions of the same map based on their home world, but rather will be assigned to one of a lower number of worlds based on factors like location and language. The megaserver is developed to create as many instances of the world as are needed, instead of the static number already in place.

What does this mean for you, the player? First off, it means no more hitting empty zones because your world is asleep, and no longer hitting the zone’s overflow location. You are also more likely to be zoned with guildmates and friends. Check out the new megaserver technology when it goes into soft launch on April 15th in beginner areas with the rest of the game coming later in 2014.

(Source: Guild Wars 2)

CalcMMO Shutting Down Today

It is truly a sad day here at MMO Fallout, as we must pass along the news that CalcMMO will be shutting down later today. What? You never heard of CalcMMO? CalcMMO is the world’s first and last TI-83 themed MMO, which launched on Steam’s early access earlier today. CalcMMO is free to play and scales down enough to run on a toaster. Those of you without sound cards are advised to make bleep sounds with your mouth.

CalcMMO was voted MMO Fallout’s Most Anticipated Game of 2014, making this news exceptionally disappointing. Thank you to Archive Entertainment for throwing this brick-strapped press release through my open window.

(Source: CalcMMO Press Release)

Guild Wars 2 Reveals…Bobble Heads!

Why does everyone have tiny heads? If you have to ask, you don’t know the answer. Luckily, ArenaNet is here to solve this age-old question, of which you are apparently the only person who has yet to figure out. Starting today, Guild Wars 2 players will find that their heads have been inflated to a more normal size.

The procedure is not optional, by order of the Red Queen.

Trion Controls ArcheAge Prices

Anytime you have separation point between a publisher and a developer, the question is inevitably raised as to just how much control the publisher has in the relationship. We have seen publishers take over development of a game from its developers all the way down to publishers only capable of forwarding bug reports to the developers for them to fix. The ultimate answer we seek in judging where the scale tips is so we know who to blame when the things hit the fan and players want to know who is responsible for mucking things up.

In the case of ArcheAge, at least we know that Trion is in full control of the cash shop. As Community Manager Scapes posted, Trion controls the content and the pricing.

“We decide what’s in it and at what price, simple as that.”

You can check out the entire Q&A at the link below.

(Source: ArcheAge Q&A)

APB Reloaded Upgrading To Unreal 3

The folks at Reloaded Productions have put out a new dev blog highlighting upcoming changes to APB: Reloaded’s engine. As some of you may know, All Points Bulletin is set to receive an upgrade to the latest version of the Unreal Engine 3, or the 2013 build to put it in another perspective. Updating to the latest version of UE3 means taking advantage of all of the improvements made over the past six years. The team is looking at getting the update out “as-is,” meaning players won’t be seeing any graphical improvements to the game at first. Over the longer run, however, APB should be capable of visual enhancements as well as a number of new features previously impossible.

Check out the entire blog post at the link below.

(Source: APB Reloaded)

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