Blizzard Messes Up Server Sale, Customers Report Busted Shipments


What could be cooler than owning a server blade from World of Warcraft? Eating a life size elf statue made of rum cake, I suppose. Let’s meet in the middle and agree on receiving that product you paid a fair amount for in a state that is not broken.

If you were lucky enough, you may have gotten on Blizzard’s store back in September to buy a server blade with 100% of the price going toward charity; specifically the Pencils of Promise charity, a global education organization creating schools, programs, and global communities around the common goal of education for all. Those who bought the server blades for the not at all cheap price are starting to receive their product and the results are not great.

Maybe Pencils of Promise should educate Blizzard on how to pack a box. Players are reporting that their servers have been smashed in transit with a common thread being cheap housing and shoddy efforts in ensuring that the server blades don’t bang around in transit.

Several users who were able to get hold of Blizzard support have received a response that the company is figuring out a solution to all of the broken hardware. Unfortunately due to the nature of the item (a collectible piece of retired hardware) it is unlikely that a replacement is in the bag. Unless Blizzard has a heap of server blades sitting around unused, the best they may be able to do is to eat the cost and provide a refund.

I have provided a number of customer notes below. There are a lot more reports of broken blades/cases on the forums.

(Shoutout to Kimset in the Discord for bringing this to my attention)

“I got mine today and it arrived with random pieces of the server floating around inside of the case, giant scuff on the inside of the plastic cover from things rubbing it during shipping, and one of the plastic “pins” or whatever snapped off so the plastic doesn’t actually stay on the server itself and I almost lost the whole thing when taking it out of the box because I didn’t know it was fcked before I even got it. Really bummed after looking forward to receiving this for a long time and missing my chance at one of the original ones.”

“mine arrived broken and scuffed as well. cheapest housing i have ever seen. im starting a return on it now”

“I received mine today on the east coast and it was also damaged. The 2 inside hooks were broken off (seems like a weak point anyway), inside front scratched and one of the acrylic screws was almost broken in half. The cover seems too delicate for the blade imo. The shipping box didn’t seem like it had a rough ride and I agree with the packaging not being sufficient. It may have had a much better chance not assembled with each piece protected separately since my damage seemed to be all on the inside cover. I would like a replacement cover rather than refund and I hope BLizz works that out.”

“I also had mine arrived damaged, the case it self was loose the backing was falling apart just picking it up there was scratches on the case as well and 5 pieces broken and floating inside. I am extremely pissed off that I like others spent over 300 dollars USD for this BS. Who ever works at blizzard that that it was a good idea to just have four very thin foam pieces covering just the corners should be fired. And while some people have responded it’s so easy to just return it I do t want it returned I want a exchange. But I am sure that is almost impossible as these were supposed to be one of a kind collecters editions”

“Mine came broken badly as well. I already submitted a ticket and got blown off by the GM that answered it, so ill try the live chat option but im not optimistic at this point based on reading other peoples struggles as well as my experience with the previous GM. 20 minute queue to talk to someone is kind of ridiculous though…”

“I received mine today. The shipping box is in very good shape and not damaged in the slightest. The server blade cover, with the WoW 15th anniversary logo is intact. But the little plastic tabs on the back side of the cover which hold it on are broken off in pieces and the plastic screws at the other end which hold the cover on are sheared off.”

“welp mine arrived completely broken. the whole housing is cheap and plastic and cracked in shipping. returning”

“Mine arrived. Very underwhelming. Case broken, all plastic screws snapped and mysteriously missing, stand broken. Yay charity. At least the engraving is kinda nice. Just dont look at the underside, some 12 year old glued it on.”

Communication Workers Of America Launch Campaign To Unionize Game Devs


The Communication Workers of America have launched a campaign to unionize jobs in gave development and the tech sector.

Talks of unionization in the gaming industry and wider tech sector have been stewing for years, but it looks like real efforts are finally going to be made to push for widespread bargaining efforts following talks between the CWA and Game Workers Unite, an organization pushing for the creation of union to protect workers rights.

The gaming industry has become rather well known for its exploitative habits, with employees forced to work long hours often upwards of 100-hour weeks for months on end in what some industry CEOs have proudly called “crunch” period. Developers generally have rather poor job security with major waves of layoffs coming after big video game launches and in cases like Activision at the start of 2019 after simultaneously reporting record profits and congratulating their executives with big bonus checks. Companies like Google and Riot were shaken by walkouts in response to how accusations of sexual misconduct and discrimination were handled.

Organizers hope for better working conditions and corporate ethics. MMO Fallout will keep an eye on the situation as it progresses.

Source: LA Times

Destiny 2: Devil’s Ruin Exotic Sidearm Available


The Devil’s Ruin Exotice Sidearm is finally available in Destiny 2, and the process to get your hands on it is…surprisingly short.

1. A Lost Relic

First step in getting your hands on the Devil’s Ruin is to actually start the quest by completing a run of the Sundial on Mercury and defeating champions. You don’t actually have to defeat a certain number of champions, just finish the Sundial and the quest step will be available in the same window you pick your reward weapon from at the end of the run. Turn in the quest to Saint-14 at the tower and he’ll give you your next assignment.

2. A Tour Through History

For this step you’ll be sent to a crucible map, but don’t worry! You won’t actually be playing a crucible match. Instead your job is to collect weapon fragments in the Twilight Gap. Head over to the Earth Defense Zone and click on the quest popup in the lower left hand corner. You’ll be taken to an instance zone where you will need to hunt out and find robot corpses scattered throughout the level.

You’ll hear some interesting chatter between Saint-14, Osiris, and Shaxx as friends catch up with each other and talk about the old days.

3. Enjoy The Gun!

Is that it? I told you the quest line was short. No padding, no killing a battalion of enemy troops, nothing. Just a quick trip and a fun conversation.

Devil’s Ruin has the Close The Gap trait which lets you hold the fire button down to charge a staggering laser. It also has the pyrogenesis trait that causes a fully charged laser to refill the magazine from reserves. It is a versatile weapon that should be powerful in either PvE or PvP.

Twitch: RuneScape Umbral Packs Now Available


The next set of Twitch Prime items are now available in RuneScape. The pack is free for all Twitch Prime members and includes the umbral cloak, umbral bow, and umbral staff, as well as previous items in the umbral set if you haven’t previously received them. You will need to link your Twitch and RuneScape accounts and the rewards can only be redeemed once.

The umbral pack is available until February 3. Get it here.

Not Massive: Build Your Own MMO In MMORPG Tycoon 2


Ever looked your favorite MMORPG Roma Victor and thought “I could do better than this”? Well now you have the chance to put your money where your mouth is without going through the difficult steps of acquiring millions of dollars to feed a budget.

MMORPG Tycoon 2 is the incidental sequel to the title MMORPG Tycoon. Currently in Early Access on Steam, MMORPG Tycoon puts the player in the role of building their own Azeroth or Gielinor or Club Penguin, whatever your heart desires. Create zones, build towns, give your players what they want and watch that cash flow. You’ll even have to deal with cheaters, obnoxious players, and just those who can’t figure the game out for themselves, as you push toward that revenue goal. You can even get in on the trend and make your game free to play, introducing exorbitant cash shops with pay to win elements if you so desire.

One thing that MMORPG Tycoon 2 is not is an MMO. It is single player and your customers are all bots. Still, it looks like a fun way to prove to the world what a design guru you truly are.

Check it out.

Source: Steam

Kickstarter Ketchup: Eminence: Xander’s Tale Dead Of No Revenue


What do you get when you combine an MMO environment and an RPG dialogue? A game that is dead as a corpse.

In doing my end-of-decade round of Kickstarter follow up stories, I came across Eminence: Xander’s Tale only to discover that the game has very recently been pronounced dead in the water. Eminence is a rather interesting sounding title; a hardcore trading card game that operates on the Yu Gi Oh! Battle City rules of letting the victor take a card from the loser. It was successfully crowdfunded to the tune of £52,037 from 669 backers and launched on Android/iOS in 2017/2018. Eminence launched without the MMORPG part of the Kickstarter campaign.

Will it get there? No. Google Play shows not-so-great install numbers (100+) and the folks at Aeternia Studios posted just a couple of months ago to announce that development is no longer active on Eminence due to the simple fact that nobody wants to play it and as a result nobody wants to fund it. The Eminence domain has also been gone for an undetermined amount of time after May of 2019.

“The Kickstarter funding we raised was not anywhere near enough to finish the first version of the game. Unfortunately, unexpected events happen, we under estimated how much we needed in terms of resource to deliver the game.

So we raised additional funding from some external investors under a new company. With this new funding we were able to deliver the game for both iOS and Android.

However, the game hasn’t made the revenue we hoped to keep supporting the team. We managed to hold on to one of our devs to help support the game for bug fixes and maintenance out of good will. But eventually he too had to move on.

We haven’t given up on the game. But with no funding and resources it’s difficult to provide any support or maintenance hence the lack of updates to the builds.”

It’s a tale as old as time. Dev funds game, does not anticipate the game going over budget, and the game doesn’t see its way to completion. It happens on a daily basis in both indie development and the AAA gaming sector and is an unfortunate reality of this industry and many others.

NM: Iranian Government Summons Children of Morta Dev Over Unislamic Content


Here’s something chilling to mull over for your new years.

Dead Mage team lead Amir Fassihi posted a message on Twitter this week revealing that the team behind Children of Morta had been summoned to court over concerns about their game. What was the concern? The game not upholding Islamic tradition. The tweet which has been (poorly) translated for your pleasure, notes that Iranian officials took umbrage with the game including things like dancing and a burial not complying with Islamic law.

“Children of Morta developer is summoned to the court over the complaint that the game includes dancing, lack of hijab, lack of praising for God, use of magic for fighting demons and also a burial not complying with Islamic laws.”

Children of Morta is an RPG rogue-lite where you take control of the Bergsons family who must fight against encroaching corruption in a procedurally generated dungeon. The game takes place in a fantasy world and the female characters do not wear hijabs.

The original tweet by Fassihi has since been deleted. It’s hard to tell where this proceeding will go, but gamers who were considering buying Children of Morta might want to do so now if just to support the developers financially or to get their hands on the title in case it suddenly gets pulled from the Steam store. Dead Mage is an Iran-based indie developer.

Source: Twitter (archive)

Diaries From Gielinor: The Yak Track Made Me Hate RuneScape


I’ve made several comments over the years about how Jagex seems to struggle with conflicting priorities, and nothing really exemplifies that in recent history more than the Yak Track.

For those of you who play RuneScape, the Yak Track ends today (January 5). I liked the idea of the Yak Track in theory; an alternative to the battle pass that was given away for free to those who shelled out additional money for the Premier Pack. It’s pure selfishness, but for people like me who are still grandfathered in at the $5 monthly subscription you kinda have to give us something in the bundle to make that price difference worth it.

The Yak Track was such an exercise in tedium that it made me resent RuneScape. I managed to swallow 25 of the 50 levels and theoretically can’t really “quit” the game because I have 600+ days accumulated in excess membership thanks to various giveaways over the past 15 years. I’ve just spent the last couple of months playing the Twisted League in Old School RuneScape.

Contextually the Yak Track couldn’t come out at a more ridiculous and dare I say stupidly contradictory time in RuneScape history. It represents a mind-numbing tedium that Jagex has gone back and forth on in terms of stamping out in the game.

The Yak Track is a battle pass that presents players with 50 tiers of rewards with each tier having its own option of one of two tasks. Some of the tiers are joke tasks, like collect 28 cabbages or talk to an NPC, something you can do it 5 minutes. The majority of the tasks however are ridiculously tedious. Fletch thousands of bows, make thousands of potions, invest endless hours into slayer, etc. It isn’t fun and it’s a stark reminder of one of Jagex’s worst business practices that the company has admitted it is trying to push away from.

Jagex, like Ubisoft, has a habit of creating a problem and then selling players the solution. Don’t want to slog through 30+ tiers of godawful grind for this time-limited event and cosmetics you’ll never be able to obtain again? Well Jagex will sell you bonds to skip the content that they artificially inflated the tedium for in order to sell you bonds to skip the grind that they artificially inflated to make you pay real cash to skip. Nothing stokes resentment quite like the company that has had numerous apology videos over the past few months about their predatory monetization practices doing exactly what they are apologizing for, while they are apologizing.

It also dampens the fact that two weeks after the Yak Track launched, Jagex overhauled the way daily quests in RuneScape work because they saw players getting indignant about the tedium of taking excessive time away every day for dailies that didn’t really reward them. Yep, Jagex will overhaul a system so you don’t need to talk to an NPC to turn in a daily task while at the same time instituting another system that forces you to mine three thousand coal for 1/50th of a reward tier.

I’d like to believe Jagex’s thousandth apology and promise to do better when it comes to predatory microtransactions, but they could at least wipe the crumbs off of their face before promising that they’ll stop stealing from the cookie jar.

Surprise! Grand Theft Auto V Hits Xbox Game Pass


Bet you didn’t see this coming.

Xbox Game Pass has been shaking up the news lately with the wide array of big name titles being added to the subscription service and today is no different. Microsoft announced via Twitter that Grand Theft Auto V is not only the latest title to be added, but that it is available now. Right now.

Well okay, not right now right now but sometime today. By the time half of you read this, GTA V will be ready for download on your system. Granted if you look at Rockstar’s sales numbers 90% of the world already owns Grand Theft Auto V, but the other 10% (or the portion that subscribes to Game Pass) will be happy to know they won’t have to shell out any extra to go online and host a big casino heist.

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NCSoft Files New Trademark For City of Heroes


It has been more than eight years since NCSoft shutdown City of Heroes and unsurprisingly there are still a lot of people who haven’t quite forgiven the developer for its transgressions. As MMO Culture noted this week however, it looks like NCSoft has filed new trademark applications for the City of Heroes brand. Could this mean something new on the horizon for City of Heroes?

Our guess? It might have something to do with the rogue server negotiations that have been going on for some time now. It might also be related to the fact that NCSoft’s trademarks for City of Heroes have all died. The prior trademarks for City of Heroes, Going Rogue, Freedom, etc, have been listed as abandoned for several years now. You see, in order to keep a trademark going you have to show that it is still in active use; a reason to be protecting it.

Since NCSoft has had no interest in the City of Heroes name for nearly a decade now, their lawyer never bothered submitted a notice of continued use. Once a trademark is knocked off for lack of notice, it is unrevivable. You want it back, you’ll need to file a new application. So why does NCSoft suddenly want the trademark back? It could be that they just didn’t notice it had expired, it could be that they are protecting their interest in the names as part of the negotiations with the rogue server teams.

It could just NCSoft wanting to collect its toys so nobody else can play with them. We will have to wait and see.

Source: Trademarkia via MMO Culture