MMO Fallout

Diving Into Arc’s Daily Quests, Price of Zen

Earlier this week we learned about Arc 3.0, the latest client update for Perfect World’s library of MMOs. When Arc 3.0 launches, players will be able to complete daily quests to unlock Arc points which can then be redeemed for Zen, Perfect World’s real money currency. But how much are you going to have to grind in order to get that sweet payment? Let’s find out.

According to the above screenshot posted on the Arc 3.0 blog, the bare minimum of Zen (500 Zen worth $5 USD) Zen package will run you 5,000 Arc points. Each level requires 600 experience, and each level grants 500 Arc points. In other words, you need to level up ten times in order to afford the $5 package. With example daily quests running upwards of eight days, you could be looking at quite the time investment for these rewards.

The good news is that the dailies seem to be minimally invasive, simple ideas like log in eight days in a row or just play a specific game on the list. It would be irresponsible and poor business for Perfect World Entertainment to make it too easy to obtain Zen with as little work as the daily quests already seem to ask for, as people would simply use that as a source of income.

Still, we’ll have to see how the quests go when the Arc client launches.

DarkScape Throwing in the Towel: Shutting Down

Jagex today announced the sunsetting of DarkScape, a spinoff of RuneScape. Originally launched as a more combat-focused alternative, DarkScape allowed players to fight each other virtually everywhere in the game world. Unfortunately the game mode just didn’t gain enough traction and, as a result, can’t justify allocating development resources to its continued maintenance. The servers for DarkScape are set to come down on March 28th once and for all.

Today, there’s a small, hardcore community that continues to play DarkScape. Unfortunately, it’s just not big enough to warrant ongoing development. The updates made along the way allowed us to experiment with RuneScape’s PvP gameplay systems, play around with changes to the game economy, and test out major changes to combat and equipment behaviour.

DarkScape was deeply flawed as a concept, despite what the few remaining players will tell you, that couldn’t hold a steady population as players flocked back to RuneScape 3 and Old School RuneScape modes. You can expect a followup on this later on this week.

(Source: DarkScape)

RuneScape Unveils Free To Play Extravaganza

If you’re a non-paying player in RuneScape, odds are you hear the words “members only” quite often. It isn’t so often that free players receive new content outside of holiday events, and even those have become rather restricted in the past. This month, however, Jagex has unveiled its Free to Play Extravaganza. Starting today, you don’t need to subscribe in order to access a wealth of content, including bosses and combat options.

For starters, the King Black Dragon and Giant Mole can be killed by free players to sell their sweet, sweet loot for extra gold. Keep in mind, however, you can look but you can’t touch. While free players can obtain members loot, their only use is essentially to sell to members who can bury/utilize them.

Free players can now take on the mighty King Black Dragon by getting to his lair via the Wilderness. Only the bravest and best-equipped need apply. The drops, dragon bones and black dragonhides, are now sellable by free players, but can only be buried and processed by members. Note that the Edgeville artefact cannot be used in free-to-play worlds to access to this boss.

Access to dual-wielding, previously a members-only feature, is now freely available as well alongside a number of combat abilities. Dungeoneering has also had an update, increasing the level of gear that players have access to both inside and out of the dungeon.

You can check out the entire update below.

(Source: RuneScape)

Get Free Zen By Using The Arc Client

Arc is Perfect World Entertainment’s answer to Steam, given that it houses their library in an easy to use package and also acts as a conduit through which money flows and goods are redeemed. With Arc 3.0, the next major update to the client, PWE is looking to change the way you log in and perhaps get their players to try some games that they might otherwise look the other way on.

MMO gamers will be no strangers to the concept of daily quests, an idea that is being thrust into the client in its next update. Daily quests will require the player to do things like log into a game, log in for a number of consecutive days, or play a certain game on two separate days. Completing quests gives experience which in turn gains levels, and in turn can be redeemed for free cash shop currency for PWE’s titles.

Completing quests will give you experience points to level up your Arc Quests level. Each level requires 600 XP and will reward you with 500 Arc Points that can be transitioned into ZEN or other in-game currencies available for games on the Arc platform. There is no level cap to your Arc profile, so you will continue to receive rewards as you complete your quests. These points will be redeemable via the Charge tab on the Arc website and client.

It’s an interesting concept, for sure. Cryptic Studios used to give away stuff for free on the Raptr client, so this may just be an extension of that campaign.

(Source: Arc)

[Column] Black Ops III And Genius Marketing

Call of Duty is one of those franchises that never sees coverage here at MMO Fallout, for obvious reasons. With that in mind, I need to take a moment out of our regularly scheduled programming to discuss the marketing genius behind the Black Ops III multiplayer starter pack, and to also explain why this concept needs to become a semi-regular promotion and also make its way to consoles. Activision is taking its marketing with a one-two punch that should, if all goes well, give a nice boost to sales on the PC.

First, what am I talking about. Nearly ten days ago, Activision introduced the Black Ops III Multiplayer Starter Pack for a paltry $15 on Steam. The pack is exactly what it sounds like, access to multiplayer with some restrictions. No campaign, no zombies, and you can’t prestige, play custom games, access mod support, no Dead Ops Arcade, or Nightmare mode. Tit for tat, this is as barebones as it gets: Ranked multiplayer. If you decide to upgrade to the full game, your $15 is taken off of the total price.

The package makes absolute sense on PC, where Activision has to contend with a tidal wave of established competition that is either free to play or damn near close. In order to make real headway on PC, Activision must rely on the Steam platform where established titles like Counter Strike: GO dominate the genre and the charts. It also makes sense if the company wishes to remain viable on the platform as a whole. At launch, Black Ops III averaged 24 thousand concurrent players on PC. Two months later, in January, that number had dropped to 14 thousand.

And help this game needs, since outside of Team Deathmatch and Domination, the game modes on PC are virtually abandoned at non-peak hours. Even on weekends, and after the release of the starter pack, it isn’t out of the ordinary to see multiple game modes stuck at 0%, with no one playing or willing to join to spark some traffic.

So by reducing the price of entry to $15, Activision brings in all kinds of players who would have otherwise not purchased the game, as you can see by the glut of players in the match above that only own the game because of the pack. Even if 90% of these players eventually quit without buying anything else, they still contributed $15 more per person than they would have had the pack not existed. In all likelihood, Activision views the pack as an easy point of entry: Those who would have waited for a heavy Steam sale to buy the game will likely stick around and even purchase the full game upgrade, while those who had just enough interest to toss in for the starter pack are salvaged customers.

The increase in population also gives incentive and boosts the likelihood that existing players will continue playing, and hopefully buy the season pass and customization pack if they haven’t already.

But, not to let this campaign die, Activision is ending the promotion with the second part of their one-two punch, a free weekend. Think of the free weekend as a boost to the stepping stone that is the multiplayer pack. Free weekends are like a sample station at the grocery store. They attract people who have no interest in buying the full product and, through the power of free stuff, hope to change their minds. So you play a few rounds of Black Ops, have a bit of fun, and oh hey the game is on sale for $40. Too much? Why not just keep playing the multiplayer for $15 and decide if you want to upgrade later? Cool.

So by that logic, the starter pack acts as something of a negotiating tool, with the full game upgrade splitting the cost and making the whole package look cheaper by comparison. Sure, you’re still paying the sale price of $40 total, but you put down $15 and start playing over the weekend, and then the sale is coming to an end but you can still upgrade to the full game for $24. Twenty four bucks for zombies, campaign, and everything else you’re missing? What a deal! At least, that’s the intended thought process of the promotion.

The promotion, and the availability of the starter pack, are gone come this week, so I have to say I am very interested to see where Activision goes with this type of package. There has been speculation for years now of Call of Duty cutting up its game modes into separate but cheaper packages, and there is no doubt that the numbers from this short lived campaign are going to be run through a gauntlet and have a heavy influence on the franchise’s future marketing.

Do you agree? Let us know in the comments.

Black Desert Online Reduces Costume Prices 10%

MMORPG.com is reporting that costume prices in Black Desert Online will be reduced by 10% in response to community criticism over high prices. Currently in beta, Daum Games has taken heavy backlash on its forums over the perception that its prices for cash shop items were too high, with costumes going for as much as $32. According to associate editor Suzie Ford, Daum has confirmed that prices will drop by 10%, with the publisher keeping an eye on community feedback in order to continue tweaking its pricing for the future.

The announcement has been met with mixed reception by the Black Desert Online community, with some praising the developer’s response as others decry prices as still being too high after the reduction. Whether or not the new prices will inspire customers to pony up for costumes and pets will have to be seen when the game goes live in the coming weeks.

(Source: MMORPG.com)

Leland Yee Sentenced To Five Years For Corruption

Gun control advocate Leland Yee was sentenced today to five years in prison during court proceedings Wednesday in a case that District Judge Charles Breyer referred to the defendant as “hypocritical.” Yee was elected to the position of Senator in California back in 2006 after his run as assemblyman of the state’s 12th district. Prosecutors charged Yee in 2014 after an undercover FBI sting revealed the Senator had not only promised votes and influential positions in return for campaign contributions, but also offered to introduce a client to an arms dealer who could illegally smuggle weapons into the country supplied by a Muslim separatist group in the Philippines, including shoulder-fired missiles.

In the months following his arrest, the California Senate adopted resolutions banning members from accepting contributions from fundraising during critical months, appointed an ethics ombudsman, and instituted new protocols protecting whistle-blowers.

During his time as an assemblyman for California’s 12th district, Yee sponsored the 2005 law AB 1179, banning the sale of violent games to minors and imposing strict fines on retailers for each violation. The law was challenged in district court and shut down by Judge Whyte, ruling that the law violated first amendment protections of free speech. The ruling was challenged in California’s 9th District Court of Appeals, who ruled against the law due to its obscure definition of “violent.” California challenged the 9th District’s ruling, taking the case up to the Supreme Court where in 2011, Supreme Court Justices ruled 7-2 against the state.

(Source: LA Times)

Neverwinter: The Maze Engine Hits March 15th

Mark your calendars and prepare to call in sick, because March 15th marks the official launch date of Neverwinter’s next module, The Maze Engine. The update brings a plethora of new content and changes to existing features, including the return of dungeons and major tweaks to the mount system. Players who are interested in checking out the update before it goes live can sign on to the public test realm and copy their characters over.

The Maze Engine brings back numerous familiar faces from Drizzt, Minsc, Makos, and more.

Following the events of Neverwinter: Underdark, a new threat has waltzed its way into Neverwinter in the form of Baphomet, the Prince of Beasts. Baphomet seeks the ancient Maze Engine artifact in a quest to alter reality in his favor and bring about the destruction of Neverwinter. Thankfully, familiar faces such as Drizzt, Minsc, Linu, Makos and many more return to aid adventurers in their plight to take down the demon lord.

The Maze Engine also marks the return of Castle Never, where players will need to take on its new inhabitants.

(Source: Neverwinter)

The Division Played By 6.4 Million This Weekend

The Division’s beta this weekend set new records for beta traffic on a new IP on current generation system. All in all, 6.4 million people took part over the weekend on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. The number trounces Destiny’s previously held beta record of 4.6 million, albeit with the knowledge that Destiny came out much earlier in the console’s lifespan and did not appear on PC at all. It also doesn’t come close to the 9.5 million that played Star Wars Battlefront during its beta.

The average time played was nearly five hours, with a third of the total play time spent in the Dark Zone, the open combat area where players can freely kill each other over powerful loot. The Division releases March 8th.

(Source: Ubisoft Press Release)

Elder Scrolls Online DLC Owners Get Free Vanity Pets

If you purchased the Thieves Guild or Orsinium DLC packs, you have a new vanity pet waiting for you. Orsinium owners will receive an Echalette pet while Thieves Guild will receive a Jackal to follow them around on their adventures. The pets require completion of a very simple achievement, simply walk into the area introduced with either pack in order to obtain the achievement and thus the pack.

We’ll be adding a new achievement for each DLC game pack, which you’ll need to complete to receive your pet. The Orsinium achievement is “A Gift from Orsinium,” and the achievement for Thieves Guild is titled “Spoils of Abah’s Landing.” Don’t worry, all you need to do is enter Orsinium or Abah’s Landing, and the pet will automatically be added to your collection (and it’s account-wide!).

According to the announcement, DLC packs from now on will include a vanity pet of some sort.

(Source: Elder Scrolls Online)

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