MMO Fallout

See Rust Bans In Real Time

Rust is the open world survival game by Facepunch Studios, makers of the popular sandbox game Garry’s Mod. As a game that relies heavily on player vs player combat with heavy ramifications for death, it should come as no surprise that cheating has become prevalent in servers. To combat this, Rust employs its own anti-cheat system that bans players on a continual basis. We know this because the Rust Hack Report Twitter account is constantly being updated.

In the time it will take to publish this report, more than a dozen new bans will be reported through the account. Many of the accounts banned appear to be throwaway accounts (new accounts with only one game played) and others are repeat offenders with additional game bans and VAC bans from other titles. Some have tallied more than 100 hours on Rust in the past two weeks, some haven’t even bothered setting up a community page. A few are set to private, while one or two are normal accounts that seem to have large libraries and varied gameplay.

If you’d like to follow the Rust ban list, check out the Rust Hack Report Twitter.

Guild Uses Exploit To Kill ArcheAge Boss, Loots Permanent Ban

In a rather interesting turn of events, Trion Worlds has taken to the forums to discuss a recent high profile incident of a guild using exploits to kill a boss monster in ArcheAge. The Leviathan is a massive world boss in ArcheAge that is so powerful that it has yet to be defeated in combat in North America. Legitimately, at least. Videos began surfacing on the ArcheAge forums of the guild Rage Quit obtaining the first kill on a very clearly bugged boss, the Leviathan can be seen floating above water and stops attacking, not unlike a giant pinata. As one might expect from such a high profile kill, it didn’t take long to attract Trion Worlds’ attention.

According to senior community manager Seraphina “Celestrata” Brennan, all participating members of Rage Quit have been banned with no chance for appeal, a grand total of 53 players, while the guild as a whole has been disbanded. Accounts that participated in the event and were members of the council have had their membership revoked, while those who were found to be contesting the kill will not be punished. In addition, all loot generated from the kill has been removed from the game world.

First of all, our new policy on exploits is well-known at this point. We do not tolerate exploits or those who abuse them in our game. Any individual taking advantage of an exploit will receive a permanent ban. This is a non-negotiable stance. The Leviathan kill in question was clearly broken and floating to all bystanders in the videos captured, so the guild involved had full knowledge that something was wrong. They made the active decision to proceed forward with the kill regardless.

According to Trion Worlds, only one member of the guild contacted the studio to report the kill, and even then demanded compensation in return for the details. XLGames has been notified of the exploit and should be working on a fix.

(Source: Trion Worlds)

Neverwinter Strongholds Getting Cheaper

The latest Neverwinter development blog is available and the topic of conversation are strongholds. Guild Strongholds were created as a method of improving player engagement, which while it has worked out great for larger guilds, the smaller groups are finding the costs of progression to be rather frustrating. In response, the Neverwinter team has been gathering data on how to make the process less cumbersome and annoying.

Issue number one became the need for Astral Diamonds, a resource integral to just about every other part of the game meaning that smaller guilds with more casual players would wind up having to give up all of their Astral Diamonds to the coffers, effectively making them unable to participate in other parts of the game. The answer was to reduce Astral Diamond costs, improve rewards for donating harder-to-obtain currencies, and allowing people to collect guild resources through professions.

The changes discussed will go live in the Maze Engine update.

(Source: Neverwinter)

Perfect World Entertainment Celebrates Valentine’s Day With Giveaways

Valentine’s day is just a few days away, and that means plenty of MMO events to whet your item-collecting whistle. Starting Friday and going through Sunday, Perfect World Entertainment will be hosting a number of giveaways across their library of MMOs, with entrance ranging from simple Facebook shares, retweets, and posting in the forums. The giveaways begin at 10am Pacific Friday morning and run until the 14th.

In addition to the giveaways, gamers can also enjoy a 15% charge bonus on virtual currency purchased through the web store. Check out the official website for more details. Check below for a list of possible rewards.

Livelock: Limited Edition Hex T-Shirts
Neverwinter: Epic Purple Owlbear Mounts
Star Trek Online: T6 Valiants, Attack Wing U.S.S. Enterprise and Borg Cube
PWI: 1,000 ZEN, $30 Godiva Gift Card and Lotus Affection Fireworks
Forsaken World: Spirit Orbs
Swordsman: Lin Dzeh Umbrella

(Source: Perfect World Press Release)

Blade & Soul Surpasses Two Million Accounts

NCSoft has announced that Blade & Soul has surpassed two million accounts, a milestone that comes alongside the launch of the MMO’s latest update. First revealed last month, the Rising Waters update introduces max level PvE content in the form of the heroic dungeon Bloodshade Harbor and its 24-player version, Nightshade Harbor. Solo players can take on the first seven levels of Mushin’s Tower, while they continue to level past the cap with new Hongmoon levels.

Those more interested in PvP will be happy to see that the first pre-season has already begun, allowing fighters to collect Zen Beans, the game’s PvP currency.

(Source: NCSoft Press Release)

Check Out Conan Exiles New Video Teaser

Funcom is continuing its work on Conan Exiles, a hardcore survival game set in the Conan universe. It’s up to the player to rebuild the world in their vision, in single player or multi-player on private servers or in public servers. You’ll start with nothing and build up from there, taking on the elements, other players, and dangerous wildlife to form a new kingdom with you as the leader, or go on to bring down someone else’s kingdom.

The latest video promises immersive combat, with players chopping off limbs and armor that visibly breaks as it takes damage.

NCSoft Posts Q4 Report: Wildstar Revenues Climb

NCSoft has posted their fourth quarter reports for 2015, and the results are a general mixture of the good and the bad. As you can see from the chart above, while figures were pretty solid across the board over the third quarter, revenue and profit dropped notably over the same period last year. NCSoft pits the majority of the loss on overseas royalties, but that overall the company is growing in profit thanks to a balanced growth from overall IPs.

On the games front, every single title in NCSoft’s library saw growth in the last quarter, including Wildstar. Lineage and Lineage 2, as well as Blade & Soul, grew thanks to content updates and strong in-game item promotions. Guild Wars 2 drove in plenty of new revenue thanks to the sale of Heart of Thorns.

Thank you to NCSoft for plotting out each game on an individual basis, it saves me a lot of time. As you can see from the chart above, while Wildstar’s income grew in the first quarter of free to play, it didn’t grow all that much. Revenue is still far down from where it was when the game launched, and it brought in only $2.23 million USD in its initial free to play rush.

At this point in the timeline, it looks like the upcoming China launch may be Wildstars best, and only, bet at salvation. Assuming NCSoft is willing to shoulder the title to that milestone, we’ll likely be hearing in 2017 about whether or not this title goes on the chopping block. As for Guild Wars, it looks like the Heart of Thorns quarter brought in a bump of $14 million. According to the earnings call itself, while sales were good for Heart of Thorns, they did fall below expectations. This lines up with earlier predictions of Daewoo Securities that Heart of Thorns would sell less than expected.

The first quarter earnings for NCSoft won’t be out for another few months, but they will have some very important information going forward: How has Blade & Soul fared with its western launch? How will Wildstar hold up after its free to play transition?

Trion Making It Possible To Buy Artifacts In Rift

There are well over 8,100 artifacts to collect in Rift, a number that likely has hardcore collectors chomping at the bit to get started and others probably crying behind their keyboards. In an update coming next week, players will be able to buy artifacts with credits, the cash shop currency bought with real money. From the news post, it appears that the price of artifacts comes down the more you have collected in each set, rewarding players who go out and find them in the game world.

The goal, naturally, is to give an out to players who have spent a lot of time searching for the artifacts with no luck, as senior development director Simon Ffinch puts it:

“It’s really for people who have tried for months or even years to complete a set and just can’t do it – we don’t want them to be frustrated, we want to enable them to be able to complete it and move on,” says Simon. “It’s actually designed to encourage gathering or trading for artifacts,” he explains, “Because when you open a fresh collection with no items in it, the price per slot is ludicrously high. No one is going to want to buy them at that point.”

(Source: Trion Worlds)

Rumored Division Open Beta Is True, Coming February 18th

Last week’s rumors of an open beta coming for The Division have proven true, as Ubisoft has announced that gamers on Xbox, PC, and PS3 will be able to get in and play in just about a week and a half. Xbox One players will have a one day bonus, gaining access on February 18th with PC and Playstation receiving access the next day. The beta for all three systems runs until February 21st, barring the moderate possibility that technical issues delay the beta past a reasonable point, as seems to happen every now and then.

In addition to the beta news, Ubisoft notes that most of the cheating issues that plagued the PC closed beta have been fixed and will be ready to roll out for launch. Anyone who plays the open beta will also receive a unique item that will carry over to launch on March 8th.

(Source: The Division)

Chronicle Servers Going Offline For Open Beta

Jagex has revealed that Chronicles, the card game based on the RuneScape game series, has shut down as of February 8th. In an announcement posted on the official website, the servers are shutting down for approximately six weeks in order to prepare the game for open beta. During that time, the dev team is adding in more features, balancing, and infrastructure to provide a better experience for customers.

When the beta returns in March, players can expect Venescula, the fifth legend character, arriving alongside more than forty new cards. Alongside Venescula is Dungeoneering, a skill that tasks players with PvP challenges in return for coins, gem shards, and platinum. The legends you have will have the ability to be outfitted with cosmetic customizations and improving skills with experience gained after each fight. Finally, two new locations (one previewed above) and improved client performance will be coming alongside open beta launch.

Players who participated in the closed beta will receive an exclusive card back, title, emblem, and coin chest. The open beta is the last time that Chronicles will wipe player progress.

(Source: Chronicles)

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