Funcom Extends Issue Pack To Current Players


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If the last month has taught us anything, it’s that current players don’t take kindly to being cut out of lucrative deals. Funcom’s announced sale of the base game plus four additional issues for $20 ruffled more than a few feathers when it was revealed that the sale was for new accounts only.

Thankfully the outrage has been heard and Funcom has extended the sale to everyone. Up until March 31st, you’ll be able to get your hands on Issues 5-8 for $20. This sale is completed through the Funcom account management page and not through the in-game store.

(Source: The Secret World)

RuneScape Launches 200th Quest


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This week marks a milestone in RuneScape history, with the launch of the game’s 200th quest: Dimension of Disaster. As voted on by the community, the latest quest asks a very simple question, what would life be like in Gielinor if the hero didn’t exist? Players step into an alternate timeline where necromancer Zemouregal has taken over Varrock, zombified its citizens, and now rules with an iron fist.

The player must go back and complete previous quests, albeit with a sinister twist, to free the alternate world.

“The parallel universe storyline of Dimension of Disaster is an opportunity for the RuneScape team to celebrate the extraordinary affect that the player’s hero has had on the world of Gielinor and its inhabitants. We’re thrilled to finally share this 200th quest and hope the fans has as much fun with this as they have had with the previous 199!”
-Phil Mansell, Vice President of RuneScape.

You’ll need a RuneScape membership to take part in the Dimension of Disaster quest.

(Source: Jagex press release)

Crowfall’s Backer Stretch Goals Thus Far


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With about 70 hours left to go in the Crowfall Kickstarter, more than fourteen thousand have pledged their support. The latest stretch goal is the Guinea Beast pack animal. The next stretch goal, at 14.5 thousand backers, will offer bonus tax-free land parcels to backers at varying tiers.

  • Female Centaur characters and enhanced particle effects.
  • All-father statue for all backers.
  • 1 free month VIP for everyone.
  • Character mounts and caravans plus bonuses for higher tier backers.
  • Guinea Beast pack animal for everyone.

(Source: Kickstarter)

Eve Online Kill Of The Week: March 15th Edition


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I recently proposed the idea of an Eve Online Kill of the Week column as an idea to drive traffic, since the article about the PLEX kill got a fair amount of interest, and people really seem to enjoy these kind of pieces. As I expected and hoped, the interest has a lot less to do with who is getting killed and more with just the sheer amount of money lost. Since Eve’s ISK can be translated into real world dollars, the losses can be understood even by people who don’t play the game.

Last week’s Kill of the Week was Officer Fargo of Common Sense Ltd. As you can see from the data above, the pilot was killed on March 16th in nullsec (lowest security space) while piloting a Titan class Avatar ship worth over 118 billion ISK, or over $2,500 USD when converted into real money. Of the 118 billion ISK, over 8 billion was dropped as salvageable and the rest was destroyed. The Avatar ship itself amounted to 100 billion of the overall total.

According to the Eve Online wiki, the Avatar is the most common Titan class ship in terms of production, usage, and death. The Avatar can be “easily tanked” by a Triage Carrier.

SOE Live Fan Successor Up On Kickstarter


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With SOE Live cancelled for the time being, fans are hoping to continue the festivities with their own event. Dubbed Project Fanfaire, the event will be held in August at the Hotel South Point Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

Ticket amounts are spelled out in the rewards. This is a fan planned convention to replace SOE Live while Daybreak Gaming Company makes the transition to a brand new company.

Tickets begin at $174.

(Source: Kickstarter)

Trion Worlds Offering “Community Appreciation” Package


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Trion Worlds recently found itself in a bit of controversy following the company’s attempt to win back ex-customers by doling out gift packages. The packages were considered far too generous by members of the community, including expensive gift packages and items that previously required heavy investment into the game’s lockboxes. In response, community manager Scapes announced that a plan would be announced today once it was finalized in internal meetings.

At their Livestream today, Trion announced the details of the plan. Paying patrons (paid real money) will receive a cyanfin mount, starlight glider, 30 Golden Library Index items, 10 Tyrenos index items, 10 experience potions, 7 day passes to the library floors, 5 worker’s comp potions, 2 vocation tonics, and 1 of each lucky point and archeum essence. Non-paying accounts will receive the index items (only one Tyrenos), 4 lockboxes, 2 worker’s comp potions, and 1 vocation tonic.

Players who bought the cash shop lockbox will receive tokens for each box that they purchased that can be used to buy any of the lockboxes that have been released to date.

(Source: Trion Worlds Livestream)

In Plain English: Bassett V. Electronic Arts


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Here at MMO Fallout we take strides to keep you up to date on ongoing litigation, because generally the news only covers the start and the end, but not the years in between or the actual arguments being made. The case of Bassett V. Electronic Arts involves the termination of online services and accusations of misleading advertising. While it wouldn’t normally make it to MMO Fallout, I see the case being poorly referenced enough in MMO discussions to warrant some clarification.

All of the information is directly sourced from the court docket, which I have access to.

The basics of the case are as such: The plaintiff, Justin T. Bassett (on behalf of himself and others) is suing Electronic Arts claiming that the company misled customers about its online services, particularly that they eventually shut down in contradiction with online play still being advertised on the box. Electronic Arts attempted to bring the case into arbitration by citing its EULA, which the plaintiff is challenging as unenforceable because the arbitration clause was not present when he bought the game and was instead added later on as part of a newly modified agreement.

The case has been going for nearly two years, during which the two parties have done a lot of orders, objections, responses to objections, and responses to responses. The plaintiff wants his case to carry out in court, while EA is attempting to bring it to arbitration.

That’s it. I see this case brought up quite a bit in conversation about services shutting down, eventually someone will say “well EA got sued for it” and cite this case. Since very few websites cover lawsuits past their initiation, and since you need access to the court records and some knowledge of legalese, not to mention money, to look it up yourself, it can be very difficult to find coverage later than 2013 when it all started. Because of this lack of coverage, people have no problem citing the lawsuit as though EA has already lost.

So here is where the lawsuit stands presently: The court needs to decide whether to push the case towards arbitration or allow it to go to trial. As far as the original complaints about misleading advertising and services rendered, those aren’t even being addressed yet. If the case goes to arbitration, odds are that’s the last we’ll hear about it. If it goes to trial, it could be a long time before it comes to a conclusion.

There you have it.

(Source: Bassett V. Electronic Arts Inc Court Dockets)

ArcheAge Welcome Back Package Turns Sour


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Update: Trion has laid out its plans here.

Trion Worlds is a company that we see a lot of complaints about here at MMO Fallout, but being too generous is a new one. The developer recently tried to bring back ArcheAge players with lapsed subscriptions by sending emails offering free stuff. Many players received about what you’d expect from such a program: RNG boxes, cosmetic mounts, some resources, etc. Others, however, found themselves the new owners of rare materials, and even gift packages that normally sell for $100 on the cash shop.

Needless to say players are livid, a phrase that seems all too common when talking about ArcheAge. Trion, for their part, have acknowledged that they went too far in what constitutes an acceptable gift and will be addressing the matter further.

We need to ensure our existing loyal patrons and players never feel slighted when we implement programs like this. It’s important for us to treat our community fairly and to do this we are designing a giveaway for all active ArcheAge players. We will have more details tomorrow after internal discussions occur around development of the program.

(Source: ArcheAge)

Final Fantasy XI Shutting Down On PS2/360


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Square Enix’s Thursday Livestream has come and gone, and the announcements were not all great. Square unveiled the Vana’Diel Project, a three part strategy to continue support for the aging MMO. The first part, unfortunately, involves ending content updates. Following a three chapter scenario aimed for launch in May, August, and November, Final Fantasy XI will cease to receive content updates.

FINAL FANTASY XI’s major version updates will conclude with the implementation of the final chapter of Rhapsodies of Vana’diel, but there will continue to be minor version updates that address bugs and contain various balance adjustments.

Playstation 2 and Xbox 360 users will be sad to hear that services for those platforms will end in March 2016. Final Fantasy XI will be ported to be playable on mobile devices, alongside the launch of a mobile RPG in 2016.

(Source: FFXI)

Carbine Studios Details Contracts


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Wildstar’s next update, Invasion: Nexus, is on its way to clients everywhere soon. As part of the update, Carbine Studios is working on introducing contracts, daily quests that players can partake in at level 50 that are designed to be completed in a short amount of time. The goal of contracts, according to Carbine, is to “enable players to make steady progress toward powerful gear and give them even more reasons to stay and play on Nexus.”

Contracts are divided into three difficulty levels and two categories (PvE and PvP) with players able to complete as many of the easiest contracts as they’d like. Contracts reward points, prestige, gear, and glory, with extra bonuses as the player accumulates more points.

(Source: NCSoft Press Release)