MMO Fallout

Defiance Switching To Free To Play

Trion Worlds has announced that Defiance is shedding its box price and going completely free to play later this year. The PC version is set to make the switch on June 4th, with the PS3 version following on July 15th, and the Xbox360 changeover to come at a later date. New players will have access to the Bay area, including original endgame content and future missions for free. Players who pick up a copy of the game will receive a number of perks, including inventory space, ark keycodes, character slots, and more. Existing owners will also have these same perks.

More on this announcement in the coming weeks.

(Source: Trion press release)

ArcheAge Criminal Sentenced To 13 Hours Prison

Criminals beware, you’re in for a fair…trial. ArcheAge has one of the most interesting crime systems that I have ever seen. It is far too complicated to explain in this article, but the gist of the system is that crimes leave behind evidence that can be found by other players, and if you die as a criminal you are sent to a court and sentenced by a jury of five players. As one gamer found out in the alpha test, that sentence can be rather harsh. Especially if you’ve racked up over one hundred charges. As you can see from the screenshot above, the player was sentenced to 770 minutes in prison, or just under thirteen hours.

Prisoners in ArcheAge can either wait through their sentence or try to break out.

(Thanks to DSWBeef for uncovering this, and credit to Reizla in the same thread for the picture)

Zenimax Lays Down Roadmap For ESO

The launch of Elder Scrolls Online has doubtlessly been, well, turbulent to say the least. In a newly released post on the official website, Matt Firor has laid out the roadmap for coming updates. In it, he assures players that customer support is actively banning gold farmers and chat spammers, as well as many of the game’s bugs that seem to dot the landscape. The first content update for the game available “soon,” Craglorn, includes a new adventure zone as well as twelve player raids, death recaps, tweaks for Cyrodiil, and a number of bug fixes and modifications for classes, abilities, animations, etc.

The article even goes into recent press reviews of ESO, not all of which have been very positive.

As those who follow ESO closely know, a wide range of reviews have been posted for the game, with scores ranging from 90s to 50s. ESO generates strong emotions in gamers—both positive and negative. While I obviously don’t agree with the more negative articles, the reviews are out there, and we read them to determine if there are legitimate complaints that we should address.

You can read the entire piece at the link below. Firor includes a list of updates planned for the future, as well as a note that players will receive an extra five days added to their accounts as an apology for the downtime over the past month.

(Source: Official Website)

Transformers Rolls Out Founders Packs

Transformers Universe has finally unveiled its founders packs for gamers who want to hop on pre-launch, and the prices are rather expensive. All bundles include a title and inclusion in the “founders honor roll,” likely another term for credits on the website. The cheapest bundle starts at $45 and includes $30 worth of cash shop money and 60 days of the season pass which includes a new warrior and consumable each month, 25% increased experience, and 10% discount on the store.

The most expensive package includes 18 launch warriors, $250 in cash shop currency, one year of season pass content, a number of in-game items, and a limited run figurine, and will run you $450.

(Source: Transformers Universe)

The Newbie Blogger Initiative Is On

May has arrived, and that means another year and another Newbie Blogger Initiative. For those of you who don’t know, NBI is an annual event that hopes to bring more people into the big blogosphere that is the internet. In my case, it means hopefully populating the internet with writers who in all likelihood will far surpass my own abilities and leave me unemployed and homeless. The goal of the Newbie Blogger Initiative is promote new and upcoming game bloggers as well as for veteran bloggers to offer advice and mentor those who aren’t entirely sure what they are doing. I will also be present.

I wish there was an NBI when I started blogging…twelve years ago on Tripod websites. Over the course of May, I will be talking about various aspects of MMO Fallout’s creation and maintenance, as well as answering some of the more popular questions I have received over time. We’ll share some laughs, learn more about each other, and hopefully learn some lessons along the way. I will also likely be promoting some new blogs on the main page and sidebar from time to time, so check them out. These are good people.

If you have any questions or comments of your own for NBI, drop a comment in the box below or email me.

MMOrning Shots: Heroes & Villains

Today’s MMOrning Shot comes to us from Heroes and Villains, one of the spiritual successor to City of Heroes. The game still has a long way to go, but now you can check out a laundry list of work in progress screenshots. Where? At this link.

Fight your way to MMOrning Shots every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, barring any supervillain attacks.

Darkfall Unholy Wars Free May 1st

Darkfall is about to become one year older, and Aventurine hopes that everyone will come to the party. From May 1st to May 5th, gamers are invited to give Darkfall a try whether they are returning customers or new players entirely. In addition, players will enjoy double prowess for the duration of the event, as well as a series of dynamic events including a treasure hunt.

Check out more Darkfall Unholy Wars at the link below.

(Source: Darkfall)

Pirates of the Caribbean Online Revived by Fans

It’s hard to speak negatively about private server operators sometimes. After all, for every guy who runs a World of Warcraft server because he think it’ll be a good way to make some money, there’s another guy who simply wants to play his favorite MMO again. It’s rather depressing when a company chooses not only to shut down their servers, but actively shuts down operators willing to pick up the slack. No one wins in those cases, not the players who want to continue playing a game that the publisher deemed no longer viable, nor the company that puts its ex-customers in an adversarial position.

As I’ve mentioned in the past, advertising private servers is not allowed here at MMO Fallout, unless the servers come with the express permission of the publisher. In this case, Pirates of the Caribbean Online fans have apparently been given the blessing of Disney to recreate the MMO. The game is strictly non-profit, 100% free to play, otherwise Disney will sue.

(Source: Alpha Beta Gamer)

Videos: City of Titans Trailer

Today’s video comes to us from City of Titans, showing off a few set pieces and concept models.

The Old Republic No Longer Considered Canon

The Old Republic officially never happened. According to a surprise announcement by Lucasfilm, only the six films and Clone Wars show are considered canon going forward. All of the comic books, video games, and stories are now considered “legends” in the Star Wars lore, and will still be available for purchase despite no longer being part of the official canon.

“Lucas always made it clear that he was not beholden to the EU. He set the films he created as the canon. This includes the six Star Wars episodes, and the many hours of content he developed and produced in Star Wars: The Clone Wars”

You can find the entire blog post here. The upcoming Rebels is the first new piece of official canon to come out.

(Source: Eurogamer)

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