Today’s MMOrning Shot comes to us from The Elder Scrolls Online, where the game thinks that I am in werewolf form and will not let me fish as a result. For the record, my character is not a werewolf.
You can check out MMOrning Shots every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, even while in werewolf form.
Following a successful Kickstarter campaign, I finally had the chance to sit down with the early access version of Shadowrun Online. If you missed the campaign or didn’t want to get involved for one reason or another, you can grab early access at Steam for $30 at the following link. Make no mistake, this is a very early work in progress. There are two pre-made characters to use and a very short four mission campaign that will take less than an hour to complete, assuming you don’t die and have to restart any levels.
There are two versions of Shadowrun Online that will eventually be available, a campaign mode and free to play mode. The former, available now in early access, grants everything that the game has to offer with no cash shop or the related bits and bobs of free to play. What you do pay for are optional expansions that Cliffhanger Productions plans on releasing multiple times per year, granted they have the time and resources. The free to play version is just that, no client price but with the added cash shop featuring accelerators and various other items.
At this juncture, Shadowrun Online is basically an endurance run through four levels. The lack of inventory and healing powers makes it impossible to recover health, although one of the characters has a power that grants shields to his allies and himself, but it requires a three turn cooldown. The mechanics of the game, right now, are pretty simple and should be immediately familiar if you’ve played any similar titles. You move, get in cover, and choose from a small list of abilities to hurl at your opponents.
There isn’t much to say about Shadowrun Online at the moment. I like the graphics, the game runs pretty smoothly, and what is present so far is a great indicator of where the game is headed. I can’t wait to see what else the developers have in store, and look forward to more Early Access articles on this game.
Zenimax Studios has announced that an investigation following a recent mass ban resulted in a number of false positives discovered and reversed. While the forum post in question did not mention just how many accounts were caught by accident, it did report that players identified should have had their bans lifted as of last night.
As part of our continuing effort to combat gold spammers, botters and exploiters, we recently banned a number of accounts. After several players appealed, we were able to investigate the matter further and discovered some legitimate accounts got caught up in the sweep. We unbanned accounts last night, and have email responses going out for those affected from our support group. It is never our intention for legitimate players to be harmed as we work to keep your game free of cheaters, and we sincerely apologize for the mistake.
This week has not been kind to Elder Scrolls Online, with Zenimax shutting down the game’s guild bank temporarily following the discovery of an item duplication exploit, as well as reports that players were being banned after their characters fell through the game world. The world of Tamriel is still being slowly taken over by a massive army of bots and gold farmers, and the company is still working on a fix for players missing banked items, deposited gold, skill points, etc.
(Source: Elder Scrolls Online)
Be careful when traveling through the lands of Tamriel. According to a growing number of reports on the official Elder Scrolls forums as well as third party websites, players are experiencing situations where their character is either falling through geometry or being catapulted off of the world and into the abyss below. I personally experienced the bug on the fourth when I jumped into the queen and was thrown completely off of the map (pictured below). It looks as though Zenimax has implemented some sort of anti-cheat measures since then to prevent exploitation, because players are reporting that falling through the world will now result in a disconnection from the server and automatic suspension of one’s account.
If you are caught by this system, the only thing you can do is to contact support and appeal the ban.
Today’s MMOrning Shot comes to us from Mad Otter Games, whose free to play title Villagers & Heroes is now available on Steam. Players are encouraged to cooperate in this MMO with player-created towns and sandbox-style crafting. How do the towns work, you ask?
The towns of Villagers and Heroes are not merely set-pieces. They are dynamic and ever-changing. Through the teamwork and contributions of players, crafting stations will rise, homes and fields will flourish, and new quests will be revealed.
Check out MMOrning Shots every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and new screenshots will be revealed.
Broadsword Online is continuing its work to revitalize Ultima Online and Dark Age of Camelot, with the announcement that it is seeking to have both titles released on Steam. Players can put their vote in at the links below. There will be no cost to buy a base game for either title, however both still carry a monthly subscription fee.
Check out either title at their respective links.
(Source: Ultima, Dark Age of Camelot)
Arenanet has rolled out the first areas for the new megaserver technology. As reported a couple of weeks ago, today’s patch saw the launch of new megaserver technology in Guild Wars 2, allowing players to fight alongside each other in certain zones regardless of their home world. No more dead zones and no more overflow.
The update is still in the process of being rolled out. The following zones have been activated at the time of this publishing. Check out the forum post here for more details.
Today’s MMOrning Shot comes to us from DOFUS, which is celebrating ten years of being online this year.
MMOrning Shots isn’t ten years old, but you can still check it out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
Aventurine has announced today that the developer has realigned itself to get back on track with their original vision for a sandbox PvP MMO where risk dictates reward and massive battles carry more meaning. As part of its realignment sessions, Darkfall will undergo a series of updates over the coming weeks. Top priority is the release of custom roles, allowing players to mix and match their skills, armor, boosters, etc, without being penalized. Armor will affect abilities in various manners, but it will no longer block abilities.
Next up, Aventurine is working on rebalancing the economy, going over every monster and resource node to see where improvements can be made. New higher tier tools will be launched alongside special resource nodes, with the whole shebang expected to launch over several updates. Third on the list are proper siege engines. Towers, catapults, and more to assist players in taking and holding territory. And finally, last on the list revealed is a robust quest system, a method to introduce players to the game’s lore and help new players learn the ropes.
The first update, introducing custom roles, is set for “very soon,” with the rest to follow.
(Source: Darkfall Press Release)
Following its successful Kickstarter campaign and closed beta testing period, Face of Mankind will be entering open beta on April 18th according to the latest announcement by Nexeon. Players eager to get in can register their account and start downloading the client now.
On April 16th, we will be wiping the Closed Beta and giving our dedicated testers and backers early access to the game. As there will be no wipe during Open Beta, we felt it was important to make sure this promised reward was delivered prior to Open Beta to ensure the largest impact.
Check out Face of Mankind at the link below.
(Source: Face of Mankind)
MMO Fallout 