MMO Fallout

MMOrning Shots: ROBLOX Tornado

I’m not sure why I find ROBLOX’s many “survive the disaster” servers so endearing, but I do. Today’s creation comes to us from stickmasterluke and has, if nothing else, reintroduced my old fear of lightning. Or maybe it’s just because, as a child, I was trapped in a building for a short thirty seconds while lightning tore it apart from the outside. Yea, that must be it.

MMOrning Shots is a (somewhat) daily line of screenshots from various MMOs. Most are taken in-house or come to us in press releases, but if you would like your screenshot featured, send it over to contact[at]mmofallout[dot]com with the subject “MMorning Shots.”

Watch Defiance Episode #1 on Amazon

Want to see the series premiere of Defiance but don’t want to wait until April 15th? Boy are you in luck. In what is either a case of itchy programming or intentional promotion, Amazon has put up the entire one hour twenty six minute series premiere of Defiance. According to a few people we’ve talked to, you can only access the video if you’re in the United States (or have a US proxy). Just click on the link below to view the video. It is listed as “Amazon Preview” but you’re able to watch the full episode.

Watch it before it’s gone! Otherwise just watch it on TV, it airs on Monday anyway.

(Source: Amazon)

Reminder: School Shooting Threats Are Illegal

There is a special level of stupid that describes a person who thinks that it’s funny to make public threats to shoot/bomb a school, whether they make them in offhand comments on online games or actually contact the school via phone/online/mail to make the threat. Eventually you have to ask yourself how many people need to be arrested and charged with making a threat before the other idiots get the clue and keep their unique sense of humor private.

I don’t know when that will happen, but I do know that 18-year old Thomas Frongillo of North Oxford has likely ruined his chances at a decent career. According to Telegram, Frongillo was arrested after he allegedly made the comment “I’m shooting up my school tomorrow” on the online game RuneScape. The incident was reported to Jagex by players, who presumably used Frongillo’s account information to identify him, and the evidence was sent to Oxford police, who in turn alerted the campus police. The transcript also included anti-Semitic comments and Frongillo drawing a swastika in-game.

Frongillo has been arrested and charged with threatening to commit a crime and threatening a bombing or hijacking. The kicker in this story? Frongillo is in the police academy studying criminal justice. According to Frongillo’s defense attorney, the comment was “a harmless jest,” and was not meant to be taken seriously.

What is it about RuneScape and real world violence?

(Source: Telegram)

MMOrning Shots: Everyday Low Prices

Auto Assault shut down nearly six years ago, so Walmart was kind enough to discount it to $29.88. This shot was taken 4/11/13.

MMOrning Shots is a (somewhat) daily line of screenshots from various MMOs. Most are taken in-house or come to us in press releases, but if you would like your screenshot featured, send it over to contact[at]mmofallout[dot]com with the subject “MMorning Shots.”

Dino Storm Redefines Combat

In my review of Dino Storm, I pointed out that the game has a fantastic concept (cowboys on dinosaurs) but the execution was a little rigid. To say that there aren’t a whole lot of abilities in Dino Storm is an overstatement, there are just enough to not be considered negligible. So it is exciting to hear that the team over at Splitscreen Studios is making a major update to the game, or “redefining combat.”

In the first developer blog, the team discusses loot, levels, and upgrades. For starters, players will enjoy a much greater variety of loot dropped by dinosaurs, including upgrade items which can be used or sold for Dino Dollars, and fame items. Leveling will now directly effect unlockable upgrades, unlocking enhancement slots, and upgrading equipment all the way to level 25. And finally, players will be able to buy already upgraded weapons and dinosaurs, depending on their ranger level.

Evolution serums, gun tuning kits, weapons tech upgrades, and dino implant upgrades are being removed from the game, and players will receive a refund in Dino Dollars for any left in their inventory at the time of the update. Upgrade items now drop from creatures on the field, and quest experience and coin rewards will be boosted to compensate for the lack of upgrade items as rewards.

More to come on the upcoming Dino Storm combat upgrade.

(Source: Dino Storm)

Guild Wars 2 Flame And Frost Finishes This Month

Flame and Frost is a multi-part living story in Guild Wars 2 which began way back in January and is currently on part three of four. The story so far is that back in January, the sky began falling in the northern regions, resulting in entire villages being destroyed and families left homeless. Players were asked to aid refugees making their way south through Wayfarer Foothills and Diessa Plateau, rebuilding destroyed signposts and aiding wounded refugees, as well as collecting personal belongings and returning them to their owners. The Flame Legion and Dredge, two races that had previous stayed in the background, now began assaulting Tyria.

Each update brings with it some pretty major changes to the game, for those who don’t care about the story, including the end of culling, major changes to the achievement system, and more. The final part of this mini-series is coming April 30th, according to Arenanet, and tasks players with striking at the heart of the Molten Alliance of the Flame Legion and Dredge. Attack their foundries deep beneath the Shiverpeaks, and perhaps face some frickin sharks with laser beams attached to their heads.

Check out the main Flame and Frost page below.

(Source: Guild Wars 2)

Get Forge 75% Off On Steam

Forge is already available on Steam for $19.99, but if you’ve been holding out for some kind of sale you are in luck. Those of you who read MMO Fallout know that I love Raptr because it is essentially a version of Xfire (or similar programs) that gives you free stuff just for playing video games, including free copies of Rift and beta keys for other MMOs. Since I can’t write an article about Raptr without someone accusing it of being sponsored, and since Raptr has still yet to send the unmarked bills I specifically requested, I’ve kept the articles to a minimum lately.

The important part of this story is that, starting April 16th, you’ll be able to grab a 75% off coupon for Forge on Steam. All you need is newbie rank or above in one of the games below, have a Steam account connected to your Raptr profile, have run the desktop app recently, and have a verified email address. That’s it. No subscription, no surveys completed, no stupid fracking advertisements. If you aren’t familiar with Raptr, you gain ranks in the games the longer you play them with the desktop app activated (or the more achievements you gain on console games if you link those accounts).

Assassin’s Creed III (PC)
Borderlands 2 (PC)
Diablo III (PC)
DOTA 2 (PC)
Guild Wars 2 (PC)
Star Wars: The Old Republic (PC)
Team Fortress 2 (PC)
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (PC)
Torchlight II (PC)
World of Warcraft (PC)

So what is the catch, Omali, you say. The reward will be offered on April 16th and there is a limited number of codes. I have no idea how many at this point, but you can be assured it will likely be in the hundreds, if not thousands.

(Source: Raptr)

Trion Hands Out Compensation For Defiance

It’s been a rough week for Defiance players, from server downtime to a treasure trove of patches being churned out on the consoles to fix stability problems. People were missing keys, others didn’t receive pre-order items, and or had to wait a very long time for their patcher to download the game. Trion is aware of this and according to the developer blogs, currently has a massive patch ready to go for April 15th. Ahead of that, however, Trion would like to do what any developer does when things go sour for the user: Shower them in swag.

Players should find one week boosts for scrip, XP, loot, and weapons in their accounts, as well as an exclusive title (Daredevil).

We hope this shows you that we do appreciate you on this journey of Defiance, trying out something new, trying something different. The first episode is on Monday and honestly, we’re pretty excited doing something that hasn’t been done before. Well, the brutal honesty is that we don’t know what to feel. Scared, excited, nervous, giddy, ecstatic. Normal, I think. I’ll tell you after the weekend.

(Source: Defiance)

MMOrning Shots: ArcheAge Doesn’t Go For Booze And Dope

No, sorry, flip that. ArcheAge does go for booze and dope. And hookers. In fact, there’s an entire red light district.

MMOrning Shots is a (somewhat) daily line of screenshots from various MMOs. Most are taken in-house or come to us in press releases, but if you would like your screenshot featured, send it over to contact[at]mmofallout[dot]com with the subject “MMorning Shots.”

MMOrning Shots: ArcheAge Doesn't Go For Booze And Dope

No, sorry, flip that. ArcheAge does go for booze and dope. And hookers. In fact, there’s an entire red light district.

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