Class Action Lawsuit Against Blizzard Over Account Security


Blizzard is on the receiving end of a class action lawsuit over the company’s account security. The lawsuit, filed against the Santa-Monica developer, states that Blizzard deceptively and unfairly charged customers for extra security devices (authenticators), pulling in $26 million while failing to provide adequate security for people who were not willing to pay an “undisclosed fee.” The lawsuit cites countless accounts that have been breached due to Blizzard’s inadequate security, and seeks to bar Blizzard from “tacking on undisclosed fees,” and from requiring users to sign up for Battle.net.

 “Most recently, on or about May 19, 2012, reports proliferated that class members’ Battle.net accounts had suffered a security breach (‘hack’) at the hands of unknown parties (‘hackers’), and on or about August 4, 2012, hackers massively breached Battle.net’s security and acquired the private information of all of defendants’ customers in the United States, as well as the remainder of North America, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia.”

Judging by how other class actions end up, players who purchased the authenticator can likely look forward to a $.50 credit coming to their Battle.net account somewhere between 2015-2016.

(Source: Courthouse News)

Blizzard Offers Charity To Hurricane Sandy Relief


Blizzard is my favorite company when it comes to charity. In 2009, Blizzard released the Pandaran Monk pet, raising $1.1 million for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. In 2010, the Moonkin hatchling raised over $800 grand for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. In 2011, the Cenarion Hatchling raised nearly $2 million in support of disaster relief following the tsunami in Japan. With the recent Hurricane Sandy that tore up the eastern coast of the United States, Blizzard has announced that a special Cinder Kitten pet will be released on the Blizzard Store.

The pet will cost $10 and 100% of proceeds will go toward the Red Cross relief effort.

(Source: World of Warcraft)

Bioware Mythic Is Just Mythic


Keeping track of how Electronic Arts names its studios is difficult, considering that subdivisions are shuffled around and renamed quite often. EA acquired Mythic Entertainment and renamed them Bioware Mythic. In a post on the Warhammer Online website, Mythic has announced that it is divorcing itself from the Bioware name. From now on, you can just call them “Mythic Entertainment.”

In the wake of a new focus our studio has recently changed its name from BioWare Mythic to Mythic. Everything else stays the same – our passionate teams will continue to support and develop our existing titles as well as working on some new and exciting projects.

It appears that Mythic will be taking on development of Ultima Forever, as it is listed as a Mythic game on their new website even though the official website still lists it as a Bioware title.

(Source: Bioware Mythic Website)

Making Memories: Low Cost Tickets Round Trip


At one point, as shown above, you were able to select from a huge supply of Act 3 tickets on Hellgate: Global. Nowadays you’re lucky if there are even any on the marketplace, and the prices above are just a fraction of how much they’ll cost you.

If you have a game memory you want posted, send your screenshots to contact@mmofallout.com and we’ll pick the best ones to post.

Combat Evolves In RuneScape On November 20th


RuneScape’s Evolution of Combat has been in beta for five months, and is about to turn the eleven year old MMO on its head. While Jagex has made some small tweaks over the years to their combat system, the company announced earlier this year that they would be going back and completely overhauling how players fight monsters and each other. The new system trades in weapon-specific special attacks for a more familiar approach, gaining adrenaline during combat and using level-specific abilities. Just about every aspect of RuneScape’s combat system is being changed in this update.

When the update does go live, players will see immediately see a number of changes, from alterations to the game’s combat-level system to a dramatic shift in how the game calculates maximum HP. Instead of clicking and waiting, combat is being made more entertaining with the addition of hotbars, allowing for quick access to combat abilities, potions, and food via simple presses of the keyboard. Off-hand versions of weapons will allow for another brand new feature: dual wielding. Finally, every single NPC in the game has been altered to follow the new combat rules, including specific strengths and weaknesses, balancing the monster’s level to its power, and more.

(Source: RuneScape)

NCSoft 3rd Quarter Finances: Significant Growth From New Products


The folks at Arenanet and Team Bloodlust must be breaking open the champagne today, as NCSoft’s financial statements for the third quarter of 2012 reveal that Guild Wars 2 and Blade & Soul aren’t just bringing home the bacon, they are weaving it and frying it to perfection. Guild Wars 2 launched strong in the United States and Europe, while Blade & Soul ripped up the carpeting in Korea. Both games contributed to a massive 50% year over year gain in profits for NCSoft, pulling the developer up from its operating loss from last quarter that saw heavy corporate restructuring and the cancellation of City of Heroes. Both titles should receive a bump in revenue, as Guild Wars 2’s sales do not include Asia, and Blade & Soul has not launched in the West.

On the other hand, every rose has its thorn. As you have likely noticed, both Guild Wars and City of Heroes are no longer listed. Aion continued its free fall in sales while Lineage II continues its considerably slower downturn. The bump that Lineage received in the second quarter is clearly over and done with, as sales fell to below the fourth quarter sales trough in 2011.

SOE Abolishes Gold Limits To Promote Krono


The Krono is an item similar to PLEX in that it is purchased on the cash shop and can be traded between players for in-game currency, and then redeemed for a month of subscription. The idea behind the item is to undercut gold farmers and (in the case of Everquest II) to allow for the safe trade of platinum for subscription time (players trade platinum for SOE codes, which is incredibly risky for the buyer). While some of the community disagree with the item as a concept, the introduction has prompted an unexpected, but hardly unwelcome change to the way Sony limits accounts.

Under the current system, Krono is kind of self-defeating. The item is selling for hundreds (seven or eight hundred, approximately) of platinum on the trade broker, and the item is impossible to buy for anyone who isn’t already a subscriber due to the hard cash limits placed on accounts. However, in the patch notes for the public test realm for Everquest II, the following note popped up:

Memberships: There will no longer be coin limits on any account types.

Since Krono is coming to other titles in SOE’s library, it’s probably safe to assume that those games will lose their cash limits as well, if for no other reason than to open a larger market for people to buy Krono.

(Source: EQ2 Forums)

TERA Drops 7-Day Limit From Trial, Closer To Free To Play


TERA may be partially free to play in Korea, but for now you Western gamers are just going to have to deal with limited trials. En Masse Entertainment has opened up the TERA free trial from the original seven day limitation to unlimited play. Players are able to level two characters per server up to a maximum of level 28, with limits on crafting and gathering skills, as well as limits on gold and chat access. As long as you have an account with En Masse Entertainment, you should be able to log in and get started. No purchase necessary.

The Discovery Edition is the new free trial available for players interested in giving TERA a try. We have improved our previous free trial by increasing the max level players can play up to, as well as removing the 7 day restriction so you can play on your own time and not worry about using up the free trial time!

(Source: TERA Website)

THQ Has No Answers: Future of the Developer In Question


If you’re going to say goodbye to THQ before it dies, not might be the time to sign your farewell cards. THQ held its quarterly earnings call with investors and the news is not good. Earnings guidance has been suspended, games have been delayed, and the developer refused to take questions from investors, citing efforts to evaluate “strategic and financing alternatives intended to improve THQ’s overall liquidity.” For THQ, once a massive publisher and contender in the industry, the tidal wave of bad news has overshadowed the tiny light in the dark, that THQ had beat initial forecasts. Company of Heroes 2 and Metro: Last Light have been delayed by a couple of months, and it appears that they are putting a lot of stock in South Park: The Stick of Truth.

South Park: The Stick of Truth has been delayed until the first fiscal quarter of 2014, from the original March 2013 release. THQ’s Warhammer 40k MMO was cancelled earlier this year and downgraded to a standard multiplayer title.

(Source: Gamasutra)

Announcing Flying Ostrich Media


Hello MMO fans. I’d like to take some time to point you to a new venture I have started with a friend, called Flying Ostrich Media. FOM is similar to MMO Fallout, except it will function as a general gaming news website rather than focusing on a specific genre like MMO Fallout does. We will be focusing on news, previews, reviews, and editorials, as well as (hopefully) videos and a podcast. to go along with. To be clear, nothing is happening to MMO Fallout. I will still be updating here just as much as I did before.

Check us out at: http://flyingostrichmedia.com/