World of Darkness: Elected Prince Deals Perma-Death


Seeing as the game will employ EVE Online’s single-server system, being elected to the leader of a city is fairly important, and besides being a great accolade to put on a resume, the Prince of a City has the power to permanently kill players. Yes, that’s right: World of Darkness is going to have permadeath in one form or another, though it won’t be as widespread as it is in the tabletop game. Hardcore.

World of Darkness is looking to be the MMO of choice for people who enjoy the concept of Eve Online’s hardcore sandbox world controlled and dominated by player interaction, but aren’t exactly a fan of flying in space ships. Following in suit of Eve Online, World of Darkness is set to only feature one server, making control of territory and the walking blood containers that inhabit it all the more important.

At the recent Fanfest, CCP talked about how each city will have a prince elected to it by players, who will be able to have players permanently killed. Compared to the pen and paper World of Darkness, however, permadeath will be much less common and something of an extraordinary event. Still, if World of Darkness keeps on the path that it appears to be going down, CCP might just make exactly the hardcore MMO many of us have been looking for.

The Secret World is set to release between now and doomsday.

(Source: GamesRadar)

Guild Wars 2: Genius Method of Catching NDA Violators.


Click to enlarge

How do you stop someone from stealing your art and claiming it as their own? You watermark it, just enough so that it doesn’t get in the way of the actual image. How does a developer stop people from violating the non-disclosure agreement and posting screenshots of, say, Guild Wars 2 anonymously? Equal levels of watermarking.

Now, the above is not a screenshot from Guild Wars 2, as posting a screenshot of such feature from Guild Wars 2 even for proof of concept is what my lawyers refer to as “digging myself into a hole” that they will later “shoot and bury me in,” so instead I’m using an old April Fool’s teaser of the Guild Wars commando class. Click on the picture to enlarge it, and you can see my email address watermarked frequently enough that you couldn’t possibly crop a usable picture.

Obviously this doesn’t prevent people from posting their thoughts of the beta test without repercussion, but it does make it impossible to post screenshots without Arenanet taking action against the account.

Reminder to all closed beta players: you’re under NDA. Don’t risk breaking the NDA, you could permanently lose access to all ArenaNet games. ~RB2

Try Out The Old Republic Free, Again!


Last weekend, Bioware invited users who had never experience The Old Republic to show up and try the game for free for a weekend. Starting today and running through the 26th, Bioware wants to scoop up anyone who did not participate in last week’s trial. Players are able to take on the first fifteen levels of the first two planets for any class or race. Trial players will not be able to use general, trade, and PvP chat, and will be unable to use the send mail or use the Galactic Trade Network.

Check it out here. A reminder: This only extends to people who have never played The Old Republic before. Previous subscribers, friend pass users, and prior free weekend players are not included.

Eve Online Possibly Coming To Gaikai, Onlive


I have a feeling that we’re going to be seeing a lot more of Gaikai around here for the foreseeable future. Two weeks ago I talked about Turbine’s plan to bring a limited trial for Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons and Dragons Online to Gaikai, an online streaming service where players would be able to play a very limited version without having to download a massive client. Following that news, CCP Chief Marketing Officer David Reid has talked to Eurogamer to discuss bringing Eve Online to Gaikai or Onlive in some form.

“We think it’s a really important way to not just play the core Eve Online gameplay – that you do play today principally on the PC and on the Mac – but also to add new sorts of experiences – when you think about Planetary Interaction in Eve Online right?”

It is important to note that whatever happens is still a very long way off, and we may not see anything come of this until 2013. MMO Fallout will be paying close attention for more details.

(Source: Eurogamer)

Vanguard Will Go Free To Play


The moment you have all been waiting for and already knew was coming, has come. Sony Online Entertainment has announced the upcoming free to play transition of Vanguard: Saga of Heroes.

Therefore, I’m happy to announce Vanguard will be the next in line of our AAA games to make this transition.  Since we’ve literally just begun on the work, I’m not ready to go into much detail.  However, I will say that you can expect something similar to EverQuest®, EverQuest® II and DC Universe™ Online when we roll-out our free-to-play offering this summer.  Once we have more information to share, you’ll be the first to know.

In addition, the announcement goes on to reveal that Vanguard will also be receiving regular content updates, and that there are some new and old faces returning to the development team.

(Source: Vanguard)

Guild Wars 2: Legit Real Money Trading, “Convenience Items” In Cash Shop


In Guild Wars 2 we have three currencies: gold, karma, and gems. Gold is the common in-game currency. Karma, which players earn in-game but cannot trade, is used for unique rewards. And gems are the currency that’s bought and used to purchase microtransactions.

Mike O’Brien has gone on Arenanet’s blog to post about Guild Wars 2’s upcoming microtransaction system. In the post, Mike notes that while the content in the shop has not been finalized, the framework is in place to support it. Mike went on to state that the policy with Guild Wars 2 will be that any player who buys the game should be able to fully enjoy it without having to continue paying, and that players should never be allowed to pay for an advantage, and that the cash shop will be used to buy cosmetic items, convenience items, and account services.

One addition that might surprise Guild Wars 2 players is the legitimized Real Money Trading system, ala PLEX in Eve Online:

We have a new player-driven market that allows players to trade gold for gems and gems for gold. If you want something, whether it’s an in-game item or a microtransaction, you ultimately have two ways to get it: you can play to earn gold or you can use money to buy gems. We think that’s important, because it lets more players participate on a level playing field, whether they use their free time or their disposable income to do it.

The cash-for-gems system will provide Arenanet with a substantial potential revenue increase, as the system has worked for Eve Online with PLEX and World of Warcraft with the recent pet addition.

We have always taken our responsibility to players seriously with the original Guild Wars, and we will continue to do so with Guild Wars 2. We believe the foundation I’ve described here is the right foundation for us to build upon, and we look forward to sharing more details with you in the future as we nail down our microtransaction content..

(Source: Guild Wars 2 blog)

Guild Wars 2: Legit Real Money Trading, "Convenience Items" In Cash Shop


In Guild Wars 2 we have three currencies: gold, karma, and gems. Gold is the common in-game currency. Karma, which players earn in-game but cannot trade, is used for unique rewards. And gems are the currency that’s bought and used to purchase microtransactions.

Mike O’Brien has gone on Arenanet’s blog to post about Guild Wars 2’s upcoming microtransaction system. In the post, Mike notes that while the content in the shop has not been finalized, the framework is in place to support it. Mike went on to state that the policy with Guild Wars 2 will be that any player who buys the game should be able to fully enjoy it without having to continue paying, and that players should never be allowed to pay for an advantage, and that the cash shop will be used to buy cosmetic items, convenience items, and account services.

One addition that might surprise Guild Wars 2 players is the legitimized Real Money Trading system, ala PLEX in Eve Online:

We have a new player-driven market that allows players to trade gold for gems and gems for gold. If you want something, whether it’s an in-game item or a microtransaction, you ultimately have two ways to get it: you can play to earn gold or you can use money to buy gems. We think that’s important, because it lets more players participate on a level playing field, whether they use their free time or their disposable income to do it.

The cash-for-gems system will provide Arenanet with a substantial potential revenue increase, as the system has worked for Eve Online with PLEX and World of Warcraft with the recent pet addition.

We have always taken our responsibility to players seriously with the original Guild Wars, and we will continue to do so with Guild Wars 2. We believe the foundation I’ve described here is the right foundation for us to build upon, and we look forward to sharing more details with you in the future as we nail down our microtransaction content..

(Source: Guild Wars 2 blog)

The Old Republic Responsible For WoW Subscriber Losses


Talking to Eurogamer, Producer John Lagrave admitted that the launch of The Old Republic has had an effect on World of Warcraft’s subscription numbers. Lagrave goes on to talk about possibly extending the current World of Warcraft unlimited trial (up to level 20) to level 40, or even level 60, but with a firm reminder that Blizzard has no plans to take the MMO to a free to play model, as Blizzard still feels that the game runs best as a subscription.

“Of course people are trying Star Wars – our development team are trying Star Wars! I’m one of the few people who’s still playing it actually, but yeah we’ve seen a dip in subs. It certainly has to at least be attributable to The Old Republic, but it’s also attributable to people who want to wait and get Mists of Pandaria, so it’s not surprising.”

Blizzard is one of several developers to be very open about their loss of subscribers, and one of the few companies to actually post a base figure of how many are still playing. Up until recently, a major portion of Blizzard’s dropped subscribers have been attributed to losses over in China where the rate of income per user is lower than in the West, in territories including China where users pay for World of Warcraft like a prepaid phone (adding hours). Blizzard also attributes some of the loss to players to a need to release more content at a faster pace, as players complete it. Meanwhile, the expansion of the cash shop has more than made up for the loss of subscribers, leading to higher revenue each quarter.

In the face of 1.7 million subscribers for The Old Republic, Blizzard is looking to entice its previous customers to return and current customers to remain so. Back in October, Blizzard launched the expanded Annual Pass offering a free copy of Diablo 3, a spectral mount, and guaranteed access to the Mists of Pandaria beta (The Diablo 3 promotion ends May 1st, if you were thinking about signing up). Just recently, Blizzard launched the Scroll of Resurrection campaign, offering an upgrade to Cataclysm, a free level 80 character, and free faction/server changes for the recipient.

All of this on the heels of Blizzcon 2012 being cancelled so Blizzard can focus on its development, and laying off 600 non-developmental workers.

You can read the rest of the discussion at the link below.

(Source: Eurogamer)

Warhammer Loses Another Server: Drakenwald Closing


As part of our ongoing efforts to maintain an active, competitive, and engaging experience in WAR we have decided to open free transfers for players to specific servers. WAR, more than many games, only gets better with more people. These transfers will enable players to experience more action during all hours whether fighting in scenarios or Open RvR.

Absolutely true, and if there is one thing that Warhammer Online could use, it is more people. By now, Warhammer players should be well tuned with the process. Starting tomorrow, Drakenwald will be marked as a “legacy server,” disabling the creation of new characters. Existing characters are free to transfer to Badlands or Karak Norn for three weeks until the server is deactivated and you will be forced to transfer anyway.

On the other hand, Warhammer has almost run out of servers to close down.

(Source: Warhammer Herald)

Kingdoms of Amalur Online Perhaps Later This Year


“From the mediocre game that nobody bought and doesn’t really like that much, comes a big giant version of that game!”
-Todd McFarlane

Todd has a point. Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning released one month ago and sales figures place the title at over one third of a million sales. Now that gamers are well versed in the realm of Amalur and the inner working concepts of fate, the team at 38 Studios is instituting phase two of Operation Franchise: Release an MMO. Labeled Project Copernicus, the Kingdom of Amalur MMO is set for release later this year, 2012.

I have my own concerns over Amalur’s prospects for a 2012 release. Assuming the game can hit its 2012 release, the folks at 38 Studios will be competing against The Secret World, TERA, Guild Wars 2, the new World of Warcraft expansion, Neverwinter, and more. Never mind the recent and future free to play transitions of existing MMOs, of course the existing market as it is.

I have high hopes for Amalur Online (my name), but I also recognize the kind of risks that are taken when a developer puts out an MMO for the first time. Crafting an MMO is very different from creating a single player game, and 38 Studios did the smart move by creating a fan base and setting out a base expectation for quality.

More on Amalur Online (not the actual name) as it appears.