Lego Universe: Bringing Leveling


Lego Universe has been quite the topic for MMO Fallout over the past week or so, and Lego Team hopes to make the game a little more MMO-ish in the coming weeks. One aspect Lego Universe has been missing is player levels, rather players join a faction and level up through the ranks by completing missions and mini-games, obtaining better gear as they obtain ranks and tokens. In the next few weeks, Lego hopes to turn all of that upside down by introducing levels.

In an announcement, players will be able to level to 40, obtaining rewards along the way including buffs, pets, and gear. Rather than forcing players to grind mobs, minifigures will simply need to collect u-score, which most players already do, by completing missions, achievements, and mini-games. That u-score will determine your level.

For players worried about their high level gear, Lego already has that covered. When the update goes live, players will be able to wield anything linked to their character, regardless of level.

Earthrise: More Price Cuts! Lower Subscription Fees!


Earthrise. It’s a game by Masthead studios, which is not just the name on a shirt that I got for free then took a shaky photograph of. Since its launch earlier this year, Earthrise has seen a slew of sales looking to bring in new customers, culminating in a price drop in June to $29.99. Apparently not bringing in as many people as Masthead hoped, the developer announced a further price drop for the client:

Masthead Studios, a leading independent developer of MMOs, announced the reduction of the game client and monthly subscription prices. The company decided to lower the price of game client by 60% starting 5th Aug 2011. It will cost 12 Euro for EU players and $14 for Non-EU players.

The price of a 6-month subscription will also be reduced to $50, or about 8 dollars per month.

The Old Republic Breaks EA Record For Preorders


That image is getting old. This is an odd piece of news, Electronic Arts did its Quarter 1 financial call for the fiscal year ending in June. The Old Republic did not go on sale until a few days ago, likely leading many of you to ask: How is this being included in their last quarter’s report? Right in the title, man:

Star Wars: The Old Republic Breaks EA Record For Pre-Orders

Despite this being in the header, there is no other mention of sales, likely because of the sales being part of the current quarter. During the conference call, they did confirm that the team is ready for whatever sales the players throw at them:

2:29: Question on capacity management in SWTOR? EB: We’re in good shape to do that, we have the ability to scale for multiple millions of users. We’re looking at stuff coming in as far as marketing and pre-order promotion. We have a lot of capacity to do that.

In the words of the Gman, we’ll see about that.

Star Wars Galaxies: One Month In


It’s been one month since I started playing Star Wars Galaxies on my new character, and by now I had completely forgotten that I never set up a subscription after entering my serial code, so that was a bit of surprise. Since last week, I managed to find a few items in my bag that took me back to Tatooine to complete missions I never finished the first time. One of those missions turned out to be the Death Trooper line of quests, that started out as very low level (level 1) and immediately sprang to level 10 and then level 90. So I still have the level 90 Death Trooper mission in my journal, that will sit there for a long time.

The Death Trooper mission, what I did play of it, was a massive pain in the ass even from the Galaxies point of view. I found myself traveling back and forth every other mission between Tatooine and Dathomir, two planets that are not connected meaning I had to travel to Corellia, then travel to Dathomir so I could talk to one person, then travel to Corellia, then travel to Tatooine so I could talk to a scientist, who would send me back to Dathomir, and back and forth. I own the book that the mission is based off of, as seen to the left, and apparently the Death Trooper saga is canon.

My current role, as I talked of last time, are working for the Royal Security Forces on Naboo, tasked with defeating terrorists, preventing local thugs, and being randomly de-mounted and scanned in Theed. In my previous few missions, I had to go to several locations and kill 14-16 mobs to distract them, and then bug their antenna. This confused me from a continuity point of view: If I’m killing large amounts of a group to distract them, why am I the one who has to plant the bug? Isn’t the point for me to distract so someone else can plant the bug? Someone didn’t think this mission line through (probably me).

But this wouldn’t be a Galaxies episode without me whining about issues I’m having in-game. I’ve talked before about the game showing its age, but no more so than the slow reaction that Grandpa is showing me here. I walk through a group of terrorists and can make it about ten seconds away before they notice and start shooting at me. In some cases, I’ll fire at a guy and his buddy standing two feet away won’t move a finger. About ten seconds later, just before I kill the guy I’m attacking, he’ll finally snap up and start shooting me. For what Galaxies adds in atmosphere, this takes a lot of it away.

What really annoyed me is that apparently Qa’ashi has become quite a poor aim. Earlier I complained that I had trouble with the locking system being too strict, in a “No, you will aim at this person because I told you to,” sense. I’m not sure if this is just part of the process, or if I hit something somewhere to turn it off, but now I can’t get the target to stay on at all. If I move away from the person I’m aiming at, I stop targeting them. Normally I’d follow the “maybe you should learn to aim” people, but when mobs have lag and terrible pathfinding issues like in Galaxies, where they go into 50 mph sprints about two hundred feet in the opposite direction (to better hit me with their pistol?), keeping a steady aim can turn into a real pain in the ass.

Journalism Misses The Joke: The Old Republic In 2025


I think I’ve pointed out many times that MMO Fallout is not on par with, say, Massively.com or MMORPG.com, or Rock Paper Shotgun. So when Darth Hater reported from a Comic Con panel that Bioware hopes to have Star Wars: The Old Republic up until 2025 (guaranteed!), a few of us said “this sounds a little too…out there to be a serious comment,” and I left it at that. No sense reporting on a joke, right?

Well, I can say that we have 19 major worlds. Then we have an indeterminate number of minor worlds. And our goal, obviously this being an online game, that we’re hoping is going to last for decades, we’re going to be, obviously, adding more to the galaxy map as the game progresses. We want to add dozens of worlds. Hundreds of worlds eventually. In 2025, we’ll hopefully have 500 worlds.
-James Ohlen, Bioware

Well the story was picked up on by all of the major outfits, initially by Eurogamer, spreading from Rockpapershotgun, Massively, MMORPG.com, and a few other websites. This is, of course, what happens when one company jumps on a quote to get the exclusive, and then others see it and jump on it as well.

Then again, you can’t fool anyone on April 1st anymore.

Hellgate: Stuck At Waterloo Bridge Passageway


When Hellgate: London relaunched, I decided to incorporate it into a new run of features titled “How Free Can You Be?” So far, I’ve already incorporated titles including Turbine’s games, Alganon, and now Hellgate. In regards to Hellgate, around level 16-17 players receive a series of quests that require them to travel to Southwark Station and one that requires them to travel through Waterloo Bridge Passageway. Upon attempting to enter Waterloo Bridge Passageway, players are met with what many are perceiving as a bug: The door does not open, nor does it give an explanation as to why.

At this point, you’ve completed the free portion of Hellgate Global, and will have to purchase a ticket in order to advance. This can be done in one of two ways: The ticket is available on the cash shop for 4000 tcoin ($4 USD). Since the minimum amount you can load into your account is $5, this will leave you with 1000 coins left to spend on your heart’s desire.

Alternatively, Hanbitsoft has decided to make the Act 3 tickets tradeable, meaning you can buy them in the in-game marketplace from other players who bought them from the cash shop. So if you’re a pro at grinding money, you can play Hellgate Global entirely for free.

Tickets on the marketplace go for over four hundred thousand palladium and unlocks the rest of the game, and applies to the whole account.

[Update Sept 9th]: A lot of people have asked me to post this up: If you already have the Act 3 ticket and still can’t get into Waterloo Bridge, check your missions. There are several that must be completed before you can enter Waterloo Bridge, regardless of if you’ve activated the ticket or not.

click to enlarge

Week In Review: Too Much Ravioli Edition


I hope Bioware can survive its community, and I mean this with the sincerest of honesty. I’ve had a full month of experience playing Star Wars: The Old Republic, and although I sent a good amount of feedback to Bioware via their surveys included with the demonstration copy, I want to issue one of my famous ultimatums: Your community is labeling the game the next WoW killer, and that needs to be stomped out faster than the people who expected this game to be Pre-CU Galaxies Part 2. Now, The Old Republic is going to be the biggest release of the year (assuming it isn’t pushed back until January), no doubt about that. Bioware has relatively high expectations for box purchases, and more importantly expectations for subscription retention following month numero uno.

And forget the discussion about the price of the collector’s edition, that is completely irrelevant. The only thing that can cause Bioware to collapse upon itself is when the game launches and all of those fun launch day issues come to light. Lag, server queues, game-breaking bugs, content that isn’t in at launch, etc. Content aside, The Old Republic will have lag, it will have game-breaking bugs that aren’t apparent until launch because they only come to light with said encumbering lag, and it will have server queues. That’s the rope you walk buying early into a game that everyone is buying into early.

1. Yea, I Get It, Expensive Statue…How About Two Free Months?

If I’m going to pay $150 for the collector’s edition of Star Wars: The Old Republic, with a twenty dollar “fee” just to preorder the thing, I think Bioware should bite the bullet and give an extra two months of free game time to Collector’s Edition buyers. A hundred and fifty dollars is an insane price for something that, much like Halo Reach’s massive monster edition, will likely be on the 50% clearance rack at my local Target a few months after launch. Given the high price of the collector’s edition, Bioware should include an extra month or two of subscription.

Think about it this way, someone who pays that much money is likely more susceptible to buyer’s remorse in that first month than someone who paid less. Given a couple extra months to play might be just what that person needs to embrace what the game has to offer, and in the long run that extra time could keep him involved and keep that subscription going when the time comes to renew.

Any good drug dealer knows you give just enough for free to get them hooked, then you open your wallet and let the cash fly in.

2. You People Set Your Expectations Too High When You See Me In-Game

Being the creative soul I am, I name almost all of my characters “Omali.” As a result, and as MMO Fallout has gained popularity over the last two years, I’ve had people recognize my username in various games as being the “Omali from that website” as one person put it. It’s interesting being recognized as the celebrity I am not, and not only because half the people want to know if I can get them free stuff from the developers.

People tend to assume I’m some industry insider and that I keep this website small because I have all these secrets, when the truth is I don’t. MMO Fallout is small because I’m still expanding upon it, and I have limited funds to do so. I’m not even a blip on the radar of most of these companies, that’s why the only guy stupid enough to think I carried the influence to “ruin his reputation” with my opinion articles, and warrant sending me a note through his lawyer was David Allen, the guy who managed to get fired and then publicly humiliated by his own company.

Overall, I know maybe a handful of industry people. At the moment I’m under three nondisclosure agreements. For what I cannot disclose.

3. The Alganon Comic Review Was Real

And to prove it, here is a small image from a page not found in the previews. Remember, the Alganon comic was distributed at Comic Con, so it is publicly available in a print fashion. I, on the other hand, was supplied a digital copy by Quest Online for the purposes of the article, which I noted in the article itself. What I should have noted in that article is that Quest Online didn’t approach me, I asked for it. I contacted Smart initially with a request to purchase the comic (at this point I was unaware of a digital version coming) for the purpose of writing an article, and was supplied with a digital copy. I have a copy of Crimecraft’s comic (that I purchased when it went on sale four months ago) which I will also be writing a review of.

4. Icarus and GamersFirst Sitting In A Tree

Those of you who play Fallen Earth are already aware that you will have to set up a GamersFirst account starting August 1st in order to have continued access to the game. This is the first phase of the system changes that will bring free to play to Fallen Earth, and players who transition early will have the opportunity to net some free G1 tokens for their prompt response.

What you may not be aware of is that Icarus Studios is working on an upcoming MMO based on the UNITY 3D engine called Hailan Rising, to release this fall. The game is billed as a fantasy title focused on PvP, with players choosing from eight classes to battle it out over territory and resources. The game will be stat-based, which for some reason is still billed as non-conventional and “grind-less.”

5. Stat-based Games Are NOT Grind Free!

Going straight from number four to number five, I want to shout this from my rooftop every time I hear it said in a press release: Having stats over traditional levels does not remove the grind, because in most cases rather than grinding a single experience bar for levels, you find yourself grinding many experience bars for levels. Rather than attacking trolls, for example, and obtaining 100 experience each time, I might fight a troll and simultaneously gain endurance while swinging a heavy sword, sword experience for doing damage, stamina for taking damage, and heavy armor experience for fighting in heavy armor. Same grind, but rather than leveling up and seeing +25 health, +3 strength, +5 stamina, +1 intelligence, I gain those levels over a period of time.

With so many more skills, obtaining end-game can take even longer than a traditional level game. Runescape, for instance, takes longer to attain 99 in one skill than many traditional games take to hit end-game overall, and each skill in itself is a heavy grind.

Stephen Calender Talks:


By now, you may be slightly familiar with the name Stephen Calender, ex-programmer for NetDevil. A few weeks ago, I brought up his blog post in a Week in Review, that went into detail starting at the acquisition of Lego Universe by Lego (and subsequent layoffs) to the relationship between Gazillion and NetDevil and even advice on how to get hired in the industry. In his post, he also expressed his “frustration with fellow co-workers who primed the rumor machine,” dealing with how the media (including myself) managed to come across the news of the NetDevil layoffs before some of the people actually affected by the layoffs, thanks partially to the quick dissemination of details by laid off staff.

The next day I found an email from who else? Stephen Calender, with the hopes of explaining that his intention was not to “take a jab” (as I described it) at the media. So after a short back and forth, I saw this as an excellent opportunity for both of us, and requested an interview.

The interview is huge, so I’ve taken the liberty of hiding it behind the break.

Continue reading “Stephen Calender Talks:”

Rift Proposal


Thanks to Trion, there are now two very happily married nerds in the lands of Telara. If you think that’s impressive, just wait until my marriage hits The Old Republic with a bang, and what says I love you more than massacring Jar Jar Binks’ ancestors before the annoying little cretin is born?

Rift Sending Free Copies To Founders


If you are a founder of Rift (bought the game very early or signed up for the founder’s multi-month package), you should be receiving a free copy of Rift to gift someone you know. Each copy comes with the standard edition plus five days of free game time.

RIFT is always more fun when friends can share in the glory of battle. To thank you for your continuing support as one of RIFT’s multi-month subscription founders, here is a free copy of RIFT you can gift to a friend. Spread the excitement and raise another ally in the fight against the dragons! Make sure your friend signs up through the Ascend-a-Friend program to enjoy linked accounts and bring you one step closer to your Ember Steed. Forward this email to your soon-to-be Ascended friend today, because this code is only good until July 31, 2011.
Regards,
The RIFT Team

The code is only good until July 31st, offering plenty of time to decide upon, or go hunting for, a friend to give the code to.