Wizard101 launched two years ago to the wide open arms of children and some adults alike. Since then, the game has seen numerous major updates, including player housing (something many MMOs still can’t attest to), a fairly intuitive and advanced pet system, among other updates. For the kid’s MMO, one that oddly enough has a “death magic” class, Wizard 101 has been skyrocketing to popularity while running off of a freemium payment model (Players can play for free, pay a subscription, or purchase perks individually using a cash shop).
Kingsisle Entertainment’s game has become so popular, in fact, that the servers are being bogged down with the sheer number of people trying to log in, resulting in this week’s announcement that a temporary limit to players will be instated until server issues can be fixed.
Given the titles that are closing up shop, or consolidating a large portion of their servers, it’s good to see at least one title that is doing well enough to have troubles accommodating all of their players. More on Wizard 101 as it appears.
Wizard101 launched two years ago to the wide open arms of children and some adults alike. Since then, the game has seen numerous major updates, including player housing (something many MMOs still can’t attest to), a fairly intuitive and advanced pet system, among other updates. For the kid’s MMO, one that oddly enough has a “death magic” class, Wizard 101 has been skyrocketing to popularity while running off of a freemium payment model (Players can play for free, pay a subscription, or purchase perks individually using a cash shop).
Kingsisle Entertainment’s game has become so popular, in fact, that the servers are being bogged down with the sheer number of people trying to log in, resulting in this week’s announcement that a temporary limit to players will be instated until server issues can be fixed.
Given the titles that are closing up shop, or consolidating a large portion of their servers, it’s good to see at least one title that is doing well enough to have troubles accommodating all of their players. More on Wizard 101 as it appears.
“We’ve been constantly monitoring the feedback you’ve given us, as well as internally discussing your concerns about the use of real names on our forums. As a result of those discussions, we’ve decided at this time that real names will not be required for posting on official Blizzard forums.”
–Nethaera, Blizzard Forums
I imagine by “discussion,” Blizzard is referring to the thought of an impending mass exodus of players. Good news, WoW’ers! As you may have guessed from the above quote, Blizzard has retracted their planned update that would place real names in plain view on the Blizzard forums. The other parts of the update, including rating posts and comment threading, are still scheduled to debut on the Starcraft II forums, but you will no longer have to worry about your name being available for all to see.
The real question in all of this is: Who at Blizzard was thick enough to think this would tide over well with players, or that this would somehow stop trolling?
Red 5 Studios was founded by World of Warcraft veteran staff, and continued the tradition that Richard Garriot had upheld just a year prior: That for some reason new companies formed by old MMO vets have a habit of imploding in on themselves, if they ever even release a product. I also mentioned that Red 5’s MMOFPS appeared to have been scrapped in favor of a new MMO geared towards the Chinese market. Fast forward one month, and you have The9 (estranged ex-Chinese World of Wacraft host) buying the majority stake in Red 5 and FireRain. Since then, there hasn’t been much word from Red 5.
And there still isn’t. Production on Red 5’s MMO is still reportedly underway, with information coming soon.
“The game has not been put on hold or delayed. While we are using a highly-modified version of the Project Offset engine, the closing of the Intel team does not impact our ability to complete our own project. We look forward to releasing more information abouto ur project in the near future.”
Red 5 Studios was founded by World of Warcraft veteran staff, and continued the tradition that Richard Garriot had upheld just a year prior: That for some reason new companies formed by old MMO vets have a habit of imploding in on themselves, if they ever even release a product. I also mentioned that Red 5’s MMOFPS appeared to have been scrapped in favor of a new MMO geared towards the Chinese market. Fast forward one month, and you have The9 (estranged ex-Chinese World of Wacraft host) buying the majority stake in Red 5 and FireRain. Since then, there hasn’t been much word from Red 5.
And there still isn’t. Production on Red 5’s MMO is still reportedly underway, with information coming soon.
“The game has not been put on hold or delayed. While we are using a highly-modified version of the Project Offset engine, the closing of the Intel team does not impact our ability to complete our own project. We look forward to releasing more information abouto ur project in the near future.”
To call the Blizzard forums a veritable hell-spawn of trolls where intelligence and reason go to die would be an insult to the resting grounds where intelligence and reason truly go to die, and hopefully that will change when the troll’s names start appearing on the forums. In an upcoming update, Blizzard will incorporate the Realid system into their forums, meaning that instead of:
[username]
[character]
You will see:
[Real Name]
[Username]
[Character]
But why, you ask? I’ll let Blizzard’s own Nethaera explain:
“The official forums have always been a great place to discuss the latest info on our games, offer ideas and suggestions, and share experiences with other players — however, the forums have also earned a reputation as a place where flame wars, trolling, and other unpleasantness run wild. Removing the veil of anonymity typical to online dialogue will contribute to a more positive forum environment, promote constructive conversations, and connect the Blizzard community in ways they haven’t been connected before. With this change, you’ll see blue posters (i.e. Blizzard employees) posting by their real first and last names on our forums as well.”
Thanks Blizzard. Now instead of having my thread flamed by some nameless 4chan loser, I can have my thread flamed by some named 4chan loser who then proceeds to spam my facebook account, order me some delicious pizzas, harass my friends, and leave threatening phone calls on my voicemail, or to have the sociopath I beat in a duel stalk me home from work because he wants to show me his real life dagger skill level.
I hope all of you who play World of Warcraft, or any of Blizzard’s other games will be posting under an assumed name. I think we’re going to find that World of Warcraft is played by a lot of Ben Dovers.
Those of you in the Age of Conan beta will probably remember various nights spent sitting in a bar, knocking back an ale, and beating the crap out of your up-to-then drinking partner. Of course, along with a few other features heavily advertised (npc raids on player villages, among others) for launch, are well aware that two years after Age of Conan’s launch, most of these features are set for a release date one week after never. Drunken bar fights were silently swept under the rug and haven’t been heard from since, at least until now.
But not in the game you’d expect. Taking a cue and miss from Funcom, ArenaNet announced that Guild Wars 2 will feature drunken bar brawls. Speaking in a recent developers blog, you will not only be able to get insanely drunk, but the ale you drink will have various effects, including a noxious belch that poisons anyone drunk enough to stumble into its cloud. Smash your stein over someone’s head, and use the remaining shard as a shank! Kick someone into a table, splintering it, and then beat them to unconsciousness with the pieces of the table. The goal is to play dirty, you’re in a drunken bar fight, not Sir Lancelot’s jousting academy!
ArenaNet wants bar fights to feel like true bar fights, otherwise “why bother having them?” Of course, there are more lighthearted activities to be had in your city of choice.
Those of you in the Age of Conan beta will probably remember various nights spent sitting in a bar, knocking back an ale, and beating the crap out of your up-to-then drinking partner. Of course, along with a few other features heavily advertised (npc raids on player villages, among others) for launch, are well aware that two years after Age of Conan’s launch, most of these features are set for a release date one week after never. Drunken bar fights were silently swept under the rug and haven’t been heard from since, at least until now.
But not in the game you’d expect. Taking a cue and miss from Funcom, ArenaNet announced that Guild Wars 2 will feature drunken bar brawls. Speaking in a recent developers blog, you will not only be able to get insanely drunk, but the ale you drink will have various effects, including a noxious belch that poisons anyone drunk enough to stumble into its cloud. Smash your stein over someone’s head, and use the remaining shard as a shank! Kick someone into a table, splintering it, and then beat them to unconsciousness with the pieces of the table. The goal is to play dirty, you’re in a drunken bar fight, not Sir Lancelot’s jousting academy!
ArenaNet wants bar fights to feel like true bar fights, otherwise “why bother having them?” Of course, there are more lighthearted activities to be had in your city of choice.
Good news everyone! The Aion server mergers have been delayed from the 7th until the 14th. More importantly, NCsoft has come forward with some information regarding how the new servers will handle the duplicate names. The system is pretty simple:
Upon server merger, all characters will have a one or two character abbreviation added to the end of their name, based off of the server they originated from. In the case of two players with the same name, with sixteen characters in their name, transferring to the same server, one will find their name changed completely.
All characters are being provided with free name change tickets, and getting your old name back will be a matter of first come first served.
Somehow I don’t think that this will tide over well with the Collector’s Edition customers, who will find their perk of early-naming-access is now essentially nullified not even a year after release, not to mention the other players who will log in to find themselves out of a name to someone who joined after they did. It does beg the question: Is having a policy of naming based on seniority (the older character gets the name), as most other MMOs do, such a bad thing that this is the better alternative? I personally don’t see too much evidence to support it.
This will break down into players bum rushing the servers minutes after the maintenance ends, likely bringing the server to a crawl, in hopes of getting their names back. Players will need patience on the day of the mergers, and the days following, as customer service will be oversaturated with new requests on top of their regular duties.
All Points Bulletin is in the middle of an identity crisis, as it would seem, where the developers need to pick a side and stick with it, as to whether or not the game is an MMO or a competitive shooter.
A'ridin on a pony
Realtime World’s Dave Jones predicted that reviewers would not be so lenient on All Points Bulletin, and he was right. So far, the reviews have been around the middle (average 5’s to 6’s out of 10), with the negative comments mainly focused on the idea that, for a driving and shooting game, the driving and shooting mechanics need quite a bit of tuning. A lot of good has been noted towards the customization features and the character creator.
All Points Bulletin is in the middle of an identity crisis, as it would seem, where the developers need to pick a side and stick with it, as to whether or not the game is an MMO or a competitive shooter.
If All Points Bulletin is an MMO, Realtime Worlds needs to flesh out the world which, as of right now, is quite two dimensional. I’m not asking for anything huge, like the epic quests in Lord of the Rings Online, but Realtime Worlds could definitely spruce up the world by hosting live story-driven events that allow both sides to be involved. They could run an overall story arc with developer presence akin to The Matrix Online, for example starting with the criminals attempting to blow up a building and steal secret files inside (not in that order). Whoever wins moves the story arc in a variety of areas.
On the other hand, if Realtime Worlds wants to bill itself as a competitive online shooter, then the shooting and driving mechanics need to be overhauled yesterday. In a game where chase missions are often and plenty, having driving being as painful as it is in All Points Bulletin is very off-putting, feeling as if you are behind the wheel of a consistently intoxicated driver. As many have also said, the shooting feels unresponsive and you don’t feel as if you are shooting a weapon when the person you are pumping a full clip into barely flinches.
On another note, if Realtime Worlds wants to bill APB as a shoot-em-up and not an MMO, you will likely see that subscription go out the door faster than with Global Agenda, and Global Agenda’s subscription portion was eons closer to the traditional MMO formula than All Points Bulletin is.
I like All Points Bulletin, and I did pre-order, and I have played several hours. I do admit, however, that the game appears to be torn between two genres, and may be trying to move in two directions at once in a “jack of all trades, master of none” situation.
MMO Fallout 