Archlord Says Hello 2010: Good, Bad, and Ugly


Archlord is one of those titles I don’t get to talk about much, because it falls into the category of games that are small enough that any announcement made is heard within the radius of your average MMOs local chat. So when the companies give status updates on the title, I jump on it like, well, myself on status updates.

Last we heard from Archlord, back in early October, the game had shifted from Codemasters to Webzen, not only offering to transfer characters and their currencies, but bringing in a new swashbuckling class. Webzen has been busy for the past few months, and 2010 is when we will see the fruits of their work:

On the good side, Webzen is starting out the year with a new server. Deribelle, as it is named, will play host to increased experience, better loot drops, and item giveaways to welcome the new players. Later next month will see the release of a multi-language client, bringing German, Portugese, Spanish, and French into the game. The Chaotic Frontier, a new dungeon, features level scaling, allowing players of any level to jump right in and experience the wonders it has to offer, with loot scaled of course.

Sadly, there is no good without evil, and the new Deribelle realm comes on the heels of two of the four European servers shutting down.

Despite the setback of two lost servers, there is no doubt (at least in my mind) that Webzen wants to make Archlord work for those who are still loyal to the title. For those of you who have not given the title a try, now is as good of a time as any. It is free to play, after all.

More on Archlord if I get to talk about it this year.

Real Money Trading In Korea: In Plain English


If Funcom's money was gold-backed...

In violation of my court order to only use the gold image a maximum of twice on the front page, many MMOers are probably aware of South Korea ruling that real money trading, the conversion of digital cash to real cash, is now legal. Your gold pieces, kinah, plats, gil, influence, adena, credits, ISK, whatever you call that cash in your pocket, may be traded for real life cash. There appears, as most news stories have this effect, to be a fervor among MMOers (players and developers alike) as to what this means for their favorite titles. Will City of Heroes be encumbered by Koreans? Will Aion become even more saturated with this gold farming menace? Won’t somebody please think of the children?

As always, when there is a legal question to be asked, MMO Fallout’s “In Plain English” is here to explain it to you. To put it down in plain lettering, what this law does is turn the businesses into legitimate operations, that will pay taxes and refer to themselves in a way that would actually describe what they do.

What the law does not do is make gold farming legal, nor will it prevent companies from banning gold farmers. Swearing is legal, but it can still get you banned if you do it in an MMO. Although this bill does run up the possibility of there being a lot more gold farming companies to deal with, now that the scope is no longer limited to shady businessmen running a small building full of gold farmers off the books, and is more along the lines of a legitimate (questionably) business.

In all likelihood, the increased presence of bots and gold farmers will be minimal, unless you’re moderating the MMO Fallout comments and have to deal with “Hey, great website. I agree with all the things you said here and, by the way, I no this guy who powerlevels fishing. You shud try out his service, very cheep.” on a daily basis, or have to deal with magical pingbacks that don’t lead to a valid website (I do check the links in people’s comments before I approve them).

Happy MMOing.

Some Cryptic Images


This isn’t a regularly scheduled article, but since I’m deleting the “Champions In Court” category (not much to go on nowadays), I’ve decided to give Cryptic one last hurrah, and post up a few images I have sitting in my Champions Online and Star Trek Online folders.

So without further ado, ahead! (after the break).

Continue reading “Some Cryptic Images”

MMO Fallout: Now With More Ratings!


Gustav Rancero says: Rate this article a 1 to make me more powerful.

I know what you’re all thinking: I would really like to give my feedback to this award-worthy piece of writing, but I can’t be writing out a comment when I have one hand busy with this cup, and my other hand working the mouse. If only there was a way to offer my several word thought without having to leave a comment, preferably in the form of a one to five rating system!

And I know what you’re thinking, commenters. I’d like to respond to this stupid comment, but I’m afraid that Omali will delete it or, even worse, leave it hanging in moderation limbo forever! If only there was a way that I could express my feelings about this commenter, possibly in the form of a thumb up and thumbs down.

Boy do I have something to help everyone. Introducing the brand spanking new MMO Fallout rating system! With features everyone can enjoy. Using the latest technology imported directly from the Vulcan empire, it is now possible to speak your mind without the use of your pesky keyboard. The Vulcan love it because it lacks emotion, but you can love it just as much!

Of course, comments are going nowhere, and thanks to the resentful nature of the agents I hired (They were laid off when The Matrix Online shut down), there still won’t be anything stopping you from calling me a moron, or worse! Just remember to click on each article in order to view the rating system, it doesn’t work from the front page.

Runes of Magic: Credit Card/Paypal Blocks In Plain English


If Funcom's money was gold-backed...
Gold: Welcome to the club...

I wanted to have a slightly more serious conversation about a certain title that has garnered quite a bit of controversy around it by outside players and its community. I am, of course, referencing to the newly instated Diamond policy that restricts what players can do with diamonds purchased through certain avenues. Diamonds are a currency in Runes of Magic that are purchased with real life money. They can be traded to other players, or used to purchase items in the item mall.

Frogster implemented an update that restricts diamond usage among players, due to players using stolen credit cards and stolen paypal accounts to purchase diamonds, to send to their main accounts. Those who buy their diamonds with a credit card or paypal account, or even a Playspan account will not be able to trade the diamonds, nor will they be able to sell them on the auction house. They will be bound to your account, and can only be used on the item mall for items that will be bound to your character.

Explanation after the break.

Continue reading “Runes of Magic: Credit Card/Paypal Blocks In Plain English”

Conan Inactive Character Deletion: Barbaric Resolution

Those of you with inactive accounts that have characters below level 20 will have already received an email regarding this, or will be receiving one. In order to consolidate space and free up storage and names on the servers, due to an upcoming server merge, Funcom will be deleting inactive sub-20 characters.


Now that that is over...

That’s a nice tutorial character you have there. It’d be a shame if something were to happen to it. As I’m sure you’re aware, accidents happen all the time. You try to open a door, and suddenly you get struck in the head by a freak tire iron accident. Or those cars, we all know about those random explosions that occur when you try to start the engine. Just saying, a little protection money can go a long way.

Ok, so Funcom isn’t going to beat you with a tire iron if you don’t resubscribe, nor am I aware of any Italian mobsters who converse through cryptic dialog, but they will delete your unused, inactive characters that are under level 20. Those of you with inactive accounts that have characters below level 20 will have already received an email regarding this, or will be receiving one. In order to consolidate space and free up storage and names on the servers, due to an upcoming server merge, Funcom will be deleting inactive sub-20 characters.

More after the break.

Continue reading “Conan Inactive Character Deletion: Barbaric Resolution”

King of the MMOFPS Hill: Sony Vs CCP Vs Blizzard Vs Infinity Ward


By this time in, oh I’ll go for a long shot, 2011 we should be seeing the outcome of the battle of the titans: Four major contenders looking to bring their best and brightest to the field and answer one question: Who will dominate the MMOFPS market? Granted, two of the contenders are not actually fully declared.

According to insider reports, Blizzard’s unnamed upcoming MMO will be split into two parts, a social aspect and a first person shooter. Virtually nothing is known about the MMO so far. Likewise, Infinity Ward is rumored to be working on a Call of Duty MMO, with Modern Warfare 3 being moved to another company. Of course, there is Sony Online Entertainment, with the recent announcement of Planetside 2, and the most confirmed of the group: DUST 514.

More after the break…

Continue reading “King of the MMOFPS Hill: Sony Vs CCP Vs Blizzard Vs Infinity Ward”

Speak Your Mind #1


Here at MMO Fallout, the articles usually come from one of two sources:

  1. News/Game websites: This is, obviously, where the news items come from. I have quite a large host of websites I get the news from, including news websites and the websites of the games themselves. This is the source I generally use when an article is more informative than persuasive, although I will add my own thoughts in if applicable (server closures, shutdowns, etc). Since most of these websites take weekends off, you’re much more likely to see opinion articles on weekends (news doesn’t happen on weekends, at least not on the internet).
  2. Blogs/Chat/Forums: My second source comes from random blogs, discussions I have in chat, and forums I read, that inspire me to discuss pertinent issues. I try to keep my articles unique based on those that I see from other blogs (Which is why you haven’t seen a “Alganon: Clone of WoW?” article here). I decided to not do a “best of 2009”, instead opting for my own questions of 2009 and hopes for the future, as well as a little roundup of drama over the year.

Where MMO Fallout truly thrives, and where my own message for this blog exists, is in talking to the players. If there is an MMO argument/debate going on in a game, you can probably bet that I am part of it in some fashion. By argument/debate, I mean an actual human conversation, not “this game sucks” or “that game is better”, although I will throw around sarcastic remarks as if I’m paid to do it.

I have been “found” a few times in the MMOs I play, as my username is virtually always Omali, or some variation of it (Omali, Jomali, and Katanda are the three most likely). The people I have talked to are very engaging, and regularly do I end up penning an article for MMO Fallout based on our discussion, however related to the actual content it is. I can find out only so much by the first option in my list of sources, many of my longest standing articles have been penned up thanks to my discussion with players (including the current NCsoft scandal. Thanks to select players, I began covering the story long before most other MMO websites picked up.

So what’s on your mind, viewers of MMO Fallout? Any questions on your mind that don’t fit into other articles? Think of this as a place to just get everything off of your chest.

Mythic Taking Back Dark Age of Camelot


...in Europe.

After eight years of publishing Dark Age of Camelot, European GOA will be handing the title back to its developers, Mythic Entertainment. Mythic will be handling the maintenance of the European servers starting in a couple of weeks. As for information on times, character transfers, and versions, localizations, and other details, Mythic had this to say:

“We are currently working with GOA to take over operation of the game and its European community, and will soon be providing details about pressing player questions such as existing subscriptions, character transfers, game versions, localization, and more.”
-Andy Belford on Dark Age of Camelot Europe

Luckily, unlike last year’s move of Archlord from Codemasters, this move isn’t marred with controversy (Unless you include the usual claims that this, much like any other news, is a sign of the game’s coming demise). I am interested in seeing how Mythic will be handling the transfers, although my guess is that players will have the option to transfer characters over.

As with anything, anything can happen. More on Dark Age of Camelot moving back in with its parents as it develops.