Tag: Mortal Online

What Happened This Week: Three E's Edition


One day I hope to go to E3, maybe when MMO Fallout becomes more popular than the single person reading this article (that would be you). As with every week, I open up with a question: If you wrote a blog like this, at what point do you throw up your hands and say “this isn’t a matter of a company making bad decisions, we’re getting into fraud territory here.” If you’re still wondering, I’m referring to the recent mishap of Star Vault double and triple billing some customers, which lead to me giving serious thought to removing Mortal Online from the list, and warning any potential buyers. My reason was that the whole event brought me back to Mourning, especially seeing Star Vault’s apparent arrogance in the response. Not even an “I’m sorry,” a functionally irrelevant message, but one that could ease an angry soon-to-be-ex-customer.

So I did not remove Mortal Online, although much like with Mythic Entertainment, I’m keeping the articles on the table.

1. I Love You, Hellgate!

I love Hellgate, I’ve given no doubt about that in the past. The game brings me back to the days of Diablo, yet manages to incorporate swords, magic, and guns into a game that is very fun to play. Since us in the west lost Hellgate, the game has also seen the release of Hellgate Tokyo, and a major trove of content updates and upgrades. Luckily, the closed beta wasn’t really closed. Players had the chance of clicking on a button on Hellgate’s website with a 50-50 chance, yet I did not see a single person who was denied access through that button.

The beta was short, too. Cut the first day out because of server outages, and the beta lasted only the weekend. I couldn’t go back to the single player (I own the game from when it was live, and I already had the game installed), not enough Russian players not speaking English just to annoy the players and community managers. The website has “open beta test coming soon” plastered on the top of the forums, so the only remaining factor is how soon is soon. I’ve got a fever, and the only cure is more Hellgate.

2. Defiance Invokes Thoughts Of Tabula Rasa and The Matrix Online

Trion and Syfy are teaming up to create the MMO third person shooter Defiance, that will run side by side with the television show. I am a little concerned that Defiance will wind up in the same hole as another MMO-television tie-in that went horribly. My worry is that the game will be delayed long enough that the whole connectivity is lost, and players will see about as much interaction between the two as Star Wars Galaxies has on the original trilogy.

Still, I do like the idea of a third person shooter MMO, as an estranged player of Tabula Rasa from launch to shutdown, and Trion has already shown their abilities with Rift, so the future looks bright for Defiance.

3. DUST 514 Just Keeps Getting More Interesting

CCP’s upcoming shooter has always fascinated me, and not just because it is the first game that promises to seamlessly connect a PC MMO and a console first person shooter. Not exactly cross-console gaming, but as close as it gets for such a genre crossover. What also intrigues me is how the communities will connect, the hope of fostering a console game where players are expected to be just like the PC counterparts, or as Dr. Cox on scrubs would describe them, “bastard coated bastards with bastard filling.” This is present even in a previous trailer where the ships above, locked in battle, decide to renege on a contract and instead obliterate the entire playfield from above. This will lead to console mercenaries having to decide between a possible huge sum, and the possibility that the Eve players will betray them (if that is indeed a possibility). Hopefully DUST will foster an environment where betrayal is present, but at the same time does not sweep over the game, otherwise the population will drop like a stone. Wolves need sheep to survive, and without sheep they will cannibalize one another until there is no one left.

I want to say I’m surprised by DUST being a Playstation 3 exclusive, but I’m not. Considering the environment DUST is set in (close connection with PC game outside of Microsoft’s control, regular updates to match the growing battlefield and changing territorial ownership, connection to third party servers, etc), I had no doubt from day one that DUST and Microsoft wouldn’t get along. So although I have no confirmation of my hunch, I find it likely that this is another incompatible game with Microsoft’s very strict policies over Live.

4. Let’s Talk About Our Final Fantasy

I know this annoys the Square Enix trolls, so I try to get in as much talk about Final Fantasy XIV as possible. Last time, I mentioned by admiration for Square Enix’s willingness to say “we’re not willing to let a failed launch set the stage for the game.” In the upcoming updates, Square Enix plans to make major changes to the combat system, starting with the introduction of auto-attack. With this update brings the removal of the stamina gauge, whereas effects dependent on the stamina gauge will be changed to reflect this update.

Among the other major changes is the removal of physical levels, altering of job names, and more introduction of notorious monsters, quests, and more. Then the game can work on smaller issues, like the holiday events being the same exact thing: (go to area once every 8 hours, collect items).

5. I Can’t Wait To Play For Free…I Mean Beta Test…

I was surprised when Bioware announced that there will be no open beta for The Old Republic. For a game looking to hit the public spotlight as much as Bioware is, not having a glorified broken free trial before launch seems almost suicidal. Hopefully this means Bioware has their servers figured out and don’t need a stress test for launch (please, contain your chortling). For what it’s worth, open betas are essentially demos of a not yet finished product. While a very small number of the population are there to test the game and give feedback, they are overshadowed by players looking to get a head start in finding bugs to exploit once the game goes live, and free loaders who just want a chance to play a AAA MMO without having to pay the subscription + box fee.

I have to laugh when people complain about betas being nothing more than glorified demos, as they’re generally the ones who will then get in-game and complain that certain features are broken.

What Happened This Week: Three E’s Edition


One day I hope to go to E3, maybe when MMO Fallout becomes more popular than the single person reading this article (that would be you). As with every week, I open up with a question: If you wrote a blog like this, at what point do you throw up your hands and say “this isn’t a matter of a company making bad decisions, we’re getting into fraud territory here.” If you’re still wondering, I’m referring to the recent mishap of Star Vault double and triple billing some customers, which lead to me giving serious thought to removing Mortal Online from the list, and warning any potential buyers. My reason was that the whole event brought me back to Mourning, especially seeing Star Vault’s apparent arrogance in the response. Not even an “I’m sorry,” a functionally irrelevant message, but one that could ease an angry soon-to-be-ex-customer.

So I did not remove Mortal Online, although much like with Mythic Entertainment, I’m keeping the articles on the table.

1. I Love You, Hellgate!

I love Hellgate, I’ve given no doubt about that in the past. The game brings me back to the days of Diablo, yet manages to incorporate swords, magic, and guns into a game that is very fun to play. Since us in the west lost Hellgate, the game has also seen the release of Hellgate Tokyo, and a major trove of content updates and upgrades. Luckily, the closed beta wasn’t really closed. Players had the chance of clicking on a button on Hellgate’s website with a 50-50 chance, yet I did not see a single person who was denied access through that button.

The beta was short, too. Cut the first day out because of server outages, and the beta lasted only the weekend. I couldn’t go back to the single player (I own the game from when it was live, and I already had the game installed), not enough Russian players not speaking English just to annoy the players and community managers. The website has “open beta test coming soon” plastered on the top of the forums, so the only remaining factor is how soon is soon. I’ve got a fever, and the only cure is more Hellgate.

2. Defiance Invokes Thoughts Of Tabula Rasa and The Matrix Online

Trion and Syfy are teaming up to create the MMO third person shooter Defiance, that will run side by side with the television show. I am a little concerned that Defiance will wind up in the same hole as another MMO-television tie-in that went horribly. My worry is that the game will be delayed long enough that the whole connectivity is lost, and players will see about as much interaction between the two as Star Wars Galaxies has on the original trilogy.

Still, I do like the idea of a third person shooter MMO, as an estranged player of Tabula Rasa from launch to shutdown, and Trion has already shown their abilities with Rift, so the future looks bright for Defiance.

3. DUST 514 Just Keeps Getting More Interesting

CCP’s upcoming shooter has always fascinated me, and not just because it is the first game that promises to seamlessly connect a PC MMO and a console first person shooter. Not exactly cross-console gaming, but as close as it gets for such a genre crossover. What also intrigues me is how the communities will connect, the hope of fostering a console game where players are expected to be just like the PC counterparts, or as Dr. Cox on scrubs would describe them, “bastard coated bastards with bastard filling.” This is present even in a previous trailer where the ships above, locked in battle, decide to renege on a contract and instead obliterate the entire playfield from above. This will lead to console mercenaries having to decide between a possible huge sum, and the possibility that the Eve players will betray them (if that is indeed a possibility). Hopefully DUST will foster an environment where betrayal is present, but at the same time does not sweep over the game, otherwise the population will drop like a stone. Wolves need sheep to survive, and without sheep they will cannibalize one another until there is no one left.

I want to say I’m surprised by DUST being a Playstation 3 exclusive, but I’m not. Considering the environment DUST is set in (close connection with PC game outside of Microsoft’s control, regular updates to match the growing battlefield and changing territorial ownership, connection to third party servers, etc), I had no doubt from day one that DUST and Microsoft wouldn’t get along. So although I have no confirmation of my hunch, I find it likely that this is another incompatible game with Microsoft’s very strict policies over Live.

4. Let’s Talk About Our Final Fantasy

I know this annoys the Square Enix trolls, so I try to get in as much talk about Final Fantasy XIV as possible. Last time, I mentioned by admiration for Square Enix’s willingness to say “we’re not willing to let a failed launch set the stage for the game.” In the upcoming updates, Square Enix plans to make major changes to the combat system, starting with the introduction of auto-attack. With this update brings the removal of the stamina gauge, whereas effects dependent on the stamina gauge will be changed to reflect this update.

Among the other major changes is the removal of physical levels, altering of job names, and more introduction of notorious monsters, quests, and more. Then the game can work on smaller issues, like the holiday events being the same exact thing: (go to area once every 8 hours, collect items).

5. I Can’t Wait To Play For Free…I Mean Beta Test…

I was surprised when Bioware announced that there will be no open beta for The Old Republic. For a game looking to hit the public spotlight as much as Bioware is, not having a glorified broken free trial before launch seems almost suicidal. Hopefully this means Bioware has their servers figured out and don’t need a stress test for launch (please, contain your chortling). For what it’s worth, open betas are essentially demos of a not yet finished product. While a very small number of the population are there to test the game and give feedback, they are overshadowed by players looking to get a head start in finding bugs to exploit once the game goes live, and free loaders who just want a chance to play a AAA MMO without having to pay the subscription + box fee.

I have to laugh when people complain about betas being nothing more than glorified demos, as they’re generally the ones who will then get in-game and complain that certain features are broken.

Mortal Online Close To Being Delisted From MMO Fallout


Here at MMO Fallout, I have a simple philosophy: You throw me a game, I’ll make sure that people have an avenue to get into it. As many of you have pointed out over the years, I will defend any game to the point of its death as at least worth trying and I can’t honestly think of the last time I ever advocated against dealing with a specific company on this website. Back in April last year, I had a serious talk after Mythic’s billing servers exploded. At that point, I applauded Mythic for quickly dealing with an issue that was not their fault (billing for most MMOs is handled by outside companies). You may remember that, by the time Mythic had an announcement ready the company was automatically refunding extra-payments. You may also remember the Mortal Online quote I had at the bottom:

“If it had been Star Vault making the account error, they would have simply replied with “Your carebear bank account just can’t handle our hardcore billing system. Go back to WoW, noob!”
-Hypothetical, satirical view on what Star Vault might have said.

Well, back on Sunday Mortal Online’s billing servers exploded, causing a number of players to be charged double, and even triple charged. I emailed Star Vault at the time to inquire whether reimbursement would be automatic, or if players would need to contact, and received this answer:

Players will need to check their accounts and bank statements and contact us if necessary.

It was getting this statement back from Star Vault that almost prompted me to completely remove Mortal Online from MMO Fallout, a difficult task indeed, however I draw the line when the line begins to rest on fraud. Foregoing the comment on the previous article about the lack of an apology, for a company to erroneously charge customers, and then turn around and require the customer to contact them in order to obtain a refund, well that sounds legally questionable. Essentially what Star Vault is saying here is “yes we double charged people. If they don’t contact us? Well we keep their money.”

For the record, I am not in the camp that believes this was intentionally done to gain money from people who might not check their accounts. Star Vault has said that they will refund any double/triple charges, and I have to take their word until proven otherwise. My concern stems from the fact that Star Vault is not actively seeking out accounts with extra charges, and crediting back the cards, a process that should be as simple as checking which cards appear twice or more in the same day, checking which accounts those cards are tied to (to ensure the person isn’t simply paying for multiple accounts) and refunding when you find an erroneous charge. If this occurred to a low number of subscribers as I’ve been told, such a process should be quick and easy.

Or maybe I’m just overreacting, and it’s just me.

Star Vault Partners With Lekool: Mortal Online In Asia


Mortal Online is heading to Asia. In a press announcement, developer Star Vault announced that the company is partnering with Lekool to publish Mortal Online in China and other Asian countries. You may be familiar with Lekool from their publishing ventures in the United States: Caesary, Business Tycoon Online, and more.

“We are very happy to enter into this long term partnership with Star Vault. Star Vault has very unique products that are rarely seen in Asia, we have got several publishers interested in Mortal Online from Asia, especially from China. We think there is a huge market for Star Vault’s games and we would like to play a role to make it happen.”

More on Mortal Online as it appears.

Mortal Online's Billing Servers Explode: Players Double Billed


If you have a Mortal Online subscription, you will want to check your bank account and email (where your payment confirmations are sent). According to several players on the Mortal Online forums, and confirmed by Star Vault, a recent billing issue has resulted in an unknown number of players being double, and reportedly triple, billed for their subscription fees.

Any double charge will of course be solved, we have recently moved parts of our shop system that I expect causes some of these issues. It should be solved asap.

I’ve contacted Star Vault to confirm whether or not the company is actively seeking out the extra charges, or if players will be required to submit a billing dispute with customer service on a case by case basis. I have not yet heard back, more than likely given today is Sunday. Those of you playing Mortal Online should check to make sure you weren’t charged twice. As for those who have expired accounts, you should be safe. Checking your bank won’t hurt, however.

I will update this when I receive a response from Star Vault.

Mortal Online’s Billing Servers Explode: Players Double Billed


If you have a Mortal Online subscription, you will want to check your bank account and email (where your payment confirmations are sent). According to several players on the Mortal Online forums, and confirmed by Star Vault, a recent billing issue has resulted in an unknown number of players being double, and reportedly triple, billed for their subscription fees.

Any double charge will of course be solved, we have recently moved parts of our shop system that I expect causes some of these issues. It should be solved asap.

I’ve contacted Star Vault to confirm whether or not the company is actively seeking out the extra charges, or if players will be required to submit a billing dispute with customer service on a case by case basis. I have not yet heard back, more than likely given today is Sunday. Those of you playing Mortal Online should check to make sure you weren’t charged twice. As for those who have expired accounts, you should be safe. Checking your bank won’t hurt, however.

I will update this when I receive a response from Star Vault.

Mortal Online Doing A Little Better: Costs Cut


Nothing to lose your head over. The last time we took a look at Star Vault’s finances, the company announced that:

With the new cost structure, the Board expects that an additional approximately 1500 players to achieve break-even, a goal that we hope to achieve in the second quarter of 2011.

Well the Q1 financial reports are out, and it appears that although Mortal Online’s subscribers have remained mostly stagnant, the cost of running business has gone down significantly.

 The sale of licenses in the first quarter of 2011 remained largely unchanged compared to the fourth quarter of 2010.

The Board of Star Vault decided, in order to reduce its costs, to cancel the liquidity guarantee. Star Vaults last day of trading with market maker was on 29 April 2011 and the company’s first trading liquidity without being 2 May 2011.

With our current cost structure, the Board expects that an additional approximately 1000 players to achieve break-even, a goal that we hope to achieve during the second quarter of 2011.

If you don’t understand what a liquidity guarantee is, that’s okay, I don’t fully understand it either. What is important is that Star Vault requires less income to break even, meaning Mortal Online’s long term viability just became that much better.

You can read the entire release here.

Eat Yourself In Mortal Online: Gain Weight


Mortal Online launches the Dawn expansion at some unknown point in the near future, and among the new features is a cooking system that allows players to cook pretty much anything they want (although cooking rocks won’t result in a healthy meal), and with the cooking system comes a weight system. Gorge yourself on food, and you will gain weight, and naturally your stats will change with your increased/decreased girth. Another feature being presented is cannibalism, the ability to not only kill a player and loot them, but eat their corpse to regain health.

Luckily, Henrik confirmed a question I’ve been wondering for a good while now: Is it possible to eat yourself? The answer? Yes.

“Cooking gives new interesting surprices everyday…
Today Sebastian and me was playing, I killed sebastian, when he came back he took his own corpse which had a certain weight.. he couldnt resist to taste him self…. and started to eat, he filled is stomach with the carcass which wasnt to good for his health. After that I just had to kill him again, he came back once again and looted his new carcass, now he found something interesting, his new carcass had an increased weight.. thats because he stuffed him self with his previous carcass. so you see we now have weight as well and it works just like it should in real life, pretty cool.. Then I took his head and logged out with it haha. Funny little moments we have at the office, just wanted to share it with you as well.”

If you ate your own carcass that was stuffed with the consumed carcass of yourself that your previous self had eaten, would you become twice as fat, or would the resultant paradox simply shut down the Mortal Online servers and give you a massive nosebleed?

Mortal Online’s Dawn expansion comes out sometime either late this month or early next month, while Star Vault works out last minute issues.

Mortal Online: Link Facebook, Get Discount(?)…


As someone who works in brick’n’mortar store customer service, I’m often presented with the question; “is it seriously a sale when a $10.99 item is put in sale for $10.50?” and the answer is, in a certain sense, yes. The sale may not be particularly good, but given the new price is smaller than the last, it is indeed a sale.

About a week ago, I wrote on the upcoming expansion to Mortal Online, titled “Dawn,” and that the Star Vault team was also working to implement a feature to connect your Mortal Online account to your Facebook. As an extra incentive, the team decided that players would be given a discount to their subscription price if they linked accounts.

Well, Star Vault has unveiled the Facebook connect feature and the discount is, to say the least, negligible. Starting at five friends on your friends list (well that disqualifies me immediately), the savings amount to .25 Euro, or thirty six cents USD. The sales progress up to 750 friends, where the discount reaches 1.25 Euro, or $1.80.

As for wall spam, Star Vault promises the messages to be minimal:

In return for providing you with a discount, Mortal Online will sometimes make small posts to your Facebook wall when major events occur for you as a player; however, these are quite rare as we know nobody wants what could be considered spam!

More on Mortal Online as it appears.