Tag: servers

Earth (Hopefully) Eternal Coming Back Soon…


Captain Crunch, not Captain Kirk!

Earth Eternal has been making the newsstands recently due to the game’s almost-closure, auctioning, and selling off to an unnamed company. To the dismay of many of us, on August 31st Earth Eternal shut down with absolutely no explanation or forewarning, bringing both the website and game offline, along with a long silence from the company’s Twitter and Facebook pages.

Well, yesterday the Earth Eternal twitter sparked up:

The EE servers are closed until further notice. All your characters are saved and the new owners will be bringing the game back soon(ish).

On September 9th, the following was posted on Earth Eternal’s Facebook page:

Hi everyone. As you know, Earth Eternal is down. Our ISP pulled the plug for non-payment, which was expected. I wasn’t able to give you any warning, unfortunately, because I was at Burning Man and completely out of reach for the week that it went down. Full backups of all the data exist and the company that is in the process of buying Earth Eternal will be starting it back up again in the nearish future.

Hopefully more to come in the next week or so. Still no word on Earth Eternal’s buyer.

Turbine Trucking In 8 New Servers: LOTRO


Are you an ex-Lord of the Rings Online player who enjoyed the game but couldn’t pay for the subscription for one reason or another? If so, you are very likely aware of Turbine’s highly popularized moved to free to play (with cash shop) that is coming soon, so soon in fact that many of us former players are waking up with the taste of ale and hobbit foot shampoo on our teeth. Current and former subscribers will have access to the head start on September 8th, with everyone else allowed in on the 10th.

I knew Turbine was adding new servers in preparation for the flood of new players, and eight new servers sounds much more logical when broken down across regions.

US:

  • Riddermark
  • Crickhollow
  • Dwarrowdelf
  • Imladris

EU:

  • Anduin [DE]
  • Gwaihir [DE]
  • Withywindle [EN]
  • Celduin [FR]

By former subscribers, I should point out Turbine includes beta testers in that category. So if you’re returning for the sweet free to play action, you should be downloading the client now (to beat the rush) and gearing up for the 8th when you can reserve your username on one of the new servers (free players aren’t stuck on these servers, it’s a matter of preference). Turbine, to my understanding, is not allowing transfers to these new servers.

More on Lord of the Rings Online as it descends into free to play.

The Future of Everquest II Looks Very Good


Sony Online Entertainment

Here at MMO Fallout, a game doesn’t have to be doing great, or doing poorly in order to make the news. In fact, you’ll frequently find that most of my articles tend to cover MMOs in the lower indie section (Mortal Online, Cryptic Studios, Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment, CCP, and Fallen Earth LLC), for a reason I can only explain is that they take more chances and have larger turn of events, whereas bigger titles are more like an all-terrain SUV: The hydraulics cover for the twists, and the high class cushioned seats make the bumps practically unnoticeable. In fact, World of Warcraft, for the most popular MMO ever, really only appears when the story turns to the issue in China.

As I’ve said before, I am not particularly fond of giving bad news when it comes to MMOs, and I don’t get my jollies by announcing games or companies shutting down, so I always enjoy giving good news. This time, Everquest 2! Senior Producer Alan Crosby (no relation) posted on the Everquest 2 forums to announce big events in store for the game’s future. Due to players returning for the battlegrounds, the servers have been taking quite a beating. Crosby would like players to rest assured that the team is working to boost server stability.

Among the upcoming outlined changes are the oft-delayed shader 3.0 system, a revamped Halas zone, a more streamlined travel system, a storyteller system, a revamped UI, and of course new content (quests, dungeons, etc). To top it off, Crosby announced that the team is looking into alternative rule servers, and you know what new servers means…

“If we’re not adding servers, we’re not doing well.”
-Mark Jacobs, former Mythic VP

Thank you Mark Jacobs. The team is throwing up several ideas, including permadeath (oh my) and alternative PvP rules.

Always good to hear from an MMO that doesn’t make the news that often, considering it is part of the behemoth that is Sony Online Entertainment. More news on Everquest 2 as it appears.

Warhammer Online To Close More Servers


I normally start out every Warhammer Online article with a now famous quote by Vice President of Mythic Mark Jacobs, but at this point perhaps we can manage with just a bite,

“If you’ve seen a game consolidate servers, you know it’s in deep, deep trouble.”
-Mark Jacobs

Following the huge layoffs at Mythic, and the hints of desperation summoned by the endless trial system, it comes as a surprise to absolutely nobody that Mythic has announced that more servers will be shutting down in the near future.

On the American side, Dark Crag and Phoenix Throne are shutting down, where Europe has at least one server shutting down in the near future. Transfers are set to begin soon, if they haven’t already, and players will be given 20% experience bonuses on their new servers to ease the pain. After this shutdown, Warhammer Online will have five servers in North America, and Europe with eleven servers.

More on Warhammer Online after the break…

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Aion: Pick A Less Popular Server


aionqueue

If you rushed to create a character in the head start for Aion, on the more populated server before it closed down, you are most likely seeing something like this. Reports from the battlefield indicate that the server queue’s are reaching six, seven, and climbing over eight hours in some instances during higher traffic hours. The question that remains on many minds is: When NCsoft was gloating over their four hundred thousand preorders, how did they expect to cram everyone into little over twenty servers (12 for NA, 12 for EU)?

The question is whether NCsoft will take an “ends justify the means” approach, and stay committed to keeping the servers balanced. An easy way to accomplish this would be to open more servers, and allow transfers from the more populated to the less. If current player nature is any indicator, it is likely that the Asmodian side will forever overpopulate the Elyos, to the fullest extent NCsoft will allow.

The issue appears to be stemming from players who are joining the overpopulated faction, overwhelmingly in fact. Further reports from the battlefield make claim that the Elyos side of these multi-hour servers, are giving little to no waiting time. If you don’t have any obligations to join friends or a clan on a selected server, I suggest you join the Elyos faction. Judging by trends on the server status, the Asmodians are always going to be facing queues until the community starts balancing itself out.

By the time you read this, Aion will have gone live (alongside Fallen Earth). Here’s hoping NCsoft finds a way to quell the rage.

Aion: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly


screenshot01

Aion launches in four days, and the title, much like Champions Online did earlier this month and in August, is stealing much of the spotlight here at MMO Fallout. So much so that I’m putting together a new section for MMO Fallout: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (Not that that particular mechanic has ever been done before). Since preselection began today, it’s one of the better times as any to get a good preview in.

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