Tag: Sony Online Entertainment

It’s Official: Clone Wars MMO!


Station launcher keeps no secrets

Back in September, I mentioned a report by Tentonhammer that Sony is currently working on yet another Star Wars MMO. All we know about the title is that it is set in the Clone Wars universe, will be developed on the Free Realms engine, and is a casual browser based game that will likely have a freemium model (free portion with option for subscription/item mall). The above picture is the final evidence we needed, apart from an official announcement, that the game is indeed being worked on. There has yet to be an official statement by Sony Online Entertainment, mind you, although this slipup is a high indicator that an official announcement is on its way.

When Clone Wars is released, there will be three Star Wars MMOs on the market. Granted each title is likely playing to a different audience, I can’t help but get the feeling that one of these three titles is going to be pushed out of the market by the other two. If Star Wars Galaxies is any indicator, both the pre and post NGE versions, the Star Wars IP is one that has yet to be fully implemented in an MMO form, so the player actually feels that they are in the Star Wars universe, rather than a sci-fi shooter that looks suspiciously like Star Wars.

More on Clone Wars as it appears. Would you play a casual Star Wars MMO (cue cheap shots at Star Wars Galaxies) set in the Clones era?

Server Merger Off The Port Bow!


Batten down the hatches!

Pirates of the Burning Sea launched two years ago this January following an elongated development period on the part of Flying Lab Software. Despite the factors of player run economies, developer immersion, a surprising balance in classes, and player vs player ship combat, the game fell short of a hot launch due to the steep learning curve and lack of documentation for new players. Despite that, reviewers called it innovative, and an example for other MMOs to follow, rather than a “reskinned Everquest.”

As I have pointed out in the past, reviewers can say what they want, an MMOs’ success comes down to one thing: Player retention. In late 08, in order to increase server populations, Flying Labs shut down seven servers, reducing the final number down to six worldwide servers.

Well, depending on how you want to see it, the consolidation was either a huge success, or just a temporary fix to a bigger issue. Flying Labs is at it again, and in the latest developer blog, the developer detailed plans to reduce the server count further, to two servers (Antigua and Roberts), one server in North America and one in Europe.

The servers will be live until March 5th, when they will be taken down. Until then, players are able to transfer their characters to one of the two remaining servers. More on the server merger as it appears.

Hello, February!


Expansions, Releases, Shutdowns?

Today is the day we look at January and say “See you next year!” Yes it can only be February, and February can only mean another Everquest expansion is releasing.

February starts off with two titles releasing: Global Agenda and Star Trek Online, on the first and second respectively. An important thing to remember about Global Agenda is that the game does have a single player and multiplayer free component, and that the persistent world AvA is the only portion that requires a subscription. Whether this subscription will maintain or go the way of Cities XL and Crimecraft is yet to be seen.

Star Trek Online, on the other hand, will be seeking the approval of Trekkies and non-Trekkies alike. Considering its place at the top of Steam’s sales list for the past few weeks, if Cryptic can keep the retention rate high, they will have a highly successful title on their hands. As for the myriad of preorder exclusives, we can only hope they will be available at some point on the Cryptic store.

This month also brings us some interesting news from Star Vault and the oft-delayed and much trolled Mortal Online. This month, today in fact, Mortal Online will be going into an open beta phase, where everyone can join! Although relegated to their own open beta server, that may or may not be capped, alongside a 5 euro discount in the box copy, anyone can join in for free and start playing. And by playing, of course, I mean jumping on the forums to textually assault those who paid for beta access by preorder. Mortal Online will stay in open beta until the game goes gold, when it will start charging the monthly fee and you will be required to own the game.

There’s no time for that, Omali, you say! Everquest 2 has a new expansion coming out this month! Sentinel’s Fate brings with it your normal expansion goody bag. New zones, new dungeons, a higher level cap (90), new loot, new weapons and armor, and new quests. Four hundred quests to be exact, and thousands of new items.

As for MMO Fallout, I decided to prune a couple of categories from the Live list due to clutter and inconsistency of updates. The Anarchy Online, Tibia, and Ragnarok Online categories have been deleted. Hopefully the Live category will be that much less cluttered.

Surely this can’t be all that is happening in February, you say. Of course not, but if I told you everything now, what reason would you have to keep coming back until next month? I see your trickery, internet, and I will not fall for it. Not after all of those lost buffs.

Why Not A Cryptic Pass? NCsoft Pass? Turbine Pass!


So-eeeee.

Whatever you think about Sony, you can’t deny the deal they have going for their titles. For the price of only two MMOs per month, you can access virtually any Sony game you own. Everquest, Everquest 2, Pirates of the Burning Sea, Planetside, Star Wars Galaxies, Vanguard, Free Realms, and that console Everquest game. That’s 8 games for the price of two!

Going over Sony’s station pass got me thinking: Why don’t other developers have a similar deal? I would love to see an NCsoft Station Pass, that could bundle Aion, City of X, Lineage, Lineage 2 in one package. Or possibly a Turbine deal, a package of Dungeons and Dragons Online, Lord of the Rings Online, and Asheron’s Call. How about a Funcom pack, with Age of Conan and Anarchy Online in one deal?

Now, some will say that developers will be losing money on this, but I wholeheartedly disagree. In fact, Sony’s Station Pass has shown to be a way to coerce people into spending more than they normally would on subscriptions. To believe that even a fraction of the players who have the Station Pass would spend the over hundred dollars a month on each game’s subscription separately is absurd to say the least. Having such a pass could also breath life into the older titles on the list.

Jagex has an offering similar to this. Although not an MMO, players can subscribe to Runescape and FunOrb for a discount. When Stellar Dawn is launched, it is expected that players will be able to opt for an additional discount.

This may all be wishful thinking, but I would certainly pay for a Turbine Station pass.

Everquest II: Leveling To Be Made Easier


New Expansion, New Level Cap

The typical MMO Expansion rules include new zones, occasionally a new class or two, perhaps a new race, and increasing the level cap. Of course, this eventually presents the problem that once you raise the level cap several times, it becomes a very long process for newer players to jump into the game and knock their way up to end-game, compared to those who had been in the game long enough to level with it.

So naturally, every now and then you have to increase the speed that players level. World of Warcraft did this by increasing the experience gained by quests in some levels and reducing the experience needed in other levels. Everquest 2 started with a level 50 cap, and now features a level cap of 80.

In response, Sony is releasing a patch to make the leveling smoother. Levels 1 to 65 have not been made shorter, but the experience has been mixed around to make the process much smoother. Levels 65 to 75 require less experience, and quests in this range will give more experience to adventurers. This is a good move, especially considering that several times during Everquest 2, there were levels that required more experience than further levels, an issue that will be fixed with this patch.

More on Everquest 2 and its leveling process as it appears. Sentinel’s Fate hits next month.

Everquest to nDoors: This is How You Charity


Teddy bears for all!

“On January 12th, 2010, a massive earthquake devastated the island nation of Haiti. In an effort to show support and lend aid, SOE will be offering items priced at 500SC on the Station Marketplace through EverQuest, EverQuest II, and Free Realms.

From January 15th to January 18th at 11:59pm PST, redeem 500 station cash towards the purchase of one of these items and SOE will contribute $10 (up to $25,000) to aid in the relief efforts being sent to Haiti.”

People often ask me, Omali, are you ever going to stop berating South Korean developer nDoors and their game Atlantica Online for exploiting a charity cause, one that coincidentally had record donations to its name this past year, for their own profit after half-lying about the paltry two dollars of the forty dollar item, that actually went to charity? Well that’s an oddly specific question, but the answer can be summed up simply: Not as long as other companies offer me the whip to beat this horse with.

If you play Everquest, you now have the opportunity to redeem 500 station points towards a plush bear, with $10 going towards the relief effort in Haiti. Likewise, Everquest 2 players may buy a 500 station point armor crate, with $10 going towards the relief effort in Haiti. And finally, Free Realms players can buy Zando the Red Trex for, you guessed it, 500 station points, with $10 going towards the relief effort in Haiti.

You have until tomorrow night to purchase any of these items. The items themselves only cost $5, meaning Sony is matching every donation with a donation of their own. Sony joins Popcap, who yesterday held a charity drive where 100% of the day’s sales went to charity.

Everquest: Happy MLK Day, Have Some Bonus EXP


Everquest 2’s latest expansion, Sentinel’s Fate, is right around the corner. Being set in February, the expansion pack is right in the middle of a myriad of holiday events: Christmas, Easter, Valentine’s Day, Martin Luther King Junior Day, the whole kibosh. Yes, I said Martin Luther King Jr. Day. On the other side, Everquest players are currently throwing their way through the new zones brought in by Underfoot, the latest expansion.

In order to commemorate the weekend leading up to Monday’s day of celebration of civil rights and those who helped expand them, players will be encased in a magical experience increase that will gift them a bonus 50% of experience throughout the weekend. The bonus has already begun as of thsi writing, and will last until Tuesday, approximately 1pm eastern.

I think that ol’ MLK would be proud to see nerds of all race, creed, and archetype, be they human, elf, dwarf, or even halfling, come together under his name to slay the dragons of Norrath while /pizza’ing until their bellies are nice and full.

More on the not-so-mainstream and questionably exploitative Martin Luther King Junior MMO events as they appear.

2010: The Blue Moon Year


We enter January as 2009 comes to a close, we look at the year before us, and the year ahead, and remember that life goes on, no matter what happens in the present. I’ve dubbed 2010 the blue moon year because it has the pleasure of beginning with a blue moon, an event that won’t be occurring on New Year’s Eve for a long time to come.

I’m going slightly out of character with this article, if anything just to be the one time a year I get to be a jerk and pick on the same companies I spend the other 364 days vying for the attention of (Thank you Tork, Hasbro, Aventurine, Cryptic). This is a comprehensive list of some questions I have going into the new year, that I hope to get answered by this time next year.

Continue reading “2010: The Blue Moon Year”

The Matrix Online: What Happened


I’ve been sitting on the “What Happened” articles for Shadowbane and The Matrix Online for some time now, although I can’t explain why I’ve been waiting to put them out. With the upcoming shutdown of Dungeon Runners and Metaplace, I might as well get caught up on my shutdowns.

The Matrix Online launched back in March 2005, and truly had a lot going for it. An ever changing world, MxO had one of the best story systems in the MMO industry: One that changed by the week. Story progression took the part of new missions every few weeks, while live events were the main staple of immersion; with developers taking the part of the game’s NPCs and acting out live events, including the assassination of Morpheus. Players were brought into the storyline through hints of the following events that would appear over the city, such as certain billboards, or suspicious agents appearing.

Continue reading “The Matrix Online: What Happened”

Vanguard: Merry Christmas! We're Not Doing Well…


Vanguard is a tale of high expectations and the giant corporate belly. In fact, it only took four months after Vanguard’s release for Sony to gobble up the developers, Sigil. When Vanguard released in 2007, it was awarded the “Biggest Disappointment of the Year” award by Gamespy, noting the title’s lack of content, buggy performance, and the fact that the title was shoved out the door before completion.

It’s been a rocky two years for the title that was once touted as the Everquest 2 Killer. On the plus side, if anything just to get the good news out first, there will be more frequent (yet smaller) updates this year. Vanguard is looking at 2010 as a year to fix bugs, crush bugs, and fumigate the house. The developers are also looking at focusing on the story elements of the game, starting and ending chunks of storyline.

But the bad news, and there always is some, is that some planned updates have been shelved indefinitely:

Continue reading “Vanguard: Merry Christmas! We're Not Doing Well…”