Tag: Sony Online Entertainment

Pirates of the Burning Sea Leaving Sony Online Entertainment


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File this one under “didn’t see that coming.” Pirates of the Burning Sea will soon be leaving Sony Online Entertainment’s list of MMOs, and thankfully not because it is shutting down. After much review and consideration on at least one of the two party’s behalf, the two developers have agreed to part ways, and Pirates of the Burning Sea will migrate to a new host. Starting January 31st, PotBS will be hosted through Portalus Games, a new studio made up of ex-Flying Lab employes.

You will be able to transfer your character at the Portalus website, and you’ll need to do so before January 31st. None of your SOE account data will be transferred. You won’t, however, be able to access Pirates of the Burning Sea membership with your Station All Access Pass, however.

(Source: Portalus)

Planetside 2 Unlocks Will Be Account-Wide, Retroactive


Those of you familiar with Tribes: Ascend should already have a good idea how to unlock weapons and attachments in Planetside 2. You can either pay a one-time fee through the Station Cash store, or you can leg it out and gain enough certifications through actually playing the game in order to land your new red-dot sight or new sniper rifle. Unlocking through either method can quickly become a very time-intensive or expensive endeavor, as weapons are only unlocked on a per-character basis.

The good news is, Sony is listening to your feedback, and has plans in motion to make weapon purchases account-wide.  Apparently this is for Station Cash purchases only, so if you’re going the route of completely free, you’ll still have to go through the rough with each character. Additionally, any weapon that is faction specific will not be usable with other faction characters, obviously.

(Source: Massively)

This Week In Launches: Dual Wielding Shotguns


Happy days are here! November 20th has come and gone, and left us with a little early Christmas present. Over on the browser side, Jagex has finally unleashed the Evolution of Combat. After five months of strenuous beta testing, the update went live on servers Tuesday to some mixed but mostly positive reactions by the community. Along with the new ability bar (and abilities), Evolution of Combat overhauls the combat formula, changing the way everything from weapons, armor, and NPCs work. Players are now able to dual wield weapons as well.

Over on the Sony Online front, Planetside 2 is live and running. Players are fighting on three factions over three continents in an endless tug of war over territory control. You can download Planetside 2 on Steam for easier access, the game is free to play with a cash shop and optional subscription. Planetside 2 brings three factions and thousands of players together to fight in massive, multi-hour battles over large portions of land and resources. The game does require a decent computer to play, so make sure you check out the requirements if your rig is dated.

Finally, RaiderZ has launched today (the 21st). I have a review coming soon, but to sum it up: RaiderZ is a lot like a free to play version of TERA, with a few alterations to flavor thrown in the mix. A free to play game with a cash shop, RaiderZ emphasizes on action-based combat, where you’ll have to be active in dodging your opponent’s attacks and coming back with your own. The game is supported by a cash shop and published by Perfect World Entertainment.

SOE Abolishes Gold Limits To Promote Krono


The Krono is an item similar to PLEX in that it is purchased on the cash shop and can be traded between players for in-game currency, and then redeemed for a month of subscription. The idea behind the item is to undercut gold farmers and (in the case of Everquest II) to allow for the safe trade of platinum for subscription time (players trade platinum for SOE codes, which is incredibly risky for the buyer). While some of the community disagree with the item as a concept, the introduction has prompted an unexpected, but hardly unwelcome change to the way Sony limits accounts.

Under the current system, Krono is kind of self-defeating. The item is selling for hundreds (seven or eight hundred, approximately) of platinum on the trade broker, and the item is impossible to buy for anyone who isn’t already a subscriber due to the hard cash limits placed on accounts. However, in the patch notes for the public test realm for Everquest II, the following note popped up:

Memberships: There will no longer be coin limits on any account types.

Since Krono is coming to other titles in SOE’s library, it’s probably safe to assume that those games will lose their cash limits as well, if for no other reason than to open a larger market for people to buy Krono.

(Source: EQ2 Forums)

Sony All Access Pass Gets Better Every Day


Sony Online Entertainment’s All Access Pass is one of the few services you will find these days where prices have gone down while benefits have increased, dramatically. Priced at $20 a month, Sony’s All Access pass only continues to add games to its library as the months continue . Currently, Access Pass offers premium services for all of the following games:

  • Bullet Run
  • Clone Wars Adventures
  • DC Universe
  • Everquest
  • Everquest II
  • Free Realms
  • Pirates of the Burning Sea
  • Planetside
  • Vanguard

All Access also grants $5 in Station Cash per month. Over the next year or so, Sony will also be adding benefits for their upcoming MMOFPS Planetside 2, hardcore fantasy MMO Wizardry Online, as well as Everquest Next, all without adding to the total cost of All Access. So as far as the idea of subscriptions in MMOs, Sony seems to have the right attitude on roping in players.

Sony Joins The PLEX Trade, Reveals Krono


PLEX is an item in Eve Online which allows pilots to purchase subscription time without spending a dime. In essence, one player purchases a PLEX for the cost of one month’s subscription. The PLEX is a real item that exists in the game world, and can be sold to other players for ISK, thus creating a sanctioned form of real money trading, without the negative effects of having gold farmers rolling over the server. Since then, the system has been adopted in other games, from the gems in Guild Wars 2 to a vanity pet in World of Warcraft. TERA introduced Chronoscrolls, and several other MMOs are coming along with their own special items as well. So it comes as little surprise that Sony Online Entertainment would eventually add this tactic to their arsenal.

At SOE Live 2012, John Smedley revealed that the Krono would soon be hitting Everquest II, on October 29th. The Krono can be traded between players, and offers one month of premium game access in whatever game it is redeemed in. Initially the Krono will only be available in Everquest II, however Sony hopes to implement the item in the rest of its library as time goes on. With Everquest at least, this should put a stop to one of the game’s black markets. On Everquest, currently, players regularly trade platinum (in-game currency) for game card codes, a similar but unregulated version of the Krono. As is common with such a market, scammers are always about with fake or used codes.

SOE Reveals Dragon's Prophet, Dragon MMO


Sony Online Entertainment’s library of games just seems to get bigger and bigger this year. With nine titles currently in operation and at least two coming in the near future (Wizardry and Planetside 2 with Everquest Next sometime away), one might be wondering: Can Sony pack any more titles into their arsenal? The answer is an obvious yes. At SOE Live 2012, Sony has revealed Dragon’s Prophet, an MMO from the creators of Runes of Magic. Dragon’s Prophet takes place in a fantasy world where dragons roam free, and you of course must capture, train, and ride them.

Dragon’s Prophet will sport SOE’s trademark “Free To Play, Your Way” payment model, and offer up a slice of action-based combat, extensive player housing, and allows guilds to build an extensive kingdom to their tastes. You can sign up for the beta at the website below, and check out the trailer.

(Source: Dragon’s Prophet)

SOE Reveals Dragon’s Prophet, Dragon MMO


Sony Online Entertainment’s library of games just seems to get bigger and bigger this year. With nine titles currently in operation and at least two coming in the near future (Wizardry and Planetside 2 with Everquest Next sometime away), one might be wondering: Can Sony pack any more titles into their arsenal? The answer is an obvious yes. At SOE Live 2012, Sony has revealed Dragon’s Prophet, an MMO from the creators of Runes of Magic. Dragon’s Prophet takes place in a fantasy world where dragons roam free, and you of course must capture, train, and ride them.

Dragon’s Prophet will sport SOE’s trademark “Free To Play, Your Way” payment model, and offer up a slice of action-based combat, extensive player housing, and allows guilds to build an extensive kingdom to their tastes. You can sign up for the beta at the website below, and check out the trailer.

(Source: Dragon’s Prophet)

Everquest Next Will Be The Largest Sandbox MMO Ever


It’s been a while since we’ve heard anything substantial about Everquest Next, and Sony’s reasons are pretty solid: They’ve blown up the game. At Sony Live 2012, John Smedley took to the stage and talked about how the industry needs to end the current system of launch and decline, and follow strategies laid out by games like League of Legends, who launch and continue to grow. This, Smedley explains, can only be done by adding more emergent gameplay, something the company hopes to do with its current and future MMO titles. As a result of this thinking, Everquest Next has been redesigned as a sandbox MMO:

What we are building is something that we will be very proud to call EverQuest. It will be the largest sandbox-style MMO ever designed. The same exciting content delivered in a new way. Something you’ve never seen before. The MMO world has never seen before. We didn’t want more kill 10 rats quests. We didn’t want more of the same. If you look at the MMOs out there, they’re delivering the same content over and over again. So are we. We need to change that. When we released EverQuest, we changed the world. We want to do that again with a different type of game.

Expect plenty more to come in the future on Everquest Next.

(Source: EQ2 Wire)

Sign Up For Wizardry Online Beta


Wizardry Online marks a noted change in direction at Sony Online Entertainment. Produced by Gamepot and reportedly 30 years in the making, Wizardry Online bills itself as a hardcore MMO with little in the way of patience or sympathy for its players. As the website describes it:

With the risk of permadeath always looming, players group with trusted allies to survive. Using skill based combat, and a little bit of luck, players battle to defeat amazing anime creatures, cheat death, and live to tell the world!

And starting today, players are able to sign up for the Wizardry Online beta. If you’ve signed up for SOE betas in the past, you already know what you are doing. Otherwise, you will need a Sony Online Entertainment account. If selected, your account will be validated rather than a key being sent out. Wizardry Online is scheduled to go live in 2012, and will be free to play.

(Source: Wizardry Website)