Trion Worlds – Page 12

Trion Controls ArcheAge Prices

Anytime you have separation point between a publisher and a developer, the question is inevitably raised as to just how much control the publisher has in the relationship. We have seen publishers take over development of a game from its developers all the way down to publishers only capable of forwarding bug reports to the developers for them to fix. The ultimate answer we seek in judging where the scale tips is so we know who to blame when the things hit the fan and players want to know who is responsible for mucking things up.

In the case of ArcheAge, at least we know that Trion is in full control of the cash shop. As Community Manager Scapes posted, Trion controls the content and the pricing.

“We decide what’s in it and at what price, simple as that.”

You can check out the entire Q&A at the link below.

(Source: ArcheAge Q&A)

MMOrning Shots: Rainbow Bridge

Today’s MMOrning Shot comes from Trove and shows off just the kind of crazy things that players will build given the tools. Let’s ride a bicycle made of dreams into friendship.

Check out MMOrning Shots every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

ArcheAge Launching 2014, Trion Confirms

The question of the year for 2014 has finally been answered: When is ArcheAge coming to the west? Trion’s own Evan “Scapes” Berman appeared on ArcheAge Source to confirm that ArcheAge will be heading into beta and launch later this year.

While the tech work continues, the team is also finalizing plans for “early supporter” pre-launch packages slated to be introduced during this timeframe and available for the duration of closed beta, leading into launch later this year.

Scapes went on to confirm that ArcheAge will be free to play while avoiding some of the pitfalls in other territories.

Allow me to say this here and now: both Trion Worlds and XLGames want ArcheAge to be a free-to-play sandbox that fits our “No Tricks, No Traps” vision and will make development decisions for to achieve that goal in Trion’s territories. There are a couple of important recent examples we’d love to share: XLGames has agreed to our request that racial quests grant experience (which had been removed) and that mounts/gliders purchased from the cash shop provide solid value and fun, while earned and crafted items are objectively superior.

A new website for the western ArcheAge release is on its way, with more news coming in the future.

(Source: ArcheAge)

Impressions: Defiance Gunslinger Trials DLC

Gunslinger Trials is the fourth of five DLC packs in the Defiance season 1 pass, and if there is anything that this season has taught me, it is that the Defiance team has mastered the art of recycling on a level that would make Al Gore cry tears of pride. That being said, coming out of the 7th Legion release, a package of DLC so devoid of content that the feature page has to scrape at the bottom of the barrel just to come up with four points of interest, there was almost no way that Gunslinger Trials could come off as anything other than the silver lining on this cloud of disappointment.

Defiance’s new DLC: Gunslinger Trials is the first content pack to expand upon the storyline following the disappearance of Von Bach at the end of the main mission series. The actual story progresses nowhere, but you get to meet three Von Bach Industries and take on a series of missions recovering things and ensuring that technology doesn’t get into the hands of raiders and other ne’erdowells. Ultimately the missions serve as an extended tutorial to get you to play each of the game’s nine new arenas. I hesitate to call them arenas, despite the game calling them so, because the name implies a relation to the Thorn Liro arenas which are horde mode encounters. The new arenas are recycled maps from the instances we’ve all been playing but with a change in enemies and objectives.

The tweaking of arena scoring has made cooperative play more rewarding at the cost of severely inhibiting players who solo the Gunslinger and Thorn Liro arenas. While playing through the Gunslinger missions, I managed to barely scrape by bronze on most arenas while playing solo and, in most cases, sticking around as long as possible to wait for enemies to respawn. The addition of a new death tax that swipes points by the thousands for dropping, reviving, and evacuating has left certain features like the Warmaster boss rendered pointless.

One of Gunslinger’s highlights is the addition of a new line of weapons available to those who purchase the DLC. These weapons can be obtained by opening gunslinger lockboxes which, thank god, are purchased using standard Von Bach Industries reputation points. Many of the weapons that I have come across offer the chance of initiating a special upon meeting certain requirements, like a sniper rifle that has a 30% chance of initiating cloak after a critical kill or a shotgun that can unleash overcharge if your shield breaks. Unlike previous weapon releases that were essentially small mods attached, the gunslinger weapons have the chance to change the way you play, allowing for players to utilize one static and two dynamic and less predictable specials at the same time.

Ultimately, however, I have to say that Gunslinger Trials exceeded my expectations. The weapons are great, the arenas are fun even if they are recycled from existing dungeons, and the new scoring system shows promise but needs to be tweaked to get right. One suggestion I hope that Trion implements is the ability to enter public queues for gunslinger arenas along the same lines as the public groups for instances. Also the fact that you have to purchase the DLC to access most of the content, unlike previous DLC where the content has mostly been made available for free, also factors into this.

For ten bucks, why not? This DLC was reviewed using the PC version. Your mileage may vary.

Defiance’s $100 Weapon

Trion’s latest DLC pack has released, ushering in new arenas, new missions, new weapons, and more. What it also brought is a new cash shop item that has members of the community in arms. The Legendary Weapon Kit comes packed with one random legendary weapon and a set of random epic mods for said weapon. All for the low low price of roughly $100.

Defiance’s community manager Evan “Scapes” Berman responded on the forums to explain that the price.

This wasn’t a number we pulled out of thin air. It was based on analysis of store use data and existing lock box prices and functionality. An Epic Mod Hoard is 700 bits and grants four random mods at epic rarity. A Tier 4 Lock Box is 400 bits and grants four random weapons at random rarity between rare and legendary. The Legendary Weapon Kit is 10,000 bits (currently discounted 20% to 8,000 bits) and grants a one of each type of mod at epic rarity matched to a random weapon at legendary rarity. This price is based on the average cost of purchasing Epic Mod Hoards and Tier 4 Lock Boxes to get the same value: a legendary weapon fully loaded with epic mods.

One hundred dollars for a weapon that there is no guarantee will be useful? Are people really buying this kit? Of course they are.

Simply put, we were seeing purchases of it the moment the servers came back online. If it wasn’t moving at its current price, we’d change it. And agreed, the Legendary Weapon Kit isn’t intended to be “content” per se, but instead offering a (premium) convenience for players who elect it.

Defiance's $100 Weapon

Defiance’s community manager Evan “Scapes” Berman responded on the forums to explain that the price.

This wasn’t a number we pulled out of thin air. It was based on analysis of store use data and existing lock box prices and functionality. An Epic Mod Hoard is 700 bits and grants four random mods at epic rarity. A Tier 4 Lock Box is 400 bits and grants four random weapons at random rarity between rare and legendary. The Legendary Weapon Kit is 10,000 bits (currently discounted 20% to 8,000 bits) and grants a one of each type of mod at epic rarity matched to a random weapon at legendary rarity. This price is based on the average cost of purchasing Epic Mod Hoards and Tier 4 Lock Boxes to get the same value: a legendary weapon fully loaded with epic mods.

One hundred dollars for a weapon that there is no guarantee will be useful? Are people really buying this kit? Of course they are.

Simply put, we were seeing purchases of it the moment the servers came back online. If it wasn’t moving at its current price, we’d change it. And agreed, the Legendary Weapon Kit isn’t intended to be “content” per se, but instead offering a (premium) convenience for players who elect it.

End of Nations Is Dead: Stripped From Trion's Website

If you’ve been following the development of End of Nations, the announcement that development on the title has stopped will be of no surprise. It is almost hard to believe that at one point, nearly a year and a half ago, End of Nations almost reached open beta status. Following a round of layoffs at Petroglyph Entertainment, however, Trion announced that development of the title would be moving in-house and that further beta tests would be on hold “until further notice.” Trion later confirmed that the game would be revamped from an MMO real time strategy game into a MOBA.

A company changing focus that late in development is never a good sign, and End of Nations’ death was essentially guaranteed when “open beta soon” became “on hold until further notice,” and then “join our alpha test” a couple of months later. It looks likely that this may be the last time we hear about End of Nations, as Trion has pulled down the official website and the Trion’s own website makes no mention of the game any more. Trion’s statement to the press confirmed that the game has indeed been halted.

As we informed EON’s community last fall, internal development on End of Nations was put on hold in late 2013 while we evaluated potential paths forward for the title. We’re currently focusing the company’s energy and creativity on Rift, Defiance, Trove, ArcheAge and some new projects that we will be revealing soon.

End of Nations seeing release at this point would be a miracle the likes of which the world has never seen. The impossible kind.

(Source: Polygon)

Trion Bans May Now Revoke Game Access

In case you haven’t seen, Trion Worlds has announced the introduction of a new “forum toxicity” policy. In short, the developer has issued an ultimatum that trolling, threats, and abuse will no longer be tolerated, and swift action will be taken to ensure that the forums remain a squeaky clean place for squeaky clean boys and girls. One issue that seems to have been tossed into the spotlight is the idea that Trion is now suspending and revoking game access for behavior on the forums. That is half true.

As explained on the forums, revoking game access is apparently reserved for players who repeatedly return on alternate accounts to continue trolling.

Users who have previously had their forum access revoked, and create second, third, fourth, fifth…and so on, troll accounts, may now see penalties on their game accounts. (Yes, people really do this.) Those penalties range from suspensions to revocation of game access.

With the proper execution, Rift may actually wind up having one of the few official MMO forums worth visiting.

Defiance Unveils Gunslinger Trials DLC

Trion Worlds revealed Defiance’s next DLC pack: Gunslinger Trials, and if you haven’t finished the campaign or season 1 and don’t want to see any spoilers, skip the next paragraph. Set for release in March on PC, PS3, and Xbox360, Gunslinger Trials will include three new mission lines, nine new cooperative arenas, and will also open up the Thorn Liro arena to groups of players rather than the original solo.

Now on to the story. Gunslinger Trials picks up where the main campaign in Defiance ended, where we learned that Von Bach had survived his fall from the Golden Gate Bridge. The Earth Republic on the other hand continues expanding its terrestrial forces.

These stories are told with eleven new cutscenes and over three hundred new lines of dialog. Ark hunters will uncover a conspiracy to steal EGO implants, the revival of the Biodyne project, and even the rise of a new political power in the Earth Republic.

Players who take part will be rewarded with, what else, new guns to shoot things with, each tailored to the fighting style of its creator. More information to come in the weeks ahead.

(Source: Defiance)

MMOments: 7th Legion DLC Impressions

Now generally whenever I write an impressions piece about a game or DLC, I take a few days to get a feeling for the content and make sure that I’ve played it long enough to get a good feel for how everything works. In the case of Defiance’s third DLC pack, the 7th Legion, I spent much of that time wondering where the content was. After a while, I got pretty bored of trying to figure out where I needed to go, and went back to working on completing Defiance’s Season 1 achievements. I got stuck on the first cooperative map, Liberate the Lost, and after several runs through the instance, I can only assume that the achievement for completing the map without dying isn’t working. Still. Since last April.

And that’s pretty much been my experience with 7th Legion, finding something better to do and eventually logging off while I wait for the real content. You see, the DLC doesn’t bring in any new missions or things to actually care about who the 7th Legion are or why they are in San Francisco. The 7th Legion doesn’t have any real presence, you don’t really become a member of the group as the previews suggested, and I’m not entirely sure what their goal is. A unified earth? Isn’t that what I’ve been doing this whole time?

So the meat of 7th Legion’s content is in these new events called Incursions. To start off the problems, I could probably make a trip to the DMV to get my license renewed in less time than it takes to wait for an incursion to pop up, and the DMV by my house is staffed by corpses. The incursion itself is a series of the same events that you come across randomly in the world, based around a central foe, like the Volge or the afflicted zombies. After traveling around the circle and popping the event pimples as they appear, eventually it all culminates in a siege. All in all, incursions are about an hour to an hour and a half of recycled content, except you have to do a lot of them if you want any reward.

Also included is access to the 7th Legion faction and the obligatory faction grind which, in this case, has slowed to a near halt thanks to its reliance on those sporadic incursions. There is a set of 7th Legion guns which seem to be specialized in one category or another. You might come across a shotgun that holds more shells, or a sniper that reloads faster, but if you’ve made any headway into the game, you probably won’t be dropping your arsenal for these. There are seven new outfits to find in the 7th Legion lockboxes, purchased with reputation points obtained through incursions.

The 7th Legion is wholly disappointing, and not because of the $10 price tag or how most of the content is recycled events and reskinned weapons. It is because the game’s official DLC packs have become smaller in scope and content than the free updates that were being pushed out when the television show was still running through its first season. Updates like the Volge and Afflicted brought in new enemies, new types of events and emergencies, brand new weapons with serious changes, storylines that despite being short gave a minimal introduction to the events, and more.

And yes, 7th Legion once again continues Defiance’s legacy of mediocre QA testing and bug fixing. Back in November, I wrote that the constant denial of progression thanks to fatal game breaking bugs that go unfixed for months was enough to stop me from buying any further DLC, had I not already purchased the season pass at launch. With the launch of 7th Legion, said bugs are back. Forget the fact that even before the DLC launched, Defiance went for some time with a bug that caused a majority of the gun varieties to simply not drop. In this pack, you get the luxury of waiting around for an incursion to start only for one of the events to break and bring the incursion to a halt.

There are two DLC packs left in the first season pass and, at this rate, we’ll be lucky if Defiance still has anyone working on it afterward to create a season 2.

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