Tag: Update

Maplestory M Hits One Year Anniversary, Releasing Phantom


Maplestory M is celebrating its one year anniversary with style as Nexon has announced the latest class to be added in: The Phantom. Set for release on July 17, players can pre-register for the Phantom today to receive a pack of items including a Unique Weapon Whetstone, Unique Armor Whetstone, Auto-Battle Charge Ticket and more.

“Featuring a cane as his main weapon, the Phantom is a master thief who steals the abilities of characters in the Explorer class. Skills including Phantom Shroud, Return of Phantom and Steal help players plan more strategic strikes, while the Phantom’s most special skill – Judgment – comes into play when delivering critical damage to mobs, triggering randomly stacked cards that give players additional attack. Phantom characters between levels 3 to 100 will also be able to level up a total of 3 levels per each level up through the Mega Burning event.”

Also included in the update is an updated wedding system allowing players to team up with their dearly beloved for buffs and gifts, as well as a new emote wheel and more. The one year anniversary will have events of its own with special experience rewards, skins, accessories, and more. Starting July 25, players can take part in the Monster Park amusement park event for heavy experience gains.

Source: Nexon Press Release

Black Desert: Be A Ninja, Right Now


Do you want to be a ninja? Of course you do.

Pearl Abyss today announced the release of the latest class for Black Desert on the Xbox One and unlike with the Shai class, you won’t need to go through the hullabaloo of pre-making your character for when it launches in a few weeks. It’s available now. The ninja is a close-quarters combat specialist and enters the game along with the two new guild bosses and the Marni Stones, an item to assist in end-game leveling.

“For Adventurers interested in a challenging fight, two new guild bosses have been added – the electrifying Ancient Puturum in Valencia and the ghastly Muskan of Madness in Serendia. The Ancient Puturum attacks by shooting out electric currents from its body and can regain HP by soaring into the sky to gather energy. For those seeking a more grounded fight, the Muskan of Madness will require substantial teamwork and clever strategies to be defeated. Players who successfully conquer either guild boss can receive powerful new items and equipment.”

Marni Stones can be purchased at level 57 and are available for each monster type and achieving specific bounties. Players can turn in these stones to gain more experience.

Playstation 4 users will be happy to know that the game is available for pre-order ahead of the planned August 22 launch. More information can be found on the official website with the trailer below for your viewing pleasure.

[Video] Bless Unleashed Shows Off Dungeons & Arena Bosses


Today’s video comes to us from Neowiz and shows off some of the features coming with the upcoming console spinoff Bless Unleashed.

There is an upcoming beta test for Bless Unleashed coming on Thursday July 11 at 10 a.m. pst running until Monday July 15. The beta will be available for preload on July 10.

Old School RuneScape Cans Partnership Poll After Overwhelming Disapproval


Jagex has thrown out a poll after only two days after Old School RuneScape players overwhelmingly rejected the company’s proposal for partnership-integrated items.

The poll went up on July 3 and contained over 20 questions asking players if they would approve of various items from emotes to skin colors and teleport animations being added in as partnership perks (such as RuneScape’s Twitch Prime items) with the items being released afterward to the general public, and the community answered with an overwhelming no. Old School RuneScape polls the vast majority of its content updates to the community. Each poll runs for one week and requires at least 75% approval in order to be added into the game.

For this poll, Jagex decided to cancel it after two days as virtually all of the questions had at least 70% disapproval.

Source: RuneScape

Jagex Launches Dedicated Website For Land Out Of Time


The next big update to RuneScape is on its way, in fact it is being released this coming Monday! In preparation for the update, Jagex has launched a dedicated website for Land Out Of Time where players can find more information on the coming update. Land Out Of Time is the latest expansion of RuneScape’s ongoing storyline. Players will sail to Anachronia, an island out of time. Build a base camp, hunt dangerous creatures including dinosaurs, and take part in an island-wide agility course.

Embark on a voyage of discovery to a long-forgotten land. Hunt down hulking beasts, traverse a treacherous landscape, slay dangerous new creatures and unearth ancient secrets previously lost to time.

Players are currently hard at work in-game building the ship that will take them to the island when the update goes live next week. Formerly referred to in-game as Kudos Island, Anachronia was first teased in RuneScape way back in 2007 with NPCs at the Varrok digsite beginning construction on a ship to take them to the island. It only took twelve years.

Jagex Hires Melissa Bachman-Wood As Aggressive Recruitment Continues


Way back in April Jagex announced an aggressive recruitment project that would see the company expanding by 25% over the course of the year. Today, Jagex has expanded on its recruitment by announcing multiple senior level hires starting with Melissa Bachman-Wood who is coming on as vice president of studio. Bachman-Wood brings over 20 years of industry experience to Jagex having started her career at Maxis, moving on to Electronic Arts to manage The Sims, and holding senior roles in Backbone Entertainment (360 ports of Genesis titles), KIXEYE (War Commander), and Jam City (Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery).

Melissa Bachman-Wood stated in the announcement:

“I’m thrilled to join the Jagex team and delighted for the chance to enable our teams to deliver even more great games to our players. I’m eager to help lead Studio strategy and execution to enable Jagex to excel in its ambition to be the home of living games, building out our world-class studio teams and processes.”

Jagex also took the time to announce the hiring of Malachy O’Neill (Nintendo Europe, EA, Zynga) to director of quality assurance, as well as James Burns (Playstation, Activision) as technical director of a currently unannounced action online role playing game, the return of Mark Faulkner as director of publishing platform, and the promotion of Ben Albon to IT director.

Source: Jagex Press Release

How To Avoid A Lawsuit #1: Fortnite Cheater Edition


Good afternoon, internet.

In honor of my upcoming completely fictional cookbook “A Million Ways To Roast Twitter Users,” I have decided to put out a new column series expanding on the In Plain English brand. The series is titled “How To Avoid a Lawsuit” which you would know if you read the title of this piece. Every so often I am going to talk about ways you, the user, can avoid being hauled into court and be forced to hire me once I graduate from law school. I don’t offer family discounts.

Before we begin, I’d like to insert some disclaimers; (1) I am not yet a lawyer and as such none of this should be taken as legal advice, (2) this column is meant for edutainment purposes only and while it will lower your chances of being hauled into court, it cannot guarantee a 100% success rate. Check your local laws before applying, (3) some of the steps are based on an assumption that you have done something bad. MMO Fallout does not condone whatever these actions are, the suggestions are merely in response to you actually doing them, and (4) most of your problems can be solved by simply following step one.

For the first HTAL, I’m going to discuss Epic Games, Fortnite, and people cheating in Fortnite. Those of you who read MMO Fallout or at least keep up with our In Plain English articles will be aware that Epic has presently hauled at least a dozen Fortnite cheaters into court. None of the cases have actually gone to trial with the rest being voluntarily dismissed with the plaintiffs agreeing to permanent injunctions against the defendant and the threat of deep fines should they violate the terms of the settlement. Still, it provides an answer to every Fortnite cheater who has asked “what’s Epic going to do? Sue me?” Possibly!

So let’s go down the list of how to not get hauled into court, Fortnite Edition.

1. Don’t Cheat At Fortnite

This one is the easiest and essentially acts as patient zero for the rest of the list. You shouldn’t be cheating at competitive multiplayer games anyway because it makes you look like a pathetic rat creature, but given the history and details surrounding Epic’s Scared Straight program with cheaters, you really don’t want to cheat in Fortnite. It’s not good.

Like I said, this is basically patient zero. Epic to my knowledge has never sued anyone for not cheating at Fortnite, but they have for cheating at Fortnite. So if you don’t want to be hauled into court by a company with the kind of money to bribe just about every developer on the planet Earth, don’t cheat at Fortnite.

2. If You Get Banned, Stay Banned

One big connecting trait of Epic’s lawsuit defendants are that they kept returning to the game after being banned for cheating. It’s like insanity but for stupid people. I’m not aware of any Fortnite-related lawsuits where a person was banned once and then Epic immediately launched into court, and of the numerous dockets I have read the defendants in question were banned 20+ times and in one or two cases might have been using automated software to create a new account.

If you for one reason or another decide to cheat at Fortnite and you get caught and Epic bans your account, just take the L. Accept your ban, maybe work on being a better person, and go do something else with your time. You’ll thank me a whole lot more when you are not hauled into court.

3. Do Not Upload Your Cheat Videos To YouTube

This is another major connecting trait between Fortnite lawsuit defendants. If there is one thing that Epic hates more than people cheating in Fortnite, it’s people putting videos on Youtube of themselves cheating at Fortnite, and absolutely people using those videos to advertise where you can get those cheats. The more subscribers and views you have, the more likely these videos will show up on Epic’s radar, the more likely they will haul you into court, and odds are the more they will demand from you in damages.

See this one is actually really important because if you do get sued, this is going to affect what Epic wants out of you. Normally Epic does not actually ask for money with their lawsuits against cheaters. Instead they basically push the lawsuit into a settlement with the defendant agreeing on injunctions. Don’t use Epic products, don’t cheat at Epic products, don’t create or distribute cheats for Epic products. On the other hand, Epic has a habit of assuming that anyone advertising Fortnite cheats has a monetary investment in those Fortnite cheats, and that’s when they start making demands for monetary damages. Trust me, Epic has the resources to wring you dry if they want to, and you are not in the right.

4. Do Not Counterclaim A Copyright Strike

In order to dive into this tip, we must take a moment to talk about fair use. Fair Use allows for the use of copyrighted material in certain purposes such as education, parody, or criticism. Despite what the internet has told you, the Fair Use doctrine is not a “you can’t sue me” button. Think of Fair Use as more akin to a trap card in Yu-Gi-Oh! You have to wait for the opponent to make a move before you can use it. Fair Use comes up at the lawsuit and is actually an admission of copyright infringement. What you are saying is that while you did infringe on the entity’s copyright, the extent is legal. There are no definite measures on what is fair use, just past rulings that can be used as a metric, that is up to the court to decide on a case by case basis.

This takes us back to our discussion. With people who post Fortnite cheat videos to Youtube, Epic has predicated lawsuits by issuing copyright strikes taking down the person’s cheating videos. When the person files a counterclaim, that is when Epic sues. When you counterclaim a copyright strike, what you are essentially saying is “I am in the right, and I will see you in court.” After that, the copyright holder’s only option to further their claim is to file a lawsuit. Which is exactly what Epic has been doing.

5. Don’t Cheat At Fortnite

Don’t cheat at Fortnite. Do all of these things and you are probably guaranteed to not get hauled into court by Epic Games for cheating at Fortnite.

MapleStory Adds Pathfinder Class Today


The Pathfinder is here! Nexon has announced the release of the much anticipated bowman class to Maplestory and now you too can finally log in create one of your own. The Pathfinder joins the ongoing fire leveling event offering 3x leveling speed for new characters, as well as the Adventure Island activities.

More information is available at the official website and in the preview trailer above.

Source:

[Video] Shai Character Class Comes To Black Desert


Pearl Abyss today announced that the latest character class Shai is now available in Black Desert on the Xbox One. Shai wields a florang (boomerang) and a Vitclari, a powerful ornament that heals and protects her allies. Shai is an expert in gathering and alchemy and is the first class to be able to create a bonfire to heal allies, as well as the first class to be able to tame and ride donkeys.

Notable Shai skills include:

  • One-Two-Three — Shai throws the Florang up to three times, knocking back all enemies that are hit.
  • Eat This! — Shai powerfully throws her Florang in a long-range attack.
  • Over Here! — Shai creates a shielded area that can protect her allies from enemy attacks.
  • Come Out, Come Out! — Shai reveals hidden enemies using her Vitclari.
  • Play Dead —  Shai can ‘play dead’ and trick other players, but it may not work against monsters…

Pearl Abyss also noted in today’s update that the Shai pre-creation event was a massive success with 80% of players participating. Players with the Game Pass can give the standard Black Desert edition a go with no additional purchase necessary.

Source: Pearl Abyss Press Release

Beta Impressions: MapleStory Rolls Out the Pathfinder


I played a bit of MapleStory this week.

It probably comes as little surprise to my readers that I still have an active MapleStory account, and even less so that Nexon invited me over to check out the upcoming Pathfinder class release for the game.

The Pathfinder is sort of an oddity as a character class, as the story revolving around this character is that she has been blighted with an ancient curse. What this translates to is that your character starts out with reduced stats. Thankfully it doesn’t stick with the player very long, even by MapleStory standards, and by skill level four the curse has been weakened out and removed from your system.

If you haven’t quite figured it out, the Pathfinder class is the latest hero added into a game with a heck of a lot of classes. I enjoyed the time that I had to play with the Pathfinder not just because I tend to play the archer class more in MMOs but because the character is just sort of an all-around bad ass. The Pathfinder is a bow-wielding class, of course, but the focus appears to be more geared toward crowd control. Many of the attacks and especially those that you receive toward the start of the game are geared toward just inflicting mass damage against anything stupid enough to come too close.

I should also note about the curse dampening that the class doesn’t start out gimped by any measure. Your character is effectively slightly less powerful in an area of the game that comprises of the tutorial locations. I assume there is some effect of some stats starting out with a 20% debuff, but considering how low your stats will already be starting out, the Pathfinder isn’t exactly going to be the Dark Souls of MapleStory classes. I’m sorry for having written that, but I had to get the joke in.

As you level up even further, the curse becomes more of a blessing as you not only overcome the stat debuffs but then utilize that ancient curse on your foes in the form of an offensive debuff attack. You also gain the ability to call forth a shadow raven with associated skills later on to improve that mechanic. The shadow raven hangs around for a while and attacks your enemies.

During my time with the Pathfinder, I also checked out the Secret Forest of Elodin theme dungeon which was as adorable as I have come to expect from MapleStory content. I won’t spoil the story for you, but it has to do with nightmares, hearing scary voices in the woods, and making sure that the good and decent folks are safe and sound. This mission, to the best of my knowledge, was already made available in the live game on June 12 (my birthday of course) and is available to all players at least level 30.

I didn’t have as much time as I wanted to play through the Adventure Island, but the even is running in the live game until August 27 and is looking to offer a ton of very cool rewards. The gist of the event should be familiar to MMO players. Players at level 61 can start earning adventure points to convert into adventure coins by killing monsters within 20 levels of their character. You can also make use of AFK items to obtain experience and coins. As the event goes on, higher ranks are being rolled out with better items, better tasks, and better passive stat boosts.

I can’t wait for the Pathfinder to hit the live server, which it will on June 26. It was a fair amount of fun for the time I had playing on the test server and I think that MapleStory players are going to enjoy it along with the various events ongoing that will make leveling another alt a bit lighter of a load.

Stay tuned to MMO Fallout for more MapleStory talk, or just head over to the official website and take a dive in for yourself. Big thanks to a number of people for bringing MMO Fallout on board to check out the class.