Monthly Archives: November 2012

Wartune Announces Massive Content Update in Patch 1.4.5

Wartune Announces Massive Content Update in Patch 1.4.5

 

Wartune

 

Reality Squared Games – Reality Squared Games has announced that it will be launching a massive content update this Thanksgiving holiday for its thrilling hybrid strategy MMORPG, Wartune.

 

 

The massive content update will be part of Patch 1.4.5 and will include the following features:

 

Rested Experience – Players who are offline for more than 24 hours will now begin accumulating additional experience called “Rested Experience.” During this rested state players will receive double experience.

 

 

Guild Chat – Constantly missing critical messages from your guild members? Guild members may communicate with one another using Guild Chat, a private chat interface just for its guild members.

 

Wartune

 

Guild Chamber – All guilds now hold a special territory: the Guild Chamber. The Guild Chamber offers guild members the opportunity to gain bundles of guild contribution and experience!

 

 

Guild Battle – Think you have the strongest guild in the land? Well, now you can test your guild’s prowess in the Guild Battle. Each week, the top 16 guilds listed in the Guild Strength Rankings will be chosen to compete in battle. Rewards are based on how quickly guilds defeat each other. The longer you last, the better your rewards.

 

 

Cross-Server 3v3 Arena – Tired of beating up the same old players on your server in the Arena? With the updated Arena, you will now be able to compete in the 3v3 Arena across servers in the same time zone!

 

Wartune

 

Legendary Equipment – Looking for the biggest and baddest equipment? Level 40, 50 and 60 legendary equipment may now be synthesized in the Blacksmith, with the following requirements:

Relevant Epic Equipment – Found in Normal/Nightmare Multi-player Dungeons

Legendary Stone – Found in Level 40+ Nightmare Multi-player Dungeons

Legendary Equipment Shard – Found in the Arena Shop

Mounts – Once a player reaches level 40, they will receive a White Battle Steed. Mounts directly increase your attributes and increase your movement speed in the Battleground, dungeons, Guild Battle and the Wilds. Mount attribute boosts are compiled, therefore the more mounts you have, the more benefits you will gain.

 

 

That’s not all! You can read more about the upcoming features on the Patch 1.4.5 announcement page and follow along on the announcement thread here.

Carnage Racing Impressions – A Little Slice of Paradise on Facebook

Carnage Racing Impressions – A Little Slice of Paradise on Facebook

By Darren Henderson (DizzyPW), OnRPG Editor-in-Chief

 

 

On Tuesday when I heard Jagex was hosting a preview of two of their upcoming titles in San Francisco I was giddy. It wasn’t often you heard about a new title from the company still known for the classic RuneScape and I knew that they wouldn’t put their name behind anything that wasn’t incredibly off the mainstream beat while still having fun factor through the roof. Then they threw a curveball at me – Facebook Racing Game. Both Facebook and Racing haven’t exactly been buzz words synonymous with fun and quality in the western online gaming market. But the next line of the invite followed with “Midnight Club Series dev team” and “Unity Engine.” I was back on board!

 

 

Jay Panek, the Jagex US Studio Director, opened up the session mirroring my exact thoughts on the subject. “Triple A gaming isn’t often associated with Facebook gaming and we are determined to change that. We wanted to take all our experience from the Midnight Club series and apply the same quality and gameplay benchmarks in a Facebook environment. The result is Carnage Racing, a massively addictive racing game where the main aim is not only the beat your friends to the finish line, but also the see how many of them you can blow up along the way!”

 

 

So how is this done? First off the Unity Engine isn’t your grandma’s browser engine. We’re talking the same technology behind such unbelievable upcoming browser titles as the territory war pvp title, Game of Thrones, and persistent pirate fighter, Kartuga. This means that you will be actively facing up to 7 of your friends or equally skilled and leveled auto queue rivals in a real time race to the death. Sound pretty intense for Facebook yet? They at least provide a serene environment to help you relax in between missile explosions.

 

 

The entire game takes place on a tropical island paradise, with tracks broken up via warp portals to make each race unique despite the locations being roughly the same. Of course it’s a pretty big island with scenic beach fronts, jungle, and an active volcano as you will find out on one track that circles the entire perimeter, resulting in an average 5-6 minute race. Though that might be a bit long for casual gamers trying to sneak some quick action in between glares from their boss so 13 total tracks are available ranging from a minute and a half to the massive race I mentioned prior. Those playing at home seeking more enduring races can find just that in the multilap races.

 

 

Customization is always a selling point in any racing title and Jagex knew well enough to not only offer the typical car performance upgrades (50 in total) and visual customization among 5 base vehicle options, but also weapon upgrades in the form of rpg style skill trees. Jagex races play out similar to the Mario Kart series with blue orbs scattered around the track providing extra firepower to decimate your enemies. As you race you’ll be able to specialize your weaponry to meet your style between 5 different weapons and 47 total upgrade options.

 

 

So on to the most important question, how does it handle? Carnage Racing is far more forgiving than most driving games I’ve played both on console and PC. The game is designed around the philosophy that skill should give you an advantage but everyone should be able to compete and the first step towards reaching this is offering extremely easy to pick up controls. You steer with A and D, go forward with W, and reorient yourself after being blown to bits with S as reverse. F handles all your weapon activation needs and space bar… well space bar is a world unto its own.

 

 

See when you fly off the edge of a jump and press buttons like mad to perform spins and flips, or when you blow someone up with missiles or leave a fire trail that burns up your rival’s tires, you gain booster points. Throughout the track are a series of blue spiral stones that at first glance you might mistake for arrows pointing the way to the finish line. Not the case. These are warp portals you can activate by pressing space bar to use up your warp power, rocketing you into short cuts and ahead of the competition, while also offering an excellent escape route from impending attacks. Every time you take damage your boost meter will decrease and you can only hold 3 charges at a time so there’s plenty of tactics as to when and why you use them. One particularly hilarious use is to time an opponent using the weapon that warps them to you, and then swerve into a warp stone to watch their car smash against the rock you just drove through.

 

 

But being a Facebook game Jagex thought ahead and included time trial modes and time trial challenges for those with different time zones and schedules that still want to compete with each other. Each track has a bronze, silver, and gold time for you to challenge to try to improve your skills. Once you’re practiced up you can send out a 24 hour invitational to all your friends. Then each of your friends can accept and try to turn in their best time on the track while racing your ghost. I’ll admit it’s not as exciting as the missile filled mayhem of the live mode but it really costs the game nothing to include this, so props to them for going the extra mile.

 

 

Carnage Racing really is the beginning of a new world of browser games that are going to blur the realm between client-based titles and instant play titles. As Jay said during the meeting, (paraprahsed) “The stigma of Facebook games is really starting to fade away. It’s merely a social medium capable of hosting anything you can do in a browser game so why not partner with it to create an easier matchmaking experience for our players?“ The devs did a fantastic job with the artificial rubberbanding via portals and items to ensure that everyone stays in the race within around a 20 second stretch of each other, even on the longer tracks. Out of the 8 races we played I only saw around 3 DNF (did not finish) which occurs if first finishes around 25 seconds before the player does so that gives you an idea of how close and competitive each race can be. I recommend any racing fan to take a few minutes today to slack on their job and get into the driver’s seat of Carnage Racing. My office’s Firewall doesn’t block browser games so I certainly will be doing the same!

OnRPG Shotgun News 11/14: DK Online, TSW, RIFT, and Much More!

OnRPG Shotgun News 11/14: DK Online, TSW, RIFT, and Much More!

By Shannon Doyle (Leliah), OnRPG Journalist

 

 

DK Online Enters Closed Beta


Aeria Games’ highly anticipated free to play fantasy MMORPG has now entered closed beta. There will be events held throughout the closed beta and prizes for players who reach certain level milestones first. Daily events will be held my game masters. For more information on the events and much more players are encouraged to watch the DK Online Facebook page.

 

 

New The Secret World Video Shows off Issue 4

A new video has been released by Funcom; narrated by Joel Bylos it goes through some of the features that can be expected with Issue 4 sometime this month. It includes the very first raid, a 10 man excursion into Manhattan that features terrifying gigantic monsters. There are also huge changes to pvp, reticule combat, and the newest auxiliary weapon, the chainsaw. It will be going live tomorrow!

 

 

 

Rift Storm Legion Sales Beyond Expectations

Trion has said that the sales of Rift’s first expansion Storm Legion have been beyond expectations. An original forecast had Trion targeting a 7% adoption rate. The reality as they found out yesterday was that 13% have adopted Storm Legion already with the numbers climbing hourly.

 

 

Star Trek Online Season 7 Launches

Star Trek Online Season 7, New Romulus is now live. Executive Producer Daniel Stahl described it as, “the first time Star Trek fans will have a chance to participate in the story of rebuilding the Romulan Empire.” To find out more about Season 7 check out the trailer below.

 

 

 

Darkfall Unholy Wars Delayed

Earlier today it was announced that Darkfall Unholy Wars wouldn’t make the November 20 launch date that was originally scheduled. The release date has now been set to 12/12/12. The current game will still be going offline tomorrow for scheduled maintenance.

 

 

Wartune Announces Huge Update Patch 1.4.5

This coming Thanksgiving Wartune will be seeing a huge content update with the release of patch 1.4.5. Included in it will be features like Rested Experience, Guild Chat, Guild Battle and highly anticipated Legendary equipment. All of these and much more will be released in the upcoming patch.

Meta’s Verse: City of Heroes Innovations

Meta’s Verse: City of Heroes Innovations

By Meticulous Meta, OnRPG Paragon Reporter

 

 

We only have a few short weeks left with City of Heroes. Compared to the player base there used to be there aren’t many of us left. Each time something goes wrong is a time to panic. Last weekend Virtue and several other servers mysteriously went offline. Those of us who call those servers home sat on foreign servers talking to eachother, realizing that there was every possibility that we may never get those servers back. Thankfully our paranoid feelings were wrong and the servers were back up again in just a short time. But it is heart wrenching each and every time. It’s so close to the end now, none of us want to say goodbye. So, instead of focusing on that right now, I want to talk about what City of Heroes has accomplished. Ways it has innovated the MMO industry. In researching this article I actually learned a lot, like the fact that City of Heroes holds four Guinness World Records. Not all of City of Heroes’ innovations have been in the Guinness World Records though. Here are six things that City of Heroes did first, including those four world records.

 


1. First Super Hero MMORPG

Yes, City of Heroes was the first. It is officially recognized by Guinness World Records. And for years it was the only Super Hero MMORPG out there. It wasn’t until 2009 it started getting competition. But City of Heroes remained the most popular despite the new competition. Even at the time of the closure announcement Paragon Studios billed it as the most popular Super Hero MMORPG.


2. First MMORPG to use Mentoring System

Teaming has come a long way since the early days. I love looking back at old screenshots and remembering how the Mentoring system was. It was one of the things that I found so appealing in City of Heroes to begin with. After all what hero doesn’t have a spunky sidekick? What is a villain without his or her lackey? Of course in 2009 the mentoring system was changed in favor of the new super sidekick system. But City of Heroes was the first to have a mentoring system of any kind. And it was recognized for this by Guinness World Records.

3. First MMORPG to use Adaptive Difficulty

To me this is the really big one. City of Heroes was the first to use adaptive difficulty. What does that mean? Strength and difficulty are adjusted according to the level and number of characters in the area. Until City of Heroes mobs were what mobs were. If you couldn’t fight them alone you got with a group. With City of Heroes came the idea that mob size, and difficulty could change depending on the team. For this City of Heroes was recognized a third time by the Guinness World Records.

 

 

4. First Evil MMORPG Expansion

So, not only was it the first Super Hero MMO it was also the first to let you be an evil son of …Arachnos. In 2005 City of Villains was released securing a fourth Guinness World Record for City of Heroes. These days the in thing in MMOs is to let everyone be friends. But not long ago players were making their own archnemeses. I was late to the Villain party, I’m just not a very evil person. But I love my few villains I have.

 

 

5. Levelling Pact

Levelling pacts were first introduced in 2008 with Issue 13. At the time I wasn’t sure about them but I quickly changed my mind. Nearly all of my characters are part of a duo. And I was always faced with that annoying problem of one of us getting higher in levels than the other. This completely did away with it until it was shut off last year. According to Paragon Studios themselves City of Heroes was the first MMORPG to introduce this kind of technology. And personally I’m of the opinion that any MMO where level matters (so nearly all of them) this feature is a must. Yet it is nowhere to be found.

 

 

6. User Generated Content

Neverwinter is gushing about theirs, STO is quite proud of theirs too but City of Heroes did it first. It was more than a year after Issue 14 gave City of Heroes the Mission Architect system that Star Trek Online released The Foundry. Anyone who played around then may remember that when it came out it nearly broke City of Heroes. But that is all part of the process. When you’re the first to do something you’re going to have a harder time as you blaze a new trail for others to follow.

 

 

These six are just the obvious and easy ways you can point out that City of Heroes has been a leader of innovation from the start. It doesn’t include the less obvious things like the amazing, complex character customization that even today few MMOs can match. And of course there are the personal firsts that came, for me it was the first MMO I played with my husband, the first time I got to fly in an MMO, and led to the first time I ever travelled to the Eastern side of the US so I could attend the wedding of two dear friends I met in City of Heroes. I can happily say that City of Heroes changed my life and is something I will always remember and hold dear to my heart. And whenever I see any of these things in an MMO I will always think back to my days in Paragon, The City of Heroes.

Fiesta Celebrates Five Years of Epic Partying

Fiesta Celebrates Five Years of Epic Partying

 

Fiesta Online

 

Fiesta, one of the first and most beloved free-to-play anime fantasy MMOs, is turning five years old this month. Outspark, its North American publisher, now with over 11 million registered users and nearly one million Facebook fans, practically birthed the industry with the iconic game a half decade ago.

 

 

“When we launched Fiesta in North America back in 2007, no one in the West really knew how to do free-to-play while sustaining a vibrant live service. The model was successful in Asia, but here all the focus was subscription-based. Since then, the Fiesta community has grown into a massive gaming population. Players spend hours a day hanging out with friends in the game. They’ve not only formed lasting bonds, but some have even met and married the love of their life, and had amazing adventures across a vast open world together. We’re now at 115 levels, and in all that time, there have been hundreds of millions of hours played, billions of monsters killed, and over three quadrillion EXP points earned. Most impressive!” exclaimed Philip Yun, CEO of Outspark.

 

Fiesta Online

 

Fiesta kicks off its epic Anniversary KO with an action-packed offering of exciting new content, events and giveaways. Drop in the game to enjoy:

 

 

Anniversary Gala

Elderine is transformed into a moonlit wonderland with a romantic Anniversary reskin. Flaming candelabras float through a twinkling sky lighting up monuments, fountains, and an electrified disco floor. Go shopping for the season’s chicest fashions as community-designed formal wear make their debut in the premium shop. Then boogie down with dozens of dances while enjoying the GM-led NostalgiaBomb. The event runs November 26 through December 1 at 3pm PT. For more details, click here.

 

Fiesta Online

 

Birthday Grand Prix

Wacky races through the sights and sounds of the sparkling seaport town of Roumen, by foot, by mount, and by high speed chase. The event runs from November 15 through 21 at 2pm PT. For more details, click here.

 

 

High Rollers

Set off on a scavenger hunt across the Land of Isya to capture screens of giant rolling dice without getting squashed. Easier said than done! Tiered prizes for newbies, experienced players and the high-level gaming elite. The event runs from November 15 through 20. For more details, click here.

 

Fiesta Online

 

Weapons Enchantment System

Collect up to seven special gems to affix to weapons for magical attacks that include One Hit Kill Gems that obliterate opponents in PvP battles and Knock Back Gems that stop mobs dead in their tracks.

 

 

Monster Beats Giveaway

Win a stunning pair of JustBeats Monster Headphones by Dr Dre. Love Justin Bieber or not, these headphones are sleek. To enter, simply click on the WIN BEATS HEADPHONES icon on the Fiesta Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/outsparkfiesta, LIKE the page, and enter your email address and SparkID. For those new to Fiesta, SparkIDs are available by registering at http://www.playfiesta.com.

MEAD: Rift Storm Legion Top 10

MEAD Rift Storm Legion Top 10

By Shannon Doyle (Leliah), OnRPG Journalist

 

Today is Storm Legion Day. It should be an International holiday. Ok, maybe not, but I know a lot of Rift fans are taking today off, and possibly some lucky enough to take the next few days off to enjoy the exciting new expansion. I’m so excited about it I’ve made a special edition of MEAD just for the occasion that combines my two favorite things, Rift and Top 10s. These are my Top 10 favorite things coming to Rift today.

10. Mounts


Yes, I know Rift has always had mounts. But it’s the particular mounts I’m interested in. My favorite is Cyclone, the floating mount. Now, yes I’ve heard a lot of complaints about it. People who wish it could fly, people who want to ride it over water…but really it is a beautiful mount from the plane of air. Every Bahmi, or Bahmi lover should have one of these! Another mount you could get from order Storm Legion was Landslide. This massive, horned creature looks like it is built to climb mountains and tear apart enemies. Perfect for the most hardcore Dwarves, if they don’t mind getting a ladder to climb on.

9. Capes



I’m going to let you in on a little secret. I haven’t ordered Storm Legion yet. By now I should hopefully be the owner of Storm Legion. But I wanted it from Walmart. Why? I want the awesome looking Forest Warden’s Cape which you could only get from Walmart. There were six capes available which differed depending on who you pre ordered with. But the big thing to take from this is there are capes. All good adventurers need capes. Just watch Lord of the Rings for five minutes and you’ll see what I mean. These capes are using a new technology to make the movement and flow more lifelike than any MMO before.

8. Hunt Rifts


One of the things that makes Rift so unique are the Rifts. They come in just about every variety you could want. And now Trion has added another type of rift to the list. One that is harder than ever. Hunt Rifts are high level, require large groups and the more you do them the harder they become. The highest tiers of these rifts will require assistance from the Torvan Hunters. What makes them so hard? Well, you’re taking on the commanders of forces who are trying to invade before the waves of enemies come through other rifts.

7. Dungeons


I’ve never been shy about my disliking of dungeons, they just aren’t my thing. But as they are the biggest story elements in Rift they can’t and shouldn’t be ignored. There are a total of 7 new dungeons being added with Storm Legion. Anyone who pre ordered Storm Legion has already been able to check out the first of the dungeons, Exodus of the Storm Queen. But that still leaves six more dungeons which we have seen small peeks of during the many live streams Trion has been hosting.

6. New Souls


Four new souls are being introduced today, one for each class. These souls keep with the air/lightening/electricity theme that surrounds Storm Legion while adding all new elements to the classes. Ever wanted a melee mage? Harbinger is here for you. Tacticians are the engineers of Telara with a variety of tools and gadgets to help with everything from taking out groups of enemies to healing allies. The Tempest soul allows Warriors to start the fight from further away than ever before with bolts of lightening. And finally the Defiler acts as a medium for the energies of death allowing them to warp life and offer heals…for a price.

5. Grandmaster Crafting


I love crafting. I’ve spent days doing nothing but crafting, gathering more supplies and then going right back to crafting. But as you can imagine that got me to the crafting cap quite quickly. And so Grandmaster Crafting is introduced. This new ultimate level of crafting is aided by having new materials to harvest, new quests for crafting the new items and of course the two new continents to find all of this. So while we won’t be getting any new trade skills we still have plenty to look forward to.

4. 10 More levels


I’ll admit it, I’m a slow leveller. I only have one 50 and I’ve been playing Rift since beta. I’m a firm believer in the idea that it is the journey, not the destination that is what matters. So when I got my main to 50 she went into semi retirement. But now she’s back! With 10 more levels to explore, not to mention the two new continents life has been returned to my favorite character! But even if you don’t have that problem the 10 new levels are still a great way to get more fantastic story from Telara. Oh and of course there are the new abilities that come with more levels.

3. New Continents


If you haven’t heard Telara is about to get a whole lot bigger. Three times bigger even. On one there is an ancient civilization with amazing technology who have been overrun by the Storm Legion and on the other Regulos’ forces have taken over turning it into a dark haven of death. For the most skilled Ascended these two new massive continents are a dream come true. Well, assuming they enjoy adventuring, danger, and risk. If not…well they aren’t very good Ascended. These huge continents are the home of most of the changes and new additions coming to Rift with Storm Legion, making them an absolute must see.

2. Dynamic Events


One of the first videos we saw from Storm Legion was of this massive colossus with a nasty attitude. It takes a huge group to take one of these out. And it isn’t a quick or easy prospect. You focus your fighting on certain parts of the huge creature, degrading it’s armor which of course only makes it more mad. But then it breaks down a wall allowing access to an area otherwise unreachable. And on the other side of that wall are crafting materials and more. This is just one example of the new dynamic events coming with Storm Legion.

1. Dimensions

 

From the moment I heard about Dimensions I knew I was doomed. The first time I saw them at Gamescom I knew they were going to consume me. Dimensions aren’t just a generic house with a few items you can put in them to make it your own. Oh no, they give you a plot of land, many of the same items that are available to the developers and you get to go to town. Ships, guild halls, houses…you are only limited by your imagination.

This is by no means a complete list of everything you can find in Storm Legion. But it is what I’ve been looking forward to the most and what I’m going to spend my spare time doing for the foreseeable future.

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Storm Legion!