Monthly Archives: July 2014

Path of Exile Announces Details of Forsaken Masters Expansion

PoE Forsaken Masters Logo

Grinding Gear Games, developer of the critically-acclaimed action RPG Path of Exile, today proudly unveiled Path of Exile: Forsaken Masters, an entirely new and upcoming content expansion, which will arrive August 20, 2014 as a free update. Path of Exile: Forsaken Masters will introduce a slew of new and meaningful content based on the plight of the Forsaken Masters of Wraeclast — seven men and women, masters of their trade, who were exiled by Dominus, a powerful entity of corruption and tyranny.

As per the expansion’s title, players will cross paths with the seven Forsaken Masters, each offering separate and unique quests, training, mission variations, item crafting and modification options, secret and customizable towns known as Hideouts, tiers of Hideout decorations, and more in exchange for an Exile’s help. Also featuring Rampage and Beyond Challenge Leagues, revamped boss fights, new lore, new Unique items, new support and skill gems, a PvP Spectator Mode, and dozens of other additions, Path of Exile: Forsaken Masters will offer players a robust augmentation to the game’s already highly replayable experience.

Below is a brief synopsis of the many new features announced for Path of Exile: Forsaken Masters:

 PoE FM Screen Preview 1

Train with the Masters

As players roam the wilderness of Wraeclast, they will sometimes encounter a Forsaken Master. All seven Masters have their own unique missions that they either need help with, or are willing to train Exiles to handle. For example, Haku asks players to cleanse an ancestral area and recover a lost Karui spirit. Vorici provides training in the art of assassination. As players progress through the eight levels of reputation with each Master, more of what these Masters can offer will be unlocked.

The seven Masters each have their own style of mission and each mission has many potential circumstances. As players delve deeper into the realm of Wraeclast, the pool of available mission variations increases, offering players new and unexpected challenges — all of which can occur anywhere in the game.

Hideouts: Customizable Towns

In their extensive travels throughout Wraeclast, the seven Masters have discovered ideal locations for an Exile to use as their own secret Hideout. Once a Master’s trust is gained, the player will be able to create their own personal and customizable town. Masters residing in a player’s Hideout will offer them daily Missions and training as well as advanced crafting options. Players are also able to expand their Hideouts to use as personalized Guild Halls.

 PoE FM Hideout

Craft and Upgrade Items

Each master specializes in crafting different types of items. As a player gains reputation with a chosen Master, they will gain access to more of that Master’s unique crafting options and abilities, such as manipulating an item’s sockets or crafting special modifications. Masters also function as vendors that sell items ranging from Skill Gems to Unique items. At higher levels, each Master also sells Magic items with a specific, new, build-defining modification. These can be used as-is or crafted further with either the new Hideout Crafting Benches or the traditional Orb system to create powerful items.

The expansion also includes 16 new Unique Items, some of which are exclusive and may only be found in one or the other of the new Challenge Leagues.

New Challenge Leagues: Rampage and Beyond

With the release of Path of Exile: Forsaken Masters, two new three-month Challenge Leagues will begin, providing players with an opportunity to demonstrate their mastery of Path of Exile. Like the Challenge Leagues before them, these new leagues have a set of extremely difficult challenges to complete. Players who complete five of the eight total challenges will be rewarded with an exclusive microtransaction effect. Finishing all of the eight challenges will unlock another, different, exclusive microtransaction effect. The first 50 players to complete all of the challenges will receive a Rampage/Beyond t-shirt.

Full details regarding Rampage, the upcoming standard Challenge League, and Beyond, the upcoming hardcore Challenge League, will be unveiled in news updates on the Path of Exile website on August 8 and 15 respectively.

POE FM Revamp

Revamped Existing Content

To make for more intense and surprising battles, many of the existing boss encounters in Path of Exile have been revamped. More lore has also been added for players to discover, with snippets of Wraeclast’s history scattered throughout the existing acts. Additionally, large portions of the Passive Skill Tree have been redesigned, particularly in the Witch, Shadow, and outer Ranger class areas. Extensive balance improvements supported by these changes have been made to the core game.

Further information about Path of Exile: Forsaken Masters can be found on the Path of Exile website at http://www.pathofexile.com/poefm. Stay tuned for additional updates!

Age of Wushu Challenger Pack Giveaway

OnRPG has partnered with Snail Games to celebrate the release of Warrior’s Ascension, the fifth free content expansion to rock the world of Age of Wushu!

Age of Wushu: Warrior’s Ascension brings new features to the game, including:

Sky ladder: In the new Sky Ladder function, players can challenge worthy opponents from the entire Age of Wushu community in order to win powerful skills and other valuable items

Battle Master: Players’ personal performance in the battlefield will be ranked, and the top 10 players will be declared “Battle Master,” granting them access to buy Battle Master Certificates which can be redeemed for level 6 Jade Gear.

Level 6 gears: Level 5 equipment can be upgraded to level 6 in the new version. Set effects are available for Level 6 equipment.

New Forbidden Instances: The Defender’s Path (hard mode) and Rebel’s Path (normal mode) in Yanmen Pass will be available to explore.

Each Challenger’s Pack will grant you:

  • 15*Order of the Hero
  • 1*Gold Thread Power or Black Jade Power
  • 1*Jade Rabbit (30 days) or Jade Rabbit (Permanent)
  • 5*Jade Fragment
  • 1*Treasure Chest of [Demon Slaying Items]
  • 2*Gold Ingot Revival Pill
  • 1*Headmaster Order

Note: The items list here are all bound to players.

 

 

 

To Redeem your Key:

  • Redeem your key here.
  • Characters will receive the items via in-game mail within 24 hours.

Rusty Hearts Shutting Down

Rusty Hearts Shutdown

Perfect World Entertainment has announced that it will be shutting down service for Rusty Hearts on September 15, 2014. Rusty Hearts has been in service since 2011 in North America.

Starting today, Rusty Hearts will no longer be downloadable and will not accept ZEN deposits. Existing players will still be able to play up through September 15, and players who have been active in the last month will have their past six months of ZEN purchases/transfers credited into their Wallet for use elsewhere on the Arc platform.

PWE invites its community to say farewell to the game in this forum discussion.

FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Real Reborn Free Trial Begins Today

FFXIV Free Trial

 

Starting today, players can try out the critically acclaimed FINAL FANTASY XIV®: A Realm Reborn™ online adventure for free. The 14-day free trial program allows new players an opportunity to join over 2 million adventurers worldwide who have already begun their journey throughout the realm of Eorzea®.

By downloading and installing the free trial software, which is available at www.ffxiv-freetrial.com, players can play for free for up to 14 days from account creation to a maximum level of twenty. Free trial players will have certain limitations on available in-game activities. More details are available on “The Lodestone,” the official FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn community page:  http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/.

The online game offers a wealth of playable content updates, including the recently released, Defenders of Eorzea, the Patch 2.3 update. It features Frontline, the three-faction PVP where up to 72 players can go head-to-head in direct combat; Chocobo® Raising, where players can train their favorite feathered companion to reach its full potential.

WildStar Launches Sabotage Featuring Daggerstone Pass Battleground

Today Carbine Studios released their next epic drop for WildStar, Sabotage, featuring a new 15vs15 explosive battleground known as Daggerstone Pass.

SabotageLaunched

Available for players above level 30, Daggerstone Pass introduces the new Sabotage gameplay mode in which players must escort ticking timebombs to destroy enemy bases (or whatever they blow up next to in reality). All the excitement of suiciding into a group of enemy players, guarding a base for a time limit, and stealth infiltration are combined in this mode for all out chaotic hilarity.

Carbine Studios is now teasing that the next content drop will focus on the PvE gameplay. Players can learn more details about Sabotage here.

SMITE Nu Wa Kit Update Revealed

SmitenuwaBack

Moments ago on Twitch.TV, HiRez Studios revealed the updated kit of Chinese Goddess, Nu Wa. While fans of this third person MOBA, SMITE, were unsure what to expect, it turns out the majority of her skills remain intact to a certain extent. A new voice has been included as well. Changes are as follows:

 

SMITENewWaPassive

Passive: After 5 auto attacks, Nu Wa gains a buff that will root the next target hit by her auto attack. This replaces her former crystal buff system that led to her snake transformation.

SMITENewWaFog

Mysterious Fog: Nu Wa summons a fog that moves forward, stealthing allies encompassed by it and damaging enemies that enter it. This is essentially the same skill as her former 1 except that it no longer attempts to remain centered on Nu Wa. Also all allies within the fog receive a movement speed buff now instead of just Nu Wa.

Clay Soldiers: Nu Wa summons 1 to 3 clay soldiers that rush forward, creating a debuff area where they initiate combat that debuffs enemy’s magic defense. The soldiers now scale based on Nu Wa’s total hp and run after targets at a much faster rate. Formerly she could summon up to five minions with this skill but the magic defense reduction is new.

SMITENewWaShiningMetalExplo

Shining Metal: Nu Wa launches a metallic mass forward in a line sixty-five meters, slowing any enemies hit. If Shining Metal hits a clay soldier, the soldier explodes and stuns surrounding enemies, dealing additional damage. Minion explosions don’t stack. Formerly her 3 was a fire crystal ground target skill shot that also stunned but was independent of use from the clay soldiers. It also added AoE fire damage to her auto attacks.

SMITENewWaFireshards

Fire Shards (ulti): Nu Wa reveals her true snake form, flying into the air to unleash a rain of fire shards on all enemies (global). This also reveals all enemies in the process. Formerly Nu Wa’s ultimate was a lightning box that caged enemies in, punishing them with damage should they walk through the wall. Her kit’s overall playstyle has significantly changed as a result.

 

Overall initial thoughts hold that Nu Wa is still going to be a dangerous Mage that will chase a foe once she has the upper hand. Between her passive’s root, the slow on her Shining Metal, and movement speed bonus on her Mysterious Fog, she will be able to lay some serious punishment on a foe that attempts to flee rather than fight. Her global ultimate will help secure kills for those that burn their escape too late.

That said, she has lost her passive stat bonuses in the process including her incredibly powerful auto-attack master mage Snake transformation. Overall her kit seems to promote building movement speed, attack speed, magic damage, and health which as a whole can be difficult to do and still remain a viable mage. Perhaps HiRez’s intention is to force you to choose a path of specialty? We’ll know more on official launch.

The full stream reveal can be viewed here.