Yearly Archives: 2009

Aion bans 16.000 accounts

16.000 accounts were hit by the ban hammer today Andrew Beegle, Community Manager for Aion has posted the following announcement:
 
 
As you probably noticed, we’ve completed a server wide reboot without much notice on a day that we typically don’t perform maintenance. It’s only fair that we keep you in the loop and make sure you know what’s going on. Over the last week we’ve been working on a list, we’ve been checking it twice, and today we found out who was naughty or nice. Ban Hammer Claus just came to town. When the servers come back online, nearly 16,000 accounts will have been removed from the game. If your account was banned, please read the following FAQ.
 
1. Why was I banned? 
There could be many reasons your account was closed. If you did not receive notification of your violation via e-mail please create a support ticket and the violation will be explained to you.  Please note that if your account was closed for the use of 3rd party software (botting) or participating in RMT (gold buying/selling) the evidence for the account closure was gathered over several weeks. It may be completely unrelated to what your character was doing right when your account was closed.
 
 
2. … but I wasn’t botting, buying Kinah or spamming advertisements! I’m innocent! 
Any action that modifies the client or automates the same way a bot does could potentially flag an account as a violator. We do not use one specific instance to “flag” an account for botting or RMT. We use many instances to strengthen our conclusions. Please understand that it is not what “you” have done on your account, but what the account has done. If your account is shared, purchased, borrowed, or power leveled, it could be the actions of anyone who’s ever used the account. 
 
 
3. I’m aware of all of the above, but I have never done any of it. Who do I contact?
To request a review, please create a support ticket.
 
 
We are taking a very hard stance on this issue and do have sophisticated processes and procedures in place that help us keep unwarranted banning to a minimum. If you believe you’ve been wrongfully banned, you can email us at support@ncsoft.com, and we will review your account. Our goal is to ensure our legitimate players are having the best game experience possible. Please note that you don’t need to submit multiple tickets, as we will review a specific case only once. We obviously take these violations seriously, but also want to make sure that legitimate players aren’t banned unnecessarily.

We’d like to reiterate that we’ve been listening to your concerns. We’ve been constantly adding to our Customer Service and Game Surveillance Unit. As we continue to move forward, you’ll see more and more of these efforts. Thanks for your patience everyone, and have fun playing Aion!


It’s always good to see companies taking cheating very serious!

Using the bansword to get rid of cheaters

Bounty Bay Online: Trail of the Maya Starts Tomorrow

On 25th November the latest and up to now the most comprehensive ever add-on for Bounty Bay Online will be available on the servers. With the release of the add-on, ‘Beyond the Horizon’ next Wednesday, high level players will enter the demanding Maya group instance for the first time.
 
Hidden deep in the South American rainforest lies Salinas, the capital city of the Mayan civilisation. In the hinterland beyond this mysterious city, in the middle of the both beautiful and treacherous tropical landscape, impressive pyramids rise up to meet the sky. They are ancient silent witnesses to long-forgotten knowledge, unspeakable riches, but also bloody rituals. A few Mayan warriors still roam this territory today, guarding over precious relics and monuments of their culture, shrouded in legend. Players battle through this danger-ridden jungle full of viperous creatures until they finally reach the entrance to the Maya instance, right in the heart of the hinterland. This is where a daunting tropical territory awaits, in which aggressive ghost beings, predatory animals and yet more Mayan warriors lie in wait, guarding a mysterious treasure.
 
Together with the instance, ‘Beyond the Horizon’ will also render the existing dungeons, such as the Mallorca Cave and the Cretan Labyrinth, playable by groups for the first time. Besides that, all instances in Bounty Bay Online will offer daily, well-rewarded quests with the upcoming expansion.
 
‘Beyond the Horizon’ will be the third and most comprehensive add-on for Bounty Bay Online to date. Together with the new instance it will provide over 250,000 European players with numerous new features such as the new continent of South America, six new cities, five character classes, new ships, an expanded pet system including new pets, new PvP arenas and tournaments and new ranking systems. In keeping with its predecessors, ‘Beyond the Horizon’ will be available to download free of charge.

Rise of the Maya

World of Kung Fu: Thanksgiving event

Enjoy the Thanksgiving Night in World of Kung Fu

Thanksgiving Day comes to World of Kung Fu again. According to the tradition, WOKF people will gather around, singing, dancing, chatting and partying together. Friends share their great experience of the whole year. Couples express their esteems on each other. Apprentices give their sincere gratitude to their Tutors for hard working. It’s a day for thanks and happiness.
 
 
Hence, World of Kung Fu has prepared a wonderful Thanksgiving Night and some little gifts, as thanks to our players. We want all the fans to accept our thanks for your unremitting supports. Because of you, our beloved WOKF grows along the whole way, and becomes more and more mature during the last two years. In here, we invite all the WOKF people come join in our Thanksgiving Night Party.
 
 
From 8:00 pm to 11:00 pm(EST) on November 26th, 2009, Online GMs will provide a variety of events for the Party to make it more amusing and full of fun. You need to work out the puzzles, defeat all the difficulties and troubles along the whole way. If you can win in the final, there will be lots of surprising rewards awaiting you too! What’s more, from November 24th to November 30th, the item mall will offer a special price! All the mall items will have a 40% discount! Why not come join with your friends and taste the joy and fun together on the special Thanksgiving night!
 
 
Meanwhile, in order to satisfy the demands from various players and enhance the stability of the game for different players in different regions, we will open another new server in December. At that time, more events and excitements will present.

World of Kung Fu - Slay a turkey for thanksgiving

OnRPG Weekly News Roundup: November 16 – November 23

By Joshua Temblett (Dontkillmydreams), OnRPG Journalist 

Call of Duty MMORPG: Does it really exist?

 

Well, the Call of Duty series just keeps growing and growing, doesn’t it?  Whether this is unfortunate or not depends on your perspective on the franchise and whether or not you really want to give Activision more of your money.  None the less, Activison are keen on sucking it out of you as they have some plans to create a Call of Duty MMORPG, which is part of their scheme to “to test and ultimately launch additional online monetisation models”[1].

 

The Call of Duty series currently has two developers, Infinity Ward, the series creator and the maker of the Modern Warfare series, and Treyarch, the developer of Call of Duty 3 and World at War.  Apparently (according to the LA Times) Activision has hired another developer who will work on “future” versions, which people are assuming to mean the MMORPG version of the game.

 

It has to be asked, is this too much overkill for the Call of Duty series?  Modern Warfare 2 barely renovated from its predecessor, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, can the series really take another developer creating another series of Call of Duty games?  Also, how would Call of Duty even manage to be an MMO?  The game already has levels and MMO features in it, how exactly would a MMORPG version be any different?  Would the multiplayer just be of larger scale?  Well I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.  Whoever the new developer is though, they’ve certainly got a lot of work to do. I just hope the MMORPG won’t be using a Peer 2 Peer system, and will be balanced for lean.

Final Fantasy XI

 

Wedding Ceremonies

 

Do you hear that?  Yes it’s the sound of wedding bells!  Final Fantasy XI now has a new wedding system in place, for all of those happy couples who wish to elope. “Responding to player demands for greater customization, the new service will grant brides and grooms freedom in choosing location, timing, dialogue, and more for their ceremony, allowing them to create a truly memorable event all their own.” It sounds great to me!  You can find a stack of details right here.

 

Winners Announced for Shantotto Fan Contest!

 

Now normally I don’t report on fan art, however I really couldn’t resist it this time as the art submitted to the Shantotto Fan Art Contest just looked so amazing!  For all of those that don’t know Shantotto is an NPC from Final Fantasy XI.  She is a Tarutaru Black Mage, who is also a hero of the Great Crystal War.  In the mini expansion, titled “A Shantotto Ascension: The Legend Torn, Her Empire Born”, she goes a bit loopy and it’s your job to find out the cause of such craziness!

 

Probably one of her coolest lines in the game is: “Why be led, when you can be leader? Why bow to lady luck when you can beat her? Why sit back and relax if you can pull your fill? Before you are taken, why not go in for the kill? O-hohohohohoho!” As you can see, she is a total “dude” (for lack of a better word).  Anyway, here’s some of the fan art from the contest.

 

The contest winner was Karuna, and here is the winning piece:

 

Winning Artwork FFXI Fanart Contest

 

And one of my person favourites (by Nyasu):

 

One of the Favorites

 

You find more images from the contest on the playonline.com website.

 

Torchlight: Free Trial Now Available from Onrpg.com

 

You can now download a demo of Torchlight from Onrpg.com.  The demo gives you two hours of unlimited gameplay.  If you decide you like the game and wish to continue playing, then you can buy the game for $19.99 from the official website.  If you haven’t tried Torchlight then make sure you give this demo a whirl, as the game really is amazing. You can download the Torchlight demo here.

 

World of Warcraft

 

Mr T Adverts

 

To be honest, I don’t know why I’m posting this, maybe it’ll offer you some light relief.  Anyway, there are now two new adverts for World of Warcraft, both feature Mr T.  If you remember, Blizzard had Mr T do some adverts for the game a year ago or so, which were very successful.  You can find the new adverts here….fool! 

 

Interview about Icecrown Citadel

 

On the World of Warcraft website there is an interview with Lead Content Designer Cory Stockton and Lead Systems Designer Greg Street, about Icecrown Citadel.  If you want to read the interesting interview, then click here.

 

Champions Online: Developer Chat

 

The developers of Champions Online decided to have a little get together and answer some player questions.  You can find the whole chat here.  I must warn you though, it is pretty long.

 

Aion: Crysystem.dll Problem Fixed?

In a recent “Eye on the Community” article on Aion’s official website, this question was posted. “I’ve been crashing less since the 1.5.1 patch. Did you guys intentionally fix the Crysystem.dll problem?” Yes, the crash issues during fortress sieges and other intensive activities were fixed with the patch we applied to the servers on Wednesday. In case you haven’t read the (http://powerwiki.na.aiononline.com/aion/Patch+Notes+1.5.1.4)final patch notes, take a look at the very last paragraph where the stability improvements are listed. We received this fix shortly before our scheduled maintenance and decided to include it together with the patch. We are glad that it works well for you.

 

This fix was difficult to implement and test because it took many people to recreate the issue, and many complex parameters had to be taken into consideration to not just fix it for a specific configuration, but for all players. Many testers had to coordinate together every time a possible fix was created. It is much more difficult than fixing something that a single person can test alone.

 

Good stuff guys!

 

Guild Wars: Dhuum Added to the Underworld

 

A new boss has been added to the Underworld! “Something stirs in the Underworld. Something ancient, powerful, and utterly evil: Dhuum. Banished eons ago by Grenth, this dark avatar of death has bided his time and grown in power. Now, Dhuum is free! We’ve  added this terrifying new end boss to the Underworld-face him if you dare.” To get to this big, baddy, you’re going to have to complete all of the Underworld quests first, and defeating him is now required to “complete” the Underworld.  Good luck adventurers!

 

Non MMORPG News

 

Valve Selling Team Fortress 2 and Left 4 Dead Christmas Cards. Yes, Valve is spreading the world with joy again.  This time they’re using Christmas cards!  But these aren’t just any Christmas cards!  These cards have cartoon versions of TF2 and L4D characters, and are sure to please the gamer in your life.  Make sure you pick some up from the Valve store.

TF2 Christmas Cards 

 

Assassins Creed II Release

 

Assassins Creed II was released on the 20th November in Europe and the 17th November in America, for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.  The game builds on the last title by fixing many of the flaws and adding really cool stuff, such as an economy system.

 

Pandemic Closes Its Doors

 

It’s always sad to hear about game studios closing, especially such a good studio as Pandemic.  Pandemic Studios created some great games, such as Star Wars: Battlefront and Mercenaries.  The Saboteur was one of the games they were working on, and it was looking pretty good. I wish you guys the best of luck in your future endeavours.

 

That’s a wrap guys!  I’ll see you all next week!  Keep gaming!

 


 

[1] Source= Edge

TwelveSky 2 reveals Autumn Content Pack

 

Twelve Sky 2 – Rise of the Sky Clan is set to release another exciting content pack to improve the already stellar MMORPG game play experience.
 
Attention all citizens of Ancient China and fellow gamers out there! We will be introducing our latest Autumn Content Pack, packed full of new content guaranteed to spice up your gaming experience!

New Mounts

Just for all your eager Ancient Chinese horsemen out there, we will be kicking off with a new Mount System that is both unique to Twelve Sky 2 and is keyed to bring even greater levels of excitement to combat! All warriors will now be able obtain and ride atop an impressive medieval beast, which will imbue you with increased movement speed, enhance your characters stats and the ability to attack your enemies while mounted!
 
Introducing six new mounts:
Combat Stag Mount
Due for release 24 November 2009
The swift Battle Stag, with its razor sharp antlers, tends to surprise foes with its deadly critical attack. Those who choose the Battle Stag will ride a beast with seemingly no special attributes, until a critical hit dooms their opponent to an early and unexpected death. This gentle yet fearsome beast increases critical damage, attribute damage, and spirit; you will definitely be able to catch your enemies by surprise.
 
Combat Hog Mount
Due for release 29 December 2009
The stoutly-built War Hog prides itself on its defensive armor. Those who choose to tame the War Hog will benefit from increased defense ability. This is especially perfect for those who love taking on tanking roles, with its superior health, spirit and attribute defense.
 
Other Features
New “Ornamental” Gear (Due for release 3 November 2009)
 
Last but not least, is the new Vanity Costume system, which will bring a whole new colorful dimension to TwelveSky2 Combat! Fight and be fashionable and the envy of your friends whilst doing so! Three new aggressive and intimidating masks will be added to our existing list of 21 unique “vanity” costume sets. On top of this, our secretive and wizened pharmacists have found a way of imbuing mystical powers into these pieces of protective gear with the use of the rare and unique Silver Scroll. All “vanity” costumes, originally just for the fashion-conscious, will now prove their worth in combat!
 
Simply add and apply the Silver Scroll to your existing vanity armor items, whether (Head, Torso, Pelvis or Leggings); and watch your armor be empowered with additional Spirit, Health, Defense or Damage respectively. Stand proud, stand alone, and get ready to devastate all who stand before you!
 
The tailor reports that new pieces of armor are on the way, so be sure to stay tuned!

New Hog Mounts

PWI Announces Expansion ‘Rising Tides’

‘Rising Tides’ Will Unveil New Race, Classes, Systems and More
for Perfect World International
 
Perfect World Entertainment is preparing to unveil its third and largest expansion, ‘Rising Tide,’ for its flagship MMORPG title Perfect World International in December 2009. This expansion focuses on the appearance of the Tideborn—an aquatic race that has resided under the safety of the sea for the previous millennia. Players will be tasked with unraveling the mystery of their sudden appearance while taking in numerous new sights and sounds in the game.
 
‘Rising Tide’ will introduce a range of new and updated features including:
– A New race – “Tideborn”
– Two new classes – the stealth “Assassin” and magic and buff enabled “Psychic” 
– New Quests – more than 200 new adventures to complete
– Additional territories for factions to conquer
– Cooperative questing – A new public quest system
– Additional areas to explore – new dungeons with more than 100 new monsters
– More customization – new, upgraded gear and equipment
– New “Recasting” equipment system
– Daily Quests added just for Married Players
– New Fashion Slot—for the hair/hat option
– Newly implemented shared stash system for player accounts
“Perfect World International” is the English-based, international version of Perfect World II with millions of players worldwide. “Perfect World International” offers an immersive online world and currently offers three unique races and six different classes, as well as one of the most extensive character creation interfaces to date.
 
To learn more about the ‘Rising Tide’ expansion, please visit the official website!

Rising Tide Expansion

Try Torchlight for Free at OnRPG

 

Perfect World Entertainment today announced that players can now try out the highly-acclaimed, action-RPG, Torchlight, for free at OnRPG. The two hour free trial version of Torchlight can be downloaded exclusively from OnRPG. Once the trial time has expired, players can unlock the full version for US$19.99 at the official website.
Featuring hours of hack-and-slash, dungeon crawling adventure, Torchlight will also offer nearly limitless replayability with the developer tools with the full version.

Torchlight for free at OnRPG

RockFREE Review: Get Ready to Rock Your World

RockFREE Review: Get Ready to Rock Your World
By Kei Beneza (dividelife), OnRPG Journalist

 

It’s quite obvious how Guitar Hero and Rock Band have swept the gaming world off their feet and onto the stage! I for one would see tons of Rock Band cafes just by walking down the street. It’s really hard to resist the urge to rock that guitar while playing your favorite tracks. Since Rock band and Guitar Hero cost a lot of money, not everyone can enjoy the AWESOME kickass benefit of having to play that electric (virtually electric that is) guitar.

 

As I browsed around the net, I came across a browser game that’s mostly similar to the phenomenal Rock game. RockFree as they call it is a FREE browser game that lets you enjoy the JUSTICE of Rock Band in the comforts of your own PC rig. The game has tons of songs and even a customizable avatar. The game is still in Open Beta and is already getting a lot of players so far. If there’s a benchmark for web browser games, then this one pretty much surpasses that.

 

Starting up- I can’t wait to rock n’ roll!

Upon creating your account, you’ll have to start making your first (and ONLY) character. The game doesn’t give you that much options to choose from. A limited set of hairstyles, shirts, and pants (probably four to five of each) will be the only things at your disposal. The characters are entirely flash-based and look pretty similar to the 6-teen cartoon characters. For a game that runs in flash, I’d say that RockFREE is probably the best looking flash game out there.

 

Club List 

 

Since RockFree is currently in Open Beta, it’s too early to make any assumptions about how many features they’ll be adding soon. One thing about this game though, is that it looks promising, considering the fact that most people are suckers for rhythm games. Once you’ve been told the basics of the game, it’s time to try your first song. Since I’m a big fan of the band, I chose Cowboys from Hell by Pantera.

Setting up the stage

Once you’re all done with creating your character, it’s time to start rocking live. You can either join a room in progress (Clubs as they call them) or just go and create your own. You’ll simply walk around by using the arrow keys (along with people who look similar to you) while waiting for the song to load. You’ll start off with only three songs and must purchase or upload tracks to boost your library (will be discussed soon).

 

Rock Free Band

Interface and controls

The game looks entirely like a flat Guitar Hero rip off once the stage is set. You basically have five buttons to use in order to catch the notes. For those who aren’t familiar with Guitar Hero, you basically have to press the button that corresponds to the descending note (namely: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) while strumming with the left and right arrow keys to register the hit. If ever you miss a note or didn’t strum properly, the tone is affected and cuts the song on the part where you missed (kind of like playing in real life). At first I was thinking that I may have encountered a bug due to the auto-strumming function which lets you register notes just by pressing the number keys. You can simply adjust the settings on the upper part of your screen. The down key is used for the whammy bar that lets you yank off unique and interesting additions to the song (nothing like your personal touch to make the experience better). There’s also the Adrenaline Rush mode (done by pressing up or enter via default configuration) that’s mostly similar to Guitar Hero’s Star Power. This feature is supposed to double your points whenever you strum the notes.  Technical? Hell yeah!

 

Note: Get a higher streak to see your rocker ON FIRE!

 

Track List in RockFree

Custom Tracks? Sweet!

For me, the most awesome part of this game would have to be the track option. You can simply flood your tracklist by buying songs online through Acclaim coins. If I have to make this even clearer, it involves real money. This feature is okay in my opinion, but the songs are already featured on Frets of Fire (Guitar Hero rip off Application for Windows)! By the way, you can upload Frets of Fire sim files to enhance your song library as well. Why buy from the store when you can just get Frets of Fire sim files anyway? Having the privilege of customizing your track list has never been this good. Since Frets of Fire doesn’t only cater English songs, you can just upload your favorite songs (whatever language they may be) and enjoy the tour. Each track also has 4 modes of difficulty. I’m not sure about the Frets of Fire songs, but if they manage to retain their difficulty settings then that would DEFINITELY rock.

 

Levels?

And yet another MMO aspect embedded on a browser game. Yes! You can level up in this game, but it only gives you more fans and doesn’t really unlock anything other than the number of your level. Well, at least you can show them why you are to be feared.

Get More Fans in RockFree

Certain troubles

During my playtime I’ve encountered a bunch of problems that probably need attending to. Whenever you check the guide or any other info at the top part of the screen, you’ll have to login again to continue playing. It’s not that much of a problem but can really get on your nerves when you’re in a rush to play, though. The game also tends to lose focus and disconnect once in a while, so I guess that needs tending to as well.

 

VERDICT!

Since the game is in Open Beta it would be unfair to bash it with harsh comments since it still has the capability to improve. The game is basically one of the best MMMO (Massively MUSICAL Multiplayer Online) Browser games in my opinion. They could add a couple of more features, starting with the wardrobe selection (they definitely need more of those there). The difficulty setting is really awesome but isn’t too technical since the buttons aren’t too sensitive. You can just mash and get a good streak while strumming randomly. Since you can’t die in the game, you could say that it lacks the challenge of actually being able to finish the song.  I was able to finish certain songs in this game on the hardest difficulty just by mashing the controls. The auto strum function is useful as well since some people are just aiming to have fun while pressing random buttons. Open Beta? It’s pretty good. I can’t wait for the finished product.

 

Note: For a better experience, lift your keyboard in the form of a guitar and start playing XD!

 

The good:
– It’s Rockband/Guitar Hero online man!
– Impressive visuals
– Frets of fire compatibility
– Item mall or Song mall.

 

The bad:
– Relogging issues
– Disconnecting issues
– Still lacks features or content
– Pay for tracks? (Why not make it unlockable?)