Yearly Archives: 2009

Angels Online: Wave Harbor Preview

Today, the Angels Online team is giving a brief introduction to Wave Harbor, a new scene for the “Lost Atlantis” expansion.

Wave Harbor is located to the south of Palm Base. Passing through the tropical coco trees and along the endless golden beaches, players will arrive in this mysterious sea area. Because Wave Harbor is a shallow sea along the coast which connects with the mainland, many players choose this place to train their diving skill.

As a small sea connecting the ocean and the mainland, and affected by the warm current from the east, the water temperature here is very comfortable all year round. What’s more, huge creatures such as sharks are unable to come here because of the reefs. So all creatures, whether big or small can enjoy a comfortable life here.

The comfortable weather not only fosters great schools of fish but also a flourishing underwater oasis of marine plant life. Production players may find themselves busy for days if they come and collect materials here. For example, Bloody Alga is a common herb which is necessary to manufacture potions or items with attributes. Many Production players work hard in Eden to try and get some rare Wanderer Den. However, Wanderer Den can be found everywhere in Wave Harbor.

Not everything in Wave Harbor is calm, peaceful and relaxing. Because of the special frame of Atlantis and the rocks that dot this shallow sea, it is not as peaceful as it seems. Many ships have been known to knock into the reefs and leave their scattered remains just below the crashing waves.

There is an explorer called Eye Eric in the top right corner of the map. He has lived here for a long time, but now finds himself trapped by a group of Mermaids. Eric may ask Level 75+ players for help, and players can obtain abundant rewards by defeating the Mermaids and rescuing him. If players would like to enhance their rank, it is a good idea for them to accept the quest repeatedly.

Apart from the Mermaids, there is a group of evil, fierce Scale Fish covered in thick scales. These scales give them high defensive abilities. Be careful! The deadly spell attacks from the “gentle” Bal Jellyfish may hurt players as well!

Gold Farmer Bounty Hunting: The Newest Innovation In Player Moderation

By Rick Charbs, Onrpg writer

Gold farming has been an issue in MMORPGs since the very beginning of online gaming. Players who offer real money in return for in-game currency quickly unbalance the economy within the game, resulting in a harsher difficulty to retrieve items for the average player. Something has yet to be done to completely demolish this common, yet obnoxious issue although I have some interesting news to bear, and with that you can ask yourselves whether we are seeing any progress towards the disappearance of gold-farmers everywhere or not.

If you have been following the Free MMORPG scene lately, you may have come to realise the new features companies are beginning to implement, as the demand for them is soaring up high. Although 2008 was a slight disappointment in the field of MMO innovation, thing are starting to improve; slowly, but surely! Despite these innovations, we are still lacking to see completely unique elements in an MMORPG. Of course there are exceptions, but frankly the appeal to new F2P (free to play) MMORPGs is dying out.

Luckily for us, some F2P MMO companies are still focusing on the community and their game rather than revenue. Granted, they still need to make some money in order to be able to host their game and profit, though their priorities are much better organized than the majority of game companies. An example of this I have stumbled upon recently is Ingle Games Ltd., publishers of the MMORPG recently released in closed-beta, Chaos Online. I won’t be getting into details of this game’s function and such, though you can view the Chaos Online review here.

 

So what is so special about Chaos Online?

Without much knowledge of the game, you may be asking yourselves this very question. Well, first of all, as far as my personal opinion goes, I did not enjoy the game. It was decent in general, but it was definitely not made for me. It is special because of the continuous support and surveillance offered by Ingle Games. Various ongoing activities and events revolve around how players want the game to be; how you want your personal experience in the game to resemble. As farfetched as this may seem, they have accomplished just that. Without the use of a player-moderator system, Ingle Games has found many ways to ensure player’s aid in making the game enjoyable for everyone. The most interesting one that I have discovered is undoubtedly the gold farmer bounty hunting.

Basically, any player that locates and successfully reports a gold-farmer within the game, he or she will be awarded with 10% of the gold acquired by that particular gold farmer (…and the gold-farmer will clearly get banned). Now, 10% may not seem like such a large reward, but considering the fact that they are hired as gold collectors, they will have quite the sum in their inventories. With such a simple system at hand, almost everyone can take part in this bounty hunting, and this will ultimately result in the disappearance of gold farmers and of hackers within the game. We can only hope so, but it is a great step forward for free MMORPGs. What can be better than gathering riches from hunting down the rule breakers?

 

Final Note

With gold farming being such an annoyance these days, I personally believe even an innovation such as in-game bounty hunting isn’t good enough to get rid of the industry. I don’t believe we will ever see F2P MMORPGs without gold farming influence. In countries such as China, gold farming is a large business, and a simple game company will not bring them down. Even so, I am very glad an MMORPG company has finally decided to offer rewards for helping their game reach a cleaner and more appropriate status for everyone to enjoy, and for that I give them my thanks. Gold farmer bounty hunting is a very creative idea, and I am sure it will catch on in many other games to come. That being said, P2P MMORPGs also have a long way to go, only that it is more likely they will be able to diminish gold-farmers faster than their free to play counterparts.

Chaos Online has brought a whole new standard in player moderation, and I hope this will teach other publishers out there that their loyal players are able to make a difference within their game. The one problem with being human beings though, is that we’ll probably be expecting something in return.

LGP Renamed Destiny Online, Open Beta on Jan 13, 2009!

In the past few months we witnessed the incredible growth of LGP Online. With all the great support from our amazing players, we were able to improve this game in so many ways.
Now we are ready to take a huge next step for this great game. We will launch the Open Beta of this game on January 13, 2009.

Prior to the Open Beta, we feel that it is time to give LGP Online a new name. After careful thoughts and receiving lots of feedbacks from our players, we would like to present to you, Destiny Online, the MMORPG featuring Beautiful 2D Graphics, Exotic Weapons, Powerful Skills, Loyal Pets, Versatile Mounts, Fierce PK, Tribal War, Online Romance and Wild Wedding Party. We believe that with all your continued support and help, it is our “destiny” to make this game one of the greatest MMORPGs.

During the Open Beta period, we will work hard to bring our players some very exciting new features:

1. Max level will be increased from 100 to 120. This means more maps, more monsters and more Bosses, and more quests;
2. The newly introduced Equipment Growth System will be further advanced. You will be able to put various equipment skills on your equipment to make them truly unique;
3. A set of 40 brand new fashionable costumes that will make you look more beautiful or handsome;
4. We will continue to improve the existing game systems by doing more bug fixes, and adjusting game balance;
5. A brand new server “Penguin” will be opened on the date of Open Beta to accommodate our growing player base.

We look forward to seeing you in Destiny Online, where legend meets reality! Please check our official website for more information: http://destiny.enjoymmo.com/cover.html.

Tales of Pirates: New Year Event: Harvest Ceremony

Tales of Pirates will be holding an interesting Harvest Ceremony event for players to enjoy the fruits of their labor in the New Year. Thanks to their tireless work during the past year, they’ve reaped a bumper crop and the GMs have decided to give something back to the most diligent worker’s in the game. If you can collect the item the GM requires, you will obtain Sand Bags and gold rewards!

Event Duration: 09:00pm -10:30pm EST (GMT-5) January 12th
Event Location: Shaitan City

Content
During the event players need to collect 10 required props in a limited time, then go to find the GM to redeem them for production props and gold helpful for the players’ training. Each player can only redeem 10 props. It is an event that can greatly increase a players’ leveling speed, so this is especially good for newbies!

The joy of harvest is bringing fun and bonuses to pirates in 2009, so pay attention for more of these fantastic events in the coming months!

Voyage Century: Open the Golden Gate

After a long, long wait, the America continent will be finally available to our players. Steer your cool vessels to one of these ports and see what the new world has to offer you. Seward San Francisco, Cruz, Salinas, San Diego, and Magellan will be all available to our players.

Seward

Seward is located on the west coast of Alaska. Though it is far north, it is an ice-free port. Further to the west is the Bering Strait. This port is famous for lumber, fishing and the gold and silver brought in from nearby mines.

San Francisco

Occupying just 48 hilly square miles at the tip of a slender peninsula, it’s almost perfectly centered along the Californian coast. Arguably the most beautiful, and certainly the most liberal city in the US, it remains true to itself: a funky, individualistic, surprisingly small, but dense city whose people pride themselves on being the cultured counterparts to their cousins in LA ? the last bastion of civilization on the lunatic fringe of America.

Cruz

Constructed in 1540AD, it is a very important trade port to the north of Colombia. The altitude of this city is 33 meters above sea level, so the wide meadows have never been affected by the tide.

Salinas

Salinas, considered as the original source of the Mayan civilization, is always a mysterious place for us. Vast forests containing large numbers of ferocious wild creatures live here. In addition, mines producing ample amounts of rare ore have attracted a lot of adventurers, however it’s been said that many of the adventurers who came to this place haven’t returned home yet.

San Diego

San Diego lies in the center of the Santiago Basin, a large bowl-shaped valley consisting of a broad and fertile plain surrounded by mountains. Santiago was founded by Spanish on February 12, 1541 with the name Santiago del Nuevo Extremo, as a homage to Saint James and Extremadura, Valdivia’s birth place in Spain. The founding ceremony was held on Huelén Hill (later renamed Cerro Santa Lucía). Valdivia chose the location of Santiago because of its climate, abundant vegetation and the ease with which it could be defended-the Mapocho River then split into two branches and rejoined further downstream, forming an island.

Magellan

The Straits of Magellan c.330 mi (530 km) long and 2 1/2 to 15 mi (4-24 km) wide, separates South America from Tierra del Fuego and other islands south of the continent. Except for a few miles at its eastern end in Argentina, the strait passes mainly through Chile. The strait, discovered by Ferdinand Magellan in 1520, was important in the days of sailing ships, especially before the building of the Panama Canal and is still used by ships rounding South America. One of the most scenic waterways in the world, it affords an inland passage protected from almost continuous ocean storms in the region. However, the strait is often foggy and it’s twists and turns can be deadly. The major city on the strait is Punta Arenas, on the mainland.

Global Agenda: beta signups begin!

Hi-Rez Studios announced today that players can now apply to participate in closed beta for Global Agenda, an action massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) scheduled for release in late 2009. The closed beta is anticipated to begin in the second quarter of ’09 and players can apply by visiting http://www.globalagendagame.com/

Global Agenda, built using Unreal® Engine 3, is set in a near future world of advanced technology and player-driven conflict. It features fast-paced ranged and close combat, RPG-style character progression, solo or cooperative team missions, and epic, competitive campaigns between player-created agencies.

“Our alpha testing has gone very well – in terms of game stability and, most importantly, very positive feedback from an active alpha community”,
said Todd Harris, Executive Producer of Hi-Rez Studios. “Based on these results we are excited about aggressively growing the Global Agenda player community in Beta”

Features Intended for Closed Beta Include:

  • Develop your agent – Create, extensively customize, and improve your agent character over the course of your career, complimenting your FPS skills with RPG-style progression and high-tech gear.
  • Join with other agents – Engage in cooperative PvE missions to develop and refine your individual and team tactics
  • Advance your agency – Join a player-created agency, compete in technology races for advanced equipment, and capture critical locations to increase your influence in the world.
  • Compete in fast-paced PvP combat – Work with your allies to raid or capture enemy controlled facilities during objective-based missions. Equip yourself from a powerful array of weapons, armor, and strategic devices like triggered explosives, deployable turrets, stealth suits, holographic decoys, and remote control robots.
  • Experience a dynamic, player-driven world – Agency leaders navigate through a global conflict of other player-run groups, striving to reach their goals first. Territory, resources, technology, and influence are all valuable commodities, with agencies engaging in politics, intrigue, and outright deception to control them.

EVE Online: Apocrypha Uncovers a New Version of the Universe Itself

CCP, one of the world’s leading independent game developers, today announced the launch of the tenth free expansion for EVE Online, its popular science fiction massively multi-player online game (MMOG). EVE Online: Apocrypha is the most ambitious EVE expansion in the game’s over five year history and it coincides with the March 10th, 2009 release of EVE Online as a boxed product through a partnership with Atari.

The fabric of space itself will be transformed as vast, unpredictable wormholes open to connect previously unexplored regions of the universe to the stars of New Eden. The seeds of advanced new technology await inside of these cosmic anomalies for those brave enough to explore them. This infusion of technology will enable production of the most dynamic vessels ever Tech 3 modular ships with an astounding amount of customizability that can fill any role from skirmish muscle to industrial support.

Furthermore, NPC agents in EVE Online: Apocrypha will be authorized to assign Epic Mission Arcs to the pilots of New Eden. These branching, far-reaching mission strings are full of meaningful stories and more intelligent and deadly adversaries.
In addition, we are offering an entirely reworked New Player Experience for those joining (or rejoining) the game giving them better insight into how to thrive in a truly limitless universe.

We’ve already launched EVElopedia, a great repository for information on all things EVE where our players are also building their own living history of the previous five years of Alliance warfare, political intrigue and nostalgic recollection.

“Just this past week we broke our concurrent user record with 45,186 people flying unbound in the same game world at the same time, a huge percentage of our quarter of a million current subscribers and a true testament to EVE in our sixth year of operation,”
said EVE Online Senior Producer Torfi Frans Olafsson. “Today is an unprecedented time to start playing, as you can get ahead of the curve before Apocrypha releases in stores and our hard work hits the server cluster. It’ll be easier than ever to get ‘lost in the wormhole’ that is EVE with what we have planned for the future of our expanding universe.”

Leading up to the release of EVE Online: Apocrypha and the boxed version of EVE Online in stores, we’ll be revealing more features on https://secure.eve-online.com/redir.asp?aid=104770.

Availability:
EVE Online: Apocrypha will be available at retail stores across the galaxy in March this year and as a free download for existing subscribers. A new Premium graphics client for Mac will also be included in the retail box.

Visit the EVE website now to sign up for a free 14-day trial account or reactivate your account to get ahead of the curve.