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Yearly Archives: 2009
Eudemons: Demon Rising Trailer
It’s been a year since the collapse of the Demon Empire. Parties were still held across Cronus to celebrate the victory of humanity. No one noticed the cloud of darkness ….
Voyage Century Review: Rarely Seen Graphic Level in F2P Adventure
Voyage Century Review: Rarely Seen Graphic Level in F2P Adventure
By Kei Beneza (dividelife), Onrpg Journalist
Voyage Century is a free to play MMORPG that takes us back to the old days when vast world exploration and international trades served as a way of life. In this game you are not limited to land and may continue your exploration via sea as well. This means that regardless of how small the cities are, there is still much to discover since you basically have the whole world to explore. The game is quite historical, making it (a bit) educational and fun at the same time. As a citizen in the middle ages, it’s up to you whether you choose a peaceful life of trading and barter or a life of adventure and sea fights. The choice is up to you…
Your adventure starts now
Voyage Century respects a lot of systems. In fact, it gets tiring just by studying them. PK system, trading system, combat system, it always gets on my nerves since I’ve never heard the word “system” being mentioned so many times. The game generally revolves around exploration, businesses and bounties. Once you attain your desired role in the game (adventurer, merchant, pirate, guardian, officer) you’ll be piloting your ship through rough waters in your search for land and glory. You’ll encounter a lot of historical places throughout your journey (told ya it was educational). I don’t know about you but being able to visit real places from a virtual perspective makes it rather appealing.

One of the best parts of the game is the ability to fully enjoy the life of a pirate. The game runs on open PVP so you might want to watch your back when roaming the open seas. Ganking (the art of attacking an enemy from behind) is a huge element in almost every MMO and this one serves no different from the rest. It’s a killed-or-be-killed world out there so arming yourself often would be a good idea. Open PVP is a good idea for hardcore players but can be bad and rather annoying for most of the carebears (non-PVP types) out there.
Quests
Quests also take you deeper into the heart of the game’s storyline, with a variety of tasks that would normally just lead to a mini game of “bring me this and bring me that”. The game has a bunch of quests, but the linearity of having to play a game of virtual fetch doesn’t quite cut it. Soon, you will be opted to go around in search of pirates. Combat is a nonlinear element of any MMO so if playing fetch gets old, your best bet would be to fight. Although the game has tons of quests, hardcore players may find the chains a bit too fast (and easy) during their adventures. This means that once you finish some of the quests, you’ll be left “task-less” for a long period of time. Like I said, your best bet is to fight.
Ye Olde Cash is Ye King
Like any other MMO, money is the key to getting stronger as it provides you with necessities and gear. People would often tell you to do quests in order to progress faster both financially and level-wise. In this case, money is not that hard to gain. Despite the number of quests, killing pirates would still be the easiest form of income. You can also consider living through the trade system, but the price range may betray you for your efforts, especially since the demand for certain elements gradually changes over time. Though some jobs make life easier for others, the game respects the importance of each class so you won’t have to worry about not being needed. The economy runs through everyone’s effort so go ahead and do whatever it is you must do.

The essence of adventure
Ever wanted to use a treasure map? As an adventurer, your task would be to explore the world and jot down your findings. Things such as maps and other mythological treasures can be found within the boundaries of the game. There are more than a thousand findings in Voyage Century, and playing treasure hunter would be much more enjoyable through your visual screen than in your head (imagination is outdated LOL).
Graphics
It was certainly love at first sight for me since it was the first time I’ve seen a free to play MMO render things this well. No matter how you look at it, the elements blend well together. The visuals alone gives the game a form of realism as it renders each element to perfection. Seeing your ship sail through the open sea while fighting pirates and looking for treasure has never looked this good (ever). While the graphics aren’t as good as today’s games, I would still say that the visuals aren’t too dull to be outdated. The water moves nicely, breezing through the place as your ships sails across the border.
Combat was expressed quite nicely as the cannons bring enough impact to satisfy your craving for an intense visual impact. The mass of the artillery can be weighed by how it looks. It is quite rare for games to show the mass of an object through visuals alone. The game’s graphics have impressed me thoroughly since I was able to build my personal relationship with the game’s elements even without the aid of sound (it was as though I could tell how hard it would hit just by looking at it).

Sound?
One factor that I would deem poor would be the game’s lack of sounds. Even though most of the your actions are backed up by certain soundclips, these elements do not blend well together. Certain crashes would often stand out and ruin the ambiance, creating an empty feeling comparable to watching a 5.1 channel movie with only one speaker.
The Verdict
The game is good and should be played by anyone who’s looking for something new. Since everyone is stuck with mass leveling and on-land combat, this would serve as a good change of scenery. Item malls are always good but normally causes money whoring which pretty much destroys the fun. The sounds are really bad and the game lacks music as well. Picking your job is quite tricky since it would normally come down to which one progresses faster. Though the game needs every class to make the economy move, an individual wouldn’t want to get left behind just cause he is needed.
The Good:
– Good graphics
– Lots of systems to ponder on
– Treasure hunting rocks
– Open PVP
The Bad:
– Bad sound effects
– Lack of Music
– Open PVP
– Money trouble
Building Browser Games Interview
By Joshua Temblett (Dontkillmydreams), OnRPG Journalist
Building Browser Games (http://www.buildingbrowsergames.com) is a website dedicated to creating and programming a browser based game. With various tutorials and a helpful community, you’ll soon find yourself learning the basics of code and fulfilling your dreams of making that game you’ve always dreamt about.
The one thing I will say is, after searching the Internet many times for information about how to get started building a game, is that it’s nice to finally come across a place that tells you where to begin this otherwise very daunting task. The guides will take you through the integral births of your game, such as preparing your server, to the foundations of the genre such as stats and general gameplay. One of the things that impressed me the most about Building Browser Games.com was how short but sweet the tutorials were, enabling you to quickly see results. I will say that if you perhaps aren’t as good with PHP or MySQL as you used to be, or if you have yet to learn the two coding formats then you may want to visit w3schools.com to either brush up on them, or learn them.
Another thing I found incredibly interesting were the articles about whether or not there were markets for various types of text based games. I generally love looking at gaming markets and whether or not a game will work due to over/under saturation of a genre or recent gaming trends. These articles on buildingbrowsergames.com will give you an insight into the industry so that you can decide just what type of game you want to make. Post Mortems, when a developer picks apart their development process and aspects of the game, are also featured on the website. These will help you in creating your game and will hopefully stop you from making a mistake that another developer has made. The importance of these cannot be stressed enough. Many times when I’ve been designing a game or thinking about making one, I’ve turned to these to see what problems and issues to avoid.
To elaborate on the community further, they really are incredibly helpful. As long as you don’t go into the forums acting like a moron or a twelve year old who’s got “this incredibly awesome idea” which you decide not to example or provide a design document for, you’ll be fine. In all honesty, this website is one of the best for information with regards to creating a browser based game. It’s got everything you could possibly want from a website dedicated to building video games. So if you’re excited about the thought of making your own dream game then I certainly recommend that you stop by this website, you won’t regret it.
Just for you (I just keep on giving don’t I?) I managed to catch up with Luke, the creator of www.buildingbrowsergames.com, to ask him a few questions.
Onrpg: How did you come up with the idea of building a website dedicated to budding programmers intent on creating a browser based game?
I used to be a fairly active member on a website dedicated to programmers helping other programmers; one of the more common questions that got asked in the web development sections was “how do I make a browsergame?”(other variants included “can I have the code for a browsergame”, or the ever popular “how do I make a mafia game?”). I figured that one of the best ways to answer the question, once and for all, would be to create a website devoted *to* answering that question.
Onrpg: What kind of responses have you had to the website? Have any games been made using your tutorials?
The responses to the website have been, for the most part, overwhelmingly positive. I actually had someone who was blind contact me last December to thank me for writing my tutorials and ask for help with some problems she was having – I’ve also had lots of helpful readers point out technical errors and details I’ve missed, which has been nice. While a few readers have e-mailed me to say that they are in the midst of building games using the tutorial as a base, I haven’t heard of any being released to the public just yet – I’m looking forward to seeing the finished products, though.
Onrpg: How would you suggest someone begins creating a browser based game? What should they do to get started?
Typically I’ve found that the best way to start building a browsergame is by building a single piece of it, and then building another piece and incorporating them together – by starting small and showing off your prototypes, you can gather a lot of valuable feedback early on in the process, in addition to providing the small victories that I’ve found help a great deal in keeping motivated to finish a project. Working on a game one small, manageable chunk at a time also tends to help you refine your design; you might build your combat system one way, only to realize that your commerce system needs your combat system to work a little bit differently. As you build each piece and connect them, you can see the relationships and iron the kinks out as they come up. Also, if your idea isn’t quite what you wanted it to be and you decide to pursue a different one, you can (in some cases) reuse the code that you were writing – if you’ve written one bulletproof registration system, you’re that much farther ahead on your next project. I’ve noticed lately that the skeletons of my own projects tend to start out with a lot of code that I’ve copied from other projects I’ve worked on; everything that you’ve worked on before just becomes another entry in your personal library of code to work with for the next project.
Onrpg: What would you say is the hardest part of developing a game?
I would say that the hardest part of developing a game is in staying disciplined and focused on seeing it through. For all the thousands of games that are already out there, there are tens of thousands that got to 80%, faltered, and then fell by the wayside. Finishing your current project instead of moving on to another one is extremely difficult; most of the people I’ve talked to are doing this in their spare time, so it’s easy to go “it doesn’t cost me anything to switch to another idea/project”, without realizing that there’s an opportunity cost involved in not finishing the game they’re working on before moving on to the next one.
Onrpg: With all your experience do you still find coding browser based games difficult?
I wouldn’t say that it’s the programming that’s hard, anymore; it’s coming up with original ideas, and seeing them through to completion. The mafia idea has been done to death, and fantasy kingdoms and space are getting there as well. I’m really impressed by games like Forumwarz (http://forumwarz.com) and Kingdom of Loathing (http://kingdomofloathing.com) – they’ve managed to come up with games that are completely unique and original (and even built worlds around them) in a space that seems to be dominated by space, castles, and the mafia.
Onrpg: Do you think that anyone can be a games developer? What skills do you think it requires?
I would say that yes, anyone can do it if they set their mind to it and are willing to put in the effort required. However, it’s important to keep in mind that there’s a fine line between “building games for 10 years while working a dayjob”, and “built a successful game and now pursues game development full-time” – the line is dedication.
Strong organizational skills are a good asset to have in virtually all aspects of your life; game development is no exception. Being able to plan ahead (or at least keep your designs flexible) is also a big plus – your game will get to done a lot faster if you don’t have to backtrack or rebuild anything.
Onrpg: Do you think there is a big market for browser based games?
I think that the market for browser based games is absolutely massive – there’s a lot of wide open room for new players to get into the game. Browser-based games are so flexible that they can appeal to anyone – and I think that there are a lot of opportunities just waiting to be taken advantage of by an enterprising game developer.
Onrpg: What is the single most important lesson you’ve learnt from your experiences in making games?
I would say that the most important lesson I’ve ever learned while making games was a simple one: don’t get too attached to your design. By the time you release your game, it will probably be totally different from the game that you originally imagined; – and then after you release your game, you’ll find that your playerbase has a completely different idea of what direction your game should take than you do.
Onrpg: What’s your favourite video game of all time?
I would have to say that my favorite video game of all time is probably Nethack (http://nethack.org/) – every time I play it, the experience is different. It also sort of proves that you don’t need the snazziest graphics to make a good game. There we have it, I hope this interview informed you about just what it takes to be a programmer/designer and the mindset required. It does require a lot of time making a game but I think you’ll find that in the end it’s worth it and if you’re a budding developer then I can only say this to you: one day, I look forward to interviewing you about your game.
Fiesta Online: A New Dungeon! Introducing Crystal Castle
At OnRPG we really like to get rumors straight from the source. This time we heard from someone at Outspark that they are working on a new dungeon for high level players: The Crystal Castle!

Siege of Mirkwood Trailer
The forest of Mirkwood is not what it used to be. The woodelves are gone, their halls in ruins. Now its trees are dark and you will be able to siege it in December!
AdventureQuest Worlds Interview – Battle on!
Questions by Mohammed Afzal (MageMoa), Onrpg Journalist
Answered by Adam Bohn, Founder/CEO Artix Entertainment, LLC.
Adventure Quest Worlds is a MMORPG created by Artix Entertainment. Artix Entertainment is known for games such as Adventure Quest, Dragon Fable and Mech Quest. Artix is so incredibly popular because of their browser based games, which allow you to play an amazing game in your browser without having to download something, that the staff is sometimes a bit… scared of all these people playing their games, but they are always willing to help you!
AQworlds is a great and easy playable game with extraordinary game-play full of amazing features and a helpful community, still there are a lot of things that we are unsure about, so we decided to ask our friends at Artix Entertainment if they were willing to answer a few questions about the game.
Onrpg: Could you introduce yourself, please?
Thank you for taking the time to interview me about AdventureQuest Worlds at www.AQ.com! I am Adam Bohn, the founder of Artix Entertainment, LLC. The players of our web based online games may know me better as Artix.

Onrpg: AdventureQuest Worlds looks like a second version of AdventureQuest. What did you want to accomplish by making this game?
We wanted to battle monsters together in our first ever, massively multiplayer game! The goal was to create a true MMO based on the original AdventureQuest that you can play from any web browser in the world. It features chat, real-time combat, live events, wars, cut scenes and a continuous supply of crazy new releases for you to play.

As our biggest and most challenging game project…we are often surprised that it actually works!
Onrpg: Is the plot of AdventureQuest Worlds the same as AdventureQuest’s?
AQWorld’s first major storyline is the 13 Lords of Chaos. It is completely new and full of epic embarrassment. You play one of the Kingdom’s greatest heroes (level 1 with no skills and newbie gear… of course) who arrives just in time for the final showdown between good and evil! When both sides are wiped out by a mysterious new threat you and your fellow players must determine the fate of our world…

For the record, I am very proud that your character gets electrocuted, shot out of a giant crossbow, and then makes an emergency crash landing on Dragon-back in your first sitting of game play. Not to shabby for a web game! Our team is building the adventure weekly as you play it. So if you are caught up with the story (very easy to do) you can help come up with ideas for the next release and give us feedback on our forums.
Onrpg: AdventureQuest Worlds isn’t turn-based like most of your games. What is the reason for this?
I love the combat in our other games, but real-time multiplayer combat is a must for a true MMO like AQWorlds. Nothing beats the thrill of battling a boss monster with your friends… like the evil fire Dragon, Vasalkdar. Most monsters drop rare and valuable rewards: weapons, armors, helms, pets, designs. One of the best cooperative features of AQWorlds is that all players who participate in a battle get the reward if it drops. So there will be no loot fights between friends in this game!

Onrpg: Could you describe the combat of the game?
Combat is fast, easy and fun. Click on a monster once to target it. Click on it again to attack! That will get you started, but soon you will want to start using skills. Your skills and abilities can make the difference between life and respawn. Each character class has a unique set of skills that unlock as you rank it up. You start the game as a Warrior, Mage, Rogue or Healer. But you can be as many classes as you want and switch among them at any time. Just go to a trainer and learn a new one. This includes Paladin, Pirate, Berserker, Ninja, and many more. We will be adding an insane number of classes with new skills types in the future including Necromancer, Illusionist, and the highly anticipated DOOMKNIGHT!

What happens when you die? AQWorlds has been accused of being the least punishing game when it comes to the BIG SLEEP. You have to wait a few seconds before respawning, and poof… you are back in the game. No XP loss. No armor repair bill. Of course we have nothing to prevent your friends from rubbing it in that you could not solo that level 5 chainsaw wielding sneevil on your own. Rumor has it that Death is at full capacity so he just keeps sending people back… more on this story in an upcoming release.

Onrpg: What unique features does AdventureQuest Worlds offer us?
AQWorlds offers…. Hmmm. Would it be alright if I just made a jumbo list?

- Become Good or Evil (and switch if you change your mind)
- Multiple Classes on one character, and the ability to switch at will! (Need a healer? *poof* No problem!)
- Instantly teleport to any friend on your friends list
- Levelable Weapons: Enhance any weapon to make it more powerful
- Customizable Look: Put any armor on over your class to look however you want
- Special Holiday and other random events
- Wars! All players work together to overcome an army of monsters and their leader.
- You can enter the Konami Code on our homepage (shhh, I did not say that)
- You can make your friends earn your gold and exp while you are offline with our friend referral system
- Fully Animated Cut scenes
- /airguitar emote
- Room Instances – When a room fills up, a clone is made and that one starts filling up. You will never be crowded trying to access an NPC
- Because we are creating the game as you play it… anything can happen. Which means ANY of the Chaos Lords could potentially win and destroy the world… or whatever those crazy Chaos-y types would do if they won
- LIVE EVENTS with special guests!
Onrpg: AdventureQuest Worlds has a wide variety of younger and older players. Is there anything that protects the younger players?
We have “Moglin Safe Servers” for our younger adventurers. These servers replace chat with a pre-generated list of things to say. Moglins are the cute mascot characters of our games. We named all of the servers after famous moglins including Twilly (the red healing moglin) and Zorbak (the 100% ebil blue moglin.)
Onrpg: What are AdventureCoins and how can you obtain them?
Most items in the game are available for gold. However you will need a few AdventureCoins if you are looking to buy something from Valencia, the rare item hunter. She sells bag slots, bank slots and permanent member-quality items. A generous sum of AdventureCoins comes with an upgraded membership and refills are available if you ever run out. It is also possible to earn AdventureCoins through our forum contests, a character in-game named Ballyhoo, and our upcoming toolbar.
Onrpg: What are the benefits of becoming an Upgraded Member?
Honestly, we work really hard for both Free and Upgraded players of the game. If you enjoy our game and want to help us continue growing, becoming an upgraded member will ensure we do. In addition to a warm and fuzzy feeling, you also get exclusive access to member-only areas, pets, special class armors, special enhancements to increase weapon damage, and access to the Member-only server. Coming soon: Upgraded players get to ride the free players as mounts. (Kidding!)
Onrpg: A few weeks ago, you had a big event on Friday the 13th and it was a great success. Are you planning on doing these kind of events again?
Thank you! Yes, we held our first live event with musical guest Voltaire on Friday the 13th. It was a multipart story with new art, monsters, items, music and our first voice-over NPC! We controlled the live event from a secret location controlling every instance of every room at the same time. Over thirty three thousand people attended and crashed our servers like the Titanic. All in all, it was awesome. There were a lot of interesting and rare items. The event was available in re-re-run mode for two weeks to make sure everyone got a chance to play through the adventure. We are currently setting up new live events… and getting a few more servers!

Onrpg: Which characters from your other games can we see in AdventureQuest Worlds?
Thanks to a cleverly crafted plothole (about the size of the Grand Canyon), it is likely that every one of your favorite heroes and villains from our previous three games will make an appearance in AQWorlds. The storyline is bringing in hordes of new villains who will displace the old ones. They say an enemy of my enemy is a friend. So it will be interesting seeing how you do working side-by-side with former arch-nemesis to battle an even stronger new foe.
All of the well known heroes have been appearing in the game. Artix (Hey, that is me!) and Robina can be found on the way to Battleon. The town of Battleon is almost an exact replica of the on in the original AdventureQuest so Warlic, Aria, Yulgar and Valencia are there. Cysero from DragonFable can be found in the tub, upstairs in the inn. When first playing the game you will run into the 100% ebil Moglin, Zorbak. Moglins are our cute mascot characters. Twilly (good), Zorbak (ebil), and Twig (cwazy!) are the most famous Moglins and can be found in all of our games.
For our special holiday events we have been drawing heavily from the lore of our previous games. For Mogloween (our Halloween event) we introduced Safiria the Vampire Queen, and the three witches Bubble, Toil, and Trouble from DragonFable. For the Winter Frostvale event players battled the infamous Dragonmaster Frostscythe and Frosty the Snowgolem. Just recently during Easter Break, the Genwog (a menacing yet bizarre egg collecting monster who wears boxing gloves) made his appearance. (He was haaaaaaard. But he dropped a rare tooth that eventually turned into a little Grenwog pet.)
In the real story… long time players were SHOCKED at what happened in the final duel between King Alteon and the DoomKnight Sepulchure. The introduction of AQWorld’s main boss caught everyone off guard if you know this characters long, dark and terrible history. It is unthinkable that he could rise to such power after everything we put him through.!
Onrpg: It has been said that AQW’s site is getting 400,000 visits a day. What is your response to that?
Wow! I really hope they do not all suddenly decide to show up at the exact same time.

Go team!
Onrpg: There have been rumors about the possibility of transferring your characters from the other Artix Entertainment games to AdventureQuest Worlds. Is this true and when will this feature go live?
Great question! This is the “import your character data” feature that we are excited about. When we were first building AQWorlds we made it possible to link your accounts. Right now, you can access selected items if you are upgrade in one of our other games. The original idea was to give the game one-time, one-way access to your other characters, items, and achievements. This was a great plan, but then we thought… “why just one-way, one-time?” So we came up with a bigger and better idea. We are currently building a master account system for our players that will allow for achievements, chat, and character data transfer across ALL of our games and mini-games. It is a really ambitious project and this is the first time it has been publically mentioned. If you listen carefully you can already hear our Database servers crying. This system will do a lot, but here is one example: If you unlock the Blade of Awe in the original AdventureQuest, it will unlock an achievement making that weapon design available for you to use in the AQWorlds MMO (and possibly unlocking something special in the other games as well.) Another example: If you play Moglin Punter 2: Twigby and complete it, you will unlock a special achievement that will open the Twigby shop in select games allowing you to by special items, weapons, pets to reward your accomplishment. The system will make it possible to transfer gold and specific items between games… and even entire characters depending. For the record, this is exactly as scary as it sounds.
Onrpg: What things are you planning to do next in AdventureQuest Worlds?
Right now we are working on Player owned Houses/Castles, and Guilds. We are really excited about this. Individual players will own houses that they can customize, personalize, and upgrade them to towers, fortresses, castles, underground lairs, flying citadels, etc. Guilds will own entire towns made of the players houses. It will be pretty crazy. We are also working on STATS which must be completed before we can start releasing the newest classes and start work on PvP. We want to try some new things with PvP to make it a really fun experience for players who choose to step into the battle arenas. Finally, we have a HUUUUUGE master account system project. It is going to be a great year for AdventureQuest Worlds!
Onrpg: Is there anything else you would like to mention?
BATTLE ON! And don’t forget to visit us at www.artixentertainment.com and www.aqworlds.com.
Onrpg: Thank you for answering our questions!
Thank you!
Allods: Kick Goblins!
As Allods Online moves closer to the launch of its Closed Beta Test this Autumn, gPotato Europe is proud to announce Goblinoball, one of the many unique elements to feature in Allods Online this Autumn.
Have you ever played soccer in a MMORPG? Well in Allods Online, you can! Known as “Goblinoball”, players can travel to the disputed allod known as Competition Island and make their way to the Goblinoball Arena. Here, they can join a team with other faction members and compete head-to-head with other teams from either factions using, you guessed it, a goblin as a ball. With a variety of skills to learn and a real life crowd to cheer teams on, Goblinoball allows teams to hone their solidarity and cooperation in a competitive environment.
Allods Online features two warring factions, six races, 28 classes, ship vs ship Astral space battles, mini-games-based crafting systems, PvP, PvE, guilds, 6v6 Goblinoball and many other elements. Players who reach level 35 will be able to start building their own massive Astral spaceship. They can then explore the deep and dynamic Astral environment in search of treasure, adventure and new territory, or engage in massive Astral battles featuring dozens of ships, each controlled by a crew of players. With a deep storyline covering thousands of years of in-game history, and over 1,500 quests at release, Allods Online has all the depth to compete with the best subscription MMORPGs on the markets, without any subscription –, ever!

Dragonica Online: Emporia War
Dragonica Online will soon launch Emporia War, an arena for powerful guilds to settle old scores and establish new rivalries.
This guild-versus-guild battleground pits a maximum of twenty-five guild members on either side against each other. After the dust of fifty heroes locked in combat settles and a winner is decided, the champions lay claim to Emporia, a private city and the guild’s prize for their triumph. However, the champion guild can be challenged by clans looking to claim the city for themselves. Every week, the gauntlet will be thrown down and the Emporia War will commence!
How to Wage Emporia War
When the game’s clock strikes 7:00 PM Pacific on Thursday, the Emporia War commences. The challenger and defending champion guilds are able to invite new members before the battle but not during it. There is a maximum of 25 participating characters per guild making for a total of 50 combatants. Participants are able to join 30 minutes prior to the start of the fight but cannot commence combat. A countdown appears to signal the time remaining until the start of Emporia War at which point the map resets to allow for player-versus-player combat.
Emporia War lasts for 30 minutes. To win the Emporia War, you must destroy the opposing guild’s Main Core first or obtain a greater score than the opposing guild within the time limit.
Points are granted for killing the opposing guild’s members and destroying Sub Cores. Enemy characters level 54 or below earns your guild 3 points per kill while enemy characters level 55 or above are worth 5 points per kill. Destroying an enemy Sub Core earns your guild 100 points. Every ten seconds, all dead characters respawn and can continue to fight. A respawn clock can be seen in the center of the screen.
The opposing guild’s Main Core is the primary target. As the Main Core is damaged, the crystals they hold will appear damaged as well. Sub Cores periodically restore the Main Core’s health. The more Sub Cores there are, the more health the Main Core gains. To destroy the Main Core faster, you should destroy the Sub Cores first. The first guild to destroy their opponent’s Main Core wins the match regardless of the score.
Platforms and Pagodas
Emporia War introduces two new environments to the world of Dragonica. The fight takes place in a fog-covered courtyard shrouded in night and dimly lit by a full, pale moon. Mind your step as the cobblestones are slick with moss and rocky cliffs edge the many platforms of this ancient battlefield which mysteriously floats above darkened clouds. Guilds would be wise to study the map’s layout to maximize tactical advantages and devise plans of attack. Traverse bridges and hyperjumps to reach the Sub Cores, winged dragons made of rock clutching glowing spheres. Reach the center platform to find the Main Cores, huge stone drake sculptures mounted upon large globes.
Should you succeed against all opponents, your guild will gain access to the city of Emporia. In stark contrast with the battlefield’s moonlit platforms, Emporia itself is bathed in light. At its center stands a giant colorful pagoda ringed by mist and floating lotus blossoms. Here, you and your guild can meet privately and plan how to defend your hold on this unique prize.
A New Challenger Approaches!
Emporia War is held every Thursday at 7:00 PM Pacific, allowing guilds to challenge the guild currently occupying Emporia city. The challenger guild is determined by a bidding system. Guilds who seek to fight the guild currently occupying Emporia city can bid Guild Experience. Only guild leaders can bid guild experience and thereby submit the guild to the Emporia War. Guild experience is gained from daily (repeatable) guild quests granted by NPC Donny who is found in all towns.
The challenge (bidding) period begins Tuesday, 48 hours before the battle commences, and ends 24 hours later. This grants the challenger guild and defending champion guild a full day to marshal their forces and prepare for battle. The guild that bids the most guild experience is named the challenger guild. All other guilds lose the guild experience that was bid. The defending champions guild does not lose any guild experience regardless of the outcome.
Round One… FIGHT!
Want to know more about Emporia War? Although resurrection and teleportation items don’t work during battle, healing items do work during battle. There is only one Emporia War for all server channels, you do not need to be in any specific channel to travel to the battle as it is a single instance. When an Emporia War ends, a most valuable player from the winning guild is noted in the resulting scoreboard. All members of that guild can travel to Emporia city immediately.
And, perhaps the most interesting extra tidbit to offer, the very first Emporia War will commence this Thursday October 15th at 7:00 PM Pacific and the guild that wins the bidding phase will be facing off against a guild of THQ*ICE employees named ICETEAM! We look forward to facing off against the bold clan of heroes that dares challenge our hold on Emporia!

Tale of Pirates: Class Balance Adjustments and Free Lunch!
Since the last time we heard from the Tales of Pirates team, they’ve been busy working on two new updates;
Class Balance Adjustments
Class balance adjustments have been a hot topic among ToP players since they were first introduced. So far the development team has made great strides toward rebalancing the classes. In the recent update, Cleric and Seal Master staffs are now classified as ranged weapons, putting their attack range on par with that of a bow minus the Miss and Critical Rate. Two Seal Master skills have also been modified. The Shadow Insignia tortures a target, causing damage every 2 sec. The damage is directly related to the level and Spirit point differences between the Seal Master and the target. Seal of the Elder now causes dizziness in the target for 3 seconds.
Free Lunch Now Fully Integrated as an In-game Event
Having received feedback from the community about the long wait times for rewards after the Free Lunch event would end, ToP officials have decided to make it an in-game event.
The changes will make it easier to participate, and claiming rewards will no longer a problem once players can go directly to an NPC to cash in. The patch containing the revamped event is currently in testing and should be available near the end of October.
Meanwhile, ToP officials are planning a new weekend event to replace the Free Lunch. More events mean more fun for everyone.
