Yearly Archives: 2011

Mission Against Terror Adds Achievements in Big March Update

Mission Against Terror Adds Achievements in Big March Update

 

Mission Against Terror follows up on the first look at its Major March update of weapons with even more surprises — achievements that will delight both long-time players and gamers who have just discovered the popular, free-to-play shooter that’s celebrating its 6-month anniversary in a big way.

“In order for everyone in the M.A.T. community to share in this celebration, we have not simply broadened the firepower options, we have increased the ways in which gamers, of all skill-levels and play-style, can obtain these weapons,” said Sam Ho, Director, Wicked Interactive, publisher of Mission Against Terror.

 

Mission Against Terror

 

ACHIEVEMENTS:
– Conversion: Players who convert 10000 SUBA Points to Gold Coins between the launch of this patch and the next major monthly patch will get a free 60 Day Tactical GLOCK handgun which sports a two-tone look and a silencer. Players who convert 30000 SP to Gold will get a free 90-Day Enhanced Tactical AK47, which sports a red-dot scope and an ammo drum for prolonged periods of shooting before needing to reload.

– Duration: Players who log in and play for 14 days straight(playing one full game is a requirement) get a Display Shop coupon, which can be redeemed for special items that cannot be obtained anywhere else. Among these items are such heavy-hitters as the AWP Tribal Hunter (a one-hit killer with extra ammo per clip) and the RPG7 Silver (rocket launcher that can fire rockets in quick succession).

– Bonus, Baby: Now you get an extra reward for your skills. In addition to honor points, you now get a special discount on a package of items based on what bonus you have.  There are 4 versions of this particular package. Those with the highest scores get the “Diamond Bonus.”

– Lucky, Punk: There’s a new prestige, one-of-a-kind, exclusive item on the Lottery Wheel. Ladies and gentlemen, say hello to the Dual XM8 Compacts, a high-powered number with perpetual duration, if you know what I mean. (So, tell us: Are you feeling lucky?)

Set in a near-future not so different from our own time, M.A.T. pits teams against one another in a bitter battle for the survival of the human race. Unanimously hailed for its solid gameplay and wide variety of game modes, M.A.T. has taken North America by storm, after becoming quite popular in Asia and other parts of the world.

To sign up for Mission Against Terror, or just find out more info about the game, visit the official M.A.T. site.

Blizzard Announces Guild Relocation Service!

Blizzard Announces Guild Relocation Service!

 

Blue poster Netheara of Blizzard has just made the following interesting announcement:

We want to give everyone an early heads-up regarding our plan to implement a guild relocation service for World of Warcraft. The idea is for a guild leader to be able to transfer a guild to another realm. The guild structure remains intact, including the guild leader, guild bank, ranks, and guild name (depending on availability).

Guild members who decide to relocate with their guild may initiate their own paid character transfer. Upon a successful transfer they will automatically be part of the guild when they first log into the new realm. Their guild rank and guild reputation will be intact.

Guild leaders who do not want a change of scenery may also choose to pick a new guild name using another new service. These services are in development and we will be providing additional details at a future point in time.

As with all of the features and services we offer, we intend to incorporate the guild relocation service in a way that will not disrupt the game play experience. Please note that this feature will require extensive internal testing, so you may see bits and pieces of the service appear on the public test realms.

[Source]

Riot Games Announces Support for the Red Cross in Japan

Riot Games Announces Support for the Red Cross in Japan

 

As many of you are aware, Japan recently experienced one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded followed by countless aftershocks. The country is still experiencing a crisis that is far from over as tens of thousands of people are without basic services such as electricity and running water and hundreds of thousands of people are displaced.

 

League of Legends Japan Relief

 

Riot Games have launched a special operation in order to allow the League of Legends community to give aid to those in need. From now until 12:00 on Sunday the 27th all proceeds from the purchase of the Nurse Akali Skin or Champion RP purchases for Akali herself will be donated to the Red Cross foundation. At the same time, Riot has placed the champion and skin on sale at 50% off to encourage donations.

 

Akali Nurse

 

Huge respect to the Riot Team for this gesture of good will, we hope you head on over to the store and pick Akali up today.

Is Final Fantasy XIV Really That Bad?

Is Final Fantasy XIV Really That Bad?

Neil Kewn (Murxidon) – OnRPG Journalist

Following its release last September, Square Enix’s latest entry into the famed Final Fantasy series was met with a decidedly negative response. Now in its fourteenth iteration, a game with Final Fantasy sprawled across the cover is usually indicative of a genre-defining role-playing experience. The series is home to titles that many consider to be the greatest of all time, but recently the response to Square Enix’s flagship role-playing game hasn’t been what the series has come to expect. The long-awaited Final Fantasy XIII was criticized for being too linear and boring, and the announcement of a second MMORPG bearing the twenty year old credentials didn’t exactly set the world on fire. Rightly so, many would assume after looking at early reviews, but is Final Fantasy XIV really that bad?

 

FFXIV Article

If first impressions are anything to go by, then yes – Final Fantasy XIV really is that poor. Everything in this game is a struggle. Its registration process is so convoluted that players deserve an extra month of game time just for getting online. You have to look deeper to find any redeeming factor in this game, and unfortunately for Square Enix, it’s going to take a lot more than the removal of subscription fees and the promise of change to keep players interested.

One thing is clear. FFXIV is not finished, not by a long shot. There are fundamental features omitted that even the most casual MMO player would overlook in other titles. There is no mail system, no dungeons and no raids. The grouping system is practically useless and mounts don’t feature – not even Chocobos. For some reason Final Fantasy XIV was rushed to release, and the damning response from both critics and players could forever prevent the game from growing. It’s a shame, as FFXIV is filled with great and interesting ideas that for one reason or another didn’t work out.
The game takes place in Eorzea. A large, beautiful world filled with rolling fields and jaw-dropping vistas. The graphical prowess of Final Fantasy XIV is staggering, easily making the game a likely contender for a Best Looking MMO award at some video games ceremony. It is a truly gorgeous title – but saved only for those with the best systems. If your system isn’t fairly recent then expect to crank down the settings a fair bit. Optimization is one of the many things omitted from FFXIV. The game looks dire on any settings lower than high, and even systems that meet the recommended system requirements will not be immune to the sluggish performance and random frame rate drops that littered the game’s relatively short beta.

 

Final Fantasy XIV Review

Unlike most other MMOs, you aren’t restricted to any specific role or class in Eorzea. Your class is determined by whatever you hold in your main hand. Fancy becoming a Carpenter? Pick up a saw. Want to fight as a Marauder? Equip an axe. There are eighteen classes available and all can be interchanged on the fly. Whilst each individual class has its own level, players also have a Physical Level used to represent overall progress. It’s an intriguing concept that should work better than it actually does. The system is plagued with balancing issues and the game ultimately fails to provide enough actual content for each individual skill.
Final Fantasy is famous for having great storytelling and XIV attempts to push players through its own narrative. Unfortunately it is so disengaged from the rest of the game that it’s almost impossible to care. Silent cutscenes read like a novel, and the odd story quest every few levels isn’t a suitable reward for the hours of grind required to reach it. Levequests make up a large portion of the game – and like so many other features, it is a novel idea hampered by poor execution.

Guildleves are quests and tasks that players can undertake at their leisure. Available from vendors at each of the major cities, levequests offer experience and rewards and can be completed solo or as part of a group. Each task points to a certain area or camp on the map, and players must travel to said location and activate their quest using the Aetheryte crystal positioned there. Quests range from simple kill and collect missions, to crafting assignments and gathering duties. No matter what the difficulty level chosen, levequests aren’t particularly challenging or indeed interesting and their implementation lacks reasoning. Why couldn’t they have had NPCs hand out quests, instead of forcing players to travel back to cities to collect their next quest card?

Whilst teleporting is available it is only to places where you have previously visited. Actually getting around Eorzea is a slow and painful process. The world may be awe-inspiring to gaze at, but the vast lands are disappointingly barren. Invisible walls block your path at every turn, and both jumping and swimming have been omitted. The interface itself is functional, nowhere near as bad as some make out, but it’s still a chore to do the most trivial of things. Its responsiveness may have improved since launch but there is still much room for improvement.

 

Final Fantasy XIV Review

Crafting requires player participation to be done effectively. Instead of harvesting the world and all its fruits with one click, minigames are used to add depth and an increased element of chance to material gathering and forging. There are many crafting roles available, from gathering herbs and chopping trees to smelting ore and weaving cloth. The manufacturing process employs a system where players must decide how they want to craft an item, at the expense of durability or quality, making for a particularly rewarding (or punishing) diversion from questing.

Square Enix didn’t want to put another cookie cutter MMO out there. Their intentions are clear, even commendable, but the end product falls flat in almost every area. Instead of a game with a unique, diverse levelling system and deep crafting mechanics, Final Fantasy XIV is an unbalanced, unfinished and unentertaining MMORPG that lacks flow. The game is littered with interesting and novel ideas, but their execution is half hearted at best. Changes have been promised, but it’s going to take a hell of a lot of work to make XIV a title worthy of bearing the Final Fantasy name.

 

Pros

Beautiful, sprawling world is awe-inspiring
Interesting crafting system
Novel approach to levelling

Cons

Travelling is a drag
Interface is slow and cumbersome
Very little actual content

League of Legends: You Don’t Stand a Ghost of a Chance!

League of Legends: You Don’t Stand a Ghost of a Chance!

Patch v1.0.0.113, Nocturne, Pacing Reworks, Sona Buffs, Banshee’s Nerfs

By Jason (Hhean) Harper, OnRPG Journalist

 

Greetings fellow summoners! This is the patch v1.0.0.113 article for League of Legends, the game in which your nightmares come to life. This patch includes some adjustments made from the previous patch, some Sona reworks, a less effective Banshee’s Veil and Nocturne, The Eternal Nightmare.

League of Legends

Nocturne is a guided missile powered by sheer terror, and propelled by the screams of his enemies. It makes a good, though fragile, jungler, while also being an exceptional assassin and chaser. Its backdooring capabilities are also nothing to be sniffed at. If you’re familiar with other rapid striking assassins like Akali, or champions familiar with taking advantage of the stupidity of others, like Evelyn or Twisted Fate, then you should feel fairly at home with Nocturne.

 

A listing of Nocturne’s stats and abilities can be found in detail here. For an introduction to the character and how it plays, I would recommend checking out the Champion Spotlight.

 

Nocturne’s skill use is highly dependant on positioning, and enemy life. If you can approach someone unseen, but the enemy has plenty of health (and isn’t too squishy) it is best to simply run at them and make use of Unspeakable Horror [E]. Keep near them using Shroud of Darkness [W] to gain some attack speed after your victim panics and attempts to hit you with any crowd control they can dish out. Now that you’re an attack spamming dervish of death, you line up a shot of Duskbringer [Q] to do some damage, move faster and hit harder. Finish with Paranoia [R] before making your escape, using the obscured vision to hide the kill, and where you creep off afterwards.

 

If the enemy are too far off from when you enter their vision (usually when not able to use some brush) you’ll have to make use of Duskbringer before Unspeakable Horror in order to close the gap. This is a bit more risky though, because if you miss the Duskbringer your gank is almost certain to fail. If someone is on very low health, you know them to be super squishy, or you have some allies able to assist the gank then pop the ultimate first in order to mask the kill and cause confusion in the enemy team. Do this only if you are absolutely certain of the kill though

 

League of Legends Nocturne

A few important note on the use of his ultimate. At its most base use, it’s an extremely long rang dash (further than a screen, longer than Lux or Caitlyn’s ultimates) that can cover your kills as you finish enemies. It looks very tempting to use it to kick off fights, but it really is a poor way to start, since you will be visible after the kill is made, making escaping difficult, and also will make securing the kill more difficult once you begin chasing the enemy. It also is a great way to leap between targets in a team fight, so remember not to waste it right at the start. If you’re really needing it to kick off fights, you’re likely not positioning yourself correctly, or trying to assist a kill over a screen away. It can also be used in the late game to mask you backdooring a turret on mid to low health, avoiding the counterattack that usually comes with such actions.

 

If it’s been forced into a lane, solo or duo, he’s best served harassing the enemy heavily with Duskbringer while trying to have his own lane be pushed back to present a gank opportunity when he eventually gets access to Paranoia. be aware that an assassin, you should keep your eye out for anyone overextended in an adjacent lane, as an early kill for Nocturne is nearly essential to get his deadly snowball rolling. Take a rank in Duskbringer at level 1, Shroud of Darkness at 2, and Unspeakable Horror at 4. Your priority order should be Paranoia > Duskbringer > Unspeakable Horror > Shroud of Darkness.

 

League of Legends Nocturne

When jungling, and he should jungle unless there is someone better at it on his team (eg. Warwick), Duskbringer is still his best choice, due to the added attack damage he gets while standing the shadowy trail left by the ability. Some people will argue that its Shroud of Darkness is a better pick to get at level 1, due to the passive increase in attack speed. These people are really, thoroughly wrong, and this choice not only increases the likelihood of Nocturne getting killed, whether by enemies, or creeps. If you’re low level, or don’t have the runes for it, I would think twice before jungling with him, as he is very fragile when jungling, and his Runes or Masteries being slightly off can really screw him over.

 

If you have Attack Speed runes and intend to jungle, picking up a vampiric sceptre is your best choice. If you don’t have these though, then you’re better off with the usual cloth and health potion combination.

 

Its core items are Tier Two Boots (Mercury Treads or Berzerker’s Greaves), Wriggle’s Lantern, Youmuu’s Ghostblade and Banshee’s Veil. Late pick, or situational, items on him include Infinity Edge, Bloodthirster, Black Cleaver, Guardian Angel or even Sword of the Occult if you’re really in the mood for some risk taking.

 

League of Legends Nocturne

I’ve been sticking pretty heavily to a 16/0/14 build on it, though others seem to swear by a straight 21/0/9 build. Your focus should be on experience gain, neutral buffs, physical damage, attack speed and movespeed (if you’re going more utility heavy).

 

For runes, you want damage, and just enough survivability to aide Nocturne in the early game. Armour Penetration Marks, Armour Seals, Attack Speed Glyphs and Armour Penetration / Attack Speed Quintessences. If you don’t have that specific load out, then your general rule of thumb should be Damage Marks, Defensive Seals, Damage Glyphs, and really any Quintessence.

Nocturne is going to be the new pub-stomper extraordinaire, since a good deal of his game plan is screwing with team co-ordination and capitalizing on stupidity. He’s an incredibly strong character, and his ultimate can really screw with teams if used effectively. That said, he needs some early game kills to get rolling effectively, or have a near perfect jungle run without interruption from the enemy team. This means that while in the late game he is a devastating engine of death, it can sometime be a very rough journey to that end game in competitive matches.

 

It seems I underestimated the server changes last patch, as they look to have paved the way for the new Co-op versus AI mode that was made available last week. The bots are surprisingly smart, though still little more than a speed bump to a half competent team. Still, they’re a good way to relax while trying out silly gimmick builds (ah, AP Yi, how I missed you).

 

I’d love to give more feedback on the overall changes this patch, but they are mostly refinements (or backtracking) on changes made last patch. Minion and respawn changes will hopefully shorten play time again. Banshee’s Veil got a significant nerf, which is a boon to casting in the last

 

game. Sona got buffs and her passive was reworked, so she can go back to being the god-tier support in the game once more.

 

To discuss some of the changes yourselves, visit the League of Legends section of our forums, or post in the massive League of Legends thread in the free to play MMOs section. If you haven’t tried League of Legends yet. Now is the perfect time.

 

World of Tanks Release Date Announced

World of Tanks Release Date Announced

Wargaming.net announced this week that free-to-play action MMO World of Tanks is set to launch on 12th April, 2011 in Europe and North America.

 

With this announcement, the company reports World of Tanks to be gradually entering the release phase after nine successive months of closed and open beta testing that let the game recruit an impressive number of players building up a strong and responsive community that helped the development team enhance and polish the game by providing valuable feedback and reporting issues.

World of Tanks is one of the most recognizable vehicle-based MMO games where players fight action-packed battles driving historically accurate WWII-era armored machines. The game’s stunning graphics, destructible environments, a wide variety of military hardware with a vast choice of upgrade options along with captivating and well-balanced gameplay make it a must-try for almost every gamer.

“Our team has been working really hard to create a unique blend of action, strategy, simulation and RPG elements in World of Tanks, and now the moment all fans across the globe have been waiting for is right around the corner”, said Victor Kislyi, CEO of Wargaming.net. “We are delighted to be finally announcing the release date for this ground-breaking title and invite all veteran players and those new to the game to enjoy tense and uncompromising armored warfare on World of Tanks battlegrounds”.

Heroes of Three Kingdoms: Flop or Hot?

Heroes of Three Kingdoms: Flop or Hot?

By Mitch Baylosis-Benesa (Syllica), OnRPG Journalist.

 

How many variations of this story have we encountered already? Heroes of Three Kingdoms is another game developed by Perfect World Entertainment (PWE), the company behind some serious games like Jade Dynasty, Forsaken World, and Battle of the Immortals. This is the developers first foray into a serious game with a heavy historical background, with Heroes loosely based on China’s most popular epic novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, a story that details that civil unrest that resulted in harsh battles in ancient China. The game takes you to the time when the story took place and your role is to take part in the great unification of China. The game’s background is promising and PWE has a reputation for making artful characters. Let’s see how Heroes of Three Kingdoms fare as a game.

 

As Flashy As It Can Get

Heroes of the Three Kingdoms is heavily Oriental themed as can be observed in the character creation screen. It will look and feel like an Asian MMORPG through and through and will transport your imagination to the time of the story when China was divided into three kingdoms-three leaders Cao Cao, Lui Bei and Sun Quan all battling for supremacy. You will find yourself pledging allegiance to any of these heroes as you progress further into the game. But first things first:

What you will definitely take notice in the character creation screen is their the massive weapons for your character. They have a total of 18 choices, two of which you will pick as your primary and your secondary weapons. This is unique way of infusing semi-realism into the game and takes away the typical and over-used idea of choosing melee or spellcasting characters. Your choice of weapon will determine your basic stats: ATK, HP, Crit, Skill and AOE. For example, Glaive gives you advantage with HP, ATK, and AOE but is pretty low on Skill and AOE, while Saber has top Crit, good ATK and Skill. Checking out each type of weapon is a fanfare because the demo is as flashy as it can get, which shouldn’t be a wonder because PWE employed a professional choreographer of martial arts.

 

HOTK Graphics

 

Work Your *** Off

Once you finished customizing your character, you will pick out an area in China as your background. At Level 2, you may now start learning skills for your primary and secondary weapons. As your level gets higher, other skills will be available to you including mounts (which PWE is known for) as well as emotes. Note that your mounts can be tamed and produced as well.

As previously mentioned, Taming horses (or other pets) is possible in Heroes of Three Kingdoms as it one of the eight production skills that will be your bread and butter in the game inlcuding Cooking, Crafting, Tailoring, Healing, Alchemy, Enchanting and Artificer. You first need to seek a trainer and find the recipes for your creation. Sell or vend them off to help you with items or gears that you haven’t found yet during your quests or campaigns.

 

Interface

 

Their campaign or Kingdom War system is one of the game’s features that lets you have a taste of its battle system. Your allegiances will play a part in this one by choosing one of three kingdom’s heroes and aid him in battle. In Heroes of the Three Kingdoms, your goal is to rise up in the ranks of the military and make sure that you have a hand in changing ancient China’s history. This is where the heroic instances come in to further immerse yourself in the game’s lore. You will take part and bear witness to the decisive moments of that era.

 

More Features

Heroes of Three Kingdoms is rich in PvE content, and those who appreciate the Three Kingdoms’ story should find it engaging. Aside from the typical grinding and skill leveling, Heroes of Three Kingdoms also challenges players to join the battlegrounds or their legion system. City or towns can be raided, and once you have hold of it, you can expand your troops and eventually be made head of the group for the glory of whichever kingdom you are representing. Sure, it is easy to imagine that you might want to create a character and just be part of the stronger faction. However, there are also a downside to spreading out the kingdom’s territory wide. Chances are, the upkeep of all territories could also deplete resources quicker and leave it more vulnerable to attacks.

 

Skill Tree

So… Flop or Hot?

If you look at Heroes of Three Kingdoms as a whole, this should be one appealing game: It has a splendid character design that goes well with the Oriental theme, engrossing lore, allegiances that intensify your loyalty as a player, production system, instances and PvP battles. PWE has put together very tasteful elements into one game. While most of these elements can already be found in other games, the execution is at least more than average. Heroes of Three Kingdoms has a certain appeal but it’s the kind of appeal that might only be appreciated by few. The game is compact to the point that it feels a little too serious and dramatic. And in all honesty, almost every PWE games feel the same-combat system, interface (only varying in art to suit a certain theme), questing system, and alliances. I can’t help but think that this is just one of those typical historical MMOs that had just been repackaged. My interest meter for the game doesn’t hit the hot spot, but the game should be warm enough for anyone who is into this type genre.

 

Combat Heroes of Three Kingdoms

Shadow Era

Shadow Era is influenced by several other trading card games, but strives to provide a unique blend that is both easy to learn and fun to play. The basis of the game design behind Shadow Era was to provide a system that avoids mid-turn interrupts that can greatly slow down multiplayer games when played online, while still allowing for deep strategy and surprises.

Shadow Era is  shaping up to be a great game, there is a natural tendency to compare it to the top existing trading card games.

En Masse Entertainment Details Big Ass Monsters and Achievements in TERA

En Masse Entertainment Details Big Ass Monsters and Achievements in TERA

 

En Masse Entertainment, the company behind the upcoming action MMO, TERA, is bringing you more information on the creatures players will be fighting once they delve into the game’s mesmerizing world when the game launches this year. TERA’s world is far from safe, and as players venture through it – be it across deserts, over fertile plains, or through ancient ruins – they can be certain they will encounter monsters. A lot of monsters! And as they move through TERA’s world, players will earn achievements for everything from political dealings to monster slaying.

 

TERA’s Monsters

Gamers will see and experience firsthand a wide assortment of memorable monsters in En Masse’s upcoming action combat MMO, TERA. With more than 600 monsters, MMO enthusiasts will instantly notice how the monsters in TERA are like none other. Rampaging beasts with lava for innards. Behemoths from bygone civilizations. Eyeballs that glare at you from unnatural angles.

 

TERA’s “True Action Combat” is heavily supported by the way players will encounter and engage TERA’s monsters, who possess sophisticated AI attributes that will deliver challenging actions and surprises. Monsters shouldn’t mindlessly run toward the enemy and repeat the same attack over and over again. TERA’s monsters circle you. They see which spell you’re casting and leap out of the way. And if you stumble in a fight, you know they’ll pounce. Victory requires skill and practice, not just a bigger magic sword. Aiding in the player’s ability to defeat these monsters will be subtle cues and behaviors that, when demonstrated, will act as prompts on how to best anticipate and counter their actions.

 

Size Does Matter – Meet TERA’s BAMs

If there’s one thing TERA has in spades, it’s BAMs – that is, Big-Ass Monsters. When we say big-ass monster, we don’t just mean extra hit points. These monsters are bigger than a house, tougher than an armored car, and meaner than a dentist with a grudge. As players wear them down, these BAMS will go through different phases with unique attacks challenging players to adjust their strategy. One of these phases is called “enrage” where the monster will show they are irate and then deal unpredictable and devastating damage. Cutting a BAM down to size is the moment you’ll be telling your friends about the next day.

 

Gamers at last month’s Game Developers’ Conference faced off against the Soulcrusher – a big, bad rock monster that delivers big, bad hits. And there’s the Giant Gladiator, which lives up to its name in both stature and strength. Get into a fight with one, and you’ll discover that it’s just as tough and mean as it is huge. Stay tuned for more BAMs, coming soon!

 

Achievements in TERA

In an action game like TERA, there isn’t always time to rest on your laurels. There’s always another monster to fight and another territory to make safe for the Valkyon Federation. But TERA’s players do amazing things, and our achievement system acts like a spotlight, giving you the honor and prestige you deserve.

 

In TERA, you’ll earn achievements no matter which parts of the game you prefer. Story, monsters, player-vs-player combat, economics, and politics all earn you achievements to help you keep track of the great deeds you’ve done – and to give you something to shoot for. Many of the achievements come with titles like “Savior of Velika” or “Gutrend Conqueror” that display under your character’s name, so all your friends can see what you’ve accomplished, too!