Yearly Archives: 2011

Blood Rites

Blood Rites is a 3D fantasy MMORPG taking place in a world of intrigue, arcane magic, and epic heroes. Explore mysterious places created by ancient gods and discover the treasures buried deep within.

Business Model: Free-to-Play

Microtransactions: Yes, there are optional in-game purchases available.

Key Features:

Classes: Devastate single-target foes as an lightly-armored Archer, raze entire groups of enemies as a magical-artifact wielding Mage, soak up damage as a beefy Warrior, or provide support from the backlines as a melody-playing Bard.

No Rest for the Wicked: Ambush unsuspecting adventurers anywhere, anytime.

One of a Kind: Apply specific traits and features with the advanced customization system.

Guild War: Clash with the best of the best in the multiplayer arena.

World-Boss Scramble: Participate in large-scale battles with hundreds of other players.

Final Frontier: Complete end-game content for steller rewards and unique achievements.

Time to Raid: Join parties big and small to take on dungeons across 25 diverse locations.

Accept Aid: Acquire the indispensable assistance of companions like elves, spirits, pets, and mounts.

Friendly Faces: Travel, meet, and develop a romantic relationship with people along the way.

Caveat emptor: DC Universe Online

If you are a PC gamer, this almost certainly is not news to you. If you are a console gamer who has only just stepped into the massively multiplayer world due to DCUO or were planning to, take note.

 

As reported by GamesIndustry second hand copies of DCUO will not work with your Playstation Network accounts.

 

“Once the PSN key has been consumed with a disk it cannot be resold/replayed with the second user adding a sub – only the original consumer can use that acct,” Sony said in an email to LazyGamer, adding that “Disk and account are one.”

 

So if you or a friend were planning on snapping up a cheap “pre-owned” copy of DC Universe Online in your local store, keep in mind that you are paying for nothing more than an installation disc. New accounts require new unused keys.

 

GamesIndustry also adds 

This also means that a shared PS3 console, with separate PSN IDs on it, would require separate discs in order for multiple accounts to play the game, even on the same machine.

Interview with World of Tanks Project Manager Alexander Shilyaev

Interview with World of Tanks Project Manager Alexander Shilyaev

Questions by Vincent Haoson, OnRPG Journalist
Answered by Alexander Shilyaev, World of Tanks Project Manager

 

World of Tanks Project Manager Alexander Shilyaev

OnRPG: Hello Alexander, thank you for taking time to answering our questions! We know you guys just reached Open Beta for the game? How was the transition? Did you guys have any problems when the game shifted to OBT?

Hi! Thanks for the opportunity! We actually didn’t have any more or less serious problems with launching the open beta, because we had done a lot of preparatory work by its start. We expanded our server capacity to make sure hosted all the newcomers willing to play and divided the server into 2 parts (for EU and NA territories) and let our players migrate to the desired one. In one word, everything went smoothly.

 

OnRPG: How is the game population now that the game has finally opened its doors to more players out there?

The population of the game is gradually growing – the number of players on the EU server has increased by 50% since the open beta start, the growth of the NA server isn’t that significant, that’s why we are going to undertake certain marketing and PR activities to improve the situation. It’s difficult to estimate the exact number of active players in the beta as we haven’t gathered this data yet, but the PCCU (Peak Concurrent Users) figure for both servers equals 20,000 people – and we are more than satisfied with this result. However, we have a feeling that some WoT players are staying away from the game at the moment and are probably waiting for the “hard wipe” that will come with the release of the game to start playing from scratch.

 

With the influx of new players, this would definitely test the game’s matchmaking system. As it was mentioned during the game’s Closed Beta, there have been complaints that some players are matched against to 3-4 tiers higher opponents. Have you guys handled this issue?

The work of matchmaking system depends greatly on the number of players on the server – the fewer players stay in the game, the more unbalanced teams are. In nutshell, the system makes up two equal teams taking into consideration the tier and class of vehicles. After the reboot of our servers or during the night hours, there are not that many people in the game, so the situations mentioned above may arise. With the growth of World of Tanks population, they will become less frequent. Secondly, we continue our work on enhancing and tweaking the matchmaking system and its version 3.0 is currently in development.

 World of Tanks Interview

OnRPG: So getting back into the influx of new players, so it’s definitely expected that more players would mean more unruly people will be part of the game population, how will you guys address this issue when you have not implemented any player ignore system in place? Will you be raising the number of mods or gms?

Well, implementing some sort of ignore system might make sense if the game had 2-3K people on servers during the day meaning the chances to meet a player you didn’t want to see on your team were really high. When there’re 50-60K players online you’ll hardly meet the guy in random battles. However, some sort of ignore list already exists in the game – you can add the bullies you’ve met during the battles to the list and you’ll never see their messages in the chat room. All in all, we are in no way going to somehow separate players from each other; on the contrary, what we want them to do is to make friends and communicate – for this purpose we introduced platoon (up to 3 players join the battle as one unit) and company (the whole team of 15 players consists of friends) battles. For more serious violations of rules like team kill or team damage we are going to introduce an automatic system that will report and ban team killers automatically. Until then our players can report team killers to our moderators providing the necessary evidence.  

 

OnRPG: Aside from the community, one of the bigger issues that are being presented by players is that the balance issue. Some say the artillery’s too powerful, while some tanks are the epitome of “greatness” in their class (panther 2 and t-54s) that you don’t need to bother with the rest. So what’s your answer to these statements and what steps have you guys done on addressing them (if ever you would)

Of course, we are taking steps to make the game better. We have our own opinion on what the balance should be and it’s obvious that a certain part of our community doesn’t share this opinion. If we nerf self-propelled guns, there’ll be thousands of disappointed arty players; if we buff arty, thousands of infuriated players driving medium and heavy tanks will flood the forums. In any case, there would be players dissatisfied with new balance changes. Nevertheless, we are always monitoring statistics to track and fix all major balance issues. I can assure you that some combat characteristics of Panther II and T-54 will be altered and it’s a normal workflow. When new tanks are added into the game, their balance is not finished – we need some time for testing it until it’s adjusted to the gameplay needs. Those players who joined the game with the closed beta know that we are constantly introducing balance tweaks when new vehicles are added.  

 

OnRPG: Another issue that was raised is the “scout” units have the” shortest view range of all the tanks” when in fact scouts should have the longest view range. So what’s your answer to this and will you be working on it? (If you are what steps will you be doing?)

As for the scouts, the most important thing for them is having a decent radio range, so that they can send the coordinates of the enemies they detect to their allies. Thus, to succeed in battles, pro scouts should have top radios installed on their armored steeds. Moreover, as developers we are trying to stick to historical accuracy and realism as much as we can and what we know from the History lessons is that light vehicles were not equipped with big and powerful radio stations. What is really important for successful work of scouts is good team cooperation – they must be supported by mediums and arty.

 

OnRPG: Players have been trying hard to understand how the game’s line of sight system works. So far, majority of the complaints is focused on this specific problem. Quoting the forums: “This one bug/feature (Camo/line of sight) is a game breaker. Devs, if this is behaving as intended, then a full explanation is needed so that everyone can understand why they are getting gang killed by 7 vehicles they cannot see…” What’s your answer to this and how are you addressing the problem?

Good question! First of all, there’re some vehicles – anti-tank SPGs – that were deliberately assigned low visibility patterns due to certain gameplay needs. When we changed the patterns to normal (as of regular tanks) during the Russian closed beta, we found out that their popularity decreased drastically. Secondly, trees and bushes reduce visibility – using this option will let you stay hidden. Thirdly, players can use camouflage nets making it harder for the enemy to detect them. Now imagine the situation when your enemy is operating an anti-tank SPG equipped with the coated optics (+10% to view range), has a skilled gunner in it and is hiding in bushes with a camouflage net on it while you’re driving a stock medium tank with no extra equipment… Of course, you won’t see where the hostile fire is coming from. To counter the enemy one should enhance their optics, install extra modules, level up crew and avoid going in the open field.

 

OnRPG: There have been complaints on the XP gain. What’s your take on the XP gain you have implemented in W.O.T? 

We use different criteria and formulas to calculate XP for each battle but we’re not going to reveal them to our players. Among the basic factors that are taken into account by the system are player’s activity (whether he is driving around the map and shooting at enemies), number of detected, damaged (how crucial the inflicted damage was), and killed enemy units, the tier of a player’s opponents (high tier tanks destroying low tier vehicles earn less experience and vice versa), the outcome of a battle, etc.

 

OnRPG: There was one who observed that the experience points gained whenever you take down a higher tiered tank is similar to taking a tank at the same tier as you. Is this part of the game’s overall design? Why or why not?

That’s not true – for destroying higher tiered tanks players get more experience, however, you’ll earn more for knocking out a 100% strong T-44 than for finishing off IS-7 with 1% hp. XP points are not given only for destroying hostile vehicles, the scale of damage matters as well.

 

OnRPG: Have there been any updates in the clan system for W.O.T.? Will you guys implement it the game goes commercial? (If not what can you tell us about it?)

We’ve recently launched Clan Wars v. 1.0 in Russia that underwent 3 months of testing. During that period of time we introduced certain gameplay changes to increase the number of players involved and the number of battles fought in the global warfare. Clan Wars will be implemented some time after the release date as it will be a little bit strange to start fighting for world domination on Leichtractor or MS-1 tanksJ. At the moment, we are working on Clan Wars localization for Europe and North America.

 

OnRPG: How do you guys determine the tanks that you include in the tank roster? What tanks are you guys eyeing to release in the near future?

We have a big team of keen tank enthusiasts working as our game designers who are responsible for expanding the roster. They decide on what tanks should be added after thorough studying of statistics. When some imbalance between the nations is found they are looking for a way to tweak it and add a new vehicle. As for the nearest reinforcements our players can expect, here they are: three tier 8 SPGs: Object 261, Geschutzwagen-E, T92; two premium tanks: Lowe and KV-5 and two tanks from full trees: Pz38 NA, KV-13.

 World of Tanks Urban Combat Interview

OnRPG: What features have you guys implemented in the OBT?

I guess our players didn’t recognize any changes when the game went “open” as there hadn’t been planned any :). Over the course of the open beta we are going to add some new and some redesigned maps, add new vehicles and tweak the matchmaking system.

 

OnRPG: So what’s in store for W.O.T. players this OBT? How long will the OBT last till you guys decide to become commercial?

The open beta will last for around 2 months or slightly longer before the game goes commercial. During that period, we’ll be mostly focused on testing the game’s technical features, tweaking the balance and polishing the gameplay. Some major changes like Clan Wars, new modes and new nations are likely to be introduced after the game is released.

 

World of Tanks Interview

OnRPG: A big thank you Alexander for your time, we’re very much looking foward in seeing World of Tanks success continue!

WonderKing Interview: Are you “Wonderking” What’s up?

WonderKing Interview: Are you “Wonderking” What’s up?
Questions By: Bryan King
Answered By: Tommy Luo, Associate Producer for WonderKing

 

OnRPG: Hello and thank you for taking the time to talk to us, please introduce yourself to our readers.

Hi Bryan, this is Tommy Luo and I’m the Associate Producer for WonderKing.

 

OnRPG: For those who might not have heard of WonderKing, can you give them a short overview of the game?

WonderKing is a free to play 2D side scrolling MMORPG. WonderKing revolves around you, a novice adventurer who is stranger to all, but a hero in waiting. It is your mission to seize the throne for good and release the world from the clutches of the Sinistry of Devils.

 

Our community is very welcoming and the quests are as excellent as they are diverse. Unique features and dynamic combat system is presented right from the beginning of the game. WonderKing presents a character evolution system that presents sophisticated 2D combat that is easy to perform, but challenging to master. The storyline is very easy charming and filled with colorful interactions with the NPCs in the game.

WonderKing Interview Tavern

OnRPG: What features does WonderKing have that separates it from other games?

WonderKing Online features a story that players can be immersed in. WonderKing puts the Role-Playing back into RPGs with many key features such as the “Monster Book” system that we currently have in place. It transforms you into the monsters you encounter and may even give you additional stats to bolster your fighting capabilities.

 

We have a unique combat combo system that users can unlock via the skill tree. As you level higher into the game, character control becomes more and more sophisticated. What’s even better is that you can bring your skills and put them to the test by challenging other players to a duel. Currently, there is no group PvP implemented in the game, but soon enough, we will introduce one of the most hyped features that WonderKing has to offer: The Castle Siege.

WonderKing Interview

OnRPG:  How has the community responded to the updates your development team has implemented so far?

A couple months ago, we had a class balance event for WonderKing players to make suggestions to improve all classes. By the end of the event, we collected the suggestions and requested the Ryu&Soft developers to implement some of the many great suggestions received from the players. The result from this event was a tremendous success since many players in the WonderKing community were excited for the class balance updates we made.

 

OnRPG: For those who have left the WonderKing community since an earlier stage of the game, how would you entice them to come back?

If you played WonderKing during closed beta, open beta or even just once in the past, now it’s the best time to come back and join the epic battles in the revamped Player vs. Player (PvP) system! Over the past year, there have been various additions such as pets, mounts, items, and class balance updates delivered to WonderKing. So log back in WonderKing today to continue your previous epic journey with friends and family this time!

 

OnRPG: How does your team balance the barrier between those who buy items in the cash shop and those who do not?

The Item Mall in WonderKing plays a limited role in benefiting and overpowering cash shop players. On the bright side, our Item Mall offers variety of character customization items for players to decorate their avatar as well as few convenient cash items for faster speed, easy teleportation, and picking up items. However, some of these luxurious benefits can be obtained through other features or items from the WonderKing game system too!

WonderKing Interview

OnRPG:  What classes are there in WonderKing?

There are four starting classes in WonderKing: Swordsman, Mage, Thief, and Scout. Once you’ve reached level 30, there will be quests you need to pass to transcend to first class advancement. You will have to make a critical decision on choosing one of the 2 paths from the starting classes, where you can learn diverse new skill. If you are interested in a specific class listed below, you can click on the link after each brief description to find out more info!

 

1)       Swordsman – Swordsmen are able to withstand an astounding punishment. Their weapon of choice is a one-handed sword, along with a shield grasped in the off-hand to defend any incoming foes, or a two-handed weapon that wrecks fury upon legions of enemies. For more info, click here!

2)       Mage – Mage is a character that possesses impressive intelligence and a wide array of power spells. The weapon choice for a Mage is the staff. Before becoming a master of elements, Mages are the brightest students in the art of magic. For more info, click here!

3)       Thief – Thieves are exceptional evasive maneuvers and they possess immense knowledge of fatal pressure points, making them a force to be reckoned with. Twin blades along with ninja stars are the weapons of choice for Thieves. For more info, click here!

4)       Scout – Scouts heavily depend on their sharp sight and perfect precision to hit targets from far distance. By firing arrows with emphatic accuracy, they can bring a brief end to any hostile enemy’s life. A Scout’s weapon of choice includes bows and guns. For more info, click here!

 

OnRPG: How vast is the world of WonderKing, and what can players find in it?

There are six continents in the world of WonderKing: Elgaill, Francis, WonderPlus, Hellen, Nagpha Swamp, and Lampuel. Each continent consisted of many small maps and hidden maps for everyone to explore.

Wonderking Interview Map

OnRPG:  What’s in store for the recent expansions for WonderKing?

We’re actually reworking two big features that you’ve listed-Castle Battle and Housing-to add new elements of gameplay. It’s a huge work in progress so these features will be coming in the near future.

 

The Castle Battle feature will allow players to fight for specific areas in a game of conquest. The Housing System is being reworked to include private areas for players to decorate, rest, or use as storage.

 

OnRPG: Does WonderKing have any emphasis in party/guild cooperation? Would you encourage any guilds to come and migrate to your game?

WonderKing encourages everyone to form a party to get points by defeating monsters. The points can be converted to experience or money by the party leader. WonderKing welcomes all guilds to join us and engage in epic battles to win glory over other elite guilds.

WonderKing Interview

OnRPG: What has been one of the best things your team has come across since the development of the English version?

When WonderKing was announced in E3 2009, we received incredible feedback from many MMORPG communities prior to the release of WonderKing Closed Beta. And on the opening day of Closed Beta, we have so many new users coming in the game and forum. Our WonderKing team was so happy of our achievement since the community is bustling as ever!

 

OnRPG: What problems has your team encountered since the development of the English version of WonderKing?

There are a few challenges such as communicating with our overseas team. There have been really long nights trying to coordinate with them. It is safe to say that our version of WonderKing is vastly different from the previous versions. There have been relevant changes in everything from character skills to some map design. There are also additional features in our version of WonderKing that have never been seen before.

 

OnRPG: What type of events does WonderKing run in order to keep their users interested?

Every few months, we would run a big event to reward our WonderKing players with physical prizes including Alienware Laptops, iPads, iPod Touches, LCD monitors, and many more valuable items. Also, we have run numerous GMs events: The Hide N’ Seek, Challenge Your GMs, and the Forest of Control event. The players and GMs had a splendid time participating in these events. We aim to be very different from other games. We want our GMs to interact with users, get to know them, and be part of the community as well.

 

OnRPG: What type of PvP content does WonderKing have?

We’ve created a special area of the game called the “Battlefield” to play the PvP system to earn honorable titles. Players will have the option to fight anyone else online or set up private, password-protected matches with their friends. There are three rounds of fighting lasting 90 seconds each as well as a variety of PvP maps! If you have the fighting power and skill, you can earn the most honored WonderKing PvP title!!

 

Wonderking Fight

 

OnRPG: Can you tell us where the name WonderKing came from? What inspired it?

The game name actually stemmed from a game called Wonderboy. We took “wonder” and added it to our title to give it the same charm as Wonderboy. WonderKing is based on the conflict between the good and bad – or in this case, between the human world and the Demon King, Baalon. Baalon started causing trouble when his sinister powers were strongest, causing the human world to fall into great chaos. The world was in dire need of a hero who could restore order in the troubled world. Players will take on this hero role as they attempt to defeat the Demon King and ultimately earn the title of “WonderKing.”

 

OnRPG: Is there anything else you would like to let readers know?

WonderKing has a friendly and welcoming community with so many active fans on Facebook. There are many game features that WonderKing can offer for both casual and hardcore gamers. We have adorable and charming pets that assist players in hunting, collecting items and other small tasks. Also, there are various mounts that provide quick movement and powerful auxiliary equipments for both attack and defense. Finally, there are competition battles where players can bring glory to their guilds and show off their battle skills in a tournament against other players (PvP)!  Don’t wait and check the WonderKing website to get more information about the game at www.playwonderking.com/wk

 

OnRPG: Thank you so much for your time!

And thank you for yours.

Top 5 MMOs Everyone Forgot About

Top 5 MMOs Everyone Forgot About
Neil Kewn (Murxidon) – OnRPG Journalist

 

These days, players are spoilt for choice when it comes which MMORPG they play.  There are literally hundreds of different games just waiting for the next ship-jumping gamer to subscribe to. With World of Warcraft recruiting enough players to populate a small country, and new MMOs hitting the shelves nearly every month, MMO gaming is bigger than ever.  Of course not all of them can have a bite of the MMO gaming cherry, and developers lavish millions of dollars on their titles in the hope that you prefer spending time in their virtual world. Some of them have went on to do quite well, many have fallen by the wayside, and there are a select few that people just forgot existed.

 

5: Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning

Heralded by many to be the MMORPG that will finally dethrone World of Warcraft, ushering in a new era of online gaming, expectation was high for WAR’s 2008 release. The game’s “revolutionary” realm-vs-realm PvP combat excited many, whilst World of Warcraft players who had grown tired of their travels in Azeroth insisted they were jumping ship upon release.

 

Warhammer Forgotten MMORPG

Most were back within two months.


Despite a positive critical reception and impressive subscription numbers, the game had a spectacular fall from grace just several months after it was released. Blizzard launched World of Warcraft’s second expansion, and players not keen on paying for two games each month went out and bought Wrath of the Lich King instead. Players had mixed views on Warhammer. The highly-publicized PvP proved to live up to the hype, but the rest of the game fell short of expectations (although some insist the game’s current state is much improved from that upon release). Nevertheless, issues with balancing were widely reported, and those who did stay found themselves struggling to find players to PvP with.

 

4: The Matrix Online

The Matrix Online allowed players to carry on where the Wachowski brothers’ film left off. Launched in early 2005, the game was highly anticipated by Matrix fans and received a relatively positive response from critics upon its release. Players who downed the red pill had three classes to choose from, each mimicking the traditional tank/healer/damage class types found in most MMOs.

 

Of course, with the game bearing the licence of one of the most prolific action movie franchises ever, combat suitably consisted of over the top martial arts and bullet dodging dives. Praise was also given to the game’s storyline, which evolved and changed throughout the course of MxO’s existence.   

 

The Matrix MMORPG

…Still waiting for The Matrix 2 and 3…


Despite low subscription numbers throughout the entirety of its tenure, The Matrix Online stayed online for almost five years, until Sony Online Entertainment eventually pulled the plug in August 2009. The end-of-game world event involved the death of every single character, now everyone could be like Neo!

 

3: Anarchy Online

Remember Anarchy Online? It’s still running, but they haven’t been in the limelight (that is, filling my inbox with promotional material and free trial offers) for several years now. It is one of the longest-running MMORPGs out there, having been online for almost ten years. The Sci-Fi MMO takes place on the world of Rubi-Ka, with players having a huge range of different classes and an impressive number of skills to choose from.

 

After a launch that developers Funcom would like to erased from memory, Anarchy Online’s subscription rates remained steady throughout the first five years of release. Heavy promotion and the successful introduction of play-for-free accounts helped keep player numbers at a respectable level. Ultimately, World of Warcraft’s highly documented success just so happens to coincide with AO’s steady fall during the latter half of the decade.

 

Anarchy MMORPG

Coincidence?

 

A multitude of expansion packs were released over the ten years, bringing features such as player housing and shops. The core gameplay is a familiar affair, as the game plays like a very traditional MMO by today’s standards. If you can excuse a graphical engine that may cause seizures, Anarchy Online’s novel and interesting feature set is something a lot more people should have experienced.

2: The Sims Online

The Sims is the best-selling PC video game in history. Will Wright’s “people simulator” gives you the power to design, create and develop your own humans, all the while shaping the environment around them. For years now fans have filled message boards with requests for one missing feature – Multiplayer.  Convinced that the classic Sims gameplay could translate well into an MMORPG, Electronic Arts launched The Sims Online in late 2002.

 

The Sims is famous for its deep level of customization, but moving your Sims into a persistent world meant that some aspects of the game that had become synonymous with its CD-ROM counterpart were lost. You had direct control over just one Sim, and spent the majority of your time fulfilling his or her needs and levelling their numerous skills. Your character regularly had to eat, sleep and be entertained in order to level effectively.

 

The Sims MMORPG

You are considering re-installing The Sims now.


 When you had enough Simoleans (the currency used in all Sims games), you could finally start enjoying the customization on offer in TSO. This included buying houses and furnishing them with expensive items, and paying other players for in-game services. The core gameplay of The Sims usually begins to grind after several hours (although that could be because I usually base my Sims off myself), and without multiple Sims to control and environments to manipulate, painting the same picture over and over to increase your Creativity skill became very boring, very quickly.

 

The game was extremely successful at the time of release, despite its monthly subscription fee and high system requirements. Subscription numbers reached a peak of over 100,000 before falling dramatically barely a year later. Player numbers continued to dwindle until the game’s eventual closure in 2008, despite EA announcing a major rebranding effort in an attempt to compete with the then-booming Second Life.

 

Speaking of which…

 

1: Second Life

Second Life has been around for years now. The virtual world gives players, or inhabitants, the chance to live out a “second life” on the internet. You can build, shop, design, eat, trade and chat – Even make money. Second Life was set to be the next big thing in early 2007 when it suddenly found masses of publicity after being featured in the media. Businesses flocked to Linden Lab’s creation hoping to attract new customers by building homes, billboards and islands dedicated to their products.

 

Then what?

 

Nothing. The game slowly declined back into obscurity after company’s quickly lost interest. After throwing thousands of dollars at the game, they soon realised that sustaining a presence in Second Life was not financially viable, and the amount of publicity gathered by their short appearance was not worth the investment. Although player numbers increased dramatically at the time, and Linden Lab’s short blitz of publicity turned out to be extremely profitable, businesses and the media have long moved on.

 

Second Life Forgotten MMORPG

Can’t say I blame them.

4Story: Endless Events

4Story: Endless Events

 

Zemi Interactive’s 4Story Team has been running event after event, always trying to come up with new ideas for fun activities for the players to experience in-game.
 
What is most intriguing and unique about 4Story Events is that most of the time they will be run by GMs, and players can directly interact with the GMs in game, making the community more lively and user friendly. A large variety of events has been running throughout the massive gameworld of 4Story. Events like racing events, quizes and trivia events but also PvP 1 vs 1, 3 vs 3, or even 7 vs 7. However, the most exciting events are usually the events where GMs actually participate themselves, for instance there was an event called “GM Killer”, giving the players a chance to kill the GM to get rewards or “Hit the GM” giving gifts to players who has the highest damage point hitting the GMs. Events like “Who is the Spy?” has also gotten lots of interest from players, making them find the GM in the opposing faction’s City, and lots more!

 

4Story announces endless events!

 

 

 
Aside from the Events that are run by the GMs as well as daily and weekly events, the 4Story Team also accepts player’s ideas for events. The 4Story forums have a section for players to send in their own ideas for events giving Zemi Inc. fresh new ideas and at the same time giving the players the ability to trully influence their gaming experience.
 
And now the events within the game just got better since the Broa update, the final 3rd faction that everyone has been waiting for. Since the Broa kingdom is neutral grounds, both players from the opposing factions Defugel and Craxion can participate in the events together. The best part about these events is that everyone has a chance to win something, and it’s level friendly, so even the low level players and new players have a chance to win. Also, since GMs are personally attending these events new players have a higher chance to learn about what is going on in-game, getting tips and help from the GMs on how the events are held and how the game evolves. 
 
So with 4Story’s endless events and their endless rewards the game itself makes it more interesting for players, constantly giving them something to do on top of just enjoying the content that is already implemented in the game. The events are always very user friendly and they help to further improve the in-game community allowing players to interact with the GMs and even players of different factions!

If you want to give 4Story a try yourself you can sign up right here!

Frogster Donates 82,000 Euro to Charity

FrogsteFrogster Donates 82,000 Euro to Charity

With a result far exceeding the company’s expectations, Frogster concluded its Christmas charity project to benefit children and adolescents in Bhutan in January. Yesterday, the publisher of Runes of Magic, Bounty Bay Online and the upcoming Mythos was able to hand Save the Children Germany e.V. a cheque in the amount of 82,000 Euro (~111.000 US Dollars) thanks to the overwhelming support of the gaming community. Compared to a similar promotion last year, Frogster was able to more than double its previous charitable contribution. In addition to setting up so-called ‘Remote Classrooms’ in the isolated mountain regions of Bhutan as originally planned, the world’s largest independent children’s rights organization can now implement further aid projects in the country.

 

Frogster Gives Lots of Money to Charity!

 

The ‘Remote Classrooms’ project is not just about building schools. Save the Children will ensure that children and adolescents receive good education and healthcare. At the same time, families will be educated about the problems adolescents are facing. Additionally, Save the Children will train 40 pupil advisors to be involved in three-day workshops for adolescents held by the children’s rights organization at higher education institutions throughout the country. Thanks to Frogster’s donation, two editions of a youth guidebook will also be published. The guidebook will provide the youths with information about career prospects and other topics. Furthermore, Save the Children will establish two youth centres as well as employ and train two caretakers for adolescents.
 
Due to its position in the middle of the Himalayas, Bhutan was largely isolated from the rest of the world until recently. Kathrin Wieland, German Executive Director of Save the Children, visited the country two years ago and knows the problems there: “In Bhutan, there are suddenly children surfing the Internet and zapping through 400 television channels. Their parents, on the other hand, are people who haven’t learnt to read or write. They have never in their lives been bombarded with advertising. In other words, what we have here is a clash of two ages of civilisation.” With their on-site projects, Save the Children will assist children and their families in this transformation process, reducing the by-products which negatively affect the living conditions of adolescents, such as pollution, drug abuse, and crime.
 
Frogster started the charity project in mid-December 2010. Until the end of the promotion in January, players of Runes of Magic and Bounty Bay Online could purchase exclusive virtual mounts and a ship cover from the shops in the online role-playing games. All proceeds after VAT and fixed third-party costs are now funding the projects of Save the Children in Bhutan. Runewaker, the Taiwanese developer of Runes of Magic, waived its share of the sales for the mounts to support the charity effort on their part.
 
On handing over the cheque, Seth Iorio, Member of the Executive Board of Frogster Interactive Pictures AG, commented on the outcome: “We have been impressed and inspired by the work of Save the Children in the mountain regions of Bhutan from the beginning. We are very happy that, through the support of our players, we can significantly extend the scope of our cooperative projects.”
 
Kathrin Wieland, Executive Director of Save the Children Germany e.V., was surprised and delighted at the great generosity of the computer game players: “I am very happy about the engagement of Frogster and its players, which allows us to clear a path for these children to a positive future.”

City of Heroes MetaÂ’s Verse: Lions and Tigers…

City of Heroes Meta’s Verse: Lions and Tigers…

 

No bears? Oh my. This week the powers that be released the first video of the next pack to come. This one is taking a walk on the wild side. Yes, that’s right! The Animal Pack has finally come! We’ve had it hinted at for months, we’ve been asking for it for years. And now it is coming soon. So, the most important question has to be asked, what is it?

 

City of Heroes Start

Costume Parts

The costume pack includes a record breaking 60 costume parts. Everything from new heads to various animal prints is included. So which heads have we seen? Lion, tigers, wolves, eagles, leopards and minotaurs. Well minotaurs aren’t really animals are they? But we’re glad to see them anyway! I’m always happy to see anything that means Cimerora will get more attention. Just as important as the new heads are new feet! There are new feet, hooves, claws and talons. Sadly no flippers yet, so my dreams of having a seal super hero are once again put off! Ok, not really but I’m sure someone could come up with something to do with flippers. All these new parts will give us a chance to use some old parts we’ve had laying around, barely used. Like horns!

 

City of Heros Costume Parts

Auras

There are not one but two new auras for our new animal friends. Beastly rage and everyone’s least favourite pest, fleas. I can see fleas being one of the underused auras available. After all who wants to have fleas. I guess the Paragon City pet groomers will have their hands full for a while!

Travel Power

The single most exciting part of this pack, even more exciting than the heads is a new travel power. Just like ninja run it is unlocked at level four and with the click of an icon you’re off running on all fours. It looks pretty painful to me personally I can’t imagine that they don’t end up hitting their knees off the ground. What the video didn’t show us was what the run looks like if you don’t use the monstrous legs. Will it be awkward? Will this be a popular power with the catgirls? When ninja run first came out everyone was using it. Even if it made no sense for the character to be doing so. Will this be the case with Beast Run as well? I certainly hope not. I think travel powers these days are under used and people don’t take them just so they can have better builds. Beast Run is just another option to get away from travel powers. Despite the abuses the power may see I’m excited to have it and will be giving it a go on any animals I make. If you want to see what it looks like check out the video they posted which I will link to later on.

 

City of Heroes Travel Power

Emotes

The animal pack not only has a record breaking number of costume parts but it also breaks all records with the number of new emotes. Your beasts will be able to hiss and sniff at things then act savagely. As well as these emotes there are a few new costume changing emotes. Which I think are a favourite amongst the fans. There are two basic options, feather or fur. Both come with two options; burst or fly. I think the feather burst will be the most popular part of the pack after the run. It can be used by angels, birds, or just anyone with feathery wings.

 

City of Heroes MMO Emotes

So there it is, everything that is the wonderful Animal Pack. A complete turn around from the small, almost lacking packs we have been getting recently. This pack really is proof that the devs are listening to what we have to say about our game. Not only are they listening, they care and want to give us what will make us happy. Now how about that moon base…

 

If you’re interested in checking out the video for the Animal Pack click here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFpofz4RLWo

 

The official release date for the Animal Pack is February 23rd. So start thinking of your ideas for new animals now!

 

Before I release your attention back to the world I want to give a brief news update, just a bit of news.The starting time for the Vanguard Loyalty pack has been delayed slightly. No reason has been given. But this gives more people the chance to get involved.A new periodical has been created by Eric Johnsen, one of our producers. It will feature information about things coming out. The Weekly Strike Target or WTF as people are calling it for this week, February 8th – 15th is Dr. Kahn and Barracuda. Insert obligatory Star Trek and Heart references here. Next week we will be gearing up for our first co-op WTF. So start playing nice with those heroes and villains, you might be working with them next week.

 

The finally a sad note from the Virtue server boards. After six years the Paragonian Knights, a SG who have always represented the very best that Virtue has to offer is shutting their doors.

 

Meta

Meta’s Verse is written by Meticulous Meta who lives in Atlas Park with her dog Snuflé

Wewaii

Tired of the day to day grind and ready to escape from it all? Wewaii allows you to design your own dream resort. Will you focus on building a luxurious 5 star monster hotel or create a wonderland in the surrounding island for a small elite group of guests? The choice is yours.

 

As your resort flourishes, your character will level and gain additional abilities as well as access to new equipment and features to upgrade your island. A truly skilled manager will be able to sift through the various reviews provided by tourists to decide what their resort is lacking. If your hotel gains enough fame, you may gain the attention of your fellow managers and receive reviews and votes from them.

 

Competition is fierce for building the greatest resort of all time. If you have the dedication, knowledge, and creativity, one day you could be standing tall as a featured dream hotel of Wewaii.