Yearly Archives: 2012

OnRPG Shotgun News 11/30: City of Heroes, STO, and Mortal Online F2P!

OnRPG Shotgun News 11/30: City of Heroes, STO, and Mortal Online F2P!

By Shannon Doyle (Leliah), OnRPG Journalist

 

 

City of Heroes Closing Later Today

 

After eight years at the top the number one Superhero MMO City of Heroes is shutting down later today. The announcement was made by Paragon Studios in August just before an American three day weekend. Since that day Paragon Studios has been closed with the exception of a very small crew to see out the final days. This sparked a campaign by the fans to try to save City of Heroes. A 6,000 plus strong rally was held in City of Heroes to mark the start of the campaign. Since the announcement NCSoft has only issued one, small announcement to the fans directly. Instead going through Paragon Studio employees. City of Heroes has been a ground breaker in innovation. Our very own Meticulous Meta has written about all aspects of City of Heroes for the last two years and will have one last article next week. The servers are being shut down at 12 Midnight Pacific time.

 

 

Star Trek Online Foundry Gets an Update in Season 7

In a new dev diary Maria, aka ZeroniusRex announced some of the new things coming to the very popular Foundry in Star Trek Online. The biggest new feature is the Spotlight. Authors will be able to submit their work to be a potential spotlight candidate with the click of a button. If theirs gets picked it will be put on spotlight for a week. There are also new things for authors. Hiding NPCs and making them go on patrol which will allow authors to set NPCs to patrol a certain area. A new NPC group, new ships, and a new map round out the additions coming to the Foundry.

 

 

Mortal Online Goes Free to Play

The hugely popular Mortal Online has good free to play. But as with any free to play model there are restrictions. F2P accounts will be limited to 60 skills instead of 100. Premium players will have access to thievery skills, be able to loot expensive items, and trade expensive items. To celebrate going free to play Mortal Online has released a video which you can watch below.

 

 

Grimlands Begins its Second Closed Beta Phase with a Big Update

Grimlands Begins its Second Closed Beta Phase with a Big Update

 

Grimlands

 

 

Today gamigo’s post-apocalyptic Shooter-MMO, Grimlands, enters the next phase of closed beta testing. The servers will stay open until Wednesday the 5th so that all content and changes can be thoroughly examined.

 

 

Beta testers can look forward to around three-times as much game content. There are mercenaries and mutants to fight in far-off settlements which they have taken control of. In addition to this the number of dungeons has grown to 23. With the new version there’s been a comprehensive renewal of the interface, substantially more intelligent opponents, a reworked shooter feeling, and improved graphic effects.

 

 

An overview of all important changes:

New regions unlocked

Completely new interface

Improved graphics

Optimized performance

Reworked shooter feeling

New enemy AI

 

 

A total of 10,000 players have been chosen for the CBT2. Whoever wants to take part should register quickly for free on the official website.

The Elder Scribe: The Elder Scrolls Online Q&A Recap

The Elder Scribe: The Elder Scrolls Online Q&A Recap

By Shannon Doyle (Leliah), OnRPG Journalist

 

 

This month The Elder Scrolls Online have hosted two Q&A sessions on the official TESO website. While the focus of the two was intended to be the Ebonheart Pact many, many questions about the game in general were answered. I’ve gone through the many pages of questions and picked out what I think are the most informative and important to know.

 

 

Will the faction PVE areas each have their own quests? Or will they be mirrors of each other? – By El Hefe


Each Alliance (and area) has its own completely unique quests and storylines, layered on top of their individual internal struggles and history. When we design content in The Elder Scrolls Online, we aspire to create storylines, experiences, and characters that are befitting of the Alliance they are a part of.  Each Alliance’s content in ESO is as varied and dynamic as the Alliances themselves are—your adventures an Argonian in the Ebonheart Pact, for example, will be quite different than those of a Bosmer in the Aldmeri Dominion.

 

Should you choose to play characters in each of the three Alliances (and we hope you do!), you will experience completely different content that is representative of each Alliance’s story, history, and politics.

 

 

Obviously the Elves and the Nords have never got along too well – are the nations in the factions entirely happy with the alliance, or are there rogue/rebel groups within, say, Skyrim or Morrowind? – By George Trotter


The foundation the Ebonheart Pact was built upon—one of mutual desire for survival—makes for a deeply complex and ever-shifting political atmosphere.  The Argonians, Nords, and Dark Elves have set aside their differences, for now, to unite under one banner against their shared enemies—but to say that everyone is happy or even content with the Alliance would be a far cry from the truth.  A certain level of distrust and resentment roils just beneath the surface for many members of the Pact.

 

While some are openly accepting or critical of the Alliance, most Pact members you’ll encounter fall somewhere in between, and hold their true feelings about the arrangement close to their chest.  It really depends on each individual character’s perspective and life experiences.  Most you encounter are not willing to bring up their personal feelings to a stranger, but you will meet some who are very open with their praise or disdain for the choices their leaders have made.

 

 

Looking at http://elderscrollsonline.com/fr/game-guide/alliances I noticed some areas were grayed… or rather, “browned” out; Black Marsh and Vvardenfell, most notably, and with Solstheim, large portion of the western Skyrim (the areas containing Markath and Solitude, for example), and most of the eastern portion of Morrowind. The question itself is as follows: Do you have future plans regarding these areas, possibly including them at expansions, etc? And is the “only” playable area for the Pact the area colored in red – not to forget Cyrodiil, of course? If so, might we gain a rough estimate of the amount of “zones” (areas with short loading screens separating them) this seemingly massive area includes? – By Juho Kola

 

It’s too early for us to start discussing the exact number and names of locations that each Alliance will be able to explore when The Elder Scrolls Online launches, but we have plans to expand and open up more regions of Tamriel in the future.

 

As for the colors you see on our Alliances page map, those are rough visual representations of each Alliance’s territory.  That map is meant to give you a general idea of each Alliance’s regions—what you see there is not intended to be exact.

 

 

Given the fact that Windhelm will most definitely be in TESO, how familiar will it be to the Windhelm of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim? It’s quite a bit younger in TESO, but still of Ancient Atmoran aesthetic, being built by Ysgramor himself. – By Madison Harmon Bullock IV

 

We’ve taken great care to be extremely faithful to the existing Elder Scrolls lore, history, and visual feel.  This includes our approach to how we’ve designed places you’ve visited in previous Elder Scrolls games, such as the city of Windhelm, in Skyrim’s Eastmarch region.  If you’ve played The Elder Scrolls V:Skyrim, walking through the streets of Windhelm in The Elder Scrolls Online will feel very familiar.  The same goes for Cyrodiil—those who visited the region in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion will notice familiar villages and points of interest in ESO’s Cyrodiil, such as Chorrol.

 

That being said, the stories and events that unfold in these areas during The Elder Scrolls Onlinewill be different than those in past Elder Scrolls games.  The people living in these familiar places won’t be too different from their brethren in later times; however, they will have different views and tales to tell, based on the current events that are impacting their daily lives.

 

Will the Companions be involved somehow? – By Jason Bryden

 

Yes, The Companions—the legendary group of Nord heroes you met in the city of Whiterun in Skyrim—have been part of Nord culture since Ysgramor’s arrival on the shores of Skyrim before the First Era, so they certainly have a presence in ESO.

 

To what extent will the Tribunal feature in the Ebonheart Pact storyline, and how far along in the main quest will we learn about the pretender to the Tribunal? – By Josh James

 

As the rulers of Morrowind, both spiritually and politically, the Tribunal are quite prominent in the Ebonheart Pact – especially Almalexia, who’s been handling temporal affairs since the recent Akaviri invasion. But a pretender to the Tribunal? Mother Morrowind would dismiss the idea as absurd. Clearly impossible.

 

 

I’ve read that anyone can use any type of weapon or armor. Have you thought about having alliance-only weapon/armor styles? (For example, chitin armor available only to the Ebonhart Pact, since they have exclusive access to chitin in Morrowind.) – By Jeremy Eddy

 

Armor in The Elder Scrolls Online is regionally appropriate, whether it’s a loot drop, merchant stock, or quest reward; however, with the right skills and materials, you’ll be able to craft items in any racial style.

 

 

Hi, I’ve been playing The Elder Scrolls games since Morrowind, and I have always played as an Argonian. Now that I’ve seen the screenshot on your website called ‘Argonian soldiers’, I’m a little disappointed, I was hoping for a more lizard, amphibian looking Argonian. I assume their faces are flat for helmet modeling, But I hope they’ll look more like the one on the Ebonheart pact page. Also, they should have badass horns… So can you tell me, is this the final version of the Argonian? – By Rofaka

 

Customization of individual characters will allow for much more variety than we’ve been able to convey in the screenshots released so far.  Also, we’re still fine-tuning the ESO character models, including the Argonians.

 

 

So, there you have a round up of the first two AMA events taking place on the website for The Elder Scrolls Online. Character customization, armor, politics, and world geography, this month had it all. As more Q&A sessions are held I’ll be posting about them right here so check back regularly for more from The Elder Scribe.

Legend of Edda Vengeance Begins CB Testing

Legend of Edda Vengeance Begins CB Testing

 

 

Leading online game publisher GamesCampus, today unleashes the closed beta test for their fantasy MMORPG, Legend of Edda: Vengeance.  Originally introduced in 2010, Edda spent a year in mysterious silence which was broken wide open with an exclusive closed beta.  OnRPG has just posted a fresh batch of keys so grab yours today HERE.

 

 

“There’s been an incredible amount of buzz leading up to the Legend of Edda: Vengeance beta, and the short beta period has only intensified the players’ excitement!” said Hubert Yee, Head of Marketing at GamesCampus. “We’re expecting the community to have insightful feedback, which will help us move into open beta testing within a very short period of time.”

 

 

Closed beta is chock full of amazing events for players, with prizes ranging from 24-hour Early Access to the OBT to Legend of Edda posters!  In game, players can race to be the first few to the top (level 30), and everyone who reaches the first job advancement at level 20 will receive a special gift for use during OBT! During CBT, upgrade rates have been drastically increased co mpared to the official rates, just for some extra fun during PvP! Of course, players will also be able to meet the GMs in game, and enjoy monster spawn events, arenas, and Q&A sessions with the staff! On the forums, players can help out the growing community by participating in the Beginner Guide contest. Those who want to get their creative juices flowing can join in the 3-Panel Screenshot Comic contest, or the Fan Art contest!

 

 

GamesCampus, alongside EYASoft, has completely overhauled the original Legend of Edda engine, and players will be amazed by the number of changes that have happened over the last year.  Included in the Vengeance upgrade is a Revamped Skill System, Achievements, a full Economy Rebalancing, Item Drop Table adjustments, improved Set Items, and not to be left behind, an Upgraded Success Rate!  Players can jump into Vengeance now to see all of the changes awaiting them.

OnRPG Shotgun News 11/29: World of Warships, Marvel Heroes, and City of Steam

OnRPG Shotgun News 11/29: World of Warships, Marvel Heroes, and City of Steam

By Shannon Doyle (Leliah), OnRPG Journalist

 

World of Warships Releases in Game Screenshots

The first images from inside Wargaming’s upcoming World of Warships have been released. The images show off the historically accurate ships. Something which Wargaming is famous for and takes great pride in. The images also show the real life weather effects and realistic environments. To see all the screenshots check out our profile page HERE.

 

 

Mechanist Partnership Brings City of Steam to the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey

Mechanist has announced they are partnering with DAO Games to bring free to play browser MMORPG City of Steam to the Middle East, North Africa, and Turkey. This will make City of Steam the first Unity 3D game translated into Arabic and Turkish. Registration to take part in the localized version of City of Steam in closed beta is already available.

 

 

Marvel Heroes Developer Diary Reveals Story

A new developer diary has been released explaining the story of Marvel Heroes. It goes into some detail about Dr. Doom’s plans for Marvel Heroes while showing off some combat. It also explains cutscenes which are drawn by Marvel comics and all the characters are voiced by people who have played that character previously. Check it out below.

 

 

Luvinia Releases Massive Expansion with Linger City

Luvinia Releases Massive Expansion with Linger City

 

Luvinia

 

Luvinia Online, the beautiful anime fantasy MMORPG from Outspark, treated their community overnight with a mega-content update which includes a level cap raise from 89 to 95, and dozens of new quests, mobs, bosses, dungeons, and items, across a vast expanse to explore. The long-awaited chapter in the story of Savejela, Linger City is the stronghold of the Gnome Kingdom, a treetop province in a labyrinthine forest, where love is lost and found amidst unicorns, winged serpents, enchanted trees and typhoon demons.

 

 

“The range of new content developer Shanda Games has delivered is just colossal. Players are going to enjoy magical adventures across idyllic lands, behold grand marvels, and meet some of the most quixotic and utopian characters ever encountered in the game. Linger City offers hours upon hours of thrilling entertainment through the holidays!” said Philip Yun, CEO of Outspark.

 

 

Launch events include a thrilling Race to the Top and a GM-led Hide-n-Seek that takes players to remote parts of the new territory. Details can be found on the Luvinia website event calendar by clicking here.

The Lost Titans Press Preview

The Lost Titans Press Preview

By Darren Henderson (DizzyPW), OnRPG Editor-in-Chief

 

 

Every once in a while a game with great potential sneaks under the radar until its surprisingly successful launch starts to turn heads. I myself can admit that before yesterday’s invitation to ZQGame’s US office, all I knew about The Lost Titans was its graphical style reminded me of Torchlight. As I sat down for the presentation the word browser was casually dropped and I had to pause the demo to make sure I had heard right. Well it’s not the first time I had seen browsers looking this complete at a demo so at first I figured it was another member of the Unity engine revolution coming to the browser genre of MMOs. Wrong again! This fantastic looking browser game is built entirely on a proprietary engine developed by ZQGames specifically to make The Lost Titans a reality. It was time to bust the pen out as this press preview had suddenly become interesting.

 

 

Along the same vein as new browser titles Dark Blood and iOS title Dark Legends, The Lost Titans takes a heavily story driven approach to MMORPG gaming. However they follow a path less commonly followed in client-based titles and actually base their tale in Western Mythology, the tale of the Titans trapped by Zeus to be exact. Though I won’t get into the details, the long story short is that two titans formed their own version of Earth in which the game currently takes place. Yet after many millennia they realized they didn’t quite see eye to eye in what the perfect world would be, resulting in one titan exiling himself to recreate his version of perfection. Well now like an annoying little brother he’s brought his toys back to challenge his vision against the current existence for control of the world. Unfortunately light side gets stomped out and now it’s up to the mortals to pull the pieces together for a second shot at control for their world.

 

 

So you ask where do you go from there? On an epic journey to the various kingdoms of the world to unite the once divided armies together once again to overthrow Ophion. See each kingdom has issues with portals slowly drawing Ophion’s world into unison with yours, unleashing monsters everywhere and causing locale exclusive problems as you travel from underwater locations to deserts to jungles to lava filled volcanos. The issue is there are three factions looking for the glory of returning the fallen titan Hyperion to his glory. This war will draw you into it as you progress down the story tree and by end-game your fellow players in rival factions will be just as much of a hindrance to your progress as the monsters themselves. But let’s break down the features a bit to explain how this fits in.

 

Yes my scorpion has a flower for a tail. Why do you think it’s a mount and not a fighting pet?

 

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The game controls just like any fully 3D Fantasy MMORPG you’ve played before. Players can acquire and level pets (teaching them skills along the way), collect sweet mounts with various passive effects and movement speeds, and find and refine gear to create sick looking glow armor that would make Twilight vamps jealous. This is key as the game only has the 3 classes of warrior, mage, and archer (none are gender locked – huzzah!) and with the restrictions of a browser you shouldn’t expect massive alterations in facial detail to set you apart. As such your hair color, style, and unique armor fashion sense will be the defining factors that set you apart from your fellow players.

 

 

As this was originally developed as Zeus Online for a Chinese market, players who have experienced titles like Perfect World and Jade Dynasty will feel right at home with the UI. In my personal experience this has some benefits, such as a well-organized chatbox broken up by various preset tabs and the benefit of open world PvP. On the down side this usually is tied uniformly with cash shopping to win. But ZQGame hasn’t been sitting around blind to the market around them, and based on the League of Legends logo on the demo PC’s shortcut bar, it’s safe to say they understand the importance of balancing the cash shop with average player experience to not turn off the more veteran gamers in the industry. As such the in-game currency Silver can be accumulated to become the cash shop currency Gold, allowing any cash shop item to be purchasable directly through hard-earned in-game currency.

 

Massive hubtown complete with all major NPCs that players can tele back to at any time? Check.

 

 

It can’t be emphasized enough that most features you imagine in a client-based MMORPG are present here. NPCs have basic voice acting while themed music fills each section of the world. Parties of 6 players can delve into challenging dungeons with over forty to delve into at launch. A nightmare mode exists for harder dungeons, opening up new maps and monsters in existing dungeons to test your metal. Guilds of 200 a piece can clash against each other to prove their might and control territories to receive taxes. Massive battlegrounds housing thousands of players at once and encompassing members of all 3 factions can clash together for resources. Achievements and titles are up for the taking by those willing to seek them out. An auction house and player shops are both in the works and should arrive sometime after launch. Really professions and crafting is the only major component of a modern MMO that doesn’t seem to be present right now.

 

Random Fact: ZQGames is stationed in an office with a 13th floor, proving no superstition holds them back. They also shop at IKEA, proving that all programmers and game testers should have leaf shaped light deflectors over their cubicle.

 

 

The era of full-screen (or fancy dual monitor resolutions) browser titles is at hand and ZQGame is breaking this can of worms wide open prior to even the Unity engine crowd. Unlike most amazing looking browser games I’ve written about before, you need only wait until tomorrow to get your hands on The Lost Titans! Keep an eye out on MMOHuts and OnRPG as Ange Perdu and Proxzor will bring their impressions of this game’s open beta in the near future. And at that I leave you with their open beta launch trailer: