Silkroad Online Celebrates An Amazing Milestone: 15 Years Of Service
Joymax, leading online game developer and publisher widely known for Digimon Masters and Knight Age, today celebrates the birthday of their anchor title, Silkroad Online! With an almost unheard of fifteen years of service, Silkroad Online is one of the oldest running MMORPGs, without any long-term service interruptions. To celebrate this monumental occasion, Joymax is sponsoring a variety of contests and in-game parties for its loyal community.
“When we opened the doors to Silkroad Online in 1997, we had no idea we would one day be celebrating fifteen years of active service!” said Nam-Chul Kim, CEO of Joymax. “It seems like just yesterday we were celebrating the tenth anniversary, which in and of itself is a huge milestone. We give our most heartfelt thanks to all of our players for your ongoing interest and support.”
Silkroad Online was one of the first MMORPGs on the market to hit the coveted 100,000 concurrent logged in users, and at the time it was a plateau that was widely thought to be unreachable for any titles beyond a few big budget offerings. For a free to play to reach such a status was practically unheard of, but Silkroad’s success continues to this day.
Both new and fan-favorite recurring events will be taking place inside Silkroad Online starting September 19th. Joymax will be hosting a variety of events for users that will truly shape the world around them, including a “Design an Avatar” contest via Facebook. The winner’s design will be used by the team to create an actual in-game clothing model (called “Avatar”) that players will be able to use moving forward. Full details of the contest will be revealed in just a few short days.
Questions by Darren Henderson (DizzyPW), OnRPG Editor-in-Chief
Answers by TonyV, Save City of Heroes Campaign Coordinator
The Save City of Heroes campaign is run by OnRPG’s very own Meticulous Meta (Maressa), and Tony Vazquez (TonyV). We had the chance to sit down with TonyV to find out a little bit more about the campaign while Maressa planned their next event which we’re told will be revealed later this week.
OnRPG: Tell us a bit about yourself and your involvement in City of Heroes.
I started playing City of Heroes in August 2004. At the time, I worked a shift that rotated every eight weeks between night shift and day shift. When I was on my night shift rotation, I had virtually nothing to do on my days off, since during the hours I was awake everything around me was typically closed. So a friend of mine told me that he had been playing this great new game, City of Heroes. Being a fan of comic books while growing up, and loving superhero movies such as Superman, Batman (Michael Keaton!), and the X-Men movies, I had to try it out. The first time I saw how flexible the game is and took to the skies of Paragon City, I knew I wanted to be part of this game for a long time to come.
In 2005, I started a fan site dedicated to City of Heroes, the Paragon Wiki. It quickly grew and now consistently gets almost three million page loads every month. Eventually I inherited some other fan sites, and today, I and a team of other City of Heroes fans run the Titan Network, the collection of all of these fan sites.
OnRPG: Why did you start the Save City of Heroes Campaign?
When I got the news that NCsoft had closed Paragon Studios and plans on shutting down the game, it really hit me hard. Not so much because I expected the game to never end, but because it is still doing very well. We have a strong community, an avid fan base, developers that care very deeply about the game and its development, and from everything we have seen and heard, the game was doing very well financially. Over the course of the following day, it struck me that it is such a shame for the product of all of our community’s creativity to be in danger of being permanently destroyed. This has become much more than a game, it has become a creative expression, and if at all possible, needs to continue.
OnRPG: Who has been important in the campaign? What have they been doing?
The most important people are the players and fans of City of Heroes. Without them, all of my efforts would be meaningless. I really feel that the difference between us working to save the game and other such efforts is the strength of our community, the fact that the game is still going so strong.
We’ve also heard from several notable personalities. Author Mercedes Lackey has written a letter to the CEO of NCsoft with an offer of her publicity if City of Heroes can be preserved. Science fiction and fantasy author John C. Wright posted a blog post in support of saving the game. Through social networking sites like Twitter, our campaign has been promoted by writer Neil Gaiman and actors Felicia Day, Sean Astin, and Tara Platt. We’ve also seen very gracious posts by web comic authors and artists Scott Kurtz (PVP) and John Kovalic (Dork Tower). All-in-all, we believe that these people have helped our efforts be seen by millions of people.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t also mention the press, especially gaming news and information sites such as OnRPG who, as well as other comic book culture related sites and technology sites that have taken an interest in us. We believe that helping to spread the word about what is happening and how we are trying to prevent it has had a significant impact and turned a simple business decision into something more, something that we are hoping that NCsoft will see as an opportunity for even better public relations.
OnRPG: What is your ultimate goal?
Our primary goal is simple: Save City of Heroes. We have an outline of several options to accomplish that goal via several alternatives. Right now, our focus is on what I have referred to “the optimal outcome”; that is, getting the game into the hands of Paragon Studios as either an independent developer or as a subsidiary of another publisher. If that is simply not possible, then other longer-term options are being explored, such as getting a new studio or publisher to acquire the game, crowd funding acquiring the intellectual property rights to the game so that it may continue in some alternative format, or if all else fails, reverse-engineering the game so that it might have some sort of spiritual successor and so that the community can have access to their creative invention in some form. There has also been talk within the community of creating a new game, but at this point, we really consider that a very long-term, if-all-else-fails goal that will only be addressed once all other options have been ruled out.
A secondary goal independent of the code and intellectual property of the game itself is to keep the community together. The Titan Network (cohtitan.com) forums have become a portal for City of Heroes players, and we have several Facebook pages such as CoH Alumni and Save City of Heroes where the community is congregating.
OnRPG: What is it about City of Heroes that makes people like you want to save it?
Mainly two things
First, the game itself allows players such an incredible degree of freedom to customize their characters and their stories. When the game launched in 2004, it was regarded as state-of-the-art in the amount of outfits and options players had available to make a character look exactly how they wanted. Even with that accomplishment, the artists and developers have invested significant resources in providing more and more updates so that now there are options that most people had never even dreamed of.
But character customization is only part of the story. In 2009, Paragon Studios released a major update to the game called Architect in which players can also design custom stories. There is such a high degree of flexibility to design custom enemies, missions, dialogue, and objectives that you can truly make the game yours. Later that year, they released another update that allowed us to customize our powers to fit whatever theme we want. Does your hero shoot purple fire from his hands? Does your villain engulf her enemies in a pink haze of confusion? Not a problem.
In 2010, we received yet another major update to the game, Shades of Gray, with the release of Going Rogue. Now we had elements of moral ambiguity in the game in which players can not only play classic heroes or villains, but also rogues and vigilantes. Do you face an immediate threat at the expense of serving a greater good? While many games have expanded their universe outward, it was very interesting to me that Paragon Studios chose to take the game inward, widening the spectrum of choices within its existing moral framework.
Second, the staff of Paragon Studios who has developed the game is really much different from any game studio I’ve ever interacted with before. Most other studios for games I have played operate on a very one-way basis. They give you news and information, they publish updates, they issue press releases. While you might sometimes meet a developer, the communication was very much one-sided. Ever since City of Heroes was launched, however, the game’s designers, developers, and artists have sought our feedback. For example, during a Player Summit event in 2011, the Paragon Studios team conducted a panel in which we the players suggested and helped them design a new costume set, retro sci-fi, which is in the game today. It was such a success that they expanded the panels to include players in designing a new powerset and a new zone revamp this past spring.
That level of interactivity makes this a game that feels like we have a vested interest in making sure it survives; like it’s not just a game we play, but a world that we’re part of.
OnRPG: What kinds of things has the campaign been doing so far?
We’ve tried to focus on three main areas.
First, we have been organizing projects to demonstrate to NCsoft how much of an impact this business decision has had on us, that we are loyal gamers who really want NCsoft to work with us. For example, we are currently conducting a campaign in which players send capes and masks to the corporate headquarters. The intention is to show that we aren’t just customers, that we’re people with a stake in the ultimate future of this game.
Second, we have been holding events to keep the morale of the players up and the former Paragon Studios staff. That was the primary purpose of the Unity Rally we held on September 8: to convince players, many of whom might be understandably feeling down due to the announcement, that we are still here, we are still playing, and we are still working to keep the game alive. The rally was a great success; we estimate over 5,000 players showed up to show their support. We have scheduled another in-game event on September 20 and 22 to again rally players together and give a nod to the game’s Lead Designer, Matt “Positron” Miller.
Third, we have been engaging in a large communications outreach in support of our campaign. At the Titan Network, we have set up forums dedicated to news, information, and “Calls to Action” to provide players things that they can do to help our efforts. Several active Facebook groups have sprung up, including the Save City of Heroes, which I have been taking an active part in. We are also sending out information via Twitter (@TheTitanNetwork) as we have it. We have been encouraging players to let their friends and fellow players know what is going on and how they can reach us. We have been reaching out to the press, notable personalities, and others who can help rally to our cause.
OnRPG: If you could talk to NCSoft personally what would you say to them?
I would first tell them that our goal is not to make them look bad or negatively impact their company. I understand the nature of business decisions, and sometimes as a company you find yourself in a position where you cannot please everyone. If City of Heroes is not in their long term goals as a company, I respect that and I am not trying to convince them otherwise.
I just hope that they agree with us when we say that there are opportunities here for everyone to come out a winner. Right now, because the game was still strong, City of Heroes is a property with monetary value that other companies would be interested in. If NCsoft waits too long, however, that value diminishes as the player base erodes. In addition, NCsoft has helped to build an incredible dedicated community of players. This is an extraordinary opportunity for a huge public relations win. As a gamer, when I think about how much commitment I want to pour into a game, it’s important to me that the publisher and development studio has a good reputation of fostering a strong community.
In the past five years, NCsoft has now cancelled five games: Dungeon Runners, Exteel, Auto Assault, Tabula Rasa, and now City of Heroes. Some of these were not profitable, and I can understand not continuing. But City of Heroes is profitable; according to NCsoft’s own statement, it is being shut down not because of monetary concerns but because it “no longer fits within [their] long term goals for the company.” If a game like City of Heroes can be shut down even though it is doing well, has a strong community, and a dedicated, hard-working development staff, this makes me seriously hesitant to want to invest much time or effort into a newer title like Guild Wars 2 or the just-announced Blade and Soul. If NCsoft chooses instead to work with the community to ensure that City of Heroes continues under another company, however, it would be a tangible sign that even if a game is not in NCsoft’s long term goals, they will work as much as is feasible to ensure that its community’s investment of their time and effort isn’t simply wasted.
OnRPG: What part does Paragon Studios play in your campaign?
When NCsoft closed Paragon Studios, you all of a sudden had a tight, integrated unit of people–everyone you would need to continue development of City of Heroes–suddenly out of work and needing a project to work on. We are hopeful that the former staff of Paragon Studios might be interested in creating a new development studio and pick up where they left off, but with the hardware and rights to the game owned by the new development studio. I have publicly stated that we would back Paragon Studios in any such effort, including financially through a crowd funding effort if needed. I have not received any response positive or negative from Paragon Studios regarding the offer, but I remain hopeful that it is being considered. While I cannot speak for all players, we have received an outpouring of support for this plan, which we have optimistically dubbed our “Plan A.”
Also, while the former staff of Paragon Studios has not communicated with us regarding any such plan, they have expressed an immense amount of gratitude for our efforts. Because we feel like we are part of the studio thanks to their interactivity over the years, that really means a lot to us as well and motivates us even further.
OnRPG: Why is there such a focus to save the studio as well as the game?
The practical reason is because no one is better qualified to continue development on the game. Some of the designers and developers working on City of Heroes have been with the game since the beginning, over ten years. While another studio might possibly be able to take over development of the game, doing so would add an element of complexity to the situation that we hope will not be necessary. Also, if the game is in the hands of the studio, we would not have to worry about another publisher making the same decision NCsoft did, causing us to be back in the same position we are today.
In addition, thanks to the level of interactivity we have had with the developers, we genuinely care about them. While the staff of Paragon Studios have a successful track record on a genre-defining game and most will probably be hired quickly, we know that being laid off in a tough economy is always difficult. If we can achieve our optimum solution of the game ending up in the hands of the Paragon Studios staff, it would certainly ease the burden of having to seek employment.
OnRPG: What would you say to people who are skeptical that your efforts will do any good?
I have encountered this a lot, and to be honest, I expected it and I understand it. What we are trying to accomplish is very rarely done, so it is perfectly reasonable to think that the odds are against us. However, we believe that our situation is different for a few reasons.
First, because City of Heroes was still successful, our player population is higher than many games that have been shut down. Second, because the City of Heroes franchise was doing well financially, there is incentive for investors to make an offer to NCsoft to acquire the game. Third, we have a significant infrastructure already in place across fan sites, Internet radio stations, social media presence, and other such outlets that are available for us to use to communicate our message and coordinate our efforts.
While we understand why people are skeptical of our efforts now, we know that they will continue to watch and see what happens. We believe that as we make progress, the tide will turn in our favor and they will believe in the work we are doing. When that happens, we will welcome them with open arms.
OnRPG: Is there a point where you will give up on the campaign?
The practical fact is that if NCsoft is unwilling to release the game to be acquired by another company, no one can force them to do so. While we feel that would be a terrible public relations move both within and outside of the City of Heroes community, at that point, it will be highly unlikely that the game will ever exist as it does today. However, we have worked on contingency plans that would allow the community to stay together and remain friends. We have also explored other options to help keep the game alive in some form for its players, but we are avoiding thoroughly exploring those options until further along, choosing to focus our energies where they are most needed immediately. The only way I can see us really giving up on this campaign is if the City of Heroes community loses interest to the point where we can no longer sustain it. Based on what I have seen of the community, I suspect that will not be for a very long time.
OnRPG: What does the future hold for the campaign?
This weekend we have been encouraging players to contact the CEO, CFO, and Chief Strategist of NCsoft to tell their stories and express why allowing City of Heroes would benefit NCsoft. This coming week, we have an event coming up to help rally players to do what they do best: participate with their friends in the game working on missions. We are hopeful that this and future events will help to keep morale high and players interested in continuing to play the game.
We are also in the process of working on a portal where we can collect news, information, and media related to the campaign, as well as continuing to expand our outreach to more communities and notable personalities. We also have begun planning for our annual charity events, which have raised nearly $30,000 for sick children, world hunger, and our armed forces over the past three years. And, of course, there will undoubtedly be more projects and events to help convince NCsoft that allowing City of Heroes to be acquired would be a great business move and to keep our players’ excited about the game.
OnRPG: If you do succeed what options are being looked at for the future of the game?
Ideally, the new development studio will pick up where it left off. There was a major new update ready to be released that probably would have gone live by now, and we would love to be playing it with our friends. After that, options will depend on what our situation is.
OnRPG: How can people get involved with the campaign?
Right now, we are communicating primarily through three main methods. First, we are using the Titan Network forums (http://www.cohtitan.com/forum/index.php/board,134.0.html) as a portal for information related to saving Paragon City. Second, we are posting frequent updates on Twitter using our Titan Network account (@TheTitanNetwork) and encouraging users to post news and information using the #SaveCoH hash tag. Last but not least, we are communicating through Facebook using the Save City of Heroes group. In addition, we are working on a dedicated news and information portal that we hope to announce very soon.
OnRPG: Do you have a message for City of Heroes fans and Gamers in general?
Absolutely! To fans of City of Heroes, keep your spirits up, this is not over yet. Also, play the game. It is still a lot of fun, there are still a lot of friends to make and meet, and it helps keep the morale of other players up. Please check the Titan Network’s Save Paragon City forum often for our calls to action, and help spread the word to your friends in the game and using social networking sites. Remember, we are heroes. This is what we do.
To other gamers, we hope that you will support us. Even if you do not play City of Heroes, I hope that other gamers can relate to what it is like to have such an outlet for your time and creative energy, and will appreciate how it would feel to have it unexpectedly taken away. We have a petition at http://tinyurl.com/savecoh that we are asking everyone to sign, and we’d appreciate whatever support other gaming communities can offer.
OnRPG Shotgun News 9/17: WoW, Funcom, Zynga, and Soul of Guardian!
By Shannon Doyle (Leliah), OnRPG Journalist
Official World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria Strategy Guide Revealed
The BradlyGames Official Mists of Pandaria Strategy Guide has been revealed just days before the official release of the World of Warcraft expansion. The strategy guide will be released on September 25th. It is 400 pages long and comes in as one of BradlyGames’ largest strategy guides to date. It will be released in two different versions. The deluxe limited edition will contain an extra 32 pages of pre production artwork and an excerpt from the upcoming novel, World of Warcraft: Tides of War.
Former Funcom CEO Under Investigation
Trond Arne Aas, the former CEO of Funcom is currently under investigation for insider trading. After stepping down as CEO he was removed from Funcom’s primary insider list which allowed him to trade his stock without reporting it publicly on the Oslo stock exchange. His attempt to sell 1.5 million shares was noticed by another stockholder. He is claiming that he had no knowledge of the fact that The Secret World had disappointing sales before he stepped down.
Soul of Guardian Battle Royale Begins
A five day pvp battle royale is coming to Soul of Guardian on September 20th. It begins with the KO round which will eliminate all but the 16 best. After that a round of best of three fights will narrow it down until the champion is the only one left standing.
Zynga Responds to EA Lawsuit with Counterclaim
A little over a month after EA filed a lawsuit against Zynga the social gaming giant is responding in kind. They have asked that several parts of EA’s suit be dropped as well as claim that EA has unlawfully enacted a no-hire agreement which forbids EA employees from going to Zynga. An EA spokesperson called it, “a predictable subterfuge aimed at diverting attention from Zynga’s persistent plagiarism of other artists and studios.”
Syndra is a mage with some of the most unusual tools at her disposal. Her burst isn’t great, but her sustained damage can be quite fearsome, provided she lives long enough in a fight to lay down the hurt. Players familiar with other combo reliant mages like Brand may be most at home playing her, though anyone is going to have a tough time taking on the sheer cliff-face that is her learning curve.
Pros:
Blue buff turns her into a monster
Force of Will allows for some very unusual tricks
Good crowd control (AoE slow, conical pushback, long range stun that can hit multiple targets)
Low cooldowns allow for an active playstyle
Extremely high skill ceiling
Cons:
Extremely mana hungry
Weak early game
Heavily reliant on blue buff
Slow movement speed, and no escapes
Needs time to set up her most powerful attacks
Underwhelming burst without her ultimate
Unforgiving learning curve
Ability Summary
Transcendent [Passive]: Her spells get better when they hit maximum rank. This pretty much forces you to concentrate on maxing out one of her abilities as quickly as possible, with as few dips in her other skills as you can manage. This is what most players do anyway, so it’s not a very important part of her game.
Dark Sphere [Q]: Mid range AoE nuke with a long windup and a small blast radius. After the initial burst, the ability leaves a dark sphere on the ground. The rest of her kit manipulates these spheres in some fashion, so learning to place them correctly is the most important skill for a Syndra player to master.
Force of Will [W]: Grabs a non-champion enemy creature or dark sphere and drags it behind Syndra. When activated a second time, it will throw her captive at a targeted location, slowing and damaging everything in the AoE. Dragging minions back into an incoming wave is a great way to freeze your lane. Another funny trick is to grab hold of enemy buff monsters and drag them to a safe position for your jungler. Any dark sphere being dragged behind Syndra can’t disappear, so you can use this to easily get more spheres out on the field if you’re preparing to use a stun or ultimate follow up. Due to her AP scaling, this ability will actually do more damage than her Dark Sphere in the late game, though it suffers from having a dramatically longer cooldown.
Scatter the Weak [E]: Knocks back all enemies in a cone. If a dark sphere is pushed back, it will stun all enemies it passes through. While the stun is hard to aim, if you can get used to using it, it’s a very long range stun, able to hit at around a screen’s length.
Unleashed Power [R]: Targeted nuke that scales with the number of dark spheres in play. Leaves dark spheres on the ground, which can be interacted with as any other dark sphere.
Combos & Shenanigans
Smartcasting on Syndra is a must. In order to play Syndra effectively, you’re going to have to rely on her many, many ability combinations. Much like in my Jayce article, this is unlikely to be a comprehensive list, but shows some of the numerous things she’s capable of.
Dark Sphere followed by Force of Will will give her ammo for a slow, without the need for minions. This can be an essential trick for kiting enemies when caught out somewhere without any readily available minions, like near the dragon pit.
Dark Sphere followed by Scatter the Weak provides Syndra with a long range stun. This is an exceptionally hard ability to land reliably, because if you’re off centre by even a small amount, you’ll miss your shot. You can increase your chances of hitting your enemy, or hit multiple targets by dropping an Unleashed Power on your nearest target, then firing all of the dark spheres across a wide area. Given this means you will usually be using your ultimate on a tank, and with few dark spheres in play, be aware this trick costs her a lot of damage output, though the amount of crowd control you get in return can often be worth it. It also can bite you in the ass on occasion when the spheres land somewhere you can’t make use of (Like all landing on the wrong side of an enemy), so should be avoided in risky situations.
When combining Dark Sphere, Force of Will and Scatter the Weak in a full combo, you can pump out her full suit of crowd control very quickly. Offensively, this is best used at long range, so you don’t push your intended target away from you with Scatter the Weak, and instead just hit them with the stun and slow. When used defensively, it is best to place a dark sphere in front of your enemy, push your enemy and the sphere back (Stunning them), then grabbing the knocked back sphere and throwing it at the enemy for the slow. If landed correctly, it can be very hard for an enemy to approach through this, but if you don’t land it properly, all of her abilities are now on cooldown and she’s wide open to attack.
Conclusions
Syndra is not a ‘pick up and play’ character. You will get stomped into the floor the first few times you give her a go. She’s a character that lives or dies based on her more advanced tricks. Freezing her own lane with pulled enemy minions, dragging out enemy creep camps, and smacking Yorick with his own ghouls are all effective gimmicks, but if her player isn’t using them, she’s a terrible pick compared to any other mage.
Even with her highly unusual utility, I’m not entirely sure it makes up for her terrible damage output. Perhaps she’s got some really tricky stuff to get her to burst targets down effectively, but as of right now they all rely on far too much of a set up compared to her peers. If she’s spending a whopping 10 seconds getting enough spheres to make her ultimate hit like a truck (Using a grand total of 7 spheres hitting her enemy), the enemy are likely using that same amount of time to kill her.
Right now I’m getting a launch day Cassiopeia vibe from her. She’s got a unique and active play style that we haven’t seen before, but she’s also only worth picking if you enjoy the character, rather than actually want to succeed.
Final Verdict
She’s good fun, with a unique style of play, but she feels weak at the moment. She may become stronger as people find tricks with her and begin spreading them around the community, so she’s unlikely to see buffs in the next patch. Unless you want to get in on the ground floor of any Syndra research, I’d advise waiting a while before picking her up.
As Outspark’s latest hack-and-slash acquisition, DarkBlood Online has set aside the usual MMO ‘meta’ in lieu of something quite unique. The days of mundane combat rotations and routines have been replaced with a frantic and action-packed button-basher.
Set in the world of Atarsia, your hero takes up arms against a demonic horde from another dimension. The war is bloody but humanity prevails and pushes the demons back to their hellish fortress. You, the hero – along with four allies – take the fight to the enemy. The last stand is fierce, and as the final sacrifice your allies decide the best thing to do would be to hurl your character five hundred years into the future. Landing in the small town of Elwood, it is your job to once again prepare for a new demonic invasion.
What passes for a ‘hero’ is quite unremarkable, however, and DarkBlood doesn’t seem to have pushed the boat out when it comes to character creation and diversity, with only four rather standardized classes available (each branching in two at level 20).
The Warrior serves as the high-damage melee class, able to use axes or swords to slice apart enemies whilst taking only moderate damage in return. They branch into the axe-wielding Breaker or the sword-swinging Berserker.
What Knights lack in offensive power they make up for in raw defense. Like the Warrior, they use melee combat along with a shield to pulverize enemies in a flurry of combo attacks. They branch into the mace-wielding Paladin or the sword-using Crusader.
Hunters fight from afar with bow and arrows. While defensively weak compared to Warriors and Knights, their ability to evade damage whilst attacking from afar make them dangerous combatants. They branch into the long-ranged Shooter, or the short-ranged Trickster.
Last – but certainly not least – are Mages, adept magic-users able to damage, debuff, or support allies from afar. While incredibly versatile, they lack defense and fight best at range. They can become the incredibly powerful Sorcerer or the more supportive Magician.
Sadly, the limited character creator does not end there. Characters are gender-locked, with Warriors and Hunters being male-only classes while Knights and Mages are female-only. The range of customizable hair and facial styles is slim, and both hair and clothing dyes are features only accessible later in the game.
Chest size is important for any female Hero. Right?
The initial tutorial shows you a high-powered character with all skills unlocked, and you are able to slaughter demons with ease. This teaser, however, lasts mere minutes and post-tutorial you wake up naked and without skills in Elwood. Everything past this point feels like a bit of a drag, and the story is incredibly slow to start. The most glaring flaw is just how hard the game is to lose yourself in. The test of a good, immersive game is looking at the clock and seeing that nine hours have passed without you realizing, as you sit in your underwear wondering what you’re doing with your life; or maybe that’s just some of us. Either way, DarkBlood certainly does nothing of the sort.
The button-mashing combat makes a change from the drab hotkey and rotation styles of other MMOs.
Quests don’t feel like they have a purpose: kill some bears; rescue an NPC; kill some rabid monkey-eating zombie donkeys; it just doesn’t have a story line. The only way to see the story is by looking at the supporting website, and even that feels like a mish-mash of 4 AM semi-intoxicated ideas put directly into print. DarkBlood struggles with translation issues, and that mixed in with poorly worded NPC dialogue makes the game hard to play at times out of sheer frustration. Even the quests that do work are often monotonous, with half of them simple ‘delivery’ or ‘talk to’ quests despite the second NPC standing right next to the first.
And on the topic of immersion: loading screens! Nobody likes loading screens, and while some games rule the market beautifully by being able to keep the world dynamic (World of Warcraft, for instance), you’ll be hard pressed if you don’t see a loading screen or game pause every 30 seconds on DarkBlood. Elwood is split into five or six different zones all separated by an annoying interval, and every dungeon is equally fragmented; it feels like the game was designed for a handheld console like a PSP rather than a desktop computer.
Welcome to Elwood, otherwise known as Loading Screen City.
The actual dungeons themselves work quite well, and have been designed to cater for solo players or larger groups. Because each dungeon has a range of difficulties (with rewards being scaled up for harder content) it can sometimes be worthwhile running the same dungeon a number of times for the sake of loot. With that said, the number of dungeons is actually quite small and many of them look very similar; that on top of quests sending you to the same place four of five times means that dungeons become incredibly repetitive.
For all of its flaws, DarkBlood does look and feel incredibly fun when you actually get stuck into a fight. The graphics – while a little lacklustre – look very arcade-esque, with damage numbers and combo counters exploding across the screen.
Dungeons are ranked from SSS to D. Higher scores mean better rewards.
Combat is the game’s biggest selling point, and it does away wonderfully with the days of repetitive hotkeys. Hotkeys are available, of course, but the combat is often so rapid that you find yourself hitting whatever button lights up without thinking too tactically. Indeed, slamming one’s head against the keyboard probably would have the same result as actually trying to build a rotation. Not that the game is ‘faceroll’, per se, and some dungeons offer challenges that take overly confident players by surprise. For more experienced players, the game can also be played like a beat-em-up, with certain combinations of arrows keys and button presses executing skills rather than simple hotkeys. Players brave enough to fight using this method are rewarded with significant mana cost reductions, adding another level of difficulty (and reward) to a game that already boasts so much varied content.
Aside from facerolling dungeons, a large part of combat is DarkBlood’s PvP community and ranking ladder. PvP players like a beat-em-up (think Street Fighter or Tekken on a 3D plane), and this is a step-up from the already exciting dungeon running. Not that the game can’t be played without PvP, but with so much focus on competitive play, anybody avoiding it might as well only be playing half a game.
A shout out should be given to the other game features including the Auction House, an achievement system, and a weapon and armor ‘reinforcement’ system. None of these are particularly spectacular, however, and seem to be available in most new MMOs. DarkBlood also offers ‘life skills’ (akin to ‘jobs’ or ‘professions’ of other MMOs), and these allow players to craft unique ‘avatar’ items that can be equipped on top of equipment to change character appearance. These avatar items can also be affixed with gems, which are found in numerous places including – unsurprisingly – the cash shop.
Some of the less loved features include ‘stress’, DarkBlood’s way of stopping players from playing too much. Each game activity (such as dungeons) raises a character’s stress, and reaching the cap severely hinders further gameplay. While some might argue that this helps to combat botters and keep the ‘hardcore’ players from getting too far ahead, the system feels archaic and more of a hindrance than a help.
DarkBlood isn’t a bad game, really. Anybody looking for something to dive into for a few minutes here and there might enjoy the lack of immersion without getting overly tired of the repetitive dungeons. Its arcade-style combat and button-bashing, high-paced PvP certainly shine through the grim hotkey-and-repeat style of other MMOs. While the story is lacking, it doesn’t ruin the game and DarkBlood still has enough to offer to make the game worth trying. Accounts are free so why not sign up. While you’re there, why not check out OnRPG’s latest video review of the game too.
Draft Kings is a fantasy baseball contest, that offers players an attempt to win cash prizes. Choose a contest and draft your Major League Baseball Team, then follow your players through extensive stat tracking. Compete in tournaments against another person, or against thousands, some with substantial cash prizes for winning!
Features
Play for free: No money required. You have the potential to win cash each day you enter a contest. Over $5,000 is awarded each month in Draft Kings’ freeroll tournaments.
Fast and easy: Draft your team in a matter of minutes. Keep track of your stats, and see how your team is doing against others.
Contest variety: Compete 1-on-1, or against several others. A wide variety of cash contests also exist, starting at $2 and going all the ay up to $200.
Security: All transactions are instant, secure, and easy to deposit and withdraw. The company is based in the United States, and all contests are 100% legal.
Pirate Storm is an MMORPG playable right in your browser. You start off as a landlubber, yearning for adventure on the open sea. Your travels will pit you against dangerous pirates, fearsome monsters, and more as you rise through the ranks to become a dreaded scourge of the sea. PvE or PvP, Pirate Storm caters to everyone with intense action, exciting combat, and strategic decisions to create a pirate game unlike any other.
Features
Browser based: Get into the action of Pirate Storm with no downloads. Play the game in 24 different languages, all with the same swashbuckling action.
PvE Missions: Fend off vicious pirates and capture their loot for your own! Leave their ship a smouldering mess in the ocean. Sea monsters also exist in the wide oceans, and it’s up to a daring captain like yourself to take them out.
PvP Scenarios: Need competition that’s a little more human? Pirate Storm has that covered for you as well! Engage with others in exciting PvP matches, where the winner is the one left standing on their ship.
Maestia: Rise of Keledus First Major Update Opens September 19th
Gravity Interactive will receive an update for Maestia: Rise of Keledus dubbed “Skies of Palus”. The update will surprise the community by raising the level cap, expanding the skill tree, and adding a new PvP mode. Players can look forward to starting September 19th.
The upcoming update will increase the character level cap from 59 to 68. The update will be adding an exciting new zone to the game: Palus, The Forgotten Swamp is a new Day/Night zone for players to compete. Players will have the opportunity to engage in large scale battles to secure dominance for the raid bosses. The raid bosses will also receive an update by retuning the encounters to make it extremely challenging and unforgiving for unprepared parties. Skies of Palus will also a new dungeon instance with two sets of difficulty. Also included will be an expanded skill tree for every class that will give players new skills for these new encounters.
The mercenary system will also receive an update by allowing players to recruit their alternate characters to expand the way they want to play in the game. Following this update, Gravity plans to coincide with the mercenary update with a new event. Players will also receive a new system to upgrade their older Maestone. The Maestone upgrade system will allow players to place their old Maestone for a chance an upgraded version.
Players are allowed this weekend only! Rare monsters from Lipido will be spawning with frenzy! The Dark Lord Keledus’s influence has been slowly creeping into the Land of Desires. His twisted dark energies corrupt the land by increasing the numbers of his strongest minions. Tales of glorious treasures hidden within their bodies have been heard in the streets of Superion. If you are heroes, stop this madness!
Novus Aeterno Leaves Press in Awe in First Appearance at PAX
Taitale Studios, the completely independent shop behind the hotly anticipated MMORTS title, Novus AEterno, is getting great buzz and critical acclaim following its showing at PAX Prime August 31 – September 2, 2012 where it received several awards and nominations for everything from “Most Innovative” to “Best Customization”, “Best Surprise Reveal” and more. The game is expected to go into an exclusive testing phase where its “infiltrators” will be among the first to play the game.
MMORPG picked only the top 5 titles from PAX Prime and Novus AEterno was one of the titles they felt rose to the top as the MOST INNOVATIVE title of the show: “Novus Aeterno was our winner for Most Innovative Game at PAX Prime 2012 for good reason: It’s an up-and-comer that will shake both MMO and RTS genres to their very core.”
MMORPG also stated, that Novus Aeterno “is the real deal, embodying both the massive multiplayer online experience with the real-time strategy genre. It is the perfect blending of the two that ultimately creates something entirely new on the scene.” Finally they said of the game, “If the team behind Novus Aeterno can pull it off, it’s certainly going to be one of the most genre-busting (or genre-expanding) games ever to come down the pike.”
MMOHuts.com named Novus its BEST RTS of PAX 2012 saying “With massive galactic worlds, clever combinations of community and resource management, and a setting where PvE and PvP are one and the same, you really can’t hang with Novus Aeterno in the space RTS setting right now.”
Novus also took home several Runner-up nominations from ONRPG and MMOhut including one for BEST INDIE saying “.about as Indie as they get, built from a team founded by the 16 year old prodigy Nick Nieuwoudt, in just 6 years he has acquired a team of devs, writers, artists, programmers, and even Major General Jim Hunt of the US Airforce to ensure that every bit of the tactical aspects of this game are spot on to reality.” Novus was also nominated as BEST SURPRISE REVEAL citing that it “.came out of nowhere and blew the show away with some of the most advanced customization features we’ve ever seen in an RTS and finally it scored a nod as runner-up for BEST CUSTOMIZATION “Novus Aeterno pops up again due to the insane amounts of tweaks and mods you can make to your arsenal of air ships. Starting from 5 basic archetypes, you can build and paint your ships to not only look the way you want, but bring the utility and firepower you desire.”
RTS Guru says of Novus “It is the biggest ding-dong-danged space RTS you can imagine.” STFUandPlay.com named Novus its Best RTS of PAX Prime and Gamebreaker.tv says of the game “If you’re an RTS fan, you owe it to yourself to check out Novus AEterno.”
For those not in the know yet, the storyline of Novus Aeterno goes as follows. After the catastrophic destruction of the main five empires that have dominated the galaxy for eons, Novus AEterno catapults you into this wild and unstable galaxy, and allows you to determine the course of events between the conflict of various factions. To be the victor, you must use be the most cunning and tactical in the galaxy-but don’t forget that trickery, traps and alliances are fair in peace and war!