Yearly Archives: 2013

Shotgun News 8/15: Rift, World of Tanks, and War Thunder

By Shannon Doyle (Leliah), European News Editor

 

Trion Closes UK Offices

Just a week after the announcement of the closure of Trion’s San Diego offices it has been revealed that the UK offices would be closing as well and all development would take place at the main headquarters in Redwood City. Trion has confirmed this won’t have any bearing on the European localization for any of their MMOs.

 

Mayhem in Mathosia Event Announced For Rift

MathosiaMadness

Massive planar activity is due to arrive in Mathosia from August 21st to September 4th. NPCs are advised to take shelter while Ascended have been put on high alert. Expect an extreme level of Rifts opening in Scarlet Gorge, Scarwood Reach, and MoonshadeHighlands. Ascended are advised to have empty bags in preparation of the extra corpse looting during this time. Extra precaution is advised.

 

Wargaming League North American Finals This Weekend

This weekend the top North American World of Tanks teams will battle for the honor of being the first to win, and $50,000. The event will take place over three days in Las Vegas and will be broadcast live on Twitch.

 

War Thunder Arrives on Steam

WarThunderSteam

Gaijin Entertainment’s War Thunder is now available on Steam. The military MMO is currently in Open Beta and production is ongoing to support Oculus Rift. It is already played by more than 3 million people worldwide on PC and will also be available on PS4, iOS, and Andriod.

Wakfu Summer Skyslicer of War Giveaway

OnRPG is teaming up with Ankama to celebrate the Wakfu summer fun with a powerful Skyslicer of War Weapon Giveaway!

WAKFU is a tactical MMORPG offering 15 character classes to choose from and dwell in a humorous colorful universe where everything depends on you. You may choose a nation, vote in the elections as a citizen, become a Guard or a Soldier of your nation and maybe even a Governor. Fauna and flora form a real living ecosystem you may manage: protect nature or exploit resources to the point of extinction. Since monsters do not respawn by themselves like in most MMORPGs, you may have them breed or let a species go instinct. Climate and nature of the soil will have an influence on your harvest too. In WAKFU, it’s all up to you!

The Skyslicer of War offers the following stats:
+50 HP
+12 INI
+1% CH
+14% Damage
Effects: -33 HP
Critical hit: -49 HP

 

To get your key you have to follow these instructions:

  • If you are not yet a member of OnRPG please sign up here.
  • Enter your OnRPG username and password below to get your key.
  • The key will appear at the bottom of the page. Copy & paste it to a safe place as you may not be able to retrieve it once closing your browser!

To Redeem your Key:

  • Visit the Wakfu download page and create an account if you haven’t already.
  • Log into game and enter your key in the shop to access your event weapon!

Star Trek Rivals

Star Trek Rivals is a mobile phone iTCG offering Triple Triad style gameplay against human opponents across the net. Utilizing the Star Trek alternate universe depicted in the recent film revival including Into Darkness, players can expect to see major and minor characters filling the massive roster of over 170 cards. Take part in missions to give you drive behind your battles and participate in up to 5 battles at one time.

Dark Relic

Dark Relic is an ambitious blend of tabletop and MMO role-playing. Based off ‘The 6th Aspect’ Dungeons and Dragons campaign, Dark Relic presents a new perspective on becoming an adventurer. Develop your skills and choose a class after visiting the class guilds and choosing which you prefer; then, hone your skills to become an official member of the guild. Become a simple or master crafter, customize a home, and run a guild hall in a world where you set the pace.

Features:

Customizable Homes: Each player will have the ability to customize their homes and/or Guild Halls with storage units, furniture, decorations, and a level of security permissions.

Specialized Guild Mechanics: Personalized customizations, permissions, and settings are just the start for guild masters and officers. Guilds will also be focused on tasks, goals, and alliances, rather than end game progression.

Factions: An expansive faction system includes a Five Regent (continental) faction system.

Variety of Play: Integrated PvE and PvP, two PvP systems, civics, and alignment are just the start of new ways to interact with the world.

Star Trek Rivals Review: Forgettable at Best

By Vincent Haoson (Ojogo)

 

Star Trek Rivals is a tie-in mobile app to the sequel of the Star Trek Alternate Universe (AU) movie, Into Darkness. The game takes its cue from the Final Fantasy VIII mini-game Triple Triad and puts you against 1v1 live battles with other players online.

 

 

What is Triple Triad?

For those who haven’t played Final Fantasy VIII before. Triple Triad originated from the mentioned FF title. It’s a card based battle where your units are characters that have numbers written on the top, sides and bottom areas of the card. The FFVIII version had characters and creatures from the game as units. While in STR, the units come from the established characters and creatures from both the first Star Trek movie and Into Darkness.

Star Trek Rivals Review 1

The goal is simple, the person with the most cards in the 3×3 field at the time of the match when no further cards can be played wins. To meet that requirement you need to beat the cards your opponent has played on the field by getting a higher numerical value on one of the sides of his/her card. This can be done two ways: the first option is through a direct face-off with your card while the other roundabout way is to create combos where you can use his/her own card against them to gain the upper hand.

 

 

More about the Battles

In FFVIII, card games are done one at a time. In STR they push the limits of your tactical prowess by letting you battle up to 5 times simultaneously. However, the cards you will be able to use are locked for that duration of the battle.

 

Also, STR deviates from the established Triple Triad gameplay in that you are unable to choose which cards come into play at any given game. You are given a random order of cards to be used and if you don’t like your hand, you are forced to use the premium currency to change it.

 

Battles are separated into two types. The first one is the random rival mode which, as the title implies, allows you to play against a random person online. This is further segregated into two types where the difference is hinged on the amount of time that must pass before the game’s auto-win mechanic kicks in. On the other hand, you have the friend battles where you will go head to head against another user directly.

Star Trek Rivals Review 2

There is no option to play against an AI and all battles are done against someone in real time. As mentioned, an auto-win is awarded to a player if his/her opponent doesn’t make a move after a set amount of time. The time setting can be anywhere from 1 hour to 36 hours depending on your preference.

 

 

The Cards

As of this review there are a total of 172 cards in play in STR. The game allows you to acquire them through various conventional means such as buying “packs” using real cash, using the in-game currency, or accomplishing missions. Though I must admit I was caught off-guard when I realized the game even has missions given its heavy PvP focus.

Star Trek Rivals Review 3

The cards are classified into the Standard and the Elite type where each classification has its own card rank that determines rarity. Of course the main protagonists and antagonists are obviously the rarer and stronger cards, while the minor creatures and characters have the lesser, “weaker” value.

 

You can also “improve” cards by upgrading them which can be done as long as the conditions are met. Depending on its rarity, upgrading cards require multiple copies of said card and a certain amount of in-game currency. Some requirements can go as high as 7 card copies for the lower rarity cards while the higher rarity cards can go as low as 3 copies to upgrade.

 

 

Thoughts

As for my final thoughts, I’d have to admit that seeing the Triple-Triad being used like this made me reminisce the time when I used to play FFVIII. Back then, I was hooked on trying to get all the cards the game has and it was a nice distraction from the world saving business Squall et. al had to do.

Star Trek Rivals Review 4

With that said, removing Triple Triad as a mini-game and having it as a stand-alone game is a stretch by my standards. Yes, it was fun in FFVIII. It had me addicted for a time at least. But it was because it was set as a “mini-game” instead of the main game. While admittedly, STR is a nice game to play if you’re waiting in line or killing time during a work break. The game doesn’t hook you enough to seriously play it.

Star Trek Rivals Review 5
The lack of the battle against the AI option is one of the biggest problems I have with STR. With the game’s mandatory 1v1 battles, you are forced to wait on players who may suddenly decide to not play anymore after a few turns which is a definite buzzkill, especially if you’re already winning. Of course there’s the other option that you won’t be able to find a “rival” to play with even with the game’s search function. So you’re basically just waiting half the time you’re playing.

 

The game also restricts the cards you’re able to use to one game at a time, making battles against multiple people simultaneously a chore. Also, having a clean “record” is next to impossible unless you’re willing to wait battles out.

 

Star Trek Rivals is a forgettable card game type of battle with little to no appeal to those who are not familiar with the AU Star Trek franchise. It was nice seeing the triple triad game being used outside the FF universe. But unfortunately STR just proved that it should’ve stayed in it.

Shotgun News 8/14: C9, Defiance, and Dogs of War Online

By Shannon Doyle (Leliah), European News Editor

C9 Reveals Sixth Continent, Raebin

The sixth continent of Glenheim is coming. On August 21st Continent of the Ninth Seal (C9) will be revealing Raebin, the newest continent to be added. The evil Nefer and his army have invaded the Guardian’s Tower to find Tertis’ Heart. To save Glenheim players will play through each level of the tower’s 20 levels and 3 dungeons. And to celebrate the release Webzen is teaming up with Eurocom to host a massive monster hunting competition.

First Defiance DLC Arrives Next Week

The first DLC for Trion’s shooter Defiance will be released on Tuesday, August 20th. Players who pay for the Castithan Charge Pack will be able to play as Castithan, access a new battle arena game mode, and much more. It will be on sale for $9.99 or 800 Microsoft Points for Xbox Live.

Dogs of War Online Website Launches and Closed Beta Announced

DogsofWarOnline

Cyanide has launched the website for their tactical F2P MMO Dogs of War Online. Each player will manage their own company of mercenaries and take part in turn based arena battles. Closed Beta is also expected to launch in late September so anyone interested in giving it a try is advised to watch the site and the social media for more announcements.