Monthly Archives: March 2016

ASTA Leave Your Mark Meme Competition

Leave your mark in ASTA and name an in-game NPC!

The time has come for ASTA to enter open beta at last. We invite our community to experience fantastic MMORPG gameplay, rich customization, and fresh content ASTA has to offer. All you need to play is an active Webzen account which you can create here, if you do not already have one.

ASTA is a classic fantasy MMORPG with gameplay that offers an essential MMORPG experience, combining traditional features such as customizable attributes and server-first achievements with modern comforts like a group finder and automatic matchmaking. The game is set in a vast and vibrant world filled with colorful environments and unique characters, with an art direction and storyline inspired by Asian myths and legends.

Today, we have a very special treat for you! Participate in our exclusive contest and get a chance to leave your mark in ASTA by naming an in-game NPC! Wouldn’t you be pleased to see your creation taking life and maybe becoming a source of new legends? We guess you would, that’s why we’re presenting this exciting opportunity to all OnRPG readers.

Below you will find a gallery of screenshots of ASTA’s characters:

– download 1 image;
– caption it – be creative, smart, funny, polite;
– keep the content in line with our TOS; inappropriate entries will be removed;
– create a meme using a software of your choice or provide a caption for your image when you enter the competition (entry form);
– upload your meme to our app (limit entries to one per user: no),
– Entry form accepts: email address and Instagram, Twitter and Facebook entries (posts with hashtag: #AstaMMOMeme will be automatically added to the contest gallery).
-Entries will be accepted until end of day, March 21st PT.
-Winners will be selected from a pool consisting of both OnRPG and MMOHuts entries. You only need to enter on either site to be qualified.

And remember to vote for your favourite memes (limit votes to one per IP address per day: yes)! The one with the highest amount of votes will get the reward! Feel free to share your own entry with friends.

Winners:
Winners will be announced on Monday evening, April 4th!
1st Place: Get a chance to name an NPC after the game has “officially launched” (after OBT) as well as three event unlock codes (contents listed below!)
2nd Place: Two Event Unlock Codes!
Runner Up (4 winners): 1 Event Unlock Code!

Event Unlock Code Includes:
Pocket of 50 Soul Stones – Contains 50 Soul Stones.
Arita’s Blessing (1 Hour) – Can be consumed to receive a 1-hour EXP boost.
Urma’s Blessing (1 Hour) – Can be consumed to receive a 1-hour Gold boost.
Strange Fate Stone Bundle – Can be consumed to receive 10 stones of strange fate.
Noble Soul – Can be consumed to receive 10 divine spirit summoning points
Soryura’s Boxed Golden Bell (7 Days) – Consumable allowing access to bank/vendor/auction house

Disclaimer:
Competition entries and material submitted in connection with the competition (whether written, audio, electronic or visual form, or a combination of those) are assigned to the Promoter (Webzen) upon submission and become property of the Promoter (Webzen). Each entrant warrants that he or she owns the copyright and any other intellectual property rights in any such material submitted in connection with the competition and has full power and authority to agree and grant the above assignment, consents and other rights to the Promoter (Webzen).

Grab any image from the gallery below to make your Meme!

EVE Online Players Contribute to Human Protein Atlas

EVE Online Players Contribute to Human Protein Atlas

Today’s Project Discovery update has brought genuine and scalable citizen science to EVE Online, the award-winning sci-fi massively multiplayer online game.

CCP Games, in cooperation with the Human Protein Atlas, MMOS (Massively Multiplayer Online Science), and students from Reykjavik University , has brought the ability to contribute to real-world scientific research to the gaming sphere in a fitting and scalable way within the perfect setting for such an effort—the thousands of solar systems of the massive universe of New Eden.

Project Discovery (website), first announced at EVE Fanfest 2015, is a unique game-within-a-game where hundreds of thousands of EVE Online players can earn in-game rewards for helping to classify proteins from a massive database in an effort to help scientists understand protein function in human cells. Project Discovery makes a perfect addition to EVE, already well known for its innovation, rich history, incredibly creative players, and unique sandbox gameplay design.

Many endeavors in scientific research require substantial amounts of human processing on enormous sets of data. Examples of such processing include annotating images to indicate where anomalies are present (e.g., finding stars in an image of the night sky) or classifying images into one of several categories. Performing such tasks computationally is very difficult, but non-experts can learn to do so proficiently with only minimal, example-based training. Project Discovery leverages the “human computing power” of players in EVE Online.

“We were approached by MMOS to see if we could leverage the incredible human capital of EVE player intellect to contribute to scientific research and we were immediately thrilled at the prospect,” said Andie Nordgren, Executive Producer for EVE. “To see it finally get out of a very successful testing stage and into the hands of hundreds of thousands of players worldwide is a proud milestone for us. We hope our example sets the stage for many other successful collaborations between science and gaming to come.”

The Science Behind Project Discovery

The human body consists of 100 billion cells that, for each individual, carry identical DNA. The DNA within your cells provides the genetic code for 20,000 genes that are translated into proteins. It is these molecular building blocks of your cells and how they are expressed in your various tissues that define who you are.

Project Discovery is done in co-operation with The Human Protein Atlas, a Swedish research project. Researchers at The Human Protein Atlas are working to identify all proteins our genes are coding for, and their spatial pattern of expression, to ultimately understand their function and connection to disease. Their goal is to create a map where proteins can be identified in different cells and different organs. Over 13 million images of cells have been generated and those images need to be analyzed for them to achieve their goal. Recognizing patterns in all those images would be a massive undertaking for a small team of scientists, but if a large number of gamers participate by playing Project Discovery that task is much less daunting.

Players of Project Discovery will be helping the scientists to understand protein function in cells by recognizing patterns in protein localization within colorful fluorescent microscopy images where specific proteins have been marked with fluorescent probes called antibodies.

Participants categorize protein patterns from images of cells into different categories of structures in the cell that belong to the nucleus, the cytoplasm and also the periphery of the cell.

There are no pre-requisites for contributing to Project Discovery, so everyone from EVE trial-players to savvy veterans can play. There is also no requirement to participate as part of the overall experience of playing EVE—those happy to use their spaceships for solar domination may continue to do so without participating in Project Discovery. Controls are in place to verify the validity of crowd-sourced results through consensus comparison and other methods, and new items have been added to the Sisters of EVE loyalty points store to spend accrued analysis kredits on new items including unique clothing and a new type of booster.

There were other big changes in today’s EVE Online release, including:

  • A huge module revamp including Damage Modules, Warp Disruptors and Warp Scramblers, Damage Controls, ECM, Cap Batteries, Tracking Modules, Stasis Webifiers, Sensor Dampeners, and the merger of Sensor and ECCM Modules
  • New high-strength Heavy Stasis Grapplers for Battleships and Capitals
  • Force Auxiliary skills have been added in preparation for the EVE Online: Citadel expansion
  • Changes to speed and orbit paths
  • Increased and troubling Drifter activity

Visit EVE Online‘s Project Discovery page: http://www.eveonline.com/discovery/

Full patch notes, which cover dozens more improvements, can be found here.

Gloria Victis Revamps Mereley and Introduces Reputation

Gloria Victis Revamps Mereley and Introduces Reputation

The latest update for Gloria Victis introduces a fully overhauled Mereley, a new reputation system, and changes to the combat system to improve combat dynamics.

Redesigned Mereley, the main settlement of Ismirs, greatly improves the experience of newcomers who chose to play this nation. Not only does the location fit better to the Ismirs, gruesome warriors from the rocky and frosty North, but also impress the players with its scale and diversity – combined massive fort, plundered village and fishing docks are more than thrice larger than the old Mereley!

Another great addition is implementation of the reputation system. Reputation reflects various actions performed by players – for example, partaking in events will increase it, while oppressing the player’s countrymen will have a negative impact. Actions affect the character’s social status, giving players a chance to earn a noble title for themselves – or to be banished and marked as an outlaw who would eventually get the redemption through the hard work in supporting their nation. In the nearest future the system will be expanded with more actions being included, as well as implementing the heroes system, which will reward players who, at a time, have served their nation the best and will be able to inspire their countrymen, as well as to initialize events for an entire nation on their own.

And last but not least – basing on the feedback received from our players, we have greatly improved the combat dynamics by reducing the input latency and synchronizing the powerbar loading times with the actual attacks animations. Bowshooting mechanics have also been modified, so the distance of the arrow’s flight depends on the bow draw power – thanks to this archery became even more skill-based!

Full patch notes can be found here.

Rising Thunder Closing as Radiant Joins Riot

Rising Thunder Closing as Radiant Joins Riot

In an announcement on their core website, Radiant Entertainment revealed that it has been acquired by Riot Games, developer of League of Legends.

While Radiant will continue its work on Stonehearth, its voxel-style civilization RPG, unhindered, Rising Thunder, its fighting robot MOBA, will be closing permanently as of March 18.

Instead, Radiant says that it will “start work on a new game that we’re incredibly excited about.”

Read the full announcement here.

League of Legends Reveals Aurelion Sol

League of Legends Reveals Aurelion Sol

Weeks from his release, Aurelion Sol, the new dragon hero for League of Legends, is now in the spotlight.

Aurelion Sol is a mid-range mage with sustained area of effect damage and the capability to fly over terrain. Here are his abilities:

Passive: Center of the Universe

Three stars constantly orbit Aurelion Sol, dealing magic damage and applying spell effects to enemies they strike.

Q: Starsurge

Aurelion Sol fires the core of a newborn star in a target direction that explodes—dealing damage and stunning all nearby enemies—upon reactivation or once it travels beyond his stars’ maximum orbital range. Aurelion Sol can travel alongside Starsurge, and by keeping it close he’ll nurture it, growing it in size so that it damages and stuns a wider area when it explodes.

W: Celestial Expansion

Aurelion Sol pushes his stars out to his outer ring, significantly increasing their power. Celestial Expansion costs mana to cast and drains mana every second the ability is toggled on. Once he toggles the ability off or runs out of mana, Aurelion Sol pulls his stars back.

League of Legends Reveals Aurelion Sol

E: Comet of Legend

Passive: Aurelion Sol builds up increasing movement speed as he travels continuously in the same direction, and loses speed on sharp turns. Some of this speed is stored away as Escape Velocity stacks, which are lost entirely whenever he takes damage from an enemy.

Active: Once Aurelion Sol maxes his Escape Velocity stacks, he can activate Comet of Legend to pull in his orbiting stars and take flight, traversing over terrain for a long distance. He cannot turn once his course is set, and enemy damage will bring Aurelion Sol back to earth, restoring his orbiting stars.

R: Voice of Light

Aurelion Sol shoots out a long wave of starfire in a target direction that damages and slows all struck enemies. Nearby enemies caught in the blast are also knocked back to Aurelion Sol’s outer ring.

 

Aurelion Sol promises to bring an interesting laning mechanic, as his passive damage will make him an impressive but easily targetable opponent. His abilities will also require keen timing to make use of his most powerful damaging abilities. Read more about the strategies and tactics Riot Games has in mind in the full Champion Reveal.

Age of Wulin Chapter 8: Uncharted World Now Available

Age of Wulin Chapter 8: Uncharted World Now Available

WEBZEN, a global developer and publisher of free-to-play games, announces that the martial arts MMORPG Age of Wulin released a new expansion “Chapter 8: Uncharted World” on 8th of March, 2016 (UTC).

Players can explore new regions starting from today, expanding the variety and beauty of Age of Wulin as sun-scorched deserts, stunning and vast grasslands, breath-taking snowy peaks and mysterious forests of stone are introduced. Each new region will come with its own charming and unique storyline quests, which will continue to immerse players in Age of Wulin’s deep and exciting lore.

With the latest expansion, a new game mode allows players to take care of their characters’ well-being like never before. Improving Age of Wulin’s sandbox gameplay, players will now be able to manage a character’s constitution, hunger, thirst, body temperature and much more.

The Uncharted World also offers new resources, new secret areas and new fighting techniques such as traps and a flags system. Even nature itself cannot be trusted anymore, as players will now have to watch out for changes in weather and roaming packs of wolves in addition to their regular enemies. Resources can be gathered in the New World to manufacture items needed for survival, such as water pouches, ice packs, winter coats, or medicine to restore a character’s health. Prevailing in the fight for survival will reward only the fittest in the Uncharted World, as victorious players are now able to loot all riches from their defeated opponents.

With Chapter 8: Uncharted World, players will be able to challenge themselves and discover 6 new secret areas, which are lore-based exploration dungeons. The secret areas can be found in the Northern Regions (Nameless Cave, Divine Water Palace, Ancient Tomb) and the Western Regions (Stone Forest Cave, Gold Centipede Cave, Loulan Treasury). As each player’s decisions in these dungeons will matter, and ultimately affect the lore of their character and world, players will need to choose their paths wisely.

In addition, the Uncharted World introduces a new housing system, allowing players to claim their very own parcel of land, build a house and customize it to their every whim. More than 100 different pieces of furniture allow players and their friends to receive powerful buffs and prepare them for their new adventures. Using the new range of interactions within the housing system, players can protect their friends’ houses or vandalize their enemies’ houses.

Ten brand-new and devastating skill sets will also help adventurers in their missions to become the greatest Kung Fu legends of all time. The Jianghu will never be the same again once players add some unique scenery records and a brand-new weapon type (Dual Axes) to their inventories.

Guild Wars 2 Introduces New Raid Wing and Slothasor

Guild Wars 2 Introduces New Raid Wing and Slothasor

ArenaNet just activated the next raid wing for Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns. As players venture deeper into the jungle, a strange, magical energy has created a true sleeping giant—Slothasor! Probably marking the first time it’s okay for a boss to sleep on the job, this lumbering, sleepy forest resident may not seem dreadful while snoozing, but players will soon experience first-hand what wrath awaits when they wake him up.

As players get through the first encounter, they’ll begin to uncover the strange, magical energy that has run amok deep in the Maguuma Jungle. New dangers bring new rewards! Hard-fought victories at Salvation Pass can grant players ascended weapons, new weapon skins, a mini Slothasor, and more.