Monthly Archives: September 2016

Riders of Icarus: Rift of the Damned Preview

By Andy Skelton (Outfoxed)

 

Riders of Icarus has generated quite a following over the past few months.  The MMORPG (and let’s face it, monster tamer) has been going strong with frequent updates to keep its player base happy.  The next major update, Rift of the Damned is coming on September 28, and I had a chance to get an early peek at the content.  So stick around, grab your favorite familiar, and find out what’s upcoming in this, dare I say it, shattered update?

Riders of Icarus: Rift of the Damned Preview

Well, first of all, I guess that joke needs some explanation.  You see, the zone you’ll be playing in, Tritael Rift, is made up of several islands of a land shattered long ago.  If you’re level 34 or above, feel free to jump right into the action.  Be prepared: there is a LOT of flying that’s required here.  In fact, a flying mount is required to even enter the zone. One of the first quests you receive will teach you to utilize Ellora’s Energy scattered practically everywhere.  Flying through these orbs gives you a decent flight speed increase, which is sorely needed.  Much of the combat takes place in the air, so practice your mounted combat skills for this one.

Riders of Icarus: Rift of the Damned Preview

The zone itself is absolutely gorgeous.  Vortices swirl below you, broken juts of land are all around you, and various ruins dot the landscape.  It’s a veritable cornucopia of fantasy.  Like most MMORPGs, various quest hubs also await your characters and will provide you plenty of story and lore on not only the area, but the people that have ended up there (not to mention loot).

Riders of Icarus: Rift of the Damned Preview

Of course, with new challenges comes new opportunities to grow.  The level cap will be raised to 40 with the update, and every class will earn at least one new ability.  Did I also mention plenty of new monsters to tame?  In fact, there were at least two legendary creatures that I could count, and probably a good half-dozen from what I got a chance to experience.  With the amount of depth the zone possesses, though, expect quite a few more.

 

Riders of Icarus: Rift of the Damned Preview

One of the things I did not get to experience but would like to inform you about is the new, level 39 dungeon, the Breach.  This dungeon promises to be quite the challenge to experienced groups, so if you’re in a guild or have plenty of friends willing to tackle it with you, try it out!

Riders of Icarus: Rift of the Damned Preview

Final Thoughts

Rift of the Damned is an interesting addition to Riders of Icarus.  With more of a focus on mounted combat, it really tasks you to learn to use those abilities, even if you had not before.  Magic users do get a buff that allows them to use their magic attack functionally, and I had no problems at all using a crossbow as a mage to strike down lots (and lots) of dragons.  Even if you don’t have a group to run the dungeon encounters with, the update provides plenty of content for everyone, from questing, to numerous repeatable objectives, to farming for all the new familiars available.  Look for Rift of the Damned to launch on September 28, and get flying!

Star Trek Online PS4 Faction Pack Giveaway

Star Trek Online is now available on PlayStation®4! To celebrate, we’re teaming up with Perfect World Entertainment and Cryptic Studios to give away free Faction Packs for Star Trek Online on PS4.

You can find out more about this new edition in our STO PS4 review:

http://www.onrpg.com/news/editorial/star-trek-online-playstation-4-review/
Star Trek Online is a free-to-play massively multiplayer online game where players can pioneer their own destiny as Captain of a Federation starship, become a Klingon Warrior and champion the Empire through the far reaches of the galaxy, or rebuild the Romulan legacy as the commander of a Romulan Republic Warbird. In Star Trek Online, players have the opportunity to visit iconic locations from the popular Star Trek universe, reach out to unexplored star systems and make contact with new alien species. Star Trek Online is currently available on PC, PlayStation®4 and Xbox One.

Each winner will get ALL THREE of these faction packs:

Starfleet Pack (Federation) Content:

  • Delta Flyer and Pet!
  • NX-class Explorer
  • Rhode Island-class Science Vessel
  • Excelsior-class Cruiser
  • Sao Paulo-class Escort
  • Valiant-class Escort
  • Jupiter Uniform
  • 7 of 9 Uniform
  • Liberated Borg Human Bridge Officer
  • Sehlet Cub Pet
  • Unique Character Titles

 

Legacy Pack (Romulan) Content:

  • Scorpion Fighter and Pet!
  • T’varo-class Light Warbird
  • Dhael-class Warbird
  • Valdore-class Warbird
  • D’ridthau-class Warbird
  • Malem-class Light Warbird
  • TOS Uniforms
  • Nemesis Uniforms
  • Liberated Borg Reman Bridge Officer
  • Sehlet Cub Pet
  • Unique Character Titles

 

Empire Pack (KDF) Content:

  • To’Duj Fighter and Pet!
  • B’rolth-class Bird of Prey
  • Qaw’Dun-class Bird of Prey
  • Koro’t’inga-class Battlecruiser
  • Puyjaq-class Raptor
  • Negh’Tev-class Battlecruiser
  • Academy Uniforms
  • Mercenary Costumes
  • Liberated Borg Klingon Bridge Officer
  • Sehlet Cub Pet
  • Unique Character Titles

Each of these packs are faction-specific. You must create a Federation character to redeem the Starfleet Pack, Romulan character to redeem the Legacy Pack and KDF character to redeem the Empire Pack.

*Codes expire within the year and are consumed upon redemption.

*Please note that these codes are only available to PS4 players in North America.

 


To Enter the Giveaway:

  • Visit our giveaway thread and tell us what your favorite Star Trek Series is!
  • The first 50 valid entries will receive a code for all three faction packs listed above.
  • Winners will be awarded their code(s) via a forum private message.

Redemption Instructions*:

  1. Open a Sony Network Entertainment account on PSN (or use your existing Sony Entertainment Network account).
  2. Select the PlayStation®Store icon on the PS4™ system home screen.
  3. On PlayStation®Store, select ‘Redeem Codes’ at the bottom of the menu.
  4. Enter the code.
  5. Once the code has been entered correctly, select ‘Continue’ on the dialog box.
  6. Select ‘Continue’ to complete code redemption.
  7. Launch Star Trek Online and visit the C-Store in-game.
  8. Rewards can be found on the tabs marked “Promotions.”

Note: Unfortunately ad blockers are breaking functionality of our site. if you experience any issues, please disable them.

Star Trek Online PlayStation 4 Review

By Jason Parker (Ragachak)

Star Trek Online is not a cash-grab. It’s not a generic MMO with the Star Trek name slapped on it for a profit. It’s an MMO that’s been going strong since its release in 2010. It was crafted by people who love and believe in the power of the Star Trek lore, and it really shows, from having authentic voice actors from the various series, to the attention to detail in the design of the races, story and ships. But very recently, Star Trek Online made a pretty damn bold move: it went to Xbox One and PS4! Yes, the MMO with like eighty five damn buttons found its way onto console! The episodic style gameplay will find itself a nice home on these consoles. I can feel the questions in the air though: “How is that even possible? It’s such a button-intensive game! Are they going to dumb it down to let console folks play?”  To be 100% honest, I was a little worried when I heard the news. Pretty much every MMO I’ve played on console was easy to get into and play and while not every MMO belongs on a console, this one most certainly does. Kudos to Perfect World to putting the time and effort into this edition of the game.

Star Trek Online PlayStation 4 Review

I don’t really think that the console version is dumbed down as some people have suggested. Some of the game mechanics simply aren’t in yet, such as Research and Development. I feel like they are adding those things in slowly to avoid something that PWE games tend to get as a major complaint: Power Creep. Power Creep for those not in the know, is the notion that content becomes obsolete or useless, and if everything is dropped onto the new players all at once, it might frustrate or confuse. If every single DLC pack is out at one time, stuff is going to feel worthless, and I don’t think they want that. It’ll get there, don’t worry! Perfect World’s goal seems to be to get people who primarily play on consoles interested in their product, not the people who already own the game on PC and want to also play on console. This is a tremendously fun version of the game, and while I have a pretty decent ship on my PC account, I prefer to play it on the console. There are obviously glaring issues to look at, like the camera. It never seems to stay just the way I like it. I constantly have to fiddle with it. And the first day, it wouldn’t even zoom in. I zoomed out to get a good look at my surroundings, but couldn’t zoom back in to admire my pretty Romulan Science Officer.

Star Trek Online PlayStation 4 Review

I suppose the biggest concern is the game’s controls. I will admit, the PS4 version of Star Trek Online’s ground controls really made me confused until I sat down and you know, read the screen with all the buttons on it.  Something I should have probably done at the outset, but you know. Things happen. Moving from dozens of buttons to just a handful is quite the undertaking, and I rather like how it all comes together. While the controls were fairly easy to get used to, they are certainly not perfect. If you tap the X button it does one thing, if you hold it, it does another thing! Ugh! For example: X: Tap to jump, Tap to Interact with things, and hold it for the Captain’s Menu. That leap in logic bugged me a bit. I mean, I got used to it, but it’s just another menu in an awkward place. But it’s admirable that they managed to make it all work together as well as they did! Targeting wasn’t always the best, but the rest of the control and movement felt really quite solid. There was another control feature that stood out as incredibly helpful. Do you have cool buffs or abilities you want to pop all at once but can’t? Activate the ability wheel and spin that stick! Get all your buffs going at once without having to stress.

Star Trek Online PlayStation 4 Review

And while I was grumpy that I had to do the tutorial again, what I know about the game from playing on PC did not help all that much as far as button placements went, so yeah! I was glad to do it in the end. I just hate tutorials in general. I want to get in there, damnit! But I will say this: Ship. Combat. Is. So. Much. Better. SO MUCH BETTER. Being able to fly with twin sticks made it a snap, and once I had unlocked Full Impulse in the tutorial I was happy. Because normally my ship is so damn slow even at maximum speed, but Full Impulse gave me the speed I needed to cruise and obliterate my enemies.  Originally my favorite part of the game was running around and disintegrating people with my blaster, but on PS4? I’d rather be in space firing photon torpedoes, no question. Speaking of space combat, I feel like I have to come back to controls briefly. You can set some of your abilities to trigger automatically, like setting one of your abilities to activate when your shields are low out in space. That way you can focus on what matters: Creating phenomenal explosions out of your enemies, gathering supplies and saving your friends. See? It all comes together. I have a much easier time playing this game as far as actual game mechanics go with a PS4 controller than I do with keyboard and mouse. And being able to browse my menus and customize things while flying around space was kind of neat. It certainly helps!

Star Trek Online PlayStation 4 Review

Stardate: . . .Tuesday [4/5 Great]

 I never did really get the whole Stardate thing. This version of Star Trek Online really captured my attention in ways that the PC version did not. What Perfect World did was make the game accessible to a whole new audience: the people who likely only play on console. This is the definitive version of Star Trek Online without having to think about it. I love the graphical overhaul to the UI, the game looked like it belong on this generation of console. Visually speaking, it’s not No Man’s Sky, but I can see they definitely turned up the looks and lighting. I do have to say though, communication on it is [like most MMOs] a right bastard. You can see the chat logs, and you can chat too, but without a keyboard that is going to be a true slog. However it is on the Xbox One and PS4 so voice chat is definitely thing. It will go a long way for me at least, to get a keyboard for my console because I am a pretty social person in MMOs and without a good headset for my console, it would make me able to talk to the folks who I’m saving the stars with. I’m also very glad the servers won’t be crossed [PS4/XB1/PC]. Nothing would ruin it more than the PC PvPers being able to just jump into matches versus people who are trying to get into the game. I don’t have as much time for MMOs these days, but when I do have the spare moments on my console? It’s likely going to be flying around space in STO. It’s free, and for people who haven’t tried it but love the series, and don’t play on PC? You’re in luck, you can give it a whirl now!

Pros/Cons:

+ Controls: The radials help, and combat in space/ground are definitely superior on the console.  You’ll get used to buttons and it’s easy to pull up the button map if you need them!

+ Combat: Being able to fly and fight using a controller felt more intuitive and fun to me. Activating lots of abilities at once was awesome to boot.

+ Episodic: One of the beautiful things about this game is that the episodes take about the same time to complete as it would to watch an actual episode.  This is perfect for people who love Star Trek and don’t have hours to dump into something.

Cons:

– Buttons: Buttons are a double-edged sword; while they masterfully put the buttons together, having so many buttons do so many things can be a little frustrating. Especially with your jump button also being the Commander Menu.

– Buggy: It’s still got a few pretty big bugs or issues to work through like the camera. I had to practically fistfight it to make it do what I wanted, and not being able to control the camera on the move was a little bit of a letdown.

– Targeting: I had some serious issues in space trying to target enemy spaceships. I’d have them locked on, and in range, and nothing would happen other than me getting blasted. It would clear up but it was frustrating nonetheless.

 

Want to jump-start your experience on PS4? We’re giving away some amazing faction packs in a new raffle! Check out the link below for more info.

Star Trek Online PS4 Faction Pack Giveaway

Smite’s Xing Tian Charity Event Discussion

SMITE Xing Tian's Mountain Mode Trailer

Myself and Colton, the amazing team that make up Bottom Tier had a bit of a chat this morning about the Xing Tian Charity Challenge. And he was considering making a video [maybe he/we still will, no idea] but I think this is definitely an idea worth putting to paper. If you base our participation off of simply being Bottom Tier, RE: Our stream/youtube channel, we are literally the smallest group in the contest. With our stream having a whopping 325 followers [and we love each and every one of them!], we’re the small dog in this fight. Sure, MMOHuts’ has about 450k or so followers, we don’t post a lot of content there. Most of it are Colton’s reviews, I don’t have a lot of a showing there. But it’s not a complaint, not a bit of whining, because we love our fans and simply being involved. And as of this writing, we’re in first place.

2016-09-19 20_58_21-

Not many of these other groups are even posting video, streaming, or even announcing that they’re involved at all! Four out of the ten did, I believe, and we’re standing on the top of that proverbial heap. Not to rest on our laurels, we’re working hard and working as a team to move as far as we possibly can. Because it’s not about us: It’s about charity. That’s the part that really hurt my feelings. You’d think channels with half a million bloody followers could mention it to their viewers, their fans, what they’re fighting for. To consider/urge them to donate to the cause of their choice too. I’m not trying to start a fight, or cast shade on people. I’m just a little disappointed. We talk about it all the time, to anyone who will listen. And even to a lot of people that just tune us out. I’m privileged to even be a part of it, as is Colton. To be able to help those who cannot help themselves is reward enough. It just disappoints me that people aren’t talking about their involvement more. Get it out there! No matter where you are in the standings!

. . . But I’d be lying if I didn’t like seeing “Ragachak” and “MMOHuts” and having a link back to the Bottom Tier sitting neatly at No. 1. I do so love winning. The challenge isn’t over, and we here at Bottom Tier, and MMOHuts/OnRPG are going to keep fighting. What are we fighting for? Connor’s Cure! It’s a charity that is working towards a cure for pediatric cancer, which is horrifying. Even a dollar helps, guys. It’s a cause we believe in, and you can find more about it here!

I love WoW: Legion but. . .

Let's get down to business. . .

Let’s get down to business. . .

Okay, I’ve been having a lot of fun in World of Warcraft: Legion. The leveling process has been exciting! The story has been incredible and there have been plenty of twists and turns. It’s been enjoyable to discover new patterns, push the goals of my class hall forward. As a Death Knight, our goal has been to do whatever the hell the Lich King says. He does not make requests, he does not ask. He makes demands, and you better carry them out! We resurrected the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Well, a new four horsemen, with a brand new leader! Once you hit level 110, you begin the arduous trials of Sarumar and helping the overthrowing of a vile leadership among the Nightfallen. The Nightfallen are Night Elves that are essentially heroin addicts. I mean mana addicts. Yes. Mana. And not drugs. HOW DOES IT FEEL, NIGHT ELVES? Made fun of the Blood Elves for so long, now it’s your turn. Assholes.

2016-09-15 08_39_08-Start

Shout out to my guild over on Bloodscalp, .

It’s a real slog, Suramar. The Wardens World Quests and Nightfallen World Quests help a little bit, but on the whole the quests take at least as long as completing the other zones combined. World Quests can drop amazing gear to help you get prepped to do content. Hell, I’ve only done a small handful of Heroics and Mythics, and I’m pretty much ready to raid!  Some of the dungeons are gated behind reputation, so you have to just quest, and grind and wait. “But Jason, you dashing, wonderful man!” I hear you cry. “Isn’t that how all end-game content works?” And I would say “Of course it is! Shhh.” But that isn’t my complaint. My complaint is simply how much of it there is. None of this stuff travels across your account. It’s recommended that you complete every zone before you move on to Suramar, even if you’ll hit 110 way before that. So everytime you max a character, to get them as strong as possible and to move the story along you will have to do all of it. Every. Single. Time. It’s a nightmare and has really slowed down my want to level any other character. My Priest is at 106, and the rest are at 100. I’m hoping something will happen to speed up that rep grind elsewhere, or to make it less horrifying. I love the game right now, but the sheer amount of stuff to do is daunting. I take a break by Pvping though. I’m really loving the Honor Talents.

How are you guys doing in WoW? Or are you not playing? Do you want to?