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[Cow Mengde]

BTW, anyone worried about these ridiculously large downloads for MMO games? My connection's on the slow side, and I really couldn't be assed to download TERA because it was 25GB. Hell, I'll pay them for a physical copy if they could send it to me, cause it would sure as hell be faster than downloading.

 

[Azzurri]

Trion addressed its level of control over the title in its relationship with developer XLGAMES and indicated that the Korean 1.0 patch changes will not be coming to the West: "We work with XLGAMES to understand and new features that are added to ArcheAge in the East to determine how well they will be accepted in our regions, and then offer feedback. XLGAMES has been fantastic in addressing that feedback as best as they can. In situations where a feature is added that we don't think will be appropriate for our audiences, we work with XLGAMES to modify or remove that feature from our version."

From Massively

SO it looks like 1.0 will not come to the west, well at least the parts that make it a typical themepark mmo.

This sounds like really good news.

 

[Authority]

From Massively

SO it looks like 1.0 will not come to the west, well at least the parts that make it a typical themepark mmo.

This sounds like really good news.

That is allot of bollocks. There is absolutely no indication. It is more of a matter of blind faith.

The fact that Trion has the ultimatum in modifying or removing a patch for the West is nothing new. Until now, they still haven't clarified whether or not they will bring 1.0 in the West.

So in essence they still think they should implement 1.0 regardless of the global negativity it has received so far and a F2P model and then see whether or not changes need to be happen.

Any serious and professional publisher would have understood the basic facts until now (that I have mentioned) and draw a red line. Instead they chose a PR approach.

It only takes a "We will not bring the 1.0 patch in the West or the F2P model because in agreement with XL games, we have understood that we must maintain our core values and strengthen them instead of experimenting".

Trion is aware of how 1.0+F2P has been currently received but it chooses not to clarify regardless.

 

[Authority]

EQN Dev Says Gamers Should Want All MMOs to Be Free-to-play

Obviously, it has prompted a long discussion that the controversy between free-to-play game supporters and pay-to-play game supporters. Recently, EverQuest franchise development director David Georgeson has spoken out in defense of the free-to-play business model for MMOs. In an interview with IGN, he expressed that all MMOs converting to free-to-play can encourage developers to do their best to make sure their MMOs are entertaining.

"There’s nothing wrong with the subscription model. I have personal opinions, which I’ll go ahead and share because I’m just that cocksure of myself," Georgeson said. "I think that free-to-play is the way that gamers should want their MMOs to be, and the reason I think that is that if we don’t do a really good job and we don’t entertain the player, we don’t make a dime.

"We’re effectively street performers: we go out there and sing and dance and if we do a good job, people throw coins into the hat," he explained. "And I think that’s the way games should be, because paying $60 up front to take a gamble on whether the game is good or not? You don’t get that money back."

"So if you buy a turkey, you’ve just wasted your money. With free-to-play you get to go in, take a look at it and find out. It’s entirely our responsibility to make sure you’re entertained. That’s the way things should be in my opinion with free-to-play," he added.

As more and more MMOs run with free-to-play model, the representative titles with pay-to-play model Guild Wars 2 and World of Warcraft appear declining trend currently. Regardless of how controversial the free-to-play model is, this model is becoming the mainstream in the whole MMO market. So does that mean Sony's upcoming MMO EverQuest Next and Landmark will be free-to-play as Georgeson said? Stay tuned.

To shorten the name, EverQuest Next: Landmark was officially changed to Landmark last month. EverQuest Next is about to launch on PC and PlayStation 4, but Sony hasn't revealed the exact release date so far.

Direct Source: http://2p.com/5576383_1/EQN-Dev-Says-Gamers-Should-Want-All-MMOs-to-Be-Free-to-play-by-EdwardsLin.htm

"Regardless of how controversial the free-to-play model is".

I am speechless. The nerve he has is unbelievable.

How I wish that specific Dev was in this thread so I can publicly rip his arguments apart.

 

[Lockon]

Playing Mystic Fighter right now.

Opening movie: http://youtu.be/diI-3a04J_g
My gameplay: http://youtu.be/bNNzRcdJZuM

 

[Authority]

Playing Mystic Fighter right now.


Opening movie: http://youtu.be/diI-3a04J_g
My gameplay: http://youtu.be/bNNzRcdJZuM

Too odd for my taste. Do you like it?

Black Desert 2nd Closed Beta Dated Along with Recruitment

Pearl Abyss started recruiting testers for the 2nd Black Desert Online Closed Beta that will commence on April 22nd and conclude on May 11th. The lengthy test should be very satisfying for those that have been craving Black Desert Online.

Pearl Abyss also revealed a new world map teaser page featuring over 200 new screenshots! Here you can take a short glimpse of certain regions that the game has to offer such as Balenos, Srendia, Calpheon, Mediah, and Valencia. Jump on over to the world map at Black Desert World Map Guide.

Closed Beta Recruiting
April 4th to 14th

Winners Announced on 17th!

Closed Beta Schedule
April 22nd to May 11th (3 weeks)

Unfortunately, normal Daum accounts created by foreigners won't be able to participate in this beta unless you have a Korean friend to help you out. I have tested it myself with my alt account. I am currently scheming something so perhaps there might be a way for foreigners to play, if I am successful, other than that follow me on https://www.facebook.com/Steparus for the latest update as it's updated daily.

Developer: Pearl Abyss
Publisher: Daum
Game Site: http://black.game.daum.net/

Direct Source: http://steparu.com/news/closed-beta/1535-black-desert-2nd-closed-beta-dated-along-with-recruitment

 

[Cow Mengde]

Playing Mystic Fighter right now.


Opening movie: http://youtu.be/diI-3a04J_g
My gameplay: http://youtu.be/bNNzRcdJZuM

This game looks like the suffers the same issue I've been saying about MMO brawlers. Moves are hotkey with cool-downs.

 

[swnny]

Direct Source: http://2p.com/5576383_1/EQN-Dev-Says-Gamers-Should-Want-All-MMOs-to-Be-Free-to-play-by-EdwardsLin.htm

"Regardless of how controversial the free-to-play model is".

I am speechless. The nerve he has is unbelievable.

How I wish that specific Dev was in this thread so I can publicly rip his arguments apart.

Ammm, "titles with pay-to-play model" - "Guild Wars 2" and "World of Warcraft" under the same model?! Seriously, who writes these things?
Yes, one can sink lots of $$ in to the GW2's gem(cash) shop, but Guild Wars 2 being put as the same pay-to-play model as World of Warcraft just sounds ridiculous.

 

[Authority]

Ammm, "titles with pay-to-play model" - "Guild Wars 2" and "World of Warcraft" under the same model?! Seriously, who writes these things?
Yes, one can sink lots of $$ in to the GW2's gem(cash) shop, but Guild Wars 2 being put as the same pay-to-play model as World of Warcraft just sounds ridiculous.

He is one of a kind to put it politely. The fact that he uses the phrase "cocksure of myself" is embarrassing to read.

Anyhow folks, unfortunately this Friday is sort of a black Friday. Without further ado, here are the news of the the day;

Molten Games lays off staff, halts work on Blunderbuss

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWMeDgaYxkg

Molten Games, which sent out press releases last year touting everything from its lineup of former SOE and Blizzard devs to its NCsoft funding, has apparently laid off its entire staff.

The company was working on some sort of Unreal 4-powered multiplayer title called Blunderbuss, but Gamasutra reports that all that is out the window as of this week. Molten director of technology Joshua Kriegshauser shared some alpha footage of the company's project through his Twitter account, and Gamasutra has collected multiple links from affected staffers around the web.

Direct Source: http://massively.joystiq.com/2014/04/04/molten-games-lays-off-staff-halts-work-on-blunderbuss/

Phantasy Star Online 2 gets English localization... in SE Asia

Phantasy Star Online 2 may not be coming to America any time soon, but an English version is coming to southeast Asia courtesy of publisher Asiasoft.

MMO Culture took the newly localized client for a test drive and the site reports that the game's visual customization is outstanding, as is the English translation. The piece also has nice things to say about the game's combat from the perspective of a machine gun- and grenade launcher-wielding Ranger.

Direct Source: http://massively.joystiq.com/2014/04/03/phantasy-star-online-2-gets-english-localization-in-se-asia/

Ask Massively: What happened to open-world MMOs?

A reader named Gabe emailed Massively last year with two questions (I'm getting through all the emails -- I am!). I'll address the second one eventually, but let's do the first one today because it's something I love to talk about: open-world MMOs.

What happened to "open world" MMOs? I grew up with giant world MMOs where you would almost never see a load screen. I remember spending countless hours running from end to end of continents exploring and trying to see what I could find. You would run into a city instead of loading a city. I don't feel I am a part of a "world" anymore. After World of Warcraft, I played The Secret World, Star Trek Online, Neverwinter, and a few other closed-world MMOs, and it just pisses me off because I feel as if I am playing a single-player game with multiplayer options instead of a world I am a part of.

think we've got two separate issues here: One's about the literal meaning of open world, and the other's about the feel.

First, I wish I knew which MMOs you grew up on before World of Warcraft. I stretched my brain backwards to EverQuest, the first 3-D MMORPG I played, and remember LOADING, PLEASE WAIT screens between every single zone wall and teleport death, even between city districts. Isometric Ultima Online before that was never perfectly open and seamless, either; you always had a wait period when casting recall or trying to zone into a dungeon. In fact, all of UO's server boundaries were obvious since they lagged you as you crossed them, even when you didn't face a formal frozen screen while loading.

And then there was Asheron's Call, which tweaked EQ's nose a bit with its claims about doing away with annoying loading screens but had its own problems -- namely, the inefficiency of the giant rolling world helped MMO players appropriate the term "rubber-band lag" and still had plenty of loading time as you zoned into locations. In fact, the game handled player load so poorly that for many years Turbine's solution to crowded cities was to randomly portal-storm excess players away from the city, making trade and PvP and monarchy meetings difficult and forcing the population to spread out rather than coalesce (a modern player can chime in here and tell me whether that was ever fixed!).

And really this is why I don't need to keep rattling off how X, Y, and Z MMOs way back in the day did it because they all did their best and ran into technically insurmountable or financially irreconcilable problems, many of which are still problems today. Dividing a game into zones or subservers or whatever a studio is calling them really does make development easier in terms of graphical demand and player load, even if there is no formal loading screen -- recall that many of SOE's games make use of a handy trademark zig-zag corridor between open spaces and interiors so that players can't see both at the same time. No MMO has ever perfected a truly open and loadless world. Heck, EVE Online, 11 years after launch, is still trying to solve the Asheron's Call problem: how to jam a zillion people into a small space without lagging them all out. And EVE's solution -- degrading graphical representation to the point that everyone is a tiny dot -- might get the job done, but it's not exactly ideal. It's not what we imagine when we think of an open world.

Or is it? For a lot of folks, it's not about the tech at all but about the feel of the game. EverQuest was the sum of big boxy zones with small doors between them, but it actually felt pretty open because of the size of the space and the scope of what you could do in it. Ultima Online was sectioned off into subservers that jerked you across the screen, but the overland areas and high seas encouraged exploration. Asheron's Call had long roads between cities and you just never knew what sort of ruin you were going to find on the path from Shoushi to Lin. And some games feel more open all the time; WoW is a great example of a game that started out with rigid, EverQuest-style zone walls and has opened up with flying -- so much that people now complain it's too open!

I do understand your frustration, though, and to the extent that I love open worlds myself, I agree with you. There are definitely a lot of "lobby MMOs" floating around the genre now. Neverwinter is a keen example, but it's one I'd overlook. Why? Because the technical structure fits the theme. It shouldn't feel like a giant sprawling world; having zoned town areas and dungeons helps keep the game feel tightly controlled and almost claustrophobic in a way that enhances the atmosphere of what amounts to a dungeon-delver.

I wouldn't want all games to be that way. In my heart of hearts, I just want to get on my BARC and zoom from one corner of Tatooine to the other and gape at the player cities along the way, with no loading pauses or physical walls to hinder me. But that doesn't mean I don't want to see other MMOs doing things a little differently. There's plenty of space in the genre for both a Guild Wars 1 and a Wurm Online. Before this year, you had to broaden your horizons beyond AAA games and lower your expectations quite a bit to play an open-world MMO since most were old or poor. But this year? I think the industry is prepared again to give you what you're looking for. With the year sandbox games are having, maybe all you need is a little bit of Landmark and ArcheAge in your MMO diet.

Direct Source: http://massively.joystiq.com/2014/04/04/ask-massively-what-happened-to-open-world-mmos/

 

[Authority]

Holy shit.

EVE Online Previews: VR Dogfighting in Space
Trailer

I’ll admit that I have a peculiar fascination with the EVE franchise, even though I’ve yet to partake in anything related to EVE Online first-hand. There’s something decidedly hardcore about CCP Games’ flagship title that speaks to me, and although Dust 514 didn’t turn out so excitingly, the spinoff certainly still piqued my interest.

At GDC 2014 last month, Garrett and I were given a quick preview of EVE: Valkyrie, the newest member of the CCP’s lineup. Valkyrie is a multiplayer dogfighting shooter set in the EVE universe, where you take the reigns of a single ship and careen right into the midst of frantic space battles. It’s an Oculus Rift exclusive, and although we’ve received very little information regarding what the game’s actually about, we did get a brief amount of hands-on time with CCP’s new title.

The game launches you into an open space arena, and gives your ship a constant forward momentum, which provides for a slightly on-rails feel to gameplay. Using a gamepad, you can move your ship’s orientation with the left analog stick, speed up with the A button or slow down with the B button, and shoot with the right trigger. The Oculus Rift will allow you to look around at your environs in space and lock onto other ships by pressing the left trigger. Releasing the left trigger after setting a lock will fire off a missile, and pressing the Y button will allow you to cancel locks that have been directed at your ship.

Garrett and I both played short deathmatch-style matches against bots, and I was enthused by the pretty cool ambience provided by the Oculus Rift headset. The demo had some stellar sound design and I liked that I could look around and see other ships, planets, and asteroids within the vastness of space. Admittedly, the visuals were not the best around, but that could have been due to the dev kit we were using.

We were told that Valkyrie will be a PC-exclusive, and that’s about it. For more information on what the game is about and how it fits into the EVE universe, we’ll have to wait for Fanfest next month!

Direct Source: http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/14/feature/8378/VR-Dogfighting-IN-SPACE.html/page/1

 

[Azzurri]

http://youtu.be/-wClEzJby68

 

[Authority]

http://youtu.be/-wClEzJby68

I wish this game had the marketing team and presentation WildStar has. It would have been such a huge success in the West.

Anyway,

Planets³

Background
The Planets³ team has announced that its KickStarter funding initiative was successful in reaching the initial $250,000 goal. Planets³ is a hybrid RPG, building, dungeon crawler experience driven by story and character development.

Progress through the game is achieved through “levelling-up” their character, embarking on various story-driven quests, tool-building and habitation and vehicle crafting. All of these things contributing to ever-deeper exploration of the planets in the vast universe.

Planets³ also offers side quests allowing players to unlock secrets of the game’s world and to find special items only reachable in secondary storylines.

Release Date: Kickstarter
Gameplay: Trailer
Information: Planets³ is a 3D open-world voxel-based RPG (first person view).

 

[Gaz_RB]

I wish this game had the marketing team and presentation WildStar has. It would have been such a huge success in the West.

Anyway,

Planets³

Release Date: Kickstarter
Gameplay: Trailer
Information: Planets³ is a 3D open-world voxel-based RPG (first person view).

This thread continues to confuse me. This isn't an MMO...

 

[old]

Very interested in checking some of these out. The scuba diving one looks great. I'm interested in MMOs but not the WOW-template (been there done that). So it's nice to see something come around that breaks away from that convention.

 

[Authority]

This thread continues to confuse me. This isn't an MMO...

Yes it is.

Massive.
Online.
Multiplayer

 

[Authority]

Very interested in checking some of these out. The scuba diving one looks great. I'm interested in MMOs but not the WOW-template (been there done that). So it's nice to see something come around that breaks away from that convention.

I am kinda of trying to fit in "gems" in the look out section and not just go for the standard ones so I am glad it helped you out.

What was your last MMO?

 

[Authority]

And we have fucking great news people.

How to get into ArcheAge Alpha & Beta

ArcheAge is an open-world sandbox MMORPG that will be published by Trion Worlds in the west. ArcheAge's Alpha test is about to start and its beta with launch is coming within this year. Before this game is officially launched, it will have Alpha test and several beta tests according to ArcheAge FAQ.

To get into ArcheAge Alpha, Trion asks you to participate positively in their ArcheAge community and forums, share this game with more people outside and bring game expertise to ArcheAge wiki. Then they will notice you. Trion says that there will be opportunities for Alpha invitations on their livestreams, forums, and social media channels which means that you need to pay attention and be active. Here is where you can sign up for beta and you can opt in for ArcheAge emails here.

If you get into Alpha successfully, you can participate in all betas following automatically. For those who can't get into Alpha, you can sign up for beta here and pay attention to ArcheAge events on AA forums, social media channels etc.
At last, Trion will also provide founder packs which will grant access to betas as well as other benefits.

For more details, you can visit AA FAQ here.

Direct Source: http://2p.com/5589645_1/How-to-Get-into-ArcheAge-Alpha-amp-Beta-by-Nichole.htm
Sign-up-for-beta: https://archeage.trionworlds.com/account/profile/manage-game

 

[Authority]

The good old hardcore MMO crowd.

[Petition] Save ArcheAge Russia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSPEeCNT3pM

Direct Source: http://archeagesource.com/topic/2237-petition-save-archeage-russia/page-4

 

[Authority]

BTW, anyone worried about these ridiculously large downloads for MMO games? My connection's on the slow side, and I really couldn't be assed to download TERA because it was 25GB. Hell, I'll pay them for a physical copy if they could send it to me, cause it would sure as hell be faster than downloading.

Most MMOs that I have tried to download have got on average 20GB+. It seems ridiculous and usually for me it takes a couple of hours or a day maximum. I would pay as well for a physical copy or some premium shit so I can start the game right away.

 

[Authority]

Bethesda has published a fascinating infographic to give players an idea of the sheer enormity of the game. In "Elder Scrolls Online By the Numbers", we are told that five million people registered for the beta, that someone offered their firstborn for a chance at beta participation, and that there are over ten thousand NPCs in the game, among other interesting tidbits. Click the image below to check out the full infographic.

Direct Source: http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/409381/page/1

That is not allot.

 

[HowZatOZ]

I would argue that five million registered players for a beta is a lot, but hey that's just me. Thanks though for this thread, I've been an MMO player for some time now and only just rekindled the love for the genre thanks to ESO which is really strange considering I wasn't enjoying it in the beta.

Super excited by what ArcheAge has to offer, though it will be interesting to see if Trion actually supports it enough. I love open-world sandbox games where you can be what you want, and this hopefully hits that mark.

 

[Authority]

I would argue that five million registered players for a beta is a lot, but hey that's just me. Thanks though for this thread, I've been an MMO player for some time now and only just rekindled the love for the genre thanks to ESO which is really strange considering I wasn't enjoying it in the beta.

Super excited by what ArcheAge has to offer, though it will be interesting to see if Trion actually supports it enough. I love open-world sandbox games where you can be what you want, and this hopefully hits that mark.

I was reading some thoughts on the depressing anti-MMO mmorpg.com forum and I agreed with one view; was there a reason to show off the number of registered users for beta? Every beta for every well marketed MMO will get millions. It is only a beta number not pre-ordered sales and so on and so forth. Plus I am pretty sure that includes multiple registrations by the same people if you get what I mean.

ESO seems more polished now but ESO will always suffer one thing; everyone was expecting Skyrim + Multiplayer = Love. Regardless I am pretty sure it will attract Tera & Guild War II players which that itself is positive because it is the best product right now with that type of combat I believe.

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

The Elder Scrolls Online Beta - My Conclusion
Let's Talk About Wildstar! -- Livestream VOD

Warning: The above is meant for mature MMO veterans. It is basically a "hardtalk" session in which MMOs are stripped away from hype and fanboyism and are looked at what exactly they are and how different they are from other MMOs.

He's a little too freaked by occurances and possiblilities without checking up on the suspicions (especially Carbine's "the devs are listening" bit). I noticed this due to my eye towards the why and how developers, players, media do things they do. The one example he used (ARROWS! FUCK.) is disheartening (naw, go ahead and render 99% of the world so much of the game hinges on at a given time as mere scenery, it's coo'), but it's been a very rare screw-up on their part.

What scares me is the fact it may be seen as mandatory now...

He was also on and on about sandbox, but I don't think it was ever explicitly called a pure sandbox(?) He reacts to that concept like I do heavy-handed single-playerific Thou-Art-The-Chosen-One single-player style noob zones that's sweeping MMOs like the clap. Speaking of which, I need to research if that's spread to this game.

 

[Authority]

He's a little too freaked by occurances and possiblilities without checking up on the suspicions (especially Carbine's "the devs are listening" bit). I noticed this due to my eye towards the why and how developers, players, media do things they do. The one example he used (ARROWS! FUCK.) is disheartening (naw, go ahead and render 99% of the world so much of the game hinges on at a given time as mere scenery, it's coo'), but it's been a very rare screw-up on their part.

What scares me is the fact it may be seen as mandatory now...

He was also on and on about sandbox, but I don't think it was ever explicitly called a pure sandbox(?) He reacts to that concept like I do heavy-handed single-playerific Thou-Art-The-Chosen-One single-player style noob zones that's sweeping MMOs like the clap. Speaking of which, I need to research if that's spread to this game.

Sorry but I do not understand what you are trying to say. Can you rephrase that?

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

Sorry but I do not understand what you are trying to say. Can you rephrase that?

He goes off when he brings up "The devs are listening", but that feature I don't think was brought up from player feedback, (unlike what I do know about the UI and a few other quality facets in the game's beta). The fact Carbine's been good about not giving off any airs that they're obligated to put into effect demands, good or not; it came off as out-of-place compared with the rest of the video's points.

 

[M.J. Doja]

Also for those who played the game:

Listen to this while looking at this picture:

I'm gonna keep running

 

[Azzurri]

http://youtu.be/nvK8fua6O64

Thought this should be in here.

 

[Authority]

http://youtu.be/nvK8fua6O64

Thought this should be in here.

Was added already in the "Debates section down at the bottom". Thanks anyway.

 

[Authority]

Some interesting news regarding ArcheAge.

• They will feature GMs inside the game.
• You have one gear for PvPve.
• The purpose of PvP is to obtain honor points to get better gear or steal packs and/or resources, land..
• Combat in ArcheAge is both gear and skill - No facerolling, no rotations, no oneshots.
• 3 factions - Western Continent, Eastern Continent, Pirates (Pirate Island). I believe in the Northern Continent you can make your own faction, but if you lose the territory your faction is disbanded.
• Perma-Stealth for Assassins - The CD and duration are the same (45s) so you just need to recast it. Someone with a keen eye can spot you, however.
• A great variety of weapon combinations - i.e You can play an assassin with double daggers, double swords, double blades, any combination of those, 2h sword, 2h blade (viable) or any weapon if you really want to go out of the box.

 

[Authority]

Players Upset Over The Elder Scrolls Online's Subscription System

Like most subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing games, The Elder Scrolls Online includes 30 day free game time with purchase, but in order to access that 30 free days, one first has to set up a subscription, and that's got some of the game's players in an uproar.

Tomorrow morning at 8 AM Eastern, players who have purchased The Elder Scrolls Online but have yet to set up a recurring subscription or entered a game time code will no longer have access to the game.

The issue with most players making their objections heard in the Elder Scrolls Online forums over the past couple of days isn't the subscription itself — the minimum $14.99 monthly fee comes as no surprise. What is surprising is that Zenimax Online is pre-authorizing users' credit and debit cards the full $14.99 (or more) fee.

Being a pre-authorization, the charge briefly appears as a pending item with most North American banks, and won't be counted towards overdraft problems.

To many this is not a big deal. To others, it's a major inconvenience, as one forum-goer explains.

So basically, because I only have about $12 in my bank (I'm between paydays), I'm not going to be able to play the game I ALREADY PAID FOR until next week when I have enough to cover the authorization?

What kind of nonsense is this!?

Players without credit or debit cards who were planning to pick up prepaid game time cards are running into problems as well, as the cards are not widely available at retail at this point in time. Without some form of electronic payment or a game time card in-hand, they'll be out of luck come tomorrow morning.

Zenimax Online is at least working to help players with insufficient funds or those unable to locate time cards stay in the game, according to an update on the official post regarding the pre-authorization issue.

We want everyone who purchased ESO to have immediate access to the included 30 days ofESO game time. In the event that you enter your payment information for authorization and the transaction cancels due to lack of funds in your account, please contact our Support Team. We'll work with you to ensure you have access to your included 30 days of game time.

It's a strange situation, to be sure. I've been playing MMORPGs for fifteen years, and I've had to enter plenty of credit card numbers, but I've never had a company pre-authorize my card the full amount a month before the subscription is supposed to kick in.

I reached out to Zenimax Online for comment on the billing issues, and will update the post should I receive a response. Hopefully they can get a handle on the situation, and The Elder Scrolls Online won't see a substantial drop in players come tomorrow morning.

Direct Source: http://kotaku.com/players-upset-over-the-elder-scrolls-onlines-subscript-1559139938

 

[Azzurri]

Some interesting news regarding ArcheAge.

• They will feature GMs inside the game.
• You have one gear for PvPve.
• The purpose of PvP is to obtain honor points to get better gear or steal packs and/or resources, land..
• Combat in ArcheAge is both gear and skill - No facerolling, no rotations, no oneshots.
• 3 factions - Western Continent, Eastern Continent, Pirates (Pirate Island). I believe in the Northern Continent you can make your own faction, but if you lose the territory your faction is disbanded.
• Perma-Stealth for Assassins - The CD and duration are the same (45s) so you just need to recast it. Someone with a keen eye can spot you, however.
• A great variety of weapon combinations - i.e You can play an assassin with double daggers, double swords, double blades, any combination of those, 2h sword, 2h blade (viable) or any weapon if you really want to go out of the box.

This sounds pretty cool, I can't wait to play the beta!

 

[Authority]

This sounds pretty cool, I can't wait to play the beta!

Now I am worried though.

Archeage will be pay to win
If there will be any type of labor point potions in cash shop,

the game will be pay to win 100%.


Why?

If there are no LP pots

- people will spend more time on pvp zones to use LPs in efficient ways, so

interactions in between players will increase.

- more pvps


If there are LP pots

- people will find the most fastest way to spend their LPs in safe zones, so

you won't see people on pvp zones.

- less pvps

If they do have Pay-to-Win cash shop shit I won't touch it.

 

[Usobuko]

Yes, I just recalled Phantasy Star Online will indeed be available for SEA. Great news ... if you're there which I am!

 

[ninjarr]

MMOs were better when they were pubs. Not pubs like that. Like Cheers. Where everybody knows your na-aame.

The game itself is just the social lubricant (alcohol) and setting (bar). Many (every?) MMO since WoW has made the game about either it or our avatars, but that's not what old school MMOs were about: they were about us.

(And they're always glad you came.)

 

[Azzurri]

MMOs were better when they were pubs. Not pubs like that. Like Cheers. Where everybody knows your na-aame.

The game itself is just the social lubricant (alcohol) and setting (bar). Many (every?) MMO since WoW has made the game about either it or our avatars, but that's not what old school MMOs were about: they were about us.

(And they're always glad you came.)

Prior to WoW I felt like I was actually in the world when I logged into my account when playing an MMO, be it SWG, UO, EQ and other MMO's before. But with these new MMO that have been released lately it doesn't feel like that at all. It's more like log in do some quests and log out. There is no sense of immersion anymore or community it feels like. Even in Vanilla WoW you had that sense, but now with all these new MMO's, it's gone and I feel it's all the tools the community wanted to make mmo's way more accessible like LFG/LFD, Flying mounts; basically anything that took away the community or made the world feel like if it isn't needed after you hit max level really hurt the 'feel' of MMO's.

In short I just don't feel part of the world like I use to.

 

[Authority]

Kingdom Under Fire II Interview with Producer Sang Youn Lee at GDC 2014

Kingdom Under Fire II (KUF2) is a massively multiplayer online real-time strategy RPG developed by Blueside. We are so glad to have had the Executive Producer Sang Youn Lee to share their latest progress of Kingdom Under Fire II (KUF2) at GDC 2014. Lee also revealed that their goal for KUF2's western beta on PC is in this September or November. Check out more details of our interview with Lee below.

2P: At the end of this January, the Southeast Asia publisher MMOG.Asia held a beta test in Singapore and Malaysia. How was the beta?

What I got is that there was CBT in Malaysia and Singapore, got attention worldwide. So there were a lot of fans of KUF series wanted to attend the CBT. But as we had kind of IP-block so it wasn't easy. And there were so many people tried to do the test by using VPN or something else. So we decided to launch KUF series worldwide earlier than we expected.

2P: KUF2's English version has been confirmed for Singapore, Malaysia and other SEA countries. Is it going to block IPs of other regions?

We had a PC KUF2 test in Indonesia in that case we localized our contents in Indonesian. And when we were having CBT in Thailand, all contents were translated into Thailand. And we are going to have local CBT later, all contents will be localized in their local language.

2P: Can people from the west play this game on SEA servers?

No, as far as I know, I heard that we are preparing local server for the western area.

2P: KUF2 is free-to-play with item shop. We learnt from some previous interviews that costumes, materials, etc. will be available in the cash shop. How many of these items are going to be cash shop exclusive?

What I know is that there is cash shop to sell a lot of costumes and consumable items and it may be different depend on the local area because they have some restricts on the costumes. Sometimes like Indonesian, as I remember, they prefer to hide, not to show much skin on woman. So I think some costumes may be restricted in this kind of area. We also respect other local communities and culture, so we are preparing to make some traditional costumes for them.

2P: You mentioned before that KUF2 will have different payment options on different platforms. Can you tell us more about it?
We haven't decided the details, and payment option in PS4 had to be discussed with SONY.

In case of PC platform, the payment option can be different depending on service area as PC platform will be serviced on each area with different publisher.

2P: What's the development progress of the PS4 version?

Yes, we're going well. We are planning to release it in this year. We're really focused on releasing its PS4 version and as PS4, the console itself is really good machine.

Direct Source: http://2p.com/5603246_1/Kingdom-Under-Fire-II-Interview-with-Producer-Sang-Youn-Lee-at-GDC-2014-by-Victoria.htm

The Division Features RPG’s Tank/Healer/DPS Concept

The Division's game director Ryan Barnard said recently that the game is a role-playing MMO that “happens to be cleverly disguised as a shooter.” In Ubisoft Massive’s next-gen title, you will find the elements you’ve seen in many RPGs, and the trinity class setting is one of them. "The trinity that you find in a lot of RPGs, we want that to be in the game as well, but we have a different challenge in that we're a range-based combat game, so it's not like [we have] 'Tank', 'Ranged' and 'Healer' in a typical RPG."

There are a wide variety of skills for further specialization: team-seeking health packs that can be deployed from afar, noisy distraction devices that draw enemies into new areas, adrenaline boosts, radar pulses that show all enemy activity within a 60m range. Many of these skills have upgrade paths, according to Barnard, "one of the players can place a turret to draw the attention of enemies. A turret with fire-and-forget, almost like a dummy. Then you can modify that skill as you progress and get attachments.”

“You can increase the range of fire, add incendiary bullets, have it last longer for its duration... Later on you can even modify the actual functionality and make it into a sticky turret, deploy it above the door, and when enemies come out it will be firing at them from behind.”

"You can have it explode when it gets taken out, so you can throw it into a group of enemies, it can do its damage and then take them all out. It's how we approach all skills: we have a base functionality and as you go deeper you can alter that through investment and through materials that go into crafting."

Direct Source: http://2p.com/5599243_1/The-Division-Features-RPGs-TankHealerDPS-Concept-by-Wei.htm

 

[Authority]

Also in ArcheAge they will feature F2P model and

Yes, there will be a subscription/premium/vip option. Confirmed by Scapes.

 

[Speedhoven]

I lost faith in this genre. I havent seen any innovation in any mmo game since WoW, and i never liked WoW either. Every time i try to play a new mmo i grow tired of it immediately as they are all so retrograde and lack any form of imagination.

What i dislike most about the usual mmo game is that there is no character creation whatsoever, which i something i dont understand at all, since mmo is (or should be?) about creating a character in a diffrent world. Everyone learns the same abilities and have the same stats. The only difference between the characters are the weapon and what color the hat is. So boring.

Everything is also so simplified and the quests and progression are dumbed down. When i tried FF XIV, there was a quest where i talked to one character, walked 10 meters and talked to another and for that i leveled up and became a stronger warrior.
Then you had to deliver food to guards and other dumb tasks. I rather see 90% less quests than quests like that. There is alot more i dont like either, but this is enough rant for this time.

/End of rant and peace

 

[Authority]

I lost faith in this genre. I havent seen any innovation in any mmo game since WoW, and i never liked WoW either. Every time i try to play a new mmo i grow tired of it immediately as they are all so retrograde and lack any form of imagination.

What i dislike most about the usual mmo game is that there is no character creation whatsoever, which i something i dont understand at all, since mmo is (or should be?) about creating a character in a diffrent world. Everyone learns the same abilities and have the same stats. The only difference between the characters are the weapon and what color the hat is. So boring.

Everything is also so simplified and the quests and progression are dumbed down. When i tried FF XIV, there was a quest where i talked to one character, walked 10 meters and talked to another and for that i leveled up and became a stronger warrior.
Then you had to deliver food to guards and other dumb tasks. I rather see 90% less quests than quests like that. There is alot more i dont like either, but this is enough rant for this time.

/End of rant and peace

What MMOs do you like?

Regarding character creation I think in the market, Black Desert has got one of the best ones out there;

Black Desert Character Customization for 2nd Closed Beta

Pearl Abyss and Daum just released a new video today showing off the new character customization features of Black Desert Online. The new character customization looks very good and if I didn't know any better you'll be able to customize your characters to look realistic as seen in one of the male images below.

Black Desert 2nd Closed Beta Character Customization

Direct Source: http://steparu.com/latest-news/1536-black-desert-character-customization-for-2nd-closed-beta

 

[Speedhoven]

What MMOs do you like?

Regarding character creation I think in the market, Black Desert has got one of the best ones out there;

Looks insane, but that is just looks. That is onlyone part of a character.

I like what alot of the old school mmo had. Like Ragnarok Online or Tibia. I never felt as immerse and involved in an mmo world as in those games. I could create a million different characters, and it was difficult. I wasnt forced to be as "strong" as everyone else or learn the same skills. I could walk my way. I also really like Tibias weapon system. You use an axe, and you gain skills in axe fighting etc. Everything was not laid out infront of you. Exploring was rewarding and dangerous. There were alot more cool quests back then too.

This day, all you really do is to talk with 2243432 npcs before you out and kill 7 wolves in order to earn yourself 20 bronze! And there is like 1000 of those quests (No exageration).

I actully never played RO before untill recently, and i was more impressed with it than any other mmo ive tried in many many years. Including titles such as Terra or FFXIV.

 

[Azzurri]

Looks insane, but that is just looks. That is onlyone part of a character.

I like what alot of the old school mmo had. Like Ragnarok Online or Tibia. I never felt as immerse and involved in an mmo world as in those games. I could create a million different characters, and it was difficult. I wasnt forced to be as "strong" as everyone else or learn the same skills. I could walk my way. I also really like Tibias weapon system. You use an axe, and you gain skills in axe fighting etc. Everything was not laid out infront of you. Exploring was rewarding and dangerous. There were alot more cool quests back then too.

This day, all you really do is to talk with 2243432 npcs before you out and kill 7 wolves in order to earn yourself 20 bronze! And there is like 1000 of those quests (No exageration).

I actully never played RO before untill recently, and i was more impressed with it than any other mmo ive tried in many many years. Including titles such as Terra or FFXIV.

That's just the 'ThemePark' sub-genre of MMO's that are like that. I don't know when you started playing MMO', but before WoW most MMO's were not like that; go from 1 quest hub to another. They were open ended, but once WoW became super popular MMO's being released after WoW just followed the same thing leading to the stagnation of the Genre as a whole.

As you can see, A lot of the new MMO's being announced are not following those same mechanics, and thank god for that!

 

[Sothis Krieg]

I'm waiting for Archeage and Black Desert Online.
I do not know if i will find what i'm looking for in a MMO with one of these two.
I miss good open pvp with consequences and reward and challenging pve.

Somewhat i've enjoyed Rifing in Aion before it became a joke. Oh and i keep my eyes on The Repopulation even if it is not a big budget MMO.

 

[Authority]

Looks insane, but that is just looks. That is onlyone part of a character.

I like what alot of the old school mmo had. Like Ragnarok Online or Tibia. I never felt as immerse and involved in an mmo world as in those games. I could create a million different characters, and it was difficult. I wasnt forced to be as "strong" as everyone else or learn the same skills. I could walk my way. I also really like Tibias weapon system. You use an axe, and you gain skills in axe fighting etc. Everything was not laid out infront of you. Exploring was rewarding and dangerous. There were alot more cool quests back then too.

This day, all you really do is to talk with 2243432 npcs before you out and kill 7 wolves in order to earn yourself 20 bronze! And there is like 1000 of those quests (No exageration).

I actully never played RO before untill recently, and i was more impressed with it than any other mmo ive tried in many many years. Including titles such as Terra or FFXIV.

I'm waiting for Archeage and Black Desert Online.
I do not know if i will find what i'm looking for in a MMO with one of these two.
I miss good open pvp with consequences and reward and challenging pve.

Somewhat i've enjoyed Rifing in Aion before it became a joke. Oh and i keep my eyes on The Repopulation even if it is not a big budget MMO.

I think both of you are requesting kind of the same thing; a sandbox MMO according to your own theme preferences.

Immersion is washed out completely from themepark MMOs. There only thing left with themepark MMOs is how to "theme" themselves to the MMO community;

Minimum entry

• Polished graphics
• Not-too-fast-and-not-too-slow combat
• Fluid movements and extremely detailed environments
• Actually for once meaningful story line
• Great artwork & animations
• Intelligent grind (different routes reaching the same endgame goal)
• Raid(s) and instances that offer a challenge
• Top-end character customization

And so on and so forth. You see tripple A themeparks MMOs right now have got allot more weight to put up with than sandbox MMOs because their formula has been consistently the same so expectations will always go higher and higher. Their purpose is to deliver that themepark as best as possible. With sandbox MMOs the story is completely different. Their purpose is to deliver creative freedom as best as possible. They are not squared into a formula.

Ideally, a great MMO should be the one that embraces both.

Anyhow I had this amazing experience with EVE Online;

Within a few days (and mind you I play it 1-2 hours now and again) a GM contacted me personally and asked me if I need help with anything as a player in trial version! He didn't even tell me to subscribe to the game nor push me to do that. He genuinely asked me if I needed any assistant. That is what a call a great customer service.

 

[Authority]

Here's a look at ESO's first major content update

Ready for Elder Scrolls Online's first major content update? Me too, but since it's not out yet, we'll have to make do with this video preview. It's a four-minute clip detailing the Craglorn adventure zone, which is aimed at high-level players and features new quests, incentives to explore, main story updates, dungeons, and quite a bit more. Click past the cut to see for yourself!

Craglorn: ESO's First Adventure Zone (PEGI)

Direct Source: http://massively.joystiq.com/2014/04/07/heres-a-look-at-esos-first-major-content-update/

 

[Cow Mengde]

Some interesting news regarding ArcheAge.

• They will feature GMs inside the game.
• You have one gear for PvPve.
• The purpose of PvP is to obtain honor points to get better gear or steal packs and/or resources, land..
• Combat in ArcheAge is both gear and skill - No facerolling, no rotations, no oneshots.
• 3 factions - Western Continent, Eastern Continent, Pirates (Pirate Island). I believe in the Northern Continent you can make your own faction, but if you lose the territory your faction is disbanded.
• Perma-Stealth for Assassins - The CD and duration are the same (45s) so you just need to recast it. Someone with a keen eye can spot you, however.
• A great variety of weapon combinations - i.e You can play an assassin with double daggers, double swords, double blades, any combination of those, 2h sword, 2h blade (viable) or any weapon if you really want to go out of the box.

Right now, my main concern is how many TB will this game take up. Freaking Skyrim fits on a DVD for the 360.

 

[Azzurri]

Right now, my main concern is how many TB will this game take up. Freaking Skyrim fits on a DVD for the 360.

Probably 20-25GB.

 

[ricardokenshin]

wow great thread!

I just saw the character creation video for black desert and I'm in love. Hopefully it will get localized.

I'm still waiting on the localized version of Blade and Soul

 

[Authority]

ArcheAge Interviews: MMOZG.net Interviews Jake Song About Russian Version

MMOZG.net: The January update was focusing on tweaking the economy, as well as added new levels and a rather lengthy process to get them. Does it mean that you have revised your original principles, which allowed getting to the level cap very quickly, in preference to more difficult level progression?

Jake Song: We thought raising character is the most important factor in MMORPG and included a zone named ‘Eanad Library’ in 1.0 update. However we received feedback about the stress from so called ‘grinding’, so we are planning to ease the level up adding more various activities in future updates.

MMOZG.net: Why did you change the way Delphinad stars are obtained? Why are they now obtained by completing daily activities?

Jake Song: Delphinad stars that are widely used to purchase ships, houses, vehicles, and etc perpetually belong to players. This means that Delphinad starts can be a very efficient tool to help players to set their own goal in game play. Players must input their own time and effort to complete daily quests, and this is why we decided Delphinad star to be the compensation of the daily quests since it meets the intent.

MMOZG.net: For some time the users will be occupied by moving towards the cap, yet sooner or later they will finally reach it. What will be your next step? What are you concentrated on in the new expansions development right now?

Jake Song: In order to make a quality and exciting MMO I think PvP content should be invigorative. Through battlefield, siege warfare, players can organize and develop expedition or country by themselves in ArcheAge. And our goal is to build a structure of circulation that these organizations made by players effect production, trade, manufacture. In summer we are planning to update additional marine contents such as ship customization.

MMOZG.net: In our recent interview you shared that before introducing new territories to the Northern Continent it is necessary for you to first improve the player factions mechanics. Can you please describe how you plan to further develop this area.

Jake Song: To advance systems like country, expedition, and siege warfare, strengthening the merit of possessing an estate in the Land of Origin (the northern continent) should be preceded. The Land of Origin is meant to be the core space to enjoy PvP content, and to make this happen we are considering about making trade and resource just for the Land of Origin.

MMOZG.net: Player factions are the top the community pyramid. Yet many players are members of guilds at this point. Do you plan to develop guilds’ capabilities? And if you do, how?

Jake Song: Currently ArcheAge's PvP content is either very large scale or small and lacks the middle scale PvP content. So this is why we are trying to include expedition battle system. To develop this system we will also introduce expedition level system that shows each expedition’s growth level and size.

MMOZG.net: In the credits of Closed Beta Test 5 (CBT 5) client we saw many concept designs of various flying machines, including small air yachts. Do you think that air could become an element which would provide full travelling opportunities in the future?

Jake Song: I know there are lots of expectations on free flight, air combat, but it needs many research and consideration to it. Currently we are working on to reduce the standby time of carriage and airship in ArcheAge.
MMOZG.net: It is obvious that the game intends to make more races available to the players. Are you going to include these in the closest updates, or has this plan been shelved for now?

Jake Song: We are working on it to reveal the new race early next year.

MMOZG.net: You have been developing the project for many years. If you were starting the work on ArcheAge today, which of the key ideas would you implement differently?
Jake Song: I have never thought of changing the key idea of ArcheAge. My concerns are more focused on how to design the future of ArcheAge, and map the economic flow. Also I cannot forget about the recent game trend, mobile and casual games.

MMOZG.net: EVE Online has one trait — most players live in the Empire, the safe gaming zone, similar to the Eastern and Western Continents in Archeage. Wild rim territories (null sec. space) are not only dangerous by default, yet even after players become their full and rightful owners, even they struggle to ensure order in these regions 24/7. Do you plan to provide Player Factions with tools to maintain law and order on their territories in the future? To make these territories safe?

Jake Song: There are many plans ready for the country system; certain functions like declaring the estate as an area of peace, amenity construction, public buildings that can protect citizens. This will strengthen the merit of land lord. These land lords belong to certain country and king. It will take time but we will gradually introduce national level system into the game and quantify each country’s politics and growth level, so this can let expand the country’s facility and command range.

MMOZG.net: What, in your opinion, attracts players to stay in MMOs for years?
Jake Song: Strong character, fine weapon and equipment, commodities such as rare items, community where you share memory, but most of all I think it is the many other players whom you make endless episodes with that makes MMO so fascinating.

MMOZG.net: Are you satisfied with CryEngine? Is it good enough or maybe there are some serious limitations you cannot overcome?

Jake Song: CryEngine was mostly used for FPS games but Crytek was very cooperative and provided us the source code, so development went swiftly. High quality rendering and performance is also satisfying as well.

MMOZG.net: Is it difficult to provide various game versions in different languages? Please, tell us some interesting and fun moments about making different localisations.

Jake Song: ArcheAge is currently being localized into Russian as well as Chinese, Japanese and English. It is very important that this operation is well adapted to the local market. Sometimes we spend days to find the proper word to describe what we want to express. Just like translating literature, translating quest and story of a game needs a lot of research and consideration.

MMOZG.net: How much code (not the resources but actual code) is rewritten in Russian localisation?

Jake Song: Most of the information contained in the Russian client is not significantly different from the original client.

MMOZG.net: Please tell us about the Lineage (the first one) phenomenon. Why does, in your opinion, this project remain so popular in Korea even fifteen years after release?

Jake Song: The players who played Lineage when they were youngsters are still playing Lineage. Playing Lineage brings back the old memories and I think this is an important keyword. I hope ArcheAge becomes such a game, a game that arise good happy memories to people in Russia.

MMOZG.net: Along with your project, Russian gamers are also very interested in another Korean project — Black Desert. What do you think about it?

Jake Song: I haven’t had the chance to play yet, but I think positive about the fact that ArcheAge brought attention to other Korean games.

Direct Source: http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/572/feature/8387/MMOZGnet-Interviews-Jake-Song-About-Russian-Version.html/page/1

No comment. Seriously no comment.

 

[crazepharmacist]

I guess this belongs here. The original PlanetSide 1 is going free to play soon. I think in a few weeks, I don't know the exact date. It's not transitioning over to a cash shop model, just straight free to play. SOE is essentially giving the game away. Apparently the cost to run the one server is negligible.

Combat is pretty outdated but when you get used to it it's quite fun. The potential for strategy is massive in this game, much more so than PlanetSide 2. And this is an MMO, so hundreds of players fighting. Game came out in 2003 but I think it was really ahead for its time. Netcode is poor and hackers can be a problem but it's completely free so worth checking out, especially if you're a fan of PlanetSide 2 who never played the original.

 

[Authority]

Some more news!

The Crew targets fall 2014 launch window
Trailer

Ubisoft's racing MMO, The Crew, will be joining this fall's increasingly crowded line-up, the studio announced today.

While Ubisoft isn't being more specific as to a launch date, it did say that The Crew will be available on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC when it arrives in fall 2014. The studio also put out two pre-order editions for the console versions: the Limited Edition and the more packed Muscle Edition. The latter can only be pre-ordered at Gamestop.

Destiny screenshots show the wonders and horrors of space

Outer space won't be the technocolor thrill-romp that one might assume from pulp sci-fi, at least when it comes to Destiny.

Bungie released five new screenshots showing some of the visually impressive if intimidating vistas as well as one or two of the threats that players will encounter in the game. The studio also mentioned that it won't be utilizing NPC companions, players will be able to customize and upgrade gear, and Guardians can change loadouts on the fly.

Check out the new screenies in the gallery below.
http://massively.joystiq.com/photos/destiny/