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[Gaz_RB]

Yes it is.

Massive.
Online.
Multiplayer

"Planets³ will not be a Massively Multiplayer Online game (MMO)"

From the source you linked...

 

[Authority]

"Planets³ will not be a Massively Multiplayer Online game (MMO)"

From the source you linked...

In order to play in multiplayer mode, you will have to run a server of your own creating an universe, and invite your friends to join this universe.

This game will be like Minecraft.

 

[Authority]

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

Wait what? They will tell us when it will come to the West?

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

Do not take my word for it but I think it will get released in the West the same time as ArcheAge I believe. For Black Desert.

Blade & Soul probably end of this year or next.

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Combat is pretty outdated but when you get used to it it's quite fun.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.

Never had the chance to play it. What is the difference between Planetside 1 and 2?

 

[Authority]

More information regarding Black Desert.

Black Desert 2nd Beta Gameplay Shows Off Action Packed Combat

Black Desert's second closed beta is scheduled on April 22 and the developer Pearl Abyss just updated another very awesome teaser trailer to show off the improved combat system in the second CBT. The trailer features a lot of gameplay footages of four playable classes including warrior, ranger, sorceress, and giant in the coming CBT. Comparing with the first CBT the skill effects, fluency of combos, attacks and dodgings and more have all received great improvement. They also make the shaking effect optional. Check it out.
Black Desert 2nd CBT teaser - Combat scene

Direct Source: http://2p.com/5655288_1/Black-Desert-Second-CBT-Awesome-Combat-Gameplay-Trailer-Goes-Live-by-Nichole.htm

 

[Authority]

So you know ArcheAge is in alpha for the West and beta for Russia.

Unofficial Pre-Beta FAQ And Resource List (Targeting New Members)

In looking for answers to questions I've ended up with a nice collection of bookmarks, this post is a sort of repository for some of the more common topics addressed on the forums. Keep in mind that some of the answers provided here are subject to change. I'm not claiming any credit for the information here. All of it is provided for by other experienced users as well as official sources, I'm merely attempting to organize common topics. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list but I will keep this updated as much as possible. Feel free to post any corrections or additions you think should be added. The official AA FAQ's can be found here.

GENERAL INFORMATION

1. When will the game be released?
The official release date has not been announced but the game is due to launch sometime in 2014. The game is currently in Alpha (this is based on the fact that there have been some confirmed Alpha invites sent out to forum users).

2. I heard the game was in Beta, why am I now hearing that it is in Alpha?
There are several versions of the game as it has an international audience, this has led to some confusion. The game was released in Korea in Jan of 2013 and in Japan in July of 2013. Currently the Russian version of the game is in open beta and the EU/NA (English speaking) version is in alpha. This is the official site is for the EU & NA version.

3. What are the system requirements?
Official System requirements have not yet been released yet but the game is developed using CryEngine 3. (Anyone playing the RU version on a lower stat machine please post your system stats as a reference. This applies to both desktop users and laptop users. Thanks.)

4. How much will it cost to play the game?
The details are still being hammered out but what we know so far is that the game will follow a modern F2P model with premium pay options. Trion Worlds (The NA/EU publishers of the game) have indicated that they intend to introduce a fair model with no "tricks or traps". While there is no list of premium features yet, or their costs, we do know premium users will be able to build a house by gaining "patron status". Patron status can be obtained by paying with real money. Additionally, Trion Worlds hopes to allow users to obtain Patron status by purchasing an in-game item using in-game currency, much like buying a REX in Rift or PLEX in Eve Online. Source: AA Official FAQ.

5. How do I get an Alpha invite?
The only clue offered by official staff to get an Alpha invite is to be an active and participating member of the community forum. You may also have to sacrifice some chickens to some worthy god. (tic)

GAMEPLAY

1. How do the races and factions work?
There are currently 4 races to choose from. The Elves and Nuians are allied together as a faction on the Western continent. The Ferres and Hariharans are allied together as a faction on the East continent. Both factions are considered to be hostile towards each other. It will also be possible to create player factions that will engage in warfare on the Northern continent. (see #4 below)

2. How do the classes work?
There are a total of 10 classes each containing 16 skills (11 active and 5 passive). You can choose up to 3 classes at once and pick and choose any skills you want but every skill costs a skill point and you are limited to a total of 23 so you should choose your skills wisely. Two popular skill simulators in use can be found here and here. For a video series that covers all of the classes visit this channel. There is also a nice write up on viable class builds here.

3. After researching classes I noticed that some of the class names don't seem to match up.
Archeage has a world-wide audience and some of the versions have been published with different class names to appeal to a specific and localized audience. However, the skills seem to remain the same.

4. How does war work on the Northern Continent?
This is described in detail here.

5. How do I build a house and a farm?
There is an awesome official write up on housing and farms here. There is also an excellent Twitch video that addresses this question, jump ahead to about 43 minutes for the AA segment.

6. Will there be mounts?
There are mounts and gliders and ships and ground vehicles and siege weapons. You can even obtain dive gear and explore beneath the surface of the ocean to look for treasure. For a sample of ocean goodness watch this video (language alert, don't watch if you have sensitive ears).

7. What is the Lore behind AA?
Lore goodness can be found here.

8. Are there non PvP safe zones?
Yes, but AA features a risk vs reward system that is geared towards player versus player confrontations. This MMO is most definitely aimed a PvP fans so while it's possible to stick to the safe zones, you would be missing out on a great deal of content. PvP in AA has been described as purposeful and invigorating.

I'll be adding more content and details over the next few days. Also, there is a nice veteran Q&A thread here and a good thread about things I wish I knew when starting Archeage.

Direct Source: http://forums.archeagegame.com/showthread.php?1625-Unofficial-Pre-Beta-FAQ-And-Resource-List-(Targeting-New-Members)

And we have got a new Borderlands!

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel -Developer Overview
The wait is finally over for a new game in the Borderlands universe! We're launching you to Pandora's moon for the first time in Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, currently being co-developed by Gearbox Software and 2K Australia, and available on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC later this fall.

Set between Borderlands and Borderlands 2, you'll play as four new characters classes fighting alongside Handsome Jack, witnessing his transformation into the ruthless tyrant you loved to hate in Borderlands 2, and assisting with the rise of the Hyperion Corporation. The signature shoot 'n' loot gameplay of the Borderlands series expands with the addition of low-gravity and oxygen-powered jetpack combat, the icy 'Cryo' elemental damage type, the deadly laser weapon class, and new vehicles to help you explore the lunar landscape.

Who will those four new playable character classes be, you ask? Well, they are all familiar faces from the Borderlands universe:

- Athena, the Gladiator: Uses her Kinetic Aspis, which is a shield that can absorb incoming damage, then convert it back into energy to use against enemies. Athena made her debut in The Secret Armory of General Knoxx DLC for the first Borderlands game.
- Wilhelm, the Enforcer: Wilhelm was previously seen in Borderlands 2 as one of the first deadly bosses in the game.
- Nisha, the Lawbringer: The sheriff of Lynchwood from Borderlands 2, Nisha will be dealing out her own brand of justice, which we'll discuss further in the coming months.
- Claptrap, the Fragtrap: Wait - Claptrap? The goofy robot companion from Borderlands 2, now playable for the first time? Fragtrap is his character class? Well, you can play him too!

In the upcoming months, we'll introduce you to more moon environments, new enemies, vehicles, and…well, we have to save some surprises.

For now, feast your eyes on the first images from Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, featuring low-gravity combat, cool new guns, and more gorgeous lunar vistas than you can shake a moon-boot at. Then be sure to watch the developer overview video below to get your first glimpse of the game in action.

Now that we have your attention – consume all of our new, official Borderlands info! Start with the revamped Borderlands website, now a one stop shop for all of our media, news, forums, support, and merchandise.

Direct Source: https://blog.2k.com/index.php/home/single/announcing-borderlands-the-pre-sequel

 

[Azzurri]

http://forums.archeagegame.com/showthread.php?1661-alpha-keys-send-out-SCAPES-please-confirm
Alpha Invites going out.

 

[HolyBaikal]

I don't hate things. I'm not someone filled with hate. :<

 

[Authority]

I don't hate things. I'm not someone filled with hate. :<

No hate No MMO.

Get out of here!

 

[Authority]

http://forums.archeagegame.com/showthread.php?1661-alpha-keys-send-out-SCAPES-please-confirm
Alpha Invites going out.

Yeah and the criteria is shit. Alpha testers need to be people with critical skills and reasoning and not picking out the fucking "nicest" people who pretend to be nice to everybody just to get inside an alpha.

That is sickening.

 

[Ogimachi]

Black Desert's combat looks fast and there's good sound feedback on each blow, but it takes too many hits with a shaky blurry camera to kill a weak enemy apparently, and that's something I can't stand.

 

[Authority]

I am guessing XL Games is getting the message. Kind of.

Archeage 1.2 - Less Alienated Suck Edition

New Changes coming to KR-Archeage from XL games.

Changes to Experience and farming.

- Level 51 and greater mobs will give more experience
- Experience from pvp (or duels, the translation is a bit iffy)
- New world bossed that are level 51+
- Changing crafting skill levels back to how it was pre 1.0 (production time reduction as well as labor reduction)
- New super seeds
- Receive exp even when skill is at max (e.g. Trade skill at 90,000 in 1.0 you get no exp)

can check trade percentages at any time:

Receive all items in mail, you dont need to open them 1 by 1.

search the whole crafting menu:

Direct Source: http://archeagesource.com/topic/1704-korean-retail-general-news/page-13

 

[Authority]

Black Desert's combat looks fast and there's good sound feedback on each blow, but it takes too many hits with a shaky blurry camera to kill a weak enemy apparently, and that's something I can't stand.

It is still in beta so they will polish it even more.

 

[Azzurri]

Future explorers and adventurers,
We’re very proud to announce that Trion Worlds’ Alpha test of ArcheAge has begun! Alpha is an opportunity for a hand-picked group of ArcheAge fansite operators, livestreamers, and select community members to sample the game before launch but more importantly it’s a chance for us to learn from their experiences and test that our systems are interfacing well with the game. To mark the occasion, here is our new official Alpha trailer on our YouTube channel:

We’d also like to announce that as of publishing this article, the non-disclosure agreement (NDA) on Alpha has now been lifted. Alpha testers are welcome and encouraged to screenshot, stream, and share their in-game adventures with the ArcheAge community at large. We’ll be keeping an eye out for the best content and highlighting it here on the official ArcheAge website. Barring outages or maintenances, the Alpha servers will be available all day, every day.
This milestone brings us one step closer to releasing ArcheAge in the West, with only Closed Beta and Open Beta ahead of this year’s launch. Want to be part of the Alpha? Keep checking back for new ways to join this early test phase over the coming weeks such as contests, giveaways, and more. From all of us here at Trion Worlds, thank you for being a member of the ArcheAge community. Things are just getting started and we’re glad you’re here!

https://www.archeagegame.com/en/new...er/?ticket=ST-251495-cvfvA30XeejLrXIcT59P-cas

NDA lifted

 

[Ogimachi]

What was the deal with the 1.1 update? I know there was quite a backlash and Trion won't even push it in the West.

It is still in beta so they will polish it even more.

I hope so.

 

[Authority]

"Trion Worlds has sent word that the alpha for ArcheAge has officially kicked off and that the NDA has been lifted. Participants will be allowed to write about their impressions and much more. To celebrate the big occasion, Trion has released a brand new trailer. Check it out!"

See all ArcheAge Enters Alpha with New Trailer! April 09, 2014 [Mount up!] Future explorers and adventurers, We’re very proud to announce that Trion Worlds’ Alpha test of ArcheAge has begun! Alpha is an opportunity for a hand-picked group of ArcheAge fansite operators, livestreamers, and select community members to sample the game before launch but more importantly it’s a chance for us to learn from their experiences and test that our systems are interfacing well with the game.

To mark the occasion, here is our new official Alpha trailer on our YouTube channel: We’d also like to announce that as of publishing this article, the non-disclosure agreement (NDA) on Alpha has now been lifted. Alpha testers are welcome and encouraged to screenshot, stream, and share their in-game adventures with the ArcheAge community at large. We’ll be keeping an eye out for the best content and highlighting it here on the official ArcheAge website. Barring outages or maintenances, the Alpha servers will be available all day, every day.

This milestone brings us one step closer to releasing ArcheAge in the West, with only Closed Beta and Open Beta ahead of this year’s launch. Want to be part of the Alpha? Keep checking back for new ways to join this early test phase over the coming weeks such as contests, giveaways, and more. From all of us here at Trion Worlds, thank you for being a member of the ArcheAge community. Things are just getting started and we’re glad you’re here!
ArcheAge Alpha Official Trailer: "What if...?"

Direct Source: http://www.mmorpg.com/newsroom.cfm

WildStar Column: The Final Patch?

Since the start of WildStar’s closed beta last year, Carbine Studios has treated us to regular patch note reveals. But, as that launch date creeps closer, could the next one be the last big update before the game goes live? So far, there’s every indication that it might be.

Before I get into the meat of what’s included in the latest patch notes, I’m going to touch on a couple of things that aren’t explicitly mentioned. The first one is performance; beta testers have historically complained of low framerates, with Carbine promising to optimize the game as one of their final pre-launch activities. That optimization has now started to happen, with community manager Mark “Anlath” Hulmes sharing that there’s a special team on the task.

Optimizations and tune-ups were also highlighted by executive producer Jeremy Gaffney, who additionally mentioned that various quality-of-life improvements and bug fixes made it into the patch as well. Interestingly, Gaffney also revealed that a Public Test Realm would be fired up post-launch. With the development team at Carbine working to a monthly update cycle for the previous six months, I’m expecting the PTR to see some regular action.

Big Surprises

Ever since Carbine teased WildStar’s slick new UI, I’ve been desperate to try it out. The good news is that it’s arriving in this patch and will continue to be updated between now and launch, and there might be a few wrinkles that need to be ironed out as well. But the biggest surprise involved character creation – each race and gender will have a number of different body types to choose from. For those of us craving even more uniqueness in our avatars, this is a huge boon. We’ll have extra hairstyles to choose from at creation as well, hopefully supporting even wackier options.

We can already teleport to our housing plot (once unlocked) or a transmat bind point once activated, but this patch ushers in a third option. On completing the city tour in Thayd or Illium, we’ll now gain the ability to recall there directly. It’s great news for those who like to use the auction house or bank before logging out, but I am curious about what it means for the Scientist City Portal ability, as it does feel like this might become redundant. Taxi flight paths have also been improved, for those of taking the scenic route to get around Nexus.

After much feedback, Stun mechanics have also changed. The ‘F’ key spam has gone, and instead we’ll have to hold down a random direction key to break out from this form of crowd control. There have also been changes to CC in general – those without breakout gameplay (that’s Blind, Disorient, Root, Daze and Snare) will now be dispellable, while those that have breakout options (Knockdown, Stun, Subdue and Tether) cannot be dispelled.

Sweet, Sweet Loot

As I mentioned in last week’s column, Carbine has been refining large parts of WildStar’s item and ability stats. The team has already shared information on Runeset and PvP itemization changes, but there have been changes to the AMP system as well. Most of these reduce the impact of AMPs overall, but there are some more subtle tweaks as well. For a while some of these have required an item to unlock, with a few now being moved to reputation vendors. It means that, rather than being a simple points sink, we’ll have to work to earn some of the bonuses.

There’s the usual stack of class ability and balance changes (make sure you try them during an upcoming beta weekend before raging on the forums), but an interesting change crept in that might make all combat more interesting. Potions and Gadgets can now be used in combat, and won’t break stealth when used unless they deal damage. It means that we’ll be creeping beyond the current limited action set, but it also helps to raise the creative cap for high-end play such as raids and warplots.

While on raiding, world bosses have also been tweaked. Creatures like Metal Maw that appear before level 20 will now only respawn once every six hours, while those in higher level areas will spawn every 12 hours. These raid challenges will no longer reward XP either, reducing the inclination to farm them for anything apart from loot. Don’t expect to be rewarded for high-level ganks either – if you’re more than five levels below or three levels above, there’s no loot either.

It’s not all bad news in the open world though. Group XP has been fixed, meaning that it’s no longer better to go solo than teaming up with others. It’s the same with kill quests – credit now goes to everyone taking part, instead of the person lucky enough to land the killing blow. The early dungeons of Kel Voreth and Stormtalon’s Lair don’t need to be discovered any more, meaning that you can dive into that sweet instancing goodness as soon as you hit 20. For those who routinely join an MMO with a leveling buddy, it’s time to put those plans together.

For budding economists, there’s a few interesting tweaks emerging from the pipeline. Armor dyes will now show their color, making them instantly more desirable. And while the cheapest have become more expensive, the ones at the top-end are now more affordable. Vendor prices for other goods have also been adjusted, and we’ll be able to buy stacks as long as we have the coin to do so. The droprate of world epics has also been dialed down, meaning that the sweetest loot has become even more profitable.
There are all manner of other tweaks in the patch notes, from housing and quest flow changes, to bug fixes and voiceover additions, so it’s well worth giving them a closer look. But, excluding the standard fixes, and polish, this could be the last major update this side of launch. That is, unless Jeremy Gaffney has any more surprises up his sleeve.

Direct Source: http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/632/feature/8396/The-Final-Patch.html/page/1

 

[Authority]

What was the deal with the 1.1 update? I know there was quite a backlash and Trion won't even push it in the West.

I hope so.

It was with 1.0. I am not sure what the hell they did with 1.1 to be honest. And you can read about http://archeagesource.com/topic/2481-real-talk-10/ as well as the controversies with the Russian version somewhere in this thread.

Black Desert will kick ass. If I am wrong feel free to flame me.

 

[Fuz]

Holy shit, Peria's Chronicles looks good.

 

[Authority]

Livestreaming of AA's Alpha!

English ArcheAge Alpha...what more needs to be said?

and

A little teaser of Mirage Island on the US client <3

Rumor has it we might get founder's pack this Friday (pay to get into early access).

 

[Azzurri]

English ArcheAge Alpha...what more needs to be said?

and

A little teaser of Mirage Island on the US client <3

Rumor has it we might get founder's pack this Friday (pay to get into early access).

If it's true and the price is right I'll be buying a founder pack. Even if I don't like the game and it's $50 that's nothing , really.

 

[Azzurri]

http://youtu.be/Mhz9OXy86a0

 

[Authority]

http://youtu.be/Mhz9OXy86a0

I can't stand his voice so I had to shut it down.

Best livestream so far - http://www.twitch.tv/nekrage

 

[Authority]

The spiritual successor of Mount & Blade?

Regardless I am very proud to present you the following MMO,

This Is How Tencent Games' New MMO Iron Knight's Combat Looks Like

]

Mount & Blade Inspired MMO Iron Knight Dev Video

Chinese gigantic MMO company Tencent Games is developing a siege MMO Iron Knight, a Mount & Blade inspired game set in ancient Chinese battlefields. The game just released a new dev video, giving you a preview at how the combat is played.

Iron Knight is built with Havok physics engine and focuses on realistic combat experience. Generally, players will be divided into two teams to compete in the siege mode. Confirmed gameplay modes include 12v12 and 70v70, and siege weapons will be widely used in addition to various forms of melee/ranged fight and mounted combat.
Tencent brought Iron Knight to GDC 2014 and introduced the game to western audiences. We can expect to see the game coming to western market in the future.

Direct Source: http://2p.com/5691919_1/This-Is-How-Tencent-Games-New-MMO-Iron-Knights-Combat-Looks-Like-by-Fury116.htm

 

[Authority]

Beware of ArcheAge.

Unfortunately this post is enough to move AA to another section and here is the reason;

"Play It Before You Complain" or: To Learn From History

Please read this first to prevent any kind of premature rage about the whole topic.
Now let me clarify that this is not a hate post against Trion or ArcheAge in general.
This is a topic supposed to inform you about XLGames, not Trion, and their past mistakes.

I made this thread because I want to get rid of the misconception that XLGames just did one mistake with 1.0 and now can just reverse it and act as if has never happened. This has been going on for a while now and 1.0 is just "the tip of the iceberg" for XLGames.

You probably might also have the question:
"Well, then why do you still care?"

Because I believe that Trion can actually change stuff and fix XLGames' past mistakes.
Because ArcheAge, even with so many flaws, is an astounding game with so much depth and potential.
Hello,

the official forums are a great way to get to know about the game, both good and bad. Many of us veterans that have been following the game since forever - some have easily 4+ years on their back waiting for this game - have never seen so much interest in the game.

Now, ArcheAge is not exactly "new", it is a game that has been in development for a long time now and not only Koreans but Japanese players as well as a large portion of the international community, especially since the start of the russian open beta, have gotten the chance to get their hands on the game.

A lot of things happened, and a lot of changes were made to the game. ArcheAge started out way more hardcore: Item Decay, higher Death Penalties, missing Auction House and a lot of other things. ArcheAge has since moved away from that: Instead of an Item Decay we have an RNG based crafting system that leaves room for exploits by the devs(Item Spiral) and an Auction House, a PvP system leaving room for abuses by the players(Lowiezone Flagging), and many other points that one could complain about and form evil conspiracy theories from.

This should be common knowledge. These things are not a matter of opinion. You can have the opinion that those changes are not bad, but these changes are still there and their impact as well. But time and time again I come here on the forums and read "Play the game before you complain about it", and "We can not know how this really works out unless we get our hands on it". That's a dangerous fallacy.

But let's take a step first back and think about a time where we still thought a release in 2013 could happen. Back then, Fido, THE community figure of Archeage that has since been on hiatus, wrote a quick history lesson for all the new players getting into ArcheAge that missed a lot of the controversy about the whole F2P ordeal in Korea. It is worth a read, and even though it is written in german easily readable with the help of Google Translate. Please take a look:
http://archeage-online.de/forum/show...version/page40
http://translate.google.com/translat...e40&edit-text=

What can we learn from this? Well, first off XLGames was(and imho still is) an unexperienced company that has had a great product in their hands but did not really handle it well. Not only did the one and only Jake Song, that made this game so famous in Korea, leave the project in the middle of a big scandal, but they also changed the roadplan for the game leaving a lot of gaps in the content that are still present in the game.

Small joke: After the 2 new Northern Continent zones were introduced, they promised appropreate castle spots 10 days later. It's been long over half a year now and they're still not there. But thats not all: Missing races, zones and maritime content was all supposed to be there by the end of 2013.

But it's one thing to not being able to put out content fast enough. Another thing is to completely scratch it in favour of new fluff content and timesinks, which was the case in KR. Now, not all of it was bad: Of course there were meaningless instanced content, but also beach houses and other new sandboxy stuff. But it was just not what XLGames promised. And all of this happened while there were still massive complaints about sieges, which by the way are still as bad as they always were.

I don't have all the graphics from gametrics and gamenote, but I did post some back then in my KR General News thread over on ArcheAgeSource: http://archeagesource.com/topic/1704...-general-news/

The general scheme is the same: Slow but steady decrease of players while XLGames revamps the business model multiple times and fails to put out promised updates. Almost none of the complaints from the community are addressed. XLGames seems to focus purely on bringing the game to other regions instead of improving the actual game itself.

Now, what happened in KR? How did players actually react? Korea had about 20 servers, and at the end of 2013, only 2 of them were really considered "living", all other servers, including the one the international community played on, were really empty. Housing issues were pretty much non-existent, Liberty Island was a safe island to trade on and only the occasional guild run could change that. Castles were kept for weeks, which was partly due to the bad siege mechanics.

Tons of exploits found their way into the game. The botting issue that always was a massive issue in ArcheAge seemed to be overwhelming XLGames - thought you just got a nice PvP kill? Welp, was just a bot that already got massive gear because it hasn't been banned in weeks.

The overall mood for ArcheAge was pretty meh. But then, the savior came. The one and only rescue, the thing we all have been waiting for!
"Finally new races? New sandbox content, a fix for all the bots and hacks?", you ask?

Well.. Err... No. 1.0 came. The big update to address the flawed themepark elements, as Jake Song admitted a few months earlier.

Obviously, the best solution to address a flawed economy, missing sandbox content and dead open worlds on the player servers is to introduce a new level cap that requires the player to spend a massive amount of hours in only one instance. And, because players had too much freedom in the game, dailies should be the only way to acquire Delphi Coins - the most important currency next to gold.

Now, if you've taken a look at my KR General news thread, you probably noticed that ArcheAge was relatively stable after it dropped to around #20ish. Thats about as successful as, for example, Mabinogi Heroes. Pretty weird for a game that once was potentially a thread to Lineage 1, Aion & co - the most succesful MMORPGs in Korea - right?

But after 1.0, the big update obviously everyone wanted, ArcheAge dropped a bit. How much, you ask? Well, it is currently sitting at #34. It dropped 3 ranks after it recovered 6(the all-time low after 1.0 was #37). Well, but why?

Well, probably the players did not want to grind the same instance over and over again, not only to gain levels that require a stupid amount of XP, but also to get their Delphi Coins that they need to get all the fun, sandbox stuff in ArcheAge. Probably because players wanted to have a fixed siege system, all the promised content and in generally just wha this game needs:
More player freedom, more actual ingame depth and more sand for the box. Because yes, ArcheAge is not a sandbox, but it is a themepark full of little sandboxes that let you do whatever you want.

Direct Source: http://forums.archeagegame.com/showthread.php?1387-quot-Play-It-Before-You-Complain-quot-or-To-Learn-From-History

 

[Authority]

PAX East is live!

http://www.twitch.tv/pax

Main Theater - Schedule

FRIDAY

10:30am - Story time with Alex Rigopulos
12:00pm - Rooster Teeth
02:30pm - WildStar: $#!& Just Got Real
05:00pm - NVIDIA. The Way It&#8217;s Meant to be Played
08:30pm - Friday Night Concerts

SATURDAY

10:30am - Penny Arcade Make-a-Strip!
02:00pm - Mass Effect Cast Cosplay Initiative: The Event
04:30pm - Titanfall - Looking Back & Moving Forward
08:30pm - Saturday Night Concerts

SUNDAY

10:30am - Inside Gearbox Software
01:30pm - Acquisitions Incorporated Live D&D Game: Dragons Over Easy
05:30pm - Omegathon - FINAL ROUND

Albatross Theater - Schedule

FRIDAY

10:30am - Heroes of the Storm - The Ultimate Blizzard Mashup
12:00pm - The (Incredible) Future of PC Gaming, Hosted by PC Gamer
01:30pm - Is MOBA a Genre? The Design of Dawngate 03:00pm - Polaris Presents: Minecraft Superblock
06:00pm - Square Enix Presents Murdered: Soul Suspect
07:30pm - What You Can Do to End Bile and Hatred in Games Culture
09:00pm - Inside Gaming: Go Deep! (Inside Gaming)
10:30pm - IGN Game Scoop! Live Podcast

SATURDAY

10:30am - Mindcrack Group
12:00pm - Playing is Creating: How to transform from an everyday gamer to a creative visionary with Project Spark
01:30pm - Magic: The Gathering Panel
03:00pm - The Runaway Guys: Thrown Controllers
04:30pm - MMORPG.com - The Future of Online Games
06:00pm - Major Nelson Radio!
07:30pm - Unplugged: Gaming Anywhere with Geek & Sundry
09:00pm - The Giant Bomb PAX Taipei 2016 Panel Preview Show!!

SUNDAY

10:30am - ROYAL RUMBLE ON THE N64! 30 PLAYERS! LIVE!
12:00pm - Nosgoth: Vampire vs. Human Action
01:30pm - 404ing It: Breaking (Down) the Internet
04:30pm - Early Access: The Pros & Cons of Public Development

 

[Authority]

Great news for this Friday.

PAX East '14: Star Citizen and the DFM are 'more than just PvP'

Chris Roberts took the stage at a backer-only pre-PAX event in Boston last night to show off some of Star Citizen's alpha dogfighting footage. Despite a few technical glitches, fans were able to get an extended glimpse of the game's first playable module, which Roberts said will likely release in a month or so.

The dogfighting module will be presented as part of the in-universe fiction and thus will take the form of a space sim called Arena Commander which released to gamers in the year 2944. Players will load into the DFM through their pre-existing hangar module where they'll choose between five alpha game modes: Free Flight, Battle Royale, Squadron Battle, Capture the Core, and Vanduul Swarm (basically a horde mode). Cloud Imperium is including leaderboards and plenty of stats which will show up both on Star Citizen's web-based player and organization profiles as well as in the finished game.

The upcoming module will also feature co-op capabilities along with PvE AI. "At the end of the day, for me, it's not all about combat," Roberts explained, "so if [combat's] not your thing you don't have to worry about it."

Click past the cut to watch the full livestream.

DFM Star Citizen 2014 PAX East Live Event.

You can milk cows in Black Desert

Ready for another achingly awesome Black Desert trailer? That's good, because Pearl Abyss has released one that features "everyday life" in its action combat fantasy sandbox MMO.

Activities on display include crafting, trading, mount taming, housing, camping, and even cow-milking. There's more, too, but you should really just click past the cut and see for yourself.
Black Desert] 2nd CBT Everyday Life preview

Direct Source: http://massively.joystiq.com/2014/04/11/you-can-milk-cows-in-black-desert/

 

[Authority]

To re-summarize for this week!

ArcheAge stream tours the in-game world
ArcheAge - Exploring ArcheAge livestream episode 2 ~ World tour + Lore (10.4.2014)
Trion is certainly gung-ho about ArcheAge these days, so if you've come around to accepting that it's coming to the West this year, the studio has a lengthy stream devoted to introducing you to the game's world and the story behind it.

The stream starts out with the new CGI story trailer and is followed up with a discussion about the locations and lore of ArcheAge. "There is so much lore in this game that it is absolutely amazing," one of the devs mentioned, going on to say that XLGAMES sent Trion a 200-page summary to help the team understand it. You can check out all of the goodness after the break

Camelot Unchained discusses resource systems, BOP gear, and housing

The Camelot Unchained devs have just released issue seven of their Piercing the Veil series, blog posts dedicated to answering player questions about the upcoming PvP sandbox. The highlights?

• Not every tree in the game will be harvestable, but the devs are considering (not promising!) a dynamic resource ecosystem.
• There will be expandable storage, but inventory management annoyances will be downplayed.
• The team isn't planning NPC cities beyond the starter cities. The players will be creating that part of the world.
• Bind-on-pickup gear "does not make good sense for [the] game given that all but the starter gear will be crafted, rather than dropped."
• Housing will differ in format based on whether it's in the open world or safe zones, and you won't need to be a crafter to set up a basic home yourself.
• Non-stat player clothing will be in the game.
• The devs will most likely put limits on guild sizes.
• Solo play will probably be a viable option.

You can read the complete Q&A on the official site.

PAX East 2014: WildStar's panel is all about the endgame
Wildstar Pax East Info &#9658; Raids, Arena, Warplot, Lore, Quests and more

So what happens when when you reach the end of WildStar?

You've got a while to think about it, obviously, the game isn't even out just yet. But it's an obvious concern. People are going to hit the level cap, and what are they going to be doing then? Staring at the walls, singing songs, perhaps clawing desperately at the metaphorical walls in the hopes of getting the next major patch somewhat sooner?

According to the WildStar panel at PAX East, the development team is hoping to launch with a fairly robust endgame no matter what you're hoping to do. The panel went through pretty much every part of the game, from items to PvP to solo story questing, all of which is intended to work together to create an environment wherein you don't run out of things to do and don't find yourself forced out of what you find fun. How well it will work remains to be seen, but there's certainly a lot on the table to start with.

You can also fill a house with portraits of yourself, a perfect tool for narcissists.The first thing on display at the panel was one of the game's two 50-plus zones in place at launch, Grimvault. These zones are both meant to ensure that players have something to do in the open world or while solo -- there are areas devoted to solo play, areas focused on small groups, and other regions focused on large groups, all of which feature the somewhat expected array of daily and weekly quests to drive your activities. Dynamic events are also meant to spawn through the zones, ensuring that these zones don't become stagnant over time.

Ultimately, the goal is to give players things to do and progression even if they'd prefer to play on their own. There are also veteran-level dungeons and adventures available at the level cap as well, giving players further options if they're in the mood for an occasional group experience or if they really enjoy smaller group content.

If PvE isn't your thing, the game has a lot of PvP options. At launch, the game will have battlegrounds and arenas available in both rated and unrated versions, as well as open PvP servers and warplots at the top end of the leveling curve. The panel showed off Walatiki Temple (which has already been discussed) as well as the Halls of the Bloodsworn, which is a map based around capturing control points via a presence-based mechanic. One side attacks and tries to capture three rooms in sequence while the other team tries to stop them, then both teams switch roles and try to do the opposite.

Arenas, unlike battlegrounds, are meant as straight matches between players -- but not pure deathmatches. In an arena match, each side will have a shared set of lives, with 3v3 teams having six lives (arenas will be available in 2v2, 3v3, and 5v5, suggesting four lives for 2v2 and ten for 5v5). Each time a player on one side dies, the stock of remaining lives goes down by one and the player respawns. Once the lives are gone and the opposing team is dead, the match is over. Limiting shared respawns keeps matches moving quickly and places an emphasis on long-term player performance.

Next on the plate was a discussion of items and rewards, with the underlying philosophy being that players should be participating in the content they enjoy and being rewarded accordingly. The goal is to keep items interesting, with two systems helping accomplish that along the way -- runeforging and imbuements.

Runeforging is a system that should be fairly familiar to several players. You place runes in rune slots on equipment, with various runes offering stat boosts, special effects, and so forth. The additional wrinkles are twofold. First of all, the game's item sets are not on armor but are instead on runes, meaning that items with more rune slots can potentially lead to wearing multiple sets with according bonuses. Second, rune slots are random, not fixed. Sometimes you'll get an item with multiple slots, sometimes you won't, and they can come from anywhere.

Imbuements, on the other hand, are mini-quests that come along with items. Getting a powerful sword is nice, but an imbuement on the sword means that some of the weapon's power is locked away until you accomplish another goal. You never are forced to, and the item is quite powerful without it, but clearing the associated tasks allow you to unlock more potential abilities.

This is illustrated in depth with the game's artifact weapons, which are essentially hugely powerful weapons from the hardest content which have an even harder list of imbuements that can be unlocked, culminating in what's been described as an 80-person raid.

You were doing so well until you decided to keep all of the ugly old decor around.But what if you spend all of your time and never get all of these snazzy items? There's a catch for that in place as well via the elder gem system. Both earning experience and completing other endgame content at the level cap can reward you with elder gems, which can in turn be used to purchase items that would drop from bosses. You need to unlock the achievement for beating that boss first, but once you do, the goal is that strings of bad luck won't doom you to have sub-par items forever.

Of course, some people don't really care about progression, they care about the story. That's something on the mind of the team as well, and it was addressed via story instances for single players. Here, the focus is upon exploring lore, understanding what happened to the Eldan and what's going on with Nexus, and it culminates in cleaning up their mess.

Traditionally, MMOs have contained most of their big epic story content in endgame raids, which has the slight problem of most hardcore raiders not caring all that much about story. Instead, WildStar places the bulk of the main narrative in places for players to explore and understand at their leisure. That's not to say the raids won't have stories, just that the big dramatic arc and subsequent updates will be accessible to everyone who cares, not just the people with progression raiding on their minds.

Speaking of raids, what will those be like? In a word, hard. The goal is to make content that will challenge players and force them to really step up their game. It's also not meant to be the usual pattern of chewing though trash and then facing a boss after clearing away enough boring enemies.

As explained by the developers, what would normally be trash is instead thought of as base population, with the goal being that every encounter on the way to a boss is both a puzzle and a challenge. The content isn't even necessarily about fighting -- the game is structured so that you can be just as challenged by the environment as by a pack of enemies. And you can get rewards just by fighting through these sections of the raid, not only by clearing bosses, ensuring that the whole experience is fun and rewarding.

Well, it's fun if you like dying over and over to mechanics that knock out half of the raid over and over.

The whole panel ended with the Warplots trailer, which was short on hard details but long on character while also revealing that captured bosses will be usable as minions in Warplots. Jeremy Gaffney also mentioned that the game's discs have officially gone gold as of today, meaning that they're being manufactured and prepared for release. There's still another two months until you can play the game, but it seems like you'll have more than a couple things to do when that time comes. Even once you have the leveling out of the way.

Direct Source: http://massively.joystiq.com/

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

"You've got a while to think about it, obviously, the game isn't even out just yet. But it's an obvious concern. People are going to hit the level cap, and what are they going to be doing then? Staring at the walls, singing songs, perhaps clawing desperately at the metaphorical walls in the hopes of getting the next major patch somewhat sooner?"

Dropping into other MMO's personal spaces, throwing haymakers left and right and deckin' fools.

The harder raids coupled with the gems thing may balance out, we'll see though.

 

[Authority]

"You've got a while to think about it, obviously, the game isn't even out just yet. But it's an obvious concern. People are going to hit the level cap, and what are they going to be doing then? Staring at the walls, singing songs, perhaps clawing desperately at the metaphorical walls in the hopes of getting the next major patch somewhat sooner?"

Dropping into other MMO's personal spaces, throwing haymakers left and right and deckin' fools.

The harder raids coupled with the gems thing may balance out, we'll see though.

Man I am so envious of WildStar's marketing team.

And that endgame presentation was a blast.

 

[Einbroch]

May not post a lot, but I do enjoy reading your posts in this thread. Know they don't go unappreciated.

 

[Jest Chillin]

The news being posted in this thread is great but it does the thread a serious disservice when you post opinion posts from other forums and give them the same importance that news releases and interviews with Devs get.

 

[br3wnor]

Interesting thread, I understand the language issues so not gonna shit on it. I played WoW hardcore from 2004-06 and loved every minute. It completely took over my life and was unhealthy, but I loved playing it. Since then I've played it a few more times but after a few weeks I find the grind stupid and quit playing. I've tried SWTOR and it was cool but just like WoW, came to realization that its just a huge grind time sink and you can't play other games at the same time. Now I've settled into action RPGs like Diablo III to fill my MMO void and its a nice compromise. Still has the loot grind but doesn't take over your life, can enjoy just playing a few hours a day. Sorry for block of text but blackberry won't let me indent for some reason.

 

[JumpJeff84]

What does Final Fantasy 14 on PC bring to the table? I mean, other than the FF branding, what makes it cool or unique as far as MMOS go?

 

[Authority]

May not post a lot, but I do enjoy reading your posts in this thread. Know they don't go unappreciated.

Don't worry about it and thanks allot.

The news being posted in this thread is great but it does the thread a serious disservice when you post opinion posts from other forums and give them the same importance that news releases and interviews with Devs get.

Can you please be more specific? If you are referring to posts regarding ArcheAge (the negative ones) they are all based on factual events (either in Korea or in Russia). If not kindly elaborate and thanks for your feedback.

Interesting thread, I understand the language issues so not gonna shit on it. I played WoW hardcore from 2004-06 and loved every minute. It completely took over my life and was unhealthy, but I loved playing it. Since then I've played it a few more times but after a few weeks I find the grind stupid and quit playing. I've tried SWTOR and it was cool but just like WoW, came to realization that its just a huge grind time sink and you can't play other games at the same time. Now I've settled into action RPGs like Diablo III to fill my MMO void and its a nice compromise. Still has the loot grind but doesn't take over your life, can enjoy just playing a few hours a day. Sorry for block of text but blackberry won't let me indent for some reason.

I am in sort of phase as well. What I mean is that I have come into terms that I cannot replicate the mood I had with previous MMOs; "Grind, fuck yeah!", "Zegfest, fuck yeah!", "Epeendrama, fuck yeah!" so right now I am a sitting duck spending a few hours here and there playing EVE online and being overwhelmed there (it is my first space MMO so you can guess how lost I feel in there).

I am just trying to be really cautious this time and don't overhype myself and end up regretting again.

 

[Jest Chillin]

Can you please be more specific? If you are referring to posts regarding ArcheAge (the negative ones) they are all based on factual events (either in Korea or in Russia). If not kindly elaborate and thanks for your feedback.

I'm referring to any quoted opinion posts, cited or uncited, from other forums. It doesn't matter if those opinions have facts within the posts, they're still personal interpretations of those facts. GAF members are fully capable of interpreting the facts and events for themselves but when you present those opinion posts in the same manner as news posts, it can give the perception of those opinions as facts.

I'd suggest that if you want to add stuff like that to the thread, preface it with something that signifies that it's an opinion or interpretation, for the sake of clarity. Something like "The community at X generally feels Y" or "This post from a X community member may be worth considering." Something like that.

 

[Authority]

What does Final Fantasy 14 on PC bring to the table? I mean, other than the FF branding, what makes it cool or unique as far as MMOS go?

WoW vs FFXIV: Whats Different?

Feel free to watch that. It is a good breakdown.

As for me this is what I think;

I really feel that you must be a FF fan (which I am not) to love it. So if it is your theme you will love it for what it is; the best traditionally FF MMO. If it is not, FFXIV can serve as one of the best MMOs to take a break from everything else until further notice.

If you have more questions feel free to ask and I shall gladly help out further.

 

[Authority]

I'm referring to any quoted opinion posts, cited or uncited, from other forums. It doesn't matter if those opinions have facts within the posts, they're still personal interpretations of those facts. GAF members are fully capable of interpreting the facts and events for themselves but when you present those opinion posts in the same manner as news posts, it can give the perception of those opinions as facts.

I'd suggest that if you want to add stuff like that to the thread, preface it with something that signifies that it's an opinion or interpretation, for the sake of clarity. Something like "The community at X generally feels Y" or "This post from a X community member may be worth considering." Something like that.

Oh right I see what you mean and will do.

This guy is a legend.

 

[Cipherr]

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.

Its about time to be honest. DAoC needs to follow suit. Those two were old school MMO's from waaaay back that for some reason still have a sub fee.

 

[Authority]

Pearl Abyss is really stepping up the game it seems. Also I have to say I love the music the use for their trailers. So addictive.

Black Desert Second CBT Third Trailer Teases a Lot of Wonderful Game Systems

Black Desert] 2nd CBT Everyday Life preview

After the amazing character creation trailer and the cool new combat system trailer, Black Desert's developer Pearl Abyss and the Korean publisher DAUM just updated another gameplay trailer.

This trailer teases many new character postures, taming a mount in the field, other diversified game systems like trading, crafting, housing, mounting, camping, cooking, making fortress for castle siege, and weather systems, amazing world map, new mini-games like milking the cow and fetching water through a watertower, and other more exciting new game contents and changes that will be available in the coming CBT.

This is a game with endless gameplay. Check the new trailer out to the melodious background music.

The second closed beta of Black Desert Korea in scheduled on April 22 and will last until May 11. The open beta of this game's Korean version is coming in the second half of 2014 and Pearl Abyss is still looking for a western publisher for the west now.

For more previous and future Black Desert news, interviews, previews and reviews, you can go to our game hub or visit our Black Desert facebook page.

Direct Source: http://2p.com/5715371_1/Black-Desert-Second-CBT-Third-Trailer-Teases-a-Lot-of-Wonderful-Game-Systems-by-Nichole.htm

 

[Authority]

More news for today! I do apologize for posting some older news as well but they are equally important as you can tell.

PAX East 2014: The Repopulation's Josh Hall on the future of the game

The Repopulation - Top 10 Reasons To Be Excited

If you're looking for Kickstarter success stories, The Repopulation definitely qualifies. While the game hasn't yet been released, it's managed to run not one but two successful campaigns looking to fans for funding, and it's managed its development carefully to keep itself on track for release. The game feels like a well-managed professional affair. And it's been a bit more quiet, but that comes down largely to the focus on getting the game out of its current alpha state and into its first beta.

At this year's PAX East, I sat down to talk with Josh Hall, one of the core team members on the project, about where the game is in development and what it's heading for in the next few months. While the final alpha stage has taken slightly longer than originally planned, the team is on track for launching the first beta phase at some point over the summer, and it's eyeing further release plans.

I was not properly prepared for this photo opportunity, I feel this is an ambush and a violation of my personal rights.So what comes after beta? Early access via Steam Greenlight is on the agenda, but it comes with the caveat that it's important to get backers in and experienced with the game first. The team at Above and Beyond Technologies is very conscious of how important it is to keep backers feeling special; early access has to be a second priority, likely to come in during the late beta testing stages if not later.

The team is also working hard to get more functionality and features into the client, a challenge with a small team and a small budget. The game's first Kickstarter campaign was aimed at covering the core functionality to the game and making sure that it would at least work, while the second campaign very much emphasized expanding beyond the core and extending some parts of the gameplay. It also helped set the development budget for the remainder of the year, an important element when making a large game as part of a small independent studio.

And the field is getting more crowded, without a doubt; more sandbox titles are cropping up, and several of the features that looked more unique when the game's first Kickstarter launched have started showing up in other titles. It's a mixed blessing for The Repopulation as a whole. On the up side, it means that there's more competition, but it also means that more people are receptive and eager to see what the team can do within its established plans.

Hall stressed that the team has been very focused on trying to create a world in which players have more options about building their characters and experimenting with new things rather than being locked into a single way to play. As he sees it, it's all about developing a large base of potential players with an MMO rather than creating a narrow range of satisfied players and throngs of disenfranchised spectators.

So how hard is it to work with a smaller team? The biggest problem simply comes from getting the word out. MMOs are big and expensive projects, and less budget means less PR, fewer releases, and more chance of fading from people's viewpoint. It also means looking for dedicated people willing to work for very little money; with a studio consisting of only seven full-time members, they more or less have to be willing to put in a lot of extra work despite very low rewards.

Hall also noted that there's a bit of a benefit hidden in the game's indie status, as there's no need to make back several million dollars of investment. The bar for financial success is much lower than it would have been for a bigger-budget project, even if the team wants the gameplay to be sterling.

Parallels to Star Wars Galaxies are obvious: The game features a heavy emphasis on player-run cities and crafting, analogues to the Entertainer skill tree, and so forth. But the original design document was apparently even more focused on taking what worked in SWG and moving it into a different environment. Over time, things have shifted and the game has become far more of its own creature, with the biggest parallel to SWG coming in the form of community engagement.

That also extends to courting roleplayers and the RP crowd. While Hall stated that there's a strong component of just putting in tools and letting roleplayers use them as they wish, he also stressed that companies need to court the groups they want in their games. That's as true for roleplayers at is for dedicated PvP mavens or crafting aficionados.

So what does Hall think about the spate of Kickstarted MMOs? The main problem, he says, is that most MMOs require a budget that you simply can't acquire with a Kickstarter project. Most of the really large projects have a big name or two attached to the project; part of the point is to provide promotion and improve visibility rather than simply making a quick budget. Raising a substantial amount is complicated and unlikely to be a great plan. Not that it's impossible; after all, the game hit its goals and beyond both times. It just isn't an easy prospect, nor an assured success.

The focus of the team at Above and Beyond Technologies right now is just on developing and refining the game. At the start of the year, it was more about raising money and making sure that the game could move forward and expand; now it's all about getting the game to the point where backers can start getting their hands on it. Despite the size, Hall and his coworkers are determined to run the game professionally and effectively, to produce a game that can be played and enjoyed by a variety of different people.

Direct Source: http://massively.joystiq.com/

Default Interview with Brian Oh from WorldsFactory

The director of business development for Pearl Abyss anwering questions from an Italian site WorldsFactory.

WF: First of all, welcome to our network and please, explain to our readers what kind of the game you set to produce with Black Desert.

BO: First of all, it&#8217;s very nice to introduce our title Black Desert to you. Black Desert is the next generation MMORPG that tries to incorporate the realistic action combat and the various kinds of looping contents. In order to give users totally different experience from existing MMORPG, we added many exciting contents such as housing, exploration, trade, NPC hiring, large-scale castle siege and crafting etc.

WF: I know that the founder of your company produced Continent of the Ninth, which recently released in the West. What are the main differences in gameplay between C9 and Black Desert?

BO: C9 is an action oriented MORPG that features a maximized reality in action combat. And its primary gameplay is involved with hunting monsters in many different types of instanced dungeons. However, the users in Black Desert are able to enjoy a variety of game-plays I&#8217;ve mentioned in a seamless open world.

WF: You said that the main focus in development has been to produce a realistic action combat, with attack, dodge and block all occurring manually. However, I&#8217;m wondering if there is some sort of stamina system that adds another level of complexity, requiring players to only use the right action at the right time.

BO: We are pursuing the realistic action combat on an non-targeting basis with which users can actively handle the keyboard and the mouse control. Moreover, we added a few command keys for attack and defense by pressing some keys like Q, E, F. By combining conventional hot keys and command keys, we provide users more diverse experiences in terms of an action combat.

As you indicated, with the limitation of stamina in certain skills, some users might feel a bit of difficulty in handling their characters.

However, we set the range of hitting and attacking quite so loose that users won&#8217;t feel stressful when they attack and dodge. The action combat system in Black Desert doesn&#8217;t require to users a perfect reaction at the perfect timing.
In addition, there is a stamina restriction to only few skills so that there won&#8217;t be a considerable increase in the complexity.

From the previous games we developed, we realized that we should manage users&#8217; level of tiresome and complexity when it comes to an action combat. Accordingly we provide users &#8220;only mouse click mode&#8221; for their convenience with which they don&#8217;t get easily tired despite of hours of gameplay.

WF: Another cool announced feature is mounted combat. As of now there are no MMORPGs which have reproduced mounted combat in a way that is satisfactory to players; what&#8217;s your design to address common issues with mounted combat in other games?

BO: Black desert will be the first game that realize the mounted combat meeting the needs and wants of MMORPG users in a satisfactory way. We invested long time in mounted combat to give users unique and differentiated experiences.
Users can shoot monsters with arrows on their mount as you can see in our first official trailer. Warrior classes are able to swing a sword or a halberd on his horse. Moreover they can throw their sphere to monsters as well.

These mounted combat will be really useful to destroy the barricade of opponents and to scatter the enemies when castle siege takes place. Quick movement of horse forces allow users to conduct sudden attack to the enemies.

WF: Also, will it be possible to specialize a character for mounted combat over combat on the ground?

BO: Specializing a character for mounted combat is possible given that users spend enough time to train their characters. If they are enough skillful to handle their mount, they can get the special advantage from mounted combat. While you ride on your mount you can give more hitting damages to enemies and sometime even you can knock down them.

WF: We&#8217;ve read that you will be a using a class system, but how deep will the player customization be in terms of gameplay choices? Can you talk about possible talents/perks etc.?

BO: This question is a little bit difficult to answer by now. We have many things remained to decide on this issue. In this regard, I&#8217;ll tell you about this later on. Sorry for that.

WF: In one the videos, a siege was displayed. How will territory control be handled in Black Desert? Some games use predetermined factions and other let players guilds conquer castles/towns to their benefits. What&#8217;s your take on this?

BO: The synopsis of Black Desert revolves around the two countries that fights each other for the essential energy source called &#8220;Black stone&#8221;. But this is only a background story. The combat taking place in Black Desert is not based on the predetermined factions. Each player should fight for freedom and for being the strongest hero in the game. In order to conquer the world and reign the territory, users have to organize strong guilds and these guilds will fight each other to occupy castles which give considerable benefits to their owners.

WF: In the interview with Steparu.com, you have detailed a NPC system which almost sounds like companions. You mentioned that not only will NPCs offer access to special quests, items and areas, but they might even offer assistance in the player&#8217;s journeys. How will this work, when compared for example with SWTOR&#8217;s companion system? Can they aid you in combat?

BO: Like a real world, when you enter an unknown village, there&#8217;s no one you know there. So you have to network among NPCs one by one. If you get close to an NPC, he can introduce you to other NPCs. One thing you have to remember is there are various relations among NPCs. Some are very close to each other, some doesn&#8217;t get along with each other. So you have to make a strategic choice when you want to approach a certain NPC.

After you build a strong relationship with some NPCs, they can sell to you a special item that can&#8217;t be acquired in general shops. In addition a certain NPC might give you special right to enter the exclusive instanced dungeon.

In the NPC labor market you can hire special NPCs that would assist you in many ways. They can plant crops, sell the product, transport your goods to neighbor village and even fight with you as brave merceneries.

WF: Another interesting feature is certainly the housing system. We&#8217;ve read that players will have to win the &#8220;contract&#8221; for the house in an Auction House bidding system, but how affordable will an average house be for players? Also, will there be the chance for players to resell their house directly to other players?

BO: We will provide 1,000 ~ 2,000 houses to users in one server as a result only 20~30% of total users can own their house through auction system. Users without houses have to set up temporary tents in a permitted zone of field. The ownership of houses will be valid for 3 months and when it expires users can participate in the house auction bid again. The policy on reselling of the houses within 3 months hasn&#8217;t be decided yet.

WF: Ultimately, I understand that the game is still somewhat far away, but can you give us a rough estimate of when we&#8217;ll able to see it in the West? Is 2014 even possible, or do we have to wait even more?

BO: We expect our title to go into CBT in Korea during July and to have OBT at the end of this year. In Europe, the title should be released around 2015.

Direct Source: http://www.blackdeserthq.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1127000

Bungie&#8217;s Destiny Gets New Screenshots Showing Bikes and Advanced Ambient Occlusion

Can&#8217;t ever get enough screenshots of Bungie&#8217;s upcoming massive shooter Destiny, and today we finally get three new glimpses on the game.

The first, that you can see above, is an actual screenshot of the game, showcasing the Shrike bikes we&#8217;ll get to ride. The other two, that you can enjoy below, were showcased during a presentation at GDC by Nvidia, and show the ambient occlusion used for the game thanks to the offlline OptiX tech, that allows Bungie to pre-bake the effect into the game for better performance.

The last screenshot at the bottom is an old one portraying the same location, to give you an idea of the transition from untextured, ambient occlusion-enhanced polygons to gameplay.

Phantasy Star Online 2: Official English Launch IP Blocks Anyone Outside of Southeast Asia

For those of us living in the West who were fans of the original Phantasy Star Online games, I&#8217;ve got some good news and some bad news. As you might know, Sega launched an action-packed anticipated sequel to the popular Dreamcast original back in July of 2012 in Japan. As of now, the launch date for North American and European players is still to be announced with an official website in perpetual teaser mode.

However, publishers PlayPark recently announced an official English client that will be available soon, but only to those who live in Southeast Asia.

On their official Facebook page, PlayPark simply states:

IP block are implemented due to licensing agreement with the game developers

Hopefully, Sega will have more information regarding English language launches in other regions soon.

Direct Source: http://www.dualshockers.com/

 

[swnny]

Was reading through some old emails when I came across my registration for the china beta of Monster Hunter Online. This game was announced a year ago, there was a beta few months after that and since then .... nothing?! Anyone having some info on about the game? I'd play it even if its only in chinese.

 

[OminoMichelin]

A video update of Dofus's new update: http://www.dofus.com/en/mmorpg/news/418115-solid-gold-content-2-19

Basically a bunch of endgame content, I wish they focused on the early game a bit more, though :/

 

[Authority]

Was reading through some old emails when I came across my registration for the china beta of Monster Hunter Online. This game was announced a year ago, there was a beta few months after that and since then .... nothing?! Anyone having some info on about the game? I'd play it even if its only in chinese.

How to Get Into the Monster Hunter Online Beta

Is this useful? I will try to find more news about it in a bit.

 

[Cow Mengde]

The spiritual successor of Mount & Blade?

Regardless I am very proud to present you the following MMO,

Direct Source: http://2p.com/5691919_1/This-Is-How-Tencent-Games-New-MMO-Iron-Knights-Combat-Looks-Like-by-Fury116.htm

Turns this into Romance of the 3 Kingdoms!!!!

 

[Authority]

Interesting study.

Comparing MMO ARPU for major free-to-play titles

Here’s an idea: people vote with their dollars. In the traditional retail market this meant that the game with most boxed sold, generally speaking, was the most popular one. But now that free-to-play games are a standard in the games market, the underlying economics are a lot less obvious.

SPENDING RANGES DIFFER, EVEN WITHIN THE SAME GENRE

If we compare Team Fortress 2, Planetside 2, Combat Arms and Crossfire, we immediately notice that spending per player can differ wildly. In our example here, the MMO ARPU ranges from a low of $1.58 to a high of $4.50. Specifically, Western publishers tend to try and maximize the value per user. Of course, so do Asian publishers. But these companies operate in a vastly different market, where broadband is abundant (Korea) and disposable income and PC ownership are not. A big part of the success that Nexon and SmileGate enjoy comes from their expertise in regular in-game offerings and ongoing specials, and helps to offset the relatively low conversion rate.

DotA2 and League of Legends, arguably the two most visible titles in the MOBA genre, are close in terms of average revenue per user. But it’s important to keep in mind that for every DotA2 player there are nine people playing League of Legends. Because it’s slightly less accessible, DotA2 has more ‘core’ gamers as its audience, which translates into 20% higher spending per user.

QUANTITY VERSUS QUALITY

It is somewhat of a loaded strategic question: do you target a large audience and aim for low conversion rates and spending, or do you go after die-hard fans and hope to make more per user. In the current free-to-play market two dominating titles show different answers to that question. There’s World of Tanks, which has a monthly active user base of around 9.1 million and makes $4.51 per month per user. And there’s League of Legends, with 58.5 million average monthly actives over the past twelve months, and a $1.32 spend per user. Five times the audience, but less than third of the earnings per player.

With an average revenue per user of $1.58, mammoth earner Crossfire, which generated over a billion in revenue last year, clearly relies on attracting a large crowd. The game has well over 50 million monthly active players. Nexon’s Combat Arms, counts approximately 1.6 million monthly actives but makes almost double the amount per user ($2.81).

SHOOTER GAMES EARN MORE PER USER THAN MOBAS

Despite the recent trend toward so-called MOBAs, we see a distinct difference in earnings per player within even a single company. Take Valve. Despite being on the same digital platform (Steam) and likely relying on the same in-house experience with regards to sales tactics, Team Fortress 2 earns almost three times more per player than DotA2. One explanation is the growing trend toward user-generated content: letting players share in the riches stimulates both the production of and demand for in-game items.

THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND

The average revenue per user can vary drastically, even within a single game’s user base, from one geography to the next. Generally speaking, successful titles are those that develop and localize their game to accommodate specific markets. This entails everything from setting up local servers to reduce latency to offering country-specific payment methods and customer support.

You must deduct the cost of acquiring a player from their spend. The cost per install for free-to-play MMOs has been consistently going up, as the market has started to mature. Last month the average cost per install for a free-to-play MMO in the US was about $8 dollars. Having a clear sense of marketing cost helps build a user base more effectively.

Focus on user experience, not revenue. Sure, we’ve all heard the arguments about the exploitative aspects for free-to-play. But if it all it ever did was suck the life out of customers, there would be none. Instead, we see an audience of dedicated gamers growing across genres. Take your audience serious by providing a rewarding experience, and they will reward you in turn.

Direct Source: http://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/mmo-arpu/

 

[Authority]

More news for BS.

Black Desert Second CBT 4th Trailer: 4-man Team Formation Activates Super Skills

Black Desert #CB2 Party Gameplay

Pearl Abyss and DAUM just updated the fourth teaser trailer for the coming second CBT of Black Desert in Korea. This time you are going to see the unique and best Collaboration System for team gameplay in Black Desert in a video instead of reading it in last interview with the producer Kim Daeil.
You must still remember the Formation of the Collaboration System in Black Desert and many fans doubted if it really works in boss fight. Just check out the 4-man team gameplay trailer below by yourself and DAUM says in a certain Formation, your character's Super Skill can be activated.

New Collaboration Gameplay

You can't find a distinct tank, dps or support role in Black Desert so that in a boss battle, the formation becomes very important. The damage, defense and other stats of the team as a whole will differ a lot according to the formation. For example, if players stand in a circle, the defense of the whole team will be higher than in any other formations. If so, this formation is the best one to adopt to defend the boss attack. If players stand in a straight line, the first player in the line will cast the highest damage. The collaboration gameplay only works on super bosses for teams in the field, but not on general bosses in the field.

Direct Source: http://2p.com/5768558_1/Black-Desert-Second-CBT-4th-Trailer-4-man-Team-Formation-Activates-Super-Skills-by-Nichole.htm

 

[Authority]

Holy fuck.

PSO2es Tweaker 4/12/2014 Update - Open to public!

CURRENT FEATURES:

- Install/Update the PSO2es Patch
- Install/Update PSO2es itself, with no hassle!

DOWNLOAD LINK:

http://arks-layer.com/pso2es.php

------------------------------------------------------

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:

Q: Do I need to be rooted to use this?

A: Nope!

Q: It doesn't seem to be doing anything when I hit "Install game".

A: The blinking green bar at the bottom is the download progress.

------------------------------------------------------

DISCLAIMER:

As with any patch/modification/simply connecting to the server, there is no guarantee you will not get banned using this tool or the patches contained herein. You use this tool at your own risk, and as-is. Neither this tool, Arks-Layer, PSOW, or any affiliates are at fault if you do get banned. Thank you.

TO BE ADDED IN FUTURE VERSIONS

- Any other features you want, ask!

------------------------------------------------------

CREDITS:

Rupikachu - Development of the patch and the PSO2es Tweaker
AIDA - Translations, hosting, and typical "AIDA" stuff.
Maus - Additional translations
Agrajag/EspioKaos - Various translations from the EN Patch
Synthsy - For sending me the initial APK
All of the awesome beta testers for, well, testing!

------------------------------------------------------
Changelog:

4/12/2014:
[Fix] Displays correctly on all phones now. Srsly.
[Extra] Released to public!

4/11/2014:
[Fix] Should display correctly on all phones (the ui wouldn't display entirely on some devices). And it should be bigger overall
[Fix] Don't let PSO2es apply eng patch on first install.
[Fix] The json file request is not cached anymore.
[Improvement] Loading bar is thicker, green and it blinks a bit.
[Improvement] Log is easier to read, some details also have colours.
[Improvement] Error handling at failed downloads
[Improvement] Detects when no patch is installed correctly (shows not installed instead of update available).
[Improvement] pso2es, pSO2es etc is now -> PSO2es.

4/10/2014:
- Thread created
- Closed beta started
- Prepare for titanfall shitstorm

Direct Source: http://www.pso-world.com/forums/showthread.php?t=218543

 

[1upmuffin]

More news for BS.



Direct Source: http://2p.com/5768558_1/Black-Desert-Second-CBT-4th-Trailer-4-man-Team-Formation-Activates-Super-Skills-by-Nichole.htm

That looks really awesome, hope it turns out well. Looks better than ArcheAge so far.

 

[Authority]

Please pass on the following news to whoever you know.

Wildstar Beta Weekend Code Giveaway Event

Are you ready to check out the new features in this weekend's Wildstar beta test? The time is now if you haven't secured a beta key. We team up with Carbine Studios to invite you to the beta weekend. We got 500 beta keys and it's running out fast.

How to receive a beta key:

Step1: Register an account in www.2p.com.
Step2: "Like" 2P.com Facebook.

Step3: Post comments about why you like Wildstar or what you think of this game.

Finally: Check your mailbox. Please note you will receive beta key in 12 hours after you post your comments, and if you don't, contact us via com2p@outlook.com.
Rules of the event and how to Redeem

Direct Source: http://2p.com/5781625_1/Wildstar-First-Closed-Beta-Giveaway-by-flord.htm

 

[Authority]

23,900 beta keys left for WildStar!

MMORPG.com has been given 25,000 beta access code for Wildstar for this weekends beta event! Get your key know while supplies last!

WildStar is an upcoming sci-fi MMORPG with a stylized cartoon-ish look currently in development by NCSoft’s Southen California-based Carbine Studios. Play will be set on the newly discovered planet of Nexus, once home to the technologically advanced race called the Eldan. Long ago, they mysteriously vanished. Now that the planet has been rediscovered, Explorers, Soldiers, Scientists, and Settlers are coming here from across the galaxy in search of adventure, fortune, and possibly the dark secrets of the Eldan.

Login to get your Free Gift Key.

Direct Source: http://www.mmorpg.com/giveaways.cfm/offer/504/Beta-Weekend-Key-Handout.html

 

[Authority]

Upsilon Circuit anyone knows anything about this?

PAX East 2014: Upsilon Circuit is an MMO like no other

A lot of what I see in the MMO industry is fairly predictable. That's not an insult; it's just that most of the new games you see are either a result of elegant mechanics solving a problem that's always been there or a new take on an old system, and that's OK. There's nothing wrong with taking old favorites and refining them. But then I see something like Upsilon Circuit and I wind up being completely blown away because the very idea is a fundamental rewriting of how we understand MMOs.

Upsilon Circuit is a new game currently in very early development from indie studio Robot Loves Kitty (of Legend of Dungeon fame), and when I say early, I do mean early. The animations are rough, the build is very much in a proof-of-concept stage rather than a fully playable state, and none of that matters. The game is the love child of Twitch Plays Pokémon, the Hunger Games, and Diablo III, a game that not only encourages streaming but demands it while interacting with the audience

Introducing REAGON.Here's the concept in a nutshell: Upsilon Circuit itself is a sort of game show, with contestants running through a maze full of deadly monsters, traps, and so forth. (The whole thing is overseen by a digital headshot somewhere between Max Headroom and Ronald Reagan, which seems oddly apropos.) It plays somewhat akin to a roguelike, with players all moving through the same dungeon and trying to acquire more treasure than anyone else. Standard stuff, really.

The player capacity is... eight. Not eight people per server, but eight people, period. This doesn't sound like much of an MMO until you realize that taking part in the act of running the dungeon is only half of the game experience.

See, while you're running the dungeon, everything you do is being automatically streamed. Always. And you need the audience to keep watching and discussing what you're doing because a player's only control is over what he does, where he moves, what he attacks, and so forth. There's no interface to learn new skills and no way to equip items. All of that is in the hands of the audience.

Audience members won't be taking part in the actual running, but they will be the ones in charge of spending skill points and assigning equipment. This will mean a necessary back-and-forth between the player and the audience members, as both groups have to work together for any advancement. A player can't make use of new skills she doesn't know she has, and the audience can't make the player do anything without chatting. Everything becomes a collaborative effort between player and spectator, two sides working together to try to clear the dungeon and emerge victorious.

The result is a game that doesn't just embrace the idea of permadeath but requires it. When players finally drop, they're gone for good, and that doesn't just mean that the character is gone: That particular player will need to take a seat as an audience member from that point on, while a random member of the audience will be pulled in to start playing in his stead. It's as permanent as death in a video game can possibly be.

Obviously, a game like this requires a free-to-play business model; after all, it's very possible to take part in the whole thing without ever actually playing the game. Audience members will be encouraged to invest a bit more by purchasing boost items for their favorite participants -- or, if they'd prefer, purchasing traps and pitfalls. You could help support your favorite runner with a healing potion, then drop a spike trap in front of your least favorite participant to put him in just a little more danger.

Perhaps you can find what you're looking for on the other side of the desert of the real.The proof-of-concept build that I briefly played was obviously very rough, but it still controlled nicely and crisply. It also showed a little bit of the monster AI, which is robust.

Wounded monsters will attempt to flee, and those who do so successfully may seek revenge later. Some creatures are skittish when alone but aggressive in groups, while others are aggressive toward other monsters, not just toward the players. That's all meant to help foster strategy. Maybe one player will train a group of monsters onto another player, maybe they'll work together, or maybe a player can just take advantage of inter-monster enmity to avoid having to fight something that's just too powerful to face.

Right now, the idea is to have the game running for limited times during the day with an overall limited engagement. The whole project might run for a year or so, with more of the game's story and setting revealed as the months wear on. Once it's over, well, it's over. This is always going to be an experience that's about a limited thing, not a game that you can just pop in and play at any moment.

It's coming out at the perfect time, too. We're seeing an escalating sense of interaction between players and spectators with game experiences like Twitch Plays Pokémon achieving mass popularity. (The Robot Loves Kitty devs weren't inspired by that particular spectacle; Upsilon Circuit was already in development at that point.) It serves as an interesting statement on the popularity of streaming games, on the nature of audience participation, and on the definition of what it means to play a game.

Perhaps most importantly, it stretches the definition of what an MMO can be. MMOs are almost by nature symmetrical experiences for all players, but here we have a game in which one group of players is responsible for all the actual play and the other is entirely responsible for facilitating that. Neither group has full control. Doing anything requires the cooperation on both sides in a way that no game before this has tried.

Will it all work perfectly? We don't know yet. But just the idea is an amazing one.

Direct Source: http://massively.joystiq.com/2014/04/15/pax-east-2014-upsilon-circuit-is-an-mmo-like-nothing-else/