The Game Guide HQ » Blog http://www.thegameguidehq.com Tue, 07 Sep 2010 15:42:48 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/Guild Wars 2 Professions revealedhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheGameGuideHq/~3/H2sSCTHfU08/ http://www.thegameguidehq.com/blog/guild-wars-2-professions-revealed/#comments Tue, 10 Aug 2010 11:18:20 +0000 Tom Kranz http://www.thegameguidehq.com/?p=10282 Over at the Eye of the North site are a series of blog posts detailing the new professions available in Guild Wars 2. ArenaNet are slowly releasing information on the new professions, leading up to the Guild Wars 2 beta.

Guild Wars 2 Elementalist

Head on over and read up on the first few – Elementalist, Warrior and Ranger. You can also catch up on the latest Guild Wars 2 news.

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]]> http://www.thegameguidehq.com/blog/guild-wars-2-professions-revealed/feed/ 0 http://www.thegameguidehq.com/blog/guild-wars-2-professions-revealed/ World of Warcraft: Cataclysmhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheGameGuideHq/~3/v0ktiOGfkQ0/ http://www.thegameguidehq.com/blog/world-of-warcraft-cataclysm/#comments Tue, 03 Aug 2010 10:52:38 +0000 Tom Kranz http://www.thegameguidehq.com/?p=10278 As we approach the second half of 2010, we’re nearing the rumour release date for Catalysm, Blizzard’s next expansion to World of Warcraft. There have been some more details recently on some of the new features, so I’m going to summarise some of the cool new stuff we can expect from Cataclysm.

Hidden away in a secluded sanctuary, the corrupted Dragon Aspect Deathwing has waited, recovering from the wounds of his last battle against Azeroth and biding his time until he can reforge the world in molten fire.

The Cataclysm FAQ highlights some of the new features we can expect in this expansion:

  • Two New Playable Races: Adventure as one of two new races–the cursed worgen with the Alliance or the resourceful goblins with the Horde.
  • Level Cap Increased to 85: Earn new abilities, tap into new talents, and progress through the path system, a new way for players to improve characters.
  • Classic Zones Remade: Familiar zones across the original continents of Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms have been altered forever and updated with new content, from the devastated Badlands to the broken Barrens, which has been sundered in two.
  • New High-Level Zones: Explore newly opened parts of the world, including Uldum, Grim Batol, and the great Sunken City of Vashj’ir beneath the sea.
  • More Raid Content than Ever Before: Enjoy more high-level raid content than previous expansions, with optional more challenging versions of all encounters.
  • New Race and Class Combinations: Explore Azeroth as a gnome priest, blood elf warrior, or one of the other never-before-available race and class combinations.
  • Guild Advancement: Progress as a guild to earn guild levels and guild achievements.
  • New PvP Zone & Rated Battlegrounds: Take on PvP objectives and daily quests on Tol Barad Island, a new Wintergrasp-like zone, and wage war in all-new rated Battlegrounds.
  • Archaeology: Master a new secondary profession to unearth valuable artifacts and earn unique rewards.
  • Flying Mounts in Azeroth: Explore Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms like never before.

You can read the full World of Warcraft: Cataclysm FAQ at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/cataclysm/faq/

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]]> http://www.thegameguidehq.com/blog/world-of-warcraft-cataclysm/feed/ 0 http://www.thegameguidehq.com/blog/world-of-warcraft-cataclysm/ Aion: Free character re-activation this weekendhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheGameGuideHq/~3/Y-MbTm3-Hv0/ http://www.thegameguidehq.com/blog/aion-free-character-re-activation-this-weekend/#comments Fri, 30 Jul 2010 22:19:52 +0000 Tom Kranz http://www.thegameguidehq.com/?p=10274 Aion is having a double bonus this weekend. Starting on Friday and running through till Monday, characters can earn double XP for all monster kills. On top of that, if you have an Aion character whose subscription has expired, you can reactivate it for free!

The reactivation just lasts for the weekend, but a free weekend’s game play along with the double XP boost is a great way to get back into Aion if you’ve been away for a while.

Reactivation Time

  • Starts: Friday, July 30, 2010 at 8 a.m. CEST
  • Ends: Monday, August 2, 2010 at 3 p.m. CEST

Double XP Time

  • Starts: Friday, July 30, 2010 at 8 a.m. server time
  • Ends: Monday, August 2, 2010 at 3 p.m. server time

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]]> http://www.thegameguidehq.com/blog/aion-free-character-re-activation-this-weekend/feed/ 0 http://www.thegameguidehq.com/blog/aion-free-character-re-activation-this-weekend/ NCSoft launch Aion: The Official Magazinehttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheGameGuideHq/~3/rr7E-mAz7bM/ http://www.thegameguidehq.com/blog/ncsoft-launch-aion-the-official-magazine/#comments Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:31:44 +0000 Tom Kranz http://www.thegameguidehq.com/?p=7994 NCSoft have announced that they are to launch a magazine for Aion subscribers. Unlike CCP’s EON magazine for EVE Online, Aion: The Official Magazine will be a digital only publication. The bait? Exclusive ingame items.

Access to the magazine will cost $3.99 per issue, with a new exclusive item available when each issue is released. On top of that, gamers who pre-order the first issue or a subscription will get 5 True Black or True White dyes.

Subscriptions offer savings over buying each issue separately, and offer even more ingame goodies.

A 6 month subscription gets you:

  • 10% off
  • 30 Greater Running scrolls
  • 5 black or white dyes
  • 1 Pilot hat

While a 12 month subscription gets you:

  • 20% off
  • 1 Wing Feather of Birth
  • 10 black or white dyes
  • 1 Pilot Hat
  • 50 Greater Wind Serum
  • 50 Greater Raging Wind scrolls

The magazine will be full of interviews with the designers and developers, Guild of the Month and Player of the Month interviews, Getting Started guides, and Expert Guides focussing on specific areas of play. There’s no doubt the magazine will be a good read and full of good information for players – the bonus in-game items really add to the appeal.

You can pre-order the Aion magazine and look through the bonus items at https://www.aionmagazine.com/

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]]> http://www.thegameguidehq.com/blog/ncsoft-launch-aion-the-official-magazine/feed/ 0 http://www.thegameguidehq.com/blog/ncsoft-launch-aion-the-official-magazine/ Aion claims more awards, boosts NCSoft’s profitshttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheGameGuideHq/~3/FRhI07bp9gc/ http://www.thegameguidehq.com/blog/aion-claims-more-awards-boosts-ncsofts-profits/#comments Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:59:32 +0000 Tom Kranz http://www.thegameguidehq.com/?p=7744 Aion continues to harvest more awards, as the game keeps on growing and attracting more players. Jeuxonline has voted Aion “Best MMOG of 2009″, alongside PC Guru’s “Best MMO of 2009″ award.

Jeuxonline said:

Aion was already JOL d’OR, ‘Best Hope of 2009.’ The readers of JOL confirmed Aion as the best MMO of this year, among all the MMOs released in 2009. The know-how of NCsoft to address a large public, the graphics and the polish of the game have all clearly seduced a certain category of MMO players this year.

and PC Guru commented that:

Unique features like air combat. Special character development, exotic oriental looking visual world, and manga styled characters. The key to success could be that it’s really different than WoW thanks to some very well executed ideas.

And on the financial side, Aion’s publisher, NCSoft, has announced record revenue growth of 83% for fiscal year 2009, compared to 2008. Income was up a whopping 623% over the previous year.

Aion brought in the bulk of this, contributing a solid 43% of NCSoft’s game revenue for 2009. Fourth quarter income for 2009 was up an impressive 1009% compared to 2008. That old stalwart Lineage II contributed 26% game revenue for FY 2009, with the original Lineage accounted for another 23%.

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]]> http://www.thegameguidehq.com/blog/aion-claims-more-awards-boosts-ncsofts-profits/feed/ 0 http://www.thegameguidehq.com/blog/aion-claims-more-awards-boosts-ncsofts-profits/ Updated Aion guides now availablehttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheGameGuideHq/~3/g1S42ko8XnE/ http://www.thegameguidehq.com/blog/updated-aion-guides-now-available-2/#comments Thu, 28 Jan 2010 13:31:19 +0000 Tom Kranz http://www.thegameguidehq.com/?p=7315 News reaches us from Killer Guides about the recent raft of updates to their very popular Aion Guides. Three of their titles have been updated with extra information to help on your quest to get to level 50. Older information has also been updated in the guides to bring them in line with recent patch changes.

Aion Assassin Guide

  • Now available with complete quest recommendations from level 1 – 50

Aion Cleric Guide

  • Includes a new ‘Term Glossary’ chapter which provides detailed explanations of the technical terms

Aion Kinah Guide

  • Addition of a new chapter dedicated to ‘Fluxes’ with a list of all fluxes from level 1 – 50
  • An updated monster drop list for the Sprigg habitat area

Head on over to the Aion Guides product pages to get more information on the updates. If you’re read our reviews of the Aion Guides and want some more, you can save money by getting the Aion Guide Bundle.

Remember, if you’re already purchased an Aion Guide or the Bundle, these updates are free for you to download.

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]]> http://www.thegameguidehq.com/blog/updated-aion-guides-now-available-2/feed/ 0 http://www.thegameguidehq.com/blog/updated-aion-guides-now-available-2/ MMORPG.com name EVE Online Game of the Yearhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheGameGuideHq/~3/mMLqAzgZ4EA/ http://www.thegameguidehq.com/blog/mmorpg-com-name-eve-online-game-of-the-year/#comments Mon, 25 Jan 2010 20:55:03 +0000 Tom Kranz http://www.thegameguidehq.com/?p=7102 The awards keep on coming for EVE Online. Ten Ton Hammer voted EVE Online’s community Best Community of 2009, and now MMORPG.com have announced that EVE is their Game of the Year 2009.

EVE’s growing and vibrant community, along with the Apocrypha and Dominion expansions, were highlighted as factors that make EVE Online such an exciting and challenging game, even though it was originally launched back in 2003.

The nominated games for Game of the Year were:

  • Aion
  • EVE Online
  • Lord of the Rings Online
  • World of Warcraft
  • Wizard 101

MMORPG.com judged the games based on multiple factors: design quality, fun, popularity, continued progress and more.

You can read more, including the runners up and the reasons behind their choice, at MMORPG.com’s Game of the Year page.

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]]> http://www.thegameguidehq.com/blog/mmorpg-com-name-eve-online-game-of-the-year/feed/ 0 http://www.thegameguidehq.com/blog/mmorpg-com-name-eve-online-game-of-the-year/ New features coming to Aionhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheGameGuideHq/~3/p-fZuD9vglE/ http://www.thegameguidehq.com/blog/new-features-coming-to-aion/#comments Sun, 24 Jan 2010 13:26:54 +0000 Tom Kranz http://www.thegameguidehq.com/?p=7317 The Aion development team have been talking about new features for a while now, and with the server load problems and money spammer issues now managed, if not totally resolved, they’re once again getting ready to improve the features Aion offers to it’s players.

The two main features which will be added in the short term are those allowing you to change your character’s features, and their gender.

Changing your character’s features will be called Plastic Surgery, and will involve purchased special tickets as an account service:

Plastic surgery involves purchasing a Plastic Surgery Ticket as an account service. This Plastic Surgery Ticket allows a player a second chance to model a character. Using the ticket, a player can alter a character’s hair shape, hair color, body style, face, eyes, and nearly anything you could customize in the physical character creation screen that you originally used in to make a character. These tickets will not be tradable and will not allow you to change gender, but they will offer you a fresh start should your character need to go underground (chased by the yakuza?) and completely change appearance. Visit your faction’s Daeva of Appearance after you purchase a ticket to redeem it.

Similarly, to be able to change your character’s gender will require buying a Gender Change Ticket – again, as an account service:

The gender change service is available through the purchase of a Gender Change Ticket. Gender change is a mystical and intricate procedure, and only certain NPC Daevas are able to perform this ritual. These Daevas of Life Transformation redeem Gender Change Tickets, and can be found in the somewhat shady quarters of Sanctum and Pandaemonium. Gender Change Tickets are also not tradable, and each ticket is only valid for a single character.

These two account services will be the first added to Aion, and the devs are hopeful that they will be available from the middle of February.

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]]> http://www.thegameguidehq.com/blog/new-features-coming-to-aion/feed/ 0 http://www.thegameguidehq.com/blog/new-features-coming-to-aion/ Double experience weekend in Aionhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheGameGuideHq/~3/1Gab_dfolqM/ http://www.thegameguidehq.com/blog/double-experience-weekend-in-aion/#comments Wed, 20 Jan 2010 10:57:28 +0000 Tom Kranz http://www.thegameguidehq.com/?p=7159 The Aion Community Team have announced that this weekend players will gain double experience on all European servers. The experience will automatically be applied, doubling the XP gained from missions and kills.

From the Aion forums:

Who’s ready for another Double Experience Weekend?! That’s right! It’s time to once again stock up on caffeinated products in preparation for a weekend without sleep. This Friday, January 22nd, at 7:00 p.m GMT, we will enable double experience on all European servers. The experience bonus will run through the weekend before ending on Monday at 7:00 a.m. GMT.

This is a good opportunity to level up either your main character, or an alt, especially if you’re at the lower levels and want to get access to the extra content available over level 30.

You can read the full thread on the Aion forums here.

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]]> http://www.thegameguidehq.com/blog/double-experience-weekend-in-aion/feed/ 0 http://www.thegameguidehq.com/blog/double-experience-weekend-in-aion/ Aion Solorius Festival contest winnershttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheGameGuideHq/~3/C2Y7kqSGNQY/ http://www.thegameguidehq.com/blog/aion-solorius-festival-contest-winners/#comments Mon, 18 Jan 2010 21:31:48 +0000 Tom Kranz http://www.thegameguidehq.com/?p=7100 The results are in from the Aion Community Team for the Solorius Festival video contest. Aion gamers were asked to create machimina videos in the game, celebrating the true spirit of the Solorius Festival.

The winner was Nikole Gamble with his video “Twas the Night of Solorius”



The rest of the contest winners, along with the runners up, can be found on the official Aion website here.

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