Today, the focus is on the Warden archetype. There are three different warden classes: the Kanian Druid, the Gibberling Animist and the Orc Shaman.

The Kanian Druid

Faction: League
Race: Kanian
Archetype: Warden
Armour type: cloth from lvl 1, leather from lvl 10
Specific ability: “Scare’em”, Order pet to scare an enemy.

Class background: The order of druids is an informal and ancient organization. It originates from ancient paganism, weird and insufficient studies of magic and the natural powers which are difficult to control. The basic rules of druid magic are taught in Kanian schools of magic, but only at an elementary level.

To become a real druid, a pupil has to find a personal teacher on his own and spend many years as a hermit. Unlike others classes, druids do not have military squads or signs of distinction. They usually are never assigned to the army as they appear when and where they want. However, nobody will refuse their help as druids are versatile fighters, capable of defending themselves and help their allies. They appear unexpectedly, like a ghost in the battlefield, but their appearance at a critical moment can sway the balance in their country’s favour. Once they have done what they come to do they vanish and move on. This has contributed to a large number of legends featuring them.

“Druids are our last hope” is a phrase that League soldiers bitterly joke when they can see that the outcome of battle is on a razors edge.

The Gibberling Animist

Faction: League
Race: Gibberlings
Archetype: Warden
Armour type: cloth from lvl 1, leather from lvl 10
Specific ability: “Hold’em”, Orders pet to rush an enemy. Enemy cannot attack anyone but the pet.

Class background: An Animist is a Warden among the Gibberlings. They used to be the most respected and honourable profession. The Gibberlings always wanted to live in harmony with nature and Animists were the keepers of the Great Tree. When wandering, Animists ensure the Gibberlings survival. They support them not only with their art but also with tales and stories about the past and dreams for the future. It is no surprise that animists often become Elders and spiritual counsellors of young sprouts.

The Orc Shaman

Faction: Empire
Race: Orc
Archetype: Warden
Armour type: cloth from lvl 1, leather from lvl 10
Specific ability: “Bonds of Brotherhood”, Any damage received is shared by the pet and the caster.

Class background: Shamans and Reavers are the second group within the Orcs that prefer magic to weapons. This situation evolved over the last 300 years, since the Orcs fell under the rule of a Chief-Shaman. Shamans purposely look for the gifted ones and teach them their art.

The path of a newly initiated shaman is connected either to his native tribe (where he replaces his teacher and becomes the new chief), or directly to the Imperial army. Orc shamans form separate small groups to provide support, inspire warriors about heroic deeds and save and treat wounded troops.

We’ll be running through all the classes and then running a competition for access to the closed beta.

Posted by Taymar on http://www.mmorpg-info.org.

The Dragon Age: Origins Website is full of views and information and lore, with videos and screenshots scattered about judiciously.

Dragon Age: Origins is a dark heroic fantasy set in a unique world. As the spiritual successor of BioWare’s popular Baldur’s Gate series of games, it uses a pause-and-play tactical combat system. Play in over-the-shoulder mode, or the more tactical top-down view. Dragon Age: Origins features a stunning amount of cinematic dialog. Players will be able to acquire unique party members. These party members will have their own motivations for accompanying the player.

Although it isn’t a multiplayer game, there are strong communitity aspects. I’m thrilled to see the forums are split by language, not by region (HURRAY!) so you can talk to people regardless of where they are physically located. I’m predisposed to like everything else about Dragon Age Origins as a direct result of this sensible view of the world. In addition, there is apparently the opportunity to have your game achievements displayed to your friends within the community to encourage bragging rights and strategic discussions.

I quite enjoyed having a go at Dragon Age Journeys, a free flash game launched as a promotion for Dragon Age: Origins. It’s suprisingly fun for a web-based dungeon crawl with turn-based combat. If you register on the website, you can save your games and get credit for completing sections in the game, which in turn will unlock content inside Dragon Age: Origins.

Here’s some initial reactions on the Web:

A glowing review from Ctrl+Alt+Del: I am engrossed:

So the fun RPG gameplay is definitely there, but where Dragon Age really shines is the story. The first few hours of the game is going to be unique depending on which origin and race you choose. You’ll then merge with the main story, and from there on out your game is entirely affected by the decisions you make. There’s no blatant “Good/Bad” meter here like in Kotor. Your decisions and how they effect the future are often not entirely clear.

Another positive review from the Escapist: The Escapist : Review: Dragon Age: Origins

In true RPG style, it will be your task as one of the Grey Wardens to take the lead in beating back the Darkspawn. How you go about this, however, is in some respects left up to you. Dragon Age: Origins makes a valiant effort at presenting a truly grey world, in which good or evil is not merely a binary choice. You can do the “right” thing, and characters with a predisposition towards goodness will favor you, or you can do the “wrong” thing, creating the opposite reaction. Or you can waffle, in which case, you will have to pay close attention to how various characters respond to you because their reactions will vary.

And I have to admit I enjoyed this set of Dragon Age comics by Penny Arcade: Witch Hunt

If you want a quick look at the actual game interface, Bioware have released a Downloadable Character Creator for people to play with, although it has resulted in at least one bad review:

Chocolate Hammer » Blog Archive » Wherein Rutskarn Doubts BioWare

You get three breathtakingly original races—humans, elves, and dwarves. Each race gets to pick from three classes, except dwarves, who—in this spirit of this new and revolutionary RPG setting—are precluded from using magic. If you create a mage of either of the other races, you get a choice of exactly one background—you grew up in a magic academy. If you create a human that’s not a mage, but a fighter or rogue, you get a choice between Nobleman and…Nobleman. So, actually, that’s not a choice so much as a screw you. You wanted your rogue to have a backstory that could plausibly explain skill at sneaking and robbery? What, do you think you’re a storyteller or something? Didn’t you know that’s BioWare’s job? So let’s say you pick a non-mage elf instead. You get a choice between some sort of wild elf, which is pretty generic, and City Elf, which gives you a mandatory backstory involving your wedding day being interrupted by a human noble. What, your character’s more of a free spirit, living on the streets by their wits and not willing to tie themselves down? Again, screw you. Oh, and if you play a dwarf, you get your choice between—this will blow your mind—Dwarven Commoner and Dwarven Nobleman. Thanks, BioWare. I was terrified at the prospect of actually getting a meaningful choice.

Still, I’m looking forward to getting the chance to try the game out in full and see if it lives up to my memories of Baldur’s Gate.

Is anyone else playing or have any input about the game?

Posted by Taymar on http://www.mmorpg-info.org.

OMG #eq2 chars need better dance moves. I’m jealous. http://bit.ly/1l0O1t

She received a great response from Brenlo which was copied on the official Twitter account: EverQuest II (everquestii) on Twitter

@JenniOpdx Perhaps something like this? http://bit.ly/2IoCN7

The link went to YouTube where there is a channel called soevideos and a demo of the new artwork for the Barbarian male dance animations in EQ2.

Check it out:

I can’t wait to see more of these!

Posted by Taymar on http://www.mmorpg-info.org.

Allods Online is a free-to-play MMORPG based on a micro-transaction system. It is actually the fourth game in a series of games started by Nival Interactive, with the latest version developed by Nival Online. The series has a history which stretches back to 1998, and a game lore that covers thousands of years of in-game history. Set on the shattered remains of the planet Sarnaut, players will have the chance to explore the Astral space, battle Astral demons and fight for domination of dozens of allods, islands floating in the Astral space.

Here’s an official trailer showing the Astral:

But my favorite aspect so far is Goblinoball. It is, as you might imagine, a football-like sport played by orcs, using goblins for the ball.

Undoubtedly, Orcs are physically perfect for this kind of sport. It is so important to them that many sports teams have their own scars, colours and tattoos, about the only thing that can get a female Orcs attention. The game is so simple, and Goblins so plentiful, that the sport is available to every member of Orc society and even sometimes participating teams from other races. The game has no strict rules, but the Goblinoball Stadium is located on a contested allod known across the allods as “Competition Island”. When you get in game, it’s situated rather far from your starting point, so you’ll need to bulk up before trying to take on established players.

Each team has up to six players; one is the goalkeeper, with specific abilities. Two teams face each other with a ball, a Goblin, in the centre. They then split into backs and forwards, with the main objective to kick the goblin into their opponent’s goal, while defending their own net. Players can also learn about the intricacies of the sport by completing quests on the way to Competition Island.

I love the fact that they have included Goblinoball as a co-op game alongside the more traditional PvP in the Astral battles. You don’t have to be an orc to play Goblinoball but I have to admit, I’m tempted.

The game is going into closed beta soon and you can apply to take part on the Allods Online gPotato website. I’ll be posting some more information about the game shortly, in hopes of getting early access myself!

Posted by Taymar on http://www.mmorpg-info.org.

First you need to purchase an Unadorned Steel Circlet. These are available on the Lavastorm docks from Edric Fyrecog, an Elemental Treasure Hunter, who is standing at -167,-120,654 just past the Elemental Jewelry merchant. He will charge you 2 Void Shards for the circlet.

Examining the Unadorned Steel Circlet will show you that it is missing ten jewels. A message will pop up to say that you should fill the sockets with sizeable gems to release the elemental energy of the circlet.

The gems are Crystalized Essences which drop in the 2-group Ward of Elements zone and come in four types: Air, Earth, Fire and Water. The gems are NO-TRADE but they are fairly common drops within the Ward of Elements and only used by mages for these circlets.

The combination of gems required for the circlet is based on class: Coercer, Conjuror, Illusionist, Necromancer, Warlock and Wizard. When you examine the item, one of the options is “But which gems should one use.” Clicking on this text will inform you of the gems you need for your class.

You also need to acquire the T3 shard armor headpiece for your set (that is, you will need to get the dropped mold, purchase a pattern with your Void Shards and exchange it with your T2 shard headpiece to receive the T3 piece). For more information on this, see our guide to T3 Armor (Elite Void Shard).

So: take the appropriate gems for your class and using the right-click menu, insert the gems into the sockets. Once you have the circlet with the sockets filled with the correct gems and the appropriate T3 headpiece in your inventory, right-click on the circlet and you will be given the chance to combine the two.

Posted by Taymar on http://www.mmorpg-info.org.

The Timeless Chronomage will chronolock you to a specific level, a means of mentoring down.
The Chronomagi Tasker offers a daily mission which often requires mentoring to complete.
The Timeless Trader offers faction armor for sale, as well as access to purchasing the daily reward once you’ve completed that day’s mission.

You can find similar-looking trios all over Norrath:

• East Freeport, on the dock behind the Seafarer’s Roost at -256,-55,-14
• Qeynos Harbor, across from the docks at 892,-25,18
• Greater Faydark, opposite the carpet to Sinking Sands in Kelethin at 445,92,184
• Timorous Deep, in the Wards of Gorowyn near the upper-class housing at 2821,133,1155

Timeless Chronomage Only:

• Neriak, at Dockside Markets inside the Blind Fish Hall (guild services) at -91,8,316

Timeless Chronomage

The Timeless Chronomage is the money-maker of the set. He offers to temporarily change your level through an automentoring system he calls Chronomagic.

Simply choose the level you wish to be (in steps of 5). He will charge you 5g and 100 status to chronolock you to a lower level. Your adventure experience is reduced in line with the levels that you have dropped. For example, at level 80, if you reduce your level to level 5, your adventure experience is reduced by 94%. Reducing your level to 75, your adventure experience is only reduced by 6%.

To return to your natural level, simply type /unmentor or right-click on the small window showing your mentored level and choose the option to stop mentoring.

The Chronomage will not work with you if you are already mentored. He also will not raise your level, his magic only works to reduce your level.

Chronomagi Tasker

The Chronomagi Tasker offers daily missions around Norrath. You must have at least level 70. His missions are level 75 and below and change every 24-hours.

Once you have the mission, you can mentor down in order to complete it. Although the quests require level 70 to receive them, they will show in your journal as the appropriate level for completion based on the level of the named mob which you need to defeat.

The quests are in your journal under Mission and they begin with the phrase “Path of the Past -”. The mission will take you to a Norrathian dungeon out of a selection of 37. These dungeons ranging from level 15 to level 75. If a Chronomagic Task is green to you, you do not need to mentor further in order to get credit for it.

The mission itself is completed when you kill a specific named mob in the heroic dungeon. You do not have to complete any scripts or quests in the dungeon unless those tasks are required in order to spawn the named mob. The lower the level of the dungeon, the more likely it is that it can be solo’d.

You will not get credit if the mission mob is gray.

Your reward is 1,000 faction with The Chronomancers and, for a limited time, the ability to buy a mission specific replica for 1p8g.

You can only have one mission at a time. Once you take the mission, you can keep it in your journal for two days and complete it during this time.

After two days the mission will disappear out of your quest journal.

However, if you complete the mission before it expires and after the Chronomagi Tasker has moved on to a new mission, you will not be able to purchase the replica from the Timeless Trader (see below).

If you have a previous mission in your journal, you will have to either complete it or delete it to receive the current mission from the Chronomagi Tasker.

Timeless Trader

The Timeless Trader offers a replica tying in with the day’s mission each day. He also has a standard offering of faction armor in various colour sets which you can purchase once you have received 10,000 faction with the Chronomancers. You can only purchase the replica if you have completed the task and the Chronomagi Tasker has not yet changed to the new mission. Once the new mission is available, the Timeless Trader will not offer the replica for the previous day’s mission.

If you do not go to the Chronomagi Tasker and the Timeless Trader on the same day as your received the mission, you will not be able to gain the replica for the mission although you will still receive your gold and faction.

The armor sets all require 10,000 faction with the Chronomancers and a significant amount of gold per piece.

You can check your faction level with The Chronomancers under Shattered Lands in your faction tab.

The armor sets currently available are as follows: Frosted Ceremonial Plate, Regal Ceremonial Plate, Royal Blue Ceremonial Plate, and Verdant Ceremonial Plate.

Posted by Taymar on http://www.mmorpg-info.org.

If you want to rush to find the new events, then head straight to Nektulos Forest. Speak to Altius Volfban on the Nektulos docks (760,2,-147) to receive the quest A Nightmarish Illness to find him a cure. Head along the beach to the northwest to speak to a ritualistic shaman who will give you the information you seek. Return to Altius who will send you to the Hollow Hedge to gain the cure for him.

The Hollow Hedge zone is at the Cauldron Hollow entrance at 884,7,-471

This zone also has a special event collection but be careful when collecting those shinies!

There are hauntings by a Headless Horseman in Nektulos Forest as well. This 2-group epic mob has been spotted wandering the paths on the east side of the zone, around the Valley of the Bears. There is a zone-wide message when he spawns.

According to the Nights of the Dead 2009 – Feedback! thread from the test server, in order to make the Headless Horseman attackable, you need to do the following:

1. Run through the Hollow Hedge maze and complete the quest A Nightmarish Illness
2. Return to the Hollow Hedge maze again to gain and complete the quest Train to Zone from the frightened gnome
3. Complete the Haunted House (Qeynos or Freeport)
4. Complete the Haunted Mansion (Loping Plains)
5. Find the Gleaming Chest at the end of the Hedge Maze
6. Loot the necklace

It seems that you must have this necklace with you in order to make the Headless Horseman attackable.

And there’s more!

Celebrations of the Dead is still available from the holiday merchants and you can now purchase the best-selling follow-up book, Celebrations of the Dead II. Take a look at the write-up on EQ2 Traders Corner for more details on the crafted items: Afraid of No Ghosts!

Be sure to do the full set of events, including the Haunted House in Qeynos/Freeport and the Haunted Mansion in Loping Plains in order to get a special appearance item at the end of the Hollow Hedge Maze.

EverQuest II Players – News – Article 3286

New features:

• New Haunted Hedgemaze in Nektulos Forest!
• New holiday collection.
• New Headless Horseman in Nektulos Forest.
• New rewards for some of the old Nights of the Dead Events!
• New illusions from the goblins.
• New costume illusions available from holiday merchants.
• New holiday recipe book.

Returning features:

• Trick-or-treating in Qeynos and Freeport.
• Haunted house in Qeynos and Freeport.
• Ponchy’s quest line in Antonica.
• Decorations in the cities.
• Goblins who cast costume illusions.
• Haunted Mansion in Loping Plains.
• Candy drops for tradeskilling.
• Holiday tradeskills are back.
• Purchaseable costume illusions.
• Neriak’s clandestine
  (and smashable) decorations!

The celebrations will continue until November 9th. Read Kiara’s story with screenshots for the event and Nights of the Dead wallpaper: EverQuest II Players – News – Article 3286

Posted by Taymar on http://www.mmorpg-info.org.

Unlike most of the current MMO offerings, The Secret World has an urban setting based on our world, in modern times.

The Secret World allows you to explore real world locations such as New York, London, Seoul, New England and Egypt as you battle evil together with thousands of others from all around the globe. Wield shotguns and black magic as you develop your character in a game that has neither levels nor classes.

On the one hand, The Secret World sounds like it is really breaking new ground with settings. I love the idea of sneaking around London with gold-plated pistols. The combat categories combine magic and melee with martial arts, black magic and voodoo and you can also gain “points” from exploration and trade skills.

On the other hand, the initial write-up promises “ferocious, non-stop player vs. player action in the Battle for Hollow Earth”. This, plus their description of an “intense, real-time, action-packed combat system”, makes me think that the game will be too twitch-based for me although I’m relieved to see that it doesn’t appear to be a PvP free-for-all. The game is expected to include plenty of PvE and the lead designer has said that soloing will definitely be possible.

The points system isn’t quite clear. There are no classes and no levels, leaving “truly freeform character customisation” and “gameplay that goes beyond the usually rigid MMO structure” so I’m wondering if it’s similar to the original SWG skill distribution system. You earn points as you play:

Earn points for everything you do – from combat and exploration, to trade skills and PvP – in order to rank high on both local and global scoreboards, gain titles and worldwide acclaim, and help make your secret society the most powerful and influential of them all.

The game has been in development for over three years and Ragnar Tørnquist, the lead designer of The Secret World, said they started envisioning the game over ten years ago. “We always wanted a different kind of online world, something scary and contemporary, something deeper and closer to our reality. Our goal now is to create a detailed world where players feel empowered and part of something big, something mystical and epic.”

There are three secret societies:

• the Templars (in red) with headquarters in London
• the Illuminati (in blue) with headquarters in New York, underground
• the Dragon (in green) with headquarters in a Buddhist monastery in Seoul

The factions engage in PvP against each other but also, apparently, stand united against evil.

The initiation test determines which secret society you are most suited for and also serves as a sign-up for the beta test.

It turns out I’m likely to join the Templars, which worried me until I saw Tornquist’s tweet on the subject:

Templars aren’t about Christianity. They’re about Faith. Which is different. And also about kicking demon ass.

That sounds like fun to me. I think I shall be watching out for this one.

If you are interested in taking a sneak preview for yourself, take the initiation test, choose a secret society and fill in the form with your name and email address.

You can also find out more on the The Secret World Official Forums and you’ll find some very specific questions answered on the transcript of the Ragnar Twitter interview.

Last month, Funcom revealed their second trailer, “The Puritan,” for The Secret World.

Wow.

I hate to get my hopes too high after being disappointed by Funcom’s Age of Conan but I am looking forward to hearing more about this one.

Posted by Taymar on http://www.mmorpg-info.org.

All three tiers of armor, including full stats and shard cost, are listed on our Shard Armor Reference Page.

Getting the Drops

Elite Void Shard Armor is somewhat more complicated to obtain than the previous tiers as you will need drops from a 2-group raid zone.

T3 Armor (with the exception of the forearm piece) requires three items to create:

• a mold for that armor piece
• the armor piece from the corresponding Greater Shard (T2) armor set
• Void Shards

The molds and bracers are only available through the two-group raid zones Ward of Elements and Kurn’s Tower. Ward of Elements is located at the bottom of the elevator in the Lavastorm tunnels. Kurn’s Tower is in the middle of the Field of Bone in the Fens of Nathsar.

The Shard Armor Reference Page offers the full detail of the finished armor pieces.

There are seven pieces per set (nine in the mage sets but only seven can be worn at any time).

Creating the Armor

Elite Void Shard Armor can not be crafted. Take your mold and Void Shards to Assilus Poisonbolt, the Elemental Pattern Quartermaster. He is at -179, -120, 615 on the Lavastorm Docks. Assilus Poisonbolt will exchange your mold and the Void Shards for a pattern from the same set.

Now you can take your pattern and the appropriate armor piece from the matching Greater Shard armor set and hand them to Borden Chargehammer, the Elite Void Shard Armor Quartermaster. He is standing at -182, -120, 614, next to the Pattern Quartermaster.

You must not be wearing the Greater Shard Armor that you wish to trade, it needs to be in your main inventory (but need not be repaired). The quartermaster will take the pattern and the armor piece in trade for the Elite Void Shard Armor piece.

The forearm item in the sets is not created from a mold, it is a straight-forward no-drop fabled item. The forearm piece can drop from Captain Grush in the Ward of Elements and Haggle Baron and/or the Twins in the 2-group raid instance of Kurn’s Tower.

Mages have the option to upgrade their head piece to a circlet, which requires the T3 head piece for the set, a purchased unadorned circlet, and gems which also drop from the named mobs in the Ward of Elements. We’ll be discussing the full details of the circlet in an upcoming post.

Mold Types and Armor Sets

Elemental Conqueror

• Beserker, Guardian, Inquisitor, Paladin, Shadowknight, Templar: Fused Obsidian armor
• Defiler, Dirge, Mystic, Troubador: Molten Eidolon’s armor
• Bruiser, Fury, Monk, Warden: Elemental Infused armor

Elemental Champion

• Paladin, Shadowknights: Volcanic Knight’s Tempered armor
• Brigand, Swashbuckler: Firewalker’s Magmatic armor
• Inquisitor, Templar: Lavaworn armor of Chaotic Energy

Elemental Gladiator

• Bruiser, Monk: Centered armor of the Lava Lotus
• Dirge, Troubador: Threaded armor of Volcanic Percussion
• Fury, Warden: Magma-Etched armor

Elemental Master

• Wizards, Warlocks: Ethermage’s Flamespun armor
• Conjurors, Necromancers: Nethersummoned armor of Fiery Destruction
• Defilers, Mystics: Umbral Ash armor

Elemental Vanquisher

• Illusionists, Coercers: Fireborn armor of Mindmelting
• Assassin, Rangers: Lavalink armor of Eruption
• Guardians, Beserkers: Lavawrought Champion’s armor

Posted by Taymar on http://www.mmorpg-info.org.

Star Wars: The Old Republic is an MMORPG being developed by BioWare with LucasArts. The setting is over 3,000 years before the rise of Darth Vader and a few centuries after Knights of the Old Republic.

News post: Star Wars: The Old Republic | Sign up to test STAR WARS: The Old Republic!

You must be 18 years of age or older to apply and you need to register with the community.

Creating an account is a quick process. Then you will need to sign in and offer further details (CPU, System RAM, Video Card, Sound Card, and Operating System) in order to sign up as a tester. Once you have done this, you can visit the Game Testing Portal to see the status of your application.

Bioware are planning multiple testing sessions with new testers each session, although they’ve stated that testers that are exceptionally helpful may be considered for additional sessions, so if you do get selected, make sure to actually give feedback.

Note: some users have had issues with the registration pages.

In the comments, Deewe gives the following advice:

As a try to help people having issues with the registration process:

=> It works on IE8 <=

1) be sure you have the latest version of Java (Can be downloaded here http://www.java.com/en/download/inc/windows_upgrade_ie.jsp), restart your PC after installation

2) Open IE, activate the compability mode (small icon top right, between the address bar and the green refresh button)

3) Go to Swtor.com, click on "My account", scroll down click "Yes, I would like to be considered for testing." Save.

4) On the registration page, read and if you agree, accept the terms.

5) Fill in your personal infos

6) If your are sent back to the agreement page redo the process but don't fill in your phone number (can be edited later on)

7) You are sent to a scan page, accept the scan and accept the installation of the small plugin at the top of the screen.

Note: you might get stuck here. If the system can't install the plugin, close IE, get back to your account (in compatibility mode) and scroll down to the Scan button. It was tricky for me needed a few try.

If the plugin was installed but you can't submit, hit TAB to force scroll the scan window to the submit key.

If you are caught in the loop, just keep doing it eventually its your turn to get through.

8) Eventually your are done, go back to your account and check at the bottom, it should look like.

(checked) Yes, I would like to be considered for testing.
System Specifications: [Complete]
Contact Info: [Complete]

You can update your phone number now if you had issues earlier on. (I used numbers without spaces like XXXXXXXXXX)

May the force be with you.

Having said that, even that long list of tips can’t help if the server falls over.

Nerfbat » Dear BioWare, RE: Beta Sign-Ups

Posted by Taymar on http://www.mmorpg-info.org.