The MassiveOnlineGaming Squad

Lord of the Rings Online: Consignment Quests & Server Names

noreply@blogger.com (HealShot) — Thu, 2 Sep 2010 16:34:00 -0400

Opening the Lord of the Rings Online game client reveals a pair of announcements for Turbine. Consignment quests will not be available after September 7th and players are urged to complete them before that time. Secondly, developers have announced the names of four new servers being brought online in anticipation of hordes of new players for the F2P version set to go live on September 10th.

ALERT: If you currently have active crafting consignment quests, please cancel or complete these quests before server maintenance begins on Tuesday, Sept 7. These quests (available in Overhill, Silverdeep Mine, Combe Lumber Camp, or Duillond) will no longer be available once Volume III, Book 2 goes live.

Current Subscribers and returning players will be able to access LOTRO Free-to-Play on the North American servers starting September 8th and Head Start players will be the first to play on our newest servers! The following worlds will be available starting September 8, 2010:
To help players organize their friends and Kinmates, the official server forums for these worlds are now available.
Riddermark

Crickhollow

Dwarrowdelf

Imladris

Find out more about LOTRO here.

MAG offers extra character slots, on the cheap

noreply@blogger.com (HealShot) — Thu, 2 Sep 2010 16:30:00 -0400

If you're an altoholic playing Zipper Interactive's MAG MMOFPS, chances are you're probably a fan of the recently announced extra character slot promotion. The new service debuted yesterday, and allows players to create two new in-game avatars. For $.99 (US), you can purchase one of the two slots and take it for a 30-day trial run.

After your free month is up, you can opt to subscribe the new characters or keep them for a rainy day, locked up tight in cold storage, where they'll retain any gear and advancements you may have acquired. Check out all the details on the official MAG blog.

by Jef Reahard

A Basic Recap of DCUO

noreply@blogger.com (HealShot) — Wed, 1 Sep 2010 21:18:00 -0400

MMORPG.com columnist Angie Webb recently had the opportunity to sit in on a live demo of DC Universe Online. During the demo, she saw developers play through an area called Amusement Mile, the proverbial playground of The Joker and Harley Quinn. Find out what Angie thought of the demo and about some of the nifty small touches devs have included in the game (the Jester hat equip!).

Russell Shanks, COO of SOE, gave the presentation we saw. It was a single-player area of Gotham called Amusement Mile. This is Joker and Harley’s play area. The demo was played on the PS3. The controls are a little awkward to get used to at first if you’re used to the PC, but if you’re familiar with the PS3 controller then it should be no problem. The goal of the demo was to stop the Joker and Harley Quinn from releasing laughing gas into Gotham, and also to find Robin, who’d gone missing.

Read more of Angie Webb's Basic Recap of DCUO.

RvR pack details in the newest Warhammer Online producer's letter

noreply@blogger.com (HealShot) — Wed, 1 Sep 2010 21:14:00 -0400

The beginning of a new month is upon us, and that means we're due for another producer's letter forWarhammer Online. This letter is coming on the heels of the major announcement of the RvR pack, so it was inevitable that the letter would have a veritable buffet of information for players, and it doesn't disappoint. As the letter explains, the addition of the RvR packs is the capstone on the design work that's been done over the past several months, focusing on the battles of RvR and trimming away the extraneous elements.

Naturally, there's more information on the role of the Skaven, who will be playable by either realm rather than simply being an NPC faction. There's also more talk about the increase in the RR cap, with the goal being a closer approximation of Dark Age of Camelot's similar system. Carrie Gouskosalso re-emphasizes that the game isn't going free-to-play at the moment and the team has no plans to change that. Warhammer Online fans should be very happy about the newest letter -- it promises many good things for the game in the near future.

by Eliot Lefebvre

Stonefield in Rift: Planes of Telara

noreply@blogger.com (HealShot) — Wed, 1 Sep 2010 20:54:00 -0400

The team at Trion Worlds has been stepping up its game of late with Rift: Planes of Telara, showing off more and more of the gameplay and zones. The preview of the Fire Rift was appropriately dynamic, but with the most recent preview at Rift Nexus, the game shows off a more grounded region in Stonefield. An early zone for the Defiant faction, the area features battles against both titans and undead for low-level characters on their way through the leveling process.

The ancient Eth were responsible for bringing the titans to the land, using them as guards for the precious mines of the area... until the titans raised an army and engaged in a brutal war against their would-be masters. Now the titans are imprisoned within the earth, but their influence still spreads throughout the zone. It's quite possible they're behind the undead that are slowly spreading from Granite Falls, something players will have to investigate for themselves. The description alone doesn't do the zone justice, however, so click past the break for an embedded flythrough of the region. Rift: Planes of Telara doesn't yet have a solid release date, but it's shaping up nicely, especially if it continues to build upon such a solid foundation.

by Eliot Lefebvre

ArenaNet plans for "PAX"

noreply@blogger.com (HealShot) — Wed, 1 Sep 2010 20:52:00 -0400

PAX Prime is nearly upon us -- attendees from all over are packing their suitcases and confirming hotel reservations, and a large part of them have Guild Wars 2 at the top of their must-see list.

The newest entry on the ArenaNet blog is what those fans have been waiting for: the PAX schedule. The list shows three busy days for ANet staffers, and plenty to do for those attending. A book signing, panel, and party at the Hard Rock Cafe combine with a series of demos and prize giveaways to fill the schedule. An important note here is that both the panel and the party require passes which can be acquired at the ArenaNet booth or through quiz show giveaways. Check out the entire list and we'll see you at PAX!

Unfortunately, I will not be attending. But how ever ill try my best to get news as it trickles in.

Vindictus: build-a-golem mechanic

noreply@blogger.com (HealShot) — Wed, 1 Sep 2010 20:45:00 -0400

Nexon's free-to-play fantasy epic Vindictus continues to turn heads both in the industry and in fan circles. This time, the culprit is a newly released video showcasing the ability to summon and control a golem while playing as the Evie character. Once you've learned the correct skill, you can make use of a summoning gem to create the construct, and the golem's spirit will use nearby environment objects to define its physical form.

You heard right: the golem will take on a unique appearance each time it is summoned, though there are restrictions on how often the creature may be called. Currently, Evie can only carry one summoning stone per dungeon instance, and the stone can only be used once, which of course means one golem per dungeon.

Check out the video!

Can you say its "Clobbering Time"!

FFXIV open beta officially starts tomorrow!

noreply@blogger.com (HealShot) — Wed, 1 Sep 2010 20:22:00 -0400

Hold off on the wrist-slitting, Final Fantasy XIV fans, as Square-Enix's forthcoming MMORPG will indeed be going into open beta this week. In a short press release, Square has announced that the final phase of beta will begin tomorrow, September 2nd, at 02:00 GMT.

While the release contains no word as to the nature of the critical bugs that caused the postponement on Monday, Square does confirm that the issues have been dealt with. You can find out more details on the open beta, as well as pick up the required registration code, at the official open beta test application website.

by Jef Reahard

FFXIV Open Beta Postponed due to Critical Bugs!

noreply@blogger.com (HealShot) — Wed, 1 Sep 2010 05:00:00 -0400

Final Fantasy XIV fans should have played the Open Beta right now, but it didn't happen. FFXIV Open Beta was postponed due to critical bugs! The official just announced the terrible news. The official hasn't decided a new OB date and they've closed the download of OB client at 19:00 (PDT) on August 31st. So those who have finished the download may need to download a new client when it's released. Now, just wait and pray, or complain.

TERA's lag, security, and an M-rating

noreply@blogger.com (HealShot) — Wed, 1 Sep 2010 04:46:00 -0400

TERA is shaping up to be a huge hit with international audiences, and nowhere is this more evident than in En Masse Entertainment's willingness to reach out to fan communities outside the U.S. The latest example comes courtesy of TERAHispano, as they recently sat down with En Masse producer Patrick Wyatt for a round of questions regarding everything from microtransactions, to account security, to lag.

Wyatt has lots to say in the lengthy interview, and among the more interesting nuggets is the fact that En Masse expects TERA to ship with an M-rating. He also touches on performance issues, pointing to the Focus Group Tests as evidence that lag won't be an issue for the game's action combat system. "When we built the first Western servers for TERA, we selected a QA datacenter just a few miles from our offices in Seattle, which meant that European players who joined our Focus Group Tests were playing on servers over 5000 miles away. Based on the forum posts, polls, and informal surveys from those events, we didn't see lag problems," Wyatt says.

Finally, he reiterates that TERA will not be a microtransaction-based title, and also discusses GameGuard and alternatives to the intrusive anti-cheat software.

by Jef Reahard

Rift: Planes of Telara gets a budget ‘over $50m’

noreply@blogger.com (HealShot) — Wed, 1 Sep 2010 04:17:00 -0400

Trion CEO Lars Buttler told "Develop" the game’s exorbitant budget - parly due to the engineering of Trion's own development platform - signals how serious the company is in entering the MMO space.
“Rift: Planes of Telara is already very ambitious because it is over $50 million in development,” he said.
“One of the first questions we asked before we started the Rift project was, ‘why cannot online games be of the quality of videogames?’

OK, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say " I hope this guy is right".
He got some stiff competition in 2011. We have got a ton of MMORPG hitting the market.
To name a few GW2, SWTOR, and many more. For his sake, I hope they bring there "A" game.

But, I highly suspect that as most MMO's these days it's gonna get the inevitable "WoW is Better" treatment.

I'm gonna wait on the sidelines for this game.

ArenaNet's GW2 "Necro Q&A !

noreply@blogger.com (HealShot) — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 19:27:00 -0400

Last week we unearthed the necromancer, the macabre master of life and death in Guild Wars 2. Many of you had questions about this updated take on the classic Guild Wars profession, so we summoned Lead Designer Eric Flannum and Game Designer Isaiah “Izzy” Cartwright to answer the most common queries. Read on for answers to your necro questions!

Fear

Q: Fear sounds like an unbalanced crowd control mechanic. Could you explain this mechanic in more detail? How often can you use it and can you remove it? Are there certain types of enemies that are immune to fear?: Eric: Fear is a condition and is therefore removable by anything that removes conditions. How often fear can be used depends entirely on the skill that inflicts it, so it will vary from skill to skill. Boss monsters are currently immune to fear, but this is something that we are constantly balancing. Izzy: Currently, fear lasts 2 to 5 seconds in PvE and 2 seconds in PvP, but these are just the current numbers and we’ll continue to refine and balance them as we keep playing.
Q: How will fear work in PvP? I don’t like losing control of my character, and it seems like fear may make my play experience frustrating and unenjoyable.: Eric: As Izzy alluded to, we’ll have different balance for skills in PvE and PvP, so it’s very likely that skills that cause fear will function slightly differently in the two game types. Fear is similar to a knockdown or stun in the way it disables your character for a short period of time. In some ways, fear is less powerful than knockdown, since it’s a condition, and it can be effected by anything that affects conditions. Knockdowns, on the other hand, can only be affected by things that specifically affect knockdowns.

Death Shroud

Q: Will the necromancer be able to slot in different skills for his Death Shroud abilities?: Izzy: No, your Death Shroud skills are a special set of skills, but you can make improvements to your Death Shroud via traits.
Q: Does damage done to the necromancer in Death Shroud decrease the life force meter?: Eric: Yes, when the necromancer is in Death Shroud state, any damage they receive decreases their life force.
Q: Will there be ways to spend life force outside of Death Shroud? If not, would you consider adding some utility skills that would do this?: Izzy: We want to keep these concepts simple, so skills can only add to your life force pool.

Minions

Q: The necromancer article seems to imply that you can only have one minion of each type active, since summoning it swaps the skill out for a minion bomber skill. Is that true?: Izzy: Some skills such a Bone Minions can give you three minions, plus an additional two using traits. You can also have a Blood Fiend and a Bone Fiend. Keep in mind we haven’t revealed all the necro minions yet!
Q: If I’m out of combat and switch out one of my minion skills, do I lose the minion I have already summoned on the field?
Q: Are minion models tied to the spell used to summon them (like in Guild Wars) or to the type of corpse that it was raised from?: Eric: Minions in Guild Wars 2 are not raised from corpses, so the type of minion created is determined by the skill used.
Q: Do minions have natural health regeneration?: Eric: No, minions do not currently regenerate health.
Q: Do minions have levels and do they vary in size or shape depending on the life force?: Eric: The level of the minion is based upon the level of the necromancer that created it. They do not vary based upon life force.

Wells

Q: Since wells originate from the caster herself, and not from a corpse, do they follow you around or stay at the location where the skill was cast?: Eric: Much like wards in the original Guild Wars, wells do not move.

General

Q: Would you consider some PvE only tweaks to further spice it up, like making necros slightly more powerful during in-game nighttime than in bright sunlight?: Eric: We wouldn’t want to do anything to make a player feel like they should only play a particular race or profession in a limited set of circumstances, so I don’t think we’d do this sort of thing. That being said, we do have items that act differently at night versus during the day. The key difference is that item choice is a much more short term choice whereas race and profession are long term choices.
Q: Is there any limit to how many marks I can place?: Eric: When you place a mark, the skill switches to an “activate mark” skill. This means that the number of marks a necromancer can have active is limited by how many individual mark skills he brings.
Q: Can the Life Siphon skill be maintained by holding the skill button down until either the enemy is dead or your energy runs out?: Eric: Life Siphon is a timed skill that drains life for a short period of time, and then recharges. It can be interrupted by moving.
Q: Are the scary and dark sound effect we can hear in the skill video permanent sound ambient effects for the necromancer, or were they used for the video only?: Eric: Some of them were generated for the video and some of them are in the game. We tend to use the videos as sound concept tests though, so it is very likely that you’ll hear many of those sounds while playing the game.
Q: Can necromancers swap weapons?: Eric: Absolutely. Like other professions, necromancers can swap between two weapon sets (which is the current maximum for any profession).
Q: Reading up on Ghosts of Ascalon, I wonder if what some of Killeen did in the book will somehow manifest itself in the game, or if that was simply a loose literary translation of necromancer abilities?: Eric: Some of what Killeen does in the book will be reflected in the game (quite accurately). However, some of what she does is a pretty loose interpretation of in-game necromantic capabilities.
Q: What is that brilliant-looking skill used at the beginning of the Life Siphon video?: Izzy: That is a skill called Life Blast, which is skill number four on the focus item.
Q: You mentioned bleeding in the skill Grasping Dead. How does bleeding stack in Guild Wars 2? Is it just additional duration, or is it an additional health loss per second?: Izzy: You can have up to nine bleeds on a target and each does some damage per second.

Thanks guys! Both Eric and Izzy will be at the Guild Wars 2 booth at PAX Prime in Seattle this weekend, along with a ton of other ArenaNet staffers. Stop by, say hi, and play our demo!

Flameseeker Chronicles: What we know so far!

noreply@blogger.com (HealShot) — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 23:56:00 -0400

by Rubi Bayer

I had originally planned this week's Flameseeker Chronicles to be a detailed overview of Gamescom and the necromancer. By Friday afternoon, I decided that the subject had been done to death and that more words on it would just be repetitive clutter. There's enough of that on the net already, thanks.

Instead, I took my thoughts in another direction: the extreme hype of Guild Wars 2. Guild Wars 2-interest is at an all-time high, thanks in large part to Gamescom and PAX, and more people are beginning to take notice every day. The majority of those people are unfamiliar with Guild Wars and ArenaNet, and they've got a lot of questions.

Most of them are the same questions that veteran fans feel like they've answered a hundred times, and since I covered the basics of Guild Wars a few weeks ago, it seemed only fair to give the same kind of attention to Guild Wars 2. I love my fellow crazed-fans, and I promise that next week's column will contain all sorts of treats from PAX, but this week is for the newbies.

If you are new to ArenaNet's world and wondering what the deal is with Guild Wars 2, welcome -- I'm so glad you're checking this game out. If you've been around for a while, pass this on the next time you see someone asking what the deal is. There are several good -- and very detailed -- informational sites for the game in existence, and I'll wrap up with a bit of info on those. This one is intended as a starting point to cover the basics, complete with links for proof where needed, because the really extensive ones can get a bit overwhelming.

Follow along after the jump and let's get you started.

When is this game released?

Ah, the eternal question. Don't feel bad for asking this, and don't listen to those people fussing at you for asking it. While it's a simple question, it tends to get buried under the waves of new information and discussion that come out every day. Guild Wars 2 does not have a release date. "Yes it does, it's coming out November 2nd of this year!"

No, it's not. I promise you that the release date you have seen is not correct. Community Manager Regina Buenaobra has stated that the date you have seen is merely a placeholder created by retailers. When there is a launch date announced, you will know. It will be plastered all over the Guild Wars 2 site. If you happen to miss the news there, the giant frenzy in the Guild Wars 2 community and on MMO news sites will clue you in.

"I promise you that the launch date you have seen is not correct."

OK, but what about beta? How do I sign up for testing?

Right now, you don't. For now, there is very limited information on any sort of Guild Wars 2 beta testing. What you need to know for the time being is that this is a joke, this is a scam, and as with the release date, you will definitely know if and when beta signups are available. Right now, there is no way whatsoever to apply for beta testing, and if you hear otherwise, don't buy into it.

From time to time you'll hear ArenaNet mention thoughts on beta testing during interviews, but for now, the official word is, "Although we publicly beta-tested the original Guild Wars while it was still in early development, with Guild Wars 2 we will commence beta testing closer to the game's release."

Will Guild Wars 2 have subscriptions, or will it be free-to-play?

The short answer is "neither." Guild Wars had an unusual business model that has worked very well for the past five years, and ArenaNet will be using the same model for Guild Wars 2. You will purchase the game, then that's it. No subscription fees, no game time cards, no paying to unlock premium content, nothing like that -- your purchase of the game gets you full access to everything. Any future expansions will work the same way.

There will almost certainly be microtransactions, but we don't know what they will be. So far in Guild Wars, ArenaNet has restricted store items to "fluff" content: permanent access to extra storage, cosmetic items like costumes and makeovers, and shortcuts like skill unlock packs. Those items could be considered a preview of the direction microtransactions will take in Guild Wars 2, but again, there is no official word from Arenanet.

Okay, this sounds great! I want to know more and talk to more fans, but there are almost 12 million results on Google and it's confusing and everyone is saying something different and and...

Yeah, I know. Like I said, the hype is huge right now and everyone's got something to say. Now that I've answered the most basic questions, let me give you a few links that won't completely bury you in minutiae while you're just trying to get your bearings. The official Guild Wars 2 site is kind of a given, and it's one of the most well-laid-out, user-friendly MMO sites I've ever seen. The FAQ there covers a few more details, and is a good next step.

On the fansite front, GuildWars2Guru is the main fansite for English-speaking fans, but hold on there. If you just run in and start browsing the forum I can promise you that you'll be confused and overwhelmed in about 15 minutes -- it's pretty huge. Introduce yourself, check out the Q&A forum, and look over the main forum list to see what catches your eye. Things move pretty fast there, but it's maintained well and if you take a bit of time to get acclimated you should find it a valuable resource.

Finally, check out my Guild Wars 2 community guide. If you are looking for a podcast, social networking sites, or more forums for GW2, you'll want to bookmark this and hang on to it.

So, there you go. Now that you've got the basics, and access to the next step, let me welcome you again to the future of Tyria! Watch for Flameseeker Chronicles next week -- I'll be at PAX in Seattle and I'll have plenty to tell!

Lord of the Rings Online: Frugal free-to-play!

noreply@blogger.com (HealShot) — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 03:18:00 -0400

Two weeks! Two weeks, people! Why are you just sitting there, all calm-before-the-storm-like, instead of following my lead and running around like a chicken with its head... well, you know. Two weeks until Volume III Book 2 launches (and a little earlier for current subscribers), and I am psyched. There certainly is something for everyone here: a F2P version, store options, a new zone, instance scaling, more dungeons, DX11, the wardrobe, a revamped beginner experience, three new servers, the next chapter in the epic story, class tweaks, a haunted cellar, and, of course, demonic goats. Did I miss something? I probably did, but it's kind of crazy around here.

One of the highlights I'm anticipating is all of the new (and returning) players giving LotRO their time due to the multiple payment options, including F2P bliss. I'm always a huge fan of options in my games, and I truly feel that the implementation of this free-to-play model will benefit a wider range of players than the current subscription core. Mmm, that Kool-Aid tastes great!

If you're thinking about heading into LotRO in two weeks but are unsure how much "free" will come with your F2P, when you'll be hit with the big catch, or whether you'll be forced to subscribe at some point, I have some great news for you. There are a variety of routes you can take to experience a good chunk of Lord of the Rings Online without denting your bank account. Read on for five valuable strategies to save a buck while saving Middle-earth!

Strategy 1: Pay nothing

I totally understand the mentality of never wanting to pay a dime for a game you're playing, especially if you have limited interest in it, tight finances, or are still feeling it out. Unlike the publishers of most other F2P titles, Turbine actually provides its free players with avenues for earning content through play, which opens up the possibility to unlock higher-level quest packs and character options for doing nothing more than playing strategically.

Of course, if you go the totally free route, you will have to live with several restrictions on your character and the fact that you'll probably never be able to earn enough Turbine points (TP) to unlock all that you want, especially if you have your eye set on leveling all the way to the cap. You can earn TP by doing deeds in the first three zones that come with F2P (Ered Luin, the Shire, and Bree-Land) -- there are 720 potential TP to be farmed from these areas, although some of the deeds (particularly the reputation ones) are probably beyond most players' grasp. That said, you can roll characters on multiple servers and repeat the process, and even delete and re-roll characters to farm more TP. So there's a potentially unlimited source of free TP in the F2P section, although how much of it you can earn depends on how much time and patience you have to do the same content over and over. Start saving now, as expansions cost well into the thousands!

It's also completely possible to level up to 50 without purchasing any zone quest packs. Turbine's not stopping you from traveling to progressively higher-level zones and grinding your heart out, it's just that questing adds more variety, doles out more rewards, and speeds up the progress overall. However, I'm sure we'll see a hardcore contingent accomplish this, and hey, more power to those folks. At least Turbine's gracious enough to offer four skirmishes as well as the epic quest line for free. The latter shouldn't be discounted, as the rewards and XP from finishing each epic book are considerable.

Strategy 2: Pay once for premium

If you take a look at Turbine's plan comparison chart, it's plain to see that there's an advantage to be a premium player over a completely free one. You get two more character slots, an increase in your gold cap, higher login-priority, and better community features. Multiple characters, after all, equal more free TP via deeds.

Happily, it's not hard to become a premium member: It just takes a one-time-only purchase of TP. This not only grants you premium status, but gives you a few more TP to spend. If you wait until Turbine offers a deal on TP (as it often does in DDO), you can nab more points for your dollar and be able to unlock a bit more content than before.

Strategy 3: Sub now, downgrade later

One of the very cool parts of this payment model is that Turbine is making it incredibly flexible, so that you can upgrade from premium to VIP (subscriber) and downgrade as you like. If you want to be a long-term free player, it actually behooves you to sign up for at least one month of VIP access.

What I would do is enter the game as a free player and level up through the beginning zones until I hit around level 25ish (that's where the free quests peter out). Then I'd subscribe for one month, which unlocks all the content up to level 50, and level like a madman before the month runs out. It's important to note that a lot of what you accomplish during that month won't be taken away from you, for the most part, and that includes deeds (even ones you start but haven't finished) and unlocked virtue and trait slots. A Casual Stroll to Mordor has a great list of what you get to keep when downgrading from VIP to premium. Also, whatever zones you level through during that month are ones you don't have to worry about buying later for that character, since you've already passed through them, so you save some TP that way.

Plus, when your subscription ends after 30 days, you will not only get premium status, but 500 additional TP to spend. Not too shabby, overall!

Strategy 4: The Moria clause

Probably one of the best long-term strategies -- and the most economical -- is to get your grubby mitts on a boxed copy of Mines of Moria. Why? Because you get all of the content in that section of the game with a single glorious purchase. Considering that Mines of Moria cost 2495 TP in the beta ($25, more or less, depending on the exchange rate), it's prudent instead to simply drop $7.95 on one of the remaining box versions and save yourself a huge chunk of dough. Don't forget that any boxed purchase automatically gives you 30 days of play time, 500 additional TP, and premium status as well!

Unfortunately, the same option doesn't exist for Shadows of Angmar (I confirmed this by reading through the forum FAQ and a follow-up call to Turbine), and Siege of Mirkwood never came in a boxed version. SoA gives you a month of unlocked content and the 500 TP, but it won't leave the zones permanently unlocked thereafter. However, acquiring Mines of Moria is a definite boon to any free player for the 10 levels, legendary items, Moria zones, and two additional classes.

By applying this strategy, you could theoretically level all the way up through Shadows of Angmar without purchasing any of the content packs (I'd recommend spending earned TP on expanding your virtue and trait slots), then jump into Moria around level 48 and be golden until you're 60.

Strategy 5: A la carte

Of course, Turbine certainly doesn't want you to pay a pittance once and never again, which is why there's this balance between time and convenience in the F2P version. The system is designed to suck you in with the free goodies and gradually make you feel comfortable with paying here and there for the content you want. This is called "a la carte," a system in which you buy items you want and ignore the rest.

While advancing to the stage where you're willing to make more than a one-time purchase can seem prohibitive, it can actually be a better option for retaining your sanity. Of course, if you're being frugal, there's no need to go nuts and buy everything; you should only unlock enough content to get you leveled up. Mmorsel Guides has a series of leveling plans for F2P gamers that is worth checking out, especially since the writer advocates certain quest packs over others as you advance through Shadows of Angmar:

If I were following this strategy, I would probably purchase the following quest packs: North Downs (levels 21-34), Evendim (27-40), and Forochel (44-50). It's not complete coverage, but grinding, deeds, skirmishes and epic book quests would easily take me through the gaps. However, at level 50 I'd either have to pony up for the two expansions or start a new alt.

I hope this helps, especially if you're considering whether you can handle LotRO on your budget. You've got two weeks left to decide. Two weeeeeks!

THQ reveals the dark engine powering Warhammer 40K!

noreply@blogger.com (HealShot) — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 03:16:00 -0400

Hungry for information -- any information at all -- on Vigil Games' upcoming Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millennium Online? Did you watch the Imperium of Man trailer and gibber, "More! MORE!" So did we. Unfortunately, it was looking like we'd have to be content with hints...

...but fortunately, Games On Net cornered David Adams, Vigil Games' GM, and pumped him for further details. While Adams was reluctant to go into the specifics of gameplay, he did open up about WAR40K's engine, which is the same one the company used for Darksiders. The engine is being tweaked for the MMO, although Adams testified that it was already great with portraying a seamless world, which should be perfect for WAR40K's needs. DirectX 11 is also slated for inclusion.

So will the graphic requirements be low enough that the game could run on a toaster, or will it be a high-performance-only excursion? While Adams admits that the necessary graphic options will take a decent machine to run well, he's hoping to have as many visual toggles as possible so that WAR40K can reach a wider audience. He wouldn't say how many characters he expects the engine to handle in a certain area, other than to claim: "Big, it's 40K, it's all about big giant battlefields."

You can watch the full video over at Games On Net.

Final Fantasy open beta date announced, new trailer released!

noreply@blogger.com (HealShot) — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 03:15:00 -0400

Final Fantasy XIV closed beta keys were a coveted item for a while, as fans sent in beta applications in the hopes of seeing the game's ups and downs firsthand.

Square Enix promised to grant that wish for everyone very soon with open beta, announcing that it would begin in early September. It looks like things are ready a bit earlier than anticipated, as the latest news from FFXIV has an open beta start date of August 31st. For those of you without access to the official beta forums, fansite FFXIVCore has everything summarized nicely.

News of the open beta isn't the only thing coming from Square Enix today. The company released a new pre-release trailer as well, featuring "Answers," the official FFXIV theme song. Follow along after the jump for the trailer, and we'll see you in open beta!

Region-specific changes coming to Allods Online!

noreply@blogger.com (HealShot) — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 20:05:00 -0400

Well, the players have spoken. Thankfully, Associate Producer Darren Allarde and the rest of the crew over at Allods Online listened.

Some of the recent game changes to Allods Online went over like the proverbial lead balloon, and in response Allarde spoke with quite a few players. "Over the last several weeks the team has surveyed a large part of our player population to better understand the major concerns with Patch 1.1.0. While this patch may have brought many new features and improvements to Allods Online, there were a lot of core changes that did not resonate well with a large part of the Allods Onlinecommunity," said Allarde.

As a result, some changes are coming to Allods Online in North America and Europe only. A revamped Astral, more quests and tradeable items, and a longer lifespan on item shop items are the highlights of this patch that (hopefully) will please the NA and EU fanbase.

The update will arrive within two weeks. In the meantime, check out the newest Allods Online blog post for all the details.

GUILD WARS 2 NECROMANCER REVEALED!

noreply@blogger.com (HealShot) — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 20:03:00 -0400

This is not your ancestor's necromancer. Much like the ranger, the necromancer in Guild Wars 2 is bigger, badder, and deadlier than her Guild Wars counterpart.

The Guild Wars 2 necro was officially revealed today, and though we've pretty much known it was coming since Killeen made fallen soldiers dance in the sewers of Ebonhawke, it's still nice to see descriptions, videos, and screenshots straight from ArenaNet.

Follow along after the jump as we take a look at the necro and all of her glowy green skills and abilities.

Seeing as how this class reveal was possibly the worst-kept secret of Guild Wars 2 to date, we saw a fair amount of the necro last week at Gamescom. The Death Shroud skill garnered a fair amount of attention, and while we didn't get an official video of the skill, ArenaNet described it pretty well in the reveal.

"A necromancer feeds on death and decay," says the class description. Keep that in mind and it's easy to see that a downed necro is maybe not someone whom you want angry with you. Other classes will remain prone on the ground when they hit zero health, utilizing their downed skills to try to finish off a nearby enemy and rally. Meanwhile, the necromancer goes straight into Death Shroud and becomes a spectral shade with a series of abilities that are almost as dangerous to enemies as the regular skills. Shadow Fiend, for example, is a spectral minion that a necro can summon while in Death Shroud.

Death Shroud isn't limited to a downed state for the necromancer -- it can be activated at any time if you've got enough life force built up, but there's a hitch. While clearly awesome, Death Shroud is unfortunately temporary. Once you either make a kill or run out of life force, the vengeful-ghost act comes to an end, and you'll return to your regular skill set.

Life force, by the way, is a special sort of energy used by the necro. Think of it as adrenaline, only green and for the undead. Necromancers can gain life force through kills that happen nearby, through utility skills, and through weapon skills.

The regular skill set isn't too shabby either, so don't despair when Death Shroud ends. The skills we've seen bear some familiar names, but they've gotten quite an upgrade in both appearance and effectiveness. Check out the videos for Bone Minions, Putrid Explosion, and Life Siphon -- you'll like what you see, especially if you're familiar with their current-day counterparts.

Minions in general look to be much tougher than what we've seen up until now. Between attacking your enemies, healing you, and finally exploding in order to both damage your foes and heal you even more, they're a pretty all-purpose bunch of allies to have at your beck and call.

The new skills look even more fun, and not just because they've got the allure of the unknown. Locust Swarm makes use of the warhorn, one of the offhands available to the necromancer. We've seen the ranger's use of the warhorn, but rather than bringing a flock of birds to attack your enemies, the warhorn spews a swarm of locusts. The locusts surround you, turning you into a buzzing cloud of ouch for anyone who gets too close. (Hint: run after them.)

Grasping Dead is another new skill that may well take the prize for coolest animation. Hordes of skeletal arms exploding from the ground to drag your enemies into death -- a round of applause goes to whoever designed that one. Doom is the final new skill that we were introduced to with this reveal, and while the animationlooks a little familiar, it seems to be a pretty formidable spell. Sneaky too -- that asuran necro in the skill video looked pretty vulnerable until he unleashed a wall of death.

Taking a more general view, some of the overall necromancer skills are as unusual as the profession itself. Wells are a familiar set of skills to fans of the current Guild Wars necro, but marks are an interesting addition. Somewhat of a cross between wells and traps, marks are ground-targeted spells that can harm enemies and buff allies. They aren't active immediately -- instead, they'll trigger after a certain period of time or when the necro triggers them by hitting the skill a second time.

The Fear condition is unique to the necromancer, one that should be fun to watch. Fear sends your enemies fleeing from you in terror for a short period of time. Given the range of abilities we've seen for the necro so far, the condition could just as easily be called "common sense."

The necromancer reveal, as always, comes with five skill videos, a handful of screenshots, and two brand-new wallpapers to add to your desktop rotation. Check out the gallery below for the screenshots, and the reveal on the Guild Wars 2 site for the wallpaper and videos.

Gallery: Guild Wars 2 necromancer

Guild Wars 2 HQ (Shatterer Attacks @ Gamescom 2010)!

noreply@blogger.com (HealShot) — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 20:02:00 -0400


Guild Wars 2 HQ (Shatterer Attacks @ Gamescom 2010).avi

This looks to be an amazing encounter!!!

Runes of Magic: Mana strike!

noreply@blogger.com (HealShot) — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 18:17:00 -0400

When In the Depths of the Forest went live in Runes of Magic there were cheers heard across Taborea, but players soon protested. Along with all of the new content, Runkewaker also added a nerf in the form of increased mana costs for many of the skills in RoM. On top of the existing base mana costs for skills, a percentage modifier was added that significantly increased the cost to use skills as you leveled up.

Many players were unhappy with the skills being balanced in this way and went as far as staging cross-server in-game strikes in Varanas' Central Plaza until something was done. Only a few days after the patch went live, a new hotfix was applied to RoM which removed the balancing act completely. Tony Tang, the Vice President of Business Development at Runewaker, issued a statement to announce the removal of the balance, but he also clarified that the company was confident a change would need to be made to address the issue of the game becoming less challenging.

In this week's article I want to take a closer look at why many players were upset and point out why I think the balance may be for the better.

After reading the official statement, I walked away thinking Runewaker was trying to implement a game-wide balance and a class balance. While the skills used by all classes were affected, casters were understandably affected more. Mana pools are starting to get very large, making it easier for healers to spam Group Heal, but healers also like to stack wisdom stats, which would increase the mana cost with a percentage-based system. The main contention with this was that some players with lots of stacked wisdom reached a point at which they simply could not sustain mana for the length of a boss battle. They were left standing around mana-less for so long that the group inevitably wiped.

There's a lot of wiggle room in the idea that healers with lots of stacked wisdom can't sustain mana to the point they'll always be useless after so-many minutes. For starters, you can stack such a varied amount of wisdom on virtually any piece of gear no matter what level you are. Mix that with a party of other players containing different classes with their own varying amount of mods, with the level of the boss you are trying to fight, and with dual classes that can allow non-healers to still give themselves minor self-heals, and the debate quickly starts to blur. I've seen it said that lower-level players would have it harder, and I've seen it said higher-level players would have it harder.

To me, it sounds like the mana nerf would scale just fine, but that higher-level players will have it tougher. The higher-level instances become increasingly more difficult and could cause a gray area where the average healing ability of the group can't compete with the increased time it takes to down a boss. Tanks and DPSers need to concentrate more on spending mana towards melee and holding aggro, while at the same time the self-heals like Regenerate aren't as effective against the increased difficulty curve that high-level bosses have. You might end up with a healer so stacked with wisdom that he or she would be very ineffective for the majority of the battle. But even with that scenario, the solution seems to be added strategy and being more discerning of whom you form a party with.

Some players have also voiced concern that the real money they spent to stack oodles of wisdom would be made near worthless -- that they are being punished for spending money because their heals won't be as efficient. Being able to clearly see that you're not healing as efficiently as you were before does seem disheartening, but it's a matter of comparison within RoM's game world. In this case, I think the straightforward view -- that you may be able to heal less but take down the boss faster -- is the correct viewpoint. As an extreme example, I've seen


video of high-level players

taking down Warnorken Arena's Manticos in four seconds.

There was an ancillary complaint that this was a cheap way to make RoM harder with the sole purpose of pushing players into its cash shop. Any move that isn't blatantly giving the players something or making the game easier could be seen this way. The problem is that a nerf isn't necessarily bad or good. You sometimes need to look at the entire game with all of its many facets to see the different ways a nerf or change affects an MMO. In this case, I think there's overwhelming evidence and agreement from RoM's community that mana pools are so big now that many players never find a need to use mana potions anymore.

Many players who have voiced their opinions on the forum agree that something needs to be done about the large mana pools, but they don't like the percentage modifier. There has been a lot of really terrific advice and opinions on how to handle the bloated mana pools, but all the solutions that I've seen appear to require unnecessary changing of other game mechanics, or they don't solve the solution for every class. I'm not a designer. I could easily be overlooking some important factors, but from all the information I've gathered it seems that while the percentage modifier might not be a perfect solution, it's the best solution. It could make the game more challenging, balance healers -- and mages -- a bit, and create more distinction between which roles the different classes are best suited for.

One thing that surprised me was how nice players were once the nerf was removed. I know that was to be expected, but I honestly didn't see it coming. Once the statement was made, players not only flocked to make thoughtful thank-you comments, but posted detailed and on-going ideas of how to help. I always find it refreshing to see such positive conversation in an MMO forum.

So now we're anxiously waiting to see what Runewaker will do. Should the team just give the players what they want and leave well-enough alone? Or will this hurt RoM in the long run, so therefore Runewaker should do something now at the risk of upsetting too many players? If you see a middle ground, let me know.

The Tattered Notebook: GU57 reactions and a sad ratonga

noreply@blogger.com (HealShot) — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 14:44:00 -0400

Hoo boy. Well, GU57 is upon us, and if you haven't heard the cries of SOE devs as they're burned at the stake on the official forums, you're not paying attention. After a brief day's delay, the patch hit last Wednesday and proceeded to generate what passes for an uproar in the veteran EverQuest II community.

What's the big deal? It looks to be a UI update, a few new quests, and the usual tweaks, fixes, and improvements, right? Well yes and no, depending on whom you talk to. Many people on the boards are convinced the sky is falling; most people in-game are convinced the former are taking things a little too seriously and everything is just hunky-dory; and a few (such as your humble author) think the reality is somewhere in the middle.

Turn the page for more.

It seems like much of the hemming and hawing coming from veterans over GU57 centers around the fact that the update was light on high-level content. This has been discussed to death on the official boards, over at EQ2Flames, and really anywhere people talk about EverQuest II. Those upset with the update eventually reach the conclusion (after much wailing, gnashing of teeth, and walls o' text) that this was all because of SOE's desire to get the game ready for the recently launched EQ2X and maintain similar code bases on the separate clients.

Well duh.

When you have an update that focuses heavily on the early game experience and a cleaned-up UI, followed immediately by the debut of a new service geared toward brand-new players, spotting a correlation between the two doesn't exactly take a rocket scientist. It also helps that SOE was pretty transparent about the fact that GU57 was focusing on revamping the new player experience.

As much as my initial gut reaction was to join the chorus of folks bashing SOE for focusing on a bunch of seemingly unnecessary changes, the reality is that a streamlined early game can only help EQII in the future, regardless of whether you're talking about the freeloading servers or the traditional live client. GU57 makes total sense from a business perspective, as everyone knows that the populations on six-year old titles are top-heavy with veterans and the entire reason for EQ2X's existence is to bring new blood to Norrath. Hence, the streamlined new UI, lots of attention paid to lower level quests and skill adjustments, etc.

About that UI, it says here that it looks pretty OK, yes even the gargantuan new XP bar. Combining the persona, character, and inventory windows was long overdue, and despite the inescapable Station Cash button that now glowers like the Eye of Sauron in the lower right corner of your gaming sessions, the visual tweaks are quite welcome. Besides, anyone who has played EQII for more than a day knows to head over to EQ2Interface for a plethora of customization options, many of which (including the ever-popular ProfitUI) have already been updated to work with GU57.

Now, lest anyone think the Tattered Notebook is merely a mouthpiece for Sony Online Entertainment, it's worth pointing out that GU57 does come with the requisite annoyances. Most damning are the new spell effects, and wow do they well and truly suck. Allow me to take a brief moment to properly express my displeasure:

W. T. F.

I understand that change is the nature of the beast when it comes to MMORPGs, but change for the worse? Really? Was development time actually allocated in service of making EQII's heretofore amazing spells look marginally more advanced than alpha sprites from an Icewind Dale clone? Donning my tinfoil hat for a moment, I realize that the only reason my wizard now looks like he's perpetually misfiring and casting blobs of transparent Photoshop effects is because nice-looking spells generate too much of a performance hit. With the influx of the EQ2X crowd, the powers-that-be appear to have determined that nerfing the game's graphical prowess will help with the inevitable server loads on the F2P shards. It's already common knowledge that many players turn down (or turn off) particle effects during raids because of the performance hits, so it's not an entirely unreasonable leap to make.

At the end of the day though, many of EQII's spell effects are now spell defects, and my badarse wizard casts are now simply bad, as you can see in the Ro's Blade before-and-after demonstration shots to the right. I'm left wondering what further visual nerfs are forthcoming since the patch notes hint that this is only the beginning of a larger spell revamp. A few players have speculated that the effects were intentionally tiered to coincide with spell progression, which would encourage freebie players to upgrade their memberships in order to access the flashier animations. I can't comment on that directly since my characters are currently sub-50s with few master-level spells, but regardless, the end result is a downgrade of many visual garnishes on the live servers, which is more than a passing shame.

All that said, the sky is not falling (yet), and EQII remains as deep and engrossing as any MMORPG on the current market. While I'm firmly in the camp that wants the game designed and balanced around the traditional P2P servers, I'm not blind to the realities of business and the need for SOE to stay relevant as the Turbines and Nexons of the online gaming world look to expand their reach. GU57 was a reaction to the ongoing F2P market-share grab, and was clearly aimed atEQ2X and prospective new players. That's OK, provided GU58 (or 59, or even 60) takes a more proactive look at adding content and tweaking gameplay on the sub servers.

Oh and the spell effects, give them back. Please. Sad ratonga is sad.

Cryptic and Atari announce Neverwinter

noreply@blogger.com (HealShot) — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 14:41:00 -0400

The speculation has been going on for quite a while, and it's finally been confirmed: The Neverwinter Nights MMO is coming.

Well, sort of. Neverwinter will be developed by Cryptic, and Gamespot was lucky enough to get a little one-on-one time with COO Jack Emmert. Something that he was careful to point out was that this is not a full-blown, persistent MMO: "I wouldn't say MMORPG at all -- Neverwinter is a cooperative RPG."

The Neverwinter site is up and running, with plenty of interesting details about the game. It's based on 4th edition D&D, set for launch in 2011, and is inspired by R.A. Salvatore's upcoming trilogy. The first book in that series arrives in October, so by the time Neverwinter launches, the world should be fully established.

For the time being, Cryptic and Atari have provided a fair amount of resources for hopeful (and skeptical) fans to keep up with development. The official site contains a newsletter signup page, some brief backstory, and the full press release. You can also follow game news on Twitter and Facebook.

Rise and Shiny recap: Alganon

noreply@blogger.com (HealShot) — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 14:39:00 -0400

We have all heard of the controversy surrounding Alganon. Essentially, it breaks down into a few basic points: it is a "WoW clone," and it is being run by Derek Smart, a say-it-like-you-mean-it development bad-boy. Many claim he looks for negative attention and enjoys arguing with players. To be blunt, I don't care what people think about Derek Smart. I have said it before: I actually believe that he reacts to negative attention the way other developers wish they could. I don't keep track of his battles, though; I keep track of what he has done in gaming. All I know is that before he was with Alganon, I did not enjoy the game. After he became involved, the game got better.

Concerning the "WoW-clone" issue: If I had a gold piece for every time I've heard that, I could afford that incredible level 50 mount! (*snort*) If I took a moment to break down all games that have similarities to WoW, this article would be much, much longer than it needs to be. WoW was successful, and the industry takes cues from success. WoW took its own cues from other games before that. Still, does Alganon take more from WoW than, say, Lord of the Rings Online?

Read on, and let's discuss it.

I believe that most of the accusations of clone-like behavior stem from the character models -- they do resemble WoW's character models. Granted, there are only two races: the Asharr (humans) and the Kujix. I can see the similarities, but it's a minor crime, if a crime at all. Again, we are talking about a stylistic choice, and one only needs to look at popular comic books, book covers or movies to witness how a genre can share similarities between products. If someone judges Alganon a poor game simply because of its stylistic similarities to WoW, then he should avoid all of popular media and especially MMORPGs -- there are similarities between all of them.

Systems-wise, the game does again share some similarities to WoW. But if we were to list off all class-based games or games that use talent trees (including the current darling of the day, SWTOR), we would have another long list to read over. While I do agree that it is tiring to see yet another game that is taking cues from WoW, this is an industry issue that is not specific only to Alganon. Even then, Alganon allows a player to essentially have two classes in one, with further customization on top of that. WoW doesn't have that.

"My jaw dropped as I watched gamers cross their fingers, hoping that going "freemium" meant the game was failing."

After playing Alganon over this last week, I can say that the game is unique, beautiful and fun. I understand if you want to stop reading now, simply because you are mad at Derek Smart or think that Alganon, and all that it does wonderfully, would be better off shuttered and forgotten. You can skip this article and come back next week. I tend to pride myself on my ability to try any game. Thanks to this ability, I have discovered such wonderful games as Zentia, Vanguard and WURM Online.

In fact, I have received a few communications over the last few weeks that state discomfort in even trying the game, as though I were asking the player to come with me to a new church or some other uncomfortable situation. In reality, I am just asking him to forget all the negative comments and the armchair analysis of what Alganon has done wrong, and to try it. One reader told me last week that he was afraid of getting invested in the game, only to slam into the cash-shop wall. While it is true that the game will now replace the original box price with a fee to unlock levels after 30, what is there to lose? Let's say that a player does enjoy himself until that level and then must pay the fee -- if he was having fun, is the fee so large that it discounts the good time?

Alganon is filled with impressive community and amazing customer support. Several times now I have sent out a message in the help channel, only to be met minutes later with an actual GM. I felt a little stupid when one of my calls for help was solved by the GM simply consulting the Library, a built-in game wiki. I was impressed with his willingness to help.

The developers seem to be working on updates and tweaks, releasing patches and fixes in impressive time. The day after I reported a bugged NPC, a quick-fix patch was released to solve the issue (and a few others). I've heard rumors of further, more complex development projects -- but I will keep those to myself. Hearing those rumors only makes me want to help the developers even more, to make the game not only its own, unique game, but to pay back all the great team members who have received little or no attention due to the fog of "WoW-clone" talk and Derek Smart-hate. In fact, I have actually witnessed players wishing for the game's downfall, due to its connection to the famous loudmouth. My jaw dropped as I watched gamers cross their fingers, hoping that going "freemium" meant the game was failing.

Watch live streaming video from massivelytv at livestream.com

I decided that I would just let the in-game quests take me where they would -- to follow more of a linear line than I normally would. While I could not resist exploring the map a bit, I pulled it back a notch and settled into helping local tribesmen and farmers with their menial tasks. Along the way I met incredibly nice community members (one even bought me a donkey mount!), discovered fun side-quests, and got pulled into chunks of mysterious lore.

Despite the small bugs that pop up occasionally, the game works very well on different set-ups. It also looks great, almost a combination of Ryzom, WoW and LotRO. The game throws you into an alien world, someplace that is familiar but very unusual. And while the character models could use some work, the mounts, monsters and wildlife look very nice.

Combat is a weaker point. The responsiveness is there but is a tad sluggish. Spell effects are still a bit lackluster, and mobs often run right through you, forcing you to turn around in order to face them. These are all things that can be fixed with small patches, and I have heard plans of possible character re-dos. With the release of the latest patch, my warrior class did receive a revamp and I noticed a step-up in power afterward.

Overall, Alganon's strong points:

It's a beautiful game that runs well on many different setups.
The game includes an in-game wiki that lists every single item, quest or bit of information that you would ever need. Ironically, its existence made me work harder to avoid using it, as some sort of challenge.
There are a variety of quests, and there are quite a lot of them. You won't be bored for a long, long time.
It has an amazing community. One player told me he enjoyed the "small community" feel to the game, and I couldn't agree more. I witnessed almost no useless or saucy chatter in the chat channels.
It's free to download and try until level 30. After that, players will need to pay to unlock more features.
Development seems to be ramping up, not the opposite. If this is a failing game, then I have no idea what failing means.
The music in the game is top-notch, possibly some of the best I have ever heard. You can even download the music for free on the website.

Alganon will stay on my hard drive for a long time. I hope it continues to defy the nay-sayers and basement-ragers who take it too far in the comments. Here's my open message to the artists, musicians and coders who are working on this infamous game: keep it up. Forget what you read in the comments section. Not all of us wish you ill.

Next week we will be looking at Global Agenda, a shooter-style MMO that brings back memories of Tribes, late night sessions, and pizza boxes. I will predict right now that I will die -- a lot. I am under the name of BeauHindman. Come join me in the new Sonoran Desert and we can pwn some faces together.

FFXIV open beta set to begin "in early September"

noreply@blogger.com (HealShot) — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 14:38:00 -0400

If you're a Final Fantasy XIV fan and didn't score a closed beta key in the past weeks, you've likely been poring over all of the testing news -- both good and bad -- to keep up with the progression of closed beta.

There's nothing quite like seeing and experiencing it all firsthand, however, and soon you'll have the chance to do just that. This morning's tweet from Square Enixannounced that closed beta phase three will be ending this Wednesday, the 25th, and open beta is set to begin in early September.

There's not a specific start date yet, but keep an eye on Massively -- we'll let you know as soon as there is!

Flameseeker Chronicles: The view from the cheap seats is pretty darn great

noreply@blogger.com (HealShot) — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 14:37:00 -0400

I did not go to Gamescom. I was kind of not anticipating last week at all, because I envisioned it as a week of me looking at all the wonderful things I couldn't have, much like a starving orphan outside a bakery (or maybe a homeless orphan in some player's home instance). I figured it would be very un-fun.

In fact, the opposite was true. Sure, I couldn't play hands-on, but I enjoyed all the Guild Wars 2 news flooding out of Gamescom just the same. I imagine being there would have made it impossible to take in all of these details from every direction -- it just would have been too overwhelming.

Don't get me wrong, it's not sour grapes. I would have loved to be there! But since I couldn't, I'm really enjoying my bird's-eye view, so to speak. Even from this point of view, the amount of new information we have is nearly impossible to keep track of, so for Flameseeker Chronicles this week, I thought I'd take all that we've heard this week and try to distill it into a guide on where you can find information.

It's felt a bit like trying to take an octopus and 15 of his closest friends and convince them all to fit comfortably in one small sandwich baggie, but I've done my best. Follow along after the jump to see where you can find the latest and greatest from Guild Wars 2 at Gamescom.

I wanna see!

Maybe you didn't get to attend Gamescom either. Or maybe you did, but couldn't see much beyond a screaming crowd. Either way, ArenaNet has you covered.NCsoft West's YouTube channel has been updated regularly and currently includes seven very well-done official videos from the Guild Wars 2 booth. You'll find several Q&A sessions, the presentation of the Best Online Game of Gamescom 2010 award, and a fun video of Nima Djavid playing to the crowd and tossing out what in the end looked to be an insane amount of swag. (On a side note, I'd love to know how many t-shirts and other goodies got thrown to the crowd last week.) This is a good channel to subscribe to, as it's almost certain that more will be added very soon.

The people at ArenaNet took a load of still photos too, and they're in a sharing mood. The ArenaNet Flickr album from Gamescom contains over 100 photos at the moment, and hopefully we'll see more soon. A highlight of the album is from Sunday's costume contest, where some truly creative and talented fans got their moment onstage.

Finally, the ArenaNet team took a moment yesterday on the ArenaNet blog to share a few standout memories from the event. The blog post is accompanied by what is easily one of the coolest screenshots from Gamescom -- everyone in game heading over to Beetletun for a group salute and wave.

Necromancer reveal Wednesday

The necromancer class was big news at Gamescom. When we spoke to Jeff Grubb back in July, we asked about classes. Jeff said "We are currently in the process of revealing those on the website, and there should be one more revealed before we go live at GamesCom and PAX. Before Cologne, before PAX, we'll know a fourth."

As always, speculation and anticipation spiked, and the mention of both a mesmer and necro in Ghosts of Ascalon narrowed the possibilities down nicely. Sure enough, the day before Gamescom opened to the public, the ArenaNet team in Cologne casually mentioned the necromancer class as part of the demo.

It was an unusual reveal in that it didn't include the description, screenshots, and videos that we've had with the other class reveals. However, those at Gamescom got to see the necro and his skills firsthand, which is even better. Unfortunately, an overenthusiastic fan did some digging, found some of ArenaNet's unreleased skill video files, and shared them on a fansite, forcing ArenaNet's hand.

Community Manager Regina Buenaobra stepped into the (now deleted) video thread to clarify things a bit: "Well, now the surprise has been spoiled for when we do release the necro website content. I hope I do not see complaining that people have seen those videos before, and that they are 'old news'. Since you've already seen those skills, I'm letting you know now that we will release the necro profession on Wednesday. (We're all a bit disappointed that you found those skill videos. We wanted it to be in context, with the necro web page, and we wanted all the info to arrive at once in a nice, impactful package. Ah well.) "

As ArenaNet has been requesting that people remove the leaked videos from YouTube, I decided to avoid them completely until they come straight from the source. Keep your eye on Massively Wednesday when the necro class is officially revealed and I go over it with a fine-toothed comb!

I want it all!

You want to see everything? Every video, every image, every description? Unfortunately, that would take up about 10 times my allotted space here on Flameseeker Chronicles, but I can help you out.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I'm going to have to say again what a fantastic community Guild Wars 2 has and give a cheer to JR and the rest of the crew at Guild Wars 2 Guru. Their News, Interviews, and Articles forum is easily the best I've seen on any fansite out there.

They have an extremely large and diverse community, and hundreds of people have been contributing all week. Photos, videos, links, impressions, transcriptions, and translations have poured in every day. It could have easily become an overwhelming and disorganized mess if it wasn't for the work of the mods and admins there. Instead, we ended up with This. Is. GAMESCOM. This thread is what I heartily recommend as your go-to source for everything Gamescom -- well, as far asGuild Wars 2 is concerned.

The GW2G crew and community have been working all week to keep the original post in the thread up to date and organized. Simply scroll through the first post to find what you're interested in, and don't forget to leave a big thank-you to all of the people who worked so hard on it.

Finally, don't forget to watch here at Massively for a little more from Gamescom. We may not have been able to go, but we had a fantastic production company representing us there, and I think you're going to like what they have to show us from the Guild Wars 2 booth!