This little tidbit recently popped up on the SOE Station accounts. Is it possible the previous battle between Sony, Bioware, and Lucas was over this game? Or is it possible Sony just happens to own the rights, so they are playing hardball?
Mortal Online Open Beta
Feb 5
I am currently downloading the Mortal Online beta. I will let everyone know what I think as soon as I have a feel for it, however, I can tell you now that there are a LOT of issues with the patcher, download speeds, etc. for many players.
I’ve read the game has many problems, but I will look at everything from a fresh perspective.
I will admit, I am partial to Fallen Earth and Darkfall, so the game has a lot to live up to.
The Age of Conan servers have gone down to fix some stability issues that have occurred with the new patch. The downtime is expected to be one hour and began at 4pm EST.
Aventurine promises that 2010 will be a huge year for Darkfall. In fact, I am excited. Why? Because, the rumor is that there will be tons of dungeons added to the game in the near future. To me this means the game is shaping up to be the PvP Everquest/UO that we had all envisioned.
The big buzz at the moment are the character models. This is something that we never thought they would change for us, and here it comes. This is very exciting indeed. While the character models weren’t absolutely horrid in the game, the animations were a bit lackluster. You can read the full story here:
http://forums.darkfallonline.com/showthread.php?t=232807
You can click on the picture on the left to see the full size version.
In an effort to attract more subscribers (which honestly, this game deserves), Aventurine is putting a new system into place that will protect new players for a time.
We’re introducing a new feature possibly as soon as the next patch which provides optional protection against player attacks to brand new players. This functionality is very limited and only lasts a few hours but it should be enough to allow someone logging into Darkfall for the first time to learn to control his character and to get his bearings while still having proper access to the live game.
You can read all of the information here:
Works starts on the new web show this week. Still not sure on what avenues I will travel down, but Youtube is a good start. I may have to update the template here to accommodate a web show properly.
Obviously this involves a lot of prep, and of course taking the dive into the first show.
I will do my best to pick something controversial for the first show. We wouldn’t want to bore you to death, would we?
Age of Conan ~ Server Merges
Jan 30
It seems Funcom has merged servers in AoC. I can only see this as a good thing, although I am sure some folks who have had to change their names will disagree.
This is still a great game with plenty to offer, and it really does need an environment that allows more people to run around together.
From what I can tell Ironspine was merged in with Set for PVE. Also for PVE Wiccanna was merged with Gwahlur.
Tyranny remains the de facto PvP server. While Cimmeria, Bloodspire, and Agony have been merged.
In regards to naming, apparently if several characters of the same name are all from active accounts, the one with the higher level will keep his name. If merged characters have the same level, the one from an account which is registered on a longer time base will keep the name (so 3 month recurring over 1 month recurring).
Guild cities were moved to the same playfield and spot they had been before. When necessary a new instance has been created. So every merged guild will have access to the same guild city on the new server.
You can read the FAQ at http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=211182
There you will also find information about the free character transfer, and other items involving the merged servers that I haven’t touched on.
Recently I received a lot of questions in our mail bag. Unfortunately, before I was able to answer them, we had a crash within the mail system, and I have lost them all. If you recently sent in a question, we are not ignoring you. Please resend all questions (or new ones) to angryguildleader@gmail.com
I believe it goes without saying that the most improved MMO of the year was Age of Conan. I dare say that even the naysayers cannot argue this point, as plentiful as they are. Unfortunately, most of those who still knock the game only tried it at release. And even then, they most likely quit shortly thereafter, having never returned. Regardless, they still knock the game, most likely never having reached level cap, and definitely clueless as to the leaps and bounds the game has made over the course of the last year.
Creating an MMO with great game play is a challenge, let alone one with a lasting impression that has plenty to do at level cap. These days, MMO consumers are typically spoiled by the quick and easy, thanks to Blizzard, Mythic, and a few other companies. If they don’t get what they want immediately, they move on. Why? Because they are used to games that are polished over the course of three to five years. They just don’t want to wait. That being said, a game should be on solid ground at release, and admittedly, AOC was not.
This can be the kiss of death, as spoiled gamers love to go on and on about the games that they hate. Personally, I find something (or many things) that I love in all of the games that I test or play, but most people just love to be negative when it comes to MMOs. Sadly, these are the first people to put WoW on a pedestal. While I won’t argue that World of Warcraft is a great game, it has turned into an arcade game of sorts, and is now an amusement park thanks to the merger with Activision and the loss of Jeff Kaplan. But I digress. My point is that if you don’t have a solid release, gamers will never let you escape their constant abuse, no matter how great the game turns out to be in the end. We’ve seen this time and time again on mmorpg.com and other sites. If someone posts anything positive about ANY game, they start in with the bashing, even though they are playing something else and five games postmortem. Granted, this does not encompass the entire spectrum of MMO players, but it is the loudest (and brattiest) bunch. Hell, my site is based on me bitching about games.
MMOs have a responsibility that other games do not. They are required to grow as time moves on. There must be content additions, changes, tweaks, expansions, and unfortunately nerfs. This being said, there are a lot of things to take into consideration when looking at the most improved game. Remember that any game can improve greatly, no matter what year it was release, so if SOE had pumped $10 million into Vanguard last year, even it could be the most improved game of 2009. I think in the end, it comes down to the bulk of the changes, as well as the amount said game is changed. Without rambling on further, this prize definitely belongs to Age of Conan. For me, especially if there is a bad launch, the most improved game is always going to be the one that is finally able to become what players would have liked to see at launch.
When the game was released in May of 2008, word spread quickly that the game was deep, cinematic, beautiful and polished. Unfortunately, the farther into the game that one got, they found this was not entirely true. Yes the game was beautiful. In fact, it is in my top 3 for most immersive MMOs. But, in the end, the higher one’s level got, the more the game began to fall apart. Especially when it came to the grind. Most players didn’t even make it to 80, quitting in the mid 50s. And, of those that did, most quickly disappeared. The game managed to maintain a loyal following, but only with painstaking changes and periods in which the customer base started to believe that Funcom was completely ignoring them. Even I, in the beginning, thought that Funcom had turned a deaf ear to it’s paying customers, but now I see them as one of the few developers that actually listens to and communicates with folks.
Review Forthcoming