A Geek's Cogitations, Conjectures and other Cortical Experiences

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The MMO Times Returns with E3!

Issue 15

Holy Cow! I have really dropped the ball, haven’t I. I apologize to all of you that enjoyed reading my MMO Times posts and e-mails; I do hope you all stuck around especially those on the mailing list. I became extremely busy and therefore couldn’t keep up sending the e-mail and reading the various blogs and news sites. Well, I’m back to give it another shot so read on gamers, I hope you enjoy the following articles!

SWTOR Game Trailer
So we should resume The MMO Times out right with some news from E3. Bioware teased the gamers and the eager Star Wars fans with the news game trailer. I tell ya, my heart rate increased and my palms started to sweat watching this video. The link below will take you to the video at the SWTOR website.
Video Link(s): SWTOR Website

E3 Announcements
The Old Republic trailer was probably the biggest announcement to come from E3 thus far (though still no mention of a release date, sadly) but there were other important titles mentioned. Halo 4 (yes, another Halo game), Battlefield 3 Release Date, Mass Effect 3 Release Date, Farcry 3, etc.
Links: E3 Annoucements

64-Bit Client
This article from MMO-Champion has other things on it but I was mostly interested in the potential 64-Bit client. I don’t know whether I should be excited about this or be worried. If 64-Bit software is built properly it can have huge performance benefits, however if its built poorly it will be an utter nightmare.
Article Link(s): MMO-Champion

Beta News

Gods & Heroes Open Beta
Heatwave Interactive’s Gods & Heroes started their open beta today. You can also pre-order the game and get started a week ahead of launch. Apparently pre-ordering can also get you some headphones. I haven’t signed up for a beta on this game because I’m too busy with other games but if you try it out let me know what you think.
Links: Massively,  Gods & Heroes Website

Shameless Plug
I received a re-invite to test The Old Republic again so I have begun blogging about it, if you haven’t seen it yet I have provided the link here. Yes, I know, I am plugging my own stuff but hey, I write these articles and emails so I’m allowed some shameless plugging.
Post Link: Back In The Beta

Old News

Aion 2.5 Patch Empyrean Calling
On May 25th NC Soft released the 2.5 patch (called Empyrean Calling) which introduces new high level instances, the mentor program and new skills and PVP gear.
Article Links: Massively

New WoW Pet Store Mount
Blizzard knows that if they want to make another couple million bucks in a short period of time then they just have to release a new mount in the pet store. On June 1st Warcraft players will be able to purchase the Winged Guardian for $25 from the Blizzard pet store. I gotta admit it looks pretty awesome!
Article Link(s): WoW Insider

I also provide The MMO Times in an e-mail. If you are interested in receiving the e-mail version please subscribe

The MMO Times – Cataclysmic Edition

Issue 12

Welcome to a special edition of MMO Times, the Cataclysmic Edition, where I bring you the top headlines from around the MMO-verse. I’m sure from the subtitle of this issue many can guess what news awaits below, which is why this issue is so soon after Issue 11. So read on fellow gamers, read on and enjoy!

HOT NEWS!!!

Cataclysm Release Date Announced!!!
Yes, all the anticipation and speculation is over. Blizzard released an official Press Release on Monday, October 4th to let everyone know that the Cataclysm release date is – December 7th, 2010. The announcement raises two thoughts; when are we getting the big 4.0.1 Cataclysmic patch and what big news are they going to announce at Blizzcon. I guess we will know the answer to the latter at the end of the month. The WoW Insider link has the article with the press release.
http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/10/04/cataclysm-release-date-december-7th/

DCUO Postponed until 2011
So while Blizzard has good news for the gaming world, SOE has disappointing news for DC comic fans as Sony Online Entertainment has announced that they will delay the release of DC Universe Online until 2011. Some are speculating SOE did this so they can avoid competing with the release of Cataclysm. Either way, fans have to wait a few months longer.
http://www.massively.com/2010/10/04/dc-universe-online-delayed-until-early-2011/

Aion to get patch 2.1
Immediately on the wings (haha, wings … Aion, haha) of their newest expansion, Assault on Balaurea, will come patch 2.1. This patch has already gone live on the Korean servers and the rumor is, in addition to the various bug fixes, there has been an increase in drop rates.
http://www.massively.com/2010/10/06/aions-2-1-patch-to-increase-drop-rates/

Going Live!

Allods Online Launching Volume 2
October 5th – Allods Online is launching its second volume, the Rise of Gorluxor which introduces a new raid boss, you guessed it, Gorluxor. There are also additional changes to the game. The links below have the Massively article as well as a link to the patch notes.
http://www.massively.com/2010/10/04/allods-online-volume-2-rise-of-gorluxor-explodes-tomorrow/
Patch Notes: http://en.forum.gpotato.eu/?CD=ALLODS_EN_F002&TC=0000000000&MD=VT&US=Y&AS=Y&TNO=1121105

Age of Conan Patch 2.0.7
October 6, 2010 – Players of Age of Conan will be experiencing the splendor of the latest 2.0.7 after extended maintenance on this day. The patch contains a few class tweaks and some zone tweaks that apparently caused some framerate issues for players.
http://www.massively.com/2010/10/06/age-of-conan-2-0-7-coming-today-after-extended-downtime/

I also provide The MMO Times in an e-mail. If you are interested in receiving the e-mail version please subscribe.

The MMO Times (7)

Issue 7

A short one to end the week. One of the items pertains to this weekend so I decided to post/send issue 7 today.

Nar Shaddaa: The Newest Planet in SWTOR
Nothing gives me more pleasure then to report more news about SWTOR. Bioware announced today the 14th planet for The Old Republic, Nar Shaddaa. Apparently this will be haven to the criminal underworld; a center for sinister characters like Zam Wessell, Boba Fett and IG-88. Massively is the snitch.
http://www.massively.com/2010/07/30/swtors-sin-city-has-been-announced-nar-shaddaa/

Guild Wars 2 Level Cap is 80
Isaiah “Izzy” Cartwright, a game designer on Guild Wars 2, has confirmed that in the upcoming sequel the level cap will be 80. Apparently it will take the same amount of time to go though each level. An interesting approach.
http://www.massively.com/2010/07/29/guild-wars-2-level-cap-confirmed-at-80/

Email Confirmation Required for Authenticators
The lowest form of life on the planet are the hackers compromising MMO accounts for purposes of monetary gain. This has been the bane of MMO gamers existence, and Blizzard has taken a clever step at foiling these villianous cretins. An email confirmation is now required in order to apply an authenticator to a Battle.net account. If you don’t have an authenticator, I strongly recommend you invest the $6.00 to get one.
http://www.wow.com/2010/07/28/email-confirmation-added-to-authenticator-setup-to-foil-hackers/

Aion:Free Activation and Double XP
This is the time senstive post. NCSoft, in an obvious attempt to bring players back, is reactivating all disabled accounts for this weekend (starting today) and they are doubling the XP gained. As I already said, this is obviously a ploy to get players to experience the changes in the 1.9 patch. The article is at Massively.
http://www.massively.com/2010/07/27/aion-free-account-reactivations-double-xp-incoming/

I also provide the MMO Times as part of an e-mail mailing list (manually maintained for the time being). If you are interested in receiving the e-mail please let me know.

The MMO Times – Comic-Con Edition

Comic-Con Issue

Here are some of the MMO announcements unveiled at Comic-Con.

Bioware Announces Dragon Age II
If SWTOR wasn’t the most exciting thing coming from Bioware, at Comic-Con fans were surprised to hear about Dragon Age II. Fans were treated to a world premiere, hands-on preview. Additional details on this announcement can be found at Joystiq.
http://www.joystiq.com/2010/07/24/preview-dragon-age-2/

Comic-Con Interview with Aion Producer Lani Blazier
Aion’s producer Lani Blazier was interviewed at Comic-Con this year and the interview covers a few items. Some of these items include Aion 2.0, Assault on Balaurea and what players can expect from this free expansion, including a level cap increase to 55. NCSoft is hoping to bring back those players that have canceled their subscriptions from the launch almost one year ago. Massively has the article.
http://www.massively.com/2010/07/25/san-diego-comic-con-massivelys-interview-with-aion-producer-la/

Warhammer Patch 1.3.6 Available on Warpstone Test Server
This was not necessarily part of Comic-Con but the latest Warhammer Online patch (1.3.6) was made available on the public test server known as Warpstone. I guess the devs were holding a Q&A and there is rumor of some kind of giveaway. Massively has the post.
http://www.massively.com/2010/07/24/patch-1-3-6-available-on-warhammer-onlines-warpstone-server/

DC Universe Online Story Trailer
I don’t know if this necessarily comes from Comic-Con but I thought it was interesting and worth mentioning. SOE and Blur have released a trailer to discusses the DCUO storyline. Massively has the article.
http://www.massively.com/2010/07/24/soe-and-blur-release-dcuo-story-trailer/

SWTOR to Have Space Combat
It pleases me that the first item to add for the Comic-Con issue is about The Old Republic. We heard from Bioware on Friday that there will be space combat in SWTOR. More information is available at Massively.
http://www.massively.com/2010/07/23/space-combat-has-been-comfirmed-for-swtor/

More Comic-Con Happenings
There were a lot of movies, games, trailers, etc unveiled at Comic-Con this year. I tried to provide most of the MMO related posts but many other things were announced (i.e. World of Warcraft movie, Sonic 4, The Force Unleashed 2, etc). So many things to look at so I provided what appears to be a nice blog from Gamespot of all the cool things announced at Comic-Con this year.
http://comic-con.gamespot.com/?tag=header%253Blogo

I also provide the MMO Times as part of an e-mail mailing list (manually maintained for the time being). If you are interested in receiving the e-mail please let me know.

The MMO Times (5)

Issue 5
Here is what is new in the world of MMOs.

( I was having some technical difficulties with the website but they have been resolved therefore issue 4 and 5 are now available.)

 
SWTOR Music, Audio, Comics, Documentary
In preparation for Comic*Con this week Bioware Devs have asked for Facebook and Twitter support as well as bringing us a documentary on the music of SWTOR. Personally, the music has always been one of my favorite facets of Star Wars. Check out the article and video at Massively.
http://www.massively.com/2010/07/16/music-audio-webcomics-and-more-it-is-super-reveal-friday-for/
 
Aion 2.0 Release Date Announced
NCSoft has announced the release date of Aion 2.0: Assault on Balaurea, the next chapter for people of Atreia. Players will be able to get free digital copies on September 7th (September 10th for Europe); a boxed copy contains codes for pets. Read more at Massively.
http://www.massively.com/2010/07/16/release-date-announced-for-aion-2-0-assault-on-balaurea/
 
STO Could Become F2P
I actually was reading a different story on Massively that mentioned the possibility of Star Trek Online becoming Free-2-Play. I had not heard of this rumor so I decided to google it. I found the following article on Subspace Communique, an STO fan site, that explains where this rumor came from.
http://subspacecommunique.com/content/2010/07/12/star-trek-online-could-become-free-play-possibly-says-new-sto-exec-producer
 
Star Trek Online Season 2 Preview
Cryptic releases a preview of their upcoming Season 2 patch for STO. It appears they have addressed several issues players felt the game was lacking as well as adding more additional Klingon PvE and six more levels. You can read more at Massively from the link below.
http://www.massively.com/2010/07/14/preview-made-available-for-star-trek-onlines-season-2/

LotRO Allowing Addons
Meghan Rodberg of Turbine has unveiled a little secret, it appears there is a project going on to allow LUA scripting in Lord of the Rings Online. LUA is the popular programming language used to develop addons that alter the UI; the extent to which this will be allowed is still unknown. Read more at Massively.
http://www.massively.com/2010/07/14/lotro-and-lua-turbine-gives-the-mod-community-a-thumbs-up/
 
Atari’s Haunted House Returns
I didn’t play much Atari when I was younger but for those of you who might remember it, apparently there will be a remake of the popular Haunted House to be released for XBLA, PC (downloadable) and Wii. Obviously the game has been improved from its archaic graphics to a more modern graphics engine. More information of this tidbit can be found at Joystiq’s website.
http://www.joystiq.com/2010/07/14/ataris-haunted-house-returns-to-haunt-pc-xbox-360-and-wii/
 
Guild Wars 2 Ranger Class Unveiled
On June 9th the Warrior class was unveiled from the upcoming sequel to Guild Wars and today ArenaNet unveiled the next class: the Ranger. Apparently the class is getting some upgrades from its predecessor; I honestly couldn’t tell you what those were, I have not played the first Guild Wars. Massively has the full article.
http://www.massively.com/2010/07/14/you-can-have-a-shark-as-a-pet-arenanet-unveils-the-guild-wars-2/

The MMO Times (4)

Issue 4
Here is the latest MMO rumblings.
 
Reminder: Aion Server Merge Today
If anyone is playing Aion, this is a reminder that today NCSoft will be performing the server merge they promised last month. The link I provided is to a Wings Over Atreia article from Massively.
http://www.massively.com/2010/07/12/wings-over-atreia-its-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it/
 
OGPlanet Announces N.E.O. Online
A new F2P MMORPG has been announced by OGPlanet. This game was an unknown prior to the announcement so I really don’t know much about it other then what I just read in the massively post. Apparently player actions alter the world in which everyone plays based on a Chaos Meter; sounds interesting. Read more on it at Massively.
http://www.massively.com/2010/07/12/ogplanet-announces-n-e-o-online/
 
Final Fantasy XIV Will Not Be Released For XBox 360
I hope those FFXIV fans were not hoping to play the next chapter (in this unrelenting saga) on the X-Box, because Microsoft said No. Apparently they were unwilling to deal with the XBox Live setup. They are probably too busy with their Halo Reach to care about anybody else’s game. Read more at Massively from the link below.
http://www.massively.com/2010/07/12/final-fantasy-xiv-not-due-for-the-xbox-360-according-to-hiromich/
 
Beta News:
 
ArcheAge In Closed Beta
I know this is a complete unknown, apparently the lead designer was one of the original artists for Lineage. Be that as it may, its the announcement of a closed beta. Which means if you are the kind that likes to wet their noodle on beta testing, here is one to check out. Article found at Massively.
http://www.massively.com/2010/07/12/archeage-closed-beta-announced/
 
More Cataclysm Beta Invites
Blizzard announced in a blue post that this week they will be sending out another round of beta invitations for Cataclysm. Make sure you watch your inboxes and be espeically careful that its not a phishing e-mail. If you want to read the post about it, I found it at MMO-Champion, you have to scroll a bit past the Cataclysm UI screenshots.
http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/1863-Cataclysm-Interface-Part-1-Blue-Posts

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