Biggs' Zone

A Geek's Cogitations, Conjectures and other Cortical Experiences

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The MMO Times

By

On September 29, 2010

In MMO Times

Issue 11

Welcome fellow gamers to the next issue of MMO Times where I bring you the latest, more significant headlines from popular gaming blog streams. There wasn’t a lot that was new to report so its short this week. Enjoy.

More On SWTOR Smuggler Advanced Classes
Bioware launched a series of new screenshots and details about the smuggler class on the SWTOR website. There is a breakdown for both advanced classes, gunslinger and scoundrel. The other pretty cool feature of the smuggler is every that smuggler gets a Wookie companion, after all, where would Han be with Chewie. I think Bioware is doing a pretty good job of making the non-Jedi classes worth playing. Check out the Massively article.
http://www.massively.com/2010/09/24/newly-smuggled-information-from-star-wars-the-old-republic/

New Game: World of Darkness
I think there is a little school girl in all gamers that gets a little giddy when they read the words “new game announced” (or some derivative of that statement). CCP Games announced a new MMO called World of Darkness that apparently is based off the old fashioned pencil-and-paper, multi-sided dice Vampire: The Masquerade RPG. (Editor’s Note: some of you may be surprised to learn that I use to play Vampire: The Masquerade quite a bit back in high school). Massively has more.
http://www.massively.com/2010/09/24/world-of-darkness-confirmed-based-on-vampire-the-masquerade/

Clone Wars Adventures: One Million After One Week
One week after SOE’s Clone Wars Adventures goes live and they have acquired one million players. I have started my investigation into the game, but I haven’t spent too much time. So far I feel like its definitely tailored more for a younger audience. I don’t expect that it will have too many (if any) serious players.
http://www.massively.com/2010/09/24/clone-wars-adventures-uses-the-force-to-hit-one-million-mark/

Final, Pre-Cataclysm Patch Notes
Blizzard finally updated the official patch notes in Under Development with details on the 4.0.1 patch, which is the final, big patch before Cataclysm hits. They are adding quite a few of the big changes to the game with this patch, including 31-point talent trees, Prime glyphs, Reforging and a few class changes (just to name a few). The links below are the link to the Massively article and to the official patch notes.
http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/09/28/blizzard-updates-under-development-page-with-patch-4-0-1-details/
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/test-realm-patchnotes.html

Going Live!!

The Wait Is Over, Final Fantasy XIV
September 22, 2010 – I’m sure there are some that will not need to be told about FFXIV going live this past week, because they are already playing it. So, for the rest of us just following along, Final Fantasy XIV went live this past week, for those who have the Collector’s Edition. So if you were wondering why some of your guildmates or in-game friends vanished, its probably because of FFXIV.
http://www.massively.com/2010/09/22/launch-day-livestream-final-fantasy-xiv/

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 – The Revival

By

On September 18, 2010

In MMO Times

Issue 10

I know it has been a while since I have posted a new MMO Times. I apologize for the lapse in delivery but I had to make a few adjustments to the mailing portion of The MMO Times. I am excited to say that the new mailing list is working great. So, without further adieu, here is the latest MMO rumblings.

Latest DCUO Screenshots
SOE has issued some new screenshots for DC Universe Online and they feature some combat and game locations. If you visit the article, there is a gallery at the bottom of the post; Massively has the info.
http://www.massively.com/2010/09/18/newest-dc-universe-online-screenshots-highlight-game-locations-a/

SWTOR Devs Talk About Designing the Jedi Classes
I love reporting more SWTOR news. This article from Massively has a video where the Bioware developers for SWTOR discuss the challenge of designing the two Jedi classes. Enjoy.
http://www.massively.com/2010/09/17/swtor-devs-dive-deep-in-jedi-design-in-this-weeks-dispatch/

New Cataclysm Mounts and Pets
The latest beta build for World of Warcraft: Cataclysm has some new mounts and pets. The most interesting of the items listed is the new companion mount where you are turned into the mount, and another player can ride on your back – my guess is this is the new Alchemist mount that has been alluded to before. I also think this gives a whole to meaning to “mount”.
http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/09/18/cataclysm-beta-new-mounts-and-companion-pets-in-build-12984/

Pre-Cataclysm Patch Download Starting
If you have played World of Warcraft at all this week  you will notice that the background downloader has started downloading a 1.58GB patch. Yes, that is the 4.0.1 patch that will begin the pre-Cataclysm changes to Azeroth. This means the world event for Cataclsym could happen very soon.
http://www.blizzplanet.com/blog/comments/pre-cataclysm_patch_data_in_live_servers/

Going Live! – Read below to see what games/patches/expansions have recently gone live.

Clone Wars Adventures Launches
September 15, 2010 – This F2P game from SOE, based on the popular Clones Wars animated series, has left open beta and is now live. I am a big Star Wars fan but I’m not sure about this one. I might give it a try and see what I think.
http://www.massively.com/2010/09/15/clone-wars-adventures-launches-with-new-trailer/

Beta News:

Vindictus Enters Open Beta
September 15, 2010 – This past week Vindictus entered into open beta and they are doing something interesting. You have to register to receive a key and it is required to play the beta. In addition, when you receive your beta, you receive two additional keys to share with friends.
http://www.massively.com/2010/09/13/come-snag-a-vindictus-beta-key-and-cover-yourself-in-the-blood-o/
http://vindictus.nexon.net/

Forsaken World Beta Keys Available
October 27, 2010 – Yes, I know its a month away before the latest F2P from PWE starts testing but you can go there now to receive your key to the closed beta.
http://www.massively.com/2010/09/16/forsaken-world-readies-first-closed-beta-test/
http://fw.perfectworld.com/

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

MMO Times Is Not Dead

By

On September 7, 2010

In General Cogitation

Just a quick shout out to anyone that was receiving the MMO Times e-mail from me, I have not stopped doing this. Various life activities and setting up a majordomo mailing list have prolonged the next post. Please be patient, the next one will be coming soon.

The MMO Times

By

On August 18, 2010

In MMO Times

Issue 9

I am now back on track and trying to remain on time. Here is the latest info on whats going on in MMOs. Lots of new stuff is starting to pour out from GamesCom so there might be an immediate issue of MMO Times coming again soon, in a similar fashion to the Comic-Con issue.

Jedi Advanced Classes Confirmed
I am not ashamed to admit, when I see new information released about Star Wars The Old Republic, I become giddy as a school girl. Bioware announced there will be advanced classes for Jedi Knights; Sentinels and Guardians. The link has a short video of, what appears to be, in-game footage of the Jedi Knight class. The music just gets my heart racing. Check it out at Massively.
http://www.massively.com/2010/08/13/bioware-confirms-jedi-advanced-classes/

PWE Working on Battle of the Immortals Expansion
Its peculiar to hear that Perfect World Entertainment is already talking about an expansion for Battle of the Immortals when I’m pretty sure this game just came out. I think I beta tested this game briefly until I upgraded my OS and just never got around to installing it again. The article says that they are talking expansion to respond to player suggestions and concerns about the game to improve the player experience.
http://www.massively.com/2010/08/13/first-expansion-coming-to-battle-of-the-immortals/

Jedi Knights Get Companions
Where would Luke Skywalker be without R2-D2? Escaping from Cloud City or the plan to rescue Han, Leia and Chewie from Jabba’s Sail Barge certainly would not have been possible without his trusty astromech droid. It seems to me that an astromech droid is a Jedi’s swiss army knife and apparently the dev’s at Bioware agree as it was announced that Jedi Knights will receive Astromech Driods as companion pets in The Old Republic.
http://www.massively.com/2010/08/15/swtor-finds-a-companion-for-the-jedi-knight/

Warhammer Patch Introduces Appearance System
I thought this was a pretty cool game mechanic. In the next patch for Warhammer Online, players will be able to further personalize their gear and equipment in the new appearance system. There is a link in the article to a developer diary that provides further explanations and describes several nuances about this new system. Check it out.
http://www.massively.com/2010/08/14/the-details-on-playing-dress-up-in-warhammer-onlines-upcoming-p/

EverQuest II Expansion to have Flying Mounts
If EQ fans didn’t have enough to celebrate with the EQNext and EQII Extended announcements, now they will be reeling over EQII getting flying mounts. I have not played either of these games but if you are at all familiar with the MMO genre, then you have no doubt heard of EverQuest. While I’m sure EQNext and EQII Extended are just project names and not the offical names of the expansions, additional details about what will be available in these expansion will continue to be unveiled. The article at Massively is kinda long, but has more information.
http://www.massively.com/2010/08/16/the-tattered-notebook-flying-mounts-and-whats-next/

Age of Empires Online
This is not a joke. Microsoft announced at GamesCom that they will be producing an Age of Empires Online, because Microsoft can’t help themselves but stick their nose into everyone’s business. They should have learned from the Zune that not everything they make is as good or better then the original. What’s next, World of Flight Simulator (hmm, maybe I should patent that before Micro$oft does). I am going to provide the link to the Massively article before I go on my soapbox about how pathetic I think Microsoft is sometimes.
http://www.massively.com/2010/08/17/microsoft-announces-age-of-empires-online/

Cataclysm Collector’s Edition Announced
Blizzard has just announced the Cataclysm Collector’s Edition that will be available for puchase for $79.99 at retail stores only. There is still no release date but we are still being told that the expansion will be released before the end of the year. The link below to wow.com has the press release as well as the contents of the collector’s edition.
http://www.wow.com/2010/08/17/cataclysm-collectors-edition-contents-announced/

New SWTOR Space Combat Video
Bioware has released a new space combat video to tease us with. This video looks much better then the previous video and it looks awesome! The graphics quality looks incredible. Check it out.
http://www.massively.com/2010/08/17/bioware-teases-tor-space-combat-video/

Guild Wars 2 Gameplay Video
Guild Wars fans everywhere are pounding the website that is streaming the latest video released showing gameplay footage of Guild Wars 2. There is a video imbedded in the Massively article but I don’t know how good the stream will be considering how hard the site is getting hit. Check it out.
http://www.massively.com/2010/08/17/first-video-of-guild-wars-2-gameplay-released/

Going Live! – Read below to see what games/patches/expansions have recently gone live.

City of Heroes: Going Rogue
August 16th – The City of Heroes expansion, Going Rogue, has gone live and apparently a day early. Players that have pre-ordered the expansion were reporting that they have full access to the new content. The expansion was originally intended to go live on the 17th.
http://www.massively.com/2010/08/16/an-early-release-for-city-of-heroes-going-rogue/

Warhammer Patch 1.3.6
August 17th – In this issue I was talking about the new Appearance System that has been implemented into the newest patch for Warhammer online and just a day after reading about that the patch goes live.
http://www.massively.com/2010/08/17/warhammer-online-drops-1-3-6-today/

LOTRO F2P Launch Date
September 10th – Turbine announced early in the morning the official launch date for Lord of the Rings Online Free-2-Play launch date, September 10th. Since its been announced in June that LOTRO would be going F2P, people have been chomping at the bit to know when this will happen.
http://www.massively.com/2010/08/18/lord-of-the-rings-online-f2p-launch-date-announced/

Beta News

Iris Online Opens Beta Registration
A new F2P game from Gala-Net, Iris Online, has been opened for beta registration. There is no news yet regarding the day that the beta will begin, just an unspecified time in the future. According to the article this game uses a “tarot-based set of mechanics” and allows players to change into monsters “via a card system”. Apparently I’m not completely up to speed on the nomenclature to know what any of that means. Here is the article and the site link.
http://www.massively.com/2010/08/17/iris-online-opens-registration-for-beta-testing/
http://iris.gpotato.com/

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 (8) – The I-Got-Lazy Edition

By

On August 13, 2010

In MMO Times

Issue 8

Life got busy and I got lazy and fell behind in sending out the MMO Times, although after scanning the headlines from the past week and a half there doesn’t seem to be alot going one (everyone is too busy playing StarCraft II). Be that as it may, I did find enough to provide somewhat of a lengthy issue:

Diablo III Secret to be Revealed at GameCom 2010
It is exciting to provide some Diablo III news because, after StarCraft II, this is the next most anticipated Blizzard release. Director Jay Wilson will hold a press conference at GameCom to reveal “a secret feature of Diablo III”. While I found the link on wow.com, Blizzplanet has the article.
http://www.blizzplanet.com/blog/comments/blizzard_to_reveal_diablo_iii_feature_at_gamescom_2010/

For the WoW Lore-nerds: Cataclysm Faction Traitors
I should warn you, this article does contain audio that unveils lore details that are considered spoilers. There will be two traitors (one from each faction) that will be revealed in Cataclysm. I will let you see the wow.com article to find out to avoid spoiling anything here.
http://www.wow.com/2010/08/09/cataclysm-faction-traitors-revealed/

Cataclysm Still Scheduled for 2010
During an earnings report at Activision-Blizzard, Mike Morheim (Blizzard CEO) still confirms that Cataclysm will still be released before the end of the year. He was quoted as saying that this will be “our best expansion yet”. You can read the whole article at wow.com.
http://www.wow.com/2010/08/06/world-of-warcraft-cataclysm-still-on-track-for-a-2010-release-d/

Mini Deathwing: Possible Collector’s Edition Pet?
I know there is a lot of WoW articles in this issue, I will try to move on to other games very soon but I couldn’t pass up this data-mined item. Its a mini deathwing that is rumored to be the pet for the Collector’s Edition of Cataclysm. The link to the wow.com article has a video of this little guy.
http://www.wow.com/2010/08/06/cataclysm-beta-mini-deathwing-discovered/

Global Agenda Sandstorm Patch
There will be a new patch for Global Agenda (Sandstorm Version 1.36) hitting the live servers soon. There seems to be quite a few changes in this patch including changes to the Agency-vs-Agency system. I’m sure if you are a GA player you probably know what that means. More at Massively.
http://www.massively.com/2010/08/12/global-agendas-latest-sandstorm-patch-hits-today/

Aion Pets Revealed!
Big news for Aion players, in their upcoming 2.0 patch (Assault on Balaura) there will be pets. This is quite a lengthy article but it includes several pictures of the new pets and a gallery for quick viewing.
http://www.massively.com/2010/08/12/how-much-is-that-drakie-in-the-window-aion-pets-revealed/

NDA for Final Fantasy XIV Beta Testing Lifted
Those people who were fortunate enough to receive beta invites for Final Fantasy XIV are now free to talk about their experiences. This article contains a link to a list of changes made to the recent beta update so if you want to know more you probably want to check it out at Massively.
http://www.massively.com/2010/08/12/how-much-is-that-drakie-in-the-window-aion-pets-revealed/

Alganon Goes Free-2-Play
I don’t know why I always find these headlines so interesting, probably just as interesting as finding out about the latest game going into Open Beta. Another MMO makes the paradigm shift to F2P.
http://www.massively.com/2010/08/10/alganon-making-the-switch-to-the-full-free-to-play-model/

Beta News

Sad SWTOR Beta News
As some of you may have been aware, last Friday I received an e-mail from Bioware informing me that I had been selected to participate in the testing of Ord Mantell and the trooper and smuggler classes for SWTOR. On Tuesday morning, 4 hours before my test group could begin, we were informed that “due to unforseen circumstances” the testing for my test group had been canceled. I was hoping to be able to provide vague details (because I was obligated under an NDA) about SWTOR. Alas, I have been returned to the queue with everyone else, hoping to be selected again.

Soul Master Begins Open Beta
Soul Master is a free-to-play MMORTS (that is Real Time Strategy) game produced by GamesCampus that has entered into Open Beta today. I can’t imagine anyone that likes to play RTS games doing anything else other then playing StarCraft II right now, but who knows, maybe this will be entertaining too. The link to the massively article is below as well as a link to the Soul Master website if you want a beta key.
http://www.massively.com/2010/08/12/soul-master-begins-open-beta/
http://soulmaster.gamescampus.com/

Vindictus Enters Closed Beta
On August 10th, the game Vindictus entered into Closed Beta. I’m not that familiar with this game but apparently there has been screenshots, trailers, gameplay and … “an awesome hat?” You can read more at Massively or check out the website for more details on this beta.
http://www.massively.com/2010/08/11/vindictus-begins-closed-beta/
http://vindictus.nexon.net/

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 (7)

By

On July 30, 2010

In MMO Times

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.

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