Stratics : Mythos Preview

Stratics has the latest preview of the free-to-play MMO, Mythos, currently in closed beta. Flagship Studios, developers of Hellgate: London, is also developing Mythos.

Overall, I found playing this MMO to be a great experience. This game is cute and I had a lot of fun. With playable quests, instanced dungeons, a complex skillset, an achievements list and more, Mythos has a surprising amount of content and customization for the free-to-play genre of MMOs. The gameplay will not only appeal to the casual gamer, but also to the cash-conscious one who is looking for a game that offers just as much as those big boy subscription titles without a huge sacrifice of quality or quantity. By : WarCry Network

Links :
top mmorpg
FREE ONLINE GAME
Blog Partner
Blog Partner

Age of Conan - Laissez les abattage rouler!

It might not have the same ring as "Laissez les bons temps rouler!" (That's "Let the good times roll!" in Mardi Gras-ese, for you non Francophones out there), but we are a month away from the release of Age of Conan, and the hype machine is going to kick into high gear shortly. Here at Ask Massively, we have been awaiting this release with great anticipation as you may have noticed from our frequent references to Age of Conan in previous columns.

In fact, our friend and fan, Muskulls, even noticed the references. Trust me when we tell you that in order for something to penetrate that dense cranium of his, it takes the kind of force usually found near event horizons or Oprah's bathroom scale.

Hey stoopid,

What's the deal with Age of Conan? I'm a little burned out on World of Warcraft, and I'm looking for something else to try for a little while. Why are you so hyped on this game?

Muskulls

Using the logic of "If that lunkhead noticed, then it must be painfully obvious to the rest of humanity" and assuming that we've been hyping Age of Conan more than the average gaming site, We'll go ahead and tell you guys exactly why some of us are anticipating this game so eagerly. All you have to do is read past the jump. If you have a question for us here at Ask Massively, feel free to stop by our tipline or drop us an email at ask AT massively DOT com. We don't need any herbal supplements or fake Rolex watches, but if you've got a good deal on a 1957 Harley Panhead, We're all ears!

Some of you may be wondering along with Muskulls why Age of Conan is any different than any of the other "WoW Killers" out there. We don't know that is. The notion of a "WoW Killer" is a false promise. Any game with as many subscribers as World of Warcraft will be able to coast on its own momentum for years, assuming of course that Blizzard is extremely foolish and rests on its laurels for a few years in order to give everyone else a chance to catch up. What we hear in our conversations with other gamers is the desire for "something different". Some folks say that World of Warcraft is "an MMO on training wheels". Others have experienced everything that WoW has to offer and are looking for more challenges. They realize that new models and new ranks of the same spells and abilities can only take you so far. In short, they want a new virtual world with its own rich lore and backstory, but with new challenges and gameplay.

Enter the Barbarian.

With Age of Conan, we have the same "Swords & Sorcery" setting as Ultima Online, EverQuest, EverQuest 2, World of Warcraft, Dark Age of Camelot, Vanguard, and so on, and on, and on, and you get the idea. Here is the difference between all of those worlds, and the world of Conan. All of the games listed above are descended in some way from Dungeons & Dragons, and by extension, Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. The stories of Conan the Barbarian were written well before Tolkien put pen to paper. Robert E. Howard's world is much grimmer and darker than the land of Elves and Hobbits. One quote from Conan, in the book "Queen of the Black Coast" sums up his philosophy.

"I have known many gods. He who denies them is as blind as he who trusts them too deeply. I seek not beyond death. It may be the blackness averred by the Nemedian skeptics, or Crom's realm of ice and cloud, or the snowy plains and vaulted halls of the Nordheimer's Valhalla. I know not, nor do I care. Let me live deep while I live; let me know the rich juices of red meat and stinging wine on my palate, the hot embrace of white arms, the mad exultation of battle when the blue blades flame and crimson, and I am content. Let teachers and priests and philosophers brood over questions of reality and illusion. I know this: if life is illusion, then I am no less an illusion, and being thus, the illusion is real to me. I live, I burn with life, I love, I slay, and am content."

It isn't quite as well known as the "What is best in life?" speech from the movie, but it illustrates that the world of Conan is a lot bloodier, gutsier, and lustier (both in blood and flesh) than the world of Tolkien (and most of the derivatives thereof). Compare this world to the worlds of WoW and EverQuest. Nothing against Azeroth and Norrath, but those worlds were designed for appeal to a broad audience. We predict that you won't see any tree-borne elven villages, or cute pastoral halfling villages, or anything else designed to appeal to a younger audience in Age of Conan.

Last year, at Dragon*Con, when Jørgen Tharaldsen showed the audience a demo of Age of Conan. The character he created didn't start out in a village close to home. He was a slave on a galley ship and would up shipwrecked in the middle of a thick, and very nasty, jungle. Navigating your way through the jungle on the way to your first "town" was your orientation into the world of Conan. That alone is a significant departure from the "start in your hometown" vibe of most existing MMO's.

According to Tharaldsen, the game is designed for a more mature audience. The game features decapitations, blood, guts, and even a fair amount of nudity. This isn't a sugar-coated version of Howard's world, it's the real deal. Once gamers get over the "Beavis and Butthead" factor, they will reach the realization that this game is actually challenging to play. The combat and magic systems require strategy and coordination. Spells can be woven together to achieve unique effects. Melee combat relies on combinations and attacks of opportunity. There be no "auto attack" here, lads.

It isn't entirely a game of blood and guts. Crafters will have a more important role in Age of Conan. Not only can crafters make weapons and armor, but they can design and build siege engines and city defenses. There are five crafting specializations inn Age of Conan, Armorsmith, Weaponsmith, Gemcutter, Alchemist, and Architect. In addition, the classes in Age of Conan aren't exactly the run-of-the-mill warriors, priests, druids, and rogues that you are so familiar with. In AoC, you have twelve classes to choose from featuring exotic names like "Dark Templar" , "Tempest of Set", and "Herald of Xotli" as well as more traditional names like "Ranger" , "Necromancer", and "Assassin".

We won't even mention the other innovations promised by the folks at Funcom. Mounted combat, siege warfare, large scale PVP, player owned cities are all elements of Age of Conan that promise a radical departure from existing MMORPGs. If you are looking for a different kind of MMORPG, or are looking to lose your training wheels, then you should definitely give Age of Conan a whirl.

That's all we have for this week in Ask Massively. If you have a question for us here at Ask Massively, feel free to stop by our tipline or drop us an email at ask AT massively DOT com.

Source : massively.com

Links :
blog
mmorpg forum
Blog Partner
Blog Partner

Lineage II: Choose Your Destiny This Summer

blockquote>

In commemoration of the Hellbound update, eligible players will have the opportunity to swap their main class with one of their subclasses. Change your main class to one of your subclasses and enjoy playing Lineage II with a character that you love even more!

Participation & Duration Information

Those who wish to participate in the event can do so by submitting a request through the homepage. The requests made before each weekly scheduled maintenance will take effect at the following weekly scheduled maintenance.

Eligibility & Requirements

• Each character can swap his or her main class only once; however, the request can be canceled before it goes into effect, and resubmitted again.
• If you first request an account service (character gender change, character name change, or server transfer), you cannot request the main class change. Please resubmit your request on the following week after the account service goes into effect.
• Once you change a character's class, the change is final and cannot be reversed. Please submit your request carefully.

Eligible Character Levels

In order to participate in this event, your desired character's main class must be between levels 75 and 80, and the subclass level must be 75 or above.
Cross-Race Limitations

• Characters whose main class is a Warsmith, Maestro, Overlord, or Dominator are not eligible for this event.
• If you have both Elf and Dark Elf classes as your subclasses, you cannot request one of them to be your main class since both of them can't have the opposing race's class as a subclass.

Kamael Class Limitations

The Kamael race's Inspector and Judicator are subclass-only by design, so they cannot be changed into a main class. The Kamael have unique occupations that are directly tied to the character's gender, so when you change a Kamael character's class, the gender also changes automatically. For example: If your Kamael character is female and you choose to change your main class to a Berserker, your character's gender will change to male.

Hero Status Restrictions

A Hero character can submit the class-change request only after the Hero period has ended.

Inventory Restrictions

At the time of the class change implementation, if your character is carrying more than 80 items in its inventory, the change will fail. Please check your inventory before the regularly scheduled maintenance to ensure that your character is carrying no more than 80 items.

Other Limitations

• A character on the Public Test Server cannot participate in this event.
• You cannot participate in this event if your account or character has been banned.
• After you submit the class-change request, if your account is banned, the change will not take effect.

FAQ

Q: What's the purpose for having a main class/subclass change event?

A: The Hellbound update introduced a subclass level cap of 80, and a main class level cap of 85. This led to great disappointment among those players who had a greater attachment to their subclass and focused their efforts on developing that subclass. That's why we prepared this main class/subclass change event.

Q: What happens to a character's race/face/gender when the main class and the subclass are changed?

A: When the main and subclass are changed, the character's appearance follows the appearance of the main class. The gender remains the same. (All head styles are type A.) For example, for a female Elf character whose main class is Elder and subclass is Hawkeye, if you request the Hawkeye to become your main class, the main class changes into Hawkeye, the subclass changes into Elder, and the character's appearance changes into a human female character. This works a little differently for the Kamael since their classes are gender-specific. For Kamael, at the time of main/subclass change, the gender also changes into that of the main class.

Q: After changing my main class/subclass, can I revert back to my original state?

A: This offer is limited to one time only per character and you will not be able to revert back to your original state. Please remember this and make your decision very carefully. (You can cancel the request before it goes into effect.)

Q: After changing my main class/subclass, what happens to the subclass certified skills and certificates that I acquired?

A: When you change your main class/subclass, all previously acquired subclass certified skills are reset, and previously acquired certificates are removed. In addition, subclass certificates that were acquired during the certificate exchange event are also removed. You must reacquire the subclass certificates again after the main class/subclass change.

Q: Can I change my second and third sub-class into the main class as well?

A: A request is possible if the main class is between levels 75-80 and the subclass is above level 75, be it the first, second, or third subclass. In this case, the main class changes into the requested second or third sub-class.

Q: Can I participate in the event if my main class is a Warsmith, Maestro, Overlord, or Dominator?

A: Warsmith, Maestro, Overlord, and Dominator are, by design, classes that cannot be subclasses. As such, they cannot be changed into a subclass. If your character's main class is any of these classes, the request cannot be made.

Q: Can the Kamael's hidden subclasses Inspector and Judicator be changed into a character's main class?

A: Inspector and Judicator are designed to be subclasses only, so they cannot be changed into a character's main class.

Q: My main class is Human, my first subclass is Elven, and my second subclass is Dark Elven. In this case, is a request permitted?

A: Within the game, an Elf cannot have a Dark Elf subclass, and a Dark Elf cannot have an Elf subclass. If you have two or more subclasses, and if the one you wish to change into the main class is an Elf or a Dark Elf, the request cannot be made when an opposite race exists in the subclass. In the above example, if a third subclass is a Bounty Hunter, you can request it to become the main class. If one of the opposing race subclasses is deleted, it is possible to choose the remaining subclass as your main class.

Q: What happens to my Olympiad points?

A: Since your main class is changed, your Olympiad points are also reset. Please use up your Olympiad points before submitting the request.

Q: I submitted my request properly but the change hasn't occurred. What could be the reason?

A: If the request was submitted properly but the change didn't take place, this means that the requirements were met at the time of the request but not at the time of effect. Please see the following conditions, double check your character's condition, and submit your request again.

• The main class and subclass must be between levels 75-80, and you must not be in hero or hero waiting status.
• The character must have 80 or less items in the inventory. If you can hold more than 80 items, you must make sure that you have no more than 80 items in your inventory at the time of the class-change request.
• The accounts must not be banned.

Q: Before making the request, I made an account service request. Can I still participate in the event?

A: During a regularly scheduled maintenance, the account service and this main class/subclass change event effect occurs at the same time, so if both requests were permitted, the main class/subclass change would not properly take effect. An account that is already scheduled for an account service cannot submit a class-change event request until the corresponding week. Please keep this in mind, and after the account service takes effect, you may participate in event the following week.

Q: I am working on the quest "Repent Your Sins." Can I continue the quest after changing my main class/subclass?

A: The "Repent Your Sins" quest does not apply to both the main class and subclasses. If you change your main class/subclass, all the items related to the "Repent Your Sins" quest are removed, and you must start the quest over.

Event Schedule

The Choose Your Destiny event will be coming in summer 2008. We will announce more details, including exact dates and times, at a later time.

Sounds like a great opportunity!

LOTRO : Book 13 Preview

For players used to the more lush, wooded environments of Lord of the Rings Online, Book 13 may provide a rude awakening. The new zone, Forochel, lies further north than any of the previously accessible regions of Middle Earth, and it's every bit as hostile as you'd expect. Aaron Campbell, Live Producer for LotRO, was kind enough to guide me through the zone and showcase some of the highlights of Book 13 along the way. He explained that the harsh climate there wasn't just a product of its latitude. "[Forochel] is the remnants of the Great Cold that came out of Angmar and settled over the North, so there's a certain edge of corruption to it. It's not only cold, but an unnatural, supernatural cold."

Our tour of the icy wastes of Forochel began along the coast of the frigid Ice Bay. Not the best place for a dip, but the perfect opportunity for Campbell to point out the new environmental damage type that players will contend with as they travel throughout the zone. The cold not only lowers your morale, but places an additional debuff on you that grows more severe over time. This debuff makes it more difficult for you to resist future sources of cold damage, which many of the monsters around Forochel dish out. Fortunately, removing the debuff is as simple as finding a heat source, from a campfire to a nearby steam vent.

We traveled along the coastline until we reached a small fishing outpost controlled by a group of Gauredain. These lanky fellows weren't particularly keen on sharing their real estate with us, but after a few minutes of steel persuasion (aided by our crazy admin powers) we triumphantly reclaimed the hastily constructed hide canopies and bonfires for ourselves. But it was no use: before we could set up our hammocks and crack open a few brews, a group of nomadic Lossoth moved in and put us to work. The Lossoth are a hardy tribe of humans scattered across Forochel that aren't particularly friendly toward you when you first enter the zone. As you liberate their camps from hostile forces and complete quests for them, they gradually begin to realize that you're not there to kill them and entrust you with rare crafting recipes. My character, a Dwarf Guardian, was decked out in crafted Lossoth gear, a stylish Inuit-chic ensemble that grants some extra resistance to the cold.

One Lossoth fisherman politely requested that I do his work for him, and before I knew it I had my first fishing quest. Small problem: my inventory was so bloated with gear that a mere minnow could cause my pack to burst. Solution? Trash some rare and incomparable loot! Likely not a situation that players will encounter, but when you're already invincible, purples and blues lose some of their luster. With some extra space available, I moseyed over to the shoreline and made my first cast. The mechanics of fishing are simple: click the ability once to send out your line, wait for a nibble, then click the ability again to reel in your catch. My first victim was a rare giant goldfish, a modest haul but still rather satisfying for this novice angler.
image

Campbell took this fishing quest as an opportunity to point out some improvements to the quest interface. In Book 13, the quest log will feature easy-to-read visuals that indicate the status of your fellowship members on your current quests. Beyond that, it will be possible for players to look for a fellowship for a specific quest through the quest log itself which should make it even easier to find a group while questing.

With my fishing itch sufficiently scratched (it doesn't take much), Campbell took me to the Lossoth capital, a giant hide dome peppered with bonfires and vendors. Outside the front entrance were four banners corresponding to the four Lossoth outposts in Forochel that are constantly assailed by the expansionist Gauredain; each banner shows whether the corresponding camp is occupied by the Gauredain or the Lossoth. Inside, players who have achieved a certain level of standing with the Lossoth will be able to purchase items and recipes to make their stay in Forochel a little more comfortable.

Campbell elaborated a bit on the challenges of building the Lossoth culture essentially from scratch: The LotRO dev team had little more than a paragraph in the appendix of the Lord of the Rings to work from. So how did they arrive at the appearance and attitude that made it into Book 13? Alex Toplansky, one of the content developers, explains: "Tolkien was really first and foremost a linguist, and he was almost a cultural anthropologist; he had a lot of awareness of a lot of the different European cultures and things going on in that part of the world.

"Without going too far into some of the little trips that we put in with them, there was definitely a little bit of influence from the Sami culture, which appears all throughout the northern Scandinavian band. They're a really interesting people with a lot of attempts to hold onto their heritage very much like a lot of Alaskan and Inuit peoples. We really got kind of carried away and swept into how they went about things. And we learned some really cool stuff that I think comes out in a lot of our content."

The Lossoth aren't without their humor, however. Outside the capital, we encountered a clumsy chap who appeared to be attempting to ice skate for the first time. I asked Campbell if players would every get the chance to skate in Middle Earth. "That's one hurdle we have not been able to climb yet. For the moment, ice skates and sleds are purely the domain of the Lossoth." In other words, it could be a while before you get to body check a Hobbit in a game of Middle Earth hockey. Someday...

We continued along a barren ice sheet populated by the local fauna: a domesticated mammoth, sabertooth cats, and even a few moose. The team argued about the last creature, and after a minute or two of fierce debate, determined that moose are actually members of the elk family. "Welcome to our world," one of the developers interjected with an audible eye-roll.

Moments later, I was told to look up and gaze at Forochel's version of aurora borealis. It was a surprisingly striking, soft purple glow that ebbed and flowed across the horizon. It's certainly far more dramatic than the Northern Lights that I've seen back home in Minnesota, but then again I was less drunk this time around so it's hard to make a direct comparison.
image

The ice sheet spilled into a sparse, taiga-like forest. Campbell explained part of their world-building philosophy for the zone: "We really didn't make excessive use of trees in Forochel. Instead a lot more of it is about ice, about vertical division of landscape, rocks, vistas and viewpoints, a lot more about the decorations items such as mammoths skulls that you'll find across the landscape, and then a few ruins out there as well, in keeping with the sort of ancient nature of the area." Before long we were back onto another ice sheet, this time with substantially more aggressive enemies.

A few wandering ice giants greeted us, and if we weren't all invulnerable they would have certainly brought the pain. Campbell demonstrated an effective tactic for less omnipotent characters to employ: pull the giants to a nearby steam vent and they become much more manageable. Why an ice creature vulnerable to any heat source would make its home near a steam vent is anyone's guess, but Campbell speculates, "Well, you know, they like their sauna." A few paces away, a new monster type floated docilely until I got close enough to aggro it: the Grim, a swirling ice spirit.

From there, Campbell teleported the group to a cavernous ice cave that will greet players as they enter the zone for the first time. This biome is sort of a proof of concept for the LotRO dev team going into the upcoming expansion. It was created using a new process that Campbell called "dual-height map technology," basically a streamlined method for creating large underground spaces. We journeyed through the tunnel, inhabited by a few solitary Grim, before reaching a small Lossoth staging area on the other side. It's a typical woodland biome, covered with a light layer of snow. But the rest of Forochel will expand on the idea of "unnatural, bitter cold," as Campbell puts it.

Speaking of the cold, Campbell gave me a brief demonstration of the new blizzard effects that the developers have added in Book 13. At first, the snowfall seemed rather unremarkable. But as the storm intensified, a more disorienting whiteout effect enveloped my character, making it difficult to even discern the outlines of nearby NPCs. This effect isn't unique to Forochel, either; existing zones like the Misty Mountains will also make use of this mechanic after Book 13 goes live.

Campbell and company then led me into a crystalline ice cavern where the epic questline will culminate. I was cautioned not to reveal too much to players, as there are a few big surprises for those who have been captivated by the story so far. Thankfully, I didn't have a clue what was going on! We followed a sinister bloke through a series of scripted encounters that ended in an open-air chamber with a polished-ice floor. Then things got serious. If we weren't all invulnerable, this is where I would have wiped the group numerous times while running around in circles and marveling at the gorgeous starry sky above us. "We like to pull out the extra stops for the epic quests," Campbell boasted.

Thoroughly exhausted from attempting to pretend like I knew what I was doing, Campbell took pity on me and teleported me to his apartment, where he showed me some of the new items available for display in player housing. Campbell's personal favorite? The Frost Antler head. "Because who can go without a good elk head on the wall?" Campbell added, "I would have said 'moose head,' but I've been corrected."
image

No system exists in a vacuum in LotRO, and the same is true for fishing. The developers are clearly taking a holistic approach to new game mechanics, making sure to weave them into other aspects of the game as they are introduced. "[We] try to extend out some of these systems, as we add in new content to the game, making sure we give that love back to housing, back to other systems in the game such as crafting and cooking," Campbell noted.

We closed the session by taking a look at the Orc Defiler, the new monster-play class that Book 13 will introduce. The Defiler has a lanky, hobbled appearance that is both sinister and a little pathetic. Their main skills are healing and reviving teammates and casting powerful curses on enemy combatants; they have a couple direct-damage attacks but the class was built from the ground up as a primary healer, a role that monster players have clamored for.

The Defiler sports a fetching skull helm with its own upgrade path: You start out wearing a deer skull, then move up to a bear skull, an auroch skull, and finally a drake skull. It's both a cool incentive for monster players wishing to gear out their characters and an indicator of your level of experience to foes. Every member of our party wore a different helm, and while we weren't likely to take anyone down with a group full of primary healers, at least we were guaranteed to stay topped-off during our brief foray into the Ettenmoors.

Source : WarCry Network

Links :
blog
Startrek forum
Blog Partner
Blog Partner

NASA Wants its MMORPG Created for Free

"It seems that the educational MMORPG NASA's proposing will no longer have a budget of $3 million. Instead, any prospective development partner is being asked to create and maintain the MMORPG for free under a 'non-reimbursable Space Act Agreement'. It won't be a one-sided agreement, though. From NASA's RFP: 'In exchange for a collaborator's investment to create and manage a NASA-based MMO game for fun and to enhance STEM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics], NASA will consider negotiating brand placement, limited exclusivity and other opportunities.'"

Links :
FREE ONLINE GAME
play by email
Blog Partner
Blog Partner

TCoS : New MMO malaise

I wish I could get really excited about one of the new MMO's coming out.

Warhammer seems to be the biggest hype machine right now, but for all the neat-sounding gameplay offerings, I just don't like the visual feel. It seems kind of lifeless to me, a bit like Everquest 2. Like the buildings are made of cardboard, and the players are painted wooden mannequins. Reminds me a bit of Everquest 2. WO's gameplay may turn out fantastic, but I just don't know that it's a world where I'd actually enjoy spending time.


Conan looks much nicer to me, but I'm kind of iffy about the whole barbaric blood-and-guts vibe. The Conan universe is never something that I've felt drawn to in book or movie form, and my impression of the game isn't feeling that different so far.

Like Conan, The Chronicles of Spellborn has some really beautiful imagery; that looks like a world I think I'd like to spend some time in! Unfortunately I don't have much faith that it's going to be a solid product. For example, their website doesn't clearly explain how TCoS will differentiate itself in a way to make me want to spend dozens or hundreds of hours with it. Instead they spend time explaining to me that resistance rank zero to rank +5 is an exponential curve divided in 64 points, which may be a perfectly good design decision , but is just a tad more detailed than I'm really looking for. And if they can't don't even have a sense for what I, as a consumer, want to see from their website, I'm not too optimistic they're going to have a good sense for what I want to see from their world.

So I'm waiting to see what 38 Studios and BioWare have up their sleeves, and keeping my fingers crossed.

Source : KillTenRats.com

Links :
3d gallery
rpg
Blog Partner
Blog Partner

City of Heroes: “Issue 12″ Briefing Video

CITY OF HEROES: View the new CITY OF HEROES: Issue 12 video which shows and tells all a hero needs to know about Villain Archetypes. Are you listening heroic one? I SAID…"Are you listening?!!"




"Infiltrate the Arachnos organization from within! Upon reaching level 50, Villains unlock two new Epic Archetypes; Wolf Spiders and Blood Widows. They have their own unique storyline and missions, power combinations and costume sets. Branching powersets allow the Wolf Spider to specialize as either a Bane Spider or Crab Spider and the Blood Widow chooses from the Fortunata and Night Widow branches. Each brings with it unique costumes for your Arachnos duties, as well as your newfound role as a Destined One."

Source : GameBunny

Links :
MMORPG TOPLIST
FREE MMORPG
Blog Partner
Blog Partner