Posts Tagged ‘everquest’

Know Thy Blogger: iTZKooPA’s MMOG Timeline

14 June 2011 | 15 Comments » | iTZKooPA

Halo MMO - It would have been on the list had it ever come out.

Ladies and germs, you’ve likely been following the writers of LoreHound.com for quite some time (If not, welcome aboard!).  We’ve introduced ourselves, talked about our time in World of Warcraft, discussed our past and even revealed the origins behind our now-familiar names.  But what we haven’t done is reveal how we got here.

How is it that we went from players to bloggers?  Was World of Warcraft our first drug, or just the latest taste?  Exactly how long have we been in the MMOG scene?  Are we newcomers with a penchant for deep discussion, or are we long-standing players well-versed in the genre?  Perhaps we’re casual sight seers, whetting our palate with a smorgasbord of flavors and diverse textures.  You’ll gain insight and answers from my personal timeline (dates are when I played). Continue Reading

PSA: SOE Games Back Online; Care Package Offered

16 May 2011 | No Comments » | iTZKooPA

I have a feeling that Fan Faire 2011 in July will be a bit different than previous years.

It all began on April 20, 2011, a breach of Sony’s servers days earlier lead to PSN and Qriocity
shutting down. Over a dozen days removed from the attack, Sony decided to close down its online games’ servers. Fifteen days later, gamers can finally resume playing their favorite Sony Online Entertainment run MMOGs. Over the weekend, the company slowly reactivated both SOE servers and PlayStation Network access across the globe. That covers DC Universe Online, Free Realms, EverQuest and Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures, to name a few.

Now the fence-mending, lawsuit-dodging and customer-loyalty program(s) can begin.

Sony’s “Welcome Back” program is offering players with accounts in good standing the following measures of retribution.

All members can sign-up for 12 months of identity theft protection from Debix on Sony’s dime.

Subscriber members:

  • 45 days of game time (30 days plus 1 day per day of outage)
  • 500 Station Cash

Lifetime members:

  • Clone Wars Adventures™ – 7,500 Galactic Credits
  • Free Realms® – 20,000 Coin
  • DC Universe™ Online – 10 Marks of Distinction

Various titles are offering their own events and perks to welcome back players. This includes free vanity items, double XP, increased rare mob spawns, in-game currency and more. See the chart at the bottom of the “Welcome Back” post for the full breakdown.

Are you heading back or going cold turkey? For that matter, has the breach at Sony caused you to rethink having your information saved, or do you believe others companies are safer?

Ronix Rants – Get em’ by the balls…their hearts and minds will follow

13 May 2011 | 3 Comments » | Ronix

Disclaimer: The views of the writer in no way match the views of rest of the Lore Hound crew. In fact, they are just as disturbed by this post as you are.

People like to dabble in role-playing, right? We automatically assume certain roles in our day-to-day interactions, we occasionally imagine ourselves as different characters living in fictional universes, we role-play during sex… and where was I? Oh yes, role-playing.

Today, I’m going to role-play an armchair game designer. And not just any game designer, but a jaded, angry, border-line maniacal fellow who wants to bludgeon you with a vicious-ass trout. Get ready because this is going to be a rant of sorts, and boy, do I have an axe to grind.

Recently, a number of gaming-related portals have posted PvP Impressions for Star Wars: the Old Republic. Turns out, the new mechanics in the game allow fights to last longer due to a lack of burst damage at mid-levels, an anti-crowd control measure for each class and an unusual approach to tanking. With regards to the latter, in most MMORPGs, the various taunts and aggro-related skills for tanks only work in PvE, with no consequence for enemy players. However, SW:TOR’s PvP mechanics make active use of those skills by having a slightly different effect. A taunted player, for example, will do -50% less damage to everyone besides the person who put the effect on him. Another example is the guard ability, which will allow tanks to take damage instead of enemies.

SWTOR seems to be taking a page from Warhammer Online, which has made use of some of the mentioned tanking mechanics for PvP. There is ‘nothing’ wrong in borrowing good ideas from other sources, provided they can be implemented into your game, right? Right. What really strikes me as odd are the people writing about their SW:TOR experience and commenting how fresh these mechanics felt. Come again? Continue Reading

Lore Hound MMOcast 18: Books are Real Life Minigames

27 August 2010 | 1 Comment » | LHStaff

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Join iTZKooPA, Juggynaut, and pixiestixy for this MMOcast. This weeks topics are:

Now Playing:

News:

  • E3 2010: The Contest is still looking for winners. An executive decision will be made if three people don’t find the glasses, so submit your entry no matter what!
  • Cataclysm CE announced. Curse of the Worgen comic incoming.
  • New blogger Ronix jumps into the mix with an interesting look at the F2P market and where it’s headed and how Blizzard got its never-fail reputation.
  • Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures dated, special box edition coming.
  • EverQuest Next & EQII: Destiny announced at Fan Faire.
  • APB changing weapons further, mission structure also being tweaked. Realtime Worlds sinking.
  • Jagex finally reveals something about Stellar Dawn, a trailer.
  • Ultima Online, the game that will never die, to receive future live events.
  • SWG players receive anniversary gift. It’s a treehouse? WTF?
  • Runes of Magic: The Elder Kingdoms announced, to add in game marriages, raise level cap.
  • Neverwinter Nights MMOG rumors resurface.
  • New Guild Wars 2 video showcases developers, gameplay. Watch it, it delivers on some of the promises.
  • Rumor: Star Wars: The Old Republic’s space combat to be on-rails. Space combat trailer is now in the wild.
  • GamesCom 2010: BioWare announces 10 advanced classes. Guild Wars 2 demo video here, necro class confirmed

Discussion:

It’s a busy week with news, announcements trailers and teasers, yet no game releases since APB, which isn’t doing so hot. With WoW in a downswing and nothing on the immediate horizon, do you think this window is a missed opportunity by developers/publishers?

Click the player above to listen, download the podcast, subscribe via RSS, or subscribe on iTunes.

Also, get involved with our podcasts! E-mail us at podcast@lorehound.com or leave us a voicemail using the button below or simply call us on the Lore Line, at (304) 884-LORE.  Remember you can follow us on Twitter for a chance to win a Celestial Steed mount, too!

The New Breed Of F2P Games

11 August 2010 | 9 Comments » | Ronix

The touted free-to-play model has traditionally been associated with a less-than-polished experience, dull game mechanics, and the overpowering influence of a cash-shop. Most F2P games have already enjoyed success in their domestic market, and there isn’t much of an incentive to adapt the experience for overseas players. In the vast majority of cases, the transition to the West seems like an afterthought or an attempt at gaining some easy money. However, the last two years have become a sign of change for the free-to-play model and the quality of games associated with it.

In 2009, Turbine announced that Dungeons and Dragons Online was going free-to-play. This triggered a wave of horror in the gaming community as doomsayers claimed the game was destined to close its servers for good. When DDO emerged from this transformation stronger than ever, it also signaled the first signs of change for the business models associated with MMOs in the West. Since that time, more and more developers seem willing to experiment with different ways of monetization.

Continue Reading

“EverQuest Next” Paints a Beautiful Future for the Franchise

7 August 2010 | 2 Comments » | Amatera

Update: Three more screens have been added, past the jump. They’re a bit blurry, having been taken on a cell phone, but they hint at an Asian-flavored art design. EQNext also seems to be a reboot of the original story in some capacity.

Update 2: Cell phone pics removed. Higher resolution versions of those and more pictures can be found here.

Sony Online’s (remember them?) yearly dedication to dead or dying MMO franchises — the “Fan Faire” — is underway this weekend, and the headlining act is none other than the one that put them on the map in the first place: the venerable EverQuest. Since it’s looking a bit like Christina Aguilera next to Blizzard’s Lady Gaga these days, the only way to get any real attention is to make a really bold move.

You may recall that SOE recently took the first step towards franchise resuscitation by pushing the ailing EverQuest II into the freemium market, with an “extended” version that mimics the pay-for-content scheme Turbine has already introduced to Dungeons and Dragons Online and Lord of the Rings Online (with much aplomb). The beta test for that will begin just a couple of weeks from now on August 17th. Likewise, news from the conference tells us that the good ol’ original is trucking right along with its seventeenth expansion. Titled House of Thule, and slated for October 14th, it gives players access to a handful of new dungeons and player housing. See, WoW fans? You’ve only got about another decade until Blizzard finally figures it out (assuming the apocalypse, alien visitation, or return of Jesus doesn’t happen first).

EQII will be getting its own expansion, Destiny of Velious, as well, but players will have to wait until early next year. It’ll introduce a load of flying mounts (and presumably many other neat, experience-enhancing things) to the game. The EverQuest guys are so good at this add-on business by now that they can knock them out about as often as Nadya Suleman pops out babies.

But the real important thing here is the future of the franchise. Though we only got a little tease, an itty, bitty taste of what’s to come, Sony may just be making the move it needs to stage a comeback with the tentatively titled “EverQuest Next.” Though more information has been promised soon, all we know at the moment is what we can glean from the two pieces of media below:

Is this real life...

Is this real life...

...or just a fantasy?

One of these two images is concept art, and the other one isn’t. A careful eye can discern the two, but at first glance, it’s a bit hard to tell, isn’t it? EQNext seems to be dumping the pseudo-realism of past games in favor of a more jaunty look that some are already equating to Fable. I think it looks good, but experience also tells me that looks don’t amount to much when there aren’t great mechanics there to back it up. EverQuest went a long way towards defining the future of MMORPGs, but the genie has long since been let out of the bottle. The genre is a lot more crowded than it used to be and innovation (with far more failures than success stories) is everywhere. Whatever may happen, Sony Online is going to have to really step up their game if they want to get their marquee franchise back on top.

EverQuest II Jumps on the Sparkle Pony Bandwagon

20 May 2010 | 5 Comments » | pixiestixy

It was only a matter of time. Members of the WoW audience were not the only ones who took notice last month when Blizzard made the move to sell its first mount for IRL dollars. Of course not. At 25 bucks a pop, those sparkle ponies sold like hotcakes (and I, too, am guilty of this indulgence.) And in result, Blizzard surely made millions off of one single in-game item that looks pretty. How could the world not take notice of such a large amount of real-life cash being spent on a virtual item?

Some of us worried that this would set a precedent for things to come. And it looks like that is starting to unfold. Today, Sony Online Entertainment announced that it would sell its first ever marketplace mounts, called the Prowlers — available in “Ethereal” purple, “Sinister” green and “Ulteran” blue. And unlike the Celestial Steed that looks pretty but pretty much offers no advantage otherwise, these guys come with built-in buffs:

“Each mount comes in your choice of one of the following versions: Fierce and Arcane. The Fierce version increases Slashing, Aggression, Ranged, Piercing and Crushing of caster by 5, while the Arcane version increases Focus, Ordination, Disruption, Subjugation and Ministration of caster by 5. Both versions of the mount have a 65% run speed.

The Prowlers are guaranteed to be available for at least one month and adventurers can now purchase these new mounts for 2500SC (Pixie’s note – this equates to $25 each, the same as the Celestial Steed) from the Marketplace.  These are the first Station Cash items of their kind and are immediately available in-game, upon purchase.

So even though we all pretty much saw this coming, it still bothers me. One of the huge caveats that supporters of the Celestial Steed — including myself — have been saying all along is that they support it because it does not provide any in-game advantage over other mounts. Not the case with The Prowlers. Does this raise the bar for what we’ll see in the future? Slippery slope, folks. That’s all I’m sayin’.

I love my shiny pony. But what will be the price that we ultimately pay for this service? Would those of you who supported the Celestial Steed like myself still agree with the idea  if we start seeing more items that provide an in-game advantage?

Dragons in Gaming Lore: A Retrospective

18 May 2010 | 6 Comments » | pixiestixy

They’re arguably the most feared and respected mythical creature known around the world. Dragons. They’ve pervaded tales  and folklore  in numerous cultures for thousands of years and have become the ultimate villain faced by heroes in fantasy settings. So it’s not surprising that the dragon also has become  a staple character in games, which are known for drawing inspiration from sources that already have a proven draw to audiences.

One such game that has successfully transplanted dragons into its own brand of lore is World of Warcraft. In the upcoming WoW Magazine, the role of the dragons is explored with a 16-page feature introducing each Dragonflight and their connections — from Nozdormu to Deathwing himself. The feature can be previewed online, and looking at it reminded me a bit of just how much dragons have influenced gaming culture.

From MMOs to action and adventure games to micro-games played on a mobile device, dragons have been seen in an incredible number of variations in games. The constant reinvention of their charismatic yet terrifying demeanor keeps their appearance in games fresh and relevant, and you’ll never see me shying away from a shot to slay a dragon. Although almost always respected, we also see the other side of dragons in folklore — wise, empathetic and deadly protective of what they hold dear.

After the cut, let’s take a look at a few of the standout games in which dragons have played a significant role:

Continue Reading