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Fantasy

Lost Continent: An ArcheAge community guide

Fantasy, MMO Industry, New Titles, Opinion, ArcheAge, Sandbox, Lost Continent

Lost Continent - ArcheAge Adventures: Community guide
Is it me, or has ArcheAge been a long time coming? I don't think it's me because it was three years and thousands of posts ago that Massively introduced ArcheAge to western gamers. Heck, it was six years ago that Jake Song and company started building XLGAMES' upcoming sandpark.

And it's been two years -- two years! -- since I first got my hands on the game's seemingly endless closed beta. Now, though, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Trion recently and famously signed on to publish ArcheAge in the West, and despite the silence following the announcement, I'm still optimistic about a beta before the end of the year.

Even if it that doesn't happen, we've still got plenty to talk about, which is why I'm taking the wraps off Massively's newest game-specific column. Join me after the cut for the traditional first-issue community roundup.

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Free for All: An interview with ThresholdRPG's Michael Hartman

Fantasy, Video, Business Models, Game Mechanics, Interviews, Browser, Free for All, Livestream, Miscellaneous, Sandbox, Crowdfunding

ThresholdRPG screenshot
The last time I explored ThresholdRPG, I had a blast. It was one of a batch of MUDs that I used to re-introduce myself to the ancient gaming genre, and I enjoyed its simplicity and friendly community. MUDs can seem to be very similar to each other, so in order to enjoy them, you must be able to pick out the finer details that separate them. In ThresholdRPG, I particularly enjoyed fishing, roleplay, customization, and a free-to-play model that was years ahead of its time when first released 17 years ago.

The game can be a bit odd, like any MUD. During MUD May I've discovered just how confusing many of these titles can be, but I have also grown to enjoy solving the "mystery" of each game's particular set of code-words that unlock actions. ThresholdRPG is like other MUDs and introduces players to basic commands, but once out in the world a player is on her own. The good news is that an out-of-character help chat is always available and sits right on top of the standard roleplay-enforced chat. That juxtaposition of both channels actually helps immerse me in the game, allowing me to see literally where and when I can use out-of-character speech.

I asked Michael Hartman, president and CEO of Frogdice, to talk about MUD development and branching out into other styles of gaming.

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Choose My Adventure: Building on the clan experience in Darkfall

Fantasy, Polls, Darkfall, Guilds, PvP, Choose My Adventure, Sandbox

Choose My Adventure Building on the clan experience in Darkfall
Boy, MJ's Misadventureland is really coming along! Hiring a few more hands sure has sped things up; you wouldn't even recognize the project now compared to even just one week ago. But isn't that the whole point of Choose My Adventure -- to watch the adventure that you're building develop and unfold? Well, that and to snicker at your Massively guinea pigs... we know.

Having gone into this particular adventure knowing that Darkfall Unholy Wars was not a game meant for the solo soul, I knew that it was only a matter of time before I found myself in a clan to experience more of the heart of the game, which just so happens to be clan warfare. And trust me, the clan wasted no time throwing me into the thick of things once you put me in one.

Although I do think starting off solo was important to get the real experience Darkfall any new player would (after all, most find a clan after first logging in), this week really has shown me a whole new game. I'd just scratched the surface before, the skin if you will, and now I've peered into the heart and seen the seedy underbelly as well.

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New video details the website changes for RuneScape 3

Betas, Fantasy, Previews, News Items, RuneScape, Free-to-Play, Browser

I believe this man is named Scores.  Hi, Scores.
What's in a website? Quite a lot when your game is based in a browser client, as it happens. With RuneScape 3 around the corner, the team at Jagex is hard at work putting together a new and improved website, and a new video from the development team shows off just what players can expect. Which is quite a lot.

For example, one of the centerpieces of the revised design is a series of six buttons front-and-center on the page. The trick is that three of the buttons can be customized by you, allowing you to immediately jump to the most useful parts of the page for your particular playstyle. The team is also revamping the high score pages to incorporate weekly high scores, meaning that newer players can still have a shot at the top. There will even be rewards for people who do well in a given interval. For more details, check out the full video past the break.

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TUG tackles sexiness and diversity

Fantasy, Culture, MMO Industry, News Items, Crowdfunding

TUG tackles sexiness and diversity
We're not getting into a real talk about diversity in gaming here. We are, however, talking about The Untitled Game's take on that sort of thing. The latest update on the TUG Kickstarter page is all about Seed diversity. The team is promising to do its best to make sure that players don't have to deal with armors that have a "drastically different appearance" based on gender. Female characters won't get overly sexualized animations, and you're just as likely to find a manly NPC in distress as a lady one. The team is working to avoid stereotypical representations of races and cultures, and wants to be sure that white males aren't portrayed as the default for Seeds.

Some servers will allow users only basic inputs on their Seed's appearance, like gender and skin color, and will automatically assign the rest. All Seed's appearances, regardless of initial input, will grow and change over time as they age. Players will also be able to directly affect their Seed's look with hairstyle changes, tattoos, and other mysterious alterations.

Kings and Legends Global melds the TCG with the MMO

Betas, Fantasy, Trailers, Video, New Titles, Free-to-Play, Trading Card Games

Kings and Legends Global melds the CCG with the MMO
Watch out: It's an unholy fusion of addictive trading card games with addictive massively multiplayer online roleplaying games! The clinics will be overrun and crime will run rampant as police will be too captivated by the bleeps and bloops of their computer boxes to do anything about it.

That's the dire future that Kings and Legends Global could usher in. Or it could just be an interesting title that mixes CCGs with MMOs to create a novel experience. The cards themselves can be customized, crafted, and traded by players and then used to battle in PvP and PvE environments. Knights and Legends will have four classes, seven races, an auction house, guild halls, a crafting system, and plenty of deck building to keep folks interested.

GameFuse is tempting potential fans into registering by promising a free starter pack to those who sign up. You can do so on the website and then check out the game trailer after the break.

[Source: GameFuse press release]

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Meet The Elder Scrolls Online's legendary wamasu

Fantasy, Video, News Items, The Elder Scrolls Online

Meet The Elder Scrolls Online's legendary wamasu
Meet the wamasu, ancient terror of Black Marsh! A creature barely hinted at in existing lore, the wamasu is a new addition to the stable of foebeasts in The Elder Scrolls Online. The wamasu, it turns out, are overgrown, electrified lizard-monsters. According to legend, wamasu have "lightning for blood." They're fond of nesting, protecting their eggs, and unleashing lethal tail strikes and lightning beams on anyone who pops their personal space bubble. There's an extra-scary high-voltage boss variant waiting in-game to kill you!

Skip below the cut to check out the wamasu in action.

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Vindictus EU shows off next episode of Season 2 with video, screenshots

Fantasy, Galleries, Trailers, Video, Patches, News Items, Free-to-Play, Vindictus, Dungeons

Vindictus EU shows off more Season 2 with video and screenshots
Vindictus fans in Europe don't have long to wait for the second episode of Season 2 as Nexon EU has announced that The Secret of Twilight Desert will launch on May 29th. As one of the largest updates ever to the game, this episode will expand the storyline and add new enemies in new areas as well as a dynamic day/night cycle.

Both new terrors and rare beauty come with the nightfall; the Grim Reaper and Guardian Soldiers will threaten adventurers after the sun sets, but the moonlight also reveals the Luminary Plant, a beautiful and powerful plant able to bestow rare gifts upon those capable of harvesting it. And for those seeking treasure buried under the sands, a new underground dungeon (with a traveling entrance) built by the eccentric wild Coffer Chasers offers adventurers a choice of treasure rooms. Choose wisely, though, as all other treasure rooms are locked once one is picked!

Get a glimpse of the coming adventures in the video after the break and the 11 new images in the gallery below.

[Source: Nexon EU press release]

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Age of Conan announces 5th anniversary event, new membership perks

Fantasy, Age of Conan, Events (In-Game), News Items, Free-to-Play, Anniversaries

Age of Conan announces 5th anniversary event new membership perks
Just because it's a tough and gritty world in Age of Conan doesn't mean folks don't know how to celebrate. In fact, Funcom has announced fitting festivities for the fifth anniversary of this fierce fantasy world. Each day for five days starting Thursday, May 23rd, a new epic boss will begin roaming the lands of Hyboria, and each day that a boss remains unconquered it will increase its level of brutality. On the flip side, the chance for epic rewards for defeating one also increases by the day. All players, regardless, of level can join in the fight to take these monsters down, and everyone will have a chance at the rewards.

As anniversary gifts, all players will receive a one-week pass to Khitai as well as other items that can be claimed from the item shop. Members will receive a double item store discount throughout the five-day event as well as a special gift.

Starting tomorrow, membership will include account-wide double xp items, 200 bonus points per month, and a bonus AA point for every level (granted retroactively). Interested in becoming a member? Funcom is also offering a special deal through May 30th granting 50% more time with multi-month subscriptions.

A tale of Forgotten Realms: DDO's Update 18 and the Shadowfell Conspiracy

Fantasy, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Classes, Expansions, Patches, Previews, Free-to-Play, Races

A tale of Forgotten Realms DDO's Update 18 and the Shadowfell Conspiracy
Dungeons and Dragons Online's second expansion will not be like the first. In fact, Shadowfell Conspiracy might even be seen as a pseudo-sequel to DDO, a game-within-a-game that's offering players a fresh start in a favorite land. When the expansion hits on August 19th, players will be able to ignore all of DDO's Eberron content to start a new character at level 15 in the Forgotten Realms. Between the Forgotten Realms content that Turbine's added to the game in the past year and the new missions coming with Shadowfell Conspiracy, players could conceivably level solely in this setting.

It's obvious that Turbine's a little Forgotten-Realms-mad right now, although that's not a bad thing. The setting is a favorite among D&D fans, and while Eberron has its supporters, the studio obviously sees the Forgotten Realms as the future of this long-running MMO. While the expansion is still a couple of months away, today's Update 18: Disciples of Shadow update will serve as a prologue so that players can get started on their journey through this fresh land.

We sat down with DDO's team to talk about Update 18, the new races coming with Shadowfell Conspiracy, and the pre-purchase program that promises to give you head start. Read on, or else the wrath of the owl bear will be upon thee!

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Blizzard congratulates itself on Diablo III's anniversary

Fantasy, Culture, MMO Industry, Diablo III, Anniversaries

Blizzard pats itself on the back for one year of Diablo III
Diablo III is a year old, and Blizzard's celebratory anniversary gesture is one of those mile-long infographic things featuring selected statistics designed to make you ooh and ahh.

Said statistics include 67.1 million characters created world-wide, 3.3 trillion monsters killed world-wide, and 22.4 million characters that have killed Diablo. Interestingly, Blizzard left off the number of hours lost to launch server login issues, nor is there any mention of D3's much-maligned real-money auction house. You can see the full graphic after the break.

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Massively's Dragon's Prophet first impressions

Fantasy, Classes, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, New Titles, Previews, News Items, PvE, Opinion, Free-to-Play, Hands-On, First Impressions, Dragon's Prophet

Massively's Dragon's Prophet first impressions
I don't have many fond memories from Runes of Magic. I didn't play it long, and the thing I recall most vividly is being forced to hunt around Runewaker's cash shop for an item that would let me talk in global chat.

Fortunately, negative vibes like that didn't affect my recent hands-on with Dragon's Prophet's beta, which, in case you're wondering, is Runewaker's followup to Runes of Magic. Unfortunately, I don't think the new game in its present state is quite ready for prime time.

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Flameseeker Chronicles: Catching crabs in Guild Wars 2

Fantasy, Events (In-Game), Game Mechanics, PvP, PvE, Opinion, Guild Wars 2, Flameseeker Chronicles

Flameseeker Chronicles
My goodness, that lady's bikini is awfully close to body tone from this far away, isn't it?

If the sun and sandy beaches didn't give it away, I've spent most of the last week or so of Guild Wars 2 time in Southsun Cove. Karka Island! Sunny Orr! Whatever you call it, I hope we can all agree that Southsun Cove is a terrible place filled with awful monsters that nobody in their right mind, in-universe or otherwise, would ever want to visit without the lure of titles and shiny -- literally, one of them glows, and the other glistens -- backpieces.

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RIFT introduces loyalty rewards program for dedicated players

Fantasy, Business Models, Economy, Game Mechanics, News Items, Free-to-Play, RIFT

RIFT introduces loyalty rewards program for dedicated players
RIFT is introducing an innovative new program that allows players to get items for free when they spend money or money-substitutes on other items! The new rewards program will give players Loyalty points as those players purchase or spend credits, subscribe as a Patron, or consume REX (RIFT's tradable currency that can be purchased for real-world money). Since REX is tradable between players, a particularly thrifty player could accrue loyalty points without ever spending a real-world dime in RIFT's store.

Current and former subscribers will be awarded some Loyalty points based on how long they have been subscribed. Players will be able to use Loyalty to unlock exclusive costumes, the ability to change target icons, and unique dimensions.

This is all part of RIFT's free-to-play initiative and will be going live on June 12th with RIFT 2.3: Empyreal Assault.

World of Warcraft patch 5.3 goes live today

World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Patches, Endgame, News Items

World of Warcraft patch 53 is up and running
Another World of Warcraft patch day has come upon us. Patch 5.3, Escalation, is hitting the game today, bringing with it a whole host of changes from loot specialization to increased pet battle accuracy. The patch introduces a new Battleground, Deepwind Gorge, as well as a new Arena called The Tiger's Peak. Four new scenarios are being added, plus six new Heroic difficulties. The Escalation quest campaign adds new tasks for Alliance and Horde members as they prepare to remove Garrosh Hellscream from Orgrimmar.

You can read the exhaustive patch notes on the official site, and you can catch up on all the nitty gritty details on patch 5.3 on our sister site, WoW Insider.

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