Free-to-Play

Back in April of 2011, I asked myself whether I would play RIFT if it were a free game. I know that I was impressed with its build quality but not so much with its lack of spirit. It seemed like a hollow game, one that used gimmicks to take the place of true adventure. At the same time, I didn't want to downplay how well it was made. I still agree with this sentiment; the game is great and has only improved over time, but I still wish it had a little something more.

Did the recent switch to free-to-play change how I felt about the game? Why would a payment model affect how I felt while playing the game? After all, I champion the idea that a payment model does not define a game, but I still have to recognize how a payment model affects people.

Including me.

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Once upon a time, I was teaching a friend how to duel in Age of Wushu. She was easily frustrated by things, and she expressed to me that she felt as if everyone had superhuman reflexes compared to her. Because she was a beginner, I couldn't just convey all the complexity of mind games to her. Explaining all the different options (beyond the basics), weighting them, and explaining the opportunity costs of each was not really an option. She was having trouble even with slightly advanced stuff (which is totally normal), but she also lacked some of the natural "killer instinct" that allows some of my other friends to duel.

At the same time, I had been fighting Zyden, one of the most skilled duelists in English-speaking Age of Wushu. He actually does have near-superhuman reflexes. Earlier that day, though, I had hit him with a very slow-animating feint that he normally interrupts with a stun. Normally, his reactions are superhuman, but there are some times when they aren't. It's not a matter of "off day," either. He just wasn't prepared for me to do what I did right at that moment.

I told my friend, "Outside of a moment, you can only react." Immediately afterwards, I realized just how important those words were.

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It's update day for Vindictus, as players will have the fun of exploring the Season 2 Episode 2 patch after the download is complete. The update is a hearty helping of content that includes dungeons, battles, and character revamps.

Nine new battles are now available in the Twilight Desert, and players might have to cut their way through the addition of Grim Reapers and Guardians to get to them. The update implements a time progression feature, which is important since it determines which of the patch's 14 dungeons are open or closed for business. There's also a new expertise to level up in called Gathering, although it's accessible only in the Season 2 zones.

[Source: Nexon press release]

Dungeons and Dragons Online: Shadowfell Conspiracy is exactly two months away today, so there's still some time to work up excitement over this Forgotten Realms-centric expansion to the game world. We've expanded our screenshot gallery to include 10 new vistas of the Stormhorn mountains, a wilderness area that will feature large in players' adventures. You can check out all of the beauty below:

The switch to free-to-play has caused such a population explosion in RIFT that Trion is converting some shards to trial shards and opening new ones to host new and transferred players alike. But the studio understands that relocating is never easy. So to players who had to pack their bags and leave their beloved homes on EU's Icewatch and Akala shards, Trion is offering "a few small tokens of [their] appreciation for all your contributions to RIFT's success over the past two years."

Within the next few weeks, all former players from these two communities will receive special gifts on all of their characters. These gifts are a title ("of Icewatch" or "of Akala"), a shard-specific Icewatch or Akala regalia wardrobe set, and +1000 bonus loyalty.

The votes are in. The people have spoken. Now, it's time to play. Last week's Choose My Adventure column, the first one centered on Firefall, presented a couple of choices related to the very basics of creating our character and giving him or her reason to fight. Voters enthusiastically chose a beaten-down man with one hope for redemption -- and unwittingly fulfilled my personal fantasy to create a game hero based on Nicolas Cage's character in Con Air.

Voters also chose from among Firefall's five battleframes, with the jack-of-all-trades Assault frame beating out the smash-it-in-the-face Dreadnaught frame by just 26 votes. So, to recap: We have created a character who's an ex-con with no reason to live, handed him an assault rifle, and dropped him into a violent world where pretty much anything goes.

This is getting good.

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Jagex has announced today the appointment of Alex de Rakoff as Creative Director to the popular MMO studio. Not only has de Rakoff directed award-winning music videos, but he's also well-known for his films, working with actors like Orlando Bloom and Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson.

No, that doesn't mean Jagex is working on a Legolas or a gangsta rap MMO, but it does mean that the upcoming Transformers Universe and RuneScape 3 will both benefit from de Rakoff's experience and creativity. In fact, before being officially hired in-house by Jagex, de Rakoff had already been writing the story for Transformers Universe under contract.

You can learn more about Alex on his IMDb profile.

[Source: Jagex press release]

When City of Steam threw open its browser-based beta doors to all players, certain classes and races were noticeably missing from the soirée. But some fan-favorites have finally gotten their invitation and will be rejoining the party when the 1.3 patch Tears of the Oracle hits next week; greenskins, dwarves, and Channelers will once again be available to play.

And that's not even the half of it! This next patch will also be raising the level cap, expanding questlines, and adding plenty of new things, including the Founder's Annex suburb, a PvP event, a collection system, rare mobs in dungeons, plenty of cosmetic items, and even a new crafting system. On top of that, levels one through nine can resurrect for free in dungeons and the salvage system got an overhaul. So get ready to get your goblin (or hobbe, or orc) on next week!

[Source: Mechanist Games press release]

WAKFU is pushing back its Haven Worlds update a week to June 25th as the team cites testing concerns. "Our forums and internal discussions, as well as the internal playtest, raised concerns on some of the main aspects of the Haven Worlds," Ankama posted. "Since our intention is to offer quality content that matches your expectations, we decided to take one more week to improve a few gameplay details."

The team decided not to implement tollbooths in the patch but created a more "malleable" system to fill the role. Several other small changes, including those to taxes and GvG features, are detailed in the delay post.

To fill the void between now and the 25th, Ankama has put up a new dev diary to show off Haven Worlds and all the goodness that is to come. Check it out after the break!

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SOE will be transferring it's EU EverQuest II services to ProSiebenSat.1 "on or around June 20," according to a news post on the EQII website.

The blurb says that European players will continue to be able to play on U.S. servers, and vice versa, and SOE has uploaded a list of FAQs to help ease the transition. SOE also says that Euro players will have their own localized forums and customer service, but players with existing SOE accounts will still be able to access the U.S. forums.

Hit the link to read the full announcement.

If you've been thinking that what Marvel Heroes really needs is another couple of costumes, well, the game's newest blog post is probably going to put a smile on your face. Gazillion's new title already boasts over 110 costumes, but the company says it's just getting started.

The newest update adds a pair of 1980s-era outfits, one for Ms. Marvel and one for Colossus. Both are available either via an in-game loot drop or the cash shop. Click through to the original post for more info and a couple of close-up images.

It can be hard to get close to someone. Especially in MechWarrior Online, where the people you want to get close to are riding walking battle tanks designed to vaporize you at long range. But the newly added Quickdraw is all about getting in close, at which point it can unleash the full might of its short-range missile launchers and medium lasers. Which is probably why people don't want to get close to one another in the first place, really.

Fortunately for Quickdraw pilots, the machine is quick, jump-capable, and generally very able to get in close and unleash its payload. This new 'Mech is available in three variants alongside the new Champion Hunchback, and you can take a look at the precise loadouts in the patch notes. Or you can take a gander at the preview video for the machine embedded just past the cut.

[Source: Piranha Games press release]

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Are you ready to start leveling in Star Wars: The Old Republic? More to the point, would you like to level a whole lot faster? That's good, because you're going to have the chance to do just that starting this weekend. Double experience weekends are back for the next three weekends, including an extra-long version during the fourth of July, so that all of your characters can enjoy the freedom to scream up in levels and possibly skip some of the more tedious planets.

The first weekend starts on June 21st at 2:00 p.m. EDT and runs until 3:00 a.m. EDT on June 24th, while the second weekend runs at the same hours from June 28th to July 1st. The third and final weekend starts at 7:00 a.m. EDT on July 4th and runs all the way until July 8th at 3:00 a.m. EDT, which should give you ample time over the holiday to buff up your levels.

While most fathers were enjoying brand-new ties and meals out on the town this past Sunday, RIFT Lead Game Designer Bill Fisher decided that he'd be a papa to the PvP game community and take care of their needs. Fisher went into the office on his day off, asked players what they wanted added, and whipped up two new game modes for warfronts.

The Black Garden warfront got a domination mode added, which allows players to wrest for the control of two key points. Also sporting a new domination mode is the Karthan Ridge warfront, although this one is a little more complex. Players in Karthan Ridge have to fight over five control points; the control points on the enemy's side of the map award more score points than do those on the on the home team side.

The hotfix also reinstated the second dimension option to players which had been disabled after the 2.3 patch.

Amidst the critiques and patch reviews, the reasons I stick with Star Wars: The Old Republic sometimes get lost in the shuffle. Despite being irritated by the way BioWare handled specific parts of this Star Wars MMORPG, I still find the setting and the storytelling to be superb. These interwoven tales of adventure and chaos provide an incredible platform for my favorite thing to do in an MMO: roleplay.

I've covered several topics about roleplay in this column. From breaking into the community to an RP wishlist to resolving RP-related conflicts, I've might have covered everything except for one of the most basic of roleplay elements: How do you host a roleplay event in SWTOR? Although Star Wars: The Old Republic varies in its presentation and tools, the types of events you can throw are pretty similar to the ones you can throw in any other MMOs. The tiny details vary, but the three basic type of events can be narrowed down to social, PvE, and PvP.

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