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Global Agenda's latest Sandstorm patch hits today

Jef Reahard — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 12:30:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Patches, News items, Global Agenda

Hi-Rez Studios brings us word of the latest round of Sandstorm changes coming today to Global Agenda. The sci-fi MMOFPS is rolling out Sandstorm Version 1.36 to the live servers, and with it a plethora of improvements to the Agency-vs-Agency (AvA) system. Seasons will now last for two weeks, and each major geographic region (North America, Europe, etc.) will feature one open zone from Monday through Thursday. Another zone will open up on Saturday and Sunday, and each will be open for six hours per day.

In addition to the timing tweaks, AvA rewards have been adjusted, token daily limits have been raised, and consumables have been removed from PvP. Be sure to view the full list of changes via the patch notes on the official Global Agenda website.

Global Agenda's latest Sandstorm patch hits today originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 12 Aug 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Global Agenda's Todd Harris spills the beans on Sandstorm

Justin Olivetti — Fri, 07 May 2010 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Interviews, Global Agenda

Since its release a few months ago, nobody can claim that Global Agenda has merely sat back to rake in sweet kudos, particularly with the rapid additions and fixes shot through the development pipe. As we sit on the verge of Global Agenda's 1.3 patch -- aka "The Big Patch of Awesome" or "Sandstorm" -- Hi-Rez Studios' Todd Harris sat down with Massively to share how this patch will live up to its name and then some.

Sandstorm will be rolling out in several phases, each housing a different chunk of content and polish for Global Agenda, and it's no small patch at that. It's a genuine game-changer, taking out what wasn't working right and putting in a lot more that hopefully will.

As more gear with varying stats drops, the concern of balance -- or imbalance -- arises. What happens when a warrior enters the scene with uber-leet gear and stares down Mr. Newbie, fresh from the farm? While GA does have an "anything goes" type of PvP with AVA, Harris points to their selective matchmaker system: "Matchmaking does a good job at taking a look at win percentage, player skill, and classes, and certainly does the best job it can based on who's online to make it a fair match."

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Global Agenda's Todd Harris spills the beans on Sandstorm originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 07 May 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A look at the big changes in Global Agenda's 1.3 patch

Eliot Lefebvre — Fri, 07 May 2010 14:30:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Game mechanics, Patches, Previews, Global Agenda

The team over at Hi-Rez Studios may have bitten off just a touch more than they could chew with the 1.3 patch for Global Agenda. It's not that the patch is bad, just that they turned out to not quite be able to push some of the originally promised features through at the same time as the main patch. Of course, considering all of the stuff that is in the newest patch, that almost seems less like a drawback and more like an act of mercy. The advertised open zones and 64-person PvP Warzone will be slightly delayed, which only leaves...

...well, it leaves a whole lot of changes, starting with the massive overhauls to weapons and armor that bring the game closer in line with common genre conventions. The previous system has entirely been discarded, and replaced with four grades of quality for weapons and armor: Common, Uncommon, Rare, and Epic. All grades can be obtained from vendors in exchange for credits (for common weapons), Mercenary tokens (for rare and epic weapons), or Conquest tokens (for epic special weapons). The weapons also have a chance to drop during PvE missions, with the weapons getting correspondingly stronger as the mission gets more difficult.

Continue reading A look at the big changes in Global Agenda's 1.3 patch

A look at the big changes in Global Agenda's 1.3 patch originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 07 May 2010 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hi-Rez fleshes out their plans for Global Agenda, includes open world MMO zone

Seraphina Brennan — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Game mechanics, Patches, News items, MMORTS, Global Agenda

Last we heard, Hi-Rez Studios was considering adding more "open" mission areas around Dome City, giving players an open-world feel to their game. Well, Hi-Rez's Erez Goren stopped by the forums on Saturday to lay out the full plans for not only the areas outside of Dome City, but also for some new weapons appearing in the game, new maps in AvA, and new options to help agencies compete and hold ground in AvA. All of this is scheduled on a very ambitious timetable -- available by the end of March. If certain features become pushed back or delayed, Hi-Rez will also reconsider extending their current "free subscription" policy.

However, it was surprising to find that the open-world areas mentioned in the last newsletter literally will be open world areas. Multiple mission teams and players will find themselves on one gigantic map, completing PvE and PvP objectives for experience and loot. Missions on these maps will be for a varied number of players, starting out at the solo player and going all the way up to a 10 man strikeforce. And, of course, some areas of the map will be "unsafe" and open for agents to beat on other agents. Now you too can gank in Global Agenda.

Continue reading Hi-Rez fleshes out their plans for Global Agenda, includes open world MMO zone

Hi-Rez fleshes out their plans for Global Agenda, includes open world MMO zone originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 16 Feb 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Global Agenda tier one and tier two blueprints revealed

Seraphina Brennan — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Crafting, MMOFPS, Global Agenda

Craftable loot is always important business, and in Global Agenda it's no different. There are always some neat surprises waiting for those who are willing to gather some items, do some research, and get to work in the fabrication chambers.

Xzaph over at the HexAgenda fansite has put together a pretty comprehensive screenshot list of Global Agenda's tier one and tier two blueprint offerings, confirming that there are a few more tricks in those crafting recipes than people have believed. Did you know that you can craft yourself a small squadron of androids to watch your back as pets, or put together a mini-nuke to completely wipe away any resistance within 200 feet?

Beyond being able to build those types of tricks in battle, it seems that there's also an item that must be crafted before your agency can take over a specific region -- the Sovereign Forge -- which may lead to us seeing more "key" items appearing down the road in Alliance vs. Alliance, should the Forge work out.

Global Agenda tier one and tier two blueprints revealed originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 23 Jan 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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GameX 2009: Inside Global Agenda's PvE and AvA persistent content battles

Seraphina Brennan — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Betas, Sci-fi, Video, Business models, Game mechanics, Interviews, MMO industry, PvE, MMOFPS, Global Agenda, Massively Interviews, Massively Event Coverage

As we've said before, we got to see many, many people at GameX 2009 this year. But one of the main reasons we went to the expo was to catch up once again with the team from Hi-Rez Studios and ask them some more questions on their "spy-fi" MMOFPS, Global Agenda.

On the top of our burning question list was what exactly made Global Agenda into an MMO, so we set out to ask associate producer Michal Adam all about what made their AvA and persistent world battles so special. Along the way, we also inquired as to what their PvE content will hold, and what rewards players could expect to find from participating in Global Agenda: Conquest.

For our full video interview with Michal, look no further than after the break!

Continue reading GameX 2009: Inside Global Agenda's PvE and AvA persistent content battles

GameX 2009: Inside Global Agenda's PvE and AvA persistent content battles originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Global Agenda interview breaks down PvP game mechanics

James Egan — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 19:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Game mechanics, Interviews, New titles, PvP, MMOFPS, Global Agenda

A game we've had our eyes on from Hi-Rez Studios is Global Agenda, a cross between a class-based shooter and an MMO. Given its first person shooter roots, the game is heavily PvP-oriented. This match-based combat is the focus of an interview by Jon Wood at MMORPG.com with Global Agenda Executive Producer Todd Harris.

Harris relates that PvP in Global Agenda happens both in small squads and "AvA" (agency vs. agency), where players will participate in a "massive meta-game to control land and resources involving hundreds of territory locations and tens of thousands of player agents."

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Global Agenda interview breaks down PvP game mechanics originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 31 Aug 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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