Massively

Warhammer Online releases patch 1.4.5 highlights

Matt Daniel — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Patches, PvP, Warhammer Online, News items, Free-to-play

Despite Mythic Entertainment's recent winnowing of the Warhammer Online servers -- bringing them down from four servers to a measly pair -- the company is still hard at work developing patches for the RvR-based title. Patch 1.4.5 will be hitting the live servers tomorrow, January 31st, and it brings a number of interesting changes and also ushers in the return of fortresses, which should be good news for open RvR fans.

With the recent Skaven invasion, a number of relics have been found in myriad underground tunnels dug below the game's fortresses. Players will be charged with guarding their faction's relics while attempting to purloin those of the enemy. The Grovod Cavern scenario is also making a return, allowing two teams of 12 players to duke it out in the crumbling cave. But this time, there's a twist: Players will be taking control of two teams of Skaven; hilarity will ensue. To top it all off, 1.4.5 is bringing fortresses back into play (after they were removed some time ago), which should hopefully encourage players to head back into the open RvR lakes for fun and profit. For the full details, just head on over to the Warhammer Online official site.

Warhammer Online releases patch 1.4.5 highlights originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wings Over Atreia: Bribing for Balance

MJ Guthrie — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 14:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Aion, PvP, Opinion, Wings Over Atreia

Nope, this isn't a new game show on a cable network but rather the idea behind the latest program from NCsoft to help increase and balance the populations of the servers in Aion. In a game heralded for its PvPvE, keeping enough enemies around to ensure PvP is more than just a passing fancy -- it's vital to the welfare of the game. And of late, on some servers it almost seems as if Asmodians are just mythical creatures that Elyos tell stories about.

Although I won't speculate (here at least) on the decline, Asmodian populations have dwindled across many servers as has their participation in PvP. Besides the universal events that celebrated the release of patch 2.5, Aion has aimed some new (or revamped) events specifically at reversing this population trend. The basic premise is this: If you bribe them, they will come. The plan, unveiled in May, would encourage players to return to their furry-backed roots or even try some claws on for the first time by offering special faction incentives. Couple this with the free trial and the hope was that servers would see an influx of Asmodians and a return to the days of faction warfare glory.

Just what exactly are the incentives and -- more importantly -- how well are they working? Glide past the cut for details and to join in a discussion on the matter.

Continue reading Wings Over Atreia: Bribing for Balance

Wings Over Atreia: Bribing for Balance originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 27 Jun 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wings Over Atreia: Daevas of Our Lives -- The siege

MJ Guthrie — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Aion, Opinion, Wings Over Atreia

The battle was sore. The sound of wings beating the hot air of the Abyss filled the ears of all of us, soldier and commander alike. Singed feathers, both black and white, floated about, as fireballs flew between factions, pelting any who could not dodge fast enough. Shadowy forms dove, weaving between the raining arrows, looking for targets. Sounds of steel clashing rang out as spies tried to sneak past enemy lines in search of kisks. The battle was immense, a sea of red crashing against us, trying to claim what was rightfully ours! We knew we must give our all to repel the enemy onslaught.

In the heat of battle, immediate decisions had long-reaching consequences; the tide of battle could turn on a single kinah. All voices hushed as the Commander, MrAwesumPants, issued the order that would bring victory, that would bring us closer to eradicating this threat upon true Daeva. One force was dispatched to take the artifact and activate it. "Do it. Do it now. Do it. Do it. Do it now. Do it do it do it do it now do it do it do it now... now... now... now... get it. DO IT NOW... come ON! Are you paying attention? NOW NOW NOW!! DO IT DO IT DO IT! NOWNOWNOWNOWNOWNOWNOW!!! Do it. Don't do it. OMG you *expletive* I can't believe you just did that!"

Everyone could hear the spittle dripping from his mic, spraying against his monitor. The hush continued.

Have you ever sat in a faction Ventrilo server and heard the siege leader repeat an order like a rapid-fire machine gun for what seemed like five minutes straight, then right as it is being accomplished, immediately rescind the order, demand his followers stop, then totally berate whoever followed the order? No joke -- true story. If you thought drama was just for individuals or legions in Aion, think again! There is a seemingly endless supply of siege drama to keep Daevas entertained -- or disgusted.

Settle back and tune in past the cut for the latest episode of Daevas of Our Lives.

Continue reading Wings Over Atreia: Daevas of Our Lives -- The siege

Wings Over Atreia: Daevas of Our Lives -- The siege originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 01 Nov 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aion: Assault on Balaurea zone trailer -- Inggison

MJ Guthrie — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Trailers, Video, Aion, Expansions, Interviews, Previews

Today, NCsoft unveils a video tour of Inggison, a new zone introduced in Aion's upcoming expansion, Assault on Balaurea. No longer confined to Atreia on the interior of the planet, players will venture forth to the lands on the outside. Filled with a variety of new plant and wildlife, Inggison is the Elyos foothold in Balaurea.

Even as they bask in direct sunlight (a treat not possible in the sundered lands of Asmodae and Elysea), Daevas in Aion will encounter new foes -- such as the Balaur-worshippers of Undirborg -- and fight old ones, as the Asmodians try to claim the Temple of Scales and Altar of Avarice Fortresses.

After watching the video, Massively asked Chris Hager, Producer of Aion, NCsoft West, a few questions about this new area.

Check out the video after the cut, as well as Chris' comments.

Continue reading Aion: Assault on Balaurea zone trailer -- Inggison

Aion: Assault on Balaurea zone trailer -- Inggison originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 26 Aug 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Massively interview: Elysean Council captures Divine Fortress

MJ Guthrie — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Aion, Interviews, Massively Interviews

Keeping our eyes on the Aionosphere, Massively applauds the accomplishments of fellow gamers. At the end of June, Daevas were introduced to the Elysean Council during an interview with NCsoft; this group from Trineil was heralded as the first to capture the Divine Fortress on any North American server in Aion. In their interview, leaders in the council chimed in to give their fellow Daevas a glimpse of this ground-breaking experience. Interested in diving more in-depth with the Council, Massively had the chance to speak with one of the leaders -- Nightroad -- about the siege, and what's been happening since.

Read about it after the cut.

Continue reading Massively interview: Elysean Council captures Divine Fortress

Massively interview: Elysean Council captures Divine Fortress originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 10 Jul 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aion players ding 50, reduce your ego

Kyle Horner — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Aion, News items

Every time an MMO launches, we're witness to a bevy of firsts. Aion has already has a few, like its first State of the Game address and first fortress defeat. Today, however, we're here to inform you that two hearty players -- Almisaela and Drno -- have reached the level 50 milestone in Aion.

We'd like to offer our congratulations to both players, who're no doubt in the middle of a three-day sleep marathon in an effort to regain their much deserved sanity. It's never not impressive when people hit these numbers so fast, and frankly makes us second guess our ability to play these games. Then again, we've got that constantly nagging voice in the back of our heads telling us we should be writing more and playing less.

Aion players ding 50, reduce your ego originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 08 Oct 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Details on WAR's new user journey and apprentice system

Brooke Pilley — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 19:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Patches, Warhammer Online, News items

Warhammer Online may have traveled a rocky road this past year but with each new patch, the game gets better and better. The latest patch installment to hit the public test server is 1.3.2, which features a New User Journey, Apprenticeship System, career balance changes, and further improvements to performance, stability, and RvR.

The two biggest items being tested right now are the New User Journey and Apprenticeship System. The former introduces new players to the game much more effectively and efficiently, funneling them into the same starting area (Chaos vs. Empire), auto-adding them to a starter guild, and much more. The latter allows highly ranked players to drop their level (stats and abilities capped formulaically) and lowly ranked players to raise their level in order to play together.

As for RvR, fortresses are being removed from the zone capture system, which should result in more frequent city sieges. Whether this is a good or bad thing is yet to be determined because depending on your timing you may not be able to join your friends due to the current instance mechanic. Keep warfare will now benefit from a new difficulty mechanic as well, which grants more rewards when more combatants are present.

Check out the full 1.3.2 patch notes for all the gory details!

Details on WAR's new user journey and apprentice system originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mark Jacobs details future Fortress changes

William Dobson — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Patches, PvP, Warhammer Online

As was hinted at in a video featuring Mythic's Jeff Hickman not so long ago, the latest update to Warhammer Online's Fortress gameplay was only the beginning of a larger plan to improve the playability of this important aspect of the game. Mark Jacobs has now elaborated on these future plans, at the same time as giving a report on how the new update has been going on the live servers -- on the night of Jacobs' post, there were no Fortress-related crashes, and general performance was better but not quite where they want it yet.

There are three initiatives that the dev team hope to put their focus on in the coming weeks. One of these is simply to see how the new population threshold is working, to determine if and how it should be tweaked with respect to balance and design issues. At the same time, they will be keeping an eye on the Fortress Lords to make sure that their difficulty aligns with the number of players attending a siege. The third change will involve optimizing the code that deals with large-scale battles, in the hopes of being able to open up the population threshold some more. Let's hope they succeed with this last effort, as some fans already have their torches and pitchforks out due to the reduced scale of these end-game encounters.

Mark Jacobs details future Fortress changes originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 11 Jan 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Counterpoint on Warhammer Online's Fortress siege population caps

James Egan — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Game mechanics, PvP, Warhammer Online, Opinion

We reported earlier this week that Warhammer Online has been having some issues with Fortress sieges, and opted to implement a solution -- population thresholds. That solution has led to fewer Fortress-related crashes and overall improved performance, but not everyone is as enthusiastic about the changes Mythic has made to Warhammer Online.

A good example of this type of dissent among the WAR ranks can be found at MMOCrunch in a criticism written by Paragus. He takes aim at the Tier 4 campaign changes to Fortresses and states that imposing population thresholds diminishes the very thing WAR bills itself as -- a massive realm-vs.-realm game. He doesn't pull any punches when he states, "The fact that they are trying to spin this by saying 'to allow even more players to participate' by capping population in a given area only makes me feel better about pulling my guild out of this game. I'll be waiting for the flames from Warhammer fans."

Continue reading Counterpoint on Warhammer Online's Fortress siege population caps

Counterpoint on Warhammer Online's Fortress siege population caps originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 10 Jan 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Warhammer Online's fortress changes begin rolling out

Kyle Horner — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Warhammer Online, News items

Players had been experiencing some stability issues playing Warhammer Online's endgame Fortresses -- the bits before the capital cities -- until yesterday, when a new system went into place for the Phoenix Throne, Dark Crag, Vortex, and Darklands servers. This system is going to be rolled out over the coming days onto all of the game servers, which is a plan that smacks of cautiousness on Mythic's part. Or in other words, they're being wise and avoiding server imploding en mass.

So what's the big fix? Well, it's an implementation of a threshold system. What was happening before, is that Fortresses would get so full of players -- 500 or 600 of them -- that the entire thing would essentially crash for everyone. It was a big crash-a-thon. Now, when the player count approaches certain thresholds the game will start teleporting rank 35 and below players entering the fortress area into the nearest warcamp. Then, rank 37 players at the next threshold, before finally rank 39 at a final threshold. Mythic hasn't stated what the exact numbers are for each of these caps, but hopefully it's a high enough count that too many players shouldn't feel frustrated when they attempt to join in the battle and find themselves staring at a vendor or trainer.

This is just the first fix of what Jeff Hickman recently promised as one of many (see video above) that should be coming sometime in the future. And with the rapid-fire rate that past updates have hit the game, we have no reason to believe otherwise.

WAR has gone 1.1! Check out our full coverage of the 1.1a patch, along with our interviews exploring upcoming content and the open RvR changes. Plus, don't miss any of our ongoing coverage as Massively goes to WAR!

Warhammer Online's fortress changes begin rolling out originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aion: Korean closed beta patch notes translated to English

Matt Warner — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 20:30:00 EST

Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Aion, New titles, Patches

When it comes to any hot juicy tidbits regarding the latest developments US Aion fans are usually left in the dark. Aion Source is a great outlet for the die-hards, but the official NCsoft US channels remain relatively silent. Until now, the US Aion website has announced they will be working closer with NC Korea to keep US fans updated. According to the latest announcement Aion recently entered its third closed beta phase and the Korean patch notes have been translated to English, and what a behemoth this new patch is. The patch notes are chock-full of changes across the board. The largest new addition to the game is a zone called the Abyss, a fully flyable zone which features fortress battles and lots more!

The Abyss zone includes monsters of levels 25 ~ 40, plus a total of 9 floating island groups and Fortresses.
Around the Fortresses are 31 artifacts claimable by defeating their guarding Protectors.
Each artifact has a particular effect that will help you in Fortress Battles and while adventuring in the Abyss.

The full list of patch notes on the CTB 3 Korean beta are available on the website. The US/EU Aion preview event has not been announced yet.

Aion: Korean closed beta patch notes translated to English originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 12 Jul 2008 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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