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TERA Community Manager: No IP blocks

Rubi Bayer — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, MMO industry, News items, TERA

Last month, the TERA developers made an announcement that caused a huge stir among potential players: Frogster had taken over publishing responsibilities for the EU version of the game.

One of the main concerns was that European players would be "stuck" on Frogster's European servers thanks to IP blocks. Late last week, En Masse finally eliminated that concern with the announcement that IP blocks will not be a factor: "The answer is that En Masse and Frogster will not implement IP blocking or other territorial restrictions to prevent connections from outside of their respective service regions. This means that in Europe or North America, you will be able to freely select which territory you wish to play TERA."

Players will still need to purchase the NA or EU version of the game, depending on which server they wish to play on, but the announcement of a choice is a relief to a large part of the TERA community.

TERA Community Manager: No IP blocks originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 30 Aug 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aion announces new North American server to be available soon [Updated]

Seraphina Brennan — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Aion, Business models, Culture, MMO industry, News items

Lani Blazier, associate producer on NCsoft's Aion, has announced today via Twitter that the game will be opening its arms to a new North American server very shortly.

This announcement most likely comes to many cheers from the community, as server queues have continued all this week on many of the NA servers. While we announced earlier that private shop changes will be coming to the game in order to reduce AFK spot holders, the new server will be one of the best ways to help spread out the population.

The new server is currently unnamed and the time frame is still not set in stone, but Lani has assured everyone that the server will be available sometime this weekend. This post will be updated as more information becomes available.

A new European server will follow as well, but as of this posting, the time frame for that server is still up in the air.

Update: Fregion [West] has been added to the server list and is now taking players. An East Coast American server and the new European server are also on their way.

Aion announces new North American server to be available soon [Updated] originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 25 Sep 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Daze of Darkfall Week 3: Keep rollin', rollin', rollin', yeah pt. 2

Seraphina Brennan — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Darkfall, Culture, PvP, Opinion, Hands-on

Lucky for me one of my clanmates ran along and saw me, quickly reviving me. I jumped up, put on my polearm, and ran pretty aimlessly into combat. Two polearm swings later, I got shot in midair while jumping. I fell over dead (again) and was ganked this time. Awwww.

My game reloaded and I found myself back at the bindstone, but I was in quite a predicament. Remember the bloodwall? Yeah, well, our invaders had killed everyone on there pretty easily, as they were obviously AFK. Well, they too had respawned at the bindstone... and I spawned in the middle of them. You can't clip other people in Darkfall. You can't push them (except with certain weapons) either. I was trapped in a pile of AFK meat, unable to actually get out.

"Sera, where are you at, why aren't you defending?" one of my guild leaders asked. I took the moment to explain to him how I was unable to defend as I was stuck in a pile of AFK people. Really, really, stuck.

"If I could compare it to another MMO, I'd say it's like PlanetSide's combat crossed with EVE's rules."

"I'll be the judge of that," he gruffly responded, as if he didn't believe me. He walked over to the bindstone, found me jumping up and down in the middle of an AFK pile like an idiot, my purple hair barely making it over the heads of the many orks and mahirim (wolf people) and then lowly said over Ventrilo, "Sera's exempt from defense until we get her out..."

But not all is bad and stuck in a pile of corpses

After things had calmed down and I had been freed from the corpse pile, however, we were attacked three more times. Out of those three times we had won twice -- succeeding in driving the offenders off or killing them all. We were obviously getting better at this stuff, and it provided an interesting experience for someone like myself.

To be honest, it feels like a deathmatch, except without guns. The enemies invade and you pelt them with arrows and/or magic. They get close and you pull out two-handed weaponry or a one-handed weapon with a shield. You attempt to gang up on someone and kill them, while they attempt the same. Then, one side gets obviously defeated while the other side quickly overruns. It's all very predictable.

If I could compare it to another MMO, I'd say it's like PlanetSide's combat crossed with EVE's rules. Fighting is focused on cities (or bases) where you attack or defend to hold/steal what's there, except losing hurts and there's no fancy recall into combat. PlanetSide is snappy when it comes to combat because that's PlanetSide's focus -- Darkfall focuses on outcomes, like EVE does. Therefore, combat is not snappy in Darkfall, it's a brief experience punctuated with death and loss.

I did survive for one of the battles where we won, if that's what you're wondering. I did archery (I like archery) and even got down and dirty with my polearm. I didn't gank anyone, but perhaps I'll get that honor another time.

One more week

Well, we're winding down. There's only one more week left in The Daze of Darkfall. I can't speak too much on the clan's activities and plans, but I can say this: There will be raids. Lots and lots of raids. Perhaps now I get to see what it's like on the other side of this thing.

I know what you're looking for -- week 1 and week 2. Well, look no further than here!

The Daze of Darkfall Week 3: Keep rollin', rollin', rollin', yeah pt. 2 originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 29 Jul 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Daily Grind: Have you re-rolled on Darkfall's NA server?

Seraphina Brennan — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 08:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Darkfall, Culture, Expansions, Launches, PvP, Opinion, The Daily Grind

Fifty bucks isn't chump change in this economy, but it's what Aventurine is asking as the price of admission to their new North American Darkfall server. If you want in you need to purchase a brand new account, and that brand new account is the price of a brand new game.

But, you get to play in a server that's starting from scratch. Everyone is once again on the same level, the cities were open for capture (briefly, then they all got taken,) and the mystery of the world has been re-opened. Aventurine has thrown down many fixes since the original launch, leading some people to call the EU server the "paid beta" while the NA server is the "true launch."

What we want to know is what are your feelings, Massively readers? If you play Darkfall, have you gone over to the new server? Why or why not? Are you waiting for the transfer after three months? Even if you don't play, would you switch servers if the new server came with a 50 dollar price tag? Or would you jump onto Darkfall just to be in the new NA server?

Comment away!

The Daily Grind: Have you re-rolled on Darkfall's NA server? originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 15 Jul 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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