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Trickster Online's Episode 6 woos players with magic!

Justin Olivetti — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 12:30:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Patches, Free-to-play

The world's most epic love story is coming to a close, a treasure map is discovered, and celebrations galore are on the way. It's not a soap opera; it's Episode 6 for Trickster Online, which has landed on the servers today.

Trickster's latest update features the final part of its current story arc as well as a heapload of new content for players to explore. The episode adds 23 additional areas to the game, 56 more quests, an escort system, and a treasure hunt for billionaire Don Cavalier's loot.

SG Interactive's Chris Lee says to look at Episode 6 not as an ending but as a new beginning: "The new episode will put the finishing touch to our storyline while providing engaging contents for all players, from beginners to high level players. In addition to concluding the current storyline, this update marks the beginning of more new adventures in Trickster Online, and players should anticipate big celebrations in and out of the game coming soon."

Be sure to check out the trailer for Episode 6: Songs of Love and Fate!

Trickster Online's Episode 6 woos players with magic! originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 06 Oct 2011 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Cryptic releases new Star Trek Online Featured Episode

Jef Reahard — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Trailers, Video, Lore, Patches, News items, Star Trek Online

Ready for Star Trek Online's newest Featured Episode series? Well, ready or not, Cryptic is here to give us the skinny on Series 3: Cloaked Intentions. If you're wondering how STO's episodes work, it breaks down like this: Feature Episodes are tied together to form a single story arc. New episodes under each Feature banner take a bow on Saturdays at 11:00 a.m. PST and are freely available to all STO players regardless of level.

The new Cloaked Intentions arc involves a series of missions focused on the Romulan Empire; the overarching goal of participating players is the prevention of a bloody civil war. The intrigue kicks off today with Episode 1: The Vault, followed by episodes 2 - 5 every Saturday through March 5th.

You can learn more at the official STO website, and don't forget to warp past the cut for the Cloaked Intentions trailer.

Continue reading Cryptic releases new Star Trek Online Featured Episode

Cryptic releases new Star Trek Online Featured Episode originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 05 Feb 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Final Fantasy XI previews the end of Wings of the Goddess

Eliot Lefebvre — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Final Fantasy XI, Expansions, Lore, Previews, News items, Consoles

The December version update is kicking off the end of many things for Final Fantasy XI -- the end of the year, the end of the level cap from the last update, and perhaps most notably the end of Wings of the Goddess. After a very long and drawn-out storyline and series of missions, it's time for players to finish up their adventures in the past. But as can be expected, it's not going to be quite as simple as walking up to the Spitewardens and politely asking them to pack up shop.

After a series of defeats, challenges, and the usual confusion regarding any time-travel storyline, it seems the final movement begins in Grauberg with a rather flustered Cait Sith and moves on to the Walk of Echoes. It's time to face off against the Spitewardens and Lillith, the main villains of the expansion's arc, if adventurers want to maintain any hope of a future controlled by the free people of Vana'diel instead of the beastmen. While the preview only gives us a small taste of what's coming, Final Fantasy XI players had best steel themselves in advance -- this promises to end with a bang.

Final Fantasy XI previews the end of Wings of the Goddess originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 12 Nov 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Because of reasons!

Eliot Lefebvre — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: Super-hero, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Culture, Patches, Opinion, A Mild-Mannered Reporter

It's weird to say it, but City of Heroes feels like it's still on the cusp of a storm. Going Rogue was a fine expansion, but it doesn't have the sense of breaking that built-up tension, that feeling of something major just over the horizon. Or perhaps it's just me, perched out on my metaphorical porch and loudly proclaiming that this next one is going to be the big one, as I puff on my metaphorical corn-cob pipe and look across the metaphorical skyline of rural Metaphorbraska.

OK, that one kind of got away from me there, but what I was trying to get at was that it's time for another question-and-answer session for City of Heroes and that I don't think I'm the only person feeling like Issue 19 might hold some great secret. We'll know soon enough, although right now it's time for Issue 20's super-secret beta, which even I don't know about just yet. I'm very curious. On to the questions!

Continue reading A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Because of reasons!

A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Because of reasons! originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 06 Oct 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Game Archaeologist and the Asheron Recall: The highlights

Justin Olivetti — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Asheron's Call, MMO industry, The Game Archaeologist

It's hard being the youngest child -- you get the hand-me-downs, suffer through swirlies by older siblings, and eventually develop such a neurosis that it requires seven different brands of horse tranquilizers to make it through the day. Not that I would actually know, being an oldest child and all. But I suppose it would be a hard-knock life.

In a couple ways, Asheron's Call was the youngest of the three MMO siblings that comprised the first major MMO generation. Ultima Online, the big brother, had prestige and legacy behind it, and middle child EverQuest quickly became the most popular at school. And then there was Asheron's Call, poking its head on the scene in late 1999 as a cooperative project between developer Turbine and publisher Microsoft. AC never got the recognition of Ultima Online nor the numbers of EverQuest, but this scrappy title became a fan favorite and endured even to this day -- beyond its own sequel, believe it or not.

Instead of plowing through a stale history report of Asheron's Call today, I thought it'd be fun to come up with a list of the eight most unique aspects of this fairly innovative 11-year-old MMO. Ah lists, how I adore thee -- let me count the ways. Eight ways, to be precise!

Continue reading The Game Archaeologist and the Asheron Recall: The highlights

The Game Archaeologist and the Asheron Recall: The highlights originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 05 Oct 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Final Fantasy XIV discusses companions and crafting

Eliot Lefebvre — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Game mechanics, News items, Consoles, Final Fantasy XIV

One of the more frequent complaints about the nature of Final Fantasy XIV is that the game doesn't go out of its way to be accessible. If anything, it revels in a solid veil of mystery and encouragement for players to experiment. That doesn't sit well with everyone, however, which is no doubt why Square-Enix is making a conscious effort to expand the resources on the official player site as a basic reference. The most recent update has seen some common questions about crafting answered, as well as a brief guide to choosing a path companion.

Path companions are an element of the game introduced at the start of the fifth main story quest, giving you an NPC who accompanies you on the missions. There are a multitude of different personalities, determined by race and gender, with the short guide provided explaining how each choice affects the outcome. The brief rundown on crafting is also illuminating, as it highlights certain heretofore unknown elements of the system -- such as a character's elemental affinity helping to determine what sort of crystals and shards come from gathering. Final Fantasy XIV players are encouraged to check both pieces.

Final Fantasy XIV discusses companions and crafting originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 02 Oct 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Matt "Positron" Miller prepares his radioactive banhammer against mission architect abusers

Seraphina Brennan — Tue, 05 May 2009 19:00:00 EST

Filed under: Super-hero, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Business models, Culture, Exploits, Forums, Game mechanics, News items, PvE

Mission architect -- an amazing system that allows a very creative player-base to finally take the reigns of creation and make amazing in-game arcs that feature personalized stories, personalized characters, farming, well made.... wait, what?

Yes, you heard that right, people have already began to leverage City of Heroes's architect system into nothing more than powerleveling tool, and the community doesn't find that to be too enjoyable. Luckily, Matt "Positron" Miller, the lead designer, has already stepped up with a post to the community on the City of Heroes message board about how they plan on dealing with these problems.

The team wishes to remove the rewards some characters may have gained through powerleveling, all the way up to removing access to characters that were solely leveled up via mission architect exploits. Past working on a player by player bases, some badges will be changed while others may be removed entirely due to the exploiting groups surrounding them. Lastly, but certainly not least, the team will be proactively banning missions that are created to exploit the system.

For Matt's full plan, check out his post over on the City of Heroes message board.

Matt "Positron" Miller prepares his radioactive banhammer against mission architect abusers originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 05 May 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dungeons & Dragons Online live event postponed

Krystalle Voecks — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Events, in-game, Server downtime

According to Quarion and Patience of the Turbine community team, the Dungeon & Dragons Online servers got unlucky and rolled a 1 earlier today. As any good Dungeon Master would, Turbine consulted the critical fail tables and it would appear that the servers will remain offline until at least 7PM Eastern. What this means is that the final chapter of the Emerald Claw Conspiracy event that has been eagerly anticipated will be postponed for the time being.

As we'd stated before, live events in MMOs are sadly uncommon, so we're certain that this is something that the DDO player base will be keeping their eyes on. We know we were looking forward to seeing some screenshots of it for One Shots, as world events are a lot of fun to check out! Hopefully things will work out soon and the DDO servers can get some new dice with better roll mojo for the future.

[Thanks, Schad!]

Dungeons & Dragons Online live event postponed originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 02 Dec 2007 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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