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The Daily Grind: Do developers troll their fans?

Jef Reahard — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 08:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, EverQuest II, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Opinion, Free-to-play, The Daily Grind

Sometimes I honestly wonder what goes on in the minds of the decision-makers at Sony Online Entertainment.

Case in point is the recent decision to add wings to EverQuest II's cash shop. I'm not opposed to cash shops per se, and I'm not opposed to flying mounts or the formerly nifty race-specific quest that allowed Arasai players to earn a pair of functional wings at high level.

Now, though, any old ratonga, iksar, or troll can fork over 20 bucks and take to the skies with angel's wings on his back, and while the EverQuest universe has fairly inconsistent lore on occasion, I can only conclude that someone at SOE thought it would be funny to mess with franchise fans a little bit. If not, surely there are more fan-friendly ways to go about designing cash shop items or new means of transportation.

This isn't the first time SOE has indulged its baser shark-jumping instincts, either. Ask a Star Wars Galaxies vet about the infamous Ewok-themed Valentine's Day if you need another example. And therein lies today's Daily Grind. Do you think that developers troll their fans?

Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!

The Daily Grind: Do developers troll their fans? originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 12 Jan 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EverQuest II adds player wings, yes really

Jef Reahard — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Video, EverQuest II, Game mechanics, MMO industry, News items, Free-to-play

EverQuest II is one of the most feature-rich MMOs in existence. One of the few things it ~~doesn't~~ didn't have is the ability for players to sprout wings and take to the skies. Oh sure, there are some pretty spiffy flying mounts, and there is even a quest line that grants Fae and Arasai avatars the ability to use their faerie wings for something other than looks.

Today, though, Sony Online Entertainment is raising the bar via new sets of wings that are available to any character (of any race). These aren't just crappy looking social add-ons, either, but slickly animated functional wings on par with those in Aion or Perfect World. The catch is that they're only available in the Station Cash marketplace, and they'll set you back 1,950 points (about 20 bucks). Check out the video after the break for a brief demonstration. Also keep in mind that you'll need a character of level 85 or higher to use them.

[Source: SOE press release]

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EverQuest II adds player wings, yes really originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 11 Jan 2012 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Star Wars Galaxies developer webcast today shares the present and future of the game

Justin Olivetti — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Events, in-game, Interviews, Star Wars Galaxies

Calling all Star Wars Galaxies adventurers -- the SOE community team is planning to pour its heart out with the fans in a developer webcast later today! If you want to get the inside scoop on the Ewok Festival of Love and the Bonus Everything Weekend, then you will definitely want to catch this chat.

The webcast will take place today, February 17th, at 4:00 p.m. PST on Stickam, according to a Facebook announcement. The devs will be talking about the current in-game events as well as dropping "a few hints about what's coming up next."

The Ewok Festival of Love is a month-long (February 10th through March 10th) event in which the cute and cuddly inhabitants of the forest moon of Endor celebrate good feelings, good food and their obsession with flight. By participating in the events, players can earn several special rewards including housing items, pets, and decorative wings. Because nothing strikes fear in Stormtroopers like Jedi with itsy-bitsy wings!

Star Wars Galaxies developer webcast today shares the present and future of the game originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 17 Feb 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Newest Tales of Fantasy developer diary explains wings

Rubi Bayer — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, News items, Free-to-play, Tales of Fantasy

The Tales of Fantasy closed beta test is moving right along, and players are becoming familiar with the basics of the game. As they do, they're beginning to turn their attention toward more detailed aspects.

One such aspect is the presence of wings in the game. While winged characters aren't a cutting edge new feature these days, they're still pretty popular, and they've proven to be a hit in Tales of Fantasy. The developers of the game offered up some hints on acquiring and using the wings in their latest developer diary.

While the wings themselves have a few different functions depending on type, getting them in the first place is the focus of this diary entry. Just handing them out to starter characters right off the bat would make them less special in the opinion of the developers, so they opted to make them a little harder to get.

Check out all the details on this fun feature over at the Tales of Fantasy blog.

Newest Tales of Fantasy developer diary explains wings originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 27 Apr 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wizard101 is no friend of cheaters

Eliot Lefebvre — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Exploits, Free-to-play, Kids, Wizard101

You might think that Wizard101 is just a kid's game, which wouldn't be totally incorrect. But if you thought that meant they would just let you do whatever you want... well, nope, not in this playground. KingsIsle Entertainment is demonstrating that they are more than willing to step in and take the reigns when they're aware of an exploit. In this instance, it looks as if an exploit was found regarding the new wings available in the game's cash shop that work as a mount. Players had found a way to purchase their wings via gold alone, getting an unfair advantage on those buying them legitimately.

So the game is clipping their wings -- clipping them off entirely, as it were. The wings will be removed from the player's account, all gold spent will be refunded to the player, and they will be reminded that exploiting the game client will lead to a permanent ban from the game. It's not the harshest penalty, but it comes as a stern reminder that no matter how fluffy the exterior might be, Wizard101 still takes cheating very seriously. So it's a bit more like school than you might have thought.

Wizard101 is no friend of cheaters originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 22 Feb 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Flyff adds a new expansion, wings, and a reason to grind your life away

Seraphina Brennan — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Flyff, Contests, Events, in-game, Expansions, Patches

It's a Flyffy day today as the free-to-play game's newest expansion, "The Lost Continent" arrives on the servers and brings a whole new continent to the world.

Centering around a darker atmosphere than the upbeat game usually provides, the new continent of Shaduwar adds in some dark dungeons and dangerous new enemies to the game. But, that's not all. Finally, for the game being centered around flying characters since its inception, they're adding wings to the game. It only took them, what, four years to add wings to the game about flying? Better late than never, if you ask us.

Plus, Flyff users will now have incentive to log on and play in the form of a 35 day marathon "Play for Rewards" contest. All players have to do is simply log onto Flyff each day for one hour, and the game will tally up the days you do this. Every five days, the game will provide you with a rewards pack, and on the 35th day of playing you'll be entered in to win a 50" HDTV. The team is giving 4 of those bad boys away, making this quest certainly worth the hour per day grind.

Flyff adds a new expansion, wings, and a reason to grind your life away originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Runes of Magic offers players wings, but only until tomorrow

Seraphina Brennan — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 17:30:00 EST

Filed under: At a glance, Business models, Events, in-game, News items, Runes of Magic

We smell some Aion envy coming from Runewaker Entertainment, but we're not going to complain! We're being offered pretty wings in Runes of Magic!

Starting right now and continuing until tomorrow, wings will be available for purchase in the Runes of Magic item shop. While it doesn't look like the wings do anything other than look really cool on your character, this is a very limited time item. Because of the limited window of purchase, these wings will most likely become a coveted item very quickly. (As long as they're not offered again later, of course.)

If you're interested in grabbing a pair of these feathery wonders, you'll have to do it from inside the game's cash shop menu, under the "special offers" section of the store.

Runes of Magic offers players wings, but only until tomorrow originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 29 Sep 2009 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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One Shots: Ghost wings

Krystalle Voecks — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 14:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Screenshots, Aion, One Shots

The other day we had the great luck to be able to give away 1,000 Aion Closed Beta 6 keys. We love to give out keys where possible since that gives our readers a chance to check out upcoming games for themselves. With Aion, there seems to be a bit of a divide - some love it, some just don't care. This Aion screenshot comes to us from Veng who has been checking out the beta for some time now. She writes in to tell us a bit about what she thinks: Even the flight transportion in Aion is beautiful! Talk to the flight transporter in any village and you're engulfed in the diaphanous form of a spirit and flown to your destination at speed.

Have you, like Veng, sent us screenshots before? Perhaps it's been a while since you mailed one to us? Why not update us on your current travels! Just email them to us at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a quick description. We'll post them out here for everyone to check out.

Gallery: One Shots

One Shots: Ghost wings originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 11 Aug 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Anti-Aliased: Things that make you go kweh pt. 2

Seraphina Brennan — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 16:30:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Game mechanics, Lore, Opinion, Humor, Anti-Aliased

A wing timer? Seriously? Seriously?

And now for the number one thing that drives me nuts -- Aion's flight timer. I know, I know, the other two topics were more universal and covered all MMOs. Plus I shouldn't be firing arrows into a game that hasn't even come out yet, but this just seemed to warrant my attention for how confused I was about this whole subject.

Let me lay it out for you all, especially for those who weren't in the beta. At the very end of level 9-ish you get told that you are, in fact, a Daeva -- an immortal angel that protects your race -- and you are granted permission to go to your city of awesome in the clouds. There's a cutscene depicting an awesome ceremony where you're accepted into the ranks of the immortal and you "prove your divinity" by exposing your wings for all to see. It is one hell of a lead up and a great cap for the first ten levels. You come off of that story-arc feeling completely empowered, and it is awesome.

Then, after grabbing yourself a very shiny new weapon from one of the other daevas, you go out to do some, well, angel-ish things? Honestly, the downer here is that things don't change that much from you being mortal. You're still someone's pool cleaner, except now you have wings. Of course, that's what you think until you hit the flight button and they slap you with a one minute flight restriction. Yes, that's right, you can stay in the air for one minute. A whole minute!

Of course you can increase this timer with buffs and consumables in later areas of the game, as this restriction is supposed to make you think tactically about aerial combat. Yet, when your box art depicts a winged angel so prominently and one of your back of the box features is "where your character wields devastating powers and sweeping wings to explore a celestial world," you're kind of leading people into disappointment.

Plus, it's not really a minute of flight in one direction. It's more like 30 seconds of flight in one direction, because you have to remember to reach a lower altitude before your wings die out. Yes, you will take falling damage if you're still lollygaging in mid-air when that timer hits zero. You may be immortal, but you're not immune to broken legs.

And that's a wrap

Well, that's all of the room I have for this week's senseless complaining. Tune in next week when I sit down and have a conversation with a moogle concerning mog slavery and mistreatment in Vana'diel. Good night, everybody!

Colin Seraphina Brennan is the weekly writer of Anti-Aliased who is pretty much mentally unstable. When she's not writing here for Massively, she's rambling on her personal blog, The Experience Curve. If you want to message her, send her an e-mail at colin.brennan AT weblogsinc DOT com. You can also follow her on Twitter through Massively, or through her personal feed, @sera_brennan.

Anti-Aliased: Things that make you go kweh pt. 2 originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 24 Jul 2009 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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One Shots: Do the wings make it better?

Krystalle Voecks — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Screenshots, Aion, One Shots

It seems like no matter where we turn, the buzz lately has been on Aion. A goodly chunk of the Massively staff has been sucked into the beta and they're reporting interesting things. Others we talk to aren't so thrilled, but are reserving judgment until they see something closer to release. Even our normal Darkfall contributor and fellow MMO blogger, Paragus, decided to send in a screenshot for us with his thoughts since he's a member of the press and not under NDA. He writes: After playing the Aion Beta Weekend, I find myself marveling at how stunning some of the graphics and character models are. In some games scenes like this are hard to come by, but they seem to be the norm in Aion. We'll have to see if everyone is as thrilled as launch gets closer.

Remember, if you're in a beta - make sure you're not breaking NDA when you're sending in One Shots! Otherwise, they'll likely sit there for quite some time before I'm able to post them. If you've got non-NDA breaking screens to show off, email those to us at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a brief description. We'll post those up and let the world know it's all due to you.

Gallery: One Shots

One Shots: Do the wings make it better? originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Delve into Champions Online's evil lairs trailer

Kyle Horner — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 11:00:00 EST

Filed under: Video, New titles, News items, Champions Online

Well look at this, a new Champions Online trailer has been released unto Gametrailers and thus, the world. It opens with an interesting winged angel superhero soaring into an intelligence meeting, but don't be fooled, this trailer's focus is solely on villainous lairs. Some of you would probably be more than happy with a video showcasing all the various wings and how they animate in flight (we spotted some Egyptian style wings in the trailer) but that's not happening today. Maybe there's a wings/flight video in the works, for all we know.

There's some slightly cheesy voice acting and we're almost certain the narrator is attempting a commanding voice in the spirit of Optimus Prime, but the trailer is very enjoyable for what it is: campy superhero goodness. It may not be everyone's preference, but we're digging what we see and can't wait to raid some lairs come this September.

Witness the full trailer embedded after the break.

Continue reading Delve into Champions Online's evil lairs trailer

Delve into Champions Online's evil lairs trailer originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 25 Jun 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Customization and community power in latest Ask Cryptic

Kyle Horner — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: Super-hero, New titles, News items, Champions Online

Character customization seems to be the big focus in the newest Ask Cryptic for Champions Online. Questions about multi-limbed heroes (not at launch) and different stances to give your character (big yes!) receive the more strikingly straight-forward answers. It wouldn't be a big leap of logic to imagine that four-armed characters will eventually be possible, with the revealing of Grond (pictured above) last Halloween. We also learn that Cryptic is planning for plenty of wings and tails from the get-go, which should please a lot of players.

However, the most interesting question asks Cryptic whether or not any of these community questions have actually changed their minds concerning design decisions. The response is fairly frank, with lead designer Randy "Arkayne" Mosiondz saying that fan response has definitely shifted the way that the team was implementing certain things. He goes on to point out that there haven't been any complete re-designs of systems, though. It's not surprising that Cryptic's listening to their community, as they've always been a rather smart developer in that way.

Customization and community power in latest Ask Cryptic originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 25 Nov 2008 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aion: Tower of Eternity breaks all beta test records in Korea

James Egan — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Aion, MMO industry, News items

While we had some grim news related to NCsoft's dip in profits yesterday, there may be a silver lining to this, in the form of Aion: The Tower of Eternity. A press release from NCsoft states that the Aion beta has surpassed all previous records for a beta test in Korea: "Concurrent user numbers have already jumped to more than 170,000 players, making it the most popular beta event in Korean history." That's a significant achievement, given how mature the market is in Korea. 11,000 people were logged into the Aion beta only two minutes after service began and hit 40,000 players within an hour. The rapid influx of players necessitated NCsoft having 25 servers running to accommodate them.

David Reid, president of publishing for NCsoft West in Seattle said, "The response we're seeing in Korea is incredibly exciting. Our Aion community in North America and Europe is rapidly growing. We've got aggressive plans for the western launch in 2009." On the subject of Aion's launch, the press release lists Korea's commercial launch as being just a few weeks away. As Reid stated, the North American and European Aion launches are set for 2009, but NCsoft hasn't nailed down a specific launch date for these markets at this time.

Aion: Tower of Eternity breaks all beta test records in Korea originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 14 Nov 2008 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PAX08: Aion's first U.S. public showing

Shawn Schuster — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: At a glance, Fantasy, Screenshots, Aion, Business models, Game mechanics, New titles, Opinion, Hands-on

"Hey, isn't that the game where you have wings and fly around?"

This was probably the number one quote heard around the Aion booth at PAX08. NCsoft's Aion: The Tower of Eternity had its first public showing in the States this last weekend at PAX, and the general consensus seemed to be mostly positive. As the opening quote suggests though, many gamers were after that novelty of flight, and we can't help but wonder if that will be enough to carry potential players through the game for the long haul.

So we took this opportunity to spend an hour or so with the game, to get a few of those precious first impressions for our readers. Keep in mind that this is only first impressions on a game that isn't finished yet, so take it with a grain of salt.

Gallery: Aion Screenshots

Continue reading PAX08: Aion's first U.S. public showing

PAX08: Aion's first U.S. public showing originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 03 Sep 2008 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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An eye-opening Aion preview

Kyle Horner — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Aion, New titles, Previews, News items

It's very likely that you've either only heard whisperings of the game Aion or haven't heard anything at all. We honestly couldn't blame you with the huge amount of hype currently gushing out every which-way for Warhammer Online. The human mind, while able to absorb hype like a dry sponge to water can only contain so much of it at a given time. Our hope is that with the release of Warhammer Online just around the bend, you can eek out a little room for NCsoft's upcoming Aion, which was just given a wonderfully entertaining preview over at Eurogamer.

The gist of Aion is that it's a game being developed with the best of breed concepts from Eastern and Western MMO developers. User-friendly, PvE and PvP content coming out its nose, highly customizable characters, gorgeous graphics and uh, wings. To be fair, the wings thing is a lot cooler than it sounds when you just say 'wings' like us. You get the idea, however. Currently, Aion is looking at an early 2009 release date.

An eye-opening Aion preview originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 04 Aug 2008 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aion concept art features ominous Abyss, winged Balaur

Samuel Axon — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 09:30:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Aion, New titles

We don't spend too much time covering NCsoft's Aion here at Massively -- partly because news is sparse -- but that doesn't mean we're not interested. In fact, we're intrigued by the game's art direction. It has an eerie, fragmented, dream-like vibe that reminds us of the oldschool roleplaying-oriented game Underlight. It also features lots and lots of wings, since all players and many NPCs can fly.

NCsoft has released four new works of concept art. Check them out and you'll see what we mean. One of the items -- pictured above -- depicts one of the Balaur. The Balaur are fallen angels responsible for the sundering of the world. The other three items depict the Abyss, the setting for Aion's endgame PvP encounters. Those have a bit of an Outland vibe, what with the shattered earth floating in space and all.

Aion concept art features ominous Abyss, winged Balaur originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 22 Jun 2008 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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