MMO updates

TERA - Development Director resigns
Diablo III - Surprise addition to auction house
AIKA Epic II: Exodus - Major content update

Posted: 01 Aug 2011 02:20 AM PDT

According to foreign reports, Mr Park, the Development Director for Bluehole Studio's maiden MMORPG, TERA, resigned on 29th July last week. This decision was said to be due to the game not meeting expectations and hitting planned targets. Korea gamers are also very verbal in showing their unhappy towards the state of the game, in addition to sliding popularity and "ghost" servers, contributing to Mr Park's resignation as well.

Mr Park was part of the group which left MMO giant NCsoft to join Bluehole Studio and was apparently the central figure in the lawsuit between the 2 companies, where Bluehole Studio was accused of using ideas for Lineage 3 to work on TERA. Mr Park was also in-charge of Lineage 3's development and hence accused of leaking business secrets. It was written that the lawsuit has also taken a toll on Mr Park's health both physically and mentally.

Bluehole Studio's top executives have claimed that they did everything they could to persuade Mr Park to stay, but to no avail as he was ready at his limit. The board hence respected his decisions and accepted the resignation. However, Mr Park still retains shares in Bluehole Studio as one of the biggest shareholders. The development team will not be shuffled and find a suitable replacement to get TERA back up on its feet.

Diablo III - Surprise addition to auction house

Posted: 01 Aug 2011 01:08 AM PDT

(Source) While technically not a MMO, one of the most anticipated PC games in recent years added an element of MMO to its core features. Introducing the auction house system in Blizzard's Diablo III, where not only can items be traded using in-game gold, but real cash as well.

I am not sure if this is a good thing, since people can earn some money for their trophies while the rich players will, similar to most Asian online games, dominate the game. Not forgetting there will be PvP in Diablo II as well. I hope this is not a wrong step for Blizzard.

AIKA Epic II: Exodus - Major content update

Posted: 31 Jul 2011 10:38 PM PDT

So, AIKA Korea got updated recently and quite a number of new updates and content were patched. For the past few months, much focus was on the PvP Tournaments for the game, hence new content is very much welcomed for the Korean players. So what are some of the new stuff added?

Fishing System - So yeah, a new fishing life skill. The more a player fish, the more chance he or she will get rarer species by training the skill up. These fish can be used to cook various soups which will give players temporary buffs once used.

Treasure chests can also be fished, with it giving random stuff like the various upgrade powders and a certain "Legendary Fishing Rod" as well among many others. One of the rarest items from the Treasure Chest will be one translated as "Magic Crystal". Fishing spots can be found at various locations seen below.

Improvisations - In the new update, players can use teleport scrolls to get to Leopold (the icy island) instead of using the transport ship. There are 6 new repeatable hunting quests added on the island and "Ice Crystals Shards" dropped from monsters can now be formed into Ice Crystals. There can be used to trade for various accessories and crystal balls. The PvE battleground has also changed, players must now collect 3 frozen holy items found in the towers below and bring it to the center while battling hordes of monsters.

Pran: adult stage - Yes, the adult stage for Pran is here. Players will get a quest when Prans hit level 50 to initiate the evolution. All adult Prans will get their own pair of wings and a fancy headgear, together with stronger skills and spells as well. They will be flapping their wings and floating beside players now! Adult Prans may also hold special wands to further boost players' stats.

Improvements for Relic Wars - So, now that most players are high levels and wearing leet gears, the Relics will now be harder to obtain since they are given a major boost, including the guards as well. Level 3 Relics were added in the content patch along with a major tweak. I am not sure what this mean even though I played AIKA for a few months, the night Devirs' durability will dependable on how many Relics are there in them. If a Devir has more Relics, it means the durability is lower, hence easier to be captured. I supposed it means night time?