Latest Gaming and MMORPG Updates

Latest Gaming and MMORPG Updates

ArcheAge (KR)

Posted: 23 Apr 2012 07:10 AM PDT


To cause further mental damage among players who aren’t able to play the upcoming 80 days Closed Beta 4, XLGAMES released a new trailer today to signal the phase’s impending arrival. In the trailer, various groups can be seen sailing towards the Continent of Origin, and right till the landing part I thought it was One Piece.

Further into the trailer, the territorial war is also teased, although no apparent combat took place. There is still no English publisher for ArcheAge announced, so my best bet would be to try the China server out next year. Sigh.

Find similar article at: http://www.mmoculture.com/2011/12/archeage-kr-on-course-for-closed-beta-4.html

TERA Taiwan reveals monthly fee

Posted: 22 Apr 2012 10:24 PM PDT



TERA will be hitting Taiwan next after Korea, Japan and North America, and at the publisher OMG’s company event, the CEO (pictured below) candidly talked about some details behind thrashing a deal with developer Bluehole Studio. Apparently, Bluehole Studio stood by a monthly fee of TWD 650 (USD 22) which OMG strongly opposed. As a final resolution, the monthly fee for TERA Taiwan will now be TWD 500 (USD 17) instead.



He also talked about various discounts for TERA Taiwan, including inviting friends to join and buying time cards which contains more game time. For example, buying the yearly time card will cut the monthly fee to just TWD 350 (USD 12). TERA Taiwan will also feature a cash item shop with cosmetic clothing, mounts and items which “will not affect game balance”. OMG plans to launch the game in Q3 later this year with the same version and content as the North American launch.

Find similar article at: http://www.mmoculture.com/2012/04/tera-taiwan-reveals-monthly-fee.html

Guild Wars 2 – Counting down to pre

Posted: 22 Apr 2012 10:24 PM PDT



[Pre-purchase website] It is 10th April over here, and I think in less than a day the pre-purchase for Guild Wars 2 will begin. Guild Wars was one of the rare 3D MMORPG which my brother enjoyed playing (he actually plays MapleStory primarily) and he really can’t wait to join Guild Wars 2′s beta. I am really wanting to try out the WvWvW and “public raids”, since I am still skeptical about the sharing of loots if players are helping with the side monsters rather than hitting the boss.

I personally think this is good and positive skepticism, since ArenaNet promised much over the year and I really want the system to be flawless. There really should be a countdown timer somewhere on the pre-purchase website though. Well then, see you all in the beta since all pre-purchases get players in! And who the heck actually bought The Secret World over Guild Wars 2?

Find similar article at: http://www.mmoculture.com/2012/04/guild-wars-2-counting-down-to-pre.html

Blue Tears (CN)

Posted: 22 Apr 2012 10:24 PM PDT



I do know cute, fast and action sounds like a weird mixture in an online game, but at least that was what I felt :) Originally published by NCsoft back in Korea under the title “Punch Monster”, the game was unceremoniously canceled by the company in just a few months. Personally, I blame NCsoft for not placing more efforts into marketing the game and getting the right team to manage this action + casual side-scroller. NCsoft failed with Dragonica Korea as well (now under Gravity Korea as Dragon Saga), hence I shall give the label of “King of Failed Casual Games” to NCsoft.



Luckily, Punch Monster’s development studio is not under NCsoft, hence the game continued to thrive in other countries, such as China where I had my fair share of fun. Weekday evenings and weekends are a chore though, with the server practically full 24/7 and proving near impossible to log into the channels with less than a 30 minutes wait… This happens even when certain level ranges will only get bonus EXP for entering selected channels.



Now called Blue Tears in other Asian countries, I must say that I was surprised at myself for lasting so long in the game given that I am a “retired” MMO player. Sort of anyway. While Dungeon Fighter Online is no doubt the king of action side-scroller, Blue Tears is not far behind in the speed category in terms of combat. That is what I really liked about the game (to hell with MapleStory) and the really cute design, which some comparing it with Paper Mario.

Class selection is pretty standard, with 3 basic ones branching out into 2 advanced ones. I chose to be a warrior, and then continued to being a Dragon Knight, which is essentially the tanker. To some extent, I never really felt like a tanker until I upgraded my equipments to +8, and even then I felt paper thin against some bosses in the special dungeons (mentioned below) while normal dungeons are a breeze for me. Giving up my shield recently, I reset my skill points (and taunts) and decided to go a 2-handed spear style… No one kicked me out of a party for that, yet. I am dealing decent damage with many defensive buffs, hence I am quite happy with it.



For skills, players get 1 point upon leveling. However, you don’t really just add a point to the skill. Instead, you add the points to enhance the skills. For example, a skill call Dragon Wave will come with 2 enhancement options, 1 which will increase damage, while the other increase the number of foes it hits. Each of this enhancement skills can be leveled up to a maximum of 9 from what I observed. If you added 3 points to the enhancements, the main skill will automatically be level 4 (level 1 to use) and have increased attributes. Though there are a couple of games using this system, it is no doubt still a rarity.



While there are open world maps for quests and bosses, there are the signature instance dungeons as well. Each dungeon will have up to 3 difficulties, requiring players to unlock them after completing an easier one. Unfortunately, there are limited times a players can enter dungeons each day given the 1000 dungeon points. But I am not complaining, since the points are really more than enough for me on a weekday. There will be special bonus objectives when entering the dungeons, such as “Get hit less than 50 times” or “Use less than 50 potions”, most of which are really easy to achieve.

Next, there are the special dungeons which players can only enter 2 times each day. These dungeons are much tougher, monsters have insane amount of health points and the bosses are really a pain in the @$$. I got mined kicked really hard when entering the mid-levels one for the first time. Other than quests, these special dungeons’ monsters drops items which allows you to trade for NPC set-item gears at the entrance. While it sounds easy, collecting them (up to hundreds of them) is really time consuming. Not that I am complaining, I think no one should since these are basically free gears requiring just patience.

I am really impressed with the abundance of quests found in Blue Tears, since they really never stop appearing after completing older ones. Yes, most of them are the classic “Kill X monsters” or “Collect X materials”, but somehow I never really got tired of repeating the same formula, at least for the past 2 weeks. The game is bright and the models, environment are all clear and vivid, and while emulating some sort of childishness in the design style, is not too over the bar.

Given that the game is developed in Korea and being published in cash-rich China, there is no doubt a couple of advantages using the cash shop. For example, I can boost my strength by 20% after equipping my pet with a skill bought from the cash shop. Granted, there is not really any guild battles except simple 1 on 1 PvP, I think it is really ok… Well, I spent a hundred on the game so far, I am enjoying it :p

There is actually a little bit “fairness” in terms of upgrading equipments, where items which boosts success rate by 10% and items which prevent destruction cannot be used at the same time. At certain intervals, for example from +4 to +5 and +7 to +8, there are no penalties other than failing and losing the gold. In fact, equipments will not break until from +10 and onwards. However, even equipments will fall down 1 level if the upgrade fails. From +2 to +1 is really… Argh…

There are various other features such as automated fishing (chance to get an ultra rare fish as ingredient), the various costumes and mounts, bounty system for bosses and also a card game which I never really tried. You might be thinking “Wait, ain’t this just another Korean grinder?”… Well, it really is. Sometimes, a generic game just has that strange alluring charm which attracts the naysayers to give it a try, which in this case, is me. I think I need to see a shrink soon.  A MMO shrink.


Find similar article at: http://www.mmoculture.com/2012/04/blue-tears-cn-cute-and-fast-with-tons.html

Path of Exile

Posted: 22 Apr 2012 10:24 PM PDT



[Game website] Crowd-funding seems to be the hottest thing right now in the gaming industry, with developers trying to get the financials in order to operate and sell games themselves. Those pesky publishers like EA should really do some self-reflection. Back to the MMO, Path of Exile, developer Grinding Gear Games sent out a press release earlier to extend their thanks to the gamer who bought virtual points even before the game is out. USD 200,000 from 13,000 players is by no means a small amount seeing that it only took them 6 days. You can still contribute (link) and Open Beta is currently scheduled in June.

MEDIA RELEASE

Indie Action RPG Path of Exile crowd-funds $200,000 over Easter

AUCKLAND, New Zealand – 11 April 2012 – Following a hugely popular
public test weekend, the makers of Indie Action RPG Path of Exile, New
Zealand-based Grinding Gear Games, have launched a 'crowd-funding'
campaign where players can pre-purchase game currency and receive
rewards such as Closed Beta Keys and exclusive in-game pets in return.

In first six days the free-to-play 'ethical microtransaction' funded
action RPG has sold over USD$200,000 worth of supporter packs to 13,000
fans.

The previous weekend 46,911 players stress tested the game. "We
literally had hundreds of people asking how they could support the game
to get to Open Beta sooner. We were blown away by the community
enthusiasm at the stress test weekend, so we moved quickly to open our
shop earlier than planned. We've been blown away again by the support
over Easter," says Grinding Gear Games' co-founder Chris Wilson.

13 people have bought the $1,000 Diamond Supporter package, which will
let them help design one of the game's Unique magic items.

Path of Exile features its own dark, gritty take on the Action RPG
genre, a unique skill gem system, a huge passive skill tree and PvP
combat in a persistent online world.

"The crowd-funding presales mean Path of Exile will enter Open Beta in
June with three acts of content. Although we plan to pile on the
content for years to come, further support will greatly accelerate it
and help pay for our US and European servers."

Grinding Gear Games have committed to never charge for content or power.
"Selling supporter packs and currency has also been a great test of our
'ethical microtransaction' philosophy. We hate the concept of
pay-to-win games, so it's great to see that players are willing to
support the game and to buy purely cosmetic items," says Wilson.

A range of supporter packs are available on Path of Exile's website.
The cheapest tier is $10 which includes Closed Beta access. Higher tiers
come with in-game Kiwi bird Pets, a collector's edition copy of the
game, t-shirts, soundtracks, signed posters, and the option to design a
Unique Item. All packs include game currency which can be used to buy
extra character slots and stash tabs for compulsive item hoarding. More
personalisation options and player services are planned for the Open
Beta.

Any purchases made now will continue into the Open Beta, although Closed
Beta characters and non-microtransaction items will be wiped upon
entering Open Beta in approximately June.

During the stress test weekend, 46,911 people tried the game with the
servers successfully handling a peak load of 7310 players. "The stress
test was great – we learnt a lot about how people are playing and
enjoying the game. We've built Path of Exile as an online game with PvP
and support for various leagues and game modes from the ground up, and
we're really pleased with how the servers performed," says Wilson.

Path of Exile has been in development for five years by Grinding Gear
Games, an independent studio of hardcore RPG fans based in Auckland, New
Zealand.

Key features of 'Path of Exile':

- Completely free to download and play, but never 'pay-to-win'
- A persistent online world capable of supporting hundreds of thousands of players
- A dark and gritty game world rendered from a fixed 3D perspective
- Randomly generated levels and items for extreme replayability
- Online ranking and ladders for every game mode
- Visceral combat with dozens of combinable skills
- Battle in PVP tournaments for worldwide recognition
- Dynamic skill system

Find similar article at: http://www.mmoculture.com/2012/04/path-of-exile-developer-thanks-easter.html

Dragon Blade (CN)

Posted: 22 Apr 2012 10:24 PM PDT



[More info] China’s number 2 MMO company, NetEase, is not shying away from naming Tencent’s upcoming Blade Soul China as its main competitor. First revealed late in March, Dragon Blade so far has garnered mixed reviews, some claiming it to be a Blade Soul clone while others managed to picked out small details which differentiate it from the NCsoft-developed title. Nevertheless, I personally feel it is always good the have strong competition. A new Dragon Blade gameplay trailer was revealed just around an hour ago, so do take a look.

The trailer left me with quite some thoughts. It seems like a mixture of Blade Soul in terms of design, TERA in open world non-target action combat, and perhaps even Aion at the ending sequence with the wings. And not forgetting the trademark loli race which is in almost all “big” 3D online titles now. Still, Dragon Blade looks promising, I am certainly not discounting it yet.

Find similar article at: http://www.mmoculture.com/2012/04/dragon-blade-cn-new-gameplay-trailer.html

Dungeon Hero (KR)

Posted: 22 Apr 2012 10:24 PM PDT



I know, Dragon Nest developer Eyedentity Games just announced Dungeon Striker (link) recently, which I think forced EyaSoft to reveal their rendition of a online dungeon crawler as well. EyaSoft, if you remember, developed some rather memorable titles including Luna Online, Legend of Edda and Iris Online.

After temporary ceasing all work on their previous games (link), EyaSoft is now back with its 2nd title, Dungeon Hero. The first title to be announced after the studio’s revival was the spiritual successor to Luna Online, Luna Story: ELs (link).



Unlike Dungeon Striker which is a real time action slasher, Dungeon Hero still adopts the classic targeting system, which will no doubt draw in a different crowd of gamers who are still not used to action games. Combat is not really that slow, which I can attest with my experience in Legend of Edda and Luna Online.



Featuring a “Heroes’ Arena” inspired by MOBA games such as Dota 2, Dungeon Hero is still very much focused on PvP despite EyaSoft’s trademark cute design. There is also a PvP map which accommodates guild wars, supporting 100 Vs 100 players at the same time. Dungeon Hero is expected to enter beta later this year.

Find similar article at: http://www.mmoculture.com/2012/04/dungeon-hero-kr-eyasofts-dungeon.html

Garena signs Club Mstar for Southeast Asia

Posted: 22 Apr 2012 10:19 PM PDT



Garena has always been known to be more of a company hosting PvP games such as Heroes of Newerth, League of Legends and most recently Firefall (link) in the Asia region, hence today’s news came as a surprise to me. The company has signed a contract with Korean developer Nurien and CJ Games for the English publishing rights of Mstar Online (or Club Mstar), an online dancing game for Southeast Asia including Taiwan as well for the Traditional Chinese version.

From what I remembered, developer Nurien was on the brink of closure when Club Mstar lasted just a few days in Korea before the servers went offline. The game was previously heavily touted since it was developed using Unreal Engine 3, perhaps the first dancing online game to ever do so. Apparently picked up by MMO giant CJ Games, Club MStar was subsequently drafted into its online portal Netmarble which prompted its massive revival. No exact date is set currently for the game’s release, although it is scheduled for Q3 later this year.

Find similar article at: http://www.mmoculture.com/2012/04/garena-signs-club-mstar-for-southeast.html

KnightAge heading to English shores

Posted: 22 Apr 2012 10:18 PM PDT



[More info] According to foreign reports, cute and anime-styled MMO, KnightAge, will be heading towards English shores soon. The publisher is reported to be Joymax (link), famed for Silkroad Online. Developed by Korean studio Sesisoft, KnightAge is also known as Carpe Diem 2, which is a sequel. The prequel featured “serious” game graphics and design, a far cry from the current colorful one.

I actually thought Aeria Games will be hosting it since Aeria Japan has is publishing the Japanese server now. Joymax will service regions including North America, Europe and the Middle East. Seen in this post are trailers from the Taiwanese server. There will be various strategic party formations for both PvP and PvE, the main selling point for the game. Strangely, there is currently no Korean server.

Find similar article at: http://www.mmoculture.com/2012/04/knightage-heading-to-english-shores.html
Posted by Shri Krishna

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