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Immortal King Online

Posted: 03 Oct 2011 03:15 PM PDT

Immortal King Online is an Ancient Greece themed browser based MMORTS by NGames. In this Greek mythology infused adventure players have to establish a city and their own militia capable of defeating the Gods. Join forces with celestial or hell bound factions and wage war. Complete difficult expedition quests, recruit legendary heroes from the past, battle armies of mystical beasts, and challenge other players' troops to move up the ranks.

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Publisher: NGames
Playerbase: Medium
Graphics: Medium Quality
Type: MMORTS
EXP Rate: Medium
PvP: Arenas
Platform: Browser/Facebook

Pros: +Animated combat sequences. +Battle Arrays.

Cons: -Excessive CD system. –Slow paced gameplay.

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Overview

Immortal King Online Overview

Immortal King Online also referred to as IK is a fantasy war themed browser based MMORTS that transports players back to Ancient Greece. Similar to popular games like Evony, Empire Craft, and FreeSky Online the main objective is to use strategy in order to build a powerful city with a mighty army. Recruit over 120 different legendary heroes from Theodura to Oedipus. Train them in various techniques, upgrade equipment, and wage war. Select your own battle formations before combat to catch enemies off guard. Complete tedious expeditions for silver bounties and honor. Construct buildings, seize farms, fight monsters, and challenge others in the arena area for prestige. Enter dangerous instances or join a league to combine resources. Choose one of three factions and become the hero that fought the Gods.

Factions: Heaven (ruler Zeus), Ocean (ruler Poseidon), and Underworld (ruler Hades).

Buildings – Temple, Training Ground, Barn, Academy, Barracks, Tax Office, Market, Mint, Employ, Trading Post, Winery, Cottage, and Workshop.

Immortal King Online Screenshots

Immortal King Online Featured Video

Coming soon….

Full Review

Immortal King Online Review

By Ange Perdu
Immortal King Online or IK is a free-to-play war themed MMORTS based on Greek mythology. Players enter a world that has been divided by quarreling Gods Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. Join one of the three affiliations and build a powerful empire with an unstoppable militia capable of destroying human foes as well as deities. Recruit and train hundreds of legendary heroes. Forge equipment, execute spells, upgrade buildings, collect taxes, seize lands, and battle other players' armies in order to be ranked among the best. Declare war in the arena or challenge opposing faction troops for a quick skirmish. Complete various expeditions, fight off droves of challenging enemies in special instances, and form influential leagues with friends in this strategy browser MMO from 321Games.

Evolution of a Hero, the Gameplay

In IK most of the gameplay involves fighting troops and the monster armies that heroes encounter while exploring or conquering. Exploring is often done through the completion of quests and different expeditions. Quests primarily serve as a guideline for the direction players should steer their expanding empire. They often consist of simple tasks like upgrading a particular building, seizing a plot of farmland, conquering another player's silver mine, or attacking an opposing faction. Unlike the game Evony players do not build their city from the ground up. Many of the structures are already established. Users' sole responsibility is to upgrade and maintain their empire. The city-building feature in this game is a scaled-down version of the traditional elements seen in popular RTS titles. Food and silver are the only necessary resources. Food which is essential for maintaining troops is accumulated through seizing farmland. Entering the field area and clicking to attack an occupied farm plot will prompt a battle between your troops and the owner. The winner will possess the farm and its produce. Players earn silver as a reward for completing quests and by winning battles. Expeditions follow the storyline of the war-torn world and require players to enter various zones fighting militia blocking the desired pathway. Each expedition will ask heroes to obtain a particular artifact like the Golden Fleece or destroy a notorious boss character such as Perseus. In order to reach the course objective players have to battle dozens of troops scattered throughout the zone. Stationed troops vary in difficulty requiring players to use strategy in their methods of attack.

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The Power of Battle Arrays

A very cool feature in Immortal King Online is the battle array option which allows users to select the formation of their generals' troops. There are seven distinct battle arrays available as a player levels up their city in the category of technology. Depending on the size the army it's possible to set up a Cross formation, Scatter position, T-type stance, Crescent, Awl maneuver, Z-type, and V-type array. Each of these moves will significantly increase the block, damage, defense, or critical hits of the troop. Before initiating a battle players can choose their formation and commanding generals. Although automated all battles are viewed in an animated sequence with militia firing at the enemy. It's a nice touch. Despite the live action the gameplay still feels slow paced especially since there's such a long (CD) cool down system implemented throughout the game. After performing any action whether upgrading or fighting a cool down countdown begins. These time-outs can last anywhere from a several minutes to an entire day. After completing a couple tasks players may have to wait hours before they can play again. There are fast-tracks or boosts that accelerate the process but they're hard to come by. As players move up the ranks they earn prestige unlocking more powerful heroes. Special warriors enable troops to perform skills like the Crippling Blow, Demoralizing Shout, Blood Lust, Bladestorm, and Shield Wall. The placement of potent heroes along with equipment can make a huge impact on the outcome of a melee.

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The Fated Blade & VIP Status

There's a small selection of weapons and equipment available in the shop area. These accessories are pretty generic. They come in bronze, iron, and silver. Purchase a standard Bow, Sword, Spear, Rod, or Crook to equip heroes. Dress warriors in Normal Cloth Armor, Exceptional Cloth Armor, and Silk Cloaks. War-horses, Winged-horses, astrology, Elementary Potions, and spells can be bought as well. High ranking heroes when unlocked feature signature weapons such as the Argonauts Spear, Titans' Hammer, Cerberus Snarl, Fated Blade, Betrayer's Shiv, Maiden's Dagger, Storm Machete, Flamen's Crossbows, Soul Spike, Sword of Queen, and Trident of Poseidon. In the VIP Shop area gems with the ability to increase magic or skill attacks cost gold. There's a VIP member status for players willing to spend real cash to buy gold credits. Similar to Empire Craft users with VIP status have a significant advantage over free players. They receive elite 72 hour training sessions, more training space, forced trade passes, faster training speeds, the ability to refresh daily quests, and advanced resource trade options.

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Prestigious Leagues

The game also features a battle arena and extensive league system. Once a player reaches a level 20 empire they can enter the arena area to challenge other players' armies. These automated face-offs reward heroes with badges and the opportunity to change their rank. If a user continuously defeats over a dozen opponents they earn the title of unconquerable with their count of chain kills listed. Leagues function as guilds allowing members to accumulate silver and participate in various events together. Each league has a host, vice hosts, chiefs, officials, and senior roles. The host is the leader with the responsibility of selecting each position. When established leagues can seize farmlands as a team and dominate certain areas impending taxes on residents. There are also special quests and instances available as heroes advance.

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Final Verdict: Good

Overall IK is a solid fantasy war themed RTS with a few additional features that make it stand out from other similar titles online like Evony, FreeSky Online, or Empire Craft. Players explore Greek mythology as they tackle quests, level up, and recruit new heroes. There are over 120 distinct heroes that can be trained from Peirithous and Creon to the infamous Robin Hood. The ability to collect all of these legendary figures is not only addicting but challenging as well. Players have to continuously earn prestige to unlock better warriors. Instead of dull battle reports each encounter is fully animated. Choose from seven different battle formations and create your own combinations to annihilate opposing militia. Seize resources through fighting, expand cities, and challenge others in the arena area. Although the cool down system and shop item selection could be better Immortal King Online is still entertaining. Any fans of real-time strategy browser MMOs will enjoy this expedition with the Gods.

Screenshots

Immortal King Online Screenshots

Links

Immortal King Online Links

Official Game Page

Hellgate announces October events

Posted: 03 Oct 2011 11:12 AM PDT

A new host of events is now lined up for October in Hellgate Global. These events include:

- Palladium, nano shards, and dark stone rewards for players who can defeat Imhotep and Anaksunamun in Nightmare Mode

- Rewards for guilds in the Last Guild Standing event

- A new Boss Time Attack challenge in Tokyo

- Free daily supplies from Supply Soldier Teo

- Rewards for leveling up

- Bonus experience for the first hour after logging in each day

- Lucky Coupons drop from monsters, and can be exchanged for Luck Boxes that contain rare in-game items.

Hellgate Global is published by T3Fun.

hellgate-2011-07-04-23-12-01-36

Hellgate Gameplay Screenshot

Source:

Hellgate Global Welcomes Tokyo Travelers with New Challenges this October

After the successful release of Hellgate Tokyo, Hellgate Global rewards its players with tons of new challenges

LOS ANGELES – October 3, 2011
T3fun today announced a series of events that will challenge both new and veteran players of Hellgate Global. These challenges have been scaled up to the difficulty settings offered by Tokyo, and will surely keep players busy fighting and hunting during this upcoming month.

Breaking the Curse

This event is only available to players who have access to the Curse of Dawn mode. Players are tasked with killing Imhotep and Anaksunamun. As long as this is done in Nightmare Mode, players are allowed to finish the event in either solo or group play. Palladium, nano shards, and dark stones await the winners of this event!

Last Guild Standing

It is now time to see which guild in Hellgate Global has the fastest reflexes, the strongest team synergy, and the best builds! Team up with your guild mates and battle with other guilds to finally determine who will be the Last Guild Standing! This event is not just about the prizes that will be rewarded, but also about the honor you and your guild shall receive!

Boss Time Attack: New Challenge

Boss Time Attack is back! Tokyo bosses await players who are willing to take up the challenge. The trial is well worth it, because mod preservatives and skill reset items shall be given out as rewards!

New players will not be left out, either. This October, Hellgate Global will be bringing back four events designed to aid players in their struggle against the demonic invasion from Hell! The following events will be returning:

Daily Supplies

Supply Soldier Teo never fails to help new recruits in mankind's battle against demons from hell. Every day, Supply Soldier Teo will give away supplies to all players of Hellgate Global.

Level and Be Rewarded

Every experience received and every level gained will not be in vain. Once a player reaches a specific level, players are rewarded with in-game items.

Condition EXP Bonus

Every day for the first hours after logging-in, players will be given an EXP bonus.

The Lucky Coupons

Farming has never been so rewarding. With the Lucky Coupon event, which will last until the second week of October, players have the chance to drop these coupons when defeating champion monsters. Upon collecting a specific amount of coupons, players may exchange them for luck boxes, giving players the chance to receive rare in-game items!

Players returning from the lands of Tokyo will be properly welcomed back this October. Hardcore challenges await the brave and the willing, while new and leveling players will have plenty to do during the returning events, earning them supply items and helping them to level up. Mankind's war against demons has never been this challenging!

MMO Updates

MMO Updates


Leaderboard: Subscriptions vs. free-to-play

Posted: 03 Oct 2011 10:00 AM PDT

Filed under: , , , , ,

Leaderboard
For our very first Leaderboard, it was imperative that we pick one of the great white sharks of MMO debates. Cosmetic top hats vs. berets wouldn't cut it, oh no -- we needed a topic that players far and wide can never seem to settle. We needed a battle of the business models: subscriptions vs. free-to-play.

Subscriptions have the advantage of simplicity (pay-and-forget), of keeping games from being "nickel-and-dimed to death," of being fairly affordable compared to other forms of entertainment, and of being easily understood by most consumers. Free-to-play removes the barrier for initial access but seeks to mine players' wallets through microtransactions by either presenting tempting purchases or making progress difficult in the game after a point. Long-term history seems to favor subscriptions, but recent developments have definitely shifted the market in favor of F2P models.

It's the aging stud against the unconventional upstart in today's Leaderboard! Which will be triumphant?

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Ever wish that you could put to rest a long-standing MMO debate once and for all? Then welcome to the battle royal of Massively's Leaderboard, where two sides enter the pit o' judgment -- and only one leaves. Vote to make your opinion known, and see whether your choice tops the Leaderboard!

MassivelyLeaderboard: Subscriptions vs. free-to-play originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 03 Oct 2011 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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    Exclusive: Trickster Online's Songs of Love and Fate

    Posted: 03 Oct 2011 09:00 AM PDT

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    Trickster Online
    Heads up, Anime fans: SG Interactive's Trickster Online is on the verge of releasing what it's calling "the largest episode in the history of Caballa Island." The cutesy, free-to-play, 2-D isometric MMO out of South Korea aims to launch Episode VI, the grand finale of its second season of content, on October 6th. The episode, titled The Songs of Love and Fate, includes a new escort system, 18 new characters, 23 new maps, 17 new monsters, 15 new normal quests, and 41 new scenario quests. And as you might guess from the title, the update will tell a love story rather than focus on the mysteries of the island itself. Who says a game has to be 3-D to tell a good story?

    Past the cut, we've got an exclusive teaser video with the highlights from this upcoming content patch. Enjoy!

    Continue reading Exclusive: Trickster Online's Songs of Love and Fate

    MassivelyExclusive: Trickster Online's Songs of Love and Fate originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 03 Oct 2011 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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      Undead Labs moving right along with Class3

      Posted: 03 Oct 2011 08:00 AM PDT

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      Class3 - street corner with zombies or something, who knows
      The end of September marked a graduation of sorts for members of the Undead Labs development team. The company's untitled maiden voyage has officially crossed the threshold from pre-production to in production, and a blog post on the firm's web site celebrates the milestone with something of a rah-rah speech from founder Jeff Strain.

      "I'm blown away by how far we've come in such a short amount of time. Our task now as we move headlong into the production phase is to take this fun little gem and turn it into something we're proud to show the world," Strain wrote.

      The gem he's referring to is currently known only by its Class3 codename. We do know that it's about zombies, and it's only for consoles. Aside from that, the title is shrouded in a fair bit of mystery. Strain's post also features a time-lapse video that shows off the game's CryEngine 3-powered time-of-day effects, and you can check that out after the cut.

      Continue reading Undead Labs moving right along with Class3

      MassivelyUndead Labs moving right along with Class3 originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 03 Oct 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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      MV Guide: October 3-9, 2011

      Posted: 03 Oct 2011 07:00 AM PDT

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      RIFT screenshot
      MV Guide is a weekly rundown of the MMO gaming events planned on Massively's Livestream channel.

      Every week, the Massively staff logs in to play various MMOs live and in person, and we'd love for you to drop by the channel and visit. We have a combination of regular weekly games and new surprises, so you'll find a variety of titles to take a look at. During livestream events, you can participate in the live chat, ask questions to learn about the game, and simply spend some time with Massively staff and readers. (Of course, livestream events are subject to the whims of outside forces like server-side gremlins once in a while.)

      Follow along after the jump to see what's on this week's schedule!

      Continue reading MV Guide: October 3-9, 2011

      MassivelyMV Guide: October 3-9, 2011 originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 03 Oct 2011 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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        The Daily Grind: Should devs listen to player councils?

        Posted: 03 Oct 2011 06:00 AM PDT

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        EVE Online screenshot
        EVE Online's Council of Stellar Management started as an idea with good intentions, as a way to bring the players' ideas and wishes to the development staff. But the scandals surrounding EVE's CSM seem to undermine its potential for constructive feedback. Few gamers seem to believe that the Council, dominated as it is by megacorps with their own agendas, truly acts in the best interests of the game or the playerbase. And in spite of CCP Games' declarations of cooperation, few players believe that the CSM is much more than CCP's way of paying lip service to the community.

        But perhaps that's as it should be. What say you, Massively readers? Should games bother with councils of players reps? Are players simply too narrow-minded or corrupt to be trusted with such power? And should devs be strong-armed into listening to the mandates of such players?

        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!

        MassivelyThe Daily Grind: Should devs listen to player councils? originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 03 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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          Newest Star Trek Online blog entry outlines the Duty Officer system

          Posted: 02 Oct 2011 08:00 PM PDT

          Filed under: , , , , ,

          And they say EVE is full of spreadsheets.
          One of the issues that Star Trek Online has always faced when emulating its source material is the simple issue of size. Players take the role of a captain overseeing an entire ship, crewed with numerous people, a ship that in the television series would be filled with actors and recurring faces. But in gameplay, that sense has always been a bit more difficult to convey... and it's an element being addressed with the new Duty Officer system.

          In the latest entry in the Path to F2P blog, Geoff Tuffli outlines the goals and overall thrust of the Duty Officer system. Players will receive Duty Officers as rewards in a variety of ways, including spending time in the academy for each respective faction. The officers can be placed in departments, sent on assignments, or otherwise managed by players in order to receive the greatest amount of benefit from the support staff. It's a feature that's long been promised by the development team, and as the game moves toward a hybrid business model, it looks to finally be moving to release.

          MassivelyNewest Star Trek Online blog entry outlines the Duty Officer system originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 02 Oct 2011 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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          MMO Week in Review: BioWare blunder

          Posted: 02 Oct 2011 06:00 PM PDT

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          SWTOR Screenshot
          At the end of every week, we round up the best and most popular news stories, exclusive features, and insightful columns published on Massively and then present them all in one convenient place. Miss a big MMO or WoW Insider story last week? You've come to the right post.

          There's no question that this week's highlight was BioWare's accidental mass-email to potential Star Wars: The Old Republic testers, whose hopes were quickly deflated. But SWTOR delivered more than a giant oops this week: BioWare announced that the game will launch with achievements, released a nifty 3-D map of the Star Wars galaxy, and promised an "aggressive" post-launch plan. And for those of you lost in a sea of SWTOR lore, our own Larry Everett posted a timeline of the era's history.

          Check out the rest of this week's top MMO stories behind the break.

          Continue reading MMO Week in Review: BioWare blunder

          MassivelyMMO Week in Review: BioWare blunder originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 02 Oct 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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            EVE Evolved: Time dilation and the war on lag

            Posted: 02 Oct 2011 04:00 PM PDT

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            EVE Evolved title image
            When EVE Online launched back in 2003, it quickly gained a following of over 40,000 subscribing players. With around 5,000 solar systems for players to explore, those players spread themselves throughout the galaxy rather than gathering in one place. Players would often come together to trade or make war, but the server generally kept up with the action. As the number of subscribers rose, the size of the average PvP fleet increased and CCP upgraded the EVE server to handle the additional load. 2005 saw EVE's subscriber numbers explode from just over 50,000 to around 100,000 players. Server upgrades suddenly didn't cut it any more, and lag began to set in during large fleet battles.

            Ever since then, CCP has waged a largely unseen war against the impossibility of keeping all of EVE's players in one single-shard universe. Holding on to that core ideal that's made EVE the successful sandbox game it is today, developers have pursued every avenue in the fight against lag. While funding research into Python's Stackless IO and constantly optimising code, CCP built the biggest supercomputer in the games industry to house New Eden's growing population. With over 400,000 players now inhabiting the same world and a typically weekly peak concurrency of over 50,000 characters, CCP has been forced to develop some big guns in the war on lag.

            In this week's EVE Evolved, I look at some of the biggest developments CCP has made in the war on lag, including the new Time Dilation feature that literally slows down time to let the server catch its breath.

            Continue reading EVE Evolved: Time dilation and the war on lag

            MassivelyEVE Evolved: Time dilation and the war on lag originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 02 Oct 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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              Rise and Shiny recap: Kultan

              Posted: 02 Oct 2011 02:00 PM PDT

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              Kultan screenshot
              Bigpoint's latest browser-based game is called Kultan, and it's a game that does plenty to show that the developer is continuing to push the boundaries of what a browser and the Unity engine can do. It's always comforting to have somewhere to point people when they ask, "A browser MMO? What's that?" I imagine that Bigpoint is not planning on stopping anytime soon, and Kultan will take its place as one of the rungs in a very tall ladder.

              How important will Kultan be considered in the future of Bigpoint's portfolio? In some ways, very important. In other ways, I can see it losing itself in an endless line of kill-10-rats grinders, but we'll talk more about that.

              Click past the cut and let's cover the details.

              Continue reading Rise and Shiny recap: Kultan

              MassivelyRise and Shiny recap: Kultan originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 02 Oct 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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                The Anvil of Crom: Surviving the craftpocalypse

                Posted: 02 Oct 2011 12:00 PM PDT

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                The Anvil of Crom header - big angry man with a battleaxe
                So last week we started talking a bit about Age of Conan's 2012 crafting revamp. I laid out a few things that foul up the current system -- from a tradeskiller's point of view, naturally -- but I didn't quite get around to talking about solutions.

                Though that's on the to-do list, I may not get around to it this week either, since a few mails and some forum discussions brought up a couple of interesting tangential points that I hadn't considered.

                Surprisingly, I got email from folks who aren't really looking forward to the big tradeskill upheaval that Funcom game director Craig Morrison hinted at in the August development update. Even more mind-boggling was the fact that these folks aren't even crafters.

                Continue reading The Anvil of Crom: Surviving the craftpocalypse

                MassivelyThe Anvil of Crom: Surviving the craftpocalypse originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 02 Oct 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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                  General gaming


                  Conquering Death: How Games are Reinventing Loss

                  Posted: 02 Oct 2011 02:44 PM PDT

                  Feature

                  Conquering Death Header

                  Conquering Death: How Games are Reinventing Loss

                  Dark Souls is only one of many attempts to redefine what death and loss mean in video games.

                  By: Jeremy Parish October 2, 2011

                  I'm sick of dying in video games.

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