RiotZone, published by Mail.Ru, sets you in a country ravaged by civil war, leaving you to survive tactical combat scenarios in a tropical paradise. Featuring shot game sessions, comic-style characters and plenty of special skills across several units, RiotZone offers the casual player an appealing strategy option. RiotZone is free-to-play and browser-based, so no client downloads are required.
Publisher: Mail.Ru Playerbase: ?? Graphics: Medium Type: Strategy EXP Rate: ?? PvP: 1v1, 2v2, and 3v3 battles Filesize: N/A
Pros: +Quick-to-play. +Crisp, cartoonish graphics. +Unique and varied skills for various mercenaries.
Cons: -Limited information available.
Overview
RiotZone Overview
RiotZone is a browser based RTS based in the fictional land of Merania. Players control a mercenary commander under one of two factions: The Scarlet Alliance, who wants to put Merania in the hands of the people; or the Crown Coalition, which takes an entirely business-like approach. Various missions are available for players to undertake, such as ambushes and supply interceptions. In addition to these combat missions, commanders are responsible for setting up a camp, training new soldiers, and monitoring their supplies carefully.
EverQuest Producer, Thom Terrazas, has announced to the EverQuest community that the game will go free-to-play in March.
EverQuest is turning 13 years old in March, and will celebrate its anniversary concurrently with the free-to-play release, greeting new players and returning veterans with special anniversary events. All players will get a new Welcome Pack with special items that include a unique Mercenary, experience potions, Bayle Marks, house decorations, and a Weapon Ornamentation. The game will also redesign its website and improve the map system in-game.
Like EverQuest II, EverQuest will feature a limited selection of races and classes for free players, limits spell tiers, and other content.
EverQuest is published by Sony Online Entertainment.
EverQuest Gameplay Screenshot
Source:
/Tell Norrathians INCOMING BUFFS!
Hello everyone – I hope you all are doing well early on in the New Year! With an exciting Veil of Alaris expansion just released in November, we’re thrilled to announce the next big adventure for EverQuest®. After listening to your feedback and suggestions over the past few years, I’m happy to announce that in early March 2012, EverQuest will be going free-to-play.
We’re excited to be expanding the EverQuest experience by making the game more accessible to every type of player so that you can choose to play the game in a way that suits you best. Anyone who wishes to start, return or continue to play one of the “Best Games of All-Time” can simply download and play EverQuest on their terms – think of it as Free to Play, Your Way. Recurring subscriptions, non-recurring subscriptions, Silver or Free memberships, item unlockers, and more. The game will now be setup to be flexible so that *you* can decide how much to pay, based on how much fun you’re having.
EverQuest players are some of the most loyal, long-standing players of any MMO in existence. With the gaming landscape changing every day, we want to ensure we continue to evolve the game to keep players engaged and bring in even more new players to further expand the community. With no up-front costs or required membership, we might see a new player or two along the way, and more people is always a good thing!
Once we go free-to-play, here are some of the upcoming features and events you can expect:
On Friday, March 16th, EverQuest becomes a teenager: 13 years old!!! We will be having some extra added events in the game starting that week leading up to that Friday and we’re introducing some new items within POK to let you know what’s in store.
With the free-to-play launch, a renovated everquest.com website will be unveiled and after that, we will bring you upgraded EQPlayers pages.
We have improved the functionality of our Map system! Some improvements include being able to view appropriate level content for your character on the map, allowing you to find zone lines much easier; and also showing you your wisps on the map to help navigate to where you want to go!
Also at the free-to-play launch, all players will receive a Welcome Pack containing items to add to your gameplay experience. You’ll be able to summon a unique Mercenary to fight by your side and we’re including some Bayle Marks to help pay for the services of your newly summoned Mercenary. A couple of Experience Potions are also included to help you increase your experience gained while adventuring. For all the collectors that like to show off all the great wares to your friends, we’re giving you an item to display in your home and add to your collection. And finally, you’ll be able to customize the appearance of one of your weapons with a Weapon Ornamentation – also included in the Welcome Pack. So be sure to check the claim window for your free gifts.
We, the EverQuest dev team, are very excited about this new flexible system. Free-To-Play is the best fit for EverQuest and we are looking forward to supporting the game and our dedicated fans for years to come. This is a great year for everyone associated with EverQuest and SOE. We think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at what’s coming in 2012.
One last note, we will be doing a Community Webcast on Thursday February 2, 2012 covering all of the exciting free-to-play details. Please be sure to send in any questions you might have via the Facebook page or Twitter so we can respond with answers during the Webcast.
To Learn More About the Game, Check out our Repulse Page.
Repulse is a fast paced 3D sci-fi themed MMOFPS publushed by Aeria Games – the same company behind Eden Eternal and Grand Fantasia. Repulse is a unique blend between 3D tactical games like Soldier and fast paced wall jumping games like S4 League. Players in Repulse can wall jump, cloak or boost across the map. This dynamic alone makes the game quite unique. Repulse use to be under ijij as Genesis A.D before shutting down and re-opening as Repulse under Aeria.
A quick look and discussion for every major announcement and update during the week! This week we discussed updates from the following games: Spirit Tales, Dark Orbit, The Lord of the Rings Online, Conquer Online, Carte, Project Blackout, Rosh Online, Luvinia, Microvolts, Rusty Hearts, and Mythos Global. The biggest news of the week is most likely the announcement of the new expansion pack for The Lord of the Rings Online called Riders of Rohan. Its expected to be twice as large as their previous expansion but also includes a new level cap, mounted combat, new gear and items. The expansion pack is slated for later this year. You can view all the individual news articles mention over at the MMOHut.com News section.
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Massively Speaking Episode 184 returns this week with Justin and Rubi being joined by Senior Editor Bree Royce to discuss the week's news. Topics include NCsoft's newest lawsuit with En Masse, RuneScape's sub fee increase, no BlizzCon this year, and much more. Plus, this is Rubi's last time on the show, so wish her a fond farewell!
Have a comment for the podcasters? Shoot an email to podcast@massively.com. We may just read your email on the air! Get the podcast: [iTunes] Subscribe to Massively Speaking directly in iTunes. [RSS] Add Massively Speaking to your RSS aggregator. [MP3] Download the MP3 directly. Listen here on the page:
EVE Online has undergone countless changes and iterations since its first release in 2003, with major graphics overhauls and new gameplay systems arriving every year. In contrast, the official EVE website hasn't changed much over the years. With background information, screenshots, video, forums and knowledgebase articles, the EVE website now juggles content designed for prospective players and existing community members alike. CCP aims to change all that with a complete overhaul that will split community tools like the forums, knowledgebase, and account management from marketing designed to attract players.
In a new video devblog, web-developer CCP Alice shows off some of the features of EVE's brand new website. Built using HTML 5, the new page will feature a full built-in renderer able to show prospective players the EVE Online universe map and interactive renderings of every ship in the game. "Now that we have a better eveonline.com, the focus after this one is to focus on the community," says CCP Alice, hinting that new community tools will soon be on the way. In a follow-up devblog today, Community Manager CCP Guard confirmed that players will soon be able to start their own corporation forums hosted on CCP's servers. Check out the full video after the cut.
A new world record for simultaneous FPS participants was set over the weekend. Man vs. Machine, a browser title from MuchDifferent, is the new champion thanks to its ability to support 999 players on a single battlefield at the same time.
MuchDifferent CEO Christian Lonnholm says that Man vs. Machine smashed the previous record of 600 simultaneous combatants held by Sony Online Entertainment'sPlanetSide, and he also viewed the event as a resounding success despite missing the stated 1,000-player goal by a single digit.
"I am very proud that we could show the world such a massive game with no lag and great responsiveness," Lonnholm said. "We never managed to get the full thousand, though, because of the inherent unpredictability of the internet with players constantly timing out and logging out."
Head past the cut for a video of the record-setting event.
Admit it: You aren't always out just for the thrill of the experience -- you want the bling-bling to go with it. A shopping spree, with your sword playing the role of "credit card" and each corpse a potential bonanza of fashion acquisitions. That's okay; we're not here to judge you.
In fact, if fancy armor gets your motor running, Guild Wars Insider has a treat for you: two pictures of Guild Wars 2's PvP Scholar armor set modeled by a majestic Norn Elementalist. While the armor may not maximize skin coverage, the detail and design is certainly fetching.
These pictures were taken inside of the PvP lobbies, which are breathtaking environments all to themselves. The picture on the left was taken in the Battle of Khylo lobby.
We know that some of you love to roll alts and some of you just play one character until the end time. This question is not about that. No, today we want something that's much more fundamental but yet subtly more important -- when do you make those alts? When do you click back over to character creation and start fresh?
For some players, it's a matter of boredom. Some players make new characters based on roleplaying demands. Some just love to roll new characters on a regular basis whenever one character hits an important milestone. And for some of us, it's just a matter of whenever the whim strikes, whether or not that whim makes a lot of sense at the time.
If you don't make alts, of course, your answer is "almost never." But if you do, we ask you -- when do you make your new characters? What motivates you to start again from the bottom on a regular basis? When is it time to make another character?
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!
We told you earlier today that Hi-Rez is handing out prizes in honor of Global Agenda's second anniversary, and while that's pretty awesome, we've got a little something extra for those players who have the good taste to also be Massively readers.
We've got some booster codes to give away: three days of extra experience, credits, and tokens, free for the taking. Picking one up for yourself is a snap: Go to our giveaway page to pick up your code, then log into game and type "/claimpromotion Promocode". Enter your code and that's it -- you've got your three-day booster!
Enjoy your booster code and join us in thanking Hi-Rez for the gift!
It's been a little quiet on the Final Fantasy XIV front since the new year, but the team behind the game has been hard at work preparing the launch of patch 1.21. And it's going to be quite a massive patch, as outlined in Naoki Yoshida's most recent producer's letter for the fans. Not only does it contain the addition of the long-awaited Job system, but it also includes UI improvements, housing, two new instanced raids, a food and medicine overhaul, and a variety of smaller changes.
While the team had originally aimed for a launch in the second week of February, Yoshida notes that the patch will likely be delayed two weeks due to the sheer amount of content going in. He also discusses what he calls temporary server merges prior to the launch of 2.0 in November; as he puts it, the main concern is allowing players, especially from European regions, to have an ample playerbase to adventure with. It's a bit of unpleasant news for Final Fantasy XIV players, but it's packed in amidst many things to look forward to.
Dota 2 revealed its latest hero, Clinkz the Bone Fletcher, in this week's beta patch, while the Realm of the Titans beta was rudely interrupted by a security breach that saw thousands of passwords stolen. Blacklight: Retribution's fourth beta phase is now underway, and we have beta keys for those of you who haven't managed to get into it yet. Bloodline Champions celebrated the two-year anniversary of its first beta test this week, and developers revealed details of upcoming bloodline Headhunter.
League of Legends spilled the beans on its brand-new psychotic yordle champion Ziggs, the Hexplosives Expert, this week with a full gameplay reveal, art spotlight and patch preview. Diablo III seems slightly nearer to release this week with the news that Blizzard has cancelled BlizzCon 2012 in order to focus on getting the game to release as soon as possible. Heroes of Newerth player Fatmilk set a new world record by playing the game for 76 hours straight and raised pver $3,700US for charity as a result. Finally, the Rise of Immortals developers discussed the latest immortal, Ukkonen, and other topics in the first part of a new developer podcast series.
Turbine doesn't think subscription MMOs are dying, which might come as something of a surprise to fans of the pay-as-you-go business model that's spreading like wildfire across the Western MMO landscape.
"It's probably not right to say the subscription MMO is dying, it's probably more right to say the idea of forcing a player to only have one option for having to consume your content -- that's probably dying," says spokesman Adam Mersky in a piece at Eurogamer.
Mersky goes on to say that brave new business models are the norm across the entertainment spectrum, and he also claims that Turbine "certainly pioneered" free-to-play in the online gaming space (though it's worth noting that Funcom introduced a F2P option for Anarchy Online in 2004, five years before Dungeons and Dragons Online took the plunge).
Finally, the Eurogamer piece touches on the upcoming Menace of the Underdark expansion as well as the unnamed "future project" that the company first hinted about in 2009.
If you've been enjoying DC Universe Online ever since the game switched business models, odds are good you're looking toward the endgame by now. Game Update 9, which is coming soon, will make getting into that endgame even easier via the addition of Novice Raids. This new difficulty setting still allows players to experience all the storyline of Fortress of Solitude, Kahndaq, and the Batcave, but the difficulty will be notched down so that players can get a better feel for what they're doing.
Of course, if you're not into the endgame rush, you've still got something to look forward to with the new role-optional alerts system. In essence, players will now be able to queue for Alerts without needing to put together a balanced group; in the event that a role is missing, a team buff will be applied to ensure that the area can still be cleared. That means that even with nothing but Damage characters, you can still explore all of DC Universe Online's group content, something that should allow for some novel player approaches once the update goes live.
[Update: SOE has also issued a statement about plans for the game's PvP in 2012. The full quote is after the cut.]
Now that it finally has a (rumored) tentative launch window, fans can officially get hyped for Guild Wars 2, only to have their hopes dashed when the release is pushed back. OK, not really (hopefully), but we do have some fancy new screenshots for you folks today courtesy of Guild Wars Insider. ArenaNet has released four new screenshots of a to-be-announced PvP map. Though we have all of no idea what kind of map it is, how it plays, or even what it's called... doesn't matter, new screenshots! To get a look at the new map in all of its splendor, just click on through the link below to Guild Wars Insider.
Despite Mythic Entertainment's recent winnowing of the Warhammer Online servers -- bringing them down from four servers to a measly pair -- the company is still hard at work developing patches for the RvR-based title. Patch 1.4.5 will be hitting the live servers tomorrow, January 31st, and it brings a number of interesting changes and also ushers in the return of fortresses, which should be good news for open RvR fans.
With the recent Skaven invasion, a number of relics have been found in myriad underground tunnels dug below the game's fortresses. Players will be charged with guarding their faction's relics while attempting to purloin those of the enemy. The Grovod Cavern scenario is also making a return, allowing two teams of 12 players to duke it out in the crumbling cave. But this time, there's a twist: Players will be taking control of two teams of Skaven; hilarity will ensue. To top it all off, 1.4.5 is bringing fortresses back into play (after they were removed some time ago), which should hopefully encourage players to head back into the open RvR lakes for fun and profit. For the full details, just head on over to the Warhammer Online official site.
Unless you're stuck in the invisible wall, no jumping, running-with-your-hands-flopping-about hell of Guild Wars, chances are you've gotten the opportunity to pick up a mount or two in an MMO. It's one of the ways that MMOs are so superior to the real world: There are no driver tests, no insurance policies, no (usually) gas. You just plop down some money and the vendor looks the other way while you go off-roading in a major metropolitan area.
But it wouldn't be a Leaderboard if we didn't force you to choose between your '67 Mustang and your pet Tauntaun, and so it shall be. In the world of mounts, there are two categories: the mechanized and the monsters. Vehicle mounts may be more rare due to fantasy's dominance over the genre, but they're still there and quite popular for the set that doesn't appreciate staring at horse doody all the live-long day. Then again, the fantastic creatures that have served as animal mounts are unceasing in variety as they are in style.
So what shall it be? Will you plug Old Yeller and go with your motorcycle, or will you mothball your favorite dune buggy in favor of Seabiscuit? Vote after the jump!
OK, so maybe there aren't really any bears. Wait, I take that back -- there are maybe sorta bears... at least alluded to! Polar bears, to be exact. No really, work with me here: What Winter Festival, Atreian or otherwise, doesn't conjure up images of polar bears? We just won't get into the whole dancing bears thing. What we will get into this week in Wings Over Atreia, however, are musings about a few topics of interest that are swirling around lately, most notably Aion's upcoming conversion to free-to-play in Europe, the changes to the veteran reward system, and the aforementioned Winter Festival (sans dancing bears).
Quick quiz now: Other than involving Aion, what else do these three subjects have in common? Give up? Time. While this column usually delves into single topics at a time, the fact that two of these are time-sensitive necessitates that they share face-time, else the news most relevant to Daevas would become obsolete. The third is less time-sensitive but more time-relevant.
It's that time again -- time to look back on a year of Vanguard: Saga of Heroes and see what changed and what stayed exactly the same. The game is now five years old, and the last year has been relatively exciting for the community. Vanguard is just one of those titles that seems to want to last forever. The playerbase is loyal, mature, and truly dedicated to this aging title. Will the players' efforts pay off?
We took a look back on the last year to see what the larger announcements were. There were some surprises and even updates (yes, actual updates to the game), something that is still affecting the community. While other games might publish monthly or even weekly updates, the Vanguard players are the camels of the greater MMO community and have learned to live off very little development fuel.
Bear in mind that as I type this, an update is being played through on the test server.
Maybe you've been a fan of PvP in RIFT from day one. Or perhaps you eschewed it due to the slow rate of rewards and the awkwardness of needing PvP souls to make any real headway. The good news is that the game's upcoming patch 1.7 is taking aim at a variety of PvP issues, starting with a change to the Prestige Rank system. The new system will offer 40 ranks instead of the previous eight; while the time to reach the cap will remain identical, you'll gain new ranks and rewards more frequently, making the overall experience smoother.
PvP souls are being outright abolished, with the abilities rolling into the new Attunement Path of War that works just like other Planar Attunements. There's also the addition of the "mercenary" option for queueing, allowing players to fight with the other faction during PvP matches in order to ensure a balanced and full group. All of this combines with across-the-board item improvements to ensure that following the patch release, taking part in PvP should be quite a bit more fun.
If you're a member of a tribe in Xsyon, you might want to check out Notorious Games' latest architecture contest. The event runs from February 1st to March 1st, and it's open to both small tribes (between one and five members) and larger groups (six or more members).
Since it's an architecture contest, you'll obviously need to construct (or re-construct) your tribe settlement. Notorious will be judging your creations for originality, uniqueness, design, layout, and beautification.
The dev team is remaining coy when it comes to contest incentives, but the latest Xsyon press release does say that "there will be a large prize for the winning tribe in each group."
Back in December, when EverQuest II made the transition to free-to-play across all servers, many gamers wondered whether its sibling, EverQuest, would follow. Today, the speculation has become reality, and EverQuest will officially go free-to-play in March, which also is the month that the game first launched back in 1999. As the game closes in on its 13th birthday, it's worth taking a look back at this game's amazing history.
The clock is chiming, and kids (and the young at heart) everywhere are asking for just a little more time with LEGO Universe. Unfortunately the struggling MMO has gotten no reprieve from the imaginary video game governor, and its servers will go offline tonight at midnight EST.
"Our decision to end LEGO Universe is similar to decisions we also make with LEGO Product collection, where favourite sets come and go to make space for new sets. It was time for LEGO Universe to end and hopefully new digital LEGO experiences will come in the future."
We first heard of LEGO Universe's closure last November, when the studio announced that the game's freemium model was not bringing in enough paying customers to keep the title afloat. LEGO Universe is a youngling in the MMO genre, having released in October 2010, making the game one year and three months old at the time of its shutdown.
Refunds for those who had a paid subscription on file after December 31st, 2011 will be distributed early next month. Unused LEGO game cards may also be exchanged for LEGO e-gift cards.
Time flies when you're fragging newbs, and Global Agenda fans have been doing just that for the better part of two years now. Hi-Rez Studios' sci-fi shooter launched on February 1st, 2010, and for this week's anniversary, the firm is offering up some exclusive prizes as well as trotting out a few old flair favorites.
Starting today, any Global Agenda player who wins an instanced PvE or PvP mission before February 6th will receive a mini Switchblade pet to parade around Dome City in between matches. Hi-Rez is also sponsoring a 6-on-6 PvP tourney that features a dragon helmet for all participants and an unnamed exclusive item and cash prize for the winning team.
But wait, there's more! Check out Chloe's Burning Fashion for an extensive back catalog of previously retired flair pieces. There are over 100 items available for purchase using Hi-Rez's cash shop currency, including some headgear from past holiday events.
Finally, check out this Friday's The Firing Line for more info on Global Agenda at the two-year mark.
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 
