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Age of Wushu previews new school abilities after server merge
The fifth inner skills for each of the eight schools are arriving in the next Age of Wushu update, and if you're a player, you'd probably like to know what they do, wouldn't you? I mean, one of them might instantly kill everything in a seven-meter radius, and the other might summon a moderate quantity of breadsticks and marinara sauce. That seems unlikely, though, as the preview of these new abilities mentions neither sort of talent. They do include attack buffs, HP drains, and major defensive buffs, though, so that's good. You'll be able to show these skills off to a wider range of players after the game's server merges from yesterday. The Golden Kirin and White Tiger servers have been merged into the Blue Dragon server; players whose names will need to change should receive name changing scrolls within the next few days. If you weren't able to log in yesterday and aren't sure about how the merge went down, you can double-check the quick guide to the process.
Master Plan addon makes Garrison mission management a breeze
Garrisons are an integral part of the leveling game in Warlords of Draenor, but they're also part of the endgame, too -- collecting various followers and sending them on the appropriate missions will net you rewards like gear, gold, resources, and more. But although I love the garrison game, when you've got 20 followers, trying to keep track of who does what is almost a logistical nightmare. Sure, there's only a handful of threats that your follower's abilities need to counter, but remembering which follower does what is something that I still haven't mastered. Beyond that, the mission interface itself is decent and fairly intuitive, but it's not quite as user-friendly as it could be. So it was with great anticipation that I awaited the inevitable addons that would take missions and follower management to the next level -- because if there's one thing I've learned in 10 years of gameplay, it's that addon authors are ridiculously talented when it comes to redesigning UI functions into elegant masterpieces of design. And the addon Master Plan by Foxlit has done exactly that with the missions and follower interface.
Star Wars: The Old Republic explains 3.0's Sniper and Gunslinger
Star Wars: The Old Republic finishes up its series examining the class changes coming with the 3.0 update today with the Sniper and the Gunslinger. Why were those two the last on the list? Probably because they were hiding way in the back. That's sort of how they do things. As both of the base classes (Smuggler and Imperial Agent) have seen some significant changes, some of the changes to Snipers and Gunslingers focus around keeping the core utility of the advanced classes while removing unnecessary or superfluous buttons. Sharpshooter/Marksmanship are fairly unchanged from their current incarnations, save for a new ability replacing an older ability in regular rotation. Engineer/Saboteur is largely unchained, but the changes to abilities should produce smoother overall rotations. Last but not least, Virulence/Dirty Fighting specialties both gain a new ability that functionally replaces an older option and a new passive ability to spread damage over time. Check out the details on the new tricks on the official development blog.
Darkfall Unholy Wars answers questions on custom roles
In the original version of Darkfall, skill selection was a wide-open field. When the game relaunched as Darkfall Unholy Wars, the role system was introduced, narrowing the field of options significantly. Now custom roles are incoming, and that means that players have questions about how the new mechanics will work. Those questions are being answered in a three-part series of community Q&A sessions, with the first two parts available now. Some mechanics are being removed -- Wobble, for instance, was introduced solely to balance roles, but with the new system the developers no longer need balancing specifically between roles. There have been significant adjustments made to some skills, in part to avoid the situation wherein everyone has a ranged kill skill and super-powerful healing. Despite this, the answers also point out that most characters will actually see a net increase in power overall. If you want to know more, feel free to glance at the full rundown of answers for more details.
The Repopulation improves abilities and combat in May
May has finally come to an end, and The Repopulation comes ever closer to release with a larger pool of testers on both weekends and a regular basis. It also means that more big changes have been rolled out to the game, starting with Ability Enhancements. These slotted tricks fit into abilities similar to item fittings, with a variety of different enhancements available to improve a character's skills. The enhancement slots are limited, however, which forces players to think about how they want to specialize their characters. Combat has also received a major tuning tweak, with a new off-hand option for those who'd prefer not to dual-wield melee weapons and a number of improved abilities. The refined combat system includes new openings and counter-attack support, which makes the system play nicer in a group setting. You can see the full patch notes and read more details on the official site. [Thanks to J.C. Smith for the tip!]
Star Trek Online launches Season 9: A New Accord
It's been a long while since Star Trek Online captains had to fear the Undine. This mysterious race has moved off of the radar as the Federation and KDF have explored the Solanae Dyson Sphere, fought back against the Borg and the Tholians, and sought allies upon New Romulus. But the latest patch for the game sees the Undine stepping up their campaign of aggression from fluidic space, sending players through a new series of featured episodes, introducing a new reputation, and offering several new endgame activities. Season 9 also brings with it a number of other changes, including a revamp to how both kits and reputations work. Both systems are now more flexible, with the former allowing captains more control over which abilities show up on the ground and the latter providing more player choice over the long term. Take a look at the full list of additions and get ready to set a course for new dangers in this update.
Star Trek Online shows off a revamp to player kits
Kits are your main method for grabbing ground combat abilities in Star Trek Online. You equip a kit and you're good to go. Despite that, they're also rather limited, as there are a limited number of different kit types and each kit of a given type contains a very set number of abilities. Season 9 is thus deploying an extensive overhaul of the kit system, allowing players to build the sorts of kits that they want to use in a more flexible framework. The core of the system is simple. Abilities are split into two categories for each profession: Assault and Strategic for Tactical, Medical and Research for Science, and Fabrication and Mechanic for Engineering. Kits will become frameworks that contain skill bonuses as well as slots to equip abilities, with each slot allowing any skill within a given category. For more details on how the new kits can be acquired and how the flexibility will benefit players, take a look at the full development blog.
How to learn what you're doing on a boosted 90
Look, it's okay to admit that in some cases, players who've pre-ordered Warlords of Draenor or even bought the level 90 boost are on level 90 characters that they don't actually know how to play. In some cases, this isn't the case -- if I used the boost, for instance, I'd probably know how to play that 12th warrior I boosted to 90. But if I were to boost my hunter, there would suddenly be 29 levels of huntering to absorb and take in, and if I were to use the boost on a rogue I'd hate myself for it and quit playing in a storm of recriminations. Also, I would have zero idea what I was doing on a rogue for the ten seconds before I realized what I'd done. Now that I've had my fun, let's get serious - how would I play a rogue at 90? Or a mage, or a priest, or another class that I'd never played before? Well, there are resources out there -- WoW Insider has a rookie guide, for starters -- and there are other sites like Wowhead and Icy-Veins that can and do give you an overview of what your new class does. There's also a very useful resource built into the game itself. Your spellbook has a great deal of information for you about what your class can do and how to go about playing it, that can get you pointed in the right direction to begin play. We're assuming you're a returning player who has not played in a while or a new player just getting started with this article - established players starting a new alt may already know much of this.
MMO Mechanics: Comparing vertical and horizontal progression
MMO players strive to obtain some kind of tangible progression each play session, but the method by which that progression is delivered varies greatly across the genre. Archetypal themepark titles frequently rely on level-based progression that culminates in climbing through gear tiers at endgame, but the freeform nature of sandbox MMOs lends itself to a more open progression system that focuses on the holistic development of characters. These two progression systems are described as vertical and horizontal progression: Traditional gearing or leveling is commonly described as a vertical climb, while wider choice-based progression is more often expressed as a non-linear journey. The relative merits of these two diverging approaches to progression are commonly debated by modern MMO players. Many players wish to see a blended hybrid approach to progression that emphasises the horizontal, multi-faceted growth of their characters over rattling through yet another gear tier. Despite this, players still favour a goal-oriented attainment system and perhaps progressive gear that doesn't require a long run on the grinding treadmill. This balance can be very hard to achieve, so titles such as Guild Wars 2 have taken some knocks on the path towards perfect horizontal and vertical progression balance. In this week's MMO Mechanics, I will look at what is meant by both vertical and horizontal progression, how they are mechanically implemented in MMOs, and what each type of progression means for the playerbase.
A look at WildStar's customization options
How much do you like character customization? If you shrug and click the nearest "random" button when making a new character you probably don't care much. But if you like to carefully examine customization options before creating a character, and then even more carefully examine customization options after creating a character... well, WildStar's developers understand the way you work. They'd like to help, insofar as giving you a whole bunch more customization options could count as "helping." Customizing your character doesn't end at creation -- it extends to how you play your character, how your character's outfit looks, and even how your mount looks. Not to mention, of course, that there's the housing system. The game's latest DevSpeak video about customization is just past the cut, and we got a chance to talk a little more with the fine folks at Carbine Studios about tuning your character just right.
Here's a list of The Repopulation's weapon abilities
Guess what, Repopulation fans? It's time for another update, that's what. Above & Beyond has posted a list of alpha weapon abilities on the game's website. The post notes that "some weapon lines are still under construction and missing abilities," but it's nonetheless an extensive info dump that gives those of us outside of alpha testing a quick look at the sci-fi sandbox's combat particulars. The Repopulation's dev team has also released the sixth chapter of its Evening Star short story. You'll find both updates behind the links listed below.
The Nexus Telegraph: Surprise! WildStar!
You might have noticed that there was an omission in last week's installment of The Nexus Telegraph. Every week I let you lovely people know what I'm going to be writing about next week, and when I can, the week after that. Last week I completely omitted what I'd be discussing in my next WildStar column, leaving you with no idea what I'd talk about today. Surprise! Yes, that was the thematic link. It seemed clever to me. One of the big elements that WildStar is embracing thus far is that trick of surprising the player. It's a tricky thing to pull off in an MMO because the entire genre is built around understanding and minimizing surprises as much as you can. So let's take a look at some of the game's approaches to surprise and how the game manages to create more surprises by giving you fewer surprises in some areas. Yeah, it's that sort of thing.
Infinite Crisis shows off Harley Quinn
Harley Quinn has gone from being a simple sidekick for the Joker to being a respected villain in her own right, albeit one that's generally seen as something of an airhead. It's easy to forget that she was a psychiatrist assigned to take care of the Joker in the first place. So it kind of makes sense that she'd be more than just another pretty smash-happy character in Infinite Crisis, instead taking a more subtle role as a healer and support. Harley's passive ability buffs movement and attack speed for all nearby allies, while her activated abilities consist of a direct heal, a ranged attack, a knockback, and a knockup. The net result is that Harley works as support for teammates, knocking away certain enemies while keeping her immediate team healed and buffed. Check out the video preview past the break for more details on how to make the most of Harley's specific arsenal.
The Daily Grind: Which MMO has the best skill names?
I haven't played Age of Wushu since beta, but I love reading about the title. For one thing, it's a martial arts sandbox and how badass is that? For another, it's got the best skill names I've ever seen. How can you not love a game with a skill called Devil Slay Lovers or a style called Demon Heart Chain Hand? It sure beats Fire I or Fire II, no? Anyway, which MMO do you feel has the best or most creative skill and ability names? 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!
Tamriel Infinium: Horizontal vs. vertical progression and the Elder Scrolls Online
The week before last, I talked about a hybrid penalty, and I've realized that I did so without actually talking about how progression is slated to work in Elder Scrolls Online. Because ESO wants to emulate the existing Elder Scrolls games in an MMO, we see many of the same ideas ported directly from the single-player game into the online game. This includes training up in a specific weapon and armor, weapon swapping, and skill-based progression. And if you have played other games' skill-based or non-linear progression systems, then you know about the difficulties of balance. ESO, like other games before it, tackles this imbalance by limiting the number of abilities available to a player at a given time. Skill progression also takes an interesting turn in ESO as well, and I'm not exactly sure how to define it. Most MMOs follow a vertical progression tree in which you place the game's version of skill points in an upward-growing tree or pyramid, with skills following a guided path to the best skill of a given tree at the top. Usually the limitations placed on these trees are based on level, which gives you a finite number of earnable skill points. I call this vertical progression. Although any good class skill system will have some branches to the side, usually the ultimate goal is to reach the top of the tree to gain the best abilities in that given class. Thankfully, Elder Scrolls Online takes a different approach.
WildStar unveils the details on ability mechanics
Abilities are the bread and butter of games. You have to be able to do something, after all. WildStar started with the same basic foundation as several other MMOs, but as it is wont to do, it's evolved to have a very different foundation now. It's so different, in fact, that the latest Dev Speak video is all about how abilities work and how they differ from the standard MMO trifecta of casts, channels, and instant abilities. Of course, we could just tell you how all of this fits together... but why would we do that when we can just show you? So click on past the break for the video itself, and then keep reading for more specific details on these new mechanics. Even familiar things like cast bars are a little different here, and you'll want to see some of this stuff in action.
Lord of the Rings Online explains Hunter changes in Helm's Deep
Ranged classes can be hard to handle from a design standpoint. Lord of the Rings Online had exactly that problem with Hunters; players felt that one of the class trait lines was the "main" line and the others were just supplementary. The latest development blog explains how that issue has been corrected: the developers have given the Bowmaster, Huntsman, and Trapper of Foes lines unique roles and specialties on the battlefield. The Bowmaster is a stationary high-DPS ranged specialization that requires a steady spot for consistent damage. The Huntsman, meanwhile, emphasizes mid-range mobility and rapid output of weaker attacks. Trapper of Foes fills out the roster by focusing on crowd control and AoE, trading in some damage for more group offerings. Players can start enjoying these changes when the expansion goes live in November. On an unrelated but important note, players impacted by the game's outage issues earlier in the month have now been compensated via time extensions for subscribers and free Turbine Points for lifetime members. It's not a class revision, but it's certainly a welcome bit of recompense.
Age of Wushu previews its winter content
Winter is coming. Literally. We're almost halfway through September. Age of Wushu is using the oncoming winter not as an ominous portent of doom but as a chance to introduce a bunch of new content to the game, starting with school instances. No matter how benevolent your school may be on the surface, there's always more going on underneath. Within the depths of these instances lie not only money and glory but perhaps ever more powerful techniques that have been lost to time. Both secret scripts and new ultimate scrolls will be added to the game, with the latter offering true mastery over a school. The secret scripts once threw the realm into chaos, but deciphering these arts will be the mark of a true master. And if you've had your fill of all that, you can always take advantage of the upcoming marriage system and settle down for in-game domestic bliss. It's a lot of new content for the game, and all players need to do is wait for the winter.
The Mog Log Extra: Cross-class skills in Final Fantasy XIV
A little over a year ago, I talked about all of the really stand-out cross-class skills in Final Fantasy XIV. Astute readers will note that some of the abilities I reference in that article no longer exist, and several of them have completely different effects now. It's almost as if the game has completely relaunched or something. It's crazy. This might not sound like a big deal, but it is because cross-class skills are one of the big aspects of character customization in the game. You level up as an Archer with the expectation that you'll pick up a few more skills along the way to augment your strengths. So which ones are worth picking up? As of the last beta weekend, there are a lot of skills available, and I went through everything as best I could to try to pick out what's available. So now you can plan out your leveling in advance and know just what you want for those 10 extra slots in your class.
The Mog Log Extra: Starting an Arcanist in Final Fantasy XIV
My initial plan for last Saturday's edition of The Mog Log was foiled by the simple fact that getting to Limsa Lominsa was much more difficult than it needed to be. There was no way to get to Limsa, unlock Arcanist, level Arcanist, write a column of a thousand words or more, have it proofed, and have it readable by the time that you fine people expect to read something. My apologies are deep and heartfelt. Despite that fact, once I finally did get to Limsa, I poured myself into playing Arcansit as if it was my job. Which it sort of was. And I found that to my pleasant surprise, despite the fact that the class is everything I usually dislike in a class, I was having an absolute blast. I wouldn't say it's my favorite class in Final Fantasy XIV, but it's up there. But you don't care too much about that, do you? You want to know how to play one. Luckily, I can tell you that, too.
