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Stormthrone debuts and offers alpha signups
It's Thursday in MMOland, and you know what that means: It's time for a new fantasy game announcement! Today R2Games unveiled its latest offering, Stormthrone: Aeos Rising, along with a teaser site and alpha signups. Stormthrone is a browser-based fantasy MMO that calls heroes to "discover the ancient world of Aeos, a world besieged by demons." Players will get their pick of six classes: Knight, Rogue, Priest, Warrior, Sniper, or Mage. Right now the website has bare-bones information, a link to sign up to the alpha test, and the promise of more information coming soons. [Source: R2Games press release]
Transformers Universe rolls out Pandemic and Outsider
Transformers Universe is currently attempting to make waves at Eurogamer Expo 2014 with tournaments, free play, and the addition of two new characters. Now in the game's beta test are Pandemic and Outsider. Pandemic is a Decepticon sports car controller who has a flexible weapon set that can mess with enemies and pin them down. Outsider is an Autobot who can teleport to and from the front lines of battle as well as yank enemies around with a gravity well. We've got the first look of these new warriors in a video after the break!
RuneScape's Lost City of the Elves is open to players
It's been a decade of waiting, but RuneScape players are finally able to enter Prifddinas, the capital of the elves and the culmination of a storyline that's been going for a very long time. Players can jump into the zone right now and start exploring the districts of the long-locked city, taking on various clan challenges in an area designed to reward high-level play. Challenges include defeating 10 sequential bosses with stacking debuffs after each match, maximizing one's skills, or proving one's familiarity with trades like mining and farming. There's also more content throughout the city, with plans to roll out even more parts of the city before the year is out. Click past the jump for the trailer, and jump on into the game if you just can't wait to get your elvish exploration going. [Source: Jagex press release]
Massively Interview: How Eleven is fighting to bring Glitch back
The Massively staffers were delighted to hear that one of our favorite quirky browser MMOs might be coming back from the dead. Fan projects such as Eleven and Children of Ur, the latter of which is in a playable pre-alpha, are often at an extreme disadvantage with such resurrection projects, as they can lack legality, resources, and access to the original code. However, in this particular case, it looks as though Glitch might be a go for a return, as Tiny Speck has blessed player efforts and released the source code and art assets to help out. Of course, this doesn't mean that there isn't a huge mountain of obstacles to surmount, but if anyone's to do it it, it might very well be the Eleven team. We reached out to Project Lead Jim Condren and several members of his team to get a better feel for where the project is at and when we might be playing Glitch once more.
Eleven to revive Glitch with Tiny Speck's help
Glitch. Now, if you have tears streaming down your face because you still find yourself crying every time you are reminded of the late, great crafting MMO, then prepare to go from sobs to smiles. A fan project called Eleven is making waves as a genuine attempt to revive Glitch with former developer Tiny Speck's blessing and assistance. According to the FAQ, Eleven "is a project to get the publicly released Glitch code back up and running; a strictly volunteer effort by 'Glitchen' who want to see the revival of Glitch. We don't have any rights to the name Glitch as a brand, hence our name Eleven (after our eleven giants)." Tiny Speck has also gifted the volunteer team a new product called Slack to help in coordinating the project. The team is working with the released source code from Tiny Speck to create new code to connect the client and server. The project is chugging along nicely, with a testable version of the wardrobe and vanity system available on the website. There's also a housing demo video that you can watch after the break. Getting the Glitch feels yet? You should!
Jagex CEO resigning in December
Jagex CEO Mark Gerhard is leaving his post in December according to an open letter on the RuneScape website. Gerhard writes passionately about the game's community and his efforts to combat gold-farming during his five-year stint as CEO. Gerhard, who has been with Jagex a total of seven years, did not specify the reasons for his departure nor who will take his place.
How RMT is changing RuneScape's economy for the better
RMT has a bad reputation for promoting the seedy underbelly of online gaming, but some MMOs are trying to turn that effect around, like RuneScape. According to developer Jagex, a pair of RuneScape players recently took advantage of their game's Bond system (akin to PLEX or CREDD) to fund their trip to the RuneFest fan convention in October. The studio detailed other positive effects of the Bond system in a press release this morning, explaining that the system has improved the game's economy: Since their September 2013 debut, around 2.3 million Bonds have been purchased; more than 80 percent of those Bonds have been redeemed for membership, with 27.6 million membership days obtained to date. The introduction of Bonds also had a swift and dramatic effect on the levels of gold-farming in the game, which plummeted by 81 percent within weeks, and also helped bring a more stable in-game economy for players. Over the past year, more than 316.5 billion in-game gold pieces have been sunk into Bond trades by the community. RuneScape VP Phil Mansell said that over the last year, "nearly 20% of RuneScape players [paid] for their membership subscription through their in-game efforts and half of the premium RuneCoin currency comes from bond redemptions." [Source: Jagex press release]
RuneScape celebrates player creativity with Golden Gnome Awards
Nominations have opened for RuneScape's Golden Gnome Awards, the fourth such award ceremony devoted to celebrating player creativity and talent. "We want to continue to recognise all forms of talent, moving beyond just the video making awards given in the past," the team posted. "Whether you're an artist, video maker, cosplayer, or a role model for the community, there's a Golden Gnome out there waiting for you." This year the categories have expanded to award excellence in video and live streaming, art, cosplay, and being a community champion. The latter is an "unsung hero" whom players feel should be recognized for his or her contributions. The Golden Gnome Awards will be given out at the next RuneFest.
Old School RuneScape temporarily changes death penalty due to DDoS attacks
The brutal DDoS attacks that have hit RuneScape over the past week have caused the developers of the 2007-era edition to rework death mechanics until the threat has passed. This "temporary change" to death mechanics allow players a half-hour to see and retrieve their items outside of PvP combat; in PvP, the penalties stay as is. "Even with this change, we would strongly suggest that you do not partake in dangerous or high-risk content such as PvP or high level PvM, and as always, don't risk anything you're not prepared to lose whilst these network issues are ongoing," the devs cautioned.
Transformers Universe introduces Macro and Firebreaker
Jagex hopes to add "diversity" to Transformers Universe's character roster with the addition of two new warriors announced today: Macro and Firebreaker. Macro, in his warrior form, carries a heavy broadsword for up close melee combat which he wields like a chivalrous knight. In addition, his shield dome cloaks all allies within its boundaries, removing them from enemy line of sight for a limited time. At the other end of the spectrum, Firebreaker is the first Decepticon in Transformers Universe to feature cloaking capabilities. Sacrificing his shield meter he can extend the duration of the cloak, and can also unleash a computer virus on himself that will devastate the first Autobot he comes into contact with. The studio says over 700,000 players have participated in beta so far. Videos for both characters are embedded below.
RuneScape hit with denial-of-service attacks
Jagex has posted to its official forums the news that both modern RuneScape and its classic servers are in the midst of service disruption attacks. Moderator Tyran explained: As you may be aware, we're currently experiencing service disruption across both game and web services, this is affecting both RuneScape and Old School RuneScape. We are aware that RuneScape (as well as other games) are being targeted by attacks which are causing connectivity issues for our players. We are doing everything we can to mitigate any impact on your gameplay experience - our Systems Team are currently working to improve stability across our core hosting platform to improve the situation. The studio warns players to avoid high-risk content where items might be lost, but customer service will investigate items already compromised by the outages. A large-scale rollback is not currently planned; Moderator Ronan posted, "Unfortunately, Old School RuneScape does not have the tool required to roll back or to confirm what items were lost by players and so it will not be possible to refund any lost items."
RuneScape opens up Soul Reaping for fun and profit
How do you feel about reaping souls? Would you consider it as a potential career choice? The latest RuneScape update really encourages players to take part. After all, Death is really backed up, and he could use your help taking down some of the game's bosses. Just stop by Death's office, let him assign you a target on a daily basis, and you're off to the races! In this case, "the races" means "kill the boss and claim its soul." So why would you do this other than the simply joy of serving as Death's administrative assistant? Successfully reaping bosses provides reaper points, which can be cashed in for rewards like a reduction to instance creation costs, an increase to bonfire health boosts, and new crafting items. There are also cosmetic rewards if you'd rather just look really pretty. You can read all of the details on the official update page, which should encourage players to really jump in there and start clearing away bosses for a good cause.
RuneScape releases its 1,000th music track
For those who are into MMO soundtracks, RuneScape's score is something of a legend due to its sheer size. This past week, Jagex added its 1,000th music track into the game called "The Book of a Thousand Songs." The song, a ballad, was created and performed by the audio team and developers. Players will unlock the track when they log into the game to use in their in-game music player. You can hear the new track after the break and see how it was made! RuneScape announced its first-ever expansion, Lost City of the Elves, earlier today.
2001's RuneScape announces its first-ever expansion
Who says old games never get new content? Jagex has just announced Lost City of the Elves, the first expansion pack ever for 13-year-old sandbox MMO RuneScape. The expansion, which is being rolled out gradually beginning today, will bring to conclusion the long-running Elf Quest campaign and mark the start of a new adventure, Plague's End: "From today, high level players can begin their journey towards Prifddinas by taking part in the new and epic Plague's End quest, the largest adventure in RuneScape to date. As well as being voted by RuneScape players as part of the game's Player Power initiative, the development of the Lost City of the Elves has seen considerable collaborative efforts between Jagex and the community throughout its creation. The expansion pack is being released in three parts to enable players to experience and enjoy all areas of the new content. Today's release of Plague's End will be followed by the unlocking of one half of the elf city in September, and the second half in October." The expansion also includes new skill training methods, wearables, minigames, a "guild social hub," and the largest city in the game to date. [Source: Jagex press release]
RuneScape launches first batch of name cleanup
RuneScape is freeing up a lot of names now. The developers announced a while back that old an inactive names would be getting removed from the list soon, and the first batch is due to hit very soon. That means former members who have not logged in for two years and free users who haven't logged in within six months will have their character names dropped back into the pool of available sobriquets. The upside? Members will have access to a lot of new options for name changes. The first batch will cover names starting with A through C, and Jagex intends to post a page listing the reclaimed names; however, the page will be accurate only at the time of reclamation, with no updates to show what's been taken. So if you're hopeful to finally change your character's name to Arquebus, you'd better be ready.
RuneFest tickets on sale this week
If you're a RuneScape fan and you'll be in London on October 11th, you might want to know that tickets for this year's edition of RuneFest are now on sale. Passes are £99 each, or you can get in for free (and even get a hotel room!) with RuneScape's in-game bonds. The event starts at 10:00 a.m. local time and runs through 7:00 p.m., with an afterparty and late-night gaming scheduled through 11:00 p.m.
RuneScape announces Twitch integration
Do you want to show the world your adventures in playing RuneScape? It's going to be just a wee bit easier to do so now. Jagex has announced today Twitch has been successfully integrated into the game, allowing players to start streaming at a moment's notice with no need to run external software. The community team celebrated with a four-hour livestream event delving into the lair of the spider lord Araxxor, a new boss voted on by the player community as a whole. Jagex has gone on to announce that RuneScape will not be the only game to feature built-in streaming capability, with Transformers Universe (currently in open beta) set to receive the functionality as well. Marketing director Neil McClarty stated that RuneScape is already one of the most popular games in terms of audiance, so players taking part in the streaming process will find it that much easier to keep viewers happy with this integration. [Source: Jagex press release]
RuneFest 2014 dated for October 11
Jagex has announced the date and a few key details on this year's RuneScape-flavored real-life event, RuneFest. On Saturday, October 11, Jagex will be returning to London's Tobacco Dock for the largest RuneScape event of the year. This year will feature panels and parties that promise to be bigger and better than ever before. While more details are still forthcoming, we do know that the cost will be £99 for a full One-Day Pass. You can keep an eye on any further RuneFest news by watching the event's Facebook and Twitter pages.
Hunted Cow releases Eldevin 1.16, desktop client
Hunted Cow wants you to know that its Eldevin MMORPG is no longer exclusively browser-based. The firm's latest update features a desktop client along with new systems like story mode dungeons. The 1.16 patch also "lays down some preparatory work" for Eldevin's hardware rendering engine, which Hunted Cow says will improve graphics, frame rates, and overall performance in "a few weeks' time." The game will also be launching on Steam, and the full 1.16 notes are embedded after the break. [Source: Hunted Cow press release]
RuneScape players vote overwhelmingly in favor of traditional combat option
RuneScape has never shied away from interesting ideas and democratic experiments, a fact that is well illustrated by today's announcement that the game will be implementing a "legacy mode" option on Monday, July 14th. Over 80% of players polled voted to add in the mode, which modifies the current game to work with the traditional rather than the new combat system. Legacy mode uses the traditional combat system, pre-RuneScape 3 interfaces, the old mini-map icons, the old animations, and a life point cap of 990. When it goes live in the game, players can switch it on and off as desired. Jagex is also pushing through a few global changes to combat across the board, including an equal balance between melee, ranged, and magic attacks.
