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WoW Archivist: Talents have come full circle
WoW Archivist explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold? The Warlords of Draenor patch 6.0 notes have revealed the latest changes to WoW's ever-evolving talent system. Talents have remained a core system in WoW since its earliest days, the primary method that allows players to make their characters distinct. In the beta for WoW and throughout vanilla, talent trees were a bit of a mess, as Archivist covered. Today, we'll examine how those early trees came to be expanded, refined, and then scrapped for a very different system. We'll also look at how Warlords is bringing back the earliest version of talent trees in a brand new way. The golden age of hybrids Talent possibilities exploded during The Burning Crusade. Ten more levels granted players ten more points to assign. Players could now combine abilities in ways that vanilla's trees had never allowed, opening up exciting new gameplay paths. Players didn't choose a specialization like they do today. Instead, they assigned points to three different "trees." Each tree represented a spec, but each also had talents that helped the other two specs as well. So players could pick and choose just how far down they wanted to go in a given tree, and thus how much to commit their character to one spec. "Hybrid" builds were not ideal from a min/max perspective, but they were popular. And TBC was the golden age of such builds.
Mortal Online overhauls characters and armor visuals
Mortal Online has been hard at work performing comprehensive overhauls to character and armor, making them look better than ever. The character improvements for the game include visual passes, more natural animations, a new character creation system, and high-definition upgrades to armor. The visual improvements to crafted armor make up 90% of the game's wearable gear. The recent update also added in three new craftable armor sets and improved large-group performance for mass battles. Due to the character overhaul, Star Vault is giving a free recustomization option to all players. [Thanks to Dengar for the tip!]
Ten things to love and hate about Path of Exile
Grinding Gear Games' Path of Exile officially launched last week after a long open beta. Like so many similar titles trailing in Blizzard's wake, it's a dungeon-crawly pseudo-MMO that skirts the boundary between sinking to "just another Diablo clone" and rising above the genre. Some journalists are praising it as Diablo II's rightful heir, while others are putting it aside in favor of their weatherbeaten copies of Titan Quest, which better satisfy their urge to click-click-click. The reality is usually somewhere in the middle of these extremes, but extremes are fun. So let's examine the top 10 things we love and hate about Path of Exile.
Fallen Earth introduces new coresuit armor, free respecs
Reloaded Productions has thrown a bone to Fallen Earth players who have been getting rolled by PvPers with powerful G.O.R.E. weapons. There's some new player-crafted armor in town called a Stage 3 Coresuit which uses procs to increase survivability in both PvP and PvE. Fallen Earth's latest patch also features revamped Gamma radiation-powered mutation skill lines as well as two free character respecs for everyone. [Source: Reloaded Productions press release]
Matt Miller reflects on eight years of City of Heroes, hands out free respecs
Eight years is an eternity for an MMO, and Lead Designer Matt Miller is exceedingly proud that City of Heroes has flown the distance. "I love the community that City of Heroes has built, and watching it over eight years ebb and flow with new voices being added to replace departed ones, and those voices being welcomed with open arms instead of open hostility that they might find elsewhere," he writes in an anniversary address. Miller reflects on a few of the highlights of the journey for him, from his getting hired on to the team in 2003 to the insanity of the head start to the beginning of a bug hunting tradition among the playerbase. He also uses this address to promote the near future of the game, including Issues 23 and 24. As part of the anniversary celebration, Paragon Studios has handed out a free respec token to each character in the game (the tokens do not stack with other respec tokens, however). Don't miss out on our own Massively celebration of the milestone, as our own Eliot Lefebvre has shared his thoughts on what this anniversary means for the game.
Guild Wars 2 beta questions: Answered!
The second Guild Wars 2 press beta weekend has come and gone, and Massively was there every step of the way. Stay tuned throughout the day today for even more guides, impressions, videos, and Q&As to get you ready for the highly anticipated sequel to Guild Wars. Last week we asked for your Guild Wars 2 questions as we prepared to head into the beta weekend, and boy did you rise to the occasion! After sorting through all the questions, we made a list of the most interesting and frequently repeated ones to investigate. Have a question you don't see answered here? Tonight I'll be doing a live question-and-answer session on Massively's own livestream! Tune in at 7:00 p.m. EDT and ask away!
The Daily Grind: Should MMOs offer respecs?
MMOs last for so long that you're almost guaranteed to get bored or make a mistake at some point during character development. Most games know this and allow you a do-over, be it through unlearning skills in sandboxes like Glitch and Ultima Online or respecing talent point choices in World of Warcraft. Lest your choices be trivialized, certain games insist on making respecs prohibitively expensive; City of Heroes and Champions Online even charge real money for respecs should you deplete your in-game allotment. But other MMOs simply provide no outlet for a do-over at all, like Star Wars: The Old Republic, which currently locks you into your advanced class choice at level 10, long before you're really capable of making that kind of decision. While the devs are still debating respecs as a post-launch addition, a surprising number of players are vehemently opposed to the entire concept on the grounds that it makes character choices irrelevant. What say you -- should all games have respecs, or are do-overs just another form of "easymode"? 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!
Wasteland Diaries: Coming soon
Due to the new partnership between Fallen Earth and GamersFirst, there are some huge changes coming in the very near future and massive changes headed our way before the end of the year. Sector 4 is going to be released soon along with a major re-write of the skills and abilities system. There are still a great many questions that remain unanswered, but the developers on both sides have dropped some subtle and not-so-subtle hints here and there. There are still many players asking questions in global chat and on the forums that have been answered already. A few of the answers given have left me scratching my head, but I'm still optimistic at this point. But there's still a lot of confusion within the community about what is coming and when. I've dug up many of the responses to the toughest questions by Marie Croall of Fallen Earth and Joe Willmon of GamersFirst, who are holding their cards close to their chests but have nevertheless given up some good info. After the cut, I'll try to clarify what's going on in the short and long term, but it may result in some speculation on both our parts.
Wings Over Atreia: Milking the cash cow
Although it is so far out on the scale of probability that it is tipping into impossibility, there is a remote chance that some player in Aion does not know about NCsoft's cash shop. After all, we are often assaulted with advertisements for new goodies offered at the NCsoft Store front-and-center on the launchpad; if you have logged into the game any time in the last couple of months, you have seen offerings of cosmetic clothing, exclusive pets, and weapon skins. Now I can understand ponying-up for a character name-change since the user is asking for a smidgen of change in code. Changing gender -- sure, why not? Server transfers definitely involve a bit of work, so making this a paid service also makes sense. Cosmetic surgery, however, is harder for me to accept since I have played a game that offered it in-game as a service performed by a specific class. But what about all of the extra items? The little perks, the fluff, and limited-time deals? Grab your wallet and join me past the break for a discussion on fleecing customers (I mean offering deals, really) and to see some items that I personally would like to implement.
Behind the Mask: I request a do-over
Respecs in most games are a way to change the focus of your character or a a tool to remove bad character choices. They generally cost a lump sum for a full reset of all of a character's skill or talent points. In Champions Online, respecs are a little different. They cost a small amount of resources to remove individual powers, and that amount scales up as your hero gains levels and gets new powers. The most recent powers are still fairly inexpensive to remove, but powers selected very early in your character's career cost an arm and a leg to replace. We can use respecs in much the same way as we can in other games; a full reset of your character's abilities costs an absurd amount of money, but you do earn enough money during a character's lifetime to get a couple at key points. At level 40, you also earn a full respec, and full retcon tokens (which reset all powers, talents, and advantages) can always be picked up in the C-Store. However, CO's respec system leaves a lot of room for exciting abuses if you're willing to explore them a little bit. Like most of anything nested deep within the gameplay of Champions, it's a little confusing. Hopefully we can clear up some of that.
R-E-S-P-E-C: Find out what it means to Star Wars: The Old Republic
We all know that it's a terrible pain to pick skills on the fly as you're leveling up your character. What if you choose a useless skill or maybe one that doesn't fit your playstyle? Or worse: What if you completely choose the wrong Advanced Class? This has been a major concern for many Star Wars: The Old Republic fans, especially given the vast differences in the Advanced Classes. Yesterday, in a post on the official forums, SWTOR Lead Combat Designer Georg Zoeller answered this burning question. He confirmed that we will be able to respec our stats within an Advanced Class. However, he had this to say about switching to a different Advanced Class: "You may be able to spec to another Advanced Class, but that is something we haven't entirely made up our mind about as there are plenty of arguments that can be made - pro and con - and future class developments could influence this." It may be possible to change from a Jedi Wizard Sage to a Jedi Shadow, but you definitely will not be able to go from a Jedi Consular to a Jedi Knight because of story restrictions. For more information, visit the official forums and stay tuned here for the latest from The Old Republic.
Wasteland Diaries: Patch day mayhem
In Fallen Earth, patch day is always a happy day (for me, at least). But this most recent patch (1.7.4) brings in some sweeping changes. The changes that came with this patch were far-reaching enough to get us another full respec. I don't forsee myself using one yet, but they are nice to have. I actually still have my injectors that we got with the 1.4 patch. In fact, this patch changes so much that I spent the past couple of days preparing (in-game) for it. I haven't had time to even grab all of the new skills that all of my clones will now have available to them. An Enforcer rifleman with Fitness? Yes, among other things. Everyone in Fallen Earth now has more health, but it gets taken away much faster. Combat seems more intuitive with reliable damage from weapons. Without glances and extreme damage variance, combat feels crisper and less clunky. It's going to take some getting used to. The PvE combat has changed the most. There is actually an element of danger involved when fighting mobs, especially large groups. I find myself actually using contingencies and heals during combat with NPCs. I never really had to before, but now the mobs rarely miss (rather than rarely hit). While I didn't get to see everything we got with this patch, I did get some hands-on PvP action (and broke a tradition that had lasted some 292 days in-game) under the new system. I'll give up more about that after the cut.
Issue 19 goes live in City of Heroes
While World of Warcraft goes through its own world-shattering events, City of Heroes is getting hit hard as well. Issue 19 has just gone live, allowing players to experience the first step of the Praetorian invasion. Luckily, the patch also brings with it the Alpha Slot, empowering players with the first tier of the Incarnate system and allowing characters to stand against the invasion at a heretofore unseen level of power. There's also a surfeit of assorted quality-of-life improvements, not the least of which is the movement of Fitness to a baseline set of powers. Issue 19's features have been getting talked up for some time, so players will likely find many familiar entries among the official patch notes. Most noteworthy is the free respec token that's being given out to all characters, with a second free token being awarded on December 8th for characters who have used the first free token. It's the perfect time for City of Heroes players to log in, get playing, and start fighting back against the Praetorian invaders with all the might they can muster -- and with the new systems, that's quite a lot of might indeed.
Come back to Fallen Earth for $4.99, get a free respec
Former subscribers to Icarus Studios' Fallen Earth received a welcome surprise in their inboxes this past week, as the North Carolina-based developer sent out a special subscription offer to help celebrate the title's upcoming anniversary. Former denizens of the wasteland can return to a full month of gameplay for $4.99, with the regular subscription fee of $14.99 recurring after 30 days. Returnees can also look forward to a free character respec courtesy of the Pristine Recombinant Injector that will appear in their in-game mailboxes upon account re-activation. If you've been away from the game for awhile, Icarus says there's no better time to check things out, as it has several anniversary events planned for residents of the Grand Canyon province.
Fallen Earth's newest patch addresses animations
One of the fan criticisms often leveled at Icarus Studios' post-apocalyptic sci-fi MMO Fallen Earth is the quality of some of the title's combat animations. With the launch of the game's newest update, Icarus has begun to address these concerns by polishing the animations for both dual-wielding and melee combat reactions. The 1.6.2 patch, which hits the live server today, also brings particle and sound synchronization on melee combat as well as user interface tweaks and a small bug fix pertaining to the respec system. Finally, in case the wastelands weren't gritty enough already, the Fallen Earth team has re-enabled blood spatters and sounds for normal, glancing, and critical hits with regard to melee combat. Check out the press release and the full patch notes for all the details.
Massively's hands-on with Rift: Planes of Telara's dynamic content
Just a few weeks ago, I was invited to attend Trion Worlds' Gamer's Day in San Francisco to get some hands-on time with a couple of the company's upcoming titles, including Rift: Planes of Telara. If Rift seems to have come out of nowhere, that might be due both to the acquisition of EverQuest II veteran Scott Hartsman to head the project as executive producer, and to a clever name change meant to reflect the team's shift in development focus. In fact, that shift in development focus is precisely what I was at Trion's studio to test -- I got to check out the Rifts themselves in all their glory, in the context of the greater dynamic content system that the developers are so excited about. Massively's writers have been able to play and report on character creation and the starting areas of Rift several times over the last year or so, including earlier this summer at E3. But until today's embargo lift (coinciding with the reveal at Gamescom), no one had quite seen the fabled planar invasions and takeovers in action. Now we have.
Wasteland Diaries: New paint job
The Fallen Earth 1.6 patch is a couple days old now, and I've had a chance to check out some of its features. I've painted more vehicles than Earl Scheib this week. I was able to test the respec injectors on the Public Test Server (PTS). I haven't tried them on the live server yet, but I have a few misallocated points that aren't serving much of a purpose. I was able to run through the new, extended tutorial with a brand-new clone. And the Fallen Earth team has given us the ability to flag ourselves for PvP anywhere, anytime. This should prove interesting. If you have been waiting on the sidelines for the next patch or are wondering what new things are in store for us, I will give you a breakdown of the new stuff I have been able to check out myself after the cut. The patch is only a few days old, but I have been trying to experience the new features to the fullest in that short time.
Pirates of the Burning Sea exchange shops detailed
We know what you're thinking, because it's the same thing we thought when we heard the words "exchange shop" uttered in concert with Pirates of the Burning Sea. Surprisingly, this isn't yet another free-to-play conversion announcement but rather a look at one of the new features sailing your way in the forthcoming Power and Prestige expansion. The new content, scheduled to launch August 24th, will enable Collection Exchange Shops on every junk buyer in a particular game region. In a nutshell, the shops streamline the loot collection and turn-in process, and a new dev blog over at the official Pirates of the Burning Sea website has all the details. "We have done some number crunching and decided to increase the value of low level loot in order to give new players another way to generate capital while roaming the open sea," the post says. Furthermore, Flying Lab has also added Career Reward Exchange Shops to the expansion. Due to the extensive ship changes coming with the patch, it's quite probable that many veteran players will want to respec their previously earned career rewards. Many career mission NPCs will now feature the ability to swap ship outfittings free of charge.
Fallen Earth patch 1.6 arrives today
The Wasteland is temporarily closed for maintenance. The Fallen Earth servers are down, and when they come back up at 1 p.m. eastern, you can expect to see a lot of changes thanks to patch 1.6. The game's patch notes, posted last night, gave us an idea of what to look for. You'll find quite a few minor fixes and changes with this patch. Cars will be pink, orange, and powder blue. Doors will be fixed, weapon sounds will be improved, and floating items will be brought down where they belong.. It's not all just cosmetic, though. If you've been putting off heading to Monkeytown to get that song stuck in your head and pick up a set of monkey wrenches, it's too late -- the town is gone, replaced by new missions and a repeatable town event. Check them out to find out what happened in Monkeytown. Minor Respec -- a welcome addition that allows you to to reallocate 5 AP -- will arrive with this patch, as will an extended tutorial that will help new players a bit more. If PvP is more your thing, you'll be happy to know that once the servers are back up, you can type /pvp and flag for PvP anywhere in the world, not just designated PvP areas. There is even more to be seen, and the patch notes make for a good read while you're waiting for the servers to come back up, so check them out on the Fallen Earth forums.
Wasteland Diaries: The end
When I first heard about Fallen Earth, the first thing that piqued my interest was the post-apocalyptic setting. The second thing was the FPS-style gameplay and the third thing was the factional PvP. I was delivered the setting in spades; I got a good, healthy dose of FPS action. I will admit, I got a good deal of PvP as well, but not much of it was factionally driven. The understanding I had of what to expect when I hit max level was enforcers and CHOTA squaring off for control of a town, slugging it out for hours on end. But in reality I got sporadic random battles or clan warfare. PvP was supposed to be the endgame material. At least that was the impression that I got. In this post I will look at the current state of Fallen Earth's endgame, and what we might expect to change from the information garnered from the recent State of the Game. Many people aren't sure what to do in the game once they hit the level cap. After the cut I will take a look at the state of Fallen Earth's endgame and where I expect it to go given the recent announcements.
