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Lineage II goes F2P in Europe tomorrow
"What about meeeee," said a bunch of European Lineage II fans as NCsoft's long-running fantasy MMORPG went free-to-play in America a couple of weeks ago. Happily, publisher Innova is stepping up to bring the free version of Aden to the old world beginning on December 16th. Innova CEO Gevork Sarkisyan says that there's big demand for the PvP-centric fantasy title in Europe. "We have already seen our Lineage II community grow significantly during the beta phases, and we are looking forward to opening the full service to everyone tomorrow," he said via press release. Lineage II recently launched the largest expansion in its history, and NCsoft is advertising the game as the first "truly free" free-to-play MMORPG on the market. [Source: Innova press release]
NCsoft releases brief Lineage II F2P trailer
Lineage II is going free-to-play. This isn't news (or rather, it's old news at this point, amirite?). We wish we could tell you when the stalwart fantasy title is flipping the free-to-play switch, but unfortunately NCsoft's big announcement earlier this afternoon made no mention of a release date. The company did unveil a new trailer that clocks in at just under a minute in length, and it boasts of 400 hours' worth of gameplay and optional leveling and quality-of-life enhancements from the L2 store. There's also a new section of the Lineage II website devoted to the "truly free" marketing campaign. Other than that, though, there are still more questions than answers, and your guess is as good as ours when it comes to release dates for the long-awaited Goddess of Destruction content and the business-model switcheroo. In terms of additional info, ZAM recently interviewed NCsoft bigwigs and wrangled some pricing-related details out of them (most items are in the one dollar range, with some as high as $15 depending on whether or not they're time-limited). We'll keep you update with more L2 F2P news bits as they happen.
Lineage II update talks auction house, Goddess of Destruction zones, and more
Lineage II's latest expansion has been in the works for a looooong while, or at least it seems that way. Every time we see a new post about the game, we get our hopes up and then wonder when we'll actually get to play Goddess of Destruction instead of read about it. Alas, today's news isn't a release date, but at least the official Lineage II website has updated with some interesting tidbits about the new content. The GoD expansion is finally bringing an auction house to the seven-year-old fantasy title, and consequently players will no longer need to clutter up various town squares with their AFK store bots. There's also a bit of insight into the new awakening process that level 85 players will experience prior to their journey toward the new level cap. Finally, there are some details about two of the new zones coming with the patch, and Shilen's Altar and Ye Sagira both look to open up exciting new adventuring areas for denizens of Aden.
Lineage II releases new dev diaries
Lineage II has long been NCsoft's forgotten MMORPG, at least outside of Korea. While City of Heroes is experiencing a resurgence of interest following its F2P announcement and Aion is poking along at the same steady pace it's been enjoying since release, Lineage II recently went live with a huge and game-altering update that barely registered in terms of the Western MMO psyche. The title nonetheless has its devoted and its die-hards, and it's also got significant dev resources still attached -- and those devs are cranking out the fixes and the content updates. While we're talking about updates, the official Lineage II website boasts a couple of new ones, starting with a nod to Player Appreciation Week as well as a Goddess of Destruction-focused blog by Sace (Lineage II's community manager). You can also check out the official Goddess page for more info on the upcoming mega-patch.
Goddess of Destruction expansion brings big changes to Lineage II [Updated]
'Tis the month for MMO anniversaries it seems, and Lineage II is joining the likes of City of Heroes, Free Realms, Guild Wars, and Lord of the Rings Online in front of the birthday cake. NCsoft's long-running fantasy opus is also throwing a bigger bash than any of its contemporaries. Today marks the release of the new Goddess of Destruction expansion, and it's a doozy, bringing new classes, skills, and hunting grounds to the world of Aden. The devs have added 30 new hunting grounds, 60 new raid bosses, and more than 400 new equipment items, making this the largest content update in the game's seven-year history. The level cap has been increased from 85 to 99, and characters above 85 can awaken eight new classes to take on the titular goddess Shilen and her minions. Finally, the expansion boasts new starting areas, a relaxed leveling curve, and instanced clan housing, all wrapped inside a free update for Lineage II subscribers. [Update: The expansion is not released yet, as this official word from NCsoft states: "Goddess of Destruction is a free update to existing players releasing later this year, and will be available as an all-new retail box as well as a digital SKU for players looking to join the game with additional value and incentives."]
Community Detective Issue #16: Lineage II
Welcome to a new year of Community Detective. To kick things off, I'm going back in time -- way back in time, to 2004 to be exact -- as this was the year NCsoft's Lineage II debuted in America. Why profile the community and customer service of a game that's almost seven years old? Well, Lineage II is still going strong and drawing players from all over the world. NCsoft also continues to pour money and developer resources into the game (the latest example being the new Goddess of Destruction expansion) despite the existence of newer, similarly themed fantasy projects like Aion and Blade & Soul. Clearly, then, Lineage II is still relevant in some quarters, and in light of that fact, I've spent the past couple of weeks toodling around the kingdom of Aden.
Lineage II's Bunny Money event
NCsoft has something funtastical (see what I did there?) in mind to celebrate the coming of Spring in Lineage II. According to their press release: 'Adventurers all across Aden and Elmore will soon be able to travel to the curious shores of Fantasy Isle (sans the long swim), where its diminutive inhabitants are celebrating the season with a new event called Bunny Money!'They don't say what the event actually entails (you'll have to visit their homesite on March 7th to find that out), but some of the prizes are S-grade armor, high-grade Soul Crystals, shadow Agathion bracelets, and more! If those sound enticing to you, you'll still have to wait until Friday to find out how you'll get them. Call me a nostalgist, but when I read the words 'diminutive inhabitants' in the same sentence as 'Fantasy Isle', all I can hear in my head is 'Da plane, boss! Da plane!'
