alliance-vs-alliance
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Game of Thrones Ascent launches alliance vs. alliance
Last August, Disruptor Beam announced plans to enhance endgame in Game of Thrones Ascent by adding alliance vs alliance combat. Players looking forward to the large scale battles and diplomatic dealings of AvA can now jump in and have at altering the balance of power in Westeros as the system is now live. The post explaining the new system is quite lengthy, but here's the idea in a nutshell: Alliances will earn victory points by establishing and fortifying camps as well as attacking or assisting other alliances, and to the victors (the ones with the most points) go the spoils (special rewards). After a period of time, a new phase will begin and all points and camps will reset. The system, which is meant to evolve, will offer different rewards, different goals, and potentially different ways to earn victory in different phases. For an in-depth look at AvA, check out the devs' detailed guide. [Thanks to Dengar for the tip!]
WoW Moviewatch: Alliance vs. Horde - Cataclysm (A Whole New World)
Work warning: There's a bit of cursing and swearing herein. Those fellas over at the Warp Zone are back with a brand new edition of Alliance vs. Horde, this time featuring TotalBiscuit. When the gentlemen discuss the amazing changes to Azeroth, it seems like the perfect time to break into song. After all, it's A Whole New World. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at machinima@wow.com.
A look at the big changes in Global Agenda's 1.3 patch
The team over at Hi-Rez Studios may have bitten off just a touch more than they could chew with the 1.3 patch for Global Agenda. It's not that the patch is bad, just that they turned out to not quite be able to push some of the originally promised features through at the same time as the main patch. Of course, considering all of the stuff that is in the newest patch, that almost seems less like a drawback and more like an act of mercy. The advertised open zones and 64-person PvP Warzone will be slightly delayed, which only leaves... ...well, it leaves a whole lot of changes, starting with the massive overhauls to weapons and armor that bring the game closer in line with common genre conventions. The previous system has entirely been discarded, and replaced with four grades of quality for weapons and armor: Common, Uncommon, Rare, and Epic. All grades can be obtained from vendors in exchange for credits (for common weapons), Mercenary tokens (for rare and epic weapons), or Conquest tokens (for epic special weapons). The weapons also have a chance to drop during PvE missions, with the weapons getting correspondingly stronger as the mission gets more difficult.
Global Agenda drops patch 1.2 to the test servers
We're only about a week out from the first patch to Global Agenda, but Hi-Rez Studios has been hard at work in their super-secret laboratory (only slightly less secret than that) producing new content for the game. Patch 1.2 has already gone to the test server for experimentation and stress testing, and it expands the Alliance vs. Alliance gameplay substantially. Instead of forcing you into direct conflict, it opens up the possibility for theft missions to draw resources and hamper production for enemies, as well as letting players take part in battles where their Agency controls no territory. New defense facilities are also being added, allowing those under attack more options to keep themselves safe. There are also options to trade territory to other forces or abandon areas that an Agency can no longer defend confidently. And that's not counting the large list of updates to the game's systems, expanded battle brackets, and re-tuned maps to make the existing gameplay more enjoyable. Take a look at the full list of updates for more of the changes, as well as a sneak peek of what's coming in Global Agenda's subsequent patch -- it might be young, but the game is clearly firing on all cylinders.
Hi-Rez fleshes out their plans for Global Agenda, includes open world MMO zone
Last we heard, Hi-Rez Studios was considering adding more "open" mission areas around Dome City, giving players an open-world feel to their game. Well, Hi-Rez's Erez Goren stopped by the forums on Saturday to lay out the full plans for not only the areas outside of Dome City, but also for some new weapons appearing in the game, new maps in AvA, and new options to help agencies compete and hold ground in AvA. All of this is scheduled on a very ambitious timetable -- available by the end of March. If certain features become pushed back or delayed, Hi-Rez will also reconsider extending their current "free subscription" policy. However, it was surprising to find that the open-world areas mentioned in the last newsletter literally will be open world areas. Multiple mission teams and players will find themselves on one gigantic map, completing PvE and PvP objectives for experience and loot. Missions on these maps will be for a varied number of players, starting out at the solo player and going all the way up to a 10 man strikeforce. And, of course, some areas of the map will be "unsafe" and open for agents to beat on other agents. Now you too can gank in Global Agenda.
Global Agenda extends free time from launch, commits to new features in coming months
"We want to earn your subscription." Those are the words spoken by Todd Harris in today's Global Agenda newsletter just before he revealed the upcoming features and additions being made to the action-based MMORTS shooter... game... hybrid... thing. To show their commitment, the studio will be extending their free subscription period from the end of February all the way to the end of March while they make more tweaks and enhancements to the game. By the end of February players will have the ability to select the PvP match types they want to play from the mission select feature (as it was in Closed Beta,) and Hi-Rez Studios will be introducing an in-game friends/ignore list -- one of the game's most requested features. More AvA zones will also be added, giving Oceanic players and European players some territory to fight over during their prime play times.
Global Agenda tier one and tier two blueprints revealed
Craftable loot is always important business, and in Global Agenda it's no different. There are always some neat surprises waiting for those who are willing to gather some items, do some research, and get to work in the fabrication chambers. Xzaph over at the HexAgenda fansite has put together a pretty comprehensive screenshot list of Global Agenda's tier one and tier two blueprint offerings, confirming that there are a few more tricks in those crafting recipes than people have believed. Did you know that you can craft yourself a small squadron of androids to watch your back as pets, or put together a mini-nuke to completely wipe away any resistance within 200 feet? Beyond being able to build those types of tricks in battle, it seems that there's also an item that must be crafted before your agency can take over a specific region -- the Sovereign Forge -- which may lead to us seeing more "key" items appearing down the road in Alliance vs. Alliance, should the Forge work out.
FAQ That: All about Global Agenda's Conquest mode
So what exactly makes Global Agenda cross the border from persistent FPS to full on MMO? Conquest, my friends! Conquest. And now that the NDA has been lifted, we're free to tell you all about this agency only mode. Global Agenda: Conquest mode is the game's take on a real-time strategy game versus an FPS. Your alliance of agencies can take ownership of the Global Agenda world and lay claim to valuable resources to build agent modifications, weapons of mass destruction, and even more fun little tools. But you must guard your territory carefully, as other alliances will have the option to siege your land, forcing you into battles for domination of the map. But how does Conquest mode work? What do you need to do to take advantage of this feature of the spy-fi shooter? Glad you asked! It's time for you to FAQ That!
GameX 2009: Inside Global Agenda's PvE and AvA persistent content battles
As we've said before, we got to see many, many people at GameX 2009 this year. But one of the main reasons we went to the expo was to catch up once again with the team from Hi-Rez Studios and ask them some more questions on their "spy-fi" MMOFPS, Global Agenda.On the top of our burning question list was what exactly made Global Agenda into an MMO, so we set out to ask associate producer Michal Adam all about what made their AvA and persistent world battles so special. Along the way, we also inquired as to what their PvE content will hold, and what rewards players could expect to find from participating in Global Agenda: Conquest.For our full video interview with Michal, look no further than after the break!
