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Make My MMO: Crowdfunding September 8 - 21, 2013
In the oft changing world of crowdfunding hopefuls, faces come and faces go... and sometimes they come back again. If one of the newcomers to this edition of Make My MMO looks familiar, that's because the game ran a shorter, unsuccessful Kickstarter campaign last July. With a longer run this time around, perhaps Story Quest Online will fare better. On the flip side, one campaign flipped sections: We congratulate StarCraft Universe on meeting its goal and joining the ranks of the fully funded. Plenty of other news came from the funded ranks as well, from the crowdfunding king hit more funding goals (again) to progress reports and new feature reveals. You can catch all the details right here.
Dark Age of Camelot keeps its eyes firmly fixed on RvR for 2011
"Realm vs. Realm combat is what keeps you here year after year," Stuart Zissu concludes in the Dark Age of Camelot's January newsletter. Because of this fact, Zissu reassures players that Mythic is firmly committed to strengthening and focusing on DAoC's RvR in 2011. Zissu first addresses a number of important issues that the team is tackling, such as lag ghosting. Realm abilities are also being adjusted to include several additional levels. While these new levels won't add to the overall strength of the abilities, they do allow players to fine-tune just how much (or little) of these abilities they want to have. A few of the realm abilities will be improved on a case-by-case basis, however. He also highlights the next upcoming live event, which will revolve around the return of demonic invasions. Those wacky demons -- like frat boys out of control, they are! You can read the full newsletter over on the Camelot Herald.
DAoC scavenges the dead for The Infernal Auction
Hot on the heels of the recent Infernal Awakenings is another Developer Live Event for Dark Age of Camelot players called The Infernal Auction. Reportedly, the DAoC team was pleased by the response of the first Live Event and is striving to bring them more often to the game. The Infernal Auction is the result of enterprising salesmen who have scoured the battlefields following the demon invasion, and who are now bringing their questionable loot to the citizens of each realm. The merchants will not only be selling party-appropriate material (fireworks! booze!) but will hold a grand auction on August 19th where players can bid on unique and powerful items. Players who were a key part of the Infernal Awakenings battle also should speak to NPC Jonda Dawn for a special reward for their efforts. You can read the full details of this new DAoC Live Event over at the Camelot Herald.
DAoC Producer's Letter puts on training wheels, er, windows
Like fine wine, Dark Age of Camelot is improving with age, at least according to the recent Producer's Letter for the game. Stuart Zissu crowed about the success of the dev team's first Live Event -- called "Infernal Awakenings" -- which saw developer-controlled demons rampaging across the world. Apparently, it was such a success that the dev team is deep into planning the next Live Event. Belford was also excited to talk about the new training window UI, which is set to arrive in the game very shortly. This updated interface lets players map out their specializations in advance via sliders so that they can create the exact character build they desire. Once a desired build is found, the game will automatically refashion your character's stats and abilities to match. The DAoC team is also working on ways to make the game more accessible to all, including additional character transfers and payment methods. You can read Andy Belford's full Producer's Letter at The Camelot Herald.
Dark Age of Camelot overhauls classic drops
Rejoice, Mythic fans -- the dark days may be over now that there's a new loot sheriff in town! Michael Knudson, a new developer on the Dark Age of Camelot team, is jazzed to share an exciting update to the game. Starting with DAoC's patch 1.104, sections of the Classic World are getting a loot overhaul. Apparently, the loot set long ago by Mythic has been made obsolete due to the improvements handed down by the expansions, and they're looking to fix that. "It is our intent that these changes will make these items once more desirable to both new and veteran players leveling up through the Classic World," Knudson writes on the Camelot Herald. "Over the coming months, we will be revisiting additional classic world dungeons in a similar fashion with the goal being to breathe new life into other existing dungeons. Additionally, as one more way to sweeten the pot, we have added several new and unique items that will drop from some of the more notable denizens in these respective dungeons." Stonehenge Barrows in Albion, Spindelhalla in Midgard, and Coruscating Mine in Hibernia are first up for the upgraded loot treatment, with more to follow in successive patches. More yummy loot -- what's not to like? You can check out all the details on the new DAoC itemization in the 1.104 patch notes. [Via MMOCrunch]
Ghostcrawler on why Bluetrackers suck
Ghostcrawler has finally said on the forums what I've been saying for a while here on WoW.com and elsewhere: using blue text on the forums as a way of disseminating information is "a strange way to communicate." He's been appending the words "[Not tracked]" to some of his posts so they don't end up on the official "bluetracker," because a lot of what he posts is just silly and fun and not to be pored over and examined (especially without the context of the other posts around it). But all of those posts are still picked up by the unofficial bluetrackers that many players follow, and he laments that it's annoying to have people jump in on threads without reading all the context: "you end up looking like a real jerk half the time."I would never call GC a jerk, but it's clear to see what he means -- sending out information via official posts on the forum is something Blizzard has done for a long time, and it's really a bad way to go about it. To their credit, they've been trying lots of new things lately, from official interviews to class Q&As and just plain releasing official information on the site. But I've always thought (and still think) that the company could use an official blog -- back when I was playing Dark Age of Camelot, I really enjoyed all of their work on the Camelot Herald, and I think Blizzard would benefit from something more like that. They do have a section for official news on the front page, but that's mostly licensed items and marketing information, not actual updates to the game.
The latest news from Dark Age of Camelot
There's news and views aplenty in the latest dispatch of helpful information and answered questions in this week's Camelot Herald! Each week, the enigmatic oracles in EA Mythic's stone fortress come down from their golden throne rooms to answer questions. This week's cover druid maces -- that look like hammers. That can't be right (and isn't!). Also mentioned -- how to invite people into invitation-only battering rams, how to open your house to all guild members of a certain rank, and how to find a certain very shy pig.The Camelot Road Trip hits San Diego on July 26th, so if you would like your Dark Age of Camelot questions answered in person -- and you can get to San Diego -- RSVP so they know you're coming.
DAoC Grab Bag Q&A regarding patch 1.94
In this week's Grab Bag for Dark Age of Camelot, we're treated to yet another of what we'd expect from this aptly-named Q&A session from the Herald. The Bearded Wonder and the Balancinator answer eleven questions this time, each with their own focus on what the game has to offer with the upcoming patch 1.94.One interesting question centers around rest XP, and how certain locations give more rest XP for players. This question brings up a great point about how the rest XP should be higher in the housing zones, as opposed to the capital city zones, which would make perfect sense. Another question asks about expanded vault space, for which the Bearded Wonder responds, "We are working on some adjustments to housing that will assist this issue indirectly. Some of these changes can be seen in 1.94 that is coming up." It looks like this new patch will be full of goodies for us all!
DAoC turns old school with their new Origins server
After some recent hints distributed throughout the community, and a poll asking players their opinion on the matter, EA Mythic has decided to go ahead with their newest Origins project. This will introduce players to a blast from the past on a separate "Old Frontiers" server that will use the original rulesets from when the game first launched. Of course, certain game improvements will stay, so it won't be exactly as it was back then, but they're trying this out to see how well it is received by the community.If you have any questions about how this will work exactly, there are some comprehensive resources posted in FAQ form, and on several forums. Plus, the team will be participating in a live IRC Q&A on Wednesday, June 4th and Thursday, June 5th. One will be held at 6:30 pm EDT for the benefit of their East Coast players, and the other will be held at 9:30 pm EDT for the West Coast players.
Dark Age of Camelot to return to Old Frontiers?
Dark Age of Camelot developers EA Mythic have posted a poll on the Camelot Herald requesting player feedback regarding the Old Frontiers territory. To wit: would players be interested in a server that: Brings back the old Keeps, Relics, and related systems Does not include Master levels, Champion levels, Artifacts, Minotaur Relics, Champion weapons, or Mythrians Focuses on the "classic" zone territories that existed prior to the expansion packs Focuses mainly on the class types that existed prior to the expansion packs No buffbots, but rather a universally available buffing option We know this news will make some of you terribly excited. If this is you, go vote now![Thanks, Chanell!]
DAoC Grab Bag Q&A
It's time once again for the Dark Age of Camelot grab bag Q&A courtesy of The Camelot Herald. In this installment, we get treated to a healthy dose of math as the Balancinator answers a handful of statistical questions from players concerning everything from health regeneration, Bounty Point allocation and damage capping.We also get some news regarding the Camelot Road Trip in Bethesda, Maryland on May 10th. There will be free food, tons of prizes and of course an opportunity to test your knowledge with the devs! Be sure to check out the remainder of this article for contest news and more.
Mythic looking for new blood to work on old games
With Warhammer Online poised to overwhelm the MMO space under thick sea of "WAAAAGH!," the last thing we really expected Mythic to be doing was building up their team working on Dark Age of Camelot and Ultima Online. DAoC celebrated its sixth anniversary this past year, and UO (which fell under Mythic's stewardship with the EA shakeup last fall) crested the decade mark late last year, so by gaming standards they should have been committed to a home a long time ago, only to be brought out on holidays and propped up in a chair to remind everybody else of happier times. Our own Michael Zenke predicted that 2008 would see the virtual demise of DAoC, and truthfully, I would have counted myself amongst the nay-sayers as well... that is, until yesterday.The guys and gals out of Fairfax sent out a message via The Camelot Herald that the Mythic team was looking to expand their legacy operations by taking on three new software engineers to work exclusively on the development of DAoC and UO. Granted, it's looking like this new meat would make up a considerable portion of their oldies-only teams, but certainly a promising sign for those who still count themselves amongst the faithful. Surely they wouldn't be hiring people to work on the game in anticipation of killing it off, would they? (We know, they're part of EA now, anything is possible.) But hey, if you're a software engineer in the Northern Virginia area looking for work, why not apply?[Via Allakhazam]
