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A world torn asunder: RIFT's Mathosian Civil War revealed
Brother vs. brother, elf vs. elf: This is the sad state of Telara that led to the Mathosian Civil War. While RIFT players may find themselves drawn to the planar invasions as the key conflict of the world, the truth is that plenty of events and key figures have played a part in shaping the land up to this point. Today Trion Worlds released the backstory of both the Mathosian Civil War and Shyla Starhearth, the leader of the High Elves. Both Aedraxis Mathos and Shyla find themselves at odds over the conflict and the future of the world. It's interesting to note that the civil war began at the city of Port Scion, which will be both a PvP warfront at launch and a proper zone sometime thereafter. Hit the jump to bone up on your RIFT lore as two mighty forces come to a head!
The Road to Mordor: The Professor
This past week on January 3rd, J.R.R. Tolkien celebrated his 118th birthday -- or rather, we celebrated it for him. Tolkien was born in South Africa in 1892 and lived a rich and full life, from fighting in the first World War to working on the Oxford English Dictionary to taking a position at several universities that would earn him the nickname "The Professor." He is, of course, most well-remembered for his seminal works of fantasy -- The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion -- although his writings didn't end there. Due to Tolkien's love of nature, linguistics, and mythology, his creations were born out of comprehensive backgrounds and rich histories, which he seemed to love making up just as much as the stories themselves. For years now, Tolkien fans around the world have remembered his birthday by raising a glass on his birthday and giving a simple toast, "The Professor," at 9:00 p.m. wherever they lived. Likewise, in Lord of the Rings Online, many players gathered at their tavern of choice to do the same. Today I thought I'd remember the Professor in a slightly different way by exploring the quest chain "Missing the Meeting." While it's not completely overt if you happened to come across it, "Missing the Meeting" is a tribute to J.R.R. Tolkien and his life, and it's worth going through at least once if you want to pay homage and get a nifty token by which to remember him.
The Road to Mordor: Bits 'n' pieces
Three wolves. A full moon. One incredible cloak in the Lord of the Rings Online store. As a forum poster asked, is the Cloak of the Mountain Wolves too powerful and too intrinsically sweet? I think it is a distinct possibility. I already own six and have Sauron on farm status because of them. Forget piddly rings -- this is the one cloak to rule them all, and in the darkness, blind them. I'm a bit all over the place in today's column, so bear with me as I spew forth a 427-line stream-of-consciousness poem devoted to Aragorn's stubble. You totally know you want to hit the jump to read it. I triple-dog-dare ya. [Editor -- No, Justin, you have to write a normal column. Don't make me get the fire hose.] Darn.
The Daily Grind: Are you pro-elf or anti-elf?
The pro-elf lobby will tell you of their deep wisdom, their abiding love of nature and their immortality. If you're not an elf, they reason, then you should deeply want to be one. After all, who wouldn't like a pocket unicorn and an innate ability to win the Olympic gold medal in archery? Elves are cool, which is why every fantasy MMO -- by sovereign law -- includes one. Elves are filthy blights upon the land and should be eliminated on site, the anti-elf federation declares. We've had enough of their haughty arrogance, their tree-hugging insanity, and their pocket unicorns that always get underfoot. They're like that popular kid in class who looks a little too good, and has a rotten-to-the-core personality to back it up. Elves suck. So which side do you land on: pro-elf or anti-elf? Let's hash this out, right here, right now! 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!
The Road to Mordor: Off to the races
A long time ago in this column, back in an age of sweet innocence that I like to call "April 2010," I spent a bit of time commenting on the nine classes in Lord of the Rings Online and how they appeal to different playstyles. Today, as I sit here swaddled in a blanket, drinking tea and desperately trying to wish this cold away, I want to write the companion piece to that article, dealing with races. LotRO is somewhat unique in the MMO landscape in that it is pretty confined to four and only four playable races outside of PvMP. As much as we love the Pale Folk, I highly doubt we'll ever be given another racial choice for the lifespan of the game -- at least, not without some fiddly logic on Turbine's part. Besides, the four races we're given -- Dwarf, Man, Hobbit and Elf -- are the iconic grouping of the books, and trying to add a gnome or giant or well-intentioned half-orc to the Quest would just come off as silly. Anyway, if you're starting out in LotRO or mulling over an alt, there's a lot more to consider when picking a race than just "what looks good" (although I'm not going to tell you looks aren't important, no I am not). Races influence your starter zone, traits, special skills and class picks. Join us as we jump down the rabbit hole and emerge in a magical land full of words and screenshots!
LotRO barters, gallops and tasks with advance patch notes
Those who assumed that Turbine would be taking it easy for its next Lord of the Rings Online patch may want to sit down, buckle up and prepare to be thrust into a wall of patch notes. The list of changes and additions for LotRO's November update have been posted, and players may check them out on the Bullroarer test server. While the notes are "subject to change," they contain an impressive list of additions we've known were coming (such as expanding the free-to-play coverage to include the expansions all the way up through level 65) as well as a few surprises. Among the surprises are a new barter wallet to hold inventory-clogging skirmish and anniversary tokens, the ability for former subscribers to use swift travel routes, upgrades to reputation mounts, new ingredient packs for crafters and an overhaul of the Dwarf and Elf starting area. The notes also give us a peek at the mysterious "Task" system. According to Turbine, this system will add 250 repeatable quests to the game, be accessible by all tiers of players, and will require current trophy drops. Tasks will also come with a new set of deeds and rewards, hopefully adding to the amount of free Turbine Points that players can accrue. You can read the test server patch notes on the LotRO forums.
Global Agenda trailer puts pansy elves in their place
We just had a look at some of the gameplay from Global Agenda at E3, but the latest trailer from Hi-Rez studios is a bit different. It's a more humorous look at the sort of characters that will be found in-game, or rather, the sorts that won't. Walking around in a flowing robe and attempting to fling fireballs won't get you very far in Global Agenda, as the trailer points out so clearly -- a Recon character makes short work of an elf trying to fill his cast-bar to attack, proving that technology is the key to victory in this particular world, and that other elves hoping to join the game's cast need not apply. Hit the jump to check out the full trailer.
All the World's a Stage: So you want to be a Blacksmith
This installment of All the World's a Stage is the thirty-second in a series of roleplaying guides in which we find out all the background information you need to roleplay a particular race or class (or profession!) well, without embarrassing yourself. Blacksmiths are known for being brawny folk -- hammering pieces of metal together is not easy work after all. But in World of Warcraft, even the smallest gnome or scrawniest elf can be a great blacksmith. Azeroth is a land where even the smallest people can wield the biggest of axes, so it would follow that they could craft them too, as well as any other sort of armor or weapon that they could imagine.Typically, however, even in Azeroth, blacksmiths are, by and large, members of a class that can use plate mail and heavy weapons, such as a warrior, a death knight, or a paladin, just as tailors are usually spellcasters of some kind. So even if a blacksmith appears scrawny on the outside, he or she is very likely still quite brawny on the inside. Underneath that elf's pretty skin are muscles of steel!Being a blacksmith implies a state of mind as much as it does a state of body, however. Working with metals is not something for the light hearted. The weight, the heat, and all the soot are not for people who like to keep their clothes clean at all times, for instance. It's also not a very socially-oriented profession, requiring long hours spent hammering away at something until it reaches perfection, often using lots of material in the learning process before you finally get one right. Blacksmiths of lore tend to be patient and hardy people, tempered and perfected by their work, like good, hard steel.
Mabinogi's associate producer helps us pioneer our way through Iria
Mabinogi's latest expansion, Pioneers of Iria, has recently gone live on the servers after much anticipation by the fans. Now players are able to not only explore the brand new continent of Iria, but also able to take advantage of new races in character creation, such as the giant and the elf, and the brand new exploration system.We here at Massively recently had a chance to catch up with Nexon's Matthew McCullough, the associate producer on the North American version of Mabinogi, to ask him some questions about their brand new release. Is all of this new content truly real? Is it really free? Can elves and giants live together with one another in harmony?Hit the continue reading link below, if you want the answers to these burning questions! Also, if you're a Mabinogi fan, look forward to our hands on with the Pioneers of Iria expansion later on in the week!
New races, continent, skills, and more coming to Mabinogi
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/Pioneers_of_Iria_expansion_brings_new_continent_to_Mabinogi'; Nexon America as just informed us of a huge expansion coming to Mabinogi, titled Pioneers of Iria, which will be featuring a huge brand new continent, two new races for players to create characters as, new skills, new magic, a new exploration system, dungeons, cities, the works.Pioneers of Iria, due to release sometime late in February, will introduce the brand new continent of Iria -- a land mass over three times bigger than the current continent of Ulad. Iria is also the home of the races of Elves and Giants, which will be featured as brand new player races.
Know Your LotRO Lore: The Elves
Welcome to Know Your LotRO Lore, a new weekly column here at Massively showcasing the lore of J.R.R. Tolkien's world as it intersects with Turbine's Lord of the Rings Online.The Elf is possibly the most intricately-detailed race in all of J.R.R. Tolkien's works. He created their histories, bloodlines and origins throughout his entire life, from before The Hobbit to works published after his death. Did Tolkien invent Elves? No, but he did redefine them as they're portrayed today in modern fantasy settings. Mostly everything we see in WoW, Warhammer, and of course LotRO come from Tolkien's descriptions of the Germanic and Celtic mythological creatures. Follow along below on our journey through the origins and progression of Tolkien's Elves in Middle-earth and beyond. Elven Origins >> %Gallery-39552%
Bury the Shovelware: Elf Bowling 1 & 2
It's Christmas Eve, and Santa has come a little early. But apparently we've all been very terrible, for there exists a gift far worse than coal. In fact, coal seems downright awesome compared to this. After all, it's flammable. I am being utterly sincere when I say that I would much rather play Cake Mania 2 than this pile of reindeer droppings. Pedigree Elf Bowling 1 & 2 shares the same developer and publisher: Ignition Entertainment. A quick scan of their products page shows a great diversity in games. Notably but understandably missing is this game. It's difficult to comprehend the fact that the same resources which gave us the excellent and underrated Mercury Meltdown Revolution are also responsible for Elf Bowling 1 & 2. The company also published Metal Slug 7 in North America. The Critics Said ... Metacritic is a great tool to use when I determine the critics' reception of a game for this series. I've referenced the bottom of the list before. According to the "Index of Nintendo DS Game Reviews by Score" page, the worst-received game for the DS is Deal or No Deal with a metascore of 17. Yet Elf Bowling for the DS manages to do that 5 points better -- err, worse -- with a metascore of 12. Why it doesn't appear on the list is because it only contains four reviews and five are needed to appear on the grand tally. The four critics that did review Elf Bowling (the poor, poor souls) are all fairly consistent in stating that this game is the suck.
Blogging into Mordor: Finding the perfect name for your Elf
Looking to create an elf in the Lord of the Rings Online but not sure what to name it? Want to avoid naming it "Legolazs" or "Elronde"? Have you unfortunately already used one of these names but are looking to change it? You're in luck! This article will show you how to find a decent, lore-appropriate name for your elf. And if you are not playing LOTRO but are looking for a name for an elf in World of Warcraft or a similar game, this guide might be a handy tool. Since elves are a very popular race in LOTRO, and there are a lot of famous elves in the lore that many players wish to emulate, finding a decent name can be difficult. It is important to remember to follow the naming rules of the game, which means you cannot choose a name that is close in spelling or sound to any of the actual characters from the books (such as Legolas, Arwen, etc). If your name is too similar to one of these characters, it will be changed. A good way to make sure that you are not accidentally stealing a name from the books is to use it in a Google search or consult a book such as the Complete Guide to Middle Earth.
He said, she said: Does Blizzard support homosexual stereotyping?
He Said / She Said is a new feature at WoW Insider, which looks at the game from masculine and feminine points of view. Today, Amanda and David discuss the age-old question: are male night elves and blood elves "gay?" Does Blizzard intend to give us that impression, and if so, why? If that's not what Blizzard intends, then why is gayness such a big deal when people think of elves?Read on to see the conversation.
Choosing your race in Middle-earth: Man and Elf
In many ways, picking a race for yourself in an MMO is very much a personal choice. However it can help to have some tips and an overall viewpoint on the subject. This guide is here for old players or new players that are unsure of the the finer details of each race in Lord of the Rings Online. The goal isn't to answer the question of which race is best, but rather to give a few tips and some advice on the strong points of the races in Middle-earth. In this first part of our guide to help you choose your race in LotRO, we'll explore the races of both Man and Elf.Obviously if a player has their heart set on being any single race, this guide isn't going to change their mind. Even if you've already made up your mind on a race (or already chosen it), this guide could contain a couple helpful chunks of information.
Wii Twilight hack could enable homebrew booting from SD cards
Make no mistake, Nintendo's Wii has been hacked to pieces, but there's nothing like an all new method that keeps the soldering iron residing in the utility drawer to get us all hot and bothered. Unfortunately, what you can see in the video waiting after the jump is only a proof of concept at the moment, but it does show that Twilight Princess can be exploited and homebrew code can be booted directly from an SD card. Also of note, certain versions of the game -- most notably, RVL-RZDE-0A-2 USA -- have reportedly been found to not play nice with the aforementioned hack, but hey, it's a start. Click on through![Via Exophase, thanks zshadow]
HTC Touch gets more memory, new color options
Same HTC Touch we all know and love but now HTC's thrown down a couple new color choices and beefed up the memory. Word has it that the new color choices -- The plum and white handsets above -- will initially only be in Asia, but we know that they'll eventually find a way to sneak on over. Memory gets a bump from the current 128 and 64 MB ROM / RAM to a more reasonable 256 and 128 MB -- which may help speed it up a wee bit. They're apparently shipping now and will just slot into existing stock, so if you were waffling on picking one up, we'd suggest you wait. [Via the::unwired]
Ear modification: bad for your elf
One of the more bizarre stories to surface on the internet this week is the Modern Plasztikai Sebészet -- henceforth referred to as the "Elf Ear Clinic". The site is almost certainly fake -- but it's an idea that isn't too far off being a reality, and surely must appeal to a percentage of MMO players somewhere.Real world influencing MMOs is nothing new -- but MMOs being able to influence physical aspects of real life is something new entirely, Second-Life excluded. And it's maybe just a little bit scary. They can say faun-clubs all they want, but what they really mean is level 70 night elf druids.And just so you know; pointy elf ears wouldn't necessarily allow you to hear better anyway. Ear shape and hearing is individual, not universal -- having elongated pointy ears would change how you hear sounds, and after years of your brain interpreting sounds from your original ear shape it's unlikely to be an improvement. Oh well.Would *you* be tempted to get a pair of elf ears? Or is this a step too far in body modification?
HTC Touch spotted on sale in Hong Kong
Book your flights and whip your checkbooks out, folks -- especially if an iPhone isn't in the cards for you next Friday. HTC's lovely Touch has been spotted (in Dopod trim) on the streets of Hong Kong for $478, which seems like a reasonable sum for a latest-gen Windows Mobile 6 Professional device, does it not?
HTC Touch, now in "wasabi green"
The white's cool, and so's the black -- but "wasabi green"? Seriously? We're not sure whether HTC will be launching its Touch in this... uh, creative hue globally, but it appears that some Asian countries are gonna get a crack at this.[Via Just Another Mobile Phone Blog]
