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DDO plans changes to reincarnation system
Reincarnation, Dungeons and Dragons Online's "do over" system, is slated for a revamp with Update 20. When the update lands, there will be four types of reincarnation available to players: heroic true reincarnation, iconic true reincarnation, epic reincarnation, and lesser reincarnation. At the same time, greater reincarnation will be phased out of the game. These four types of reincarnation reset your levels (either back a few or all the way to level 1) while giving you bonuses like past life feats and more build points for your next run. Epic reincarnation merely resets your epic levels to 20, while iconic reincarnation applies only to the new iconic characters. There's a great amount of information about this complex system available on the forums, including a look at how different forms of reincarnation will work depending on your class. [Thanks to Scott for the tip!]
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Playing as icons in superheroic MMORPGs
For the past week or so, I've been playing Marvel Heroes. If you missed my impression piece on Monday morning, let me spoil the big reveal for your right now: I wasn't very happy with it. It produces some minor thrills here and there, but at this point in testing there's not a whole lot to celebrate about the game. So I'm understandably not champing at the bit to talk more about the game this week, which I had originally planned. I do think there's something to be discussed when it comes to the game's central conceit, however: the fact that you're playing as the iconic characters instead of alongside them. I'm not a fan of the approach in general, but considering the panoply of superhero properties out there, it's worth considering. Could you actually make a functional game in which you play as just the official characters rather than original creations? What sort of things do you need to do to make this work? How would a superhero MMORPG with only the official characters work in practice?
The Road to Mordor: Finding the Fellowship
It's not uncommon for new players to come to Lord of the Rings Online with the full expectation that they'll be treated to a front-row seat of the Fellowship's adventures. The movies, the books and even other Lord of the Rings video games certainly feature Aragorn, Legolas and Gandalf practically non-stop, which is why LotRO's approach to showing these famous characters takes some getting used to. Instead of bending the lore so hard it breaks by shoehorning players into the Fellowship itself, Turbine decided to have the players go on their own epic quests that sometimes parallel the main story of the books. In effect, we the players are on the periphery of the Fellowship, and the Fellowship is on the periphery of us. Sometimes we cross paths, sometimes our actions influence each other, and sometimes we simply go our separate ways. Still, players may get frustrated when they spend a lot of time in the game without seeing any of these major characters, wondering whether some of them even exist at all. This is complicated by the fact that these characters appear in different places relative to the player's own journey through the story. So if you've ever been curious where your favorite character is and how you can go on adventures with him or her, hit the jump and I'll hook you up!
Discussing Guild Wars 2 iconic characters with author J. Robert King
The Guild Wars lore constitutes stories -- nay, legends -- of remarkable heroism. The depth of this lore has entranced many a player of the game. ArenaNet created a world that enveloped the player in a setting that seemed greater than he. Guild Wars 2 will be no exception. Instantly, the player is surrounded by vivid characters and storylines that reach far beyond what he will ever see in-game. These amazing stories will be explored in a series of books. ArenaNet's Jeff Grubb recently sat down with the author of Edge of Destiny, J. Robert King, to discuss the characters and climate of the second novel based on events surrounding Guild Wars 2. Earlier this year, we met the characters of Destiny's Edge, a motley crew from all walks of Tyria, in the Races trailer. King speaks in depth about each of the different characters and how he personally related to each of them. The author explains in the interview: "[ArenaNet] provided me all kinds of information and images of these characters, but I couldn't write about them until they were mine. And the team gave me the creative freedom to make the characters my own." Definitely take some time to read the full interview on ArenaNet's site, and don't miss Massively's analysis of Edge of Destiny coming up in Monday's Flameseeker Chronicles.
