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The end has come for this issue of WildStar's webcomic
WildStar's Victor Lazarin and Mondo Zax have interesting surprises in store for one another, according to the latest update to Carbine's Tales from Beyond the Fringe: Mystery and Mayhem Issue #001. This update marks the end of Issue #001, with the next issue likely to begin next week. Mystery and Mayhem follows the experiments of Lazarin and Zax, both leading innovators for their particular factions, as they create horrible creatures and generally do mad scientist-type things. Check out the exciting conclusion to Issue #001 over on the official site.
The Nexus Telegraph: WildStar Comix
I am a really big fan of comics. If this comes as a shock, possibly one that invites shock and horror, I apologize. But I love comics. We have bookshelves filled with comics in my house, I spend a lot of my free time reading comics, and I know a fair bit about comics. Not even close to everything, though, which is half the fun of comics in general. There's always more to learn, always something great that you've never heard of. The point I'm slowly getting to here is that I was pretty excited when WildStar started up a comic. I think this is something that more games should do because comics lend themselves to MMOs pretty naturally. So what's good, what's mediocre, and what's bad in the comics that are running thus far? Even with just two weeks of comics I've already formed some pretty strong opinions about this stuff.
WildStar kicks off webcomic series Tales from Beyond the Fringe
Hey! You like comics, don't you? Of course you do, you're on the internet. Would you like to read a comic about WildStar? That's less of a given, but the team at Carbine Studios certainly hopes you'd like to take a look at the first issue of what promises to be an ongoing comic series. And because the creators know what webcomics are like, the first issue focuses exclusively on somewhat amusing sociopaths. The first installment of Tales from Beyond the Fringe is focusing upon Victor Lazarin and Mondo Zax -- or if you prefer titles, the maniac that accidentally cursed the entirety of the Mordesh to a perpetual undeath and the Chua so cleverly sadistic that he heads the Dominion's research division. You can take a look at the comic on the game's official site, with more slated to arrive on a weekly basis. [Source: Carbine Studios press release]
The Elder Scrolls Online exalts the Unforeseen Queen
The Elder Scrolls Online's latest lore entry is asking you to read between the lines just a little bit. On its surface, the entry is straightforward enough, giving players a peek at the reigning queen of the Aldmeri Dominion. Ayrenn the Unforeseen Queen is just another one of the Alliance leaders, right? But the fact that the entry is written in the style of an in-game document allows for some additional hints to be dropped along the way. In the official documents, Ayrenn is nothing more or less than the culmination of tradition, a perfectly prepared queen to lead the High Elves. But it becomes clear from the story that this is a queen who left her tradition behind for quite some time until she decided to return, a woman more than willing to break the rules to obtain what she wants. Take a look at the full entry and get ready to bend your knee to the queen in the game, since she may very well bend it for you otherwise.
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?
Newest World of Warcraft novel gets a release date and cover preview
Jaina Proudmoore is one of the biggest lore figures in World of Warcraft despite the fact that her character history largely consists of trying to make reasonable compromises and being completely ignored. It's no surprise that she's the star of the newest novel based on World of Warcraft considering her prominence in the lore and her relationship to the war between the game's factions. Tides of War is written by Christie Golden and will be released in late August, setting the stage for Mists of Pandaria later this year. While Jaina has always tried to broker a peace between the Alliance and the Horde, the novel's plot revolves around Warchief Garrosh Hellscream launching an attack against Jaina's home in Theramore, demonstrating the same legendary thinking that's alienated several of the Horde's allies. Whether or not the erstwhile diplomat will be able to retain any hopes of a peaceful resolution remains to be seen, but with Mists of Pandaria promising to focus on the conflict between the two factions, it seems likely that players will be looking at silencing the last and loudest voice for peace.
City of Heroes performs 'Death of a Statesman'
He's been the face on the package, the man on the cover, the big guy above all other big guys. But today, he is no more. Statesman, the most iconic hero in the City of Heroes lore, is going to meet his end, and it's time for everyone to say goodbye. Episode 5 of the signature story arc is live today, and while the titular question "Who Will Die?" has been answered, it's time to see what happens when Statesman does meet his end. There's more to do than just go play through the arc, however. A new issue of the Intrepid Informer is available in which Matt Miller discusses why the team decided that now is the right time to kill off the game's biggest hero. And if you need a little more help catching up with the story so far, the final vidoc on the arc is embedded just past the cut, giving players a recap of what the Freedom Phalanx is, what is represents, and what this death means for Paragon City.
The first part of the first signature arc now available for City of Heroes
It's no real secret, but the Surviving Eight of City of Heroes are soon to be the Surviving Seven And There Used To Be One Other Guy. The first installment of the arc is now available for players on the live server, with the arc available in the store for free players coming in after the fact. It's a chance for players to interact in a big way with some of the game's major lore characters and see which of the setting-defining heroes is going to be taking a permanent trip to the land of wind and ghosts. So what was the process behind the arc? As is often the case these days, Paragon Studios has furnished players with a new installment of the Intrepid Informer with more details on what the arcs entail and the major challenges of design. To the surprise of almost no one, the biggest issue that the designers faced was the simple question of relevance -- making sure that players felt important as they played through an arc focusing on the life and death of several NPCs. How successfully that goal was met remains to be seen, but CoH players can judge the first installment on its own merits right now.
Breakfast Topic: Who's your new favorite NPC?
This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. Maybe it was helping Tirion in the Plaguelands; maybe it was helping Mankrik find his wife. Everyone had a favorite NPC in the old world long before any of the Cataclysm changes took place. But now that Azeroth has been shattered and reformed, we have seen not only new faces but old favorites in new and strange ways. Questing recently (if you haven't taken the time to, you should!) has been a strange mixture of familiarity combined with entertaining surprises from characters we've never met before. Our guild has been abuzz with people having long discussions over who is the best, as most of us have been rolling up new low-level alts to poke, prod, and explore, or even just taking our mains out to do more Loremaster achievements. Some people love various quirky characters (or outright hate them), and other people like the more serious lore figures. All in all, we've had a lot to talk about regarding the people in the new Old World. If you've been out and about doing the new quests, who are your favorite new NPCs? Is it Zen'kiki in Western Plaguelands? Or Lunk from Searing Gorge and his adorable pacifism?
Breakfast Topic: What WoW figure do you want on your desert island?
This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. You've all heard the premise before: You go out on a cruise and are shipwrecked. The island has plenty of food, water, and shelter for you to live pleasantly for a long period of time (well, at least as pleasantly as one can live without an internet connection). Now the person talking to you says, "You only managed to find one music CD in the ship wreckage, and a working CD player. What CD will get you through this marooning?" More often than not, the person you are talking to then laughs at you when you answer, because you listen to weird music and and are inherently weird yourself. Well, that is what happens to me, anyway. Moving on, here is my version of the situation: You are stuck on an island. There is plenty of food, water, and shelter to survive. However, it's all in very basic form; there is no cup of never-ending chicken soup or fancy hotel. I hope you like bananas, and don't mind the rain. Now, in this scenario, there was one person who survived the cruise with you! Here is where you come in to making this scenario. Name one person from Warcraft lore or an NPC from in game that you survived the wreck with. Did you manage to survive with Garrosh Hellscream? You could spend your time wrestling and training until you are rescued! Maybe Kael'thas Sunstrider, so you would have someone who would never, ever, ever, ever tire of talking. Or perhaps you would like to have that bread vendor from Ironforge, to supplement your diet of bananas. So who would you bring and why? (By the way, if you bring a mage, no portal or teleport runes were recovered from the wreck. No cheating!)
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: The changing of the environment
If I had to make a list of video game characters I hate... well, it would take up a thousand words and then some. (Fuuka Yamagishi would be on there.) But if I just had to make a list of MMO lore characters that I hate... actually, again, it would take up a thousand words and then some. (Tyrande Whisperwind would be on there.) Still, near the top of the list would be one of my least favorite characters from the lore of any game, and appropriately enough it's City of Heroes -- because I really, really hate Statesman. Honestly, before I even knew about his background, Statesman rubbed me the wrong way. But it was only made worse by the fact that he derived his powers from Jack Emmert's ego, thereby giving him nearly limitless everything as long as Emmert was in charge. The comics made him out to be a jerk; the game made him out to be The Best Hero In The World Ever. And through it all there was a subtle reminder that he was the real hero. Your character was great and all, but you weren't really the hero. It was Statesman.
