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City of Heroes to get frickin' laser beams [Updated]
If there's one common cry on the City of Heroes forums, it's "give us new power sets!" Fortunately, the upcoming Freedom expansion aims to deliver just that. This morning, CoH's Phil "Synapse" Zeleski offered up a new dev blog outlining one of the planned power sets, Beam Rifle. Available to Blasters and Corruptors (as a primary set) and Defenders (as a secondary set), Beam Rifle is heavy on the AoE and features a signature cascading Disintegrate effect, which can be spread to nearby enemies and causes targets to take ever more damage from the power set's attacks. In a nod to style, Synapse noted that "plasma beams from movies, games, and other sources were the inspiration for the style of beam used by this power set" and that it has "a synthetic, futuristic sound with some 'grime' added [to make it] sound powerful." In related news, Paragon Studios has reiterated that various CoH-flavored purchasables on the NCsoft store website, including the booster packs and expansion boxes, will be discontinued in advance of the looming F2P conversion. If you can't live without a Steampunk costume in the meantime, you have until August 30th to get your fix. [Update: A second dev blog outlining each of Beam Rifle's powers in-depth is also now available on the official website.]
Wings Over Atreia: Milking the cash cow
Although it is so far out on the scale of probability that it is tipping into impossibility, there is a remote chance that some player in Aion does not know about NCsoft's cash shop. After all, we are often assaulted with advertisements for new goodies offered at the NCsoft Store front-and-center on the launchpad; if you have logged into the game any time in the last couple of months, you have seen offerings of cosmetic clothing, exclusive pets, and weapon skins. Now I can understand ponying-up for a character name-change since the user is asking for a smidgen of change in code. Changing gender -- sure, why not? Server transfers definitely involve a bit of work, so making this a paid service also makes sense. Cosmetic surgery, however, is harder for me to accept since I have played a game that offered it in-game as a service performed by a specific class. But what about all of the extra items? The little perks, the fluff, and limited-time deals? Grab your wallet and join me past the break for a discussion on fleecing customers (I mean offering deals, really) and to see some items that I personally would like to implement.
Aion adds Lineage II armor microtransaction items
Long-time fans of NCsoft MMOs are no doubt aware of the visual similarities between Aion and Lineage II. Sure, Aion is quite a bit newer and shinier, but it's easy to see influences from the earlier title if you know where to look. Take the level 30 Elyos Daeva armor for example. The set looks suspiciously like an updated version of L2's Blue Wolf armor, right down to the skin-tight leggings and the white boots. Today, NCsoft has announced a cash shop promotion designed to capitalize on the seven-year anniversary of L2 and intermingle the two titles even further. Players are now able to purchase skins inspired by Lineage II's dynasty armor for use on their Aion avatars. The dynasty skins also mark the first set of armor appearance items that aren't restricted by a player's armor proficiency (i.e., if you want to put the dynasty plate set on your cloth-wearing Sorceror, you can). The skins are available via NCsoft's microtransaction store and will only be available for a limited time according to the official website.
Flameseeker Chronicles: Is ArenaNet approaching the pay-to-win line?
The addition of Guild Wars Mercenary Hero Packs to the NCsoft store is the latest step in ArenaNet's effort to highlight Guild Wars "microtransactions." (I am ambivalent about using the word microtransactions in this context -- "micro" in my eyes says under 10 dollars.) The mercenary heroes are probably the most controversial addition to the current store to date, and the ongoing debate fascinated me. I can see both sides of the argument, so I thought I'd take today and explore this new addition to the store and what it means. Follow along after the jump and let's look at the perceived pros and cons of the newest not-very-micro-transaction in the NCsoft store!
Flameseeker Chronicles: Love is in the air
Last week was pretty busy for me, but I rewarded myself this weekend by jumping into Hearts of the North with both feet. Once I finally made time to indulge and play through the line, I enjoyed it for the most part. I had mixed feelings about a few parts, and I'll address those in a bit, but the reactions of a portion of the Guild Wars community as a whole were much stronger. I think that Hearts of the North and everything surrounding it is a "love it or hate it" situation for many people. I've heard from many players who are ecstatic about all of this, and many who want nothing to do with it. So follow along after the jump and let's take a look at the ups and downs of all the new goodies in Guild Wars!
Updated: Win a City of Heroes Origins Booster Pack!
A few weeks ago, the City of Heroes team announced the upcoming Origins Booster Packs. The new capes and origins were "tentatively" set to arrive in the NCsoft store by November 3rd. It looks like that date was accurate, because the Origins Booster Packs are available as of today for $9.99 each. Nature, science, technology, magic, and mutant packs are for sale, but if your gaming fund is a little nonexistent at the moment, Massively's got you covered! We have Origins Booster Packs for 10 lucky Massively readers. It couldn't be easier to win; simply take a peek at our contest rules, then leave a comment here telling us which part of the pack is your favorite. We'll choose 10 winners at random from those who comment before 11:59 p.m. EDT on Friday, November 5th. But wait, there's more! Those of you who simply cannot wait until the drawing can pass the time by watching our Twitter page this afternoon and evening. Yes, that is a hint. Good luck! [UPDATED: All 10 winners have been chosen and emailed. Check those inboxes, and congratulations to the winners!]
New Guild Wars costumes bring players a spooky new look
Guild Wars' Khrysten the Costume Maker might just end up shoveling Moa manure with Kun Shao if she's not careful. She spoiled a surprise for the community yesterday by unexpectedly offering players two new costumes: Raiment of the Lich and Lunatic Court Finery. It was a strange offer, since those costumes weren't in the store yet. Khrysten may have jumped the gun, but that's been remedied with the arrival of the two new costumes in the NCsoft store. The costumes are $9.99 US total for all available pieces, and only here until November 21st.
Guild Wars adds costumes just in time for Wintersday
Last night's fairly sizable patch in Guild Wars was a bit of a surprise to players who weren't expecting any Wintersday updates until today, and a quick round of "What was that?" throughout the game led to the discovery of a big surprise from ArenaNet: costumes! In what is hopefully the first of many, special Grenth and Dwayna Wintersday costumes are now available in the NCsoft store. Each version can be purchased for $6.99 US in the store, but NCsoft has an introductory deal until January 17th -- both sets for $9.99. The costumes are account-wide, headpieces are included, they can be dyed, and you'll get both male and female versions so none of your characters are left out. The costumes are purely cosmetic and can be worn over your existing armor without a change in stats, so feel free to charge into battle dressed as Grenth to put a little extra fear into your opponents. A brand new feature like this one is bound to bring an avalanche of questions from players, so we suggest you start with the costume FAQ before heading over to the NCsoft store.
