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Captains of DarkTide enters open beta
Captains of DarkTide, the quirky pirate-slash-fantasy MMO introduced back in May, is finally ready for open beta as of today. The game has undergone quite a few changes and improvements in the past months as the devs worked on every area of the game. Basic game glitches along the way have been fixed, of course, but much more has been improved as well. Crafting and inventory have been greatly simplified. Enemies have been rebalanced and combat changed to make battles a bit less frustrating. If you've been participating in closed beta, there was a full character wipe so you'll be starting fresh with today's open beta. If you're new to Captains of DarkTide, it's browser-based, available on both PC and Mac, and free-to-play, so giving it a try couldn't be easier.
Orcs, elves, magic, and... pirates: Silverlode unveils Captains of DarkTide
Silverlode Interactive, the developer best known for fantasy MMORTS SAGA, has unveiled a project that's been in "stealth development" for the past year: Captains of Dark Tide. This pirate-themed free-to-play game is set in the SAGA universe, creating an unusual and potentially very exciting mix of fantasy and piracy -- the swashbuckling kind, not the software kind -- on the open seas. What this means is that players will be able to do things like crew their ships with dragon-summoning dark elves, create cannons that shoot fire or lightning, or bring the lich and his minions aboard to join you in your search for buried treasure. If it sounds like something that you'd like to try, Captains of Dark Tide is accepting signups for the US closed beta now. Only US servers will be available for the time being, but EU players are welcome to join the US servers. A EU closed beta will launch sometime in the future. If you're worried about not getting into the closed beta, don't: the servers will scale as beta progresses in order to admit everyone. You can sign up for closed beta on the main CoDT page, and be sure to check out the gallery below for a first look at Captains of Dark Tide. %Gallery-92743%
Silverlode offers free commercial Saga accounts through FileFront
Saga is an MMORTS by Silverlode Interactive, where you can command literal legions of troops in never-ending battle. While it's free-to-play, there are two versions of the account: a $19.95 commercial version, and a free, features-locked version. Well, for those of you eager to give this a shot, Saga has just teamed up with FileFront to offer 50,000 commercial accounts. At nearly $20 per account, that's close to a million dollars' worth of players!Jaunt on over to FileFront to download the game and get your beta key. But don't forget to sign up on Saga's site for your free account first![Thanks, Will!]
The first Saga tournament is player-run
You may be familiar with the MMO called Saga, by Silverlode Interactive. You may even be a member, and are currently lamenting the fact that there is no official Saga tournament in which you can test your PvP skills. Don't despair! Sagaunits.com and sagatraders.com have teamed up to offer prizes for the first Saga tournament, held by saga.scratchplace.com!The tournament starts at 9 AM PST on April 19th, and it's completely free to enter. There are four brackets for ranges of levels beginning with 10 - 14, and ending with 25 - 30. If you fit those ranges and want to compete, better get yourself set up! For more information, go visit the site. [Thanks, Casey!]
SAGA's undead faction coming with expansion
Silverlode Interactive has announced that a new Undead faction will be shambling along with its first "Expansion Set" for SAGA, their relatively new MMORTS/CCG hybrid, when it comes out some time later this year. SAGA works much the same way that tradition collectible card games work, with new units and abilities coming with the purchase of boosters. It's not exactly clear at this point how this Expansion Set concept is going to work; whether players will have to invest a small amount in a new deck or whether Undead units will simply be part of the boosters, but we imagine we'll start hearing more details as the expansion moves further into development.What is clear is that the concept art for the new faction is pretty freakin' cool, by our estimation. It looks like they're trying to take their Undead in a direction we're not accustomed to seeing in MMOs. The Necromancer concept drawing gives off a tribal, maybe even Egyptian vibe, where the Reaper seems to be going for a sort of medieval zombie look. It's pretty neat stuff, we're looking forward to seeing more.
Saga (MMORTS) Trailer: What WoW should have been
Years ago when Blizzard sounded the trumpets and announced that WoW was in the works I dreamt RTS and MMORPG mechanics would fuse together to whisk in a new era in massively online gaming. I swore that if Blizzard copied the Diku formula popularized by EverQuest I wouldn't bother playing it. That is until magical forces intervened, and I found myself in the WoW friends and family alpha and loving every second. WoW improved on familiar loot-n-scoot, and level based PvE gameplay, but I still hoped that I'd someday play an MMORTS or some bastardized attempt at one and actually like it. That's not to say there isn't anything out there or in development. Two games come to mind are Mankind and Dreamlords, take them for what you will, but it looks like Saga is a real solid attempt to fill a void. The graphics aren't top notch, but the gameplay looks interesting, and I hope others would appreciate the efforts from a smaller independent development studio as I do. There is a free client available, but several features are not usable unless you upgrade to the full version. There is no expiration date on the trial, and if you are concerned about a monthly subscription fee, don't be because there isn't one. The payment model is based on the purchase of booster packs. The booster packs contain cards, and these cards portray units and spells that you then use to build armies and maintain your nation. The end game actually revolves around PvP against other player built nations. You can read a much better detailed account on the missions, PvP, the card system, in this great first look posted on Brandon Reinhart's blog. You can find more information about the game and where to download it on Saga's official site. I'm about to try it out firsthand, and if you've played it please feel free to share your thoughts about Saga below.
Final beta date revealed for MMORTS Saga
Developer Silverlode Interactive issued a press release revealing the date for the final beta phase of Saga. The MMO real-time-strategy game will open up Beta 2 on December the 11th, with players from Beta 1 being offered places first, and the rest on a first-come first-served basis after signing up.The press release also explains a little about Saga's business model, which will be microtransaction based, with players purchasing 'booster packs' that have new units and spells to use, and a subscription fee will not be charged. We have not covered this game before, so a quick visit to the homepage's FAQ was necessary to learn a bit more. It is basically what you would expect from an MMORTS -- an RTS with a persistent world. The world is based on traditional fantasy (dwarves, elves, spells etc.) and you will be able to trade troops with other players. In-game activities include building armies, cities and kingdoms, taking over new lands, and multiplayer questing.If you want to be considered for this last Beta phase, visit the sign-up page and create your account.[Via IGN]
