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Camelot Unchained's fourth newsletter covers the state of the game
The build for Camelot Unchained is constantly improving in functionality. Dual-targeting is now implemented, allowing players to have separate friendly and hostile targets for various effects. The hotbar UI is improving. Auto-run is in the game. How do we know all of this? It's all in the latest newsletter from the development team, which discusses every aspect of the title from the stability and performance of the current build to future plans and technology integration. Aside from the current state of the alpha testing build, the newsletter answers several community questions about possible new races and weaponry, shows off some of the armor designs that are being explored for mages, and talks about the game's reward structure. And even that isn't a full rundown of everything in the dispatch. If you're a fan of what's going on with Camelot Unchained, it might be best to just curl up with some holiday leftovers and read the full newsletter.
Take a look at character creation for all Asta races in new videos
Character creation. For some players, it's the boring part of the game that you have to click through quickly in order to get on with the hitting. For others, it's half of the reason you're playing the game at all. If you're of the former camp, you're probably not going to get much out of this series of high-definition videos detailing character creation for all the races in Asta: The War of Tears and Wind. But if you're in the latter camp, you've got some viewing ahead of you. All six races from the game have character creation extensively displayed, including both genders for the dimorphic races getting separate treatment. Each of the races also has some unique features, ranging from the horns of the Dragon race to the tusks of the Oni race to the spine apparently constructed from flexible tubing of the Fox race. (Or maybe the female model is just posed oddly.) While there's no word yet on release, you can still look longingly at all of the videos and start thinking about what you'd want to play if and when the game comes overseas. [Thanks to steparu taru for the tip!]
Undead Labs talks about environments and the undead
The upcoming zombie games from Undead Labs are aiming to give players a feeling of genuinely surviving in a world ruled by shambling corpses. To make that work correctly, players are going to need lots of little touches here and there to reinforce just what has gone wrong and what sort of threat living humans are facing. In the most recent set of questions and answers from the development team, more elements of the environment and interaction with same are spelled out, giving prospective survivors an idea of what to expect. While the game isn't planned to be an ornate physics simulator, there will be a practical limit to how much an individual can carry -- and while vehicles can carry more, the problems of noise and fuel will place some limits on stacking an SUV to the brim with heavy weapons. Hunting wildlife and handling aquatic environments will both be issues in the game, with the obvious caveat that humans drown far more easily than zombies. There are a lot of other interesting tidbits in the full rundown as well as some valuable takeaways that aspiring survivors would do well to internalize.
Warhammer Online previews Thanquol's Incursion
If there's one note that Warhammer Online has been hitting rather steadily of late, it's the solid note of the Skaven. The vicious rat-men have been a popular race in the franchise for years, and the promise of an increased presence for the group has been met with nothing but anticipation. So it's unsurprising that Thanquol's Incursion is the newest element of the game under development as a 24v24 RvR dungeon -- a chance for both Order and Chaos to fight back against a Skaven operation of enormous scope. While the dungeon contains several Skaven bosses, the theme is still RvR, with boss fights tallying victory according to both damage dealt and enemy players slain. Players will engage in battles on multiple fronts, and the preview suggests that there's a definite element of trying to work the bosses to deal the most damage possible to your enemies. Take a look at the full preview for what promises to be an all-out brawl between three different sides for Warhammer Online enthusiasts.
Blizzard updates Under Development page with patch 4.0.1 details
In another sign that patch 4.0.1 is fast approaching, Community Manager Zarhym has posted to let us know that the Under Development page has been updated with patch 4.0.1 details, "to set the framework for the imminent release of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm." Combine this with the imminent end of arena Season 8, and it's looking more and more likely that patch 4.0.1 is nearly here. The Under Development page update is also worth looking at, as it provides a nice, concise list of what's coming in the final major patch before Cataclysm. We've included the list after the break for your convenience.
New Star Trek Online patch structure looks forward
While you can fault the team behind Star Trek Online for some things, failure to plan is certainly not one of them. The development team has been very public about their plans for testing and release, which made a few people rather curious when Season 1.2 launched in early June rather than late May. What would that mean for Season 1.3 and the following Season 2 patch? The most recent Engineering Report on the official forums tackles precisely that, explaining that the team has adjusted their schedule slightly and will roll 1.3 straight into the Season 2 patch. That leaves us with an enormous list of features for Season 2, which is aimed at July. Ship interiors and a raise in level cap to 51 are the two most obvious changes, with the former offering a choice from several layouts and the latter promoting a player to the rank of Vice Admiral or Lieutenant General. There's also the addition of minigames, weekly episodes, officer trading, new episodes for the high-level band, a new fleet action, and a general surfeit of improvements to the game. Star Trek Online players are encouraged to check out the official thread and offer any feedback to the proposed changes.
Court documents say Bethesda's MMO already under dev, rumor says it's Elder Scrolls
In this most recent round of court scuffles between Interplay and Bethesda over the Fallout MMO rights, it would seem that some details are coming to light about what's going on at Bethesda's MMO "branch", Zenimax Media. According to filings, the word is that there are close to 100 people working on an MMO that costs "tens and tens of millions of dollars" and has been under development since late 2006. Apparently these same filings claim that the title is a "World of Warcraft" type MMO. Of course, considering World of Warcraft is about as equal to McDonalds in terms of brand recognition with its millions and millions served, saying something is like World of Warcraft could mean anything from 'it's a DIKU-based, kill-ten-rats, FedEx, fantasy MMO that looks rather a lot like WoW' on up to 'it's somewhere in the general MMO neighborhood.' Now, to follow this interesting tidbit up, the word is that Bethesda is moving to have this particular chunk of testimony censored to protect trade secrets. To stir the pot a bit further on why they might be scrambling to block it, VG247 have a source they claim is reliable confirming this is the often-rumored Elder Scrolls MMO. What's more, their source says the Elder Scrolls MMO should have been announced last year.
The Isle of Conquest and Season 7
The new, rapid pace of Blizzard development continues as the Under Development page let slip that the new Battleground will be called the Isle of Conquest. We'd known for a while now that the next major content patch, Patch 3.2, would have a new Battleground, there were little details beyond that. For a while, there was some speculation that the abandoned development in Azshara would be revisited, but it looks like this is an entirely new Battleground that implements more siege weapons and vehicles.Even though vehicle combat has gotten fairly mixed reviews, we know for a fact that it works rather well in PvP implementations such as Lake Wintergrasp and Strand of the Ancients. Wintergrasp, in particular, has been so popular that it has created all sorts of problems for Blizzard, leading to the development team finding ways to actually reduce the number of people playing in it. If Wintergrasp is any indication, the Isle of Conquest should be incredibly fun, as well. The key word here is "large-scale", which hopefully indicates a return to Alterac Valley-level epic battles.
Official site updated with new UI additions
The official World of Warcraft website updated recently with an addition to their Under Development section. Call it a preview, reminder, whatever you want. They've added a listing of all of the new UI features coming in Patch 3.1, and I'm willing to say that there's more UI additions in this patch than in any content patch before it. Am I wrong? Possibly, but I can't remember this much coming all at once before.If you've been following WoW Insider since patch 3.1 hit the PTR, not much of this stuff will be a surprise to you, we've tried to cover the UI additions as they were pushed onto the test realm. Regardless, the new UI page details all of the following: Talent Dual Specialization Equipment Manager Updated Objectives Tracker Looking For Group Improvements Queueing for Battlegrounds From Anywhere Go on, give it a read, and make sure you're not caught off guard by all of the shiny new UI elements slapping you in the face the day you load up patch 3.1. You can also check out the galleries below that we've done previously, which will walk you through a few of these things. If you're the type that likes surprises? Well, don't look at them!%Gallery-45754%%Gallery-45780%%Gallery-45755%%Gallery-45767%
Patch 3.0.2: Echoes of Doom
From the North, a cold wind blows, and brings with it Echoes of Doom. A king is ready, after all these years, to return to his people...Blizzard has named the last content patch before Wrath of the Lich King -- it's "Echoes of Doom." They've created a page for patch 3.0.2 in their Under Development section, and all of the features we've become familiar with over the past few months -- from Inscription to two new Arenas (no mention yet of the new battleground, unless they just meant Wintergrasp) and lots of UI modifications -- are listed right there as ready to go in with the new patch.The page still seems like a placeholder, though, so expect to see it changed over the next two weeks or so -- we'll see more detailed patch notes, of course, near release, and I wouldn't be surprised to see some information about the World Event that will likely kick off Wrath. "Echoes of Doom" -- are you excited?Update: WoW Insider has obtained this exclusive video of what the new patch may be like.
The Daily Grind: Do you read patch notes?
One of myriad things that World of Warcraft seems to have brought to the fore is that many people seem to pay a great deal of attention to patch notes on test servers. With Patch 2.4 releasing to test last night, there was much talk about it over Vent in my guild. Sure, there were people who checked them in earlier games, but it just never seemed to provoke as many complaints or happy-dancing as test patches do in WoW. (There again, you could argue that it may well be proportional, honestly.) Still, quite a few of my guild-mates seemed extremely nonchalant about it, to the point of almost being "meh" on the entire concept. As one said, everything on test is hypothetical until released. Another one chimed in that he just doesn't want the surprise ruined; new content at endgame is worth its weight in gold. Today we thought we'd ask you if you're the type to pounce all over patch notes and digest every nuance? Do you instead skim patch notes for only class-related items? Or do you think reading patch notes at all spoils the fun of discovering it yourself?
Under development page updated with new end-game content
Blizzard has updated the under development page to include a bundle of new information about what we should expect to see in patch 2.1. So what's in the future, besides the Black Temple? Ethereum Prison: new quests, items, and content for the solo and small-group level 70 player in good standing with the Consortium. Skettis: the Arakkoa capitol city, perched high in the mountains of Terokkar Forest. Content is listed as for the solo or small-group level 70 player. Blizzard certainly has my attention with the suggestion of a "new type of flying mount." Netherdrake: the Netherwing faction and quest line will be completed, offering players a chance to obtain their own 280% speed epic mount through solo and small group play. Ogri'la: a new 5-player dungeon in the Blade's Edge Mountains. Blizzard's explanation leaves me curious, though. "...a repeatable and ever popular bombing-run, this time using your own flying mount but with a dangerous twist." What?! Tell me more! So patch 2.1 isn't just for raiders -- we can expect to see plenty of interesting new small group content as well.
