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The Mog Log: What we know thus far about Final Fantasy XIV 2.5
With all the cool stuff we heard about Final Fantasy XIV's first expansion, it's easy to forget that we also heard a bunch of stuff about the last patch of the current patch cycle. I think that's kind of intentional, not just because the expansion is a bit more eye-catching, but because things are going to get a lot worse before they get better. 2.5 is titled "Before the Fall," the Heavensward trailer does not predict sunny times for Ishgard, it doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out what happens next. There's no actual release date for 2.5 just yet, although I imagine it's fairly soon, especially given the two-part structure and the proximity of the proposed expansion launch. So let's talk about what we know so far to look forward to before everything comes crashing down. (I'm betting around the end of January, although I'll admit to being a bit less anxious than I was with 2.4's release.)
WildStar previews the zones of the Strain drop
The first major update for WildStar is due out in early July, and it's bringing plenty of content along with it including two zones for players to explore. Blighthaven and the Northern Wastes are being unveiled in more detail today, both of which contain plenty of opportunities for adventurers to take on all sorts of new challenges. Blighthaven is a landscape dominated by the Strain's mutated minions along with uncontrolled Eldan machinery, featuring such comfortable-sounding regions as the Cankertube Swamps, the Globellum, the Sanctuary of the Keepers, and the Genesis Chamber. It's prime territory for new content to explore what happened to the Eldan as well as understand the virulent opponent that is the Strain. The Northern Wastes, meanwhile, brings players back to the Northern Wilds after the events in the early game, with both Dominion and Exiles struggling to claim the territory... until a new threat emerges from the Eldan bio-labs in the area. New events, challenges, missions, and path content awaits players in the zone. It's all adding up to plenty of content for a first update; you can check out the official reveal page for a few extra details. [Source: Carbine Studios press release]
Final Fantasy XI introducing challenge versions of old bosses
Remember Rise of the Zilaart in Final Fantasy XI? For most American players that's kind of difficult to do; the expansion came baked in with the launch client and more or less formed part of the base game from a player standpoint. It's probably part of the reason the expansion's two main antagonists, Kam'lanaut and Eald'narche, have been quietly forgotten, even while the game's other villains have received updated forms (like the Shadow Lord and Promathia) or still command player respect (Odin and Alexander). But it's time for the brothers to step back into the spotlight with the introduction of new high-level battlefields, pitting players against bosses in recreations of their original arenas. Rewards are given both for surviving and for downing the boss, including materials to upgrade artifact armor to level 119. So if you've been spoiling for a rematch with all of your character's new skills and items, you're about to get your chance.
MechWarrior Online discusses the state of the game and the road to launch
MechWarrior Online has already gone into open beta with a functional cash shop, but the game still isn't officially launching until September. So how's the road to launch looking so far? According to creative developer Bryan Ekman, it's going quite well. Despite summer traditionally being one of the slowest times for games like MWO, the community has been strong and growing. The development team is also thrilled that response to the game's first charity drive was immensely positive, with Sarah's 'Mech raising over $40,000 for the Canadian Cancer Society on the first day of release. So what comes next? According to Ekman, the development is currently split into two teams, one focused upon major features and the other on content. A revamped UI and the Community Warfare system are the two biggest elements for the feature team, while a new map, Terra Therma, is set to debut next week. Third-person mode is also in testing for those who prefer to see their multi-ton death machines from the outside. Players would be well-served to look at the full letter for more dispatches about the game's future as September creeps closer.
PAX East 2013: ArenaNet on Guild Wars 2's near and far future
This year's PAX East is the first one to take place in a post-launch world for Guild Wars 2. Last year, one of the big rewards for panelgoers was scoring a beta key; this year, anyone can grab a copy right now without a problem (just a fee). Consequently, the game hasn't had quite as much presence this year. But the team at ArenaNet decided to do something different this time around by sending out two of the designers to sit down and just answer questions from media representatives. Before the palaver began in earnest, we were given a brief recap of the game's current state and the overall design focus. At the moment, we know that the game's developers are not looking to release a major expansion, focusing instead on more immediate content releases on a short schedule to make the game as good as it can be. While they don't like to use the term sandbox, they want the game to be a living world where people have a reason to be out in the world instead of stuck in small, instanced areas.
Star Wars: The Old Republic previews new planet, new challenge, and new species
Star Wars: The Old Republic has irons in the fire. Not just the business model switch taking place in November, either; there are a lot of other pieces of content being developed, some of which the development team is previewing at Gamescom 2012. The newest trailer for the game is focused on other previews, however, covering on the upcoming new Operation, a new planet, and a new species for players to run around as. The addition of Cathar to the list of playable species has been known for some time, but this video shows a Cathar Smuggler in action. It also shows a small taste of what players can expect from the upcoming addition of the planet Makeb and the Operation Terror from Beyond. It's a brief trailer, to be sure, but it shows off plenty to look forward to, whether you're a long-time fan or you're just waiting for the business model switch in the fall.
Newest Ask Cryptic for Star Trek Online takes a look at the road ahead
There's a great big galaxy out there in Star Trek Online, so much so that some things occasionally fall through the cracks. The latest installment of Ask Cryptic focuses on a few of these elements, like the Andorian ship and the addition of a playable Romulan faction. Neither of these elements is on the table for immediate inclusion, but both are in the pipe for future updates; the former is planned for sometime the next year, while the Romulans are on the more distant horizon. Not everything comes down to a simple "not right now," however. The KDF, for instance, is slated to continue receiving new updates and additional features to bring the faction more in line with the Federation's content level. The development team is also hard at work trying to allow older ships to be retrofitted into higher-level content, letting players take classic designs into modern engagements. It's certainly not a question of whether the development team has a plan or not, just a matter of how soon all of these fabled upgrades will be implemented.
War Witch conjures up a new producer's letter for City of Heroes
If you've been missing the wit and wisdom of Melissa Bianco, better known to City of Heroes players as War Witch, then you're in luck. The game's newest producer's letter is penned by none other than Ms. Bianco, revealing that she has just recently been moved into the role of producer for the game as a whole. But there's more to the letter than just revelations about her recent career moves -- there's also more information about what's coming for the game beyond Issue 22. Masterminds can look forward to a new powerset, Beast Mastery, hitting the Paragon Market at some point in March. Everyone can also look forward to new temporary powers and minipets as well as the conclusion of the current featured story arc. There's also a teaser about something else exciting coming along for the summer, although the letter remains mum on what the next two major patches will bring for the game. Fans will no doubt want to read closely between the lines to see if they can tease out any other nuggets of information, but it's clear that the team at Paragon Studios has plenty of irons in the fire.
No subtlety to Champions Online's SMASH Alerts, just straight-up brawling
The most basic superhero stories are pretty simple -- a villain is attacking the city and the hero has to go stop him or her. That's the spirit behind the new SMASH Alerts coming to the Champions Online test realm, quick instances that pit players against signature villains in a straight-up brawl. The villain may or may not have any minions, but the real test is to see if the heroes can knock out the villain within the time limit. Players will notice that the new Alert system also has gained a new minimap icon and improved queue functionality, allowing you to sign up for a quick and dirty brawl with your nemesis of choice from anywhere. There are also new team-up GRAB Alerts available for testing against paired villains, which should give every hero a chance to pop in and beat the living daylights out of a villain up to no good. And, really, isn't that all you can ask from a superhero game?
Newest test server pass for Star Trek Online aimed at cleaning up [Updated with F2P date!]
Bugs and design issues are present even in the universe of Star Trek Online, ranging from irritating interface bugs on ship consoles to the apparently frequent bug that causes the holodeck to nearly kill everyone on the ship every few weeks. They also crop up in the game itself, of course, but as outlined in the latest Path to F2P blog, the development team is focusing in closely on trying to eliminate several bugs and design issues currently in the game. Patrol missions, for instance, are being changed from a flat sequence of isolated system missions into a more freeform system that scales with level. Crafting changes are also being put in place, giving players "material blocks" to work with that are purchase via dilithium, thereby allowing fleets and groups of players to shunt crafting resources toward a single player. The entry also hints at an entirely new form of content coming to the test server over the next month, although players will have to wait to find out what that means. [Edit: More details on the F2P switch have also surfaced, thanks to our friends at IGN.]
Letter to the Black Prophecy community outlines the state of the game
It's been about a month since European players were able to head out to the black... Black Prophecy, that is. American players have been able to sign up for the closed beta, but it's not quite the same as the experience on the live servers. But whether you're in the beta or playing live, the new letter to the community from Patrick Streppel has plenty of interesting information about the current state of the game. As Streppel puts it, while the game is still undergoing major polishing patches, both gamigo and Reakktor Media are confident with the game as a released free-to-play game. The game's first major patch is slated for June and will feature a variety of new endgame elements as well as a new weapon type. Further down the line, the development team wants to enhance the PvP experience to keep the two factions of the game's lore at odds and in conflict. Black Prophecy players and testers alike should read the letter, as it's an interesting look behind the scenes after the first month of launch.
Through the woods to Alpha County: Fallen Earth issues the March state of the game
February is a quick month for everyone, but it seems to have been even busier than normal for the Fallen Earth team. There are some major content updates in the wings for the game, several of which are being discussed in the most recent State of the Game address. Obviously, the biggest issue on the minds of players is the promised Sector Four and Alpha County, both of which are going to be rolled out in a staggered fashion starting with the Terminal Woods (which Edward Marshall toured just last week). That will include a surfeit of new missions, achievements, PvP objectives, and special new Scavenger bosses. Alpha County itself, meanwhile, will be getting rolled out sometime in the following months, an update that will see a level cap increase to 55 and new expansions to crafting among other improvements. The letter also states that the team is moving forward on player-crafted housing, as it's long been on the agenda for the team to handle with detail. Fallen Earth players are encouraged to read the full letter on the future of the game, sure to make any clone happy about the content just around the corner.
New quests coming to Final Fantasy XIV on Thursday
The rapid update schedule for Final Fantasy XIV's post-launch patches continues, with the next one slated for release tomorrow, March 3rd. It should be a welcome piece of news to fans eager to dive into the biggest proimised feature, the addition of new sidequests separate from main story quests and the repeatable levequests. The addition has been previewed in the latest announcement on the official site, giving players a quick overview of what to expect from the new ventures. Various NPCs throughout the major cities will offer sidequests, denoted by the nigh-universal symbol of the questgiver, an exclamation mark. As usual, there are minimum class and rank prerequisites, and the update promises that quest content will be unique in focus, implying that the tasks will not fall under the "kill X" formats of levequests. Local levequests will also undergo adjustments to make the difficulty grade more uniform, addressing a long-standing discrepancy between rewards and difficulty of the task. Players can expect to see the changes in Final Fantasy XIV go live tomorrow, which should be good news for all of the players looking forward to the new content.
Star Trek Online and Champions Online both unveil a surfeit of new information
Revealing the date for Champions Online's free-to-play conversion was apparently just the tip of the iceberg for the two MMOs run by Cryptic Studios. Champions Online has been graced with an updated FAQ regarding the business model transition, explaining in more detail exactly what options will be locked to non-paying players (all costume options are open, for example). The game has also unveiled a fansite kit for players looking to spread their love of the game to others, no doubt to help get more people interested in the free version. Star Trek Online, on the other hand, doesn't have a change in model in the cards at the moment. What it does have is a newly updated list of feature episodes, giving players a look at the content that will be emerging on the live servers around the end of the month. The development team has also published a new Engineering Report, complete with the usual detailed breakdown of what's in the works, including a small look to the one-year anniversary of Star Trek Online.
Hiromichi Tanaka interview discusses the Final Fantasy online installments
There's a lot of material coming up for Final Fantasy XIV. So much, in fact, that according to Hiromichi Tanaka, the game has plans that stretch out for as far off as next winter. When we last took a look at the interview, it had only been translated up through the first section, but the two additional sections include further information on the future of the new game as well as Final Fantasy XI. Final Fantasy XI is slated for more high-level content with the climbing level cap, as much of the existing endgame content was balanced around players at the previous cap of 75. Final Fantasy XIV, on the other hand, was designed in many ways to break away from some of the conventions that its predecessor had in place, while at the same time retaining some of the elements that Tanaka believed were particular strengths. Take a look at the full interview for a rundown of what's in store for both games in the near future.
Dan Stahl highlights more of Star Trek Online's future direction
Star Trek Online's Dan Stahl has been fairly vocal since he took the executive producer post at the beginning of last month. We had our own chance to speak with him recently, where he discussed everything from the then-upcoming Season 2 content to the rumors about the game adopting a free-to-play model. His most recent interview at ZAM covers several of the same pieces of territory, but as one would expect with the time elapsed and the release of Season 2, there are several new pieces of information within. The weekly episodes are one of the major points of discussion, with the first one premiering in late August. Stahl discusses the episodes focusing around the Deferi, a race with ties to both the Federation and the Klingons, but not explicitly allied with either. He also discusses plans for an overhaul to exploration, likening the current system to "a small box where you fly around and go through random doors," something that the team is planning on changing for Season 3. The full interview is well worth a read for what it contains -- nothing earth-shattering, but more signs that Star Trek Online's direction is getting progressively stronger.
Big celebrations coming for six years of City of Heroes
City of Heroes has been running for six solid years, and whether you're a current or former player (or someone never that interested in superheroes for some reason), that's a running time to be proud of. Paragon Studios certainly thinks so, which is why they're hosting a full month's worth of anniversary celebration. The party kicks off in full force on April 28th -- not just the day of the anniversary, but the launch of Issue 17 and all its varied improvements. But that's just the beginning, as are the badge, free respec, and free costume change token being given to players on the anniversary. Monday and Tuesday before the anniversary itself promise some exciting and chaotic content, quite possibly including a special title for participants. The test servers will also be remaining open to give players a chance to play with the dev team on the anniversary itself, followed by an in-game address from Melissa "War Witch" Bianco at 8 PM EST (5 PM PST). With the promise of an upcoming contest to promote your loyalty a la Guild Wars 2 and with Going Rogue just around the corner, there's never been a better time to enjoy City of Heroes.
