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New ArcheAge producer promises communication, game improvements
There's someone new at the head of ArcheAge, producer Marv Lee Kwai. Kwai posted a lengthy letter to the players on the forums recently outlining the major standing issues that the team still sees in the game along with several of the changes and additions set for the game over the next year. He stresses that the developers are well aware of unusual market fluctuations, sieges being too costly and difficult, and the balance of top-end rewards; moving forward, the team means to see them all tweaked and improved. The letter goes on to mention that the team is planning to add a global trade channel to reduce faction chat spam. Also en route is The Diamond Shores, a new area in southern Auroria that accompanies a bump in the level cap to level 55. It's a little past the start of the new year, but Kwai's tone is hopeful that the game can rise above its somewhat buggy and controversial launch.
WildStar will reduce grind, focus on 'a multitude of playstyles' in 2015
Where does WildStar go from here? That's the question that director Mike Donatelli seeks to answer with his latest address to the community. Donatelli says this morning that while he's thankful for the praise the game received toward the end of 2014, there are several areas where the game needs to improve, and thus the team is working on making a better game experience for everyone moving forward. He lays out three chief foci for the team over the next year: listen to feedback to make the game more fun and "less grindy"; support "a multitude of playstyles," group sizes, and levels; and invest, expand, and improve the existing game. Donatelli targets for these plans the first half of 2015, which will contain better-tuned endgame reward systems to fight fatigue along with a wider breadth of content for solo and small-group players. Over the rest of the year, the team plans to introduce a new Contract system to support different playstyles, continue tuning the rewards, and greatly expand the game's customization options. It's a lot of changes, but the Carbine team seems dedicated to making them work.
Firefall teases update 1.2
An update is coming to Firefall, and it promises to be a big one. A brief overview of the game's next major update has been posted on the official site to show off some of what players can expect, starting with the new Operation: Miru. This is endgame instanced content designed for five players at level 40, featuring a combination of mechanics and gunfights that heretofore have not been present in the game. The update will also feature a new piece of open-world content via the Accord Skydock, a new form of watchtower content, and a new live event. Broken Peninsula has also received updates to make it less broken from a mechanical standpoint rather than a geographical one. You can read up on all the sketchy details here, and keep your eyes peeled for more hard information as it becomes available.
Age of Conan's Update 4.4 ushers in new raids, new tier sets
As summer fades into memory, Age of Conan players turn their gaze toward the Halloween event and the next major patch of the game. The latest game director's letter is about exactly those topics, as well, so that works out nicely. While update 4.4 will bring with it new Unchained raids, there are other improvements coming along as well, not the least of which are visual improvements to the Tier 5 sets that will be released along with the raids. The update also brings with it the PvP streak system and new area looting functionality; pressing Shift and V will automatically loot all eligible corpses in the immediate area. Players can also look forward to the upcoming gem system and Thirst of the Serpent God event at the end of the month. Check out the full letter for more details about what's coming next for the game over the next 31 days.
Defiance prepares its Aftermath update
Now that it's a certainty that Defiance's tie-in television series will be getting another season, are you eager to jump back into shooting things in the Silicon Valley? The Aftermath update is coming, and it will bring with it plenty of new things to shoot. Seven new missions will be added to the game, bringing players from Silicon Valley to Paradise and back; a confrontation with the Pilgrims of the Guiding Light and an attempt to start a war between the Earth Republic and the Votanis Collective both await players taking on the update. New enemies, new pursuits, and new contracts will help to round out the patch, giving players new things to fight along with new reasons to take part in the battle. There are also several planned quality-of-life improvements, including mission replay and improved co-op balancing for the season 2 maps. No release date has yet been announced, but it sounds as if players will have plenty to do when the aftermath hits.
The road ahead for Darkfall Unholy Wars
Darkfall Unholy Wars has seen its ups and downs during its operation, but the latest post from the team is about moving forward. The development team's roadmap was shared with players over the weekend, providing a peek at what's coming in the future to make the game more interesting. No dates are included with the roadmap, as it's focused on concepts rather than specifics, but it still includes plenty of things for veteran players to be excited about. Among the large-scale changes planned for the game in the future are improvements to the AI and PvE combat in general, along with systems to help players more firmly align themselves within the game world. The developers would like to minimize instant travel while promoting fast travel where possible, creating a more localized economic model that emphasizes journeying between markets. There's also an ongoing commitment to keeping all combinations of skills and powers viable, supporting a wide variety of playstyles. Take a look at the full roadmap for more details on what's coming around the bend.
Dark Age of Camelot adjusting New Frontiers again
Sometimes adjustments seem like a good idea right up until they're implemented. That's the case with Dark Age of Camelot's recent changes to New Frontiers. The game's most recent producer's letter states that they were made and quickly proved to not have the desired effects, which means that several elements need to be tweaked and re-balanced. This includes several rollbacks -- Relics will return to Relic Temples, docks will be returned to their original location, and players will no longer be able to port to shore-keeps. The updates to the game in the near future won't be limited to PvP, however, as the development team is also looking for ways to spruce up PvE content by modernizing mechanics and adding in new loot. In the longer term, there are also plans to revamp the game's LFG interface and provide a Champion Level increase. Check out the full producer's letter for all the details.
TUG rolling out new features and blocking Proving Grounds
The latest update on TUG is both good news and bad news. The good news is that the game is getting ready to roll out a major update that will include a lot of fun stuff for players. Like what, you ask? Like hunting, and farming and all the goats you can ask for. Even if you ask for a lot of goats, you can have never have enough goats. So what's the bad news? Well, it turns out that the team kind of broke Proving Grounds on the way to adding in new features. Rather than delaying the update, the current stopgap solution is to block off Proving Grounds and simply add it back in during a later update. You can read the full update if you need some specifics; the hope is that players won't ultimately be surprised when the update goes live for everyone.
Star Trek Online's Tribble patches in Star Clusters, uniforms, and crafting prices
If you're looking forward to Star Trek Online's big crafting revamp, you've still got a little while longer to wait. But the latest patch notes for the Tribble server makes it clear that it's closer than ever. Prices on Dilithium crafting goods have been lowered to values far closer to their final point (although they're still not quite there), the Aegis set has been fully revamped and brought up to par, and a number of lesser crafting issues have been resolved already. This patch also sees the addition of Foundry options so that players may use the defunct Star Clusters in missions, although the old versions of these maps remain gone. Players can also enjoy a wider selection of uniforms, as the Odyssey uniforms have been made available to all players, with fleets gaining access to a new set of uniforms at a discounted cost. Read the full patch notes for more details, and jump on the test server if you want to see the changes up close and personal.
The Nexus Telegraph: WildStar's first dose of Strain
The funny thing about launches is that they're like every other aspect of the game industry: They're based on momentum. Create the feel that you're coming out with new content on a quick basis and you get points from players, even if it's inevitable that some of this content is stuff that was almost-but-not-quite ready for launch and just had to be trimmed back a little before we first got to dip our toes in the official swimming pool. You can see the zones on your map in WildStar right now, even. Does it matter to me? Nope. I have to admit it doesn't. I'm satisfied. The bulk of the news this month has been about the game's first major patch, which is due for "early July" without a harder date. I have not yet gotten to go hands-on in this content; I've been too busy focusing on the live game and advancing there (up to 50 on one character, at least!), but let's talk a little bit about what's being added in the patch. Fair warning: Spoilers may ensue.
Fallen Earth discusses the state of the game in June
The Outpost isn't just a new player-created town; it's also the first peek that players in Fallen Earth will have of Alpha County and how different the landscape there really is. A new development blog has just gone live discussing where the Outpost update is in terms of development, including why it's taken so long to get the update pushed to live. In short? Because during internal testing the area was shooting server stability to pieces, and the team had to step back and fix those issues. While the blog still doesn't offer a definitive date for the update, it does note that the server issues from before have largely been corrected at this point, so players can look forward to testing the content soon. While the team would prefer the update be live already, it won't take long to finish if testing goes well. Read more about the structure of the region itself in the official update.
The Mog Log: Final Fantasy XIV's latest Live Letter
As of this writing, the Letter from the Producer LIVE took place yesterday, and that means we have a whole bunch of Final Fantasy XIV news to discuss! It's a happy time for people like me, because it's at least a couple weeks of very chewable information to discuss. And at just the right time, too, we were in the middle of a serious drought there. Not that all of the information is good, mind you. Every time I think about Atma my hands instinctively ball into fists. Still, there's stuff to chat about, there's good stuff in with the bad, and perhaps most importantly there's enough to fuel some speculation and some off-the-cuff reaction before we dive into the meat of E3 and we learn even more about the future of the game. So let's get right into it, starting with the bit of news that I already foreshadowed in the intro.
Director Joel Bylos on The Secret World's Tokyo and Age of Conan's PvP
It's the end of the month, and that means it's time for The Secret World and Age of Conan's director letters. Director Joel Bylos had plenty to say about both games. Tokyo may have been pushed back slightly for The Secret World, but Bylos stresses that the net result will be a much better area that will really come alive with flavor. He also discusses the controversy around the game's Mystery Boxes, noting that the boxes are not lockboxes; they can be purchased only directly from the item store, and they contain nothing that cannot be earned in-game. Hyboria, meanwhile, is due for another pass of PvP reward balancing. The Dragon's Spine dungeons and the tradeskill updates are still approaching completion, albeit more slowly than most players would probably like. Daily quests are also on the table for introduction to tie into the new world boss system, which should give adventurers in Age of Conan one more way to enjoy the game.
Guild Wars 2 phasing out Glory on March 18th
In just about a month, there will be no more glory in Guild Wars 2 PvP. We don't mean that you will no longer have the chance for glorious battles; we mean that the currency will no longer be awarded as of March 18th. Chests will be removed as well, and bonus rank points will be rolled into end-of-match rewards where relevant. So if you want some more Glory to spend, you'd better start earning it now. For players who do have a lot of Glory stocked up, the vendor introduced on December 10th will remain in-game for a bit after Glory is discontinued. That vendor will remain in place until the new reward system is implemented, and new rank rewards will also be released when Glory gets banished to the land of wind and ghosts. No word yet on exactly when players can expect new reward systems to be implemented.
Massively exclusive: Champions Online gears up for a rampage
Are you ready to go on a rampage in Champions Online? Good, because there's a big Rampage revamp on its way to the game that should provide players with a lot of new things to do. Three missions are getting a full redo with rewards and challenges tweaked, and a brand-new Rampage is being added to the game, giving veteran players a chance to group up and pit themselves against the toughest opponents Millennium City and points related has to offer. The new Fire and Ice Rampage pits players against two villains originally designed by a player, and the title alone should give you some idea about what's coming. Meanwhile, the Gravitar, Lemurian Invasion, and Sky Carrier have been turned into proper Rampages with an updated set of items and costume pieces on offer. Check out the preview gallery, and click past the cut for all the details on this upcoming addition.
Take a little look at TERA's newest class
The newest class in TERA is live on the Korean servers right now, and even if you don't normally play an Elin, you might be curious to see what it's all about. That's a little more problematic if you don't speak Korean, but lucky for you there's a whole preview of the upcoming class available now on Steparu. It should give you a good idea of what to expect when this update comes out stateside. Dark Elin start at level 55 and have a variety of new skills and abilities for players to use. Embedded past the break is a preview of a Dark Elin fighting one of the game's signature BAMs, showing off the class mechanics in brief and giving an idea of what it's like to play one. Check out the video past the break, and take a look at the full preview for a more in-depth look at the class.
Dungeons & Dragons Online looks back at 2013 and forward to 2014
December isn't just a month for frenzied consumerism; it's almost the end of the year and time to start reflecting on what went well, what went badly, and what needs to change. So it's appropriate that the latest producer's letter for Dungeons & Dragons Online focuses on precisely that, looking back at 2013 and counting up the game's big hits and misses. The team feels that Epic Reincarnation and the Storm Horn Mountains were big wins, while the bug-plagued Mabar Festival was definitely a nadir. But there's no point in looking back if you don't look forward, and the letter does that as well. Four major content updates are planned for next year, featuring a boost of the level cap to 30, two new raids in the dwarven ruins of Thunderholme, a new set of guild airship models, and more beyond that. Take a look at the letter for an exact schedule and more discussion about the year's highs and lows.
The Mog Log: Final Fantasy XIV's patch 2.1 on the endgame
Two months out from Final Fantasy XIV's launch, I haven't had a chance to talk about any of the information we've seen about patch 2.1. That is kind of great. I haven't been thinking extensively about what the next big thing will be because I'm too busy enjoying the game right now. But that patch is approaching, and you'd better believe that it's going to include enough stuff to shake things up again -- enough that I could really write four or five columns just looking forward to what's coming next. First let's look at some of the elements that are going to seriously affect the endgame this week.
Final Fantasy XIV gets ready for a haunted All Saints' Wake (and PvP)
You might think there's not much room left for additional horror in Final Fantasy XIV. The entire game world did get nearly destroyed, after all. But everyone loves a good Halloween event, and it's time to celebrate with a new round of All Saints' Wake festivities. This year, the prize appears to be a set of wonderfully ghostly clothing for all participants, the reward of a quest started by conversing with a set of Shifty Thespians (who are probably completely above-the-board with that name). The holiday event will run from October 18th until November 1st, allowing for ample time to unleash your inner haunt. If you're not really fond of holiday events, though, you can tide yourself over before the game's first implementation of PvP with a new Wolves' Den trailer from the recent New York Comic Con. It's just past the break and shows off the arena itself as well as some of the battles raging between players
Age of Wushu previews its winter content
Winter is coming. Literally. We're almost halfway through September. Age of Wushu is using the oncoming winter not as an ominous portent of doom but as a chance to introduce a bunch of new content to the game, starting with school instances. No matter how benevolent your school may be on the surface, there's always more going on underneath. Within the depths of these instances lie not only money and glory but perhaps ever more powerful techniques that have been lost to time. Both secret scripts and new ultimate scrolls will be added to the game, with the latter offering true mastery over a school. The secret scripts once threw the realm into chaos, but deciphering these arts will be the mark of a true master. And if you've had your fill of all that, you can always take advantage of the upcoming marriage system and settle down for in-game domestic bliss. It's a lot of new content for the game, and all players need to do is wait for the winter.
