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Allods Online introduces new dungeon-building tool
Player-created content is coming to Allods Online in the form of a dungeon-building feature that will allow players to generate their own private islands called allods. Launching June 5th of this year, the Path to Victory expansion opens up new private islands that act as customizable labyrinths for other players to explore. In addition to this dungeon-building tool, Gala Networks is also introducing the Weaponsmith tradeskill and several graphical updates with this patch. Be sure to watch the Path to Victory trailer just after the jump. [Source: Gala Networks press release]
The Art of Wushu: Gathering and crafting
Life skills are the central point of Age of Wushu's player economy. All useful equipment, food, and most of the useful consumables are only available through crafting, and equipment requires lengthy production chains and an injection of tradable silver in order to make it effective. This process is fairly daunting to a new player, and even experienced players go for a long time without taking advantage of the many advantages present from trade and crafting. In Age of Wushu, life skills represent a character's day job. You'll go to work gathering materials to sell or to craft into goods to sell, and then use the money from those sales to purchase things other people make and food to sustain yourself. Because we have a limited amount of space, this column will focus on production skills and production chains so that you can make the best choice about which type of goods you want to craft.
Wings Over Atreia: One, two, craft my shoe
Three, four, scream some more. Welcome to the world of Aion crafting, where frustration and despair are produced right alongside daggers, hauberks, and frillneck sausage. Where more than one Deava has left the crafting station and flung himself from the Sky Canal in Sanctum to the depths below... wait, maybe that was just me. Between more attempts at a hot heart of magic craft and scrambling to gather enough material to inch my way up the skill ladder towards mastery, crafting has consumed my hours and thoughts over the past couple of weeks. It has also left me questioning my sanity and losing just about every kinah I had saved up. So why craft? It is true what they say: Some players live for crafting, while others have crafting forced upon them. Prior to Aion I leaned toward the former, but tales of the cost and woes of failed crafts squelched any desires to craft early on. Then the fates conspired against me and I there I was, pan in hand. Somehow the pain of that experience must have dulled because I started another. Why, oh why? Love it or hate it but have to do it, if you are considering delving into a crafting profession in Aion, check past the break for a guide to getting started and a glance at the journey ahead.
Be crafty with ease in Lord of the Rings Online Volume III
Crafting, for many people, has a bit of a love-hate relationship going on. Nobody can complain about the bonuses it offers in the long run, but actually getting to high levels is an exercise in tedium and worthlessness for many. Which is why it's always a good thing when crafting gets a boost, as is happening in the upcoming Oath of the Rangers update for Lord of the Rings Online. The game has been putting out several developer diaries outlining the changes coming for the next installment, and the most recent diary deals with updates to the Jeweller, Cooks, Farmers, Woodworkers, and Weaponsmiths. Jewellery gets a fair all-around boost, with improved stats on crafted items, new icons, and the option to queue up multiple items for production. Cooks get their ingredients rebalanced and bigger buffs offered from their food, while new Trail Food recipies help provide a new set of desirable buffs. Farmers can also enjoy new recipes to provide ingredients for Cooks, and Woodworkers and Weaponsmiths alike get new class-specific items. The details of the changes can be found in the full diary, something most Lord of the Rings Online players might not consider especially crafty but still clever.
Insider Trader: Armorsmiths vs. weaponsmiths part two
Insider Trader is your inside line on making, selling, buying and using player-made products.Last week, I began the column by answering a reader's question regarding the two specializations of blacksmithing. The player had been considering switching, and I discussed his reasons for doing so. I also began to compare the armorsmithing items to their non-crafted counterparts, to showcase how strong they really are. This week, I'm finishing up that analysis as well as giving weaponsmithing the same treatment. Each item from either specialization tends to surpass its tier 5 counterpart, and strongly rival the tier 6, Black Temple pieces. Unfortunately, if the itemization is exactly right for your class, race and spec, the cost and effort spent to make any given piece is probably not worth it. Still, for players who may never see the Black Temple, for whatever reason, can still work towards a strong epic piece to complement their PvP, dungeon and/or raiding gear.It is also important to note the difference between blacksmithing and other gear-crafting professions, tailoring and leatherworking. Blacksmith specialists essentially create one piece, or in the case of dual wielders, two pieces, that are roughly tier 6 equivalent. The other two professions can make more pieces, but the quality ranges from tier 4 to tier 5, although any gear choice is subject to individual circumstances and preference. These pieces are bind on pick-up and cannot be sent to alts, so keep that in mind when you choose. There are many other blacksmithing patterns and drops that are BoE, but the specialty items, as with tailoring and leatherworking, can only be worn by the crafter. In addition, should you make, for example, a sword and then switch to armorsmithing, you will no longer be able to wield the sword, as doing so requires that you have the correct specialization.
Insider Trader: Armorsmiths vs. weaponsmiths
I received a question over the tip line from an armorsmith this morning who is considering switching to weaponsmith because he is dissatisfied with his profession. Player regrets surrounding a chosen specialization, or even profession, are common and happen to almost everyone at one time or another.JDT writes that he is "extremely disappointed" with armorsmithing and what he is able to make, and that one of his reasons for possibly switching to weaponsmithing is that he theorizes it would be helpful to be able to pass down weapons to his alts that cannot wear plate. Unfortunately JDT, anything that you craft as either a weaponsmith or an armorsmith is not only bind on pick-up, but it also requires you to have that specialization in order to wield/wear it. That being said, there are blacksmithing plans for weapons and armor floating around that are bind on equip and can be passed along, but those can be made by any blacksmith regardless of specialization. This week I will begin comparing the various armorsmith and weaponsmith pieces to the first non-crafted upgrades in order to illustrate the value of each item and help each class and spec come to an informed decision when it comes time to choose blacksmithing specialties. Next week I'll finish out the comparison, as there is more than I can fit into this week's edition!
The Digital Continuum: Crafting conundrum
Whenever I start playing a new MMO my interest in crafting tends to go through two phases: hope and realization. During the hope phase I find myself wondering what sort of cool things I could create. I also think about being able to use those creations in useful and interesting ways. My head tends to float up into the clouds as I contemplate all the great times I'm about to have with a game's crafting system.Then there's the realization phase, where my crafting dreams are crushed. This is the point when I start playing with the crafting system and moving through its inner workings only to find the same old thing: Talk to an NPC, get crafting skill of choice, look at recipe, gather ingredients and proceed to select how many I want before clicking a single button to create my item. When will developers admit that this is incredibly boring and at least try to spice things up a bit. They don't have to re-think the entire system. I would be perfectly happy with some evolutionary changes.
Tuesday Morning: Maintenance time
Good Morning Azeroth! It's Tuesday, May 13, 2008, and that means maintenance. As we mentioned earlier, it's an extended maintenance, from 3 AM to 11 AM PST (That means you have about a half an hour of play time left), and it's looking rather likely that 2.4.2's going to drop. Exciting news, but that still means that you'll have at least 8 hours in which it is impossible to play World of Warcraft. Of course, this means the perfect thing to do is browse WoW Insider. Since 2.4.2's probably on it's way, why not browse all our 2.4.2 news? The original patch notes are posted here. We break down the Undocumented changes here -- including pictures of the new mounts added to the game files. You can find the latest test realm page notes here. MMO-Champion points out two new changes: Prince Kael'thas will now drop Primal Nethers in Heroic Magisters Terrace, and the Darkmoon Card: Madness' buffs will now last 60 seconds. Check out our reports on all the Hunter class changes, Including Growl and Scare Beast, the math problems and controversy surrounding the Growl change among the Hunter community, and getting your own flight-formed Druid pet. Good News for Weaponsmiths, with the epic one-handers becoming non-unique. But enough about 2.4.2, what about the big news? First, of course, is the fact that Blizzcon 08 was announced. Check out the details and look back on some old Blizzcon 07 memories in our announcement post. You may also recall all the Wrath of the Lich King news that dropped this week. Of course, you know we have it all for you on WoW Insider. Check it out after the break.
Epic weaponsmithing weapons no longer unique
MMO Champion has pointed out something that should make Warrior and Shaman weaponsmiths rather happy: all one-handed epic weaponsmithing weapons will be non-unique as of 2.4.2. Combine this with the fact that the Main Hand designation is being taken off of most weapons as well, and you can see where this is going. Dual-wielded Dragonmaws, anybody? If you can scrape together the mats, 2.4.2 should be a very good time to be a dual-wielding weaponsmith of the non-Rogue variety. The 2.7 speed on the mace and axe weapons means that your Windfury and Whirlwind will be very happy. All you have to do now is hope you have enough badges, gold, or pull with your raid leader to get all the Primal Nethers and Nether Vortexes ready to go.
