Mike Foster
Articles by Mike Foster
Blade and Soul adds servers in China
Blade and Soul's closed beta appears to be going quite well in China; Tencent has just expanded the number of live servers from 19 to 33. Additionally, rumors indicate that the Chinese version of the game will be entering open beta sometime in early December. No new info is available for western gamers waiting for Blade and Soul. The last update on the official site is dated December 5th, 2012 and claims that details will be delivered "when the time is right." NCSoft and Team Bloodlust are working on the western version of the title.
EVE dev blog covers Rubicon ship rebalancing
EVE Online's 20th expansion, Rubicon, goes live on November 19th. Rubicon brings many changes to EVE including mobile structures, new faction ships, controllable customs offices, and a completely overhauled warping system. And of course, Rubicon includes adjustments big and small to a wide variety of the ships already flying in New Eden. CCP today posted a summary dev blog outlining the changes due with Rubicon for each ship type. Interceptors are receiving role bonuses that make them immune to warp bubbles, electronic attack ships are seeing range increases and general upgrades, interdictors are getting increased survivability and higher damage output, and marauders are receiving a complete functionality revision that splits the ship type into two distinct roles. Check out the full post for details. And if you haven't already, have a look at Brendan's EVE Evolved from yesterday so you'll be ready for these and other big Rubicon changes.
SOE president 'can't wait' to see EverQuest Next on PS4
In an interview with GamerHubTV, Sony Online Entertainment president John Smedley hinted at a PlayStation 4 release for the studio's next big MMO, EverQuest Next. Smedley was coy on the details, explaining, "We haven't announced technically that we're putting it on the PlayStation 4, but it's fair to say that we're a Sony company, so I say that with a smile on my face. Can't wait to see it on PS4." Smedley cited the PS4's eight gigs of ram and connection to the PlayStation Network as major strengths for the SOE development team, claiming that developing for PS4 is like "developing on a really super high-end PC." SOE is no stranger to console MMOs; the studio brought both DC Universe Online and Free Realms to PlayStation 3 and is porting both DCUO and PlanetSide 2 to PS4 with the former already live.
RaiderZ update introduces Assassin class
Today's RaiderZ update brings a host of big changes to the game. The patch includes an epic version of the Temple of Renas dungeon, a brand-new PvP zone, support for dual-speccing, and an overhaul of the game's Hellhound system. Additionally, the Brune's Glory battle arena now features 3v3 ranked guild matches. Most notably, Perfect World Entertainment has used the patch to debut the Assassin class. Assassins are capable of moving quickly through the battlefield, shrouding themselves from vision and using elixirs to buff their stamina, attack speed, movement speed, and resistance to damage and crowd control. Check out the gallery below for a closer look at some of the patch's content. [Source: RaiderZ press release]
Dota 2 gets new heroes, crafting, and Diretide
Last week, the folks at Valve apologized to the Dota 2 community for silently skipping the game's Halloween-themed Diretide event. In the apology, the Dota team promised that Diretide would go live with the next big update, which they hinted would include a bunch of other features the community would be happy to see. Today, Valve announced the update, titled Three Spirits. And true to the Dota team's word, it's a big one. It includes two new heroes in the form of Earth Spirit and Ember Spirit (counterparts to the existing Storm Spirit), an in-game coaching mechanic that enables teams and individuals to improve their play, and a crafting and socketing system that provides for customizing existing items or combining unneeded ones to make something better and more useful. The patch also brings a new showcase view of matches, a lane-picker, colorblind mode, new training missions and more. Oh, and yes, Diretide is coming; the event runs from November 14th to November 28th. Check out the full patch notes on the official Three Spirits site.
Allods Online debuts class change coupons
If you're feeling stuck in a rut in Allods Online and think changing up your class might freshen things up, today's announcement from Webzen might be the news you've been waiting for. The studio has just unveiled a new in-game item that allows you to instantly change your character's class and try life on the other side of the fence. Here's how it works: Once per week, core morpher coupons will appear on the Allods auction house. Only one coupon per class will be available. If you win the auction, you'll be able to grab the coupon out of your in-game mail (for subscribers) or redeem it via the item shop (free players). Once in your inventory, the core morpher coupon enables you to switch to a new class while keeping all of your equipment progress through a system that gives you class-appropriate items that match the rarity and power of the items you currently have. Webzen advises that you mull the decision carefully, as you may change classes only once per month and you'll be competing with many other players to win your class's weekly auction.
Trion starts the Trove teasing
Trion Worlds made news earlier this week by registering several domains with the word "Trove" in them. While the studio made no announcement regarding new games in development, most speculation centered firmly on Trove being Trion's next big project. Today we've received another little tidbit on the topic via Trion's official and brand-new Trove Twitter account. Posting under the name TroveGame, Trion asked simply, "Where will you go?" It's not much in terms of information, but the Twitter username at least confirms that Trove is a game. The profile information says only, "Something new from Trion Worlds." Stay tuned.
Camelot Unchained dev blog talks leprechauns
City State Entertainment issued a lengthy update this week centered on the Luchorpan race of Camelot Unchained. In the post, CSE walked through the lore of the Luchorpan, a short humanoid race that lists teleportation, ore detection, and distraction as its strengths while confessing slower movement speed, reduced attack chance against tall foes, and line-of-sight restrictions as its weaknesses. The post also included a collection of concept art for the new race showing off possible hair styles and jewelry; the Luchorpan appear to be quite fond of beards and gold.
Former EVE Online GM talks abusive players
"Game companies are not the Political Correctness Police," says Elizabeth Wyand, "and cannot be expected to adjust every player's rotten attitude." Wyand, a former GM for EVE Online, recently posted an interesting blog that discusses problematic players and the responses to their behavior -- one that exposes a fundamental misconception players have about the GMs who enforce the rules. Wyand's main point, though perhaps a bit too easy to misconstrue, is that being a jerk in most games is not against the rules. There is a big difference between threatening someone's life and hurting someone's feelings when it comes to enforcing chat violations or actioning players, and those who choose to offer up personal information about themselves must be aware that certain unsavory individuals will be happy to use it as a weapon at the first available opportunity. The full post is worth a read and includes some real-life examples of complaints Wyand received while manning CCP's support desk. It's worth noting, of course, that every game company has its own set of rules when it comes to harassment; what brings down the banhammer in RIFT might not even be a blip on the radar of a World of Warcraft GM.
The Soapbox: Instant leveling and the whining fringe
Over the weekend at Blizzcon 2013, Blizzard Entertainment announced the fifth World of Warcraft expansion, Warlords of Draenor. The content add-on brings most of the things one might expect from an expansion -- new zone, new features, new quests, new dungeons -- but perhaps most notably includes the option to instantly raise any one of your characters to WoW's current level cap of 90. While you'll still face 10 levels of Warlords of Draenor questing, killing, and fetching if you opt to take the insta-level, the feature has re-ignited the argument among MMO fans as to whether offering players a maxed-out character somehow violates the core rules of the MMO genre. Should developers really provide high-level characters just to get/keep players in the game? The short answer, of course, is "duh." Here's the long answer.
Blizzard updates World of Warcraft recruit-a-friend program
Blizzard Entertainment today unveiled a revamped recruit-a-friend system for World of Warcraft that enables you to choose your own recruit-a-friend reward from a list of exclusive mounts and pets, some previously unavailable in specific regions. The process for inviting friends has also been simplified; invitations can now be sent directly from the in-game social interface. If your friend accepts your invite and creates an account, you'll be officially linked in the RAF system. Linked players receive bonus experience when playing together and can instantly teleport to one another. Additionally, the recruited player can grant the veteran player extra levels. If the friend you recruit purchases WoW and pays for 30 days of game time, you get a month free. If the friend pays for two months of game time, you'll be granted your choice of one of the recruit-a-friend mounts or pets. All previous recruit-a-friend mounts are present, along with a brand-new emerald hippogryph. Check out the new RAF mount and a tutorial on how the system works after the break.
Star Citizen breaks $27 million
Star Citizen, the crowdfunded space sim helmed by Wing Commander creator Chris Roberts, continues to demonstrate its incredible ability to generate enormous sums of money. Roberts today announced that Star Citizen has officially passed the $27 million mark, an amount that makes it possible for Cloud Imperium to add new ships and technology based on the Banu race of tradesmen. Roberts also announced the next stretch goal; at $29 million, Cloud Imperium will add more resources to the single player campaign such as an epic opening battle and more animations.
CCP unveils revamped EVE Online character selection screen
The folks over at CCP today previewed one of the smaller EVE Online changes set to debut with November 19th's Rubicon expansion: a prettier and easier-to-use character selection screen. As is CCP's custom, the reveal is accompanied by an in-depth dev blog that discusses every change in granular detail, but the basic gist is that the new selection screen loads faster and provides more useful information about each of your characters so you spend less time waiting and deciding and more time playing. EVE's item redemption interface has also been streamlined, with more obvious prompts and drag-and-drop functionality that allows you to deposit redeemables directly into a character's inventory.
Neverwinter debuts new item refinement system
Cryptic has taken a long look at Neverwinter's enchanting system, and after listening to feedback from players, is planning major changes to the way fusing, runestones, and other components of the system function. For starters, you'll now be able to upgrade enhancement items while they're still equipped, and you'll no longer need four of the same kind of stone to strengthen an enhancement. The new system, which Cryptic is referring to as "refining" rather than "fusing," enables item enchantments to gain refinement points as you play; once an enchantment has enough refinement points, you can use reagents to rank the enhancement up to the next level. Additionally, unslotting enchantments and runestones now costs gold instead of astral diamonds. Refinement stones, which are effectively large bundles of refinement points, have also been added. They'll drop from skill nodes and bosses, albeit rarely. The changes are live on the Neverwinter test server -- Cryptic is asking all players to check them out and offer feedback before they deploy.
Unfortunate capsuleer learns not to move EVE Online PLEX in starter ships
There is one rule in EVE Online that all pilots should remember: Never fly what you cannot afford to lose. Every few months, however, a capsuleer gets a little too comfortable, feels a little too safe, and is instantly punished for a tiny lapse in judgment. This week's lesson comes in the form of an obliterated Ibis carrying 42 PLEX cards, each of which has a real-life value of around $20 and is good for 30 days of EVE game time. The cards themselves were not destroyed, meaning some lucky pirate just snagged $840 (or 25 billion ISK) worth of loot for simply taking a potshot at a woefully underequipped frigate. The kill occurred in Jita, a high-security system that acts as one of EVE's central trading hubs. While there is protection for players in high-security space, today's kill should reinforce the idea that you're never truly safe in EVE -- if you're going to move PLEX, you should do it in something with more armor than a soda can.
Warlords of Draenor now trademarked in the US and Europe
Here's some more fuel for speculation engines everywhere: Blizzard Entertainment has now registered the trademark for Warlords of Draenor in both the United States and Europe. This news follows the rumors from last week indicating that Blizzard had locked up the very same title in Australia. We still don't know what Blizzard has up its sleeve, though the obvious leap is to a World of Warcraft expansion. With Blizzcon kicking off on November 7th, it's likely we'll have an answer SoonTM.
WildStar to debut new build in Saturday livestream
Carbine is planning a Saturday livestream dedicated to one of the classes in WildStar, and while the class itself won't be a surprise, the studio is promising a pile of new information as well as a glimpse of the class in action. Carbine also noted that Saturday's livestream will offer the public a glance of WildStar's "brand-new" game build, which is set to go live for beta players in December. WildStar fanatics can check the stream out live on the official WildStar Twitch channel at 3 p.m. EST (12 p.m. PST). [Thanks to Becca for the tip!]
An interview with 2013 SOE G.I.R.L. Scholarship winner Esther Wu
Sony Online Entertainment's G.I.R.L. (short for Gamers in Real Life) scholarship was developed to encourage women to pursue careers in game development and design. The winners are selected via an annual competition and receive a $10,000 scholarship in addition to a valuable in-studio internship working on one of SOE's many games. The submissions, which this year consisted of art design pieces and essays on the topic of women in gaming, are reviewed by a panel of judges from SOE. This year's winner, Esther Wu, spent 10 weeks working with the PlanetSide 2 art team at SOE's San Diego headquarters. We sat down with her to learn more about the G.I.R.L. Scholarship, her internship, and where she hopes to go next.
Blizzard unveils Diablo III's Reaper of Souls' Westmarch
Westmarch, once spoken of only in whispers, is one of the new settings of Diablo III's upcoming Reaper of Souls expansion. The city was once beautiful and vibrant, but the events of the Diablo series have left it with an unsettling aura and a dwindling population. Blizzard Entertainment today offered an up-close look at Westmarch's design and implementation on the official Diablo III blog, showing off concept maps, points of interest, and some of the city's real-life location inspirations. Westmarch pulls elements from "the fog-laden cobblestone streets of London in the 1800s" and features tightly packed buildings, winding alleyways, and grisly visual cues as to the city's failed attempts at mounting a defense. The Survivor's Enclave is the one bright spot in this dismal world, a place where Westmarch's few living inhabitants can find rest and safety from the evils of the outside world. Reaper of Souls is due in 2014, or as Blizzard likes to call it, SoonTM.
Block by block: Hands-on with the Cube World alpha
From an outsider's perspective, Picroma's Cube World might look like yet another Minecraft clone. It has the same blocky appearance and voxel design of Mojang's money-printing sandbox, and though the color palette is brighter and the graphics more crisp, it would be easy to dismiss the title as a "me-too" copycat. "If you've played one cube-based game," says the veteran gamer who lives in your brain, "you've played them all." Despite the visual similarities, however, Cube World and Minecraft are extremely different games. Minecraft is a crafter's paradise, a world where you can build anything you can imagine. Cube World is an adventure game, and fans of MMOs will find it far closer to World of Warcraft or Guild Wars 2 than it is to the game that threatens huts with Creepers and allows you to build full-scale replicas of pretend spaceships. Cube World is unique, and even in alpha, it's something quite special.