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Valiance Online is coming soon to Steam early access
Great news for Valiance Online, as the fledgling superhero title announced recently that it has been voted onto the Steam Greenlight program by the community. This means that Valiance Online will "soon" be available to play through the digital platform via early access. The team said that it still discussing its release and pricing plan, although fans can currently access it in the open pre-alpha test going on right now. Valiance Online is making good progress as a City of Heroes spiritual successor and even picked up a former artist from the sunsetted superhero game in December.
Valiance Online moves to Greenlight and picks up a City of Heroes artist
So you want to back Valiance Online as a longtime fan of City of Heroes, but your Kickstarter budget right now is at a solid $0. Good news, then; you can support the game just by voting for it on Steam Greenlight. It's still early in the testing cycling, but the game has added a rather significant feather to its cap with the addition of its newest staff member, former City of Heroes animator Ron Friedman. Friedman's stated duties will be training the team on animation methods for the superheroic game, reviewing and modifying existing animations, and creating new animations as necessary. It's a good sign that the game will inherit a fair chunk of City of Heroes visually, so if you've been on the fence, now might be the time to consider voting for the game after all.
Valiance Online cancels Kickstarter, seeks stress test applicants
Silverhelm Studios has announced that Valiance Online will be accepting sign-ups for its inbound stress test starting today. Valiance Online is one of at least three fan-led superhero MMORPGs attempting to fill the City of Heroes niche, though Valiance has no intention of licensing the CoH IP if fan efforts to purchase it from NCsoft are ultimately successful. It promises semi-freeform character builds, power customization, an open world environment, 25 zones, character alignment, and a player-run economy. The Kickstarter for the game, begun less than a month ago, was apparently canceled ahead of schedule last night with $34,680 raised of its $150,000 goal. A dev posts suggests the loss of the team's marketing manager during the campaign was a setback. Developers have assured backers that they will not be charged and that the game will continue development. "We're still running funding campaigns on our website for anyone interested and are discussing other options as well," says the studio in the Kickstarter comments. Stress test signups will open on the official site later today. [Source: Silverhelm press release]
Valiance Online launches its Kickstarter today [Updated: It's live now!]
A post on Valiance Online's Facebook has good news for fans of the upcoming game: SilverHelm Studios will be bringing the game to Kickstarter today. "It's packed with all manner of goodies for you to get your hands on," Design Director Nate "Paramount" Vogeding writes. "These things will be exclusive to our KS backers and backers alone. That's right; it won't be coming back around again." Vogeding also promises more pre-alpha invites and tells readers to "let everyone know that yes, there is a city coming back and very soon!" Valiance Online is one of several fan-backed superhero MMOs vying to become City of Heroes' spiritual successor. In September, SilverHelm told followers that it will not be licensing the CoH IP if it is eventually secured from NCsoft by City of Titans. [Update: The Kickstarter is now live, with pledges ranging from $1-$10,000 and a funding goal of $150,000. We've embedded the trailer below.]
Valiance Online preps for combat testing
Superheroes of the world, stop moving around so much! This is the cry of Valiance Online's creators, who said that they are rooting players during combat to achieve "a familiar feeling" in the game. This is just the tip of a new postberg in which the devs talk about plans for upcoming combat testing. Valiance Online will be doing a stripped-down pass of the game in the near future that will allow players to level from 1 to 50 in one of 10 different archetypes. However, the devs warn players to expect unbalanced powers, gimped powersets, and a complete lack of secondary powersets during the test. "Our first pass will be all about inclusion, and not so much about balance, so don't be surprised if you find the majority of the powers to be a bit unsatisfactory in regards to balance. The balancing pass is planned for later patches," the devs said. Valiance Online is one of the self-proclaimed spiritual successors to City of Heroes.
Lineage 2 launching Valiance expansion December 11th
Though the Goddess of Destruction failed to obliterate Aden, that doesn't mean all was destined to stay peaceful and quiet in Lineage II. On the contrary, on December 11th, old threats (including four returning raid bosses) will resurface and new challenges will arise when L2's newest expansion, Valiance, launches. Beyond the evolving storyline, this expansion brings an assortment of new goodies for players to experience, including updated raiding systems, almost 80 new raid bosses, a new ability system, a skill system overhaul, and the return of the Gracia hunting grounds. Get a glimpse of what's to come next week in the new screenshots below. [Source: NCsoft press release]
The Daily Grind: Are you enjoying an expansion this fall?
It looks to be a good fall if you love MMO expansions, as they're all over the place. EVE Online fans have Rubicon, Lord of the Rings Online adventurers hope to dive into Helm's Deep, EverQuest II Ratongas are chewing up Tears of Veeshan, and the EverQuest faithful have Call of the Forsaken to conquer. And that's not even to mention the upcoming Galactic Starfighter for Star Wars: The Old Republic and Lineage II: Valiance. That's a lot of new content to explore, but only if you're in those particular games. So sound off: Are you enjoying an expansion this fall? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Check out Lineage II's newest race, the Ertheia
Lineage II fans will have more than just a virgin continent and additional raids to contend with after the game expands with Valiance; they'll also have a brand-new race called the Ertheia to play next year. NCsoft officially revealed the Ertheia today, showing the fleet-footed "mystical" people to the entire world. So who are the Ertheia? Let's go to the official press release for help on that: "While a lot is still unknown about Ertheia and the impact they will have on the world, it can be rightly assumed that they will be quickly drawn into the ongoing conflict in Aden." Wait, that's no help at all. The Ertheia won't be released until next year to coincide with Lineage II's 10th anniversary in North America. You can watch the reveal trailer after the jump. [Source: NCsoft press release]
Raiders feel the love in Lineage II's Valiance expansion
Raiders have a lot to look forward to in Lineage II's next expansion, which is due to release later this year. Valiance is heavy on additions and updates to the raid systems, including the addition of nearly 80 new level 88-98 raid bosses, updated drop lists for Dragon Raid bosses, a new raid boss summoning system, and a new Adena distribution system for after the raids. The open field raid bosses have also gotten a revamp, as has the raid point ranking system. Did you miss Beleth, Darion, Lilith, and Anakim? Players will be able to once again face these four returning raid bosses. And on top of all that, The Seed of Destruction and Infinity hunting grounds in Gracia have been revamped and changed to instance zones. But wait, there's more! You can head into these new battles in style with a new hairstyle from the beauty shop. Then, when all your slaughtering is done, you can kick back in a new clan hall or relax with the revamped fishing system. Get a peek at all these changes in the gallery below. [Source: NCsoft press release]
NCsoft announces Valiance, Lineage II's next expansion
NCsoft has just announced Valiance, a new content expansion for Lineage II set for launch at some point before the end of the year. According to the company, the new content includes a storyline that "wreaks havoc across the lands" and brings big mechanics changes and skill updates. Valiance marks the return of the Hellbound zone, which has been upgraded with new areas and hunting parties. NCsoft has added 25 new skills to the game, tweaked a number of existing skills, and entirely reworked the core skill system. Additionally, the studio is implementing an abilities system that allows players to customize skills to make characters more specialized. Some of Lineage II's most popular raid bosses are also on deck to return. More information should be forthcoming as Valiance edges toward launch. Lineage II just celebrated its 10th anniversary in Korea; April 2014 marks 10 years of Lineage II in the west. [Source: NCsoft press release]
