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Das Tal boasts that it will 'do things better' than ArcheAge
Consider the gauntlet thrown down from one sandbox to another. Das Tal Head of Communications David Wells posted a new essay today in which he says that his title will best ArcheAge: "Unfortunately I, like a lot of others, have come to the conclusion that ArcheAge is probably one of the worst MMOs to come out recently -- but the reasons why are not straight forward. I am going to go over the good and bad, as well as shamelessly point out how our game will do things better." Wells says that ArcheAge stumbled with a messy housing system, bad monetization, cultural differences, hacking, heavy grind, lackluster PvE, no solid PvP, shaky server tech, and a lack of good communication by Trion. He goes on to provide a counterpoint for each these items, explaining how Das Tal will succeed where ArcheAge has failed. Or, if you're looking for a TL;DR version, "How we do it better: To put it simply, we give a s**t."
Das Tal gets the Greenlight, sells supporter packs
The indie sandbox Das Tal is feeling a little more vindicated today, as the title announced that the community voted to Greenlight it on Steam following a three-month campaign. The studio said that it will now be figuring out "how best to use Steam's platform" as the alpha MMO moves forward. Riding high off of the announcement, the Das Tal team announced that it will not be looking for further funding through a Kickstarter but will be selling development supporter packages instead. These packs go from $30 to $200 and include trial keys, alpha access, name reservations, and concept art.
Get Trove alpha access for $20
Brick by brick, Trove's world has been shaped by both its alpha community and dev team. Now, Trion Worlds has announced that the alpha program is about to get even bigger. Starting now, Trove has expanded the benefits of its Adventurer supporter tier to include instant access to the game's alpha. The Adventurer tier, which costs $20, also includes a few thousand in-game credits, an inventory upgrade, and other goodies in addition to alpha access.
EverQuest Next Landmark Founders Packs, alpha announced
If you are anxious to get in and start building the home of your dreams (or treehouse or Orc-infested ruins or whatever) in EverQuest Next Landmark, you'll have that chance early next year if you purchase one of the newly announced Founders Packs. Players who want to get in on Landmark's alpha, which will launch on or before February 28th, 2014, can get access by purchasing the Explorer Pack for $59.99 or the Trailblazer Pack for $99.99 (with Trailblazers getting a headstart). Players who can hold off their building desires can buy the Settler Pack instead for $19.99 and get access to the first wave of beta testing that commences on or before March 31st, 2014. Each pack offers various other in-game perks such as titles, tools, storage pockets, and vaults. For a full list of all the goodies in each tier, check out the image below. And to learn more about EQN Landmark, read up on our our hands-on experience.
War Z closed beta launches on Halloween, pre-orders available
Players interested in checking out the new zombie apocalypse game The War Z will have the chance to participate in closed beta starting on October 31st by purchasing a special Survivor package for $19.49. If that's too long a wait, Hammerpoint Interactive has also announced that you can get into alpha on October 15th by purchasing the Pioneer package for $29.99. This bundle also includes in-game currency, a forum badge, and one month of Stronghold map server hosting. Finally, there's the Legend package for $49.99, featuring October 15th access, $30 of currency, a forum badge, six months of server hosting, and three guest keys. Legend purchasers will also have their survivor names highlighted on leaderboards and in the game's chat Package discounts will be in effect until October 20th.
