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One Shots: An oldie but a goodie
While Dark Age of Camelot is right up there in terms of old-school titles, having originally released in October of 2001, it certainly looks very good for its age as today's One Shots can attest. This image comes to us from Torak (not the one from the Belgariad, we're guessing) who writes in to tell us more: "Recently I have been doing some retro gaming and returned to my old love Dark Age of Camelot. I haven't played since 2004 and a lot has changed. Here I am doing a quest that involves stopping a rebellion against the King in the realm of Midgard. DAoC has withstood the test of time and now that they have consolidated servers into one cluster, the game is alive and well!" If you're playing an MMO we don't see often -- or even one we see regularly -- we want to see your screenshots! Who knows, you may recruit some new players to check out your game. Just email those screens to us at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the game, and whatever you'd like to say about the screenshot. We'll post it out here and give you the credit for sending it in. %Gallery-85937%
Billing issues hitting Warhammer Online and Dark Age of Camelot
Even when everything's going just fine, monthly billing in an MMO brings up the problems of players feeling entitled to quite a bit of free content and getting rather annoyed if it's not forthcoming. It also raises questions of how badly you really want to play the game in question. Luckily for most games, the rebilling cycle for subscriptions is automatic and requires no conscious attention from fans... at least, unless something goes wrong. And unfortunately for Warhammer Online and Dark Age of Camelot subscribers, something did indeed go wrong. Players are being billed more than once for their subscriptions. The customer service team at Mythic Entertainment was quick to explain that they were aware of the issue and working with their vendor to resolve it. Unfortunately, the official solution requires a call and a fair bit of time spent confirming and reversing the charges, rather than being a straight refund behind the scenes. As the game's studio is hosting several of Warhammer Online's blogging pundits, it could hardly have come at a worse time. Warhammer Online and Dark Age of Camelot players are advised to read the official statement and check the charges on your account very carefully.
Electronic Arts takes over Dark Age of Camelot in Europe
Dark Age of Camelot is under new management -- sort of. Actually, it's under new management that could more properly be termed old management, or maybe it would be better termed the original management... it's a bit complicated. After many years of the European branch of the dark Arthurian MMO being managed by GOA, the game has come under the direct control of Electronic Arts. Mythic Entertainment will be taking over the game's operation in Europe... which is what they're already doing with the game in North America, seeing as how the game is originally theirs. Like we said, the pedigree is a bit odd. For the many players affected by the change, a pre-emptive olive branch is being offered -- all Dark Age of Camelot players being brought under their aegis will be receiving a free month of play time. The game will also be patched up to match the current North American version. No word is officially given on why the change in management was deemed necessary, although speculation is certainly possible. What this will mean for the game's future is uncertain, but the offer of a free month of play certainly helps take the edge off, as does the promise of improved synchronization between both regions.
Mythic taking over DAoC Europe
Mythic Entertainment today announced that GOA's license to publish and maintain Dark Age of Camelot in Europe will not be renewed, and that Mythic plans to take hold of the reins for European support. The news post says the transition will occur "in the coming weeks" which hopefully means a gradual shift is being planned, rather than a sudden one. The developer makes sure to assuage any fears of rocky times ahead by saying, "We are currently working with GOA to take over operation of the game and its European community, and will soon be providing details about pressing player questions such as existing subscriptions, character transfers, game versions, localization, and more." It sounds like everything is well under control, but an effort like this is most certainly a delicate one. Hopefully things go smoothly, as we'd rather report good news over bad.
One Shots: New year, old school
While yesterday's One Shots featured one of the sad stories from 2009 -- the loss of a game some found home -- today's shows off something old-school, yet cheery. For those who may not be familiar, this is a screenshot from Dark Age of Camelot, the game that many feel is the game for challenging and fun realm vs. realm action. This image comes to us today from Casey, who writes in: I know you guys don't cover much about Dark Age of Camelot but here is a screen from me letting you know there is still life and fun to be had in the game. As far as the picture goes, I just made a Cabalist and moved on to a new zone.From old-school to new school, we love to see your images! If you'd like to take part, all you have to do is email your screenshot to us here at oneshots [at] massively [dot] com along with your name, the name of the game, and a quick description. We'll post it out here and give you the credit. %Gallery-9798%
Celebrate the holidays with Mythic
There's good news for everyone who's a fan of one of the MMOs supervised by Mythic Entertainment -- Dark Age of Camelot, Ultima Online, and of course Warhammer Online. Admittedly the recent history has not been particularly kind to the game's fans (and has at times been downright unsettling), but the company is still rolling along with its "Twelve Days of Mythic" celebration of the holidays. By following the MythicNews twitter account, fans of the company have chances at prizes as well as special item codes. Here's the breakdown of the process: each day, the MythicNews twitter will post a tweet with a link to a YouTube video. In order to be entered into the giveaway, all that players have to do is retweet the link before the end of the day. Winners will be randomly selected for prizes that "celebrate all the great games you enjoy." In addition, the team will be randomly offering up item codes for Warhammer Online on the twitter feed, with the codes free to anyone who nabs them in time. It promises to be an interesting way for fans of the company's stable to get involved and celebrate the holidays, so grab a Twitter account if you don't have one and enjoy the giveaway.
MMOrigins: The devolution of a gamer
It all started with a sick kindergartener. Trapped inside our tiny apartment, watching my feverish son flop listlessly on the couch, I was determined to find something to distract him. "He loves those wiggly, fiery pet things people have in that new game with all the rats," I thought, pulling up my husband's brand new EverQuest account. "I'll start him whatever makes those, and that'll keep his mind off how rotten he feels." After a hurried phone consultation with my husband on classes and stats, we found ourselves flitting about in front of Felwithe, searching for a way to summon our pet. "What's with this shield and sword that keeps popping up?!" I cried in frustration. Frantic inquiries to any enchanter who seemed likely to know how to summon the orange thing that wiggled its tail as it slowed down finally yielded the truth: we'd created the wrong class entirely. One re-roll and seemingly hours of dead bats later, our magician summoned her first fire pet -- firing an interest in MMOs that would become a family passion. My son went back to school the next day, leaving me at home with my work ... and that magician. Felwithe was annoyingly dark, and I kept getting lost every time I got beyond sight of the castle ("I've lost my body again; you think that bard friend of yours will be online tonight? Every green hill and tree looks the same, and Sense Heading does nothing to help ..."). Still, there was something persuasive about the experience. It wasn't long before my character had outleveled my husband's, I'd made friends with a band of intrepid trailblazers and joined what would become one of the server's top two raiding guilds.
MMOrigins: Dissection of a gamer
The Misty Mountains You are on a steep rocky slope and just above lies the remnants of an ancient rock slide. Far below you can see the Redhorn pass through breaks in tree canopy as well as the winding Anduin River. The sky is overcast, with a strong northerly wind raining down icy lances. The air is thin, making it difficult to breathe. *Labero the Black Numenorean* is here riding a pack horse tending his wounds. o S W C Move: Tired> Backstab $target You begin to silently move behind your victim... Oh the memories! That text-based multi-user dungeon (MUD) experience may have been the most influential on my gaming career, but it certainly wasn't the first. No, for that we'd have to travel back in time several more years; the day I unwrapped my first gaming console. It was a Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and the year was 1989. Follow me as I take a trip down memory lane and recount the main influencers on my MMO timeline.
Jumpgate Evolution brings on a new Executive Producer
Any of you die hard Dark Age of Camelot fans out there? We hope you're paying attention, because NetDevil just brought Lance Roberston aboard their Jumpgate Evolution team as executive producer. For those not in the know: Lance's career blossomed as he rose through the ranks at Mythic Entertainment while working on Dark Age of Camelot. As such, he possesses extensive experience developing MMOs with both PvP and PvE focuses. He also helped to ship Warhammer Online as a senior producer, before the unfortunate events we're all aware of over at Electronic Arts. Jumpgate Evolution is a three faction game that deals with PvP and PvE. Sound familiar? It should, as DAoC's tri-factions were one of its selling points back in the day. Lance also benefits from having experience in the "what do do" and "what not to do" areas of PvP/PvE MMO development, so we're certain he'll prove to be an immensely useful member of the JGE team.
Rumor: 80 more layoffs hit Mythic
Gamasutra is reporting that another 80 layoffs have hit Mythic Entertainment as well as several other Electronic Arts studios, although Mythic was the only MMO group to feel the sting of sudden unemployment. That would equate to 40% of the team, which would make for a brutal staff blow. Our best wishes go out to everyone finding themselves without a job and we sincerely hope they all find steady work as soon as possible. What does this mean for Warhammer Online, exactly? In light of the new Endless Trial it seems like EA is doing everything it can to squeeze profit from the project, which began with a bang last year, but unfortunately fizzled out soon after Wrath of the Lich King hit. And now with Mythic assisting BioWare on Star Wars: The Old Republic, along with maintaining Dark Age of Camelot and Ultima Online, you would be forgiven for seeing dark clouds collecting in the skies above. Nevertheless, there should be people still working on new content for Warhammer Online, at least in theory. So hopefully we'll hear something soon, such as a boxed expansion, which would raise spirits quite significantly at this point. [Edit: This is no longer a rumor as it has been confirmed]
Massively interview with Aion's new community manager part 2
You can get a sense of how this will pan out by looking at the depth of Western customization and design we implemented in version of Aion currently available at retail in the west. How has the team felt about Aion's reception since launch? Tamat: Aion has been met with an overwhelming amount of praise overall.
Fourth and fifth Dark Age of Camelot expansions now free
Call us crazy, but Mythic seems to be on a roll with these expansion announcements lately. As of right now, both Dark Age of Camelot's Darkness Rising and Labyrinth of the Minotaur are completely free to subscribers. We're sure that many of you who've been playing the game have long since had these expansions. The real deal here seems to be for trial players who're just getting into the title, as they too now benefit from the free updates.This really helps show that Mythic hasn't just dropped support for their original baby. We're certain there'll be more promotions in the future if this one is any indication, which is just more icing on the cake for anyone who might want to jump back into the worlds of Midgard, Hibernia and Albion. Even if it's for nostalgia's sake!
Is Land of the Dead negatively impacting RvR? Mythic responds
Warhammer Online's Call to Arms live expansion wrapped up at the end of June with the release of the highly anticipated Land of the Dead. Many players perceived this new RvR mega-zone as the game's defining "make-or-break" moment.A successful launch could do amazing things for WAR. A not-so-successful launch could push some players over the edge. The Land of the Dead expansion was green-lit shortly after WAR's launch in September 2008 when everything (and everyone) was on a high. The game became the fastest selling MMO of all time and quickly reached 750,000 registered users.Unfortunately, it wasn't long before cracks started showing, the economy fell out, and perhaps most importantly, Wrath of the Lich King launched.
Redefining MMOs: Massively Singleplayer?
Last month when members of the Massively team were tossing around ideas for a new series called, "Redefining MMOs," I jumped all over the more solo direction MMOs have taken lately. I wanted to point out that today's MMOs are less about we and more about me. I wanted to list off a dozen or so features I felt were responsible for killing social gaming. I wanted to rekindle the debate over whether or not this is a good or bad thing.It seems I'm a bit late to the party because two bloggers, Ryan Shwayder and Keen, beat me to it by a few days. Wolfshead also put together a fascinating post on MMO communities, which is only slightly related to what I planned to talk about but still well worth the read.So, instead of trying to reinvent the wheel here, I'm going to add on to the discussion already taking place. It should be said up front that I'm a heavy solo and casual player, which is a bit strange given my stance on the issue. I'm slightly bothered by the recent trend toward individual content and individual rewards. It seems the line is blurring between singeplayer RPGs and MMORPGs every day. Luckily, a few titles are keeping the dream alive.Please share your thoughts on page three.
Mark Jacobs on his departure from Mythic and EA
We've had comments and opinions flying in from all over the internet regarding Mark Jacobs' departure from Mythic and EA, but finally we get to hear from the man himself, in a new post with the heading "All Things Must Come to an End" on his personal blog. Much of this post is devoted to thanking and farewelling his former co-workers, and he mentioned that there will be more thanks to come -- there's no doubt he would have built a great many relationships throughout his journey with Mythic and EA.As for Jacobs' comments on the reasons for him leaving, we don't find it out too much, but he did have have this to say:Early in May, Electronic Arts let me know that they wanted to make some changes within the Games Label and as a result of those changes I have been out of the office (and out of touch with the team, game, etc.) since that day.and:However, if you are looking or expecting me to damn EA or anyone there, you will be sorely disappointed. Over my 23 years of making games professionally I have refrained from attacking the competition, former and/or current partners, other game developers, etc. except on a few very rare instances. I have no intention of breaking with tradition at the present time and I hope my track record in this regard remains unchanged for the rest of my career.We will be keeping an eye on Jacobs' blog for the additional posts he has promised.
Ghostcrawler on why Bluetrackers suck
Ghostcrawler has finally said on the forums what I've been saying for a while here on WoW.com and elsewhere: using blue text on the forums as a way of disseminating information is "a strange way to communicate." He's been appending the words "[Not tracked]" to some of his posts so they don't end up on the official "bluetracker," because a lot of what he posts is just silly and fun and not to be pored over and examined (especially without the context of the other posts around it). But all of those posts are still picked up by the unofficial bluetrackers that many players follow, and he laments that it's annoying to have people jump in on threads without reading all the context: "you end up looking like a real jerk half the time."I would never call GC a jerk, but it's clear to see what he means -- sending out information via official posts on the forum is something Blizzard has done for a long time, and it's really a bad way to go about it. To their credit, they've been trying lots of new things lately, from official interviews to class Q&As and just plain releasing official information on the site. But I've always thought (and still think) that the company could use an official blog -- back when I was playing Dark Age of Camelot, I really enjoyed all of their work on the Camelot Herald, and I think Blizzard would benefit from something more like that. They do have a section for official news on the front page, but that's mostly licensed items and marketing information, not actual updates to the game.
The Daily Grind: How many chances do you give an MMO to impress you?
Maybe you've been following an MMO for years through alpha testing and closed and open beta. Maybe you haven't been obsessing over it at all but decided to give it a shot anyway. You log in for an hour, day, week, or month. It just doesn't do it for you and you choose not to subscribe, or in the case of a F2P MMO, simply refuse to log back in. Given the first month retention rates of most MMOs, it would seem many of us have gone through this experience. I only played World of Warcraft for a couple months when it first came out before running back to Dark Age of Camelot. I stuck with DAOC for roughly six more months before giving WoW another shot. I ended up playing WoW for nearly two years before giving up again after hitting 70. I rarely give MMOs a second chance because one taste is usually enough for me to realize whether or not I'm going to enjoy a game. That said, MMOs undergo vast changes over time. How many chances do you give an MMO to impress you and what are the factors that affect your decision?
The Daily Grind: What are you going to do in Land of the Dead?
We have a bunch of Warhammer Online coverage lined up for you this week, with everything from exclusive interviews with some of the staff of Mythic Entertainment to a complete overview of the new Land of the Dead zone that will be heading to WAR subscribers everywhere thanks to a free game update. With all of this new information comes more hype, so we want to know exactly what you're feeling about the new dungeon coming out.Are you excited about the release of the spiritual successor dungeon to Dark Age of Camelot's Darkness Falls? Are you going to be jumping in to the new RvR zone with glee? Are you interested in the slew of new PQs that will be in the Necropolis, or are you looking forward to that new instanced dungeon? Or, maybe it's the tweaks to tier 4 that's getting you all excited?Whatever it is, we want to know about it. Throw your comments in here and let us know!
Dark Age of Camelot Grab Bag touches on Origins server issue
Just a few days ago we wondered aloud about the absence of the 'Origins' server for Dark Age of Camelot. We linked to a post on MMO Champions that talked about the history of the Origins server (a promised new server returning to the old days of DAoC), but the big question was 'where is it'? While the server was promised months ago and the playerbase seemed very much in favor of the new/old mix, Mythic has been tight-lipped about the possibility of late. Thankfully the recent interest seems to have reminded the developers of that discussion.This week's edition of the Dark Age of Camelot Grab Bag touched directly on the Origins server ... though perhaps not as informatively as we would have liked. CM Joanne Laroche offered: "I know that many of you are eager to know what the status of the Origins server is and can't wait for an update. I just wanted to let you know that while there isn't any information to share with you right now, I'm pleased to say that there will be in the weeks ahead. As always keep an eye the Herald for the latest news." So, hopefully more news soon on this front. Read through to the Grab Bag as a whole for additional details on everything from Dragonsworn armor to crafting. Forsooth!
So what ever happened to DAoC's Origins server?
In June of last year, Mythic made an announcement regarding a new server that would be created to reinstate the way Dark Age of Camelot was played around 2001-2002. This new "Origins" server would not exactly replicate the game as it was back then, as it would also incorporate improvements made since then, such as housing, horses, the market explorer, UI changes and more.Well, the problem arises when we realize that players haven't really heard much about it since then. There was a poll asking players to vote on the idea, an announcement predicting an August/September 2008 launch date, and then another announcement changing a launch date to 'when it's ready'. Now players are getting a bit restless, as it's been six months since that last announcement, with no other news. Speculation has even stemmed from the recent cuts at Mythic, and the fact that most of the company's attentions seems to be with Warhammer Online. So is the Origins idea being scrapped? Is it simply on the backburner as Mythic deals with more pressing issues? We'll be sure to keep you up-to-date on any news we hear regarding this story.
