darkness-falls
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WoW Moviewatch: Darkness Falls
Darkness Falls from ChadStein Productions is not your typical machinima video. Described as a "tribute to Mists of Pandaria," the machinima uses nearly every cinematic found in the expansion, both in-game and out, rather than the character manipulation we usually see. Set to a suitably epic soundtrack, the whole presentation really gives the viewer the sense of the story and themes behind Mists of Pandaria -- and it has been anything but light and fluffy. While it's not the usual in-game footage we're used to, the quick cuts and sweeping soundtrack of Darkness Falls do an excellent job of conveying that darker tone, all the while highlighting the amazing material that the cinematics team has put together over the course of the expansion. It might not be your usual machinima, but I really like it, not only as a fitting tribute to the cinematics of Mists of Pandaria, but to the darker side of what Pandaria had to offer. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
Camelot Unchained update outlines RvR dungeon stretch goal
It's time for another Camelot Unchained Kickstarter update. There's so much to discuss that Mark Jacobs has broken today's video blurb into two parts. You can see the meat of the gameplay discussion in part two, where Jacobs outlines various project stretch goals. The first goal entails three new races and classes, one for each of the game's realms. The second stretch goal involves a potential RvR dungeon that hearkens back to Darkness Falls from Jacobs' Dark Age of Camelot. But wait, hasn't Camelot Unchained been sold thus far as PvE-free experience? Yes, yes it has, and if you want to know how Jacobs and company plan to keep that promise while integrating a dungeon into the game, hit the jump and watch the video.
GDC 2011: ARGO Online pits nature against technology
If imaginative fiction has taught us anything, it's that the fun doesn't really begin until the world ends. Post-apocalyptic games are all the rage these days, from Earthrise to Fallen Earth, so it's not surprising to see another company throw its hat into the ring. Burda:ic may not be a household name, but it's hoping that its upcoming MMO, ARGO Online, will be. Achim Kaspers, the managing director at burda:ic, was overflowing with information about ARGO's unique look and business model. ARGO is planned to be a free-to-play title, although Kaspers is well aware of the stigma that typically goes along with that. He admits that many F2P games are lacking in content or are grind-heavy, fates he hopes ARGO will avoid with thousands of quests, fluid combat animation and plenty of places to explore. Billed as a "post-apocalyptic steampunk MMO," ARGO features a futuristic Earth divided between nature and technology. The Noblians are all over cool-looking steampunk devices and vehicles, while the Floresslah have united with nature to become its champions. We've been following ARGO since last year, so we're excited to hear that the title is scheduled to start its open beta tomorrow. Hit the jump for more of the good word on ARGO from GDC as well as a special treat for Massively readers! %Gallery-118525%
The Game Archaeologist and the Quest for Camelot: Interview with Mythic
After last week's expedition into the dark Dark Age of Camelot, the Game Archaeologist uncovered the mightiest weapon of them all: the Hammer of Nostalgia. The hammer may be battle-worn, but it has never seen better days. Everywhere it strikes, fond memories of epic keep battles surface, and former players feel compelled to sign up for another tour of duty. The Game Archaeologist proceeded to take the hammer back to its makers, the sweat-stained smithies at Mythic Entertainment (now BioWare Mythic), to see whether they thought there was any magic left in the game. Two burly men put down their steel tools and stepped forward to testify, and their names were Colin of the Hicks and Jeff "Soulstriker" Hickman. The air became thick with memories as the duo recalled the early days of the hammer's history, when players were initially adding to its strength with each victory and each crushing defeat. Pull up a stool to hear their tale, and when you are done, send in your own favorite DAoC memories (100 words max, please) to justin@massively.com for next week's column!
The Game Archaeologist and the Quest for Camelot: The history
After a two-week hiatus to recover from rattlesnake bites and a bear to the face, the Game Archeologist returns to travel to England, but not the England we know today. No, this is the England-That-Could-Have-Been, the England of King Arthur, Excalibur and pointy-hatted Vikings. This is the England of fairy tales and legends and blocky 2001-era polygon models. It is the England of three realms constantly jockeying for supremacy and power. It is Dark Age of Camelot. It's a pretty awesome place to live, even though the property values are way, way down after the last 18 marauding hordes trampled through the neighborhood. This month, the Game Archaeologist is trading in his copyright-infringement fedora and whip for a sturdy suit of armor and a fiery sword as he slashes his way into Dark Age of Camelot. It doesn't matter if it's only a model -- it still inspires him to break out into song anyway.
Games Day '09: A moment with Paul Barnett and Josh Drescher pt. 2
So, I know this is on many player's minds. Is this going to replace city raid content?Josh: No. Ok then. Josh: Well, I mean the short answer is no. Paul: My answer is totally no. "This is a long term, total commitment from our studio to our players and to our newer players coming along." Josh: Long answer, I've been with Mythic for eight years. I was here before Camelot launched and we know what this type of content does to a greater RvR campaign. While the RvR campaign is certainly more diverse and larger in Warhammer than in Camelot, but we know pragmatically that by tying the content to the campaign and requiring success on the battlefield to gain access to this content, that success may push you towards capital city content. Even if RvR is not your focus and your focus is to get down into the dungeon, you're going to wind up working your way towards the capital city. It just happens organically, so we're really not concerned about that too much. At the end of the day, if people end up deciding that they enjoy this content more than city capture, we never felt that we need to integrate the players into the game in one set, specific way. Personally, I really love scenarios over everything else. I don't have much time to play, so for me, 15 minute scenarios are the way to play. That doesn't mean I won't engage in RvR, but overall I get 15 minutes here, 15 minutes there, and scenarios will always be my core fascination. But there are other people who like large-scale raid content, who don't like RvR or PvP. This is a great way to have them go down and get that Disney Land experience while running through well-thought out content, but there's also that added danger that at any moment enemy players can swarm in. Also, as Paul likes to say... Paul: I don't like building fart balloons. *Laughs* Paul: It's like the extended cut of a great movie. You have the main core of the movie, but you also have that extended stuff. You can watch the main core of the movie, but if you really want to obsess and you really want to see all of the detail you can watch the extended cut. It's more of the same, but it's new and cool. That's what it is. The movie is still the movie, our game is still our game, regardless.Ok, so, this is basically a small expansion, honestly. Where do you see Warhammer going from here?Paul: Go straight, go straight, go straight, go straight. This is a long term, total commitment from our studio to our players and to our newer players coming along. Try it out, it's never going away, it's only going onwards and upwards.Josh: I agree with Paul. Our boxed expansion schedule, such as it is, is probably going to mirror very closely to what we did in Camelot -- an alternating sequence of free expansions via patches and then boxed retail expansion content. Almost certainly you will see retail expansions in the near future, but you will certainly keep seeing free expansions as well. "To go to a person at a time like this when unemployment is rampant, the economy is in the tank, and retirement funds have gone away and say, "Hey, can I have 10 to 15 dollars of your money every month to play my game?" is actually a pretty bold request." We've always felt the relationship we, the developer, have with our players should be something more than just simple money extraction. At least 50 percent of it should be grateful generation of wonderful things for them to have for free.All right. Now the hard question. 300,000 subscribers -- how do you guys feel about that? It's the number you started with, and it's the number you currently hold now.Josh: There is no start and there is no now. Now, as a company, we're legally not allowed to comment on those numbers any further than what was reported, but we're very happy with the enthusiasm and continued dedication of people all over the world who have played Warhammer for the last nine months.It's been a really difficult time not just for the games industry, but for everyone. To go to a person at a time like this when unemployment is rampant, the economy is in the tank, and retirement funds have gone away and say, "Hey, can I have 10 to 15 dollars of your money every month to play my game?" is actually a pretty bold request. So for people to come to us and say that the commitment we've shown and the game that we've built is worth that kind of display, we have nothing but thanks for those people. We are unbelievably grateful that they've stuck with us and we hope that this type of content that we've been developing for the last nine months is an indication of our dedication to our end of this type of interaction. They trust us to do this, and we're trying to make good on our end of it and bring great things to them consistently.We are very happy with where the game is. We would obviously love to have more people try Warhammer, which is why we have the trial out...Paul: Which you can download right now!Josh: And we're very happy to continue on into the future. Also, this event is the last thing I'm allowed to do before I go get married. I'm very excited, I'm getting married next Saturday.Paul: It's an exclusive for Massively!Josh: I love you Aubrey, please continue marrying me. Put that in big bold letters. Breaking news: Josh loves Aubrey. I will totally do that. Josh, Paul, thank you so much for your time! The sands of the Tomb Kings are coming as the final release in the Call to Arms live expansion, the Land of the Dead approaches! Massively has your back with coverage from Mythic Entertainment at Games Day '09, so get your WAAGGGHHH ready for RvR mayhem as Massively re-arms for WAR!
Games Day '09: A moment with Paul Barnett and Josh Drescher (also, Josh loves Aubrey)
Even with all of the excitement occurring at Games Day, Mythic's Paul Barnett and Josh Drescher still had a moment to sit down with us at Massively and talk a little shop about Warhammer's overall status, Mythic's future direction of the game, and why players should come back and experience the Land of the Dead. But they're tricky folks, Paul and Josh! They even tried to turn the interview back around at us at some points! But we stayed strong for you readers, and were able to get some interesting answers out of them regarding Warhammer Online. Also, we have exclusive coverage that Josh indeed loves his fiancee, Aubrey. Yay marriage! Interested in the full interview? Hit that link and read on!
Games Day '09: Our impressions of Warhammer's Land of the Dead
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/Massively_s_impressions_of_Warhammer_s_Land_of_the_Dead'; So we've been over the cold, unfeeling facts about Land of the Dead. It's big, it's a throwback zone to action RPGs, it has RvR and PvE, and it's filled with mummies. But you don't want the facts, right? You want to know how it plays and you want to know if it's worth your time to pick up Warhammer or resubscribe to the game.During my time at Games Day, I got the chance to participate in a bunch of the PQs in the new zone and try out a few areas of the Tomb of the Vulture Lord, the capstone dungeon of the whole experience. I got to be shanked by swinging blades, pierced by surprise dart traps, and I even got to wear the Sovereign armor set, the pinnacle armor of the game. (Yes, it looks completely badass.)
Games Day '09: Our impressions of Warhammer's Land of the Dead pt. 2
Get caught in one of the clouds and you'll find yourself teleported to the bottom of one of the nearby tombs, stuck in a sarcophagus, and taking damage from the curse. Your friends can't get into the tombs due to barriers that are placed over the doors, turning this into a race to get out of the tomb before you die. These moments were filled with frantic cheers and laughter as we all danced around trying to avoid the dust clouds, accompanied by laughs of anguish as people would get caught and stuck inside of the tomb. Overall, the PQs are really enjoyable and a nice step away from "kill, rinse, repeat." Even if they involve killing monsters, there's usually some sort of trick to the PQ that makes it into a very active experience, rather than a strict button mashing period. Plus if that last boss battle sounded crazy, think of how it could go when the zone flips sides and the enemy begins running in. Now you have a boss, enemy players, and dust clouds. Fights in the tombs while curse is in effect, anyone? Luring enemies to stand in the way of dust clouds? Eventually though, we were taken away from the PQs and had the chance to step into the Tomb of the Vulure Lord itself -- testing our mettle against the various traps. The first one that stood in our way was a hallway filled with swinging pendulum blades. These blades were stacked very close together, with little room between them to stand without getting yourself sliced in half. One hit kills you, so don't try running through aimlessly because it's not going to end well. This trap is all about timing, placement, and pattern recognition -- a classic console adventure trap. What I liked the most about these traps was that they don't require the whole party to make it. Three people is all you need out of your group of six, and dying in the dungeon will just respawn you at the entrance (as long as you maintain control, of course.) "It's very different, and it's alot of fun." Eventually making it past that trap gave us access to the Terracotta Army hall -- a room filled with terracotta statues of soldiers and chariots. The whole room could be categorized under "things that never end well" because, as you would expect, walking next to some statues causes them to come to life. This whole encounter is a hybrid PQ/boss battle, as killing enough soldiers will awaken the final boss of the room, an angry skeleton who switches between different stances while you do battle with him. Overall, I have to admit, I wasn't expecting this. I was expecting an area and a dungeon filled with standard MMO trappings of trash mob pulls, boring grindfests, and RvR mixed in with all of that. What I got was a very carefully crafted zone that caters to all types of MMO players and merges PvP content with PvE content in a really inventive fashion. Even the Tomb of the Vulture Lord doesn't feel like a traditional MMO dungeon. It's an adventure through a tomb rather than a series of trash pulls with scary bosses. It tells a story and immerses you rather than just throwing themed encounters at you. Sure, this mystique will wear off over time, but I don't see this dungeon becoming something like other MMO dungeons. It's very different, and it's alot of fun. Land of the Dead is totally something you need to experience. The sands of the Tomb Kings are coming as the final release in the Call to Arms live expansion, the Land of the Dead approaches! Massively has your back with coverage from Mythic Entertainment at Games Day '09, so get your WAAGGGHHH ready for RvR mayhem as Massively re-arms for WAR!
More Land of the Dead details emerge from WAR dev
We've been hearing a slow trickle of details from Mythic these past few months about the new Land of the Dead zone in Warhammer Online. In his recent developer diary entry, Gabe Amatangelo, Senior Designer, Dungeons & Encounters Lead, shares new information about and inspirations behind the new Tomb Kings area.We learn that Gabe was given the go ahead to conceptualize the zone in September 2008, shortly after launch and that it will come in two forms: The Necropolis desert, which is an open, non-instanced zone and The Tomb of the Vulture Lord dungeon.Control over this dungeon will depend on a new Expedition Resource system, which will come as a blend of zone control and open RvR kills. Not only will you fight over the new dungeon, you will fight in it as well and the only safe spot will be the zone-in spot. The dungeon will have instanced encounters, but players will actually be able to storm instances and chase after enemies.As a PvE expansion to their newly announced RvR token system, monsters in The Necropolis desert will also drop tokens, which can be used to purchase powerful gear and crafting materials. If any of this sounds interesting to you, keep your eyes peeled for the April newsletter.
Huge Lands of the Dead update via WAR/Eurogamer dev chat
Eurogamer just hosted a live dev chat with Mythic Entertainment's Warhammer Online staff. Present in this conversation were Executive Producer Jeff Hickman, Senior Creative Director Paul Barnett, Senior Designer (careers) Rob Hinkle, and Live Producer Destin Bales.Mythic staff elaborated on many parts of their game and business from launching in new countries, to the new Slayer and Choppa careers, and balance. Perhaps the biggest reveal was a plethora of new information about Lands of the Dead. They spilled the beans on a number of interesting details, including a live event leading up to LotD that will essentially be a huge Order vs. Destruction battle for who can gain early and exclusive access to the dungeon (for a limited time). This "RvR-gated ultimate sandbox" zone is expected to change hands nightly and will have content for smaller group sizes up to that of a warband (24 players). Paul Barnett elaborated on some similar mechanics to Darkness Falls from DAOC by saying LotD will have, "tokens, other loot methods, a wide level range, and the thrill of your enemy always breathing down your back."Do yourself a favour and check out the entire dev chat log because there are so many more details than this!
Lands of the Dead vs. Darkness Falls: Don't mess with perfection
Mythic recently announced plans for a huge "live expansion" called Call to Arms that would span several months and culminate in the release of a new mega-zone called Lands of the Dead. LotD has been described by the developers as a spiritual successor to Darkness Falls, a dungeon that is considered by many as the best thing to ever come out of Dark Age of Camelot.This announcement has many people drooling and speculating on the possibilities because we haven't been given many details to work with. What we do know is that players will have to fight for control of it. The zone will be called Lands of the Dead (aka Nehekhara) and themed on the Tomb Kings. Controlling the zone will give you access to public quests, instance lairs, and a massive dungeon that holds secrets of something called the Casket of Souls (similar to the Ark of the Covenant).If Nehekhara is going to be as good for Warhammer Online as Darkness Falls was for Dark Age of Camelot, I believe Mythic must mimic its predecessor as closely as possible. Continue reading below the cut where we'll discuss how they can succeed and how they can fail.
Mega-dungeon called the Lands of the Dead coming to Warhammer Online
Darkness Falls. Those two little words conjure up amazing vistas to players that delved deeply into Dark Age of Camelot. The release of that content in that game - an enormous dungeon fraught with danger and loot, and disputed by vicious PvP skirmishes - is arguably the finest hour of Mythic's development. Hearing Warhammer Online's Jeff Hickman talk about new content that harkens back to that style of gameplay may mean a return to truely rare form for the still-struggling title.In the same discussion with Mr. Hickman where we unveiled the new classes coming to WAR and the Valentine's Day event, he walked us through the capstone of the Call to Arms expansion. The Land of the Dead, a massive egyptian-themed zone, will be unleashed on the armies of Order and Destruction sometime around May. We have full details on the expansion's crown jewel below the cut, including why they went in this direction and what you're likely to see the first time you set foot in the zone. Check it out below!%Gallery-43282%
LotRO Book 12 introduces Delving of Frr PvMP dungeon
Along with everything else we've talked about to be expected with Book 12, the official Lord of the Rings Online website has now confirmed that a brand new PvMP dungeon will also be introduced with The Ashen Wastes. It will be called the Delving of Frór, and is reached by going through the Ettenmoors -- but it won't be as simple as just walking in. Either the Freeps or Creeps will need to control a minimum of three out of five points in the Ettenmoors before they will be allowed access. Even while one faction is inside, leader status can change hands, resulting in the flushing out of one faction by the other. The former controlling faction inside the dungeon will no longer be able to receive reinforcements from outside, and death will cause them to respawn outside as well.There's plenty of reasons to want to gain entry to the Delving, as there will be five raid bosses, more than fifteen group bosses and even lots of solo content inside. Anything killed inside will not only have a chance to drop the same loot as Ettenmoors mobs, but there will also be a new set of barter items to collect. Freeps use these for new weapon and armor sets, and Creeps can obtain new skills (full list posted after the break). This whole system is very reminiscent of Dark Age of Camelot and Darkness Falls, which also centered around controlling areas to be allowed access to a dungeon with great rewards, and the inevitable flushing out of an opposing faction when control changed hands. Nevertheless, it looks as though this will provide lots to do for fans of PvMP when Book 12 hits.
