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Star Wars: The Old Republic brings changes to second PvP season
While Star Wars: The Old Republic is currently on a break between PvP seasons, the dev team has a few words to say about what awaits in Season 2. A new dev blog posted today outlines the changes that Season 2 will bring. These include a shorter season length of three months, quicker rewards, slower rollouts of new gear sets, and daily and weekly PvP quests. The team is also going to hand out a unique reward to the top 96 PvP players. Season 2 will commence with Update 2.7.1.
Darkfall clarifies vision to get 'back on track'
Aventurine admitted today that it has faltered on its core vision for Darkfall due to "compromises" but is rededicating itself to restoring its focus. "We are committed to our original vision of a politically and economically driven sandbox PvP MMO where risk dictates the reward, leading to meaningful massive battles," the studio posted. As such, Aventurine revealed that it will be introducing mix-and-match custom roles, rebalancing the economy, adding in siege engines, and conjuring a quest system to beef up the new player experience. On the way out are timed events and "the purpose of safe zones."
Take a look at Star Trek Online's Earth Spacedock revamp
Star Trek Online's main hub is about to get a massive facelift, and Cryptic wants to give you a preview of the new design of Earth Spacedock as well as a tour through it. In a dev blog posted yesterday, the studio went through the process of coming up with the ideas for a much improved Spacedock, including how it would be structured and what players would see: "A few solid points were decided. 1. It was all going to be on one floor. 2. We had to have a view both of Earth AND of the Shipyard. Point two meant that there was only one place for it. It had to be within the outer wall of the docking bay." The blog also contains a link to an animated graphic showing a time-lapsed construction of one of the new areas. The Earth Spacedock revamp will come with Season 9's release on April 22nd.
Make your own kind of music in Guild Wars 2
You could be forgiven for overlooking the new drum in Guild Wars 2's cash shop -- it's just a cosmetic thing for roleplayers who stand around town, right? Well, not exactly, and a developer diary from ArenaNet audio programmer Aaron McLeran aims to explain why you should care (and buy all the things). The drum actually allows players to select from two modes: a pre-set groove mode, which lets you auto-play several drum tracks solo or in time with other players' tracks, and user groove mode, which starts to travel into Lord of the Rings Online territory. Says McLeran, The first five skill buttons have five unique drum sounds respectively. Each sample can be triggered individually so the drum can perform like our previous instruments in free-play mode. The only difference is the drum will quantize beat events so that they always sound good to you – and in rhythm. If you push the sixth or seventh skill slot, you put the drum into "loop-record" mode. If this is the first time you've pushed it, you'll hear a nice little click-track (that only you can hear!) that gives you an idea of where the "global" pulse is. Think of it like a count off: "A one, a two, a one two three four!" Then, when you push the drum sample set skill buttons again, they'll actually loop back on themselves. You can build up ever more complicated and funky grooves. We just have one question: Where's our Bard class?
Camelot Unchained's producer's letter offers concept art, new storefront
Camelot Unchained's April producer's letter begins with an apology; the planned testing scheduled for the end of March was delayed because of goal pushbacks, writes producer Tyler Rockwell. But we're pretty sure you'll forgive the team as Rockwell has uploaded some new bits of concept art of the Giants of the Tuatha Dé Danann. The team is also teasing new and more functional forums as well as a new storefront, which will have "much-requested capabilities such as combining and upgrading pledges." "We know we need to pick up the pace over the next 5 months in order to hit Alpha on time, and that is our intent," Rockwell vowed. We've included the concept art after the break; just click the images to enlarge them.
Landmark roundtable video on giving the toolset love
In this week's Landmark roundtable video, SOE Senior Brand Manager Omeed Dariani is joined by Lead Building and UI Designer Jake Sones to discuss the results of a player poll about which Landmark tool needs the most work and love. Sones tells viewers that the results of the poll were even; apparently there's no one tool that needs serious work, just plenty of player sentiment that many of them need something. He specifically addresses changes being made to how tweak mode handles pasting large objects; ideally, the game will detach the preview from the mouse cursor and provide menus similar to those used by the prop tool. The pair also explain the studio's hesitation in implementing specialized and redundant tools like the cylinder tool, citing microvoxels -- a feature the developers didn't even know the game could do -- as something players came up with that might never have been discovered had every imaginable tool already existed to stifle their creativity. Enjoy the full video!
How Guild Wars 2 megaservers affect guilds, WvW, events, and world bosses
Yesterday, ArenaNet announced that it will soon begin to roll out megaserver technology for Guild Wars 2 in order to eliminate overflow and underpopulated servers. Today, it has delivered a pair of blog posts intended to clarify those plans. The first post tackles guilds and WvW. ArenaNet aims to unify guild chapters split across home-worlds so that all members contribute to and benefit from the same version of the guild. But the studio does note that WvW won't be negatively affected by megaservers and will continue to be based on competition between worlds. The second and more meaty entry focuses on world bosses and events. The API governing boss timers on individual worlds will be replaced by a more consistent schedule such that world boss events will start at the same time across the entire game. There's even a 24-hour proposed schedule ready to go.
Pathfinder Online's devs on dynamic escalations and new races
In the latest installment of the Pathfinder Online video blog, Goblinworks PvE designer Bob Settles joins lead designer Lee Hammock to discuss escalations and alternate races. Races are the simpler topic; Hammock explains that the team does plan to expand the available races significantly, noting that races that are flavors of other races are much easier to implement because of shared models. And what about escalations? "Escalation" is the team's fancy term for one of the game's many dynamic, hex-shaped zones that are reserved for monster spawns and can over time, well, escalate and expand to neighboring hexes, ramping up in scale and difficulty with elite bosses. Multiple escalation themes are discussed in the video, including escalations that allow participants to do something other than beat mobs into submission. Enjoy the video below.
EVE Online plans drone renaissance
EVE Online is giving much-needed love to its drones come this summer, and a new dev blog posted today has all of the copious details. "There are several aspects of drone balance that are not yet up to our current standards," the devs posted. "In the summer release we will be implementing a wide ranging balance rework for drones of all sizes." The changes will include balancing drones between the different empires, between quality levels, and between drone sizes. There will also be modifications made to drone skills and sentry drones. These changes will also impact skills and modules for fighters and fighter bombers. After the update, these "larger drones" will have reduced base damage and can only be hosted 10 at a time on a supercarrier instead of 20.
World of Tanks unveils new 7v7 combat mode
Wargaming.net has just announced a brand-new combat mode for its tank-flavored MMO World of Tanks. The mode is a 7v7 random battles mode called Labyrinth. David Bowie is not included, but a new vehicle is: The only vehicle available in the upcoming mode will be the German self-propelled gun Karl-Gerät that will be added with Update 1.04 as well. Tankers will also get an original battle arena, developed specially for Labyrinth, as well as a new medal, awarded for exceptional performance in the new mode. The translated version of the latest WoT developer diary discusses the new combat mode in depth; we've got it embedded below. [Source: Wargaming press release]
Guild Wars 2 signals end of armor repair costs
The latest developments in Guild Wars 2's upcoming April feature pack will improve the quality of life around Tyria, as the game will be ending armor repair and sharing gear and WvW XP across accounts. The team said that it feels as though the loss of time is enough of a death penalty that it will be removing the costs for armor repair when the patch lands. Because this will take out a goldsink, the team is also reducing the coin dropped by champion loot bags. Legendary gear, ascended items, and World vs. World XP will become account-bound rather than character-bound come April as well. This means that players can character hop and retain their progression and expensive items instead of getting them individually.
Boatloads of classes are coming to Pathfinder Online
The latest Pathfinder Online video dev blog has arrived, and it features Goblinworks' Lee Hammock and Stephen Cheney answering questions about which classes will enter the game in which phase. The Fighter, Rogue, Wizard, and Cleric will be first during early enrollment, followed by the more crafting-based roles like the Aristocrat, Commoner, and Expert, and then the core classes of the Barbarian, Paladin, Sorcerer, and Bard. The Ranger, Druid, and Monk are likely to emerge during open enrollment. The accompanying blog post also explains how experience and skills will map from the tabletop game to the MMORPG. We've included the complete video diary below.
Latest Heroes of the Storm blog post details heroes, mounts, and more
Want more information on Blizzard's upcoming MOBA Heroes of the Storm while waiting for your technical alpha invite? The latest blog post dishes details on the availability of heroes, a try-before-you-buy feature, leveling, earning in-game currency, acquiring new skins, and mounts. Every player starts with a basic horse mount. For the free-to-play crowd, five heroes will be available to play each week, with the list rotating every Tuesday. Players can buy other heroes at any time using cash or with in-game gold that is earned after reaching level 5. Various skins with tint slots can also be bought. For more info or to apply for alpha, check out the official site. We've got the video first look of the alpha after the break.
SWTOR introduces update 2.7's brand-new Huttball pit
The Star Wars: The Old Republic site has today updated with a dev blog penned by Associate Designer Alex Modny, who outlines the new Huttball mode coming with update 2.7. The pit is located on Quesh and features more traps and a more vertical layout than the pit on Nar Shaddaa: Where the original Huttball Pit was setup in a rectangle with the end zones at each of the longer ends, the Quesh Pit is setup more as an upside down pyramid with the Huttball stand at the apex and the end zones at the base. [...] Toxic sludge pipes will rain down acidic pain upon anyone unlucky enough to get caught in the downpour. In addition to dealing damage, the toxic sludge also slows down its victims as the goo sticks to their booties! The new map also incorporates "magnetic grapple blaster tables," which allow players not carrying the Huttball to scale the structure and gain access to its second level.
World of Warcraft monkeys with health and heals in Warlords of Draenor
World of Warcraft has another dev watercooler out today, this time talking about health (your character's, not your own), healing, and what the team will be doing to improve related systems come Warlords of Draenor. For starters, the devs will be doubling player health in the expansion to make characters more durable in PvP. "The net result of these changes is that individual attacks will knock a smaller chunk off of a player's health pool in PvP, but your survivability in PvE won't be affected," Blizzard posted. Other upcoming changes include reducting base resilience and battle fatigue to practically nil, increasing creature damage, increasing the effectiveness of heals, reducing the power of aborbs, and "making smart heals a little less smart." Some smaller, cheaper healing skills will also be removed from the game, and a few instant-cast heals are on the chopping block as well.
Pirate101 explains the making of its combat system
If you're the type of player that likes to know how the sausage is made, then strap on a peg leg and wobble over to a pair of dev diaries explaining the making of Pirate101's combat system! "One of the systems that reviewers feel stands out the most in Pirate101 is the combat. Combat in Pirate101 has been described as 'deceptively simple' and 'really fun,' but it took years of iteration and changes to finally arrive at the experience that players have today," the devs wrote. The diaries go through the early prototype of the system, how the team figured out combat sequencing, and the difficulties of getting the camera placement just right. The devs said that once the basic system was in place, adding the extra elements such as reflex talents and bullet time was a blast to do.
Massively Exclusive: RIFT reveals the Oracle soul
Tomorrow, Trion Worlds is set to reveal another of RIFT's planned new souls, the Oracle, but Massively has an exclusive preview and lore piece for you today. Arriving in RIFT's 2.7 upcoming patch, the Oracle is a Cleric soul that allows the equipper to buff and debuff large groups using water and death magic. Oracles arrive from a dark future where their mastery-level support skills have forestalled the annihilation of Telara. Gifted with powers of Water and Death, these versatile casters can lift entire raids to triumph with a repertoire of powerful boons, shields, heals, buffs, and curses. As a group member, they're indispensable. As an enemy, they're impossible to ignore. We've got another screenie and the official background story for the Oracle tucked after the cut. Read on!
Pathfinder Online opens new storefront, posts first video dev blog
The Goblinworks team has this evening posted several bits of news about its forthcoming sandbox, Pathfinder Online. The studio has revamped its website and opened a new store it's calling the Goblin Squad Store, a "portal for merchandise that is currently only available to Goblin Squad members." The store appears to be a way for would-be backers to toss some (or more) cash at the developers even though the Kickstarter has ended. In return, gamers can select from a lengthy list of add-ons both physical and digital, including tabletop miniatures, forum titles, gametime, and even a swanky messenger bag. If you're keen more on learning about the game than on funding it, the team's new video blog might be of more interest. The first of planned biweekly episodes went live tonight and features Goblinworks' Lee Hammock and Stephen Cheney explaining how slots and divine powers work in the game. We've embedded the vid behind the cut.
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.
Landmark video diary hints at the Pulverizer, new harvesting tools
It's time for another EverQuest Next Landmark video dev diary. Your host is EQNL lead systems designer Michael Mann, and he's a got a lot to say about harvesting tools. He enlists a bit of help from lead character artist Kacey Helms, who takes viewers on a journey from in-game axe concept to finished in-game axe model. Next up is lead animator Aaron Carlson, who shows off mining animations, followed by VFX artist Lisa Charriere, who explains what SOE's thinking in terms of particle effects. Finally, we're treated to a sneak peak of the Pulverizer, which is a new tunneling tool currently in the works. Click past the cut for the full video!
