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Pathfinder focuses on crafting in latest dev video
Pathfinder Online's crafting system is the focus of this week's dev blog by Goblinworks CEO Ryan Dancey. Through crowdforging, the company hopes to develop improvements and features with the help of the community. In the included video diary, designer Stephen Cheney talks more about how resources and materials are gathered for crafting, the importance of tiers, refined items, and how important crafting will be in the game. The dev blog also discusses the Kickstarter rewards, the status of the guild land rush, and more. Check out the complete dev video embedded after the cut. [Thanks to Chrysillis for the tip!]
DayZ gives zombies a hand crossing the street
Poor zombies. All they want to do is eat a little brains and earn your respect, just like anyone else, but that's hard to do when they're walking into walls and clipping badly into a dumpster. Fortunately for our undead brothers and sisters, the devs on DayZ have figured out a good solution to problematic pathfinding. "Our problem was not unique, but our situation was: our world is very big yet it requires the same precision as a small one," the devs wrote in a blog post. "The team devoted to solving this decided to use navigation meshes. The serious problem it presented, though, was how to generate these meshes. With nearly two million objects on the map, doing it by hand would not be an option. So a method was devised to split the world up into grids, and then raycast at a precise interval and generate chunks of navmesh." The result? Zombies that can figure out how to cross a street and go into a building without embarassing themselves. The team also talked about some of the livestock it's creating for the game, including carp to be fished out of ponds by survivors.
Black Gold devs talk art design, 'clash of styles'
Snail's latest promotional post for Black Gold focuses on the game's distinctive visuals and art design. While there's little in the way of new gameplay information here, there is plenty of arresting concept art that melds fantasy, Victorian futurism, Wild West motifs, and of course steampunk.
Shroud of the Avatar's Release 6 brings better visuals and combat
Shroud of the Avatar's Release 6 is set to roll out this Thursday with a host of new goodies for backers to enjoy. Release 6 includes visual improvements, player-to-player secure trade, additional crafting animations, combat improvements, looting fixes, revised animals, a new iteration of the overworld map, and a "sanity pass" on NPC dialogue. The weekend's website update was primarily focused on the improvements being made to the game's housing system, including larger abodes and even new types of homes. The Founder Lord Town Home was scaled up to include more rooms and even a secret hiding spot. Meanwhile, the Benefactor Town Home was displayed in all of its glory, boasting several rooms (including another secret one) and twin decks. If living the high life isn't for you, the team also made a rustic barn house featuring two stories and four rooms.
EverQuest II's dino-tastic expansion pack is still in the works
EverQuest II folks, fret not, for SOE has not abandoned you for shiny new sandboxes. The recent producer's letter mentions several projects that the team is working hard on, the biggest of which is the upcoming unnamed expansion pack. "We are working on a variety of themes again, one of them we have hinted at with dinosaur-like creatures," the letter teases. SOE goes on to say that expansion previews will be happening soon, and come June there will be a "Gear Up, Level Up" promotion aimed at preparing the playerbase for the release. All players will receive bonuses that month, although All Access players will get the better end of it. It also looks as though there will be an expansion discount for those who pre-order in June. The team is also working to improve its matchmaking code, add a new Tunaria PvP warzone, create a Fabled Deathtoll dungeon zone, and toss in dressable NPC mannequins for housing.
Go tent camping now in Wurm Online
In a game that allows you to carve out a swath of wilderness and create a home, it seems strange that Wurm Online previously lacked anything between the "sleep on the hard ground" and "set up shop in a full cabin" territory. Well that's all changed thanks to the addition of tents, including a newbie variant that is handed out at the start. Wurm's also updated the game to include timber frame walls for houses. The team spent some time in this week's news post to talk about upcoming projects, including a pavilion-style tent, progress with collision detection on bridges, a meditation animation, and the Xanadu release. [Thanks to Tom for the tip!]
PlanetSide 2 explains new implant system
PlanetSide 2 has loot for the first-time ever in the form of implants. The ins and outs of this brand-new system are explained in-depth in a new dev video. Players begin with an enhanced targeting implant (that tosses up player names and health bars onto the HUD) but can swap those out for more interesting ones, such as implants that protect you from fall damage or that mark players who have shot you. Implants need a charge to function, and players can either earn or pay for chargers to power these. SOE said that it is definitely listening to players for ideas for future implants. Check out the full video after the break and let us know what you think of this system!
EVE Online explains its new expansion model, opens store testing
If you followed EVE Fanfest 2014 closely, you already know that CCP is planning on reworking EVE Online's twice-yearly-expansion schedule, but today's dev blog aims to flesh out that plan. Writes CCP Seagull, Instead of doing two big expansions per year, we are moving to a model where we do about 10 releases per year, or one release every 6 weeks. In general each of those releases will be smaller than what you have seen with our expansions, but overall we will get you more per year and an overall better EVE Online because of the two big benefits this new model brings: Smaller and medium size features get to you faster, and we can make bigger features and changes to EVE Online because these can take the time they need to mature before going out, without needing to time a rare expansion. Seagull further explains that the new expansion cycle will help the team deliver speedier content for a wider variety of playstyles. In other EVE news, CCP has announced that EVE's store is open for testing on the Singularity server. "The new store will be instrumental in the future for offering ship skins, and other character and account related services," says CCP Falcon.
Star Trek Online refitting two patrol escorts
Two big refits are in store for Star Trek Online's patrol escorts, so if you are partial to the Tempest or Maelstrom class vessels, pay rapt attention to the following announcement. The Tempest class refit will be improved to include a fifth tactical console slot, better bridge officer seating, and increased aft firepower. It'll also come standard with a Nadion Saturation Bomb console that "lays down a string of explosive fire" to the enemy ship and beyond, leaving a damaging radiation field afterward. The ship will require Vice Admiral rank and 2,500 ZEN to purchase. The Maelstrom class refit isn't as grand due to its size, but it will be beefed up, add a third engineering console slot, and include a fused aft Tempest tail gun. This ship also requires Vice Admiral rank to purchase along with five fleet modules.
EverQuest Next's designers discuss rebooting a classic franchise via lore
In the studio's most recent dev diary, SOE's Omeed Dariani helms a video panel of EverQuest Next designers to discuss not game mechanics or advancement but the story and lore in EQN and Landmark. Lead Content Designer Steve Danuser, Creative Director Jeff Butler, and Senior Game Designer Bill Trost debate how to reboot a classic franchise, how to select the best material to incorporate into the new games, and how to insert the lore in an organic way rather than infodump on the players. If lore is your thing, you'll enjoy the video embedded after the break.
The Secret World's Tokyo story missions will be replayable
The Secret World's Issue #9: The Black Signal is coming this month (when, Funcom, when?), and in today's newsletter, the studio announced that all of the main storyline missions for Tokyo will be replayable for the first time in the game. Funcom posted a three-page comic for the issue and promised that it will be talking about Tokyo quite a bit in the coming weeks. "With Issue #9, we will be releasing the first part of the zone, the first chapter in the continuation of the main story, several side missions, and of course, the AEGIS system," the studio summed up. To fill the weeks between now and then, Funcom is triggering a repeat of all of the stages of the Whispering Tide event. This encore event will begin on May 7th and end on May 21st.
Dark Age of Camelot plans New Frontiers tweaks, player polling
Broadsword Online continues its push to revitalize the veteran games it took over from EA earlier this year, including Dark Age of Camelot. The studio recently released yet another question-and-answer session with players, this time focusing on the new New Frontiers patch and ending with a soaring explanation of what makes the game so great after a dozen years. Some of the highlights: There are plans to revamp PvE after the New Frontiers content is properly tweaked. First on the PvE list is the top 10% most rewarding and difficult encounters. On the flipside, the devs agree there's too much PvE emphasis in the RvR Frontiers. The team is still looking at incentives for keep, tower, and relic defense. Shards will not be usable in housing zones. Legendary weapon updates are still on the table. Finally, there's a note that the game will ultimately benefit from in-game polling systems as opposed to relying on feedback from just the vocal minority of players. "You will be heard. Count on it," Broadsword promises.
Anarchy Online and Age of Conan players vote on new content
Newsletters for Anarchy Online and Age of Conan were posted yesterday, and both of them had a common theme: an intiative by Funcom to let players vote on what new content they want to see developed. Anarchy Online players voted for a new Shadowlands mission, which is currently being made for the Inferno zone. AO is also getting ready to show off the 18.7 patch, which contains a new ICC headquarters, the new player experience, and shop changes. As for the Age of Conan community, players voted to see Conall's Valley and the Wild Lands of Zelata included with PvP events. The studio has scheduled a world boss event for May 7th, the sixth anniversary event for May 20th, and Patch 4.2 for some time this month.
Elite: Dangerous newsletter clarifies alpha and beta phases
In the latest edition of the Elite: Dangerous newsletter, David Braben and crew refine the game's alpha and beta schedule. "The final stage of the Alpha [Alpha 4] will be released on May 15th and will be followed two weeks later by the first stage of the Premium Beta on May 30th," the letter states. Until then, Premium Beta purchasers are able to download the single-player combat build. Frontier also talks up Alpha 4's 400 billion star systems, discusses its proprietary Cobra software tech, explores the Boötes constellation, and dishes on the game's three modes of travel: conventional drives, frame shift drives, and upgraded frame shift drives that permit full hyperspace jumps. [With thanks to Cotic for the tip!]
Pathfinder Online announces a second guild land rush
Pathfinder Online's Lee Hammock today announced the three winners of Goblinworks' promotional guild competition: The Empyrean Order, Pax Aeternum, and The Seventh Veil. The guilds will helm the first three PC settlements when the game hits early enrollment. But you don't care because you're probably not in any of those guilds, right? So Goblinworks hopes to command your attention with a new account system that will pave the way for you to claim a chunk of the game world for you and your mates. Anyone's who's bought a crowdforger or early enrollment package for the game can form a guild for this second "Land Rush," which will go on for 10 weeks and allow teams to jockey for position and territory long before the game goes live. More details on how to finagle a guild settlement once the new system is active can be found on the official blog.
Camelot Unchained promises 'bat-shit crazy' reveals in May
Camelot Unchained has something big to celebrate today: the first anniversary of its successfully funded Kickstarter bid. According to today's newsletter, City State Entertainment has raised a total of $5.6 million dollars -- $2.6 million from backers and $3 million from investors, including $2 million from studio head honcho Mark Jacobs himself. How will the studio be celebrating the anniversary? Jacobs revealed via video that during May, CSE will be hosting a multi-day reveal event he's calling "bat-shit crazy days in May." Expect all-day streaming, contests, scoops on major game systems (like magic, crafting, combat, and levels), subscription details, new lore, map discussion, the official name of the game, guys in bunny suits, and flying ducks. Seriously. The video's embedded below! [Thanks to tipster Guinness!]
Blizzard reviews World of Warcraft raiding history
A new raiding game will be coming to World of Warcraft with this fall's Warlords of Draenor, and as part of this transition Blizzard is penning a series of dev blogs looking at the past and future of raiding design. The first one is up on the site, covering everything from launch through Wrath of the Lich King. "In many ways, that was the most challenging aspect of classic WoW raiding: the logistics of assembling and maintaining a sufficient roster with sufficient gear," the studio posted. Blizzard said that reducing the maximum size of raids in The Burning Crusade had two objectives: to improve the gameplay experience for members of raid groups and to make raiding more accessible in terms of requirements. But it was Wrath of the Lich King's many patches that really shaped the raiding scene into what it's become today, the studio said.
Elite: Dangerous goes in-depth on trading
Elite: Dangerous' 20th newsletter is out, and the team has dedicated the lion's share of its space to talking about the upcoming space sim's trading game. The developers explain how Elite's thousands of systems will help to create a huge economy once the MMO goes live: "Each star system has a different basic type of economy –- for example agricultural, industrial, hi-tech, extraction, refining or service, and some have a mix of these basics –- such as extraction and refining are often (but not always) in the same system. From a commodities perspective all but a service economy produce items for consumption. This creates an active trade network." The newsletter also gives a sneak peek at planetary rings, informs fans that today is the last day to buy into alpha access, and says that the game will update its galaxy configuration based on any major discoveries that may occur in our world. Give the newsletter a read and check out a video of the trading system after the break!
Eternal Crusade says founders program is not a crowdfunding campaign
Behaviour Interactive's Miguel Caron penned a Warhammer 40K: Eternal Crusade newsletter today for fans skeptical about the founders program announced last week. The purpose of the program, he explains, is to solicit feedback and provide value to the faithful, not to crowdfund the game, which he says is already fully financed but might see an earlier introduction of content thanks to the founders: "The founders programs might, with your help, move a few unannounced features that are currently planned for after launch... before launch." Caron also discusses the studio's commitment to transparency, expresses disdain for any sort of "marketing firewall between devs and fans," and hints that a playable game isn't too far off with this cryptic sentence: "You will soon land on Arkhona." We outlined the proposed founder program perks in a post earlier this month.
Neverwinter will make players choose between mercenaries
When Icewind Dale arrives with Neverwinter's Module 3, players will have a difficult decision to make: whether to join up with the Ten-Towners or the Arcane Brotherhood. In a new post, Cryptic explains that these two groups are at conflict with each other in the effort to collect the precious Black Ice. Ten-Towners want the Ice for profit and for those who have lived in the north, while the Arcane Brotherhood desires the substance to increase its members' knowledge. Once a group is chosen, that faction will deliver daily contracts that the player can take up. By repeating the dailies, players can earn enough Black Ice to create a new armor set. Players shouldn't fret too much about their choice, as their allegiance can change on a daily basis with no penalty. Cryptic will also be introducing account shared banks with the module to help pass items between characters with ease. Module 3 arrives on May 13th.
