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Trials of Ascension will include playable dragons
Pay attention, students: Trials of Ascension is coming up to the head of the class to give a progress report. Don't be timid, fledgling game. We're all listening. First of all, Trials of Ascension has hit its $60,000 crowdfunding goal. This means that Forged Chaos will be including a playable dragon race at launch, so prepare your Dragonheart names now. And in a new progress video, Trials of Ascension showed off its new dynamic spawning tech for mobs and plants, its resource gathering system, improvements to combat with full-body animations, items that persist when dropped in the game world, and a naming and chat system that won't automatically identify strangers. There's more to it than that, of course, so check out the full progress video after the break. [Source: Forged Chaos press release; thanks to Azrile for the tip!]
Trials of Ascension shows off combat prototype
The Trials of Ascension team is making progress on technical demo for the game, primarily in the field of combat. In a new video posted earlier this week, a developer walks viewers through some of the stances, moves, and mechanics of combat in the game. Some of the planned functionality, such as hit boxes for limbs and double-tapping to evade, are not yet in place, but you can see the rough outline of what fighting will be. Check out the video after the break and let us know what you think! [Thanks to Skymaul for the tip!]
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!]
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!
ArcheAge boasts 120 class combinations
Forget MMOs that have a petty eight, 16, or even 23 classes; ArcheAge is strutting about with 120 builds thanks to its mix-and-match class structure. In a new developer diary and video, the team talks about the way classes are set up in the game as well as the crafting options at the player's disposal. Players construct their class by picking three skillsets at levels 1, 5, and 10, with the option to respec for a fee. Skillsets can be leveled up independently, allowing players to invest in far more than three of them, and those skillsets have certain synergies between them. The 10 skillsets in the game are Archery, Auramancy, Battlerage, Defense, Occultism, Shadowplay, Songcraft, Sorcery, Vitalism, and Witchcraft. ArcheAge wants you to know that you have the option to level to the cap entirely through crafting professions if desired. The 21 professions are leveled through a slowly regenerating resource called Labor, and eventually they hit a hard cap until the player chooses a handful for specializations. You can watch the dev video walk you through the intricacies of classes and crafting after the break!
Pathfinder Online shows off its map
Lead Game Designer Lee Hammock is your host and guide to a tour through Pathfinder Online's detailed maps. Pathfinder's maps look a little different than a typical MMO map, offering more of a malleable report on shifting allegiances and events in a hex layout. The main map is color-coded to show terrain type, with symbols and lines representing cities, trade routes, player towns, security levels, and points of interest. Knowing which resources come from which terrain type will be crucial to building up player settlements. Hammock and his beige shirt of stunning good looks star in a nine-minute developer video that you can watch after the break.
Trion shows off ArcheAge housing in dev video
A new dev video from Trion Worlds showcases the housing system in ArcheAge, including tips on claiming the land and building your new house in the game. If you were curious about ArcheAge's housing system, the Trion community team shows off the process of claiming your desired land and the details on placing a house from your inventory. Of course, there's an intricate construction process that goes on while the house is being built (in which players can attack the construction site and loot the materials!). What happens when you don't pay your taxes? Will that lurking alpha player loot the dev team's stone packs? Check out the full video after the cut to see more! [Thanks to everyone who sent us this tip!]
PlanetSide 2 video reveals the Valkyrie
SOE Creative Director Matt Higby and his dreamy blue eyes are at the forefront of a new preview video for PlanetSide 2, running down the upcoming features as well as an exclusive look at the Valkyrie aircraft. Higby said that in April, the team will be doing a "large-scale balance pass" and bringing in the missions and implant systems. May will see a Combat Medic update, improvements to outfits, and a resource revamp. The video concludes with a sneak peek of the Valkyrie fast-attack aircraft that will allow a small squad of four to quickly hop from fight to fight. This vehicle will be coming out in the summer, and you can check it out after the break! [Thanks to BabaGraPL for the tip!]
World of Tanks to become better-looking than ever before in 2014
World of Tanks is poised to get a major graphics upgrade this year, and the devs want to show you a preview of the changes. Hopefully you're cool with that. Wargaming promises that the look of the game will become clearer, more realistic, and more detailed when the changes go into place. The team is utilizing advanced texture mapping and new material models to provide a higher level of visual fidelity than previously present. One of the big improvements is a giant leap in the polygon count for each tank, going from 8K-18K per vehicle currently to 50K-100K in the future. For more on this beautification process, check out the video after the jump!
New Albion Online dev video details classless system
In Albion Online, you are what you wear, and a new developer video delves into exactly how that works. The multi-platform fantasy game touts a classless system in which players' equipped gear determines their role, putting the power to create traditional roles or experiment with new ones in the hands of the players themselves. And the number of possible armor and weapon combinations is limited only by the number of items in the game. The type of equipment is not the only form of customization in this system, either. Player-crafted spells are added to each piece of gear, further personalizing the individual items that make up each player-concocted set. Check out an early demonstration of the spellcrafting and hear more about the classless system in the video below. [Source: Sandbox Interactive press release]
Elite: Dangerous moves into multiplayer alpha
Elite: Dangerous has jumped into the second stage of its alpha, adding in multiplayer elements for the first time. With Alpha Phase 2.0, Elite: Dangerous players can try out four multiplayer scenarios, including free-for-all, two-team melee, co-op defense, and an advanced pirates and bounty hunters mode with "fluid choices and roles." Players who engage in these scenarios can earn credits for better ship loadouts. But don't just read about Alpha Phase 2.0 here; watch the dev video with all of the stunning highlights after the break! [Thanks to Peteris for the tip!]
WAKFU's Haven Worlds update postponed
WAKFU is pushing back its Haven Worlds update a week to June 25th as the team cites testing concerns. "Our forums and internal discussions, as well as the internal playtest, raised concerns on some of the main aspects of the Haven Worlds," Ankama posted. "Since our intention is to offer quality content that matches your expectations, we decided to take one more week to improve a few gameplay details." The team decided not to implement tollbooths in the patch but created a more "malleable" system to fill the role. Several other small changes, including those to taxes and GvG features, are detailed in the delay post. To fill the void between now and the 25th, Ankama has put up a new dev diary to show off Haven Worlds and all the goodness that is to come. Check it out after the break!
CCP marks EVE Online: Odyssey launch with trio of new videos
Odyssey, the 19th free content expansion for sci-fi sandbox EVE Online, is now live. Like the EVE expansions that came before it, Odyssey brings a collection of changes, tweaks and major overhauls to EVE's existing universe, among them resource redistribution, deep modifications to the exploration career, a brand-new radial navigation tool, upgrades to player-owned stations, and a redesigned system scanner. To mark the occasion, CCP has released no fewer than three videos covering Odyssey, including the expansion's final launch trailer. Check out all three after the break, and have a look at our Odyssey coverage for in-depth information on everything that's changing.
Get a video overview of Dragon's Prophet right here, right now
Runewaker's follow-up to Runes of Magic, Dragon's Prophet, promises to "evolutionize" MMOs. Now that you've been mortally wounded by a pun, perhaps you want to spend your last few minutes on this earth by watching a dev interview about this upcoming fantasy title? Dragon's Prophet's core feature is bonding players with dragons as they go about adventuring. Dragons can be ridden as mounts, leveled up, and used as fighting companions. But that's not all! If you order now in the next 10 minutes, your dragon will be available for production and gathering tasks. Operators are standing by! The seven-minute video is a good primer to the world of Dragon's Prophet, and it's all yours after the break. [Thanks to Hirundo for the tip!]
Defiance takes the lid off of its open world PvP
"Player vs. player in Defiance is like nothing console players have ever seen," promises Trion Worlds Creative Lead Bill Trost. "Everything's different, everything's fresh, every time you play." Thus begins Trion's latest Defiance dev diary, this one focusing on the game's open world PvP system. The team has dubbed this system the Shadow War and said that it is integrated fully with the game's PvE experience. Players have a choice whether to participate in it or not, but the action will be happening across a shared landscape. Why is it this way? The devs say that they didn't want a typical FPS experience, in which players went through a solo campaign and then hit the reset button for multiplayer. The progression between PvE and PvP is the same, although there are special outfits for hardcore PvPers. We've got the full dev diary for you after the break, so don't be shy!
RIFT team calls down the thunder in Storm Legion dev diary
"You are a fantasy character going up against technology that is far beyond you," a Trion Worlds developer cautions in a brand-new RIFT: Storm Legion video. In the span of three minutes, Trion's team attempts to convince you why RIFT's first expansion warrants your sincere and undivided attention. The core concepts of the expansion are laid out, from the new continents to the storyline. In fact, consider this your cheat sheet for Storm Legion if you're looking for a tidy and exciting summary. The devs also state that this isn't just your same-old, same-old romp through familiar territory. "Instead of more high fantasy, we're getting creatures that people have never even imagined before," promises Design Producer Hal Hanlin. Watch the full dev diary after the break and let us know what you think about Storm Legion's prospects in the comments!
Guild Wars 2 provides a visual overview of World vs. World
If you felt disappointed that ArenaNet left Guild Wars 2's World vs. World out of its video splurge last week, consider this: Maybe the studio was saving the best for last. In any case, today we're finally treated to an overview of the WvW system in the game, narrated by the devs. World vs. World is arguably the centerpiece of PvP combat in the game. Taking place across four massive maps, WvW pits three factions of players against each other in an attempt to conquer keeps, control supply lines, and bring the pain to their fellow man (or Sylvari). You can check out the WvW video after the jump!
New Otherland making-of video shows off Five Isle, Tad Williams
RealU and gamigo have released a new making-of video update for Otherland. The clip focuses on the in-game world of Five Isle, so named for the five elements of fire, water, earth, wood, and metal that feature in Chinese mythology. Interestingly, Five Isle is a new invention created specifically for the MMO and does not appear in Tad Williams' series of Otherland novels. Williams himself does appear in the new video along with a handful of game developers. See what they have to say after the break. [Source: gamigo press release]
Sound guru brings The Secret World's ur draug monster to life
If you've ever wondered how MMO sound designers do their thing, a new developer video by Creating Sound will probably be music to your ears. Sound designer and "audio generalist" Alexandre Saba takes us through the creation of The Secret World's ur draug sound suite. What the heck is an ur draug? It's a "creature from the deepest, darkest oceans, a Lovecraftian, god-like creature," according to TSW creative director Ragnar Tornquist. Since Funcom couldn't just go out and mic the nearest ur draug, it turned to Saba, who performs a number of foley tricks to bring the creature's bellow, skin, and wing sounds to life. Look, listen, and learn after the cut.
LotRO devs show off its mounted combat system
While the upcoming Riders of Rohan expansion for Lord of the Rings Online promises a great wealth of content for players, undoubtedly its keystone feature is mounted combat. This system became the centerpiece of a filmed discussion between CM Rick Heaton and Producer Aaron Campbell. One of the concerns that Heaton addresses is how player classes will translate once on horseback. Campbell says that the team has created ways for those roles to continue, albeit in a slightly different form. One example given was how Guardians can taunt, except that on horseback, it means that the enemy will then start riding alongside of you. "You can bring them in and control the battlefield," Campbell says. Other points of discussion include how Fellowships work while mounted, the different stances (aggressive, utility, and defensive), the speed of combat, and situational awareness. The pair also gives us a first glimpse of mounted combat in action. You can watch the full dev video after the jump!
