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Lineage 2 talks aerial combat arena and changes to the olympiad coming with Gracia Final
Aerial combat is cool and all, but wouldn't you like a PvP gametype to go with it? Of course you would, and now you don't have to wait too long!Lineage 2's last expansion on the Gracia continent, Gracia Final, will be adding a brand new aerial combat PvP arena to the world, as well as making some changes to the olympiad event. The Aerial Cleft, the new PvP arena, will pit players against one another as they race to shatter crystal cores and score points for their side. To the victors go special Emery shards that can be combined with Star Stone pieces to create attribute cores to change your class up.As for the olympiad, now you can participate in teams of three instead of one on one! Also, the olympiad event will now reward olympiad tokens upon winning, so victors can spend their tokens for the equipment of their choice at the olympiad vendor.The full developer log is included after the break, so continue reading for the full explanation of the events from the words of the developers themselves! Also, check out our screenshots of the expansion in the gallery below.%Gallery-50892%
Brawling changes hit Pirates of the Burning Sea
Pirates of the Burning Sea is a title that's been undergoing some major overhauls in terms of game mechanics. Flying Lab Software has been revamping the game's combat systems, both those of ship-based combat and avatar combat. We've mentioned a few of those changes in the past, such as the introduction of new NPC archetypes but the latest issue they've been tackling is how brawling works in PotBS.A developer log this week, from Isildur, explains the situation with skill lines (as well as optional skill lines) and what was involved with balancing them. The challenge was in creating a system where a given skill line wouldn't be mandatory, giving players choices in how they approach combat, yet keeping each skill line powerful enough that it can remain effective against other combat styles.
Captain skills tuning for all classes in PotBS build 1.2
A recent devlog at the Pirates of the Burning Sea site talks about the changes that are coming to captain skills (your at-sea arsenal) with build 1.2. It looks like every single class will have changes of some sort coming. These will be in the form of global changes to certain types of skills, and changes specific to each class in the game. The global changes include: stopping speed buffs from stacking, reducing the morale cost of skills that cancel upon taking damage, and the addition of crew recovery rate increases and decreases to some existing skills.The remaining changes coming to skills in build 1.2 are too numerous to list here, but we'll go over some of the highlights.
PotBS devlog looks at Open Sea Battle placement in 1.2
The way things currently are when engaging in an open sea battle in Pirates of the Burning Sea, players can often be dumped miles away from each other inside the private battle instance, even if they were very close when going in. This is one of the problems that is going to be fixed in build 1.2, and a devlog on the official site has gone over the planned changes.Little fixes to the system never seemed to solve the problem satisfactorily, so an entire overhaul was necessary. The old system placed people relative to one point in the center, but in 1.2, a closer version of the positioning on the open sea will be seen inside the instance, due to new spawn point tracking. Additionally, the angle of attack will now only be measured upon the initial strike, and not for each new person entering, so that it won't be possible to have a circle of ships spawn on one unlucky victim. The system that decides how far back you will be placed when you join a battle late has been tweaked, to stop people being dumped in a random spot when the intended area would have been invalid, and there will also be a few more options you can set for auto-joining a battle. Read more about these new features for build 1.2 via the link below.
PotBS devlog discusses the art of town creation
There's a lot more to building a town in a game than just plotting out the buildings and filling in key NPCs. You can leave it at that (and it's unfortunate when that's the case), but to stop it from feeling like a ghost town, certain steps can be taken to build up the ambiance of a locale. The latest devlog available at the Pirates of the Burning Sea website is penned by the game's technical artist Xenobia, and focuses on the process of breathing life into the many port towns in the Caribbean.Some of the curious little events you might notice in PotBS's towns could probably be attributed to Xenobia. A woman kicking and screaming while being taken away over the shoulder of a pirate, drunks in various stages of consciousness -- things like this are of no consequence and will keep going in the background regardless of whatever else is happening, yet they greatly enhance the feeling that you're in an actual town. Visit the devlog to see what goes on behind the scenes -- including how it all looks in the Maya software -- when bringing a game-town to life.
Champions Online promises lots and lots of adrenaline
A second devlog over at the Champions Online official site gives a little glimpse of what we can expect to find ourselves playing once this new superhero MMO hits our hard disk drives. Titled, "Furious Action, Off-the-Charts Adrenaline" Our initial impression was to put on a gas-mask and some fly-fishing boots in preparation. However, after reading through the article our demeanor softened -- just a little. It's a bit reassuring to know that there are still developers out there willing to take some risks in the design of their games. They seem to have gone with an all out action-sounding combat system, where players don't use an auto-attacks or recharge abilities. Beyond that it's pretty vague, so we're left to the guessing game.
New Jumpgate Evolution developer log from Scott Brown
Scott Brown is one of the founders of NetDevil, makers of Jumpgate Classic, Auto Assault and the upcoming Jumpgate Evolution. In a new developer log posted on the JGE site Scott waxes philosophical on the burning question: Why Jumpgate Evolution? OK, maybe it's not a "burning" question to everyone, but it is to me since I so enjoyed Auto Assault and actually raised a pint in an honorary toast when it came to a crashing halt last year. In Scott's reflections on the past he says that even though AA didn't perform to everyone's expectations they still learned a lot from the experience. They took that knowledge and applied it to evolving the Jumpgate franchise into what is looking to be a spectacular space frag-fest. Additionally, Scott talks a little about the development process of JGE and reveals some insightful tidbits about how NetDevil evolved that will surely warm the hearts of even the most k001 "jaded" gamers (and there are many of those, something I've never quite understood - they're games, but that's a topic for another time). Heartfelt honestly in this industry is few and far between. Give it a read and tell me you aren't more stoked about JGE!
