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Massively Exclusive: Fallen Earth about to be invaded by Blight Wolves
The wastes are a hard place to survive and thrive, but for those who have managed to do so and are waiting patiently for the opening of the Deadfall area, we have a treat for you! The above image is the first-ever glimpse of the dreaded (or highly coveted, depending on which end of the jaws you're on) Fallen Earth Blight Wolf mount! With that noted, those who want this awesomely dangerous mount will have to get extremely friendly with some of the ugliest folks currently roaming the wastes -- Shiva's Favored. Apparently somewhere in their twisted history, the Favored figured out a method to tame the enormous blight wolves, turning the snarling beasts into somewhat tame mounts. But don't expect to get access to this super-awesome travel companion for rolling up in their camps and saying hi -- it's going to take some time to earn that kind of trust. For those who want to check out the first-ever look at these powerful beasts, we've managed to secure an exclusive video that we've tucked behind the break -- gotta protect people from those teeth, you know. Add in 130 new missions, new settlements, and more on top of this cool mount and you can see why we say it sounds like this is a great time to live in the post-apocalyptic lands of Fallen Earth.
Fallen Earth pushes Patch 1.4 onto the test server
It's an exciting time living in the wastelands of Fallen Earth these days. Not only have clones been graced with a new dueling system and the first stage of a town revamp, there's now the opportunity to have a mangy flea-covered slobbering creature follow you around placidly. (Which isn't all that unusual if you're friends with a CHOTA, but bear with us.) There are still bigger things on the horizon, however, and Patch 1.4 promises to bring even more PvP and other violent goodness. While it isn't live quite yet, it has gone live on the game's public test server. Aside from the PvP matchups of Blood Sport, the update promises new mounts such as the Blight Wolf, new crafting recipes, and expanded war between clans. To help facilitate testing (which is implied to be on deck for "the next couple of weeks"), the official forums are posting both specific systems to be tested and large-scale testing events. While this doesn't mean we'll certainly be seeing Fallen Earth's next major content patch in a couple weeks, it's certainly a strong argument in that direction... and if you can't wait another minute, you can hop on the test server and see it now.
One Shots: Sleeping with the enemy
Ever just have one of those days where it doesn't matter how well you prepare, things just seem to go wrong? Worse still when you've had a rough day, jump into your favorite MMO for some stress release, facing off against a monster only to somehow die anyway. Today's Fallen Earth screenshot comes to us from occasional contributor Azzura, who tells us a tale of woe -- or joy, depending on your point of view. "A surprise attack by a nasty scorpion -- it was a fierce battle. In the end I was victorious, and was quite amazed I killed it. I knew the victory was short lived as I saw 'Poison 5', 'Poison 5', 'Poison 5' float up the middle of my screen, and we all took our final dirt nap. But, there is a happy ending -- I'm a clone with a do-over ring around my neck! I returned to drain some Weak Toxin from my kill and save my poor horsie." If you're playing an MMO, we want to see your screens! From big to small, all of them are welcome. Just drop them in an email to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a quick description. We'll post them out here and give you the credit. %Gallery-85937%
The Daily Grind: What little events do you celebrate?
It's Saint Patrick's Day, and if you're in the US that means a celebration of Irish culture... or at least, it means a celebration of wearing green clothing and drinking an exceptional amount for the middle of the week. And while it's not the biggest holiday, some people look forward to it as much or more than major seasonal events. A few games even celebrate the event, such as Fallen Earth with a pub crawl and Everquest II with its Brewday celebrations. It's a holiday with no real overarching purpose except enjoyment, and that's hardly a bad goal. Every game has little events that keep running long after they're no longer hugely pertinent. Every gamer has anniversaries or dates they remember, or holidays that they feel are important even if the game doesn't have a holiday event. So what small holidays or events do you observe in your favorite games? Do you make a point of memorizing important in-game lore dates and celebrating their anniversaries? Do you take part in no-longer-vital elements, such as the Elemental Invasions in World of Warcraft? Or do you just take the opportunity on days like today to outfit your Star Trek Online crew in green uniforms and hang around drunk?
One Shots: Just another day
They feel it all around, and feel it in their bones -- their lives are on the line when they're away from home. Of course, that's all one can really expect when living in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, fraught with danger and crazed, mutated beings. Today's great screenshot from inside the lands of Fallen Earth comes to us from self-professed "noob", Mirin, who says only: another beautiful evening in the apocalypse. Are you one of the people playing Fallen Earth? Would you like to tell us of your adventures? We'd love to feature your tales and travels, but we need you to send your images in. Just email those to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name and a note. We'll post it out here for everyone to check out and give you the credit. %Gallery-85937%
Find creepy cats in Fallen Earth screenshot caption contest
What in the world is a double-cat? Well, Fallen Earth is currently holding a special kind of caption contest where players will find out, shortly followed by the rest of the world. It remains to be seen whether we shriek in horror or laugh in a fit of terror-filled glee. Either way, your caption will probably help a lot. Oh wait, here's a double-cat right now. So, players are to search the sandbox MMO world for this hair-curling (or straightening, for some) double-cat, screenshot it and then put a caption on top of the image. It sounds tough, but we believe in random strangers all the time -- especially when they're our readers. So if you happen across the mythical creature and feel up to the challenge, send your submission in to fecontest AT fallenearth DOT com and perhaps you could win a super special Fallen Earth poster signed by the dev team!
Fallen Earth developers want you to be their valentine
Assuming the Prairie Chickens, scavengers, and warring factions don't get you, the Grand Canyon of Fallen Earth is a pretty romantic place. And the wide open spaces give a real sense of of inspiration, even if they just inspire you to get down behind cover before you test your clone's survival ratio against buckshot. So it makes perfect sense to compose a poem in the vein of Valentine's Day, and send it to some of the people closest to your heart in the wasteland... the game's developers. From now until the end of February 14th, there's a thread on the official Fallen Earth forums for players to submit their most original and interesting wasteland-inspired love poetry. Three winners will be chosen on the 15th, based on the quality and originality of each entry, and will be rewarded with a t-shirt and special valentines directly from the development team. But even if that doesn't warm your heart, they've even given out an early gift of affection through a special discount when you purchase the game in the official store. Ain't love grand?
One Shots: Truth in advertising
Life in Fallen Earth for a clone is easy come, easy go. Sure, you suffer a slight penalty, but unlike many of the NPCs you meet, a clone's connection to LifeNet ensures that if one gets in over their head, they'll just wake up in an underground bunker somewhere. Download those memories into a fresh clone, and off you go; ready to become Mutated Prarie Chicken chow once again. Today's One Shots comes to us from Mirin, who calls himself a "Fallen Earth newbie." He captured this shot and is beginning to understand what it means: Indeed...Learning this the hard way. Welcome to the apocalypse! MMOs from big to small - we want to see them all, but we need your help. Send us your screenshots to oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a description of what we're seeing in the image. We'll post it out here and give you the credit. Almost as easy as being a Fallen Earth clone! %Gallery-9798%
Fallen Earth's developers talk patch 1.3
Patch day is an exciting time to be playing an MMO, assuming you can look past the various instabilities, server crashes, and inevitable bugs that come with a major update. Even then, there's still the sense of doing something new and different in a familiar game, however touch-and-go the new content might be. Fallen Earth is not too far from their next major patch day, but if you can't wait for the patch to go live, there's a new developer diary and Q&A from Dev Team Lead Marie Croall and Live Team Lead Ian Lemke. The patch's major focus was a thorough revamp of the area around the starter towns, and between those towns and the central cities. It might seem odd to add such a large patch to improve the first few levels of the game, but from the developer's point of view, it's those levels that really first get a player hooked on the game, so they wanted to make it as memorable as possible. There's also some information on Deadfall Point, a new encounter area in Sector Three, offering the higher-level players something new to experience. Be sure to take a look at both features to get a picture of what's coming in the near future for your clone in Fallen Earth.
The Daily Grind: How do you like side applications?
If you're playing World of Warcraft, increasingly, you have options available to keep you playing the game even if you're logged off. With several apps running off the Armory and the recent announcement of a planned Auction House access feature as a premium, there's almost no reason to log in at all. Unless you want to level up, quest, roleplay, raid, PvP, explore... okay, there's plenty of reason to log in, but there are more options than ever to let you handle matters inside the game while not even close to your computer. It's not unprecedented by any means, as both Fallen Earth (coming soon) and Champions Online also offer applications for the iPhone to help take care of the game's management functions while you're away from your computer. With the continued advent of more functional mobile devices and more robust web environments through services such as Facebook, games can offload many of the more tedious bits of gameplay into applications players just run through quickly on a break at their day job. What do you think of the increasing trend? Are you happy to have the option to take care of administrative tasks when not near your computer, or do you see it as intrusive and unnecessary?
One Shots: A moment to rest
It's a hard life in Fallen Earth. If those mutated prairie chicken packs don't get you, there's probably some psychopathic NPC just ready to blow your head off and make off with any chips you might have had in your pocket. That is, of course, assuming they don't make off with whatever piece of clothing your pockets were in! It's a gritty world, but there are still places you can pause and catch your breath, like the one we see in today's One Shots, sent in to us by Michael B. He writes: [This is] my character, Cole Ryder, atop the satellite dish outside of Trumbull. I'm moments away from destroying the utility box at the base of the complex to disrupt the Enforcers plans in the area. Cole [was] level 16 [at the time this was taken]. I'm enjoying this game more than any MMORPG I've played in a long time. With the weekend rolling, it's a great time to get your MMO on! While you're out, grab a screenshot or two for us? We love to see what players are doing. Just email them in to us at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a description of what we're seeing. We'll post them out here and give you the credit. Easy! %Gallery-9798%
Being in it for the money
We might fight a lot of enemies in our MMOs, but a number of players will agree that there's one enemy that is bigger than anything else: the company that makes the game. Blizzard, Square-Enix, Funcom, Bioware -- according to this branch of the playerbase, they don't care at all about the people playing their game. All they're concerned about is making money. They just want to get your money by any means necessary. However, the people who claim that say that like it's a bad thing. Nobody ever smiles and says "boy, I'm sure glad Sony Online Entertainment is in this for the money." Oddly enough, when you start to think about it, the fact of the matter is that it's not only transparent that these companies are in it for the money, it's a good thing. We should be happy that most of these companies are there to get our money by any means necessary.
Resolutions from all across the industry
2009 isn't so far over the horizon that we can't still be looking back and finalizing our resolutions for the new year. In some ways, it's even better to wait this long to make a few resolutions (as the most common one made after New Year's Eve celebrations involves never drinking that much again in one night). Ten Ton Hammer had an interesting take on the practice, though -- they asked a number of developers what their resolutions are for the next 365 days. (Well, okay, slightly less now.) The resolutions range from the personal to the public, the serious to the silly. Champions Online's Bill Roper resolves to play more games, David Allen of Alganon resolves to fix bugs and improve visibility, Fallen Earth's intern Sombat Southivorarat resolves to not accidentally delete the game's Facebook fan page again. It's not going to give huge insights into the upcoming patches for several games, but it's good to remember that there are people behind our favorite games, and interesting to see what their personal goals are -- both in and out of the game. If you're so inclined, take a look, although you might want to look away before you reach CCP Nathan's resolution. Just a friendly tip.
One Shots: Home on the range
Feeling a little burned up with either snow or crazy summer heat? You can escape to post-apocalyptic lands of Fallen Earth from the comfort of your comfy chair, and maybe even join our very own fearless leader in his reader-chosen adventures! Today we have a great screenshot of one of the new camps from Vendayn, who writes in: Hello Massively and its readers! Its TheExplorer, also commonly known as Vendayn. I bring you a shot of a bonfire, the first of many camps that you can set up. This is the primitive camp, with no tents or anything. Later, you can create large enough camps to attract merchants. This is my most favorite feature in Fallen Earth, as I love camping and being in the outdoors. Camps serve many purposes, from role-playing reasons, to logging out in the camp instead of the middle of nowhere to get eaten, to providing buffs. Plus as I mentioned, you can attract merchants to your camp. Are you part of the post-apocalyptic clans of Fallen Earth? We'd love to see some screenshots from you. Just email those to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a description of what's going on in the screenshot. We'll post it here and give you the credit! %Gallery-9798%
Fallen Earth rolls out the second part of their graphical enhancements
When the entire world has come crashing down around your ears, and you're doing your best to survive in the Grand Canyon with only your wits, your skills, and a bucket of shotgun shells... well, you'd like things to at least look pretty. Fallen Earth has been working hard on its graphical engine recently, having just rolled out a shiny new update to improve clouds, textures, and the general state of vegetation in the area. Now they've completed a second pass, with the newest updates improving light and shadow as well as several shader effects. Aside from going through and improving existing player shadows, the designers have tightened up all of the shadows in the game, giving things a far more crisp and realistic look. According to project manager Colin Dwan, the result has both improved the look of the environments and actually boosted its performance slightly. If you have Shader 3.0 hardware and the Advanced Post FX setting on, the new shadows should be immediately visible upon entrance to the game. While it's not a sweeping change, it's a subtle and thorough one, and should make the life of a clone a bit more vibrant.
Finding your place in Fallen Earth
Back just before the holidays, Fallen Earth joined the ranks of many other games on the market in offering a free trial. That's all well and good, but that leaves one to face the slight problem the game has. Once the tutorial is over, you get rather unceremoniously dropped off with a line pointing you toward... well, nothing. Like any true post-apocalyptic survivor, you have the clothes on your back, a couple of weapons, and no real goal handed to you beyond "don't get killed." While Andy Breckman's advice is certainly a good overall goal, something specific is better. That's why Bio Break has recently compiled a list of tips on finding your place once you get done with your tutorial. The condensed version is simple enough: scavenge everything you can, because it can all be used to craft something, and buy nothing unless you absolutely have to do so. It's also recommended that you avoid spending any of your character's AP early on, instead saving it until you have a clearer picture of what you want to do. The list also includes some links to fansites that can provide excellent data for a first-time player, so if you're diving into the tutorial, it's a handy resource.
The Daily Grind: Ruining the blank canvas
It's the start of the new year, and that means you've got a huge number of days stretching out before you in which you can do almost anything, at least once you recover from your hangover. It's a sea of infinite possibilities, which is a good thing... for some people. Sometimes, when you roll the dice and you can be almost anything, you wind up... well, with a large man with freakish hands wearing a scarf and what appear to be cannibalized Gundam shoulders. We're not sure either. Since we have a sea of choice ahead of us for the new year, we're wondering how you approach games and situations where you have a wide variety of options. Games like Champions Online and City of Heroes give us a wealth of options in character creation, and games such as Fallen Earth let us build our characters in myriad ways as we level up. Do you build your character based on outside information, or do you try and make a decent guess at reasonably synergistic abilities? Or do you just pick things at random and hope it forms a cohesive whole in the end?
Choose my Adventure: Fallen Earth
Join me as I brave my way through lands unknown in an adventure dictated entirely by you, the Massively readers! Vote for everything from game played to character creation to ultimate goal and watch it unfold in a series of journals and galleries here on the site. Then, as our two months is up, we'll do it all over again in a new game! The winter holidays are wrapping up and it's time to get into yet another game for this edition of Choose my Adventure. Despite what was a close race for most of the last few weeks of votes, Fallen Earth pulled ahead to win the polls this time around. This post-apocalyptic MMO released in September of this year, and has enjoyed some positive reviews from most of the blog-o-sphere (including yours truly). So follow along after the jump to make your votes count towards the character creation process and how I will begin my journey through Fallen Earth.
Fallen Earth loses and promptly recreates fan page
Apparently, it's possible to misplace a fan page. No, really. We were a little dubious about it at first ourselves -- after all, how can you lose part of the worldwide series of tubes -- but if Fallen Earth has managed to do it, then it can be apparently done. The official site has broken word that while attempting to update the game's fan page on Facebook, the page apparently... vanished. Never to be seen again. Which might come as a shock to the many people who are fans of the game on the popular social networking site. Fortunately, the minor hiccup is being taken with a good sense of humor by the staff, as evidenced by the first official post on the recreated fan page. What exactly happened to the original page? No one is certain, although perhaps it'll show up in a few months with a large beard and a drug problem... but hopefully not. In any case, if you're one of the many who has found something to enjoy about Fallen Earth, point yourself toward the newly recreated fan page to reconnect with the game's official Facebook feed.
The Daily Grind: How realistic do you like your games?
In real life, if you've not noticed, we don't have hit points. Getting stabbed by a sword once is pretty much crippling if not outright fatal. Fall too far and you don't suffer some uniform amount of damage across your whole body -- you frequently wind up breaking your legs or your spine, and it can be a slow and painful recovery process if you ever recover. We can't wander through the world without ever bothering to eat, drink, or sleep, and when you get shot to death, there will not be a fresh clone waiting to get you back into the action. In the interests of being polite, we'll not even mention the usual lack of other important facilities. We accept that there's going to be some degree of unreal mechanics in a video game, of course, but that doesn't mean that some of us don't want the game to stick fairly close to the real world. By the same token, though, some of us take the Mystery Science Theater 3000 mantra to heart -- it's just a game, and it's not all that important if it makes real-world sense in sticky parts. Where do you fall on the scale? Do you like your games fairly realistic, fairly unrealistic, or do you not care so long as the game itself is still fun?
