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Fishing changes on the way to Final Fantasy XI
There are certain constants in Final Fantasy XI that every veteran of the game knows, whether or not they were intended by the development team. It's a known fact, for instance, that you need an extra character to serve as a storage mule. You need to farm if you want money. And fishing is well-known for both being all but required for making money and being frequently boring and frustrating. But that last constant looks to be poised for changing, with the newest fishing changes promising a cleaner and easier experience while trawling Vana'diel's waters. The first welcome change will give players a more detailed set of information when fishing rather than a simple generic message that you've snagged something. The second, however, will be even more helpful for fishers -- a message informing you of exactly what you've hooked if your skill level surpasses the level required for the fish. Both changes go hand-in-hand with a general revamp and improvement of the fishing code to make fishing easier for Final Fantasy XI's anglers to enjoy, while at the same time cutting down on the often unwanted botting that plagues fishing holes.
Angling coming to Pirates of the Burning Sea
"Teach an avatar to fish," the saying goes, "and he'll flood the auction house with smelly seafood." These words were never so true nor relevant than they are today, as Flying Lab announced that the ancient art of angling is making its way into Pirates of the Burning Sea with patch 2.6. Scallywags, landlubbers, and buccaneers will be invited to take up a rod and pull slimy gold out of the sea when this hobby hits the game. Designed as a fun way to pass the time, fishing will add a new challenge to PotBS. It makes sense, too, considering just how much, y'know, water is present in the Caribbean. Expert anglers will need to know and master the different types of fishing lines and lures while criss-crossing the ocean in pursuit of rare and unique species. Haul up a good catch and the local fishmonger will be happy to exchange your chickens of the sea for practical goods. The studio even hinted at a grand prize -- the region-exclusive trophy fish -- but did not elaborate. Players are welcome to give this time-treasured sport a try on the test server once 2.5 hits.
PTR patch 4.1: New fishing dailies appearing in Undercity
Currently on the PTR, there is one new fishing daily for the Horde found in the Undercity. This new fishing quest requires the player to fish up a severed abomination head from Undercity. As of right now, it appears these quests are a work in progress, as only one quest is available, and the Alliance versions of these quests are not yet implemented. Blizzard has stated that Cataclysm is intended to keep both Orgrimmar and Stormwind as the central hubs for players to congregate in, with portals to Cataclysm zones and daily profession hubs. With new fishing dailies being added to other cities, players will be traveling to different cities just a boat or zeppelin ride away to make use of some of the underused assets in the game. If people have now noticed, the amount of content being added for patch 4.1 (and potentially, 4.2) constantly grows larger. Combined, these could be some of the more feature-rich patches in WoW's history. WoW Patch 4.1 is on the PTR, and WoW Insider has all the latest news for you -- from previews of the revamped Zul'Aman and Zul'Gurub to new valor point mechanics and new archaeology items.
15 Minutes of Fame: Fishing for insights with El's Extreme Anglin'
From Hollywood celebrities to the guy next door, millions of people have made World of Warcraft a part of their lives. How do you play WoW? We're giving each approach its own 15 Minutes of Fame. Admit it: You thought the person behind the curtain at El's Extreme Anglin', the web's preeminent World of Warcraft fishing resource, was female, didn't you? Just one look into the soulful blue gnomish eyes of El, blinking innocently from atop her guides or curled up at the feet of the intrepid Nat Pagle, beckoning you through your first steps as an Azerothian angler ... You were hooked. You're not alone -- most players seem to have bonded with El's friendly female face. In reality, the blogger behind El (and El's Extreme Anglin') is none other than British analyst, consultant, writer, and thinker Tim Howgego. He's known for his penetrating blogging about public transport policy, market development, the application of internet-related technology -- oh, and of course, game design and WoW fishing. "To be honest, El is a lot more interested in catching fish," he confesses. "Tim is more interested in patterns of human behavior." Whatever the focus, it's wildly successful. El's Extreme Anglin' Googles in as the top result for searches on "fishing guide" -- that's just plain "fishing guide," nothing to do with the World of Warcraft. In a unique twist on our usual interviews, 15 Minutes of Fame managed to catch up with both Tim and El this week to talk shop about fishing. (Does that mean this is really 30 Minutes of Fame? 225 Minutes of Fame? No, wait -- with a gnome the size of El, perhaps it's more like 18 Minutes of Fame.) Between El's sagacious gnomish observations on Azerothian angling and Tim's insights into game development, there's something in this interview for everyone.
Choose My Adventure: Making the world (a better place?)
Here we are, drawing closer to the end of our Choose My Adventure journey, and I feel like I have just barely gotten started in Xsyon! There is so much left to do; I haven't even scratched the surface of my goals yet. Since construction is a slow process and gathering resources is taking longer and longer each day (you should see the workout I get hauling logs!), my personal fortress is still just a few completed walls and one pillar. I also haven't managed to circumvent the lake, find any chalk, or convince anyone to let me be President/Supreme Ruler of the Lake. All right, maybe I haven't really tried hard at that last goal, but this week has seen your CMA correspondent meeting and greeting neighbors throughout the region, gathering resources, politely declining tribe invites (I will remain true to the vote throughout our adventures), and attempting to improve my skill in architecture. Also, I have enjoyed some relaxing fishing. As jaunts into the wilds for wood became longer each day, I kept watch over my shoulder with a touch of apprehension, always on the lookout for hostile folks and animals alike. There is always some question as to whether or not the elusive animals are in the game, but I have had a couple of run-ins with a mama and baby bear that ended poorly for me, so I try to never let my guard down. What else did I learn this week about life on the shores of Lake Tahoe? Hike past the break to take a look at this week's adventures in Xsyon and then vote on how we approach combat for our final installment of Choose My Adventure.
Raw Summer Bass now in season for WoW fishing enthusiasts
There are a number of achievements associated with fishing in WoW, and that's a large reason why the profession is so popular (despite its faults). Some of the achievements are predictably harder to get than others. Take, for instance, the new-for-Cataclysm achievement The Oceanographer, which we covered a few weeks ago in our weekly achievement column. It requires two fish that are only available during different times of the year; you can't catch Raw Summer Bass in the fall and winter, and you can't catch Winter Squid in the spring and summer. As such, the achievement was totally off limits. For all you achievement-hungry anglers, there's good news: Today, March 21, is the official start of spring, and Raw Summer Bass are once again available to be caught. That means you can finally complete The Oceanographer achievement, provided you've already fished up a Winter Squid. Raw Summer Bass can be fished up in a number of coastal areas, including Tanaris, Blasted Lands, Swamp of Sorrows, and even off Jaguero Isle in The Cape of Stranglethorn. If you're interested in The Oceanographer and haven't fished up a Winter Squid yet ... well, you might want to sit down, because El's Extreme Angling has got some bad news for you: You won't be able to fish them up again until Sept. 21. Working on achievements? The Overachiever is here to help! Count on us for advice on Azeroth's holidays and special events, including new achievements, how to get 310% flight speed with achievement mounts, and Cataclysm reputation factions and achievements.
Grand Mer releases new fishing MMO video
If you cannot afford a slick speed boat and the latest in fishing technology to help you pull a massive, scaled beast out of the local salty waters, worry no more. Grand Mer, a new fishing MMORPG, will let you live your dreams from the convenient location of your desktop. While it might sound like a far-fetched idea for an MMORPG, consider the lore. It turns out that the game is set in a semi-post-apocalyptic world of flooded lands, one that requires citizens to pursue fish as if there were only a few left in the sea. Of course, we're not sure how the hip-hop-inspired clothing options and teeny-bikinis figure into the backstory, but for some reason we just... cannot... stop... watching. (Perhaps it is the scary possibility of netting a dolphin?) Whatever you think of the concept, check out the trailer after the cut and enjoy some images from the upcoming title. Don't be surprised if you hit replay as many times as we did.
The OverAchiever: The Limnologist, part 2
Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, we're done with the Bloated fish and are thus happy. Greetings, eager fishermen everywhere (all three of you). Today, we'll be finishing up our look at The Limnologist, WoW's freshwater fishing achievement. If you're looking for our previous Cataclysm fishing guides, you'll find those here: The OverAchiever: Guide to The Oceanographer The OverAchiever: Guide to The Limnologist, part 1 As stated earlier, my intent with these guides is to get you through these achievements with a minimum of fuss, but the second portion of The Limnologist is a very travel-intensive undertaking.
GDC 2011: ARGO Online pits nature against technology
If imaginative fiction has taught us anything, it's that the fun doesn't really begin until the world ends. Post-apocalyptic games are all the rage these days, from Earthrise to Fallen Earth, so it's not surprising to see another company throw its hat into the ring. Burda:ic may not be a household name, but it's hoping that its upcoming MMO, ARGO Online, will be. Achim Kaspers, the managing director at burda:ic, was overflowing with information about ARGO's unique look and business model. ARGO is planned to be a free-to-play title, although Kaspers is well aware of the stigma that typically goes along with that. He admits that many F2P games are lacking in content or are grind-heavy, fates he hopes ARGO will avoid with thousands of quests, fluid combat animation and plenty of places to explore. Billed as a "post-apocalyptic steampunk MMO," ARGO features a futuristic Earth divided between nature and technology. The Noblians are all over cool-looking steampunk devices and vehicles, while the Floresslah have united with nature to become its champions. We've been following ARGO since last year, so we're excited to hear that the title is scheduled to start its open beta tomorrow. Hit the jump for more of the good word on ARGO from GDC as well as a special treat for Massively readers! %Gallery-118525%
The OverAchiever: The Limnologist, part 1
Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, a ray of hope in an otherwise RNG-filled existence. Less than 24 hours after I'd sent last week's OverAchiever: The Oceanographer to the editors for publication, Blizzard unveiled new changes on the patch 4.1 PTR designed to make Cataclysm fishing achievements a lot easier. While last week's OverAchiever is still accurate if you're a completionist with the Pokemon ("Gotta Catch 'Em All") approach to fishing, as of patch 4.1, you won't have to worry about the most maddening fish currently required for that achievement. Gravy, right? And yet you've still got The Limnologist to get through. The Limnologist is more difficult than its Oceanographer brother, even if you allow for the upcoming changes. Not only does it require more fish, but it also requires several hard-to-catch fish (whereas the Oceanographer is/was distinguished by only one, the Bloated Salmon). For the purpose of this guide, I'll assume that you're still after all 48 freshwater fish even if you're reading this after patch 4.1's gone live ... but if I were you, I'd just take the changes and run.
The OverAchiever: The Oceanographer
Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, the triumph of hope over experience. I could almost hate fishing, and I suspect most players do. It's a fairly passive activity that requires your attention in 20-second bursts, playing havoc with your ability to tab out and write articles/watch Chuck/throw foil balls for the cat. Blizzard made some noise a while back about changing the profession to be more like its incarnation in games like Animal Crossing, but nothing really big has happened in Cataclysm. I can only assume that Blizzard hasn't come to a decision on what it wants to do. In the meantime, it seems content to torture us as much as possible with the profession's existing mechanics. Case in point: The Oceanographer and The Limnologist, two achievements introduced in Cataclysm that, while not part of the "Salty" meta, are a siren call to masochistic fishermen everywhere. Today we're going to tackle The Oceanographer, which will keep you in coastal areas for the most part.
Darkfall alignment changes incoming
Alignment in Darkfall has long been a sore spot for the game's devoted playerbase. Aventurine's original implementation allowed for players to farm one another at will and basically offered no real penalty for doing so. According to a new activity report on the Darkfall Epic Blog, all that is about to change. Aventurine's Tasos Flambouras states that "alignment changes are going in. Enough with killing other players, this won't improve your alignment any more." So just how does a bad Agonian man (or Mahirim) lose that negative alignment? The devs are implementing a new mechanic centered around Chaos Churches where players can "repent their negative alignment away." Said churches are located in the game's neutral cities (i.e., those not aligned with any of the title's warring races). The activity report doesn't go into a whole lot of detail, but Tasos does indicate that there will be a spotlight feature dedicated to the new mechanic in the near future. Aside from alignment, this week's report also hints at fishing-related modifications, specifically those made to player ships to allow for scalable catches based on the safety of the waters, as well as additional protection against attacks from player swimmers. Finally, there's a bit more info about meditation tweaks and a mention of increased drop rates for books, scrolls, and attribute consumables.
The Road to Mordor: Fishing frenzy
Way back in the olden times of yore, henceforth referred to as "2008," Lord of the Rings Online released its first -- and to date, only -- hobby in the game: fishing. While we wait for a second hobby to make its way into the game (the popular rumor is golf), I thought it'd be interesting to take a look at this interesting side activity in LotRO. I'll admit that fishing bores me, both in real life and in virtual games. In both, it's a lot of waiting, a ton of non-interaction, and the occasional flashes of activity. The end result is edible and odd but nevertheless compelling to some folks. MMOs have a long history of incorporating fishing as a minigame or side activity, usually given to players as something to do when they're waiting on something else. I've noticed that roleplayers are big fans of the rod-and-reel, probably because it's defiantly against the grain. In a world of power-levelers, danger-seekers, and quest-undergoers, taking large chunks of time to stand in one spot and watch for a couple of pixels to bob shows that you walk a path less traveled. I get the impression that there are many people in the game who don't even know that fishing exists or perhaps who dabbled once and never gave it another thought. Even if fishing isn't typically your bag, Turbine's dangled a few tempting rewards from the hooks of fishermen's labors -- enough that it prompted me to take a closer look this week.
One Shots: When you're not looking
It must be hard to be an NPC bad guy. Sure, sometimes you win -- but more often than not you wind up lying on the ground with someone rifling through your virtual pockets. Then you respawn and wait around until the next person happens by to smack you down. Or at least one might think that NPCs just stand around and do nothing. As today's Lord of the Rings Online One Shots shows, perhaps that's not always the case! This image comes to us from Elimdor, kinsman of Men of Valor and level 52 Edhellond Elf on the Crickhollow server, who writes in: "I was on patrol in Eastern Angmar a few weeks ago with my level 46 (now 52) Hunter, Elimdor, when I came across the enemy doing some fairly un-enemy-like activities... I guess it just goes to show that even the evildoers like to kick back every once in a while." Have you captured an interesting slice-of-life screenshot from your favorite MMO? Why not send it in and tell us a bit about what things are like in-game? Email it to us here at oneshots@massively.com along with your name, the name of the game, and a description of what we're seeing in the image. Your screenshot could be the next one we feature here on Massively! %Gallery-112285%
Final Fantasy XI talks drop rates and fishing woes
Drops in any MMO are sometimes a frustrating business. You can kill an enemy for its head, a clearly visible part of its body, and yet no head is dropped when it dies. You can kill a boss dozens of times before you finally get its weapon, even though that weapon is visible each time. And in Final Fantasy XI, you can fight an Ironclad Triturator without getting any sort of iron plates, despite the fact that he's both visually and eponymously covered in them. But as the latest round of questions and answers states, that's a temporary problem -- the February mini-version update will fix this oddity. That's not the only change forthcoming, naturally, and one of the other issues addressed is the sometimes frustrating art of fishing. Rusty equipment is going to stop eating up the potentially expensive bait in the February update, and directions for fishing will be changed to provide more useful information for players. Take a look at the full rundown for more information about what's coming with Final Fantasy XI's upcoming mini-patch, with promises of a more comprehensive schedule in the near future.
Cataclysm Daily Quests, Part 1: Daily basics and profession dailies
This article has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. Read the entire WoW Insider Cataclysm Daily Quest Guide series! Since their introduction in the Netherwing quest line in The Burning Crusade, daily quests have become an integral part of World of Warcraft's design. Chances are you're familiar with the concept of dailies themselves and probably did your fair share of them during Wrath of the Lich King, but it's a whole new world out there. In this article, we'll go over the new daily quests in Cataclysm, their rewards, and how to get the most out of them. To make sure we're all on the same page, let's go over the basics of daily quests. In addition to or instead of normal, one-time-only quests, certain NPCs throughout the world will offer "daily" quests. These quests are repeatable and bear a blue exclamation point rather than a yellow one to indicate their status. In the quest log, they'll be marked (Daily) and once you complete one, there'll be a counter at the top of your quest log showing how many daily quests you have completed that day. When dailies were originally introduced, it was only possible to complete 10 per day, which meant you had to pick and choose which ones you'd complete. The limit has since been raised to 25, meaning you can spend a far greater amount of time on daily quests and also reap greater rewards. To break up the monotony somewhat, many daily quest givers will change their quests each day, picking from a set table of quests they offer. Generally speaking, the number of dailies offered by a particular quest hub will remain the same from day to day, though the specific quests may rotate.
Countdown to Cataclysm: Fishing in Cataclysm
This article is part of our Countdown to Cataclysm series, preparing you for Cataclysm launch one day at a time. Deathwing may be ravaging the countryside and tearing through the sky, striking fear into the hearts of the denizens of Azeroth, but his malice can never shake the iron will of Azeroth's brave fishermen. Rod and lure in hand, these salty heroes fuel our fish feasts, ride our turtles, and regale us with stories of Old Crafty and Old Ironjaw. Flip your Titanium Seal of Dalaran and hope it lands on adventure ...
Countdown to Cataclysm: Profession updates and changes
This article is part of our Countdown to Cataclysm series -- preparing you for Cataclysm launch one day at a time. Cataclysm is going to change the world of professions -- so without any further ado, here are the most important changes. General The skill cap for all professions is now 525. There is a lot of content locked behind a phased area you can not unlock until you're level 84. The new elemental trade goods are called Volatiles. Herbing and mining now provide experience. Archeology will be trainable. Guilds can see links for all members' available professions.
The Road to Mordor: Community check-up
It's a quiet week around these here parts, what with the Thanksgiving holiday in NA and the lull before the November Update hits on the 29th. As such, I thought it'd be a great time to catch up on the current state of the community, especially as we've seen so many new bloggers and sites and podcasts arrive on the scene in the past year. I've always said that Lord of the Rings Online is truly blessed with not just a stellar community but an active one as well. Some MMOs see very little in the way of fan-created sites, keeping most of the community action centered on official forums and the like. However, when it comes to LotRO, we have not only the MyLotro.com blogs set up by Turbine, but a cornucopia of web delights fashioned by hard-working players. So to say "Thanks!" to this wonderful community, today I want to highlight some of the best LotRO resource websites, blogs and podcasts that consistently go above and beyond in making our slice of the MMO landscape a delight to visit.
Vindictus is moving into (fully) open beta in North America
Are you part of the masses eager to get your hands on a Vindictus beta key? Well, we have good news for you! Nexon has let us know today that its highly anticipated free-to-play hack-and-slash action-adventure how-many-hyphens-can-we-get-in-a-sentence game, Vindictus, will be heading to a true open beta status in North America on October 13th. So, sure, you could continue spending time trying to track down a key, or you could simply relax and get ready for the doors to open on the game in a couple of weeks. As part of the opening, Nexon is going to be adding in the dungeon of Ainle, which will offer players new challenges in the form of fireball-throwing vampires and goblins intent on destruction. Nexon has also said that players will have to do everything they can to stop these new invaders, including "hurling the corpses of their defeated enemies at the attacking mobs." Also, players will have a chance to check out the fishing system as a way to enjoy some downtime and potentially land some nifty loot. You know, if you can pry yourself away from hacking everything to bits. If you aren't in the beta, we have a handful of new screenshots for your eyes below. %Gallery-97587%
