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Wings Over Atreia: Shakespeare in Aion
OK, OK, maybe Shakespeare is a bit melodramatic, but the idea of taking on a role and playing it out on a stage is not a foreign idea -- even in Aion. It just so happens that this stage is not under your feet but in virtual space instead. Besides, I happen to love Shakespeare, so props to me for mentioning him in a gaming column! Now, I am the first to admit that NCsoft doesn't make it easy for a gamer to roleplay in Aion; there are scant few tools to support this style of play. But that doesn't mean it doesn't happen. Despite this dearth, there is in fact a whole community comprised of legions both large and small as well as individuals. These players use personal connections and a player-created chat channel in-game as well as external tools such as the Aion Roleplayers website to bind themselves together and support the community as a whole. So what exactly is roleplay, and how viable is it in the world of Atreia? Exit stage left (past the cut) to define RP, debunk some RP myths, and explore RP in general Aion.
Massively Exclusive: Earthrise's Atanas Atanasov on PvE, banking, chat, and more
Earthrise is a title shrouded in a certain amount of mystery. Massively began covering the game way back in January of 2008, and since then, the information flow from Bulgaria-based Masthead Studios has alternated between a vacuum and a trickle. Recently, thanks to a wave of interviews and screenshot releases, interest in the game has started to simmer, and comparisons to older sandboxes like Star Wars Galaxies are commonly heard. Masthead boss Atanas Atanasov was kind enough to grant us our second interview exclusive in as many months, answering several of our burning questions. Join us after the cut as we talk about everything from the game's friendliness towards PvEers, to skill progression clarification, to universal banking and more. Also be sure and check out the latest pair of Earthrise screenshots in the gallery below. They feature two new creature types: the burzun (one of Enterra's top predators) and the leapers (ape-like mutant pack-hunters who love to ambush their prey). %Gallery-48760%
Wings Over Atreia: Heat wave
Just when summer gave way to autumn in the northern hemisphere, spring slipped away from Atreia and has been replaced by a sizzling summer. Commemorating the release of Aion's most recent expansion this month, NCsoft has launched a live player event called Scorching Heat, which heralds the onset of summer on the lands of Atreia and offers Daeva a plethora of goodies throughout the month-long event simply for being logged into the game. From Wednesday, September 15th until Wednesday, October 13th, Daevas can acquire summer-themed rewards such as bathing suits, diving gear, candy that transforms them into a giant Inquin, sunglasses, and beach hats, as well as items that are useful within the game such as platinum, gold, and silver coins. Even more significantly, unlike past events in which rewards were one-per-account or soulbound, this event awards items that can be openly traded. Whether you are a fluff-lover or not, this fact alone is money in (or out of) the bank; fortunes are being made or lost on swimwear in the open market, as those who don't care so much about the fluff charge obscene amounts of kinah to sell it to those who do. However, just as some features to this new event have Deavas smiling into their ice-cold mela juice, others have them cursing. For instance, excessive server lag can be attributed directly to this event, as players remain logged in whether they are playing the game or not. So overall, are Daevas enjoying the scorching heat? Or just getting burned? Swim past the cut and check out the ins and outs of Aion's latest live event.
A year in the life of Aion
Grab yourself a glass of mela juice and join me in an anniversary toast! September 22nd marked one year to the day that Aion was released into the hands of hungry Daevas-to-be in the Western market. And what a day that was! Heralded by NCsoft as its biggest launch to date, Aion saw a record number of players attempt to dive into the world of Atreia and prepare to spread their wings. Aion has come a long way since that first day, when two-plus hour queues thwarted many a prospective Daeva from experiencing the rich new world. While some of us admittedly didn't survive the initial nightmare queues at launch (cough, cough), we nonetheless found reasons to return after a couple days, a couple months, or even longer. The introduction of two free updates in the past year -- 1.9 and Assault on Balaurea -- have addressed and ironed out some of the kinks that plagued the game and frustrated players. Adjustments to leveling, population, PvP, monetary rewards, and new content, along with a sprinkling of some fun elements, have enriched an already beautiful world and improved gameplay. If you have been away for a while, come on back and join the party. There is cake! As Daevas scatter petals about, meander past the cut and onto memory lane where we look at how Aion has evolved over the course of the past year.
Wings Over Atreia: First impressions of the assault
With the launch of Aion's long-anticipated expansion, Assault on Balaurea, NCsoft has laid out a spread of goodies, from tasty little morsels of fluff to meatier content fare. What all did this free expansion bring to the plate? Solo instances, pets, ground assault PvP in new zones, higher-level materials and crafting, and new travel methods are just a few of the goodies that awaited Daeva when they first logged in last Tuesday. Hungry Daevas have had almost a full week to either nibble at or just plain dive into the buffet of new offerings in the world of Atreia. Even with a glitch (seriously, is there something in the MMO rulebook that says a launch cannot go off without a hitch?), a number of Daevas have been scarfing up everything they can get their wings on. The release even brought back many old faces, who stopped in to sample the new goodies. So how did all this taste? Grab a napkin and munch your way through the cut to savor the new flavor of Aion for yourself.
Aion: The 411 on 2.0 pets
Now that Assault on Balaurea has rolled around, the most-asked questions in Aion's LFG chat revolve not around the new zones, the new solo instances, or even the new event quest (which hasn't been started yet, by the way) -- but around pets! At times, the spam gets on the nerves of Daeva who watch the same questions pour in over and over and over again as new players log in throughout the first days. To help answer these questions, NCsoft has updated its PowerWiki with a very informative article on the pet system to complement the pet FAQ. With just a click, you get the who, where, and what of starting your adventure in Aion pet ownership. Taking the guesswork out of adopting your newest companion, this article is broken up into easy-to-access sections answering the major questions, complete with step-by-step instructions. Pets are categorized depending on function, and each pet has a labeled picture to show you exactly how it looks. Even those who think they know enough about pets can find gems of important information within this article; one very significant item to note is that, contrary to popular belief, signal pets will not alert you if the attacker is in hide mode. Another hidden gem is that pets are now available as daily quest rewards. To answer more of those burning questions about Aion's newest furry -- and even the not-so-furry -- friends, visit the new PowerWiki article PowerWiki article.
The Tattered Notebook: Player-generated content please
Ahhh. You hear that? That is the sound of relief, as the obligatory free-to-play reaction column is safely in the rearview mirror. It feels great to be talking about EverQuest II again as opposed to its payment model. MMORPGs are of course big business, and I don't begrudge developers and executives from trying to take their products to the next level, but damn am I ever tired of reading (and thinking) about subs versus RMT and yada yada blah blah. It sometimes seems as if the industry is putting all of its considerable talent and brainpower behind payment model innovations rather than gameplay innovations, and I for one would love to see stakeholders actually improving and expanding their products rather than devising new ways for people to pay for their products. Speaking of improving products, let's move forward. As my ratonga wizard makes his way slowly but surely towards level 40, I'm starting to feel more comfortable in the world of Norrath. So comfortable, in fact, that I can safely start talking about what the game lacks and what would potentially make it even more awesome (because, the following mini-rant notwithstanding, EverQuest II is a pretty awesome MMO). Turn the page for more.
Champions' State of the Game: Demons, high heels and super supergroups for all!
While the summer days are hot and those hammocks in the shade are inviting, Cryptic Studios is choosing to spend the season gearing up for hefty content releases. In the latest State of the Game report, Champions Online's Executive Producer Shannon "Poz" Posniewski outlines a number of features, fixes and fluff that's going into the next patch and beyond. For August, Champions Online plans to implement a number of quality-of-life improvements to the game. These include more supergroup features (such as a better UI and supergroup advertisements), overhauling pet powers, an improved C-Store, and giving Millennium City's Ren Center a much-needed visual update. They're also slipping in a few new costume options, so if you've been waiting for the latest in Champions high heel shoe fashion, then wait no longer! Moving on to the fall, Posniewski is excited to announce a new adventure pack entitled "The Demonflame." The pack is based on a Champions pen-and-paper module, and involves bad people opening portals to places better left alone. Check out the full point-by-point Poz poetry at Champions Online's site!
The Road to Mordor: Touring the fall's new content with Turbine (part two)
Last week we began a tour through the upcoming content Turbine have planned for Lord of the Rings Online, including the new-player experience, instance scaling and the region of Enedwaith. By themselves, those features represent so much exciting content that we could've ended there and been satisfied, but that wasn't the half of it. Well, it was the half of it, actually. Here's the other half. Buckle up, it's gonna be a bumpy ride on the Buckleberry Ferry!
TGS 08: 5 pictures of Xbox Japan's HQ
click to enlarge These are terrible. One isn't even of the building, but of the street in front of it! Clearly, after visiting Microsoft's Japanese Xbox HQ and providing you with relevant previews, we decided to justify our intolerable touristy-ness by sharing our on-the-spot snaps. It's like you were there and only remembered five things!%Gallery-33985%
Children of the AFS: useless fluff or big opportunity?
The Tabula Rasa crew has posted a new bit of fiction in their new and improved Story section, located under Game Intel on the front page. The story, which is frustratingly brief for the lore fans among us, focuses on one of the more underserved of constituencies within the Tabula Rasa universe -- the children of the AFS. Or perhaps to be more accurate, it focuses on the soldier put in charge of keeping the children of the AFS in line. Again, the story is a little brief, but it touches on another one of the soft spots in Tabula Rasa's increasingly harried armor -- the lack of lore.Amidst the criticisms levied at the game for everything from customization to endgame to PvP balance and so on, is a small group of Tabula Rasa fans that have wondered off-hand on several occasions... where is the lore? When the Bane forced the scraps of humanity through that portal from Earth, surely some civilians, some merchants, some politicians remained? The picture of humanity shown while playing Tabula Rasa is strictly military -- there are no large civilian centers (not counting the Cormans, which, as a curious sort of hippie commune, are a special case) that could flesh out the world painted by Richard Garriott and crew. Perhaps this story about children presents an opportunity?
Fluffy Soap mouse works without a desk
Can you imagine controlling your computer with a peripheral that resembles a fluffy bar of soap? Well hear us out, because the Soap pointing device from Microsoft Research offers to combine the accuracy of a traditional optical mouse with the freedom of a wireless, even desk-free peripheral. The device, which consists of a soft, fluffy hull coating a wireless optical mouse core, reads the fabric's movement when the user applies outside pressure, and reports it as a position (think: rolling a bar of soap around in your hand). Through a demonstration in combination with a mobile keyboard in Unreal Tournament (albeit with dumb bots), the creators have shown that Soap offers a degree of accuracy that comes close to a table-bound mouse; when the user squeezes, the Soap can even outclass desktop mouse performance in large wall display setups. If users can cope with the idea of blasting away fiends in UT with a ball of fluff and Soap gets a commercial release, if nothing else you can be sure that an entire cottage industry will spring up around supplying fake eyes and tails to turn the Soap into a line-up of cute, pointable rodentia.[Via hackaday]
