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WAR Grab Bag no. 7: Recruit-a-Friend, trials and more
Warhammer Online's Grab Bag 7 discusses the recruit-a-friend and trial programs, as well as a handful of quite specific questions relating to dungeons and items found later in the game -- in other words, it's got a bit of something for everyone. There's good news for Europe, as the recruit-a-friend promotion is being sorted out by GOA right now and should be available to Europeans soon. Some confusion regarding the trial client is also cleared up; yes, it is the same as the retail game client, but trialing players who want to subscribe will still need to pick up a retail copy to get an account key. Perhaps the most interesting bit of trial-related information is that a standalone trial, independent of recruit-a-friend, is on its way too. The introduction of free trials usually feels like the beginning of a new stage in an MMO's life, reminding you that they're not that new anymore and should have had time to find their feet.. Occasionally free trials are brought about in an attempt to save a sinking ship, but we really don't think that's the case here. You can read about the trials, along with the answers to some other miscellaneous questions, at the latest Grab Bag.
EVE Evolved: Making the most of your EVE Online free trial
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/EVE_Evolved_Making_the_most_of_your_EVE_Online_free_trial'; Like many MMOs, EVE Online offers a free trial to let players try the game out before they buy it. While this lets you see if you like the gameplay before committing, the sheer scope of EVE makes it practically impossible to experience everything the game has to offer within the trial period. Additionally, since the learning curve is relatively steep to begin with, it's very easy to become overwhelmed in a short trial period. These factors can make it hard to experience what EVE is really like, meaning it's hard to make an informed decision.In this guide, I explain how you can maximise your time and fun with the EVE free trial and help make an informed decision on whether it's the game for you.
Warhammer Online launches Recruit-a-Friend offer
The Warhammer Online December newsletter is filled with some of the announcements we've already mentioned at Massively, such as the Keg End holiday event, the two new careers, and some the other big changes that are impacting the game. What we haven't mentioned yet is that Warhammer Online has a Recruit-a-Friend program. It doesn't give the experience bonuses that the World of Warcraft offer of the same name does. In fact, the WAR Recruit-a-Friend is similar to what's happening with EVE Online: you invite a friend to a free trial. If that friend becomes a subscriber, the invitation sender receives 30 days of free game time credited to their account. You can recruit up to three people, although over your time subscribed this increases to a maximum of six recruitment notices you can have on deck at any given time. For more info on how this works, log into your master account to see how it's done. WAR has gone 1.1! Check out our full coverage of the 1.1a patch, along with our interviews exploring upcoming content and the open RvR changes. Plus, don't miss any of our ongoing coverage as Massively goes to WAR!
Come and spend a fortnight in Pirates of the Burning Sea
Flying Lab games is calling all scurvy knaves back to the ranks of Pirates of the Burning Sea and offering 14 days free for all returning players. If you're new to the game, you can also get two weeks to try it out by visiting their free trial page. They have added lots of new features over the past several months and want to show everyone.For those of you who previously played and are interested in returning, here are some things to look forward to: New ships - many were created by players Dueling - you won't lose durability if your ship gets sunk in a duel Ship Insurance - get some of your investment back if you lose your ship Enhanced Ship Battles - changes to reinforcements and improvements to the ad hoc sea battle system So come on in and take a look around - on the house!
EVE Evolved: Beating the learning curve of EVE Online
It's no secret that EVE Online has one of the steepest learning curves in the MMO industry. The open sandbox-style world and unfamiliar sci-fi context leave most new players feeling overwhelmed and unsure what to do. Additionally, while the real-time skill training system is appreciated by player with little free time, it doesn't encourage players to log in and play the game. The result is that a lot of new players don't do a lot and quickly get bored of the game. These are some of the big hurdles that new players face in their free trial and are responsible for turning many players away from a game that they would otherwise like.In this article, I give my top five tips for beating the learning curve in EVE Online and link to some invaluable resources for new players.
FFXI now available as digital download and free trial
Final Fantasy XI is one of the most enduring MMOs of its generation. Coming up on the game's seventh year of live service, the folks at Square/Enix are making it ever-more accessible to the average player. Recent patches have added in content like NPC allies, eased boss difficulties, and even worked to overcome the game's notoriously challenging level grind. Now the developer is working to make it even easier to get into the game, with some expansions in the client's availability.The game is now available for digital download via the Direct2Drive service! The whole game (FFXI, Rise of the Zilart, Chains of Promathia, Treasures of Aht Urhgan, and Wings of the Goddess) is available for just twenty bucks. You can buy the game's expansions individually as well. If you're not interested in shelling out cash without giving it a go first, they've got you covered there too. There's now a 14-day trial available via FilePlanet. Head over and check out the perils and promise of Vana'diel ... them Tarus are cute!
Pirates of the Burning Sea offers free trials
The MMO scene is absolutely dominated by fantasy titles. You may have noticed. Obviously this sits well with most MMO gamers who can't seem to get enough of the genre. But if you've ever wanted to try your hand at something different, something other than sci-fi, there's probably never been a better time to look at Pirates of the Burning Sea. In the past, to even try the game, you had to purchase it and hope it lived up to your expectations. Well, no longer. Flying Lab has announced that they're offering a public launch of 14-day trial keys. The prolonged absence of a trial was a barrier for some to checking out the game. There are a few conditions though: Only new Pirates of the Burning Sea accounts are eligible for the 14-day trial, existing accounts and Station Access accounts are excluded from the trial offer. If this caught your attention, be sure to check out the full details on their announcement page.
Pirates of the Burning Sea celebrates Talk Like a Pirate Day
When you're the official game of International Talk Like A Pirate Day, today is your day to shine. So the folks at Flying Lab Software have been working hard to make today the ultimate in grog-swillin' and booty-plunderin' in their flagship game, Pirates of the Burning Sea.All day today and until September 26th, you'll find special missions and secret booty for all players. What makes it even better is a special 14-day trial, so you can try it all out for free. Plus, if you fear your Pirate-speak isn't up to par ...or yarr... today, Flying Lab has created a handy Pirate Reference Guide you can find right after the jump. If that's still not enough to shiver your timbers, several other MMOs are celebrating this day with special quests as well, including Lord of the Rings Online, World of Warcraft and Guild Wars. Avast!
Renewed marketing, free trials to come following PotBS build 1.5
Flying Lab Software is hoping to breathe new life into Pirates of the Burning Sea with the upcoming Build 1.5. We've already seen that many towns will be getting a face-lift, but now CEO Russell Williams has outlined some of the strategies which he hopes will have new ships sailing into their waters. A couple of the next initiatives for PotBS from FLS will be to start up a fresh marketing campaign, and to begin offering 14-day free trials.Williams mentions that the marketing around the game's launch was good, but short-lived, and that the new campaign will be aiming for longevity. The ads will talk about specific features of the game, mentioning the free trials that will be on offer. We are told that special care has been taken to stop trial accounts from being used as mules or tools for spamming, and that newbies can choose to convert to a paid subscription and continue to play their characters at the end of the 14 days. The trials should kick in around mid to late July, and the marketing will presumably follow.
Buy a USB Flash drive, get WoW trial free!
It's not often that we talk about computer hardware here at Massively, but this story has a bit of an MMO twist, we promise. Kingston Technology Company, best known for their lines of RAM and other memory hardware, has recently announced an expansion of its USB Flash drive line with the introduction of the DataTraveler HyperX model in the Middle East.The thing that grabbed our attention the most though, is the fact that with the purchase of this USB Flash drive, customers will receive an additional free 10-day trial to World of Warcraft. This leads to the inevitable worry that WoW trials will eventually become as widespread and annoying as those AOL free-trial disks that you're probably using as drink coasters right now. Sure you can get these free trials on the WoW website at any time, but is this hardware/software trial bundle going too far?
The Daily Grind: Keep fishing or cut bait?
A new MMO comes out. You've read the reviews, Watched the promo videos. Changed your desktop to show the buxom model on their cover art. Subscribed to the newsletter. Read all the developer interviews. Attended the chats! Participated in the lively banter between the lead designer and the people of a well known community forum! You've made your own guild before you even got to play the game! You pre-ordered the special collector's edition, and the game's theme music is on continual repeat on your iPod!The fateful day comes, you install the game and ... well, it's a decent enough game, but it just isn't what you expected. You play it for a few days, and then start wishing you hadn't given away all your gold and sharded your epics in your old game. And maybe you suddenly regret telling the raid leader just exactly, precisely what you thought of him. So do you stick with the new game? Or return to the old? How long do you give a new game to grab you before you erase it from your hard drive, put the disks on the shelf, and call it a decent effort but just not the game you wanted to play? Just the free month? Until you reach the max level? Or just fifteen minutes perhaps?
Player vs. Everything: When will the players leave WoW?
I always think it's interesting when I hear developers talk about how World of Warcraft opened up the MMOG market for new entrants. We have all these new and exciting games coming out: Age of Conan, Warhammer Online, The Chronicles of Spellborn, and plenty more. However, the overwhelming response that I get from WoW players when I talk about these games is a blank stare and something along the lines of, "Okay, that sounds all right... but why would I ever want to leave WoW?" I think that developers tend to underestimate how attached people get to their MMOG of choice. There are now over 10 million World of Warcraft players. The question is, do they even want something different? I've read a number of bloggers in the past few months and talked to a number of players who claim that they're only playing WoW right now because "it's the best thing out there." They're yearning for something else. Not something totally different, mind you, since they obviously have a blast in Azeroth. But something fresh enough to be new and exciting without bastardizing the game style they know and love. However, I've noticed something interesting. This breed of player tends to overwhelmingly be comprised of people for whom World of Warcraft was not their first MMOG. Otherwise, people just want WoW to put more content in and are willing to make do with what they have until then. I think there's an intriguing bit of psychology there that's worth examining.
The Daily Grind: Should free/trial accounts get less support?
Some games offer two tiers of membership, free and premium. Some are free-to-play with microtransactions. Some are subscription-based, but have free-trial periods. Customer service and technical support costs the same whether someone's paying or not, though. Should the free-trials and free users get the same amount of customer care and technical support as the paying players? Should it not matter? If free/free-trial users get less or no support does that encourage them or discourage them from upgrading to paying for the game? Shower us with your collective wisdom!
Buddy Key system now available for PotBS
The Pirates of the Burning Sea Buddy Key program we looked at the other day is now in place, and the official site has got the details on how to give your friends their free 14-day trial. Anyone with a paid SOE subscription for PotBS will be able to claim three keys to give away, with no expiration. You don't need to go and claim them now either, as they will be available indefinitely.To get your keys, you'll need to log in to the official site, and then visit the Buddy Keys page to retrieve the codes. After that, you can give the keys to friends, and then point them to the game client installer page where they can download their copy of the game. To help with any questions that might come up during this process, a thread has been made on the forums to discuss the program.
PotBS to introduce Buddy Key program
Enjoying Pirates of the Burning Sea, but can't convince your stingy friends to give it a try? Come Monday, a new Buddy Key program will launch that provides active account holders with three 14-day trials of the game to give to friends, so there'll be no excuses for them shunning your Caribbean exploits anymore.There won't be an expiry date on these keys, so if you don't have three people that you want to hook at the moment, hang on to them for later. Instructions on claiming the keys will be provided on Monday, and we'll bring you the news when it breaks.
Pirates of the Burning Sea free in Australia
Here in the US playing the newly-launched age of sail title Pirates of the Burning Sea will set you back $49.99, plus the $14.95 monthly fee. If you're living in the land downunder, though, you'll be able to hit the seas for nothing more than a smile. Flying Lab is making the game available as a free download to every Australian gamer that wants it, via one of the largest local ISPs (BigPond). You'll still have to pay the monthly fee, of course, but the download comes with a seven day trial to start you off. Interested fans can pre-register now for a copy of the game, which launches in Australia on February 27th. If you act now you'll not only get downloading rights, but will secure one of 100,000 DVD copies of the game for yourself. It's a mighty generous offer, and one I hope we see repeated state-side soon.[Via Kotaku]%Gallery-12977%
Behind the Curtain: Something Unexpected
More often than not, we tend to get stuck in a rut in our gaming careers. I've been quite guilty of it in the past – all of my characters in World of Warcraft have levelled their way up solo. I've decided to take steps to rectify this, by rolling up a new character, a Warrior this time, and I plan on making a concerted effort to get her into as many instances as I can. Even if it means jumping into the PUG from Hell, I'm going to force myself to step out of the rut I've gotten into in my games. My big lottery win hasn't came round yet, so I'm not yet able to play WoW all day long in my boxer shorts. Since I have to work for a living, my time online is pretty restricted, so I like to know that I'm spending it wisely, which means that I tend to end up falling into the same routine – maybe a couple of daily quests, a quick check of the Auction House, maybe clear the odd solo quest out of my log. It doesn't sound very exciting, and sometimes it occurs to me that it isn't.
New trial program for Dungeons & Dragons Online
For anyone looking to maybe try out a new MMO or just wanting to kill some time, DDO has a brand spanking new 10 day trial page up and running with some nice screenshots for those of us who enjoy looking at shiny things. Of course, the trial itself is a "limited time" offer according to the website. It's been a couple of years since the game launched, so now may be the perfect time for some people to check back in and see what's happening. In fact, with the upcoming sixth module and live events happening here and there it seems like a great time to investigate the game. It's really always nice to see a game doing well with the community it has. Hopefully this trial will give players who have been giving thought to buying the game a chance to try it out first. Don't forget that the two-year anniversary is coming up in February and it's likely that players can expect some fun and surprising events.
Tabula Rasa three day free trial opened to everybody
For those who still find themselves without a three day trial code after the 'Recruit a Rookie' promotion, we've got some good news for you. Courtesy of MMORPG.com, all registered members can get a Tabula Rasa trial code to use for fun and profit. All you have to do is give them the vitals, click through a confirmation email, and you can be well on your way to experiencing the best sci-fi MMO to hit the market for a long time. Though this method is considerably easier, and quicker, than the Recruit a Rookie method, we still advise lobbying friends, families, and co-workers who play the game for a trial code first, because that will net them a full free month of playtime -- a veritable Christmas miracle if you ask me. Of course, if you can't find anybody to snag a code from, the freebie is the most sensible option. So go ahead and trial it up - we look forward to seeing many new faces in-game!
Visit the Eye of the North for a holiday break
Just yesterday we discussed Arena.net's decision to lower the entry barrier to the Eye of the North expansion. They're now capitalizing on that by offering everyone that owns a Guild Wars campaign the chance to check out the new content.For a limited time you can use a public code over at the Guild Wars site to gain access to a five-hour trial of GWEN. The code will only work from within the client, and can be used for up to 14 days before the trial expires. To give you even more bang for your buck, from this weekend out until next Sunday (the 16th), playing through Eye of the North content will net you plenty of extras: Triple experience from all primary storyline quests in Eye of the North. Double the chance to receive rare items from chests, and triple the drop rate of Lockpicks in Eye of the North. Double gold and experience rewards for vanquishing Eye of the North explorable areas while playing in Hard Mode.
