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Rosh Online launches, gifts players with lots of presents
Launch day for Rosh Online is here, and the new free-to-play title is now officially live. Ignited Games has also added a few extra features that were absent from the recent beta test. Players can now take part in siege war and mining war PvP, and a wide variety of new pets and weapon enchantment stones are available for purchase in the cash shop. Ignited is also running a couple of special launch events. First up is the Nobody is a Rookie promotion, which includes a gift box full of items to ease the newbie transition. That's not all, as players will also receive another gift box containing level 19 gear. There's also the Blue Box Red Box promotion, and it entails holiday gift boxes filled with rare items. Rosh Online: The Return of Karos is a fantasy title set in the world of Asmara, which features a traditional XP-based leveling system, a PvP morality system, and large-scale guild and castle sieges. [Source: Ignited press release]
Behind the Mask: Are grab bags a scam?
Everyone's heard of the "gift box" phenomenon. It's a common theme in F2P MMOs to release an item that doesn't have guaranteed contents and instead has a random selection from a pool of items. Sometimes there are rare bonus items inside; other times there are things the buyer didn't really want. Champions Online has taken its second foray into this territory with the Service and Cursed Grab Bags, a pair of C-Store items that grant a chance at a variety of tradable goodies. Gift box items sell to a variety of people. Some find the idea of chance more fun, and others absolutely must have the rare items and will spend lots of money trying to get them. Are the grab bags a scam, though? After the jump, we'll look at just why that is and hopefully give you enough information to come to your own conclusion.
iDrive, iArm among hot holiday gifts for 2011
Many new iPad accessories are making the rounds this Christmas, but none are as hot as the new iDrive and updated iArm (both US$8.00, although there's a Cyber Monday deal today). The iDrive is a mobile device mount that can hold an iPad, Kindle, or other tech device on the steering wheel of your car, while the innovative iArm makes it simple to hold an iPad, a steaming mug of coffee, and your iPhone all at the same time. I'm personally looking forward to getting an iDrive, not for my car, but for my bike. I'll run the Navigon app on the iPad and no longer have to squint to see where I am on the map. I can also see where the iDrive is going to be useful on those long car drives from Denver to Santa Fe, NM on I-25, when I can put the car on cruise control and have my iPad right in front of me for entertainment purposes. The iDrive comes with both a wheel mount and a surface mount. Bus drivers will appreciate how the iDrive clamps securely to a steering wheel, allowing full access to the iPad's screen while they're sitting in heavy traffic. The surface mount is more useful for mounting an iPad on snowmobiles, personal watercraft, or church pews, and has a patented tilting head for comfortable viewing at any angle. The iArm is another product that is flying off of store shelves this holiday season. This innovative product first arrived last year, but has been updated to work with the iPad 2 and new Kindle Fire. It will be my constant companion during those Wednesday live streaming sessions for TUAW TV Live, when I'll have the iPad strapped to one arm with show notes on it and still have a free hand for drinking beverages or clicking my Magic Trackpad. In case you're thinking that these two products are ludicrous ... you're right. They're actually part of the Prank Pack gift box line from 30 Watt, designed for disguising a more practical gift.
Allods Online: Undaunted goes live with gifts for all
You know how older siblings always complain that their younger brothers and sisters get all the leeway and extra love? Sometimes MMO vets feel like that about beginners to their game: "Back in my day, we never had it so easy! We had to log in using a 2400-baud modem and pay to play by the second!" Well, Allods Online is certainly lavishing affection on the beginner experience in its October update, Undaunted, although high-level players have quite a bit to enjoy as well. Undaunted is removing the fatigue system and lowering enemy health, which should expedite the leveling process. There's also a new level 5 zone for Imperial players and an additional class for each faction: the Elven Psionicist and Xadaganian Mage. Experienced adventurers can try their hands at the Mausoleum of Sparks, a "survival mode" dungeon that seeks to pick off players one by one until only the toughest remain, or the new high-level zone, Kingdom of Elements. Allods Online's arena system now boasts a matchmaking feature that allows players to jump into PvP bouts anytime from anywhere. To celebrate Undaunted's release, gPotato is handing out boxes of Gem Shards (US) and Boutique Coins (EU) that are worth anywhere between $1 and $100 worth of in-game currency. New players will have to wait until level 20 to receive their prize boxes, however. You can watch the trailer for Undaunted after the jump! [Source: gPotato press release]
LotRO ramps up to Echoes of the Dead with new dev diaries
Speculation is on a head-on collision with fact, as Turbine has started to roll out information about the next Lord of the Rings Online update, titled "Echoes of the Dead." As players wonder whether the mysterious runes of a couple weeks ago indicate a new raid hub, or whether Echoes of the Dead is the name of the next book in the epic storyline, Turbine has at least shed light on class changes scheduled for this next update. Ken Burd caters to the thieves, er, treasure-hunters in the LotRO crowd with his Burglar dev diary. Several improvements and buffs for the class are in order, including additional stealth stances, bleed effects matching weapon damage types, beefier Fellowship Maneuvers, the ability to go faster in stealth, and a "Safe Fall" skill to safeguard against falling injuries (although Burglars can still be killed by falling too far). For the musically minded, Tim Lang has you covered with his Minstrel dev diary. Lang lists a huge amount of tweaks and fixes for the class, including shorter cooldowns for select skills, several new legacies, and an additional skill called "Anthem of the Third Age," which buffs either damage or healing, depending on whether you're in War Speech stance or not. Finally, in response to this past weekend's game and forum outages, Sapience announced that NA players will enjoy increased +5% XP gains from monster kills as well as token drops that can be exchanged for gift boxes from now through Sunday the 6th.
LotRO parties down with 3rd anniversary goodies
It may be the waning days of the Third Age in Lord of the Rings Online, but the third anniversary is waxing strong. In honor of three years of the road going ever on, Turbine has invited players back to LotRO to celebrate in style. As part of the party, all players logging in between April 21 and June 30 will receive a spiffy Writ of Virtue: The Writ of Virtue: This special scroll will show the Bards that you know the value of revelry and celebration! The Writ grants a passive skill that gives you a 20 percent discount with Bards all across Middle-earth. In addition to the Writ, all monsters across Middle-earth will drop special tokens, which can be exchanged for anniversary gift boxes in the major cities. Turbine is also enticing players with their ever-popular $9.99/month subscription plan, which can be locked down by signing up for 3, 6 or 12 month tours of duty. You can read the full announcement over at the LotRO site!
Massively visits the LotRO Spring Festival
Spring has sprung in Lord of the Rings Online, and the Spring Festival is well underway. We've gone and taken a look at everything that is on offer, taking lots of pictures along the way, and we're happy to report back now with our findings. Although it is unfortunate that the teleporting keg is unavailable for the moment, there's still plenty to do! You can click the picture at the top to start at the beginning of our guide, or check out each sub-category; the flower picking/gift boxes quest line, the Inn League quest line, and the festival grounds and dance session
Cinemassively: How to make a gift box
If you're as prim-challenged as me, but want to give your SL friends something for Christmas, then this is the tutorial for you. Torley Linden has made an extremely informative video on how to make gift boxes in Second Life, add contents, send them, and how to receive them. If you have some time, I'd strongly suggest checking out her other tutorials, involving how to set permissions, fill out your profile, get texture info, and much, much more!If you're interested in making instructional movies yourself, the tool that Torley used is called Camtasia Studio 5. You can identify the style by their zoom ring, which focuses in automatically where the action is going on in the video.
