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Final Fantasy XIV announces its first expansion, Heavensward
The Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival is currently underway in Las Vegas, and the keynote speech brought with it the big announcement many people were waiting for: The game's first expansions has been announced for spring 2015. Heavensward will focus on the city-state of Ishgard, as seen in the trailer embedded just past the break. Gamer Escape's liveblog of the keynote notes that the expansion will feature a level cap increase to level 60, new jobs, a new race (albeit with an as-yet-unconfirmed identity), new primals, and new high-end content. More information will be available at the London fanfest taking place next week. For now, players will just have to speculate a bit on what the future holds. (The smart money, of course, is on dragons. Lots and lots of dragons. It's kind of an Ishgardian thing.) [Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
Pocket Legends launches the Mount Fang expansion
It's time for another update for one of the first MMOs on the go, Pocket Legends. Mount Fang, the latest expansion, brings with it an increase in the level cap to 66 as well as a reduction in the experience curve across the board. If you're at the level cap, you can shoot for the next tier, but the reduction in the curve ensures that players at any level can benefit from the update. There's more to the update than just leveling, however; players will be given access to a new free campaign, Mount Fang, that starts at level 59 and provides new monsters, quests, and rewards. And of course, there are new vanity items in the cash shop as well as a special set of cosmetic armor for players who hit 66 before the next cap adjustment. If you've been enjoying the game on your mobile device of choice, download the expansion and get into the mix.
Hiromichi Tanaka interview discusses the Final Fantasy online installments
There's a lot of material coming up for Final Fantasy XIV. So much, in fact, that according to Hiromichi Tanaka, the game has plans that stretch out for as far off as next winter. When we last took a look at the interview, it had only been translated up through the first section, but the two additional sections include further information on the future of the new game as well as Final Fantasy XI. Final Fantasy XI is slated for more high-level content with the climbing level cap, as much of the existing endgame content was balanced around players at the previous cap of 75. Final Fantasy XIV, on the other hand, was designed in many ways to break away from some of the conventions that its predecessor had in place, while at the same time retaining some of the elements that Tanaka believed were particular strengths. Take a look at the full interview for a rundown of what's in store for both games in the near future.
The Mog Log: What we know we don't know
All of the information we've been getting about the Final Fantasy XIV beta has us spoiled beyond belief. Really, it'd be best if we just stopped looking for a while, because we're in knee-deep, and we aren't getting a clear picture any longer. Which would be bad enough if not for the fact that we're all pretty sure we know exactly what's going on in the game. I found it interesting from the beginning that Square-Enix told players outright that the beta testing was going to be neutered, for lack of a better term. There are huge chunks of stuff that we know are meant for the game eventually but don't presently exist in the actual test client... stuff that we know nothing about aside from its promised existence. So it's not really fair to judge Final Fantasy XIV just on what we know without considering what we know we don't know. And thus, we're writing this column to let everyone know what we know we don't know. You know?
Preview made available for Star Trek Online's Season 2
If the Season 1 patch for Star Trek Online pushed forward huge improvements to the game's engine, Season 2 looks to expand into several areas players have complained were lacking. Cryptic has just released a preview page detailing several additions, including added Klingon PvE play and six additional levels. The new levels let players reach the coveted rank of Vice Admiral in the Federation and Lieutenant General in the Klingon Empire, bringing improved versions of Tier 5 ships to coincide with the new maximum ranks. While it's not explicitly stated, it's implied that the new ships won't be mandatory upgrades, but rather options for players who want to fly some of the most iconic ships in the franchise's long history. Even with no other additions, the changes would bring new aspects of play, but the update also sees the launch of the Federation Diplomatic Corps (a separate leveling track of negotiation and social interaction) and a new minigame associated with anomaly scanning. Currently a passive form of resource gathering, scanning will be changed into a simple wave-matching game to help gather additional resources -- making it somewhat more interesting than walking to a node and pressing a button. That's still not getting into the special weekly content due to start arriving in August... there's a good reason Cryptic has made a large page to summarize it at a glance. Star Trek Online's second major patch is targeted to hit later this month, with a first impression from testing available from West Karana.
The Daily Grind: What would signal the development team was out of tricks?
If you play or played Magic: the Gathering, you've heard of the Power Nine: cards printed in the beginning of the game that were insanely broken. Cards so powerful that their presence is felt in the game to this day. Cards that, naturally, players would love to see reprinted. However, it's been pointed out that if they ever are reprinted, it would be using the biggest and most obvious idea that the game has. It would be something that would bring in a lot of old players, attract people, spark interest, and there would never be a way to top it. There are certainly things that reek of having the sense of a great trick that could only work once, something the players have long asked for but has always been avoided. World of Warcraft's reconstruction of the old world and Final Fantasy XI's expansion to the long-awaited Level 99 level cap both look that way to some players. What would convince you that the developers were cashing in on the one last thing that players have been waiting for? Would it be enough to bring you back, or would it signal to you that the game was dying?
