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ArcheAge caster class detailed
AAportal has published another review of the recently concluded ArcheAge CBT3 event, this time focusing on the game's Mage class. The reviewer leveled his Mage to 21 and came away with a better understanding of the pre-defined spell schools (in this case illusion, death, and magic) as well as the corresponding special abilities. While most MMO mages are on the squishy side, we suspect that ArcheAge will buck that trend a bit, given the reviewer's observations that his Mage had a lot of hitpoints as well as a significant shield buff. Offense is, of course, the Mage's raison d'etre, and ArcheAge casters apparently pack a wallop (as well as two- to three- second cast times). It's not all wham-spam-thank-you-ma'am, though, as there is some strategy involved. Read all about it at AAportal, and check out the gameplay video after the cut.
E3 2011: Spacetime Studios on the Legends franchise
Blackstar has a new name to capitalize on the Legends brand -- it's now known as Star Legends: The Blackstar Chronicles. At this year's E3, we caught up with Spacetime Studios' Fernando Blanco to see how the revived project (as well as the company's hit Pocket Legends) is coming along. Star Legends is only a month away from launch, and Spacetime hopes that the Pocket Legends fever will spread to its sci-fi brother. The name's been changed to communicate the studio's intent to provide an ongoing story rather than a one-shot experience. The game will launch with the first 20 levels of content, but Spacetime has grand plans to expand this much further. Blanco gave us some of the backstory to the game: In the far future, humans are exploring the cosmos and have stumbled upon a resource-rich area. Corporations, as they are wont to do, have swooped in to exert their dominance but have come across hostile aliens in the process. War breaks out, invasions start popping up all over the place, and you're called in to clean up the mess -- and make a quick buck in the process. Hit the jump to hear more about Star Legends' classes and gameplay!
GamersFirst revamps Knight Online's capital city
GamersFirst is getting a lot of press lately due to its resurrection project on APB: Reloaded, but it bears mentioning that San Paro isn't the only city receiving some love from the free-to-play company. Knight Online's capital city of Moradon "has risen from the ashes to be completely redesigned," according to a new GamersFirst press blurb. Moradon's architecture has been permanently redone, and the questing hub boasts a graphical revamp that reflects the city's rebuilding efforts following the destructive machinations of the god Pathos in Knight Online's chapter eight update. Knight Online is a PvP- and story-centric MMO that allows players to fight for lands and castles in the kingdom of Carnac. Four character classes are available, and you can learn more about the Warrior, Rogue, Priest, and Mage at the game's official web destination.
The Game Archaeologist sees The Shadow of Yserbius
Really, I blame my parents for not being filthy rich. If they were, we could've afforded the $130/month unlimited subscription fee to the ImagiNation Network (INN) back in the early '90s. Just think! All of the gaming, the socializing, and the roleplaying that you could handle -- for such a low price! I mean, sure, there were hourly options, but who'd want to play for a mere five hours a month? So instead of becoming part of a growing online community, I had to be content with my SNES and copy of Chrono Trigger -- hard times, indeed. Sometimes I think how my life would've been different if we had subscribed to Sierra's colorful online world, because I would've had a chance to get in on one of the first graphical MMOs: The Shadow of Yserbius. It was a step forward in graphic quality from the text-only MUDs of the day but perhaps a step backward from the complexity that many MUDs brought to the table. Still, for a few shining years, it entranced thousands who lined up to delve dungeons deeply alongside their friends (and a couple of complete strangers with odor disorders). Today we're going to take a quick peek at one of the first MMOs that stepped into the realm of lush color and animations and see what made The Shadow of Yserbius so enduring.
New RIFT trailer showcases the Mage
The destructive might of the elements, the restorative power of life, and dominion over the mind itself: These are just a few of the tools RIFT's Mages have at their disposal. Trion Worlds has released a new trailer showcasing all this and more as the Mage archetype blasts, heals, and controls his way through numerous dangerous situations. The trailer specifically concentrates on three different builds of RIFT's Mage archetype: the damage-dealing Pyromancer, the supportive Chloromancer, and and the controlling Dominator. Each has its own way of tackling the problems that the invading rifts throw out, but the trailer makes it clear that each is equally capable of contributing mightily to the cause. Skip past the cut for the full trailer, and if it happens to inspire in you a desire to manipulate the arcane channels of Telara, keep in mind that RIFT is still running a free trial program.
Patch 4.2 Preview: Tier 12 armor sets
Blizzard has been on an information release kick this week for Rage of the Firelands, the next content patch for Cataclysm. World of Warcraft has been known, for better or for worse, by its armor design choices. Some of the armor sets in WoW actually have transcended the game itself, becoming part of a healthy nostalgia for players old and new. Firelands is not going to have any shortage of cool raid gear. The tier 12 armor preview has just been released and contains images of the paladin, mage, rogue, hunter, death knight and priest sets. Warlocks, warriors, shaman, and druids are currently absent, though we can bet druids will also have a fire motif, considering Fandral Staghelm's role in the Firelands raid. %Gallery-122557%
Divine Souls launches today
Divine Souls has been in the works for a while; we first previewed the title way back in March of 2010. Since then, the team at Outspark has been hard at work polishing, tweaking, and updating the free-to-play action MMO, and today gamers around the globe get to see the results. Yep, it's launch day, and very soon you'll be able to indulge in the game's detailed visuals and arcade-style fighting game functionality (including complex air- and ground-based combos). Divine Souls also boasts Xbox and PlayStation controller support and is designed to run on a huge variety of hardware configurations. The game also features a small downloadable client to get you up, running, and into the action quickly. Choose from one of three classes (Mage, Slasher, or Fighter), check out the trailer after the cut, and look for our Divine Souls first impressions later this week.
Behind the Mask: The pursuit of magic
When it comes to roleplaying, I'm a huge fan of wizards and spell casters, and it has nothing to do with gameplay roles. Magic is generally unlimited in its potential; it has the power to do anything the imagination can perceive, and the freedom to choose different roles for my characters is very attractive. In the Champions universe, arcane practice is very different than its typical portrayals elsewhere. In most universes with a fantasy element, magic involves some chanting and spending some magic points or some other consumable resource (or possibly forgetting the spell in question) before the magic effect wills itself into existence. For roleplayers, this magical difference is very important. Magical spells and creatures don't follow the same rules as those present in other fiction. Champions mystics follow real-life mythology and lore -- and strangely, this makes them unique among mages in other roleplaying settings.
Frogster gives us piles of Runes of Magic stats
While not everyone is a math or statistics geek, there's a certain intriguing quality to MMO stats. Whenever we post statistics for games, there are inevitably discussions on concurrent users, paid subscribers, and overall registered accounts. Unfortunately, free-to-play games like Frogster's Runes of Magic don't really lend themselves to discussions of subscriptions vs. registered accounts since it has no monthly fee. Nevertheless, the game still provides some interesting statistics. According to a release sent earlier today, Frogster has posted a handful of curious stats that are sure to pique the interest of those who love to dissect MMO minutiae. Over the last two years, 6,657,370 characters have stepped into Runes of Magic. Mages are an incredibly popular class, with 2.2 million characters, and there's a tie at 650,000 characters created for both Rogues and Warriors. Apparently, the Priest/Mage dual class is a highly popular combo for players; and Priest takes secondary class of choice at 350,000, followed by Warriors with 150,000. Over three million characters serve as Herbalists, with 1.1 million players dabbling in Alchemy. English-speaking servers have seen 3,505,269 quests turned in and 4,622 guilds created. Groups in the game have taken the Demon Lord down 4,521 times and have wiped the floor with Erekat III almost three times more. Raksha is still the one to beat, according to Frogster's metrics, which suggest that boss has only been downed 182 times on the highest difficulty. Finally, no raid would be complete without silly pets along for a screenshot -- we're told that there are over 100,000 rune pets tagging along with players. In all, it's certainly an interesting set of statistics, if a bit random. After all, Frogster was very careful not to say which class was the overall most popular one!
Reader UI of the Week: Preserve priority with Sakuyan's UI
Each week, WoW Insider brings you a fresh look at reader-submitted UIs as well as Addon Spotlight, which spotlights the latest user interface addons. Have a screenshot of your own UI that you'd like to submit? Send your screenshots along with info on what mods you're using to readerui@wowinsider.com. It's Tuesday! Oh, boy! Reader UI of the Week! I've been dealing with a bit of addon upheaval these past few weeks, as a few dormant addons have come back into the fold after a long time laying low. It has completely thrown off my UI, until I muster up the willpower to change things a bit. Does that happen to you? This week, we're going to be checking out Sakuyan's user interface. I chose Sakuyan's setup because I really enjoyed the explanation and images that accompanied the submission, and I wanted to talk about screen priority. This UI is tailor made for just that conversation. %Gallery-19902%
Enter at Your Own Rift: Zero-sum game
Ever since I started following RIFT, I've been entranced by the wide-open -- but not limitless -- class system. After all, the virtual world and everything populating it is only half the game; the other half resides in the avatar that sticks with you while you explore it all. Many MMOs have interesting ways of letting you build and grow your character, but sooner or later they come to a point where there's little more to be done other than incrementally increasing your stats by gaining better gear. Not so with RIFT, as even a level 50 can drop a few coins to shape a completely new build from scratch. No longer are we bound to a rigidly defined creation; we are free to experiment, tinker, and try out these roles to our hearts' content. With RIFT's soul system, there are a few ground rules that everyone learns early in the game. You can have up to three souls in your archetype active at any one time; you can only spend as many points in a build as you have in levels (such as 10 points at level 10); and you'll end up with 66 points at level 50, which means that you'll at least dabble in a second soul tree with every build. And while you can certainly spread soul points across all three trees, today I wanted to look at the benefits of a zero-point soul, the "third wheel," if you will, of builds.
In defense of gear simulations
Josh Myers is not a scientist. The closest he's ever come to being one is winning the Science Fair in 8th grade and getting straight As in physics in high school. Despite these clear signs telling him to look for a career in science, he decided instead to go for a degree in English. His wallet hasn't forgiven him since. "Just sim it" is a phrase almost everyone who has played World of Warcraft in the past few years is familiar with. Should my enhancement shaman use Tunic of Failed Experiments or Voltage Source Chestguard? Sim it. How much of a DPS increase is the four-piece Firelord's Vestments bonus? Spreadsheet it. How much DPS am I losing since I can't afford a Flask of the Winds on my hunter? SIM IT! I'll be the very first to say that saying "just sim it" isn't a constructive thing to say. Beyond being slightly rude, it doesn't explain why simming is such a good idea. However, while I find "just sim it" to be in poor taste, the actual act of simming or spreadsheeting gear choices is a really good idea. This post aims to address why we encourage spreadsheeting your DPS choices.
Exclusive: A look at RIFT's Dominator
Mages in RIFT are not particularly nice people. Admittedly, that's not speaking to their character so much as the souls available to them, but between the corpse-raising Necromancers, entropy-spreading Warlocks, and strength-leeching Archons, the precedent has been set. And today's reveal of the Dominator isn't going to change that image, even though it's a soul quite likely to make a number of new friends. But those friends may or may not be willing companions. A mind is a terrible thing to waste, even if you have little to no intention of letting your opponent use it. That's the Dominator philosophy in a nutshell, with a number of abilities designed to confuse, terrify, and control opponents. Although physically fragile, the Dominator will hopefully be in a position where none of his opponents are still coherent enough to take advantage of physical weakness. Take a look at more lore and ability details on RIFT's latest soul past the break, and check back tomorrow for our last soul reveal. %Gallery-101448%
Ten levels of RIFT: A guide to your first day in Telara
With two RIFT beta events under my belt, I was given the supreme honor of creating a guide to the first 10 levels of the game. Naturally, I fell apart under the stress, assumed the fetal position for a couple days while whimpering about "frame rates," and then was prodded into action by our editors. That's quite literally "prodded," mind you -- Massively purchased a pair of cattle prods last year at a police auction. It's going to be years until the scorch marks fade from my spine. The purpose of this guide is two-fold. First, we want to give anyone who's interested in RIFT but couldn't get into the beta a chance to vicariously experience RIFT's newbie path. Second, while RIFT is careful to hold your hand during your first steps into Telara, there are always a lot of things that can be easily missed while one is partaking in the wonders of a new virtual world. So this guide is here to share a few tips and pointers that beta testers may have missed. What are you waiting for? Roll up a new character by hitting the jump!
Divine Souls open beta starts tomorrow
The brand new free-to-play fighting MMO Divine Souls is gearing up to slash its way into open beta. As of December 14th, players can jump in and select one of three classes (Fighter, Slasher, or Mage) for intense PvP and PvE action that Outspark claims will make your console jealous. The devs have made the open beta client available for early downloads and are also treating fans to a new trailer viewable front and center on the Divine Souls website (or after the cut here on Massively, if you prefer). Check out our previous coverage for a screenshot gallery as well as another teaser trailer. [Thanks to Jimmy for the heads-up!]
Forsaken World mages blow stuff up
Perfect World Entertainment is ramping up the publicity campaign for its free-to-play opus Forsaken World, with the latest salvo being a new video short featuring community manager Frank Johnson. The segment focuses on the mage class and its destructive power, showing off a fair bit of combat footage underscored by Johnson's narration. "I can freeze targets with ice spells, knock back enemies with lightning, and if all else fails I can just set everything on fire. Which is usually what ends up happening anyways," Johnson says. Check out the mage-sponsored mayhem after the break, and read up on the class (as well as the rest of Forsaken World) at the game's official website.
Rift's Archon soul revealed
Looking for more information on Rift: Planes of Telara? Well, first you should check out our exclusive hands-on, direct from Gamer Day II. After you've digested that, MMORPG.com has some interesting info regarding the newly announced Archon soul, a support specialist class that allows you to convert your opponent's strength and energy into usable magic. Trion's new twist on the traditional mage archetype focuses on buffing friends and allies and is a formidable combatant in its own right. That said, the Archons can also be quite vulnerable, especially during the period just after they've infused allies with their life force (and just prior to feeding off an enemy to regain their strength). Check out some background lore as well as a few class particulars at MMORPG.com.
Breakfast Topic: What is your favorite class ability?
This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. With all this focus on new disasters, races, and abilities coming in Cataclysm, it's easy to forget about all the awesome things our characters can do right now. Mages can teleport, fury warriors can dual wield two-handed weapons, shaman can turn into a Ghost Wolf. Ghost Wolf --- that even sounds cool. My main toon is a holy paladin. Although I did level most of the first 60 levels as holy (yes, it went very, very slowly), I blasted through the last 20 levels and the instances that fill them as retribution. At level 80, I wanted to get into raiding. A friend somehow got me in one of the better raiding guilds on my server and -- guess what? -- shortly after, I got volun -- told to go holy if I wanted a raiding slot. I admit, at first, I wasn't a great healer. I was using a very small portion of my toolbox. I took Holy Light spam to a new level and did almost nothing else. After a time, I discovered Beacon of Light and spent much of the next few weeks declaring it was the best spell in all of WoW. Two tanks taking damage? No problem, 'cause now my Holy Light spamming was twice as effective! Now I'm leveling a rogue and falling in love with a brand new skillset. Cheap Shot and Kidney Shot are fast becoming some of my new favorite character abilities. Are you more partial to the biggest damage/healing/threat increase button, or does pushing someone off an edge with Typhoon just make your day? What abilities do you enjoy the most?
The Perfect Ten: Weird staples of every fantasy MMO
If you take some weird, outlandish, or out-of-the-ordinary item and then saturate your life with it, sooner or later the bizarre becomes the accepted norm. So much so, in fact, that you'd cease to even think about it. I mean, do we ever question those magic boxes known as "microwaves" that mysteriously heat up our foods? Does anyone blink twice anymore when small computers tell us how to drive instead of nagging spouses? What about Carrot Top? Likewise, fantasy MMORPGs have erected trope after trope that we no longer question -- or even notice. Actually, the only time we'd notice one of these is if a game failed to include it. No matter how illogical and sometimes silly these MMO staples are when you think about them, we've been around them so long that we would no more notice them as we would the individual keyboard buttons that we type on daily. Still... you're thinking about them right now, aren't you? Those keys, cruelly dominated by your pecking fingers, pushing them back into place. What a techno-bully you are! In any case, come with us as we count down 10 weird staples that every fantasy MMO seems to include.
iBuyPower revamps Gamer Mage / Paladin desktops with Radeon HD 6800 GPUs
You're already sold on ATI's new Radeon HD 6800 series, but your existing motherboard and CPU just feel too aged to become home to such a shiny, fresh piece of silicon. We hear you. So does iBuyPower. Rather than forking out and upgrading just your GPU, these guys are hoping you'll ogle the newly revised Gamer Mage D295, Gamer Mage D355, and Gamer Paladin F820, all three of which are available with the HD 6870 and HD 6850. The Gamer Mage D295 gets housed in a Thermaltake V9 enclosure and ships with a liquid cooled Athlon II X4 640 quad-core CPU, 4GB of RAM, a Radeon HD 6850 (1GB), LG Blu-ray reader / DVD combo drive, 1TB of HDD space and a 700 watt power supply -- all for the low, low price of $899. The D335 (starts at $1,239) steps up to a liquid cool Phenom II X6 1055T, 8GB of DDR3 RAM, a Radeon HD 6870 GPU, 64GB SSD and an 800 watt PSU, while the F280 (starts at $1,369) goes all-out with a liquid cooled Core i7 950, 6GB of DDR3 memory, an HD 6870 GPU and NZXT's Guardian 921 R case. Hit the links below to get your customization on. %Gallery-106087%
