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Aion patch 2.5 goes live, free trial program introduced
It's time to spread your wings and take to the skies once again as Aion's patch 2.5 (which we were fortunate enough to personally explore not long ago) goes live today. The new update from NCsoft introduces two new areas of content: the new Esoterrace instance and the Empyrean Crucible. Players will be conquering both of these new areas in style with the addition of stunning graphical updates and new character customization options. New skills and PvP gear will help players to triumph over their enemies with finesse, while the new mentor system allows low-level players to get a helping hand from their elders. If you're not a current Aion player but you're still dying to take these new features for a spin, then you're in luck -- NCsoft is celebrating the new update by introducing a free trial program. Players in the program will be able to jump into the world of Atreia for 10 days and experience 20 levels' worth of content, all for free. You can choose your side and join the battle at the Aion official site.
Massively Exclusive: Aion mentoring guide
Aion's 2.5 patch is on final approach, and in fact the new content and game systems made a smooth landing on NCsoft's test server just last week. One of those new systems allows high-level players to mentor their low-level counterparts, and today Massively has teamed with NCsoft to present you with an exclusive guide to the new functionality. In a nutshell, low-level players will receive XP and unrestricted loot drops while the high-level mentor earns token rewards that go toward the purchase of high-end gear. One of the complaints consistently leveled against Aion over the first two years of its North American life has centered on the game's steep leveling curve. When coupled with the new quests introduced in previous updates, the mentoring system looks to provide a quick and easy path to the cap for young Daevas as well as an excuse for Aion geezers to wax nostalgic about how much harder it was way back when. Join us after the cut for the skinny on Aion's mentoring mechanics.
Aion 2.5 on PTS today, new class skills video released
Aion's 2.5 patch is right around the corner, and today marks the update's official debut on NCsoft's North American player test server (PTS). The patch, otherwise known as Empyrean Calling, brings several new game features to the denizens of Atreia including a mentor system, expanded character customization options, a graphics engine update, new legion features, pet interaction, and new PvE instances. To celebrate the milestone, NCsoft has released a new trailer that shows off some new class skills that are also coming with 2.5. Sixteen different skills, two for each of Aion's classes, are shown in action as well as via textual descriptions. Have a look at the trailer after the cut, and don't forget to head to the PTS to get an early glimpse of all the updates.
The Daily Grind: Do you have an MMO mentor?
Many of us come to MMORPGs alone, seeking a temporary reprieve from the hustle and bustle of our offline lives via bits of escapist fantasy. Others come in groups or join groups upon arrival, the better to learn the various sub-systems of particular titles as well as engage in endgame pastimes like raiding, PvP, and economic domination. Despite the increase in solo-friendly MMO fare in recent years, it is a rare gamer who rises to the top all by her lonesome, especially when it comes to competitive activities that demand a certain amount of knowledge, skill, or both. Today's Daily Grind is all about your MMO mentors. Specifically, do you (or did you) have one? Are you one yourself? What, if anything, did your mentor teach you about MMOs that you might not have discovered on your own? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
The Tattered Notebook: Free level 90? Heck yeah!
I'm a bit late to the party, but I want to throw my two coppers into the discussion on the level 90 winback suggestion that Senior Producer Dave "SmokeJumper" Georgeson made recently. In a recent forum thread, he tossed out the idea of EverQuest II's offering level-capped characters to new players who purchased Destiny of Velious. After a fairly robust discussion, he pulled it off the table, but I actually think it should still be an option. Before you make fists of fury at the screen, hear me out! In this week's Tattered Notebook, I'm going to look at why this promotion is needed and suggest a way that it actually could work for everyone's benefit.
CCP announces EVE create-a-ship contest winners
The results are in from CCP's create-a-ship contest for EVE Online, and CCP Guard has posted the official results on the game's forum. A player by the name of Alexey M takes home the top prize for his Mentor Battlecruiser, as well as $900 and a gaggle of EVE-related swag (including a one-year sub to the game and one of CCP's swanky ship models). Four runners-up didn't do too badly either. Each of them walked away with a cool $600 and an EVE prize pack. In addition to the winning Mentor, which you can ogle in the image above (and which will be making its way into the live game in short order), CCP has published all of the finalists' handiwork on its website.
Player help system added to City of Heroes
If you're looking for a game that's friendly to new players, you could do far worse than City of Heroes. After all, it's friendly to groups or solo players, has a plethora of powers and archetypes available for every playstyle, and offers a broad range of content for everyone. But it can also be intimidating, what with seven years of backlog. That's why among its many other features, Issue 20 included a brand-new player mentoring system to help new players find the help they need. Players who log on for the first time since the patch launch will see a dialog box with three options -- "Helper," "Help Me!" or "Neither." The last category is an opt out, but choosing to be a helper gives you the temporary Helper title as well as a golden name. The brand-new Help Channel has also been added to the global chat channels, allowing players to ask for help and guidance from the City of Heroes community as needed. So go forth, enjoy the update, and know that help is just a "Help Me!" away!
Storyboard: Archetype discussion - the Mentor
I keep expecting to run out of ideas for the various archetypes that I've been discussing, but more of them keep coming to me. The past six columns have all highlighted characters who are distinct from one another yet at the same time make compelling centers to their own stories. For roleplaying purposes, they move to the forefront of the ensemble cast when needed and slip to the middle the rest of the time. But not everyone whose name is in the credits is necessarily going to be The Hero. Today's archetype probably won't be remembered as the one who accomplished any great deeds, unless you look at it by association. But she's still a vital character to any group, someone who provides an emotional and moral center amidst a horde of conflicting personalities -- even if no one might remember it. Today we're taking a look at the Mentor and all of the things that she brings to the table even from a more subtle role.
Alter-Ego: Building a better costume
In last week's Alter-Ego column, I went over some of the basics of creating a character as well as my own view on the costume creator. This, in turn, set off a small firestorm of remarks in the comments both for and against the way DC Universe Online's designers have handled costuming. One thing was made fairly clear to me -- there are lot of people out there who don't entirely understand just how costuming and stat-based gear in DC Universe Online actually work. While you do start off with a limited number of options in the creator for costuming choices, a great many open up once you actually start playing the game. As such, I wanted to take some time in this week's column to really dig into how gear and costuming works in the game. Hopefully, it will help to clear up some confusion for people who haven't had a chance to actually play the game as yet. So if you're curious about how to build your super costume choices or how the nuts and bolts of stat gear work for heroes and villains, then join me behind the break for this week's edition of Alter-Ego!
Priston Tale 2 adds a new region and a mentoring system
If you're one of the souls inspired to step into Priston Tale 2 thanks to Beau's recent foray into the game, you picked a fine time to start playing. A large update has just hit the servers, featuring a brand-new area for players to explore. The Damned Burial Ground may be just a bit late for the Halloween season, but it would have fit in just fine as a haven for the restless bones of fallen soldiers and demons. The game has also launched the brand-new Master and Apprentice system, a setup by which experienced players can get rewards for mentoring newer players about the fine points of the game. Experienced players get to earn previously unavailable in-game items, and new players get rewarded with the full knowledge and experience of a game veteran. The newest update has come with a small selection of new screens as well, available in the gallery below and showing off what Priston Tale 2's engine is capable of producing. %Gallery-107578%
A City of Heroes-style mentoring system "in the long-term plan" for Cataclysm
UPDATE: The Escapist has posted the full text of their interview with Ghostcrawler, so I've replaced the "abridged" version with the actual exchange instead. Those of you who've played other MMOs (yes, they exist) might recall a feature from City of Heroes (yes, CoH did it before EQ2) that let you temporarily level down your character to a friend's level, allowing you to do any kind of level-relevant content together. Well, guess what? Blizzard is planning to let you do the same thing in a Cataclysm content patch, avoiding the type of situation you see above. The Escapist recently interviewed Greg "Ghostcrawler" Street about Cataclysm, and this exchange took place: Ghostcrawler: A very simple thing we've done is just put on your character panel what phase you're in. So that you can look and be like "Oh, so the reason I can't see you is because we're in different phases." Long-term, we're trying to work on a system where you can actually go back and forward a little bit. You might be able to scale your character down levels in order to go play with a friend, and even redo quests that you've done before. Part of the reason we're able to do that is because of the technology we originally developed for heirloom items, which are items that scale. And then for the Cataclysm expansion, we've changed spells, so they also scale with level. So instead of having ranks now, your fireball will just get more powerful as you gain levels. So since you can scale both class spells and items really easily, now we think we can actually let you lower your level down if you want to play with somebody else. I kinda wanted to have that for Cataclysm launch, but it's a feature we're working on. John Funk: So do you think that's saying that, like cross-server dungeons, it might be patched in before the next expansion? Ghostcrawler: Yeah. I mean, we gotta get this one out the door first to know how much we need to do for the patches that come afterwards, but it's definitely in the long-term plan. We hadn't heard anything about this feature before, but it sounds great -- this way, you can play with a lowbie friend without drastically reducing his experience gain, and you'll always have something to do together. Heck, it could even pave the way for making old raids relevant again. I'm excited to see how this plays out! World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it; nothing will be the same! In WoW.com's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, from brand new races to revamped quests and zones. Visit our Cataclysm news category for the most recent posts having to do with the Cataclysm expansion.
Mentor-branded 5-inch e-reader surfaces alongside PocketBook collection
Ah, the lovely world of rebadged e-readers. If you'll recall, we saw a nice trio of Astak Mentor e-book readers way back in May of last year, and now we're seeing a smaller, more curvaceous version pictured alongside those very devices. Early assumptions were that this new 5-inch model would also belong to PocketBook, but those rumors have already been laid to rest. What we're left with is a few solid images, a Mentor label and a mind full of mystery. It's almost like reading a Danielle Steel novel, but only in the emotional sense.[Via MobileRead, thanks Nate]
EverQuest 2 leveling from 20 - 70 to become significantly faster
The designers of EverQuest II are planning to make radical alterations in Game Update 49 to the leveling curve for characters between levels 20 and 70. A post by Design Supervisor Noel Walling on the official forums details the changes. Whereas it currently takes on average around 164 hours for a player to advance from 20 to 70, it will soon only take around 100. To compensate for this change, Adept I spell drops will increase.Walling says these changes are intended to "get new players into the game faster." They're also a response to a low number of people in those level ranges. 1 - 20 and 70 - 80 are unchanged, but experience gains in the mentoring system are getting a boost to encourage higher level players to help new folks and alts level up. The benefits scale based on level, but players who are mentoring will gain between 50% and 300% extra XP from combat.This is an answer to a big problem in these types of games; they become top-heavy, and an insurmountable barrier to entry goes up. At this point, though, does it even make sense for it to take 100 hours to reach 70? Why not just 50? If it's not fun for 164 hours, it's probably not for 100 either, right?
Final Fantasy XI to receive mentoring-esque Level Sync system
Square-Enix is taking another step towards making Final Fantasy XI a little bit more playable for the masses by implementing what it calls the "Level Sync" system. The feature resembles the mentoring systems found in EverQuest II or Age of Conan in that it allows higher level players to drop down to friends' levels and adventure with them while gaining experience.In its announcement of this feature, Square-Enix went out of its way to emphasize that it has built in the system safeguards against abuse by powerlevelers and gold farmers. There are also some reasonable limitations intended to keep the game streamlined, fun, and balanced. For example, equipment-based stat bonuses will scale down with each level a player drops.There are explicit details at the official Final Fantasy XI website about how experience gains and equipment scale. We approve of this addition (as if you needed us to); in fact, we wonder why certain other games still don't have it. Being able to play with friends regardless of their time commitment and experience is a big positive, and we can't even think of a substantial drawback.[Via Allakhazam]
Forum post of the day: How to Rogue
We learn a lot form playing on our own, but by doing only that we can miss some of the nuances of our class. We can also read up on classes on websites like this one or specialty forums. Some people would like to be taught in a more direct manner. At some points, we've all taken others under our wings to show them the ropes. Most of us have gotten a few pointers along the way. We have mentors in most of our roles in life, so doesn't it make sense to have them in WoW as well? It can be hard to directly ask for assistance, especially in a places as prone to ridicule as the WoW General Forums. Apollymi of Greymane is looking for someone to teach her to be a better rogue. She said she's read the right guides but hasn't gotten the necessary experience to match other Rogues. She's looking for someone to mentor her in all things Roguish.
Tank Talk: Building and keeping your tanking corps, Part I
Tank Talk is WoW Insider's new raid-tanking column, promising you an exciting and educational look at the world of getting the stuffing thrashed out of you in a 10- or 25-man raid. The column will be rotated amongst Matthew Rossi (Warrior/Paladin), Adam Holisky (Warrior), Michael Gray (Paladin), and Allison Robert (Druid). Our aim is to use this column to debate and discuss class differences, raid-tanking strategies, tips, tricks, and news concerning all things meatshieldish. This week on Tank Talk I'd like to step outside the technical aspects of being a tank and focus more on the psychosocial side of things. In particular I want to look at what happens when a tank is introduced into a tanking corps of a new guild, how to keep current tanks around, and how to deal with all those old tanks that have been in the guild forever.For lack of a better phrase, I'll call the time from when a tank joining the guild until their eventual status as "god of all things tank" the life span of a tank. And perhaps the most important part of a tanks life is the new part, and it's something that I've been on both sides of the coin – the one doing the inviting, and the one being invited. Each is equally exciting. When joining a new guild I had not only the opportunity to see new content and progress to new heights, but also an opportunity to improve my skill and focus my ability to tank a mean game. And when I became class lead and eventually the guild's leader, I gained an opportunity to help new tanks become acquainted with our style of game play and watch them succeed and excel within the guild.I like to look at there being mainly fives stages of a tank's life within a guild: Recruitment, Applicant, Raider, Senior Tank, and Mentor. Let's take a look at each of these and see how people in various stages can help usher a new tank into a guild's tanking corpse while keeping the old tanks around and happy. Since this is a long subject, today I'll cover the recruitment and applicant stages in a tank's life, with the raider, senior tank, and mentor stages coming in the second installment tomorrow.
Telstra deploys Mentors to restore order to your phone, life
Recognizing that the power and complexity of its handsets have long since exceeded the average user's patience to master them, Australian carrier Telstra has rounded up a team of "Telstra Mentors," dedicated experts who will be making house calls to help folks learn the ins and outs of mobile browsing, video calling, and other advanced features. Although the service is primarily aimed at businessfolk who simply don't have the time to devote to a novel-esque user's manual, Telstra says that it'll initially be available to those in and around Sydney who "use sophisticated devices for their personal, work or business needs" with the intention of eventually expanding it to other cities. Surprisingly, a visit from your friendly local Mentor will be free -- and no, we don't think it's alright to call one over just because you're bored out of your mind.
Astak Mentor e-book reader comes in at under $200
E-book readers are becoming quickly becoming the new cheapo MP3 player, what with unusual designs, promises of salvation from paper, and now diving prices. Enter the Astak Mentor. This series of readers comes in three sizes -- 5-, 6-, and 9.7-inch -- and is based on either Linux or Windows CE. So what's new here? A sub-$200 price tag for the 5-inch version, touchscreens, Bluetooth, and WiFi. Those three latter features come standard on the 9.7-incher, and are optional on the smaller two. Look for them in October from less-than-$200 to $350, or until someone else comes out with a $99 reader.[Via Crave]
Massively's Tateru Nino interviewed
Tateru Nino, formerly writing for Second Life Insider, has been a Second Life resident since August of 2005. She is known for her compassionate work as a Mentor (in the days when that was still an available vocation), which made her so popular a personage that a Cult grew up around her!SLOz, an Australian site devoted to Second Life, has put up its interview with Tateru, and it's a good one. Those of you new to SL can glean a lot of information about it by reading this, and a fair amount of insight into one of Massively's stable of bloggers. Give it a read and send Tat a nice comment!
