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Return to Ekrund now in Warhammer Online's live event
A week ago, it was only a tease hinted at on Twitter. Now, it's a sure thing: The Return to Ekrund live event is on Warhammer Online servers. The event takes place in or around Ekrund, the tier one starting area for Dwarven Oathbreakers. Players can work through the many steps of the event to earn special rewards. Event tasks include safely escorting Dwarf historians, killing enemy Greenskins, piecing together puzzles, and more. Worried about turning into a chicken because your level is too high for a starting zone event? Don't be! Higher level players are tweaked in the RvR lakes (the PvP areas) and returned to a level fit for the area. However, don't expect to keep all your high-powered skills and your fast mount when you level down; you actually only get access to the skills, abilities, and tactics of that level!
Ultima Online gives much love to housing
Ultima Online is well-known for being a player housing paradise, and it looks like the ability to make a comfy nest for oneself will get even better with the next game update. Producer Bonnie Armstrong posted a preview of what players should expect in the near future. The big news is that the UO team is considering allowing players to have houses on both Siege Perilous and standard shards, opening up the possibilities for multiple home ownership. Houses will also get a new theme pack that includes interactive gadgets. The art team continues to work on hi-res versions of house items, although this is "slow going" as it's a huge project. The UO team is also working on revamps to weapons and armor, the ability for players to run for ambassadorships of towns, new instruments, and a new global arc.
Jukebox Heroes: Dark Age of Camelot's soundtrack
Dark Age of Camelot has a strange soundtrack history. The game came out with an official soundtrack in 2002 that is (a) wonderful, (b) absolutely worth buying, and (c) only marginally related to the actual in-game music. There are really terrific tracks on this, such as Breton Melody and The Rap, which I do wish I could share with you. Unfortunately, Universal Music Group is quite aggressive on keeping this CD's tracks off of sites like YouTube, so you will have to take my word for it that it's worth pursuing in your own time. Then, of course, there's the actual score that's heard in the game, and that's what we'll be focusing on today. The original score and the first expansion was composed by Rik Schaffer of Womb Music. Schaffer worked with the team to come up with a multi-track format so that DAoC could weave together songs based on where you were and what was going on all around you. "It's a really neat system that provides a real sense of atmosphere as you are playing -- almost like a movie soundtrack," said Producer Matt Firor in a 2002 interview. We've got a lot of musical ground to cover, so let's start moving!
Warhammer Online hints at new live event
Is Warhammer Online preparing to unveil a brand-new live event to the game? A recent Twitter message by Mythic Implementation Lead Keaven Freeman suggests so. The developer posted a page from the Tome of Knowledge titled Return to Ekrund: A Stronghold Saga -- Part 1. The page discusses a Dwarf explorer who discovers an ancient stronghold which contains clues to "legendary weapons of great power." The page also shows a standard reward meter with three icons on it. A new live event is something to be anticipated and celebrated, so we'll be sure to follow this as it develops.
The Game Archaeologist's top MMO stories of 2012
As another gaming year spins to a close, we here at the Institute for Digital Interactive Entertainment have been holding our archaeological department hostage with a trained buffy-tufted marmoset until it delivered a final report. After hours of begging and infected monkey bites, the head of that department, Prof. Justin Olivetti, Ph.D., handed us a scrap of urine-soaked paper with the following article inscribed. While the Institute strongly suggests that you ignore this report and instead work on your button-mashing exercises, the board of directors stated that all such papers must be posted for the public to see. This report is presented in the Yetbari typeface and contains a sequential series of items that number between 11 and 13.
The Perfect Ten: My biggest gaming moments in 2012
I am a complete sucker for three things: novelty soft drink flavors, Tom Servo's singing voice in MST3K, and end-of-the-year lists. Egads, I love the end of the year just for the lists alone. Everyone does them (copycats!), and I like to see how my opinions stack up against them. Plus, often I learn of cool things that happened or came out during the past year that I missed. So this is my list. My end-of-2012 list. I am devoting the 26th Perfect Ten of 2012 to the top 10 moments in MMO gaming and blogging. It was a rollercoaster of highs and lows, and looking back, I don't think I could've predicted half of the major events that happened in this industry. That's what I like about this gig: It keeps me on my toes.
Ultima Online levies two-week rollback for high-pop server
It's not a good time to be a player on Ultima Online's Atlantic server, to put it lightly. Mythic was forced to rollback the game (and players' progress) yesterday on Atlantic to a backup from two weeks ago. Atlantic is the highest-populated shard in the Western hemisphere. The official announcement cut straight to the point: "Due to issues beyond our control, I am sorry to have to inform all of Atlantic that we had to revert to a Dec 5th backup. We have tried to retrieve a more current backup but we have been unable to do so due to corruption issues." Mythic said that it will be compensating affected players with a month of free game time, although that's undoubtedly small consolation to those who have lost progress and acquisitions during this period. Apart from the short announcement, there has been no additional communication from the studio on the issue. [Thanks to Brad for the tip!]
The Perfect Ten: Absolutely ridiculous cash shop selections
This past week, the Money Gnomes at Turbine tested the waters with the idea of selling a $50 horse in Lord of the Rings Online. Oh, not just any horse, mind you: It's a toy hobby horse. For $50. The representative who asked for feedback on the item and price-point probably caused herself internal hemorrhaging by stating, "This is not a joke." The fans responded, "Of course, and the sky is made out of blue cheese." At the very least, it allowed the more creative players to come up with humorous expressions of incredulity. The fun finally came to an end when the studio announced that the "experimental" price point was a failure. Of course, this is by far not the first time a game studio's attempted to sell a ridiculous item, an item with a ridiculous price point, or both combined. If you sell it, after all, the rubes will come. So in the spirit of a $50 hobby horse that costs something like $20 in real life to acquire, here are 10 completely ridiculous items that we've seen in MMO cash shops.
Ultima Online patches in a significant number of bug fixes
Get your scrollin' finger ready: Ultima Online just got a whole bucket of fixes and updates posted to the test server. If you're tired of your fish pies not being stackable, of mushrooms exploding under your house, or of gargoyles activating their stone form mid-flight, this is the patch for you! Lava Lobster fishing has been fixed, hats have stopped twitching, and gargoyle aprons have all been returned to their proper hue. At long last, golems can no longer be used to exploit combat training, and vendors are seeing some big changes. Rather than increasing their fees once per day, vendors will charge incrementally over time. They'll also give players a grace period before heading out after running out of funds, and all vending penalties have been abolished. Hit up the official patch notes for the lengthy list, if only so you can learn that "Robin's Egg candy will no longer fill the tummy of the eater." [Thanks to groovy webizen Derrick for the tip!]
Today's Warhammer Online update unifies RvR currency
If you've played MMOs for any length of time, chances are you have come upon the dreaded "inventory full" message during your adventures. Warhammer Online is no exception to this phenomenon, and you don't have to be a certified packrat to run out of room when juggling the game's multiple RvR currencies. Even with the dedicated currency bag, the sheer volume of different types fills it quickly. But thanks to today's Game Update 1.4.8, Warhammer Online players will be able to convert all those crests, medallions, insignias, and emblems into a single currency -- war crests. In the patch notes released last Friday, Mythic Entertainment detailed the unification of RvR currencies, outlining the specific conversion rates and RvR reward distribution. It also announced the addition of a new novelty vendor (where players can spend those newly acquired war crests on special experience, renown, or influence gain buffs) along with other equipment and merchant changes.
EverQuest, Ultima Online, and World of Warcraft among Time's top 100 games
We tend to think of MMOs as being different from other video games, but the genre has had a pretty major impact on all areas of gaming. As a result, it's no real surprise to see that three of the all-time most important MMOs show up on Time's recent list of the Top 100 Video Games of All Time. EverQuest, World of Warcraft, and Ultima Online are all included on a list that honors everything from Oregon Trail to Katamari Damacy and Pac-Man to Batman: Arkham City. The entries on EverQuest and Ultima Online both make note of the longevity and long-term success of the older titles, while the World of Warcraft article homes in on the diverse audience attracted to MMORPGs (something arguably true of the former titles as well). While other MMOs didn't make the list, it's well worth taking a look at the full article if you want a walk down video game memory lane.
EA given best workplace title for LGBT employees
If there's one thing reading Massively's comments has taught me, it's that major big-budget game companies are evil and probably kill kittens. But a recent rating by the Human Rights Campaign might work towards changing your mind about EA a bit. The Human Rights Campaign has given the company a 100 percent rating which has earned it the title of "Best Place to Work for LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender) Equality" for 2013. In addition to providing what they call a welcoming work environment for everyone, EA has also made changes to its medical benefits, involved itself in LGBT community events, and publicly denounced the Defense of Marriage Act. EA currently publishes some of the most popular console and PC games out there, including the MMOs Star Wars: The Old Republic, The Secret World, Warhammer Online, and more.
Rumor: Origin hacked, EA denies intrusion [Updated]
If you have created an EA Origin account for any reason, such as for Star Wars: The Old Republic or Ultima Online, we advise you to change your password posthaste. Numerous sites are reporting that hackers have breached Origin's security and are potentially modifying account information and stealing it. Allegedly affected players claim that the hackers are changing the log-in emails associated with their accounts and that the new email addresses have a Russian suffix. In response to a question about whether any accounts were compromised by hacking, an EA spokesperson made the following statement: "At this point, we have no reason to believe there has been any intrusion into our Origin database." EA has updated us with its full security statement: Anytime a player has a question about the security of his or her account or personal data, we take it very seriously and take all possible steps to help. For any customer who cannot access their Origin account for any reason, we ask them to please contact Origin Help or EA's customer experience group at help.ea.com. The robust security measures in place to protect Origin users accounts are constantly being expanded and upgraded, and we also strongly recommend customers take the protective steps of using strong passwords and changing passwords often.
The Perfect Ten: Character creation options nobody uses
There are two types of people in the world: those who can't get through the character creation menu fast enough to start playing "LordBladezz" and those who spend hours crafting the perfect face that will be seen by the player only 0.03% of the time. I've heard rumors of a species of middle-ground player, but I've yet to see one. I think there could be a doctoral thesis for someone willing to investigate which visual character creation options most of us use and which ones we ignore. My hunch is that most of us are looking to recreate an impeccable standard of beauty or handsomeness, resulting in game worlds exploding with Abercrombie & Fitch models. Because exploring the "most-used character creation options" isn't as much fun, today we're going to examine the 10 options that pretty much nobody uses. And yes, you'll feel compelled to comment that you do indeed use one of these and prove me wrong, so let me give you a gold star in advance for doing so. You're awesome.
BioWare Mythic is now just Mythic
Has the BioWare name lost its luster? That depends on whom you ask, of course, and we can't help but wonder at the mixed message behind Mythic's recent decision to dissociate itself from the famed RPG behemoth. In a blurb on the official Warhammer Online website, community manager Kai Schober writes that BioWare Mythic will henceforth be known as Mythic, which is a return to the studio's pre-2010 days before it merged with BioWare and adopted the parent company's name as its prefix. "In the wake of a new focus our studio has recently changed its name from BioWare Mythic to Mythic. Everything else stays the same -- our passionate teams will continue to support and develop our existing titles as well as working on some new and exciting projects," Schober writes.
Jukebox Heroes: EverQuest's soundtrack
I've always felt that MIDI tunes were to computers what chiptunes were to 8-bit and 16-bit consoles. Before storage media expanded and technology increased to the level of using regular instruments, practically every PC game had a MIDI soundtrack at its back (as did quite a few early and misguided websites). MIDI wasn't a file format that stored recorded music; instead, it was a file full of instructions for your computer to assemble a tune on its end. I never really liked MIDI songs the way that I enjoyed old console soundtracks. Songs done in MIDI have a distinct and somewhat unpleasant, flat tone to them, although sometimes composers were able to finagle toe-tapping tunes with it. It certainly is nostalgic to hear, however, to those of us who played games in this era. Before MIDI faded out at the end of the 90s, some of the earliest MMOs released with their scores done in this format. Ultima Online (which we'll get to later on) and EverQuest were two such titles, and today we're going to listen to what EverQuest sounded like back in 1999. The original score was composed by Jay Barbeau, who has since released a remastered soundtrack called The Original, Opus I. But we're not going to go for that remastered stuff; let's listen to the sounds of the past, shall we?
Warhammer Online unleashes the Daemonic Gifts of Khorne
Chaos in Warhammer Online is bad news. It's bad news for the more orderly people of the realm, but it's also sometimes bad news for the followers of Chaos, since the deities can be a bit unfocused when spreading madness. Case in point: the new event in which several of Khorne's daemons have broken through and joined the battles across the land by attacking every mortal within arm's reach. That means both Order and Chaos players will be able to take part in the event to push back Khorne's minions. Participation simply requires players to slay Khorne's minions as well as throw in some enemy player kills. Successful participation rewards you with several boosts, including a special binding scroll for a daemon and new pieces of jewelry. No word on how long this event will take place, but considering it's a manifestation of chaos, we think it might be best to jump in and take advantage before it vanishes.
Warhammer's Daemon Moon Rising event now playing
If you haven't firmed up your MMO Halloween plans, we've got another event to tell you about. Warhammer Online's Daemon Moon Rising shindig is going on now through November 1st. It features a Daemonball Rally public quest, a Daemon Mask event quest, and the High Pass Cemetery Scenario which offers extra influence if you participate wearing a Daemon Mask. There are seasonal drops aplenty, too, including crafting components for talisman-makers. Full event details are available on the official Warhammer website.
Rise and Shiny revisit: Dark Age of Camelot
About once a year I like to take a look back at Dark Age of Camelot, the classic PvP MMO by Mythic Entertainment, just to reassure myself that older MMOs are still some of the best around. Dark Age of Camelot comes from that older crop of titles like Asheron's Call and EverQuest, games that still shine despite their age. Of course the next logical question is, "If these games are still so good, why aren't more of us still playing them?" There's an easy answer, really. First of all, we don't spend time sitting around listening to our favorite albums or watching our favorite movies constantly, but we still appreciate them, possibly more than we did when we first found them. Next, all games are finite for us as individuals. There is no MMO that offers endless content if we take away the endless player-made content that comes from roleplay or exploration. No matter how good a game like Dark Age of Camelot was and still is, many of us have already experienced it quite a bit. It's only human to become slightly bored with something we've played with time and again. But once again, I've spent a week in a game that shows it's always a good thing to check back on our favorites. They just might surprise you all over again.
Hailan Rising raises funds for 'love-child of DAoC and CoD'
MMO Kickstarter projects are coming out of the woodwork now, and each one has to sell its concept to would-be donors or else face possible extinction. Today's scrappy contender is Hailan Rising, the "love-child of Dark Age of Camelot and Call of Duty," according to the devs. Hailan Rising is a fantasy PvP MMO that ditches classes and levels for a more level (but not equal) playing field. It features instant action, strategic territory control, randomized loot, and over four billion possible character builds. The game is built on the Unity 3-D engine. The project is being worked on by a couple of MMO studio vets: Adam Smith (Knight Online) and Jess Mulligan (Asheron's Call, Ultima Online). Mulligan said he was attracted to the title's unique PvP mechanic, adding that "this is the fastest and most competitive PvP environment I've ever seen in an MMO." The team's Reloaded studio is looking to raise $275,000 to finish the game for a potential 2013 launch on Mac and PC. If the stretch goal is met, the developers are eyeing mobile platforms as well. Hailan Rising has been in development since 2010. [Additional source: Reloaded press release]
