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Massively exclusive: Luvinia Online enchants, crafts, enhances and reshapes
On the last exciting episode of Luvinia Online Exposé, Outspark shared with us some of the design plans and interesting mechanics behind its gear system for this upcoming title. Today, it's all about enchanting -- the interesting art of taking something and pimping the heck out of it -- and other cool ways to customize the items in your inventory. So what does Luvinia's system for gear upgrades look like, and how can players best utilize these features to fine-tune their characters' potential? We'll let the devs at Outspark answer this for themselves: You gotta have options Last time we talked a little bit about some ways to make what you've got even better with energy stones. While the energy stones are temporary and add quite a bit of personalized bang for the buck, there are also a few ways to permanently update your gear to better suit your role. The two big ones we'll cover are enchanting and card placement, but there are a few other tricks in game to help you too.
Choose My Adventure: Seriia
If you missed the results from the vote in last week's Choose My Adventure, then you would not know that female Eth DPS Cleric won the votes. I did not make the livestream schedule last week, which was totally my fault. I apologize. However, I did go ahead and do a stream on my Justin.TV channel that you are welcome to watch. In that video, the viewers and I created the character you see above here. She is named Seriia. She lives on the Faeblight server and currently wanders near the Ark of the Ascended in Freemarch. Feel free to add her to your friends list and say hello when you see her online. I did enjoy my first steps in RIFT, but as with any MMO experience there were ups and downs. As you can see, I documented parts of the story with screenshots in the gallery below. I can certainly see why RIFT appeals to many MMO players, but at the same time, multiple facets of the game could turn some players off. But I don't want to talk about that on this front page. Jump past the cut as I weave the tale of Seriia, the Chosen. %Gallery-131417%
Guild Wars 2's crafting system detailed and demonstrated
Guild Wars 2 fans, it's time to get out your smithing hammers and fire up your forges. Freshly imported from Gamescom 2011 is a new video outlining Guild Wars 2's crafting system. The game offers eight different professions, and -- like many other MMOs -- you are granted your choice of two of those professions at any given time. However, unlike many MMOs that give you a set list of recipes based on your crafting level and then limit you to crafting only those recipes, Guild Wars 2's system allows players to experiment with different combinations of materials to see if they form a new recipe. Only guy on the server who's figured out how to make that badass warhammer? Don't tell anyone and monopolize the market! Also gone are the days of skill points. Rather than giving crafting recipes a somewhat random chance to give you a skill-up, Guild Wars 2's crafting system provides you with an experience bar for your tradeskill, with each completed recipe providing a set amount of experience toward the next level. But what if you're not happy with your profession choices? While the game only allows you to have two active professions at any given time, you're able to freely swap one profession for another while retaining progress made in your former profession. So if you want to drop your level 50 profession to mess around with another, you can pick back up where you left off at a later time. For the developer commentary and a whopping 20 minutes of hands-on time with two different professions, hop on past the cut for the full video. [Thanks to Paul for the tip!]
Final Fantasy XIV streamlining the crafting process
Crafting in Final Fantasy XIV is involved. Not just the mechanics of crafting an item, but also figuring out the frequently broad range of different items and skills needed for seemingly simple pieces of equipment. It can be immersive, but it's also frequently counterproductive and takes the whole process further than is necessary. Which is why the advent of patch 1.19 will see a major change to several crafting recipes, adding new formulas to the game that will allow players an easier path through the crafting system. The overall goal is to reduce the number of intermediate steps needed to craft an item and reduce the number of parts that go into the construction of each item, thereby reducing both inventory clutter and the glut of of necessary crafts. While only a handful of specific examples are shown, they demonstrate that crafters should find the new recipes much easier to put together without extensive searching. But if you've still got Hempen Shirtsleeves clogging your inventory, fear not, as the old recipes will remain in place for a while. For the most part, it should be a welcome announcement that will make each act of crafting that much less ornate.
Gold Capped: Inventory balancing in TradeSkillMaster
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Gold Capped, in which Basil "Euripides" Berntsen aims to show you how to make money on the auction house. Email Basil with your questions, comments, or hate mail! TradeSkillMaster is the most powerful addon used to automate crafting and batch posting, and today, we'll be learning how to fine-tune the number of items created based on your selling history. Generally, when you started using TSM, you set up a default number of items for each trade skill group that you wanted it to keep in stock. For example, I told it to: Always craft enough scrolls that I had two on the auction house when they were profitable. Always craft enough of each meta-gem cut to ensure that I always had three on the AH when they were profitable. Now when I hit the Restock Queue button in enchanting or jewelcrafting, it queues up enough stock to bring my inventory levels to two scrolls or three gems. What if I invested in some recipe I sell a lot more of, though?
ArenaNet revealing Guild Wars 2 PvP and customization at Gamescom
Europe's largest game expo is getting ready for plenty of Guild Wars 2 goodness, as ArenaNet will be bringing its highly anticipated fantasy MMO to the Cologne convention that runs from August 17th to August 21st. In a new post on the company blog, Martin Kerstein gives us an idea of what we can expect from the NCsoft demo booth. The playable GW2 build will include all seven professions revealed thus far, the complete Charr starter experience, and a mid-level demo featuring powerful Orrian enemies (and Sylvari and Asura playable characters). Last but not least, gamers will finally get their hands on Guild Wars 2's character customization system as well as its PvP component. Hands-on PvP experiences will be available, and players can also watch exhibition matches between developers and select European players.
Prime: Battle for Dominus shows off crafting and professions
Pitchblack Games has been steadiy releasing new tidbits of information on its upcoming PvP-focused MMO Prime: Battle for Dominus, and today we've got some spanking new information on the game's crafting and professions systems. In addition to their main classes, players will be able to choose one of seven crafting professions. These professions are Harvester, Armortech, Weapontech, Chemist, Inventory, Biotech, and Soldier for Hire. Most of these professions are fairly straightforward; Harvesters harvest crafting materials, Armortechs and Weapontechs craft armor and weaponry, Biotechs craft biological augmentations to enhance players' abilities, Chemists create "powerful enhancements that can turn the tide of any battle," and Inventors appear to invent new schematics that other crafters on their faction can use to create new and more powerful items. But what about the black sheep of the bunch, the Soldier for Hire? That's where things get interesting. Perhaps you're the sort of player that would rather make a living destroying things than creating them. If so, the Soldier for Hire is right up your alley. You work as a mercenary, protecting other players, with your payment worked right into the game mechanics. The full details on the rather in-depth crafting system can be found on the game's official site.
Gold Capped: How to use trade chat to make gold
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Gold Capped, in which Basil "Euripides" Berntsen aims to show you how to make money on the auction house. Email Basil with your questions, comments, or hate mail! When was the last time you saw trade chat used to actually trade more than Chuck Norris jokes? Interestingly, it can actually be used for making gold! This might be a bit of a paradigm shift, so bear with me here. Trade chat is simultaneously one of the most overused and underused tools in our toolbox. Non-auctioneers sometimes use it almost exclusively because the addon-free auction house is intimidatingly badly designed. Gold-making pros sometimes get so wrapped up in their own business that we miss out potentially profitable chats. So how can you use trade chat to profit?
Breakfast Topic: Are you a confirmed craftaholic?
This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. In my non-WoW life, I am the complete opposite of mechanically inclined. This caused my dad many problems as I was growing up, as he is a natural handyman. My mind is artistic, while my hands are not. This is probably one of the reasons I like to play WoW: I can craft. My only limit is the materials needed to craft. Outside of WoW, I have plenty of materials -- just no skill. Though I love to collect tabards, mounts, and pets, crafting is my passion. I have maxed out all of the professions except for leatherworking and tailoring. Hopefully within the next week, those will be maxed out, too. My favorite crafting profession is by far inscription. I love to make glyphs. I love to make Darkmoon Faire cards. I love getting my shoulder enchant at level 70 despite no rep with Hodir. My favorite thing to craft are Netherweave Bags. Honestly, this was the only reason why I wanted to have a tailor. I love making the bags and giving them away free to new players. My least favorite crafting profession is probably jewelcrafting. I enjoy all the perks, but the grind from 500 to 525 ... ugh. It is still hard for me to do the daily quest for my jewelcrafter. Here are my rankings of crafting professions: Inscription Engineering Cooking Alchemy Tailoring Blacksmithing Enchanting Leatherworking First Aid Jewelcrafting What are your favorite crafting professions and why?
The Daily Grind: Do you play specialist or generalist characters?
Myself, I'm a jack-of-all-trades type of player. If there's a class, profession or build out there that allows me to do a wide variety of things OK, then you can bet your bottom dollar that I'll be playing it. Sure, I never hit the top of the DPS or healing charts, but the freedom of choice that generalist builds allow me more than makes up for it. Classes are easy to define as either "specialist" or "generalist" if you're painting with a broad brush, although the truth is that many specialist classes and roles have generalist aspects, and generalist classes often can be specialized. So I think it all boils down to what you like to play and how you like to play it. So what do you enjoy more: playing specialist or generalist characters? Would you rather do a narrow range of actions really, really well, or a wide range of actions decently but not exceptionally? 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!
Gold Capped: Goodbye, level 84 crafting alts
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Gold Capped, in which Basil "Euripides" Berntsen aims to show you how to make money on the auction house. Email Basil with your questions, comments, or hate mail! When Cataclysm launched, it brought with it a new design for low-level crafting alts. In order to progress to the most desirable items, players had to get access to a "trader" NPC located in a phased area of the Twilight Highlands. This could not be done until level 84. A lot of auctioneers leveled a lot of alts they otherwise wouldn't have just so they could max out professions. I, however, was not one of them. And my laziness (or prescience?) seems to have paid off, because as of patch 4.1, all the previously locked profession content is now available from your friendly local profession trainers!
Gold Capped: 5 addons for profitable buying, selling and crafting
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Gold Capped, in which Basil "Euripides" Berntsen aims to show you how to make money on the auction house. Email Basil with your questions, comments, or hate mail! You can make gold in World of Warcraft without addons. You can also PvP and raid without addons; however, for the vast majority of people, that would result in lower performance. Unlike PvP and raiding, however, there is absolutely no way to use the default UI to be as productive in the auction house as you would be with addons. The default Blizzard UI for professions and the AH was not built for making money. I divide gold addon users into two groups: the people who want everything to be as efficient and streamlined as possible, and the people who simply want to be able to do basic tasks without as much hassle as the default UI imposes on us. Let's call them "power auctioneers" and "retail auctioneers." What addons are available now, and how can you use them to accomplish your goals?
Dungeon Fighter Online Act VIII coming April 13th
The world of Arad is coming under fire beginning on April 13th as monsters from across the realm will unite to lay waste to various cities and towns in Dungeon Fighter Online's Act VIII: Under Siege update. Every Thursday and Saturday from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. PDT, Dungeon Fighter Online players will need to team up to repel the hordes bent on wreaking havoc and destroying all in their path. DFO heroes will be handsomely rewarded for successfully driving off the beasties, while failure in the city defense initiative means that NPCs will deny trade and repair opportunities for a time. Additionally, Act VIII brings the ability for max-level players to choose professions (which in turn grants access to skills such as alchemy, enchanting, disassembly, and animation). Players will also be able to increase reputation and status via a new system that involves gifting NPCs with various items to build friendship and trust. Check out the DFO website for further details.
15 Minutes of Fame: Fishing for insights with El's Extreme Anglin'
From Hollywood celebrities to the guy next door, millions of people have made World of Warcraft a part of their lives. How do you play WoW? We're giving each approach its own 15 Minutes of Fame. Admit it: You thought the person behind the curtain at El's Extreme Anglin', the web's preeminent World of Warcraft fishing resource, was female, didn't you? Just one look into the soulful blue gnomish eyes of El, blinking innocently from atop her guides or curled up at the feet of the intrepid Nat Pagle, beckoning you through your first steps as an Azerothian angler ... You were hooked. You're not alone -- most players seem to have bonded with El's friendly female face. In reality, the blogger behind El (and El's Extreme Anglin') is none other than British analyst, consultant, writer, and thinker Tim Howgego. He's known for his penetrating blogging about public transport policy, market development, the application of internet-related technology -- oh, and of course, game design and WoW fishing. "To be honest, El is a lot more interested in catching fish," he confesses. "Tim is more interested in patterns of human behavior." Whatever the focus, it's wildly successful. El's Extreme Anglin' Googles in as the top result for searches on "fishing guide" -- that's just plain "fishing guide," nothing to do with the World of Warcraft. In a unique twist on our usual interviews, 15 Minutes of Fame managed to catch up with both Tim and El this week to talk shop about fishing. (Does that mean this is really 30 Minutes of Fame? 225 Minutes of Fame? No, wait -- with a gnome the size of El, perhaps it's more like 18 Minutes of Fame.) Between El's sagacious gnomish observations on Azerothian angling and Tim's insights into game development, there's something in this interview for everyone.
GDC 2011: ARGO Online pits nature against technology
If imaginative fiction has taught us anything, it's that the fun doesn't really begin until the world ends. Post-apocalyptic games are all the rage these days, from Earthrise to Fallen Earth, so it's not surprising to see another company throw its hat into the ring. Burda:ic may not be a household name, but it's hoping that its upcoming MMO, ARGO Online, will be. Achim Kaspers, the managing director at burda:ic, was overflowing with information about ARGO's unique look and business model. ARGO is planned to be a free-to-play title, although Kaspers is well aware of the stigma that typically goes along with that. He admits that many F2P games are lacking in content or are grind-heavy, fates he hopes ARGO will avoid with thousands of quests, fluid combat animation and plenty of places to explore. Billed as a "post-apocalyptic steampunk MMO," ARGO features a futuristic Earth divided between nature and technology. The Noblians are all over cool-looking steampunk devices and vehicles, while the Floresslah have united with nature to become its champions. We've been following ARGO since last year, so we're excited to hear that the title is scheduled to start its open beta tomorrow. Hit the jump for more of the good word on ARGO from GDC as well as a special treat for Massively readers! %Gallery-118525%
Lost Pages of Taborea: One crafter's obsession
Let me start this week off by telling you a little story of one crafter's obsession, of how he feels about crafting in MMOs, and what he hopes and dreams for. I love crafting. I want more of it. Whenever I loaded up Runes of Magic, it was the first thing I got my grubby virtual hands on. Now, I know there are a lot of people who will say they like crafting, but I'm here to separate us even further by telling you what I really think about when I want more crafting. I see lots of threads on the forums about how many people want crafting in RoM. There's a lot of conversation over how much work it should require and how much it should pay off. I feel disconnected from a lot of those players. I feel that we aren't truly like-minded. My brain doesn't run in the same direction. What the heck am I babbling about? Read on to find out.
Spiritual Guidance: Best professions for Cataclysm shadow priests
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Spiritual Guidance for discipline, holy and shadow priests. Each Wednesday, Fox Van Allen steps up to offer his State of the Spec address a nation of priests, preaching the superiority of the shadow spec. The holy and discipline spec response, offered by Dawn Moore, will be broadcast immediately after on a channel no one watches (like CNN or CBS). President Obama gave his State of the Union address last week. I didn't watch it, because I was too busy catching reruns of Canadian home improvement shows on HGTV. You understand. I don't follow politics. I don't even like to vote -- I just have my neighbor do it for me. As much as I tried avoiding the speech, I still caught bits and pieces of it the next morning. From what I hear, we're in a recession. Now, I'm not exactly sure what that means, per se. From what I understand, part of it is that people are having trouble finding jobs. I don't understand why, though -- jobs are plentiful in World of Warcraft. Why, they're so plentiful, everyone is encouraged to take two of them! Professions are a great way to earn money, but they also carry with them some powerful stats bonuses and profession-specific perks. Which two professions should your DPS-maximizing shadow priest choose? It's a tougher question than it sounds, and some of the top choices may surprise you.
Lichborne: Professions for level 85 death knights
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Lichborne for blood, frost, and unholy death knights. Join World of Warcraft's first hero class as we head into a new expansion and shed the new kid on the block label. With your death knight at level 85 and all kitted out for raids, there's one more step you can take to make your death knight the best he can be: Learn some professions. A profession can provide self-buffs that nudge your DPS or suvivability up to the next level. It can grab you a lot of extra gold on the auction house (or drain all your gold, depending on which profession you take and how you choose to level it). Finally, it can provide you with some cool toys. This week, we'll take a look at WoW's professions to see which ones are tops for a death knight.
Flameseeker Chronicles: The thrill is gone?
The Guild Wars 2 community has been buzzing over the past few days about the Guardian reveal. We were all thrilled to finally have another profession release, but what caught my attention was the number of people to whom this was no surprise whatsoever as well as the number of people who have predicted the next reveal with certainty. It's a big difference from way back when we got the first reveal, and I really can't decide whether it's a change for the better or not. Follow along after the jump as I take a look at how profession reveals have changed since last year as well as the pros and cons of those changes.
Enter at Your Own Rift: Sightseeing in Sanctum
One of the things I love about RIFT is its smaller, more intimate feel. Don't get me wrong -- there's still plenty of space to explore and get lost in, but the space that is present is used to great effect and isn't just there to make it seem bigger for bigger's sake. This is echoed in the two capital cities of the game, Sanctum (Guardian) and Meridian (Defiant). Both are gorgeously detailed and impressive in their own way, yet they're comfortable and accessible instead of sprawling and vast. If one thinks of the quest hubs, camps and villages dotting the world as mom and pop stores, then the capital cities are the Walmarts of RIFT: one-stop shops for all your character's needs. They're both fairly compact, although I found myself preferring Sanctum's beachfront atmosphere and circular layout over Meridian's underground labyrinth. Because all players will be traveling to and extensively using capital cities during the course of their in-game careers, I figured we might as well take a look at what capital cities -- Sanctum specifically -- have to offer. Jump on our people-mover as we wind our way through the sights and sounds of civilization!
