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Eligium using Facebook to start the beta push
Earlier this year, Frogster announced its upcoming new MMO, Eligium - The Chosen One. But before you can test yourself in the game to see if you are in fact the figure of destiny referred to in the title, there's a much more functional test that has to take place. Specifically, the beta test. Yes, the official site has opened up registration with the alluring call of securing your beta access. To help drum up the game on social media, the game's Facebook page is the nexus of the beta push; players who choose to Like the game and comment spurring more beta invitations being sent out. Of course, you can't get invited if you don't register, can you? While the solid details on the gameplay are still a bit sketchy, if you'd like to see what the developer of Runes of Magic is working on this time, you should probably head over to Facebook and start commenting. [Thanks to Piaskowy for the tip!]
EverQuest II adds dungeon finder, double Station Cash weekend on tap for Europe
Love it or loathe it, the increasingly popular dungeon finder mechanic has finally made its way to Norrath. Today's EverQuest II patch features a variation on the random grouping tool initially made famous in World of Warcraft. Adventurers can queue solo or as a group by clicking the dungeon finder icon on their EQII menus, and it's worth noting that signing up for a random dungeon will net you a 25% XP boost. Other patch details worth mentioning include a, ahem, rebalance of the Dirge mythical effect as well as a Troubador revamp. Finally, European EQII fans should be pleased to know that this weekend features a double Station Cash promotion to celebrate the availability of pre-paid SOE game cards at retailers throughout the region.
S4 League Season 3 looking for design submissions
You say you want player-generated content? You think you're a cut above the average armchair designer? Well, it's time to put your money where your mouth is thanks to a new contest sponsored by alaplaya and its S4 League title. According to the company's latest press release, S4 will be getting a "major expansion" in 2012, and the kicker is that it could be designed by you! "Players are encouraged to submit any and all ideas" for S4 League: Season 3, and the grand-prize winner will have the honor of seeing her design brought to life and played by thousands of gamers for years to come. Oh, and the design champ will also pocket a cool 100,000 alaplaya points. There are only a couple of days to go before the October 7th deadline, so head to the official website for all the details.
Win an Age of Conan lifetime sub in new Funcom sweepstakes
Feeling lucky? If so, you want might want to enter Funcom's new Age of Conan sweepstakes. One grand-prize winner will take home a lifetime premium sub to the fantasy MMORPG along with 6,000 cash shop points and the opportunity to have an in-game NPC named after one of your characters. Five first-prize winners will grab the ultimate Conan fan pack, which includes an in-game pleasure companion (nope, we're not kidding), 2,500 Funcom points, and three purebred mounts. Finally, second-prize winners will receive 1,000 Funcom points. The sweepstakes starts today, October 4th, and runs through November 22nd. Check out the details on the Age of Conan Facebook page, and don't forget to take a look at the official contest rules while you're at it.
Black Prophecy celebrates World Space Week with bonus events
Did you know that it's world space week? Yep, it is, and gamigo is leveraging the occasion to hype its free-to-play Black Prophecy MMORPG. A new company press release has the details, and they boil down to a couple of special events both in and around the space shooter. First up is an XP boost that grants players a 25% increase on both missions and enemy kills. gamigo is also offering an additional 15% extra cash on all cash shop packet purchases. Also of note is Black Prophecy's first official expansion. Episode 2: Species War is out now, and you can view an official trailer for the new content after the break. [Source: gamigo press release]
Flyff World Championship offering prizes to players as the tournament continues
Think you're a pretty good Flyff player? We hate to be the bearers of bad news, but your opportunity to call yourself among the best is pretty well fading. The first Flyff world championship is currently ongoing, with the sixteen finalists now competing for the opportunity to be crowned the best team of players in the world. Two teams have already been eliminated, with livestreaming coverage of the events available on the official championship channel. But maybe you don't consider yourself one of the best in the world and don't usually care about these sorts of events. That's all right -- you've still got reason to enjoy it. Players will receive a special item every day just for logging in, as well as another item for every level they gain, from September 28th until October 31st. It's an all-around excellent opportunity for Flyff fans to enjoy the game, whether struggling for the top spot or just leveling for fun. [Source: Press release]
Guild Wars rolling out the annual Halloween contest
We're still a month away from the holiday that invariably fills every game with ghosts and ghouls, but that's no reason not to get started on your Halloween plans. Especially if your plans involve the annual Guild Wars contest, a chance for players to show off their creativity by designing some game-themed art. And this year, one of the prizes includes the small sensation that's sweeping the nation, the Charr plush doll pictured above. Running until October 13th, the contest calls for players to submit a photo of their work in .JPG format for ease of viewing. This year's prizes are split between the general art category and costumes, with both sides receiving the same lineup of offerings. Win the Grand Prize, First Prize, or Second Prize, and you'll be able to call one of the adorable fiery harbingers of destruction your own. Make sure to take a look at the official rules, and then you should probably buckle down and start working on that Dervish outfit.
RIFT veteran rewards coming with 1.5 update
It's somewhat wonky to think about veteran rewards for an MMORPG that's barely six months old, but nonetheless Trion is trotting out various incentives to keep players subscribing to RIFT and adventuring through the wilds of Telara with in-game shinies in tow. Beginning with the game's 1.5 update, "being a veteran Ascended means honor, respect, and awesome rewards," according to the informational blurb on RIFT's website. We'll leave the honor and respect bit to your fertile imaginations, but the awesome rewards are quite tangible. They include full Guardian and Defiant uniforms, personal vendors, and on-the-go mailboxes. You can also buy your way to full veteran status (and unlock the high tier rewards immediately) by purchasing a multi-month subscription. Look for more details in our upcoming interview with Trion. [Thanks to Ren54 for the tip!]
Officers' Quarters: Classic blunders
Every Monday, Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership. He is the author of The Guild Leader's Handbook, available now from No Starch Press. Last week, we heard about an incident where a player received a rather hostile in-game mail from an officer after missing a raid following the death of a relative. The issue stemmed from a lack of communication among the guild's officers. Along that theme, this week's email describes a case where lack of communication -- and some other classic blunders -- escalated into a full-blown drama bomb. Hey Scott, So I'm an Officer in a medium sized guild. Our main focus is to simply have fun, help each other out, PVP, raid, and everything else in between. I've only recently become an Officer for our guild as decided by other Officers and the Guild Leader. About a month ago we got a new recruit. Let's call him Jack. Jack is a personal friend of our guild leader which we thought was awesome. Having at least one person you know in the guild personally has always helped us stay grounded in and out of the game. My girlfriend is a recruit in the guild and one of my best friends is one of the Officers. So about a week ago, I logged in to see that Jack had mysteriously been ranked up to Officer rank as well. This confused me. I had been in the guild for almost a year before I was even considered for a role of responsibility. I pulled out my phone and texted my Officer buddy, let's call him Bob, to come over. I explained to him that I didn't think it was very fair that Jack got to be an Officer when everyone else had to work their way up in the guild. To my surprise, Bob had no idea about Jack's promotion. There are only 3 people in our guild that can even rank someone up to Officer and that's our GL, Bob, and another high ranking Officer. Bob proceeded to contact our GL and found out that she had promoted Jack without consulting any of her officers first. Now Bob was pissed.
SOE readying EverQuest II double XP weekend
Pick out your favorite grind spots, adventurers (and tradeskillers too, for that matter), as Sony Online Entertainment is trotting out an EverQuest II double experience weekend starting on Friday, September 2nd. The XP smorgasbord will end on Monday, September 5th, so if you've got no plans for the Labor Day weekend as of yet, why not spend a portion of it in Norrath? It's as good a time as any to check out the new itemization revamp that debuted with the recent GU 61 patch, and don't forget that the bonus applies to alternate advancement experience as well. More details are available via EQ2Wire and the official EQII website.
Fallen Earth store goes all the way with a 100% rebate event
You know what's better than spending a bunch of money on buying in-game items for your character in the soon-to-be free-to-play Fallen Earth? Spending a bunch of money on buying in-game items for your character and then getting all of that money back. Sounds too good to be true? It's not. From August 18th to August 23rd, GamersFirst is holding a 100% rebate promotion for the game, where every purchase will come with a nice big rebate of every credit used in the purchase. Now, before you ask, it's not quite free -- the rebate comes after the end of the promotion, meaning that if you spend $20 during the promotion, you will be credited with $20 after the promotion ends. Still, it's a chance to pick up all sorts of fun accessories, several of which are deeply discounted during the promotion. Fallen Earth players would be well advised to browse the market and decide if there's anything worth buying -- after all, it all comes back to you in the end.
Age of Conan offering free potion pack for all
As if you didn't have enough incentive to log into Age of Conan lately, Funcom is giving you one more. Yes, Unchained is here, as is free-to-play and a lot of new content. On top of that, the AoC Facebook page just mentioned a promotion called The King's Reward which runs through the end of the month. Every Age of Conan player will receive a free potion pack via the new in-game store, and unlike everything else in the cash shop, the bundle is free of charge. Goodies include various flavors of XP-enhancing potions (including PvP, mastery, and regular XP), a temporary PvP evade boost, and a resurrect potion. These items may only be claimed on one avatar per account, so choose wisely if you've got a ton of toons lounging about on your character select screen.
RIFT founders receive free game client for friends
RIFT founders, check your emails. Trion Worlds has sent out a new offer tied to its Ascend-a-Friend promotion. The program is geared toward early (and multi-month) adopters and their RIFT-less buddies, and aims to bring people together in the world of Telara for hours of adventure and progression. The founder email features a code that grants your friend a free copy of the game client, and as long as your pal signs up under the Ascend-a-Friend program, he'll count towards your reward total. If you manage to convert three friends, you'll receive an Ember Steed which matches the speed of your fastest mount, and probably looks a lot nicer to boot. Your friend isn't left out in the cold, of course. In addition to a free copy of RIFT, Ascend-a-Friend participants will get a unique in-game title ("The Chosen") as well as the ability to summon (or be summoned) to their referring buddy once every half hour.
Android deals just got weird: free phones for pants, free flights for phones
Next time you're trying on a pair of (non musical) jeans, why not snag a free Android phone to help fill their roomy pockets? And while you're shopping for that big trip you've got planned, you can let "HTC Airlines" book that flight for you. Honest, it's no trouble at all. Well, it's a little trouble. Wet Seal's "try on some pants and get a free phone" deal comes attached to a two-year contract, and those flights? Still free, but only if you happen to be picking up your HTC Status or Salsa in Germany. You didn't expect them to offer a free ride to just anybody, anywhere, did you?
RIFT's offers limited-time subscription discounts
Getting into the RIFT groove and certain you'll be sticking it out for a while to come? Then there's a way you could be saving some money as well by signing up for one of Trion Worlds' new subscription plans during the "Summer of Savings" period that began this month. By committing to three, six or 12-month subscriptions, players can enjoy RIFT for a substantially lower monthly cost than the standard $14.99 fee. The three-month option comes out to be $12.29 per month, the six-month is $10.29, and the annual option is $8.99. It's interesting to note that these prices are close to those set by Trion for pre-order founders. A player using founder's pricing can pay $59.94 for a six-month subscription while a Summer of Savings customer will shell out $61.74 for the same service. As with founder's pricing, players can lock in these discounted rates -- as long as they stay subscribed to the game. The small print informs us that if a promotional subscriber discontinues service and then re-ups later on, he or she will have to revert to standard pricing.
Heatwave CEO talks Gods and Heroes population
Fans of Heatwave Interactive's recently launched Gods and Heroes MMO will be happy to note that the dev team is not sitting idly by now that the game has launched. Heatwave CEO Anthony Castoro has penned an update post on the official forums that features a lot of frank talk about the game and its immediate future, including the need to "begin a promotion that will drive thousands more players to the game and turn Baccus, Mars, and Jupiter into communities bursting at the seams." Castoro doesn't elaborate on what the promotion might be, but he does say that even though Gods and Heroes doesn't need 500,000 users to turn a profit, "our current growth rate isn't good enough." Finally, Castoro notes that the game has "an awareness issue and our pricing model doesn't seem to be tantalizing enough." Whether Heatwave is looking at a freemium conversion or simply a price reduction coupled with more advertising, Castoro's post makes clear that the team is in it for the long haul. Check out the blurb on the official forums for a list of Heatwave's immediate priorities.
Recruit-a-Friend program comes to EverQuest
Sony Online Entertainment's Recruit-a-Friend program (otherwise known as the powerlevel-your-alts-with-multiple-accounts program) has been a hit in EverQuest II for quite some time now. It's only natural that the initiative make its way to the original incarnation of Norrath, and SOE's Piestro has posted a notice on the official EverQuest boards marking just such an occasion. Recruits and recruiters will enjoy a wealth of benefits including in-game mounts, bonus Station Cash, Legends of Norrath booster packs, a unique title, and of course, loads of bonus XP. Check out all the details on the o-boards, then hit up the official RaF page to get started.
The Perfect Ten: Reasons to go back to older MMOs
When one MMO dies, it forces us to look at the rest of the bunch through the sunglasses of mortality. Games we didn't think twice about last week suddenly gain new relevance as we try to imagine a post-apocalyptic world where they cease to exist. I've always thought that our hobby is built on a shared illusion, one by which we all just pretend that these games will go on indefinitely, but that's not really the case. As I try to pull us out of the tailspin depression of the previous paragraph, let me say that the finite nature of MMO lifespans shouldn't deter us from getting involved in them; on the contrary, it should make what they do and what they are that much more precious to us -- precious like a little show dog that we pet obsessively or an all-powerful ring forged in the fires of Mount Doom and given to completely clueless gardeners for safekeeping. In fact, I think this is the perfect time -- summertime -- to give older MMOs a try, and I'm willing to argue that while wearing my best white suspenders and southern drawl. If it please the gentlemen and ladies of the court, here are 10 reasons why we should go back to the MMOs of yore.
Wizard101 goes anti-disco in the June producer's letter
The community at Wizard101 is still riding high on the recent Wintertusk world expansion, and according to the June producer's letter, KingsIsle wants to keep the good times rolling. Apart from relaying a few testimonials about the recent expansion, the producer's letter is all about the Benjam-- er, Crowns. Leah Ruben spotlights a couple of promotional sales from the company, including a Dragon's Hoard booster pack that has the potential to deliver rare goodies, and a GameStop card that unleashes a genie (among other things) in your Wizard101 world. Ruben says that a recent graphical issue known as "discoing" on older machines is now fixed. "While sometimes it's fun to dance the disco with flashing colors and lights," she jokes, "it's a bit distracting when you're trying to adventure through the new worlds." Finally, Ruben says that the UK version of the game has added a German language version for those who perfer to play in their native tongue. Assuming that you're German and not Swedish. Or Kenyan. Or... well, you get the point. You can read the full producer's letter over at Wizard101.
Get RIFT for $9.99 this weekend
Trion's got a couple of weekend deals in store for all you last-minute Father's Day shopping slackers, provided of course that the gaming dad in your family plays RIFT. First up is a $9.99 special that gives you the full game client. Gameplay time will cost you extra, though, so assuming you go with the standard monthly fee, you're looking at around 25 bucks for full access to Telara. Next up is the trial upgrade collector's edition special, which will set you back $16.99. You get the full client per above as well as a tartagon mount, a collector's satchel, and a bogling wastrel pet. Both deals are digital only, so if your dad, husband, or baby's daddy wants a box, you'll need to check out the brick and mortar or online retailers listed on Trion's website.
