pvp
Latest
Some of ArcheAge's servers are back online this morning
Trion's FireCait addressed the latest ArcheAge downtime crisis on the official forums just before 5 a.m. this morning: Hi all! Here's the latest update for everyone. You can log into the following EU servers: Shatigon, Kyprosa, Eanna, Dahuta, Aier, Orchidna & Melisara. We continue to work on Nui, Janudar and Nebe. In North American, you can log into Aranzeb, Naima, Kyrios, Ollo, Tahyang, Salphira, Enla, Ezi and Lucius. Inoch and Calleil continue to be offline as we work to resolve the issues on those servers. Please note that the servers that are being worked on will show up on the server selection, and vanish from the server selection screen, as they are being worked on. Their visibility is not an indication of their status until we indicate that they are fully online. We expect to have another update for you in the mid-late morning (Pacific time). Thank you all for your patience. The servers were down Sunday and Monday for what Trion called "unscheduled maintenance." The studio told Massively yesterday that players will be compensated for the extended multi-day outage, though exactly how hasn't yet been announced. Queues are reportedly still keeping many players from logging into the live servers on Tuesday. Oh yeah, and that rumor about the servers catching on fire and being in a state of desperate salvage? It's not true. "This did not happen," Trion's Scapes declared to forumgoers. Ocho likewise dismissed the idea that exploits are responsible for the downtime.
Guild Wars 2 launches Seeds of Truth today
Oh, that darn Caithe, running off with that MacGuffin dragon egg at the end of the last Guild Wars 2 story update! Someone should go after her. And while someone's going after her, someone should probably collect more armor set pieces and explore more of the Silverwastes. If you haven't guessed by now, that someone is going to be you. The latest update to the game, Seeds of Truth, is live today, and you'll need to... well, you read all of that up above, yes? Aside from salad-based antics, the update features some major PvP changes, including reworked matchmaking and the test season for organized league play. So if you're there more for the mechanics than the story, that may be more of your speed. If you're there for the story, though, get ready to start retracing Caithe's memories, figure out what happened, and dealing with the fallout of that stolen egg. [Source: ArenaNet press release]
ArcheAge's 'unscheduled maintenance' stretches into day two [Updated]
Would you like to play ArcheAge today? Well, good luck with that! Two of the fantasy sandpark's North American servers are currently up but sporting a queue, which wouldn't be that big of a deal except for the fact that they've basically been down since November 30th along with several other shards. Trion community manager Evan "Scapes" Berman first posted about the outage -- due to "unscheduled maintenance" -- yesterday morning, and he continued to update the post as instability and latency issues occurred throughout the day and into the evening. Massively has contacted Trion seeking comment. [Thanks everyone who tipped us.] [Update]: Trion provided Massively with the following statement. "The team's been working all night and has already made a lot of progress improving things and are currently working on fixing the remaining problems with XL GAMES' help. We should have updates coming to the community in the next few hours." The firm also mentioned "extra generous" compensation for the downtime, and said it would have more info on that once the problems are fully resolved.
ArcheAge launching in China in July 2015
If you want to relive the experience of ArcheAge's launch again or just love seeing the game come out in new regions, you'll want to keep your eyes on the game's Chinese version. Tencent Games recently announced that the game will launch in China in July of 2015, complete with some exclusive content to entice players who may have already heard of the game. Players in the Chinese version can look forward to what appear to be panda-styled gliders, special pets, some new costumes, new ship designs, and traditional Chinese house designs. No word has been released on business models, although it's almost a given that the game will be free-to-play as it is almost everywhere else in the world. Let's hope for a smooth launch for Chinese ArcheAge fans free of bugs and game-breaking exploits.
Battlefields open in Sevencore's first expansion
Sevencore may have just enjoyed its global launch at the beginning of this month, but there's already an expansion just around the corner. On December 2nd, Webzen will release Occupation War for the English server Balmung. This expansion includes the battlefields Tillau and Crimson Plateau, where players can earn victory points (VP) to spend on weapons, armor, random boxes, and even mounts from the PvP vendors. Each Saturday at 4:00 p.m. EST, one guild will compete against the others for control a certain area. Winners of this contest will be able to collect taxes and manage prices in regional goods as well as access the Presidential election for Inadar. [Source: Webzen press release]
Path of Exile plans a massive PvP update for patch 1.3
Path of Exile focuses each of its major updates around a certain element of play, and the next patch is no exception. For the 1.3 update, the development team is focusing on massively expanding and improving PvP. The patch will contain new challenge leagues (one of which is shown off in a video just past the cut), new items, and a passive skill tree improvement, but that's small time compared to the huge changes coming for PvP fans. Tournaments and PvP seasons are both being introduced, with the first season containing an alternate art item as a prize. There's also a new PvP master being added to the game, allowing you to clear your daily quests via PvP. Last but most certainly not least, players will have the option of creating PvP-only characters that start out at level 28, although they'll still have to hunt down their equipment on other characters. It's a big update, and it's currently scheduled to hit the live servers for the game on December 12th.
Camelot Unchained's fourth newsletter covers the state of the game
The build for Camelot Unchained is constantly improving in functionality. Dual-targeting is now implemented, allowing players to have separate friendly and hostile targets for various effects. The hotbar UI is improving. Auto-run is in the game. How do we know all of this? It's all in the latest newsletter from the development team, which discusses every aspect of the title from the stability and performance of the current build to future plans and technology integration. Aside from the current state of the alpha testing build, the newsletter answers several community questions about possible new races and weaponry, shows off some of the armor designs that are being explored for mages, and talks about the game's reward structure. And even that isn't a full rundown of everything in the dispatch. If you're a fan of what's going on with Camelot Unchained, it might be best to just curl up with some holiday leftovers and read the full newsletter.
Defiance gets new Aftermath content, Thanksgiving event
Defiance has received a free update called Aftermath that builds "off of the climactic season two TV finale," according to a Trion press release. There's new content that will "carry players across various locales from Silicon Valley to Paradise as the world teeters on the verge of all-out war between the Earth Republic and Votanis Collective," and it includes new events, contracts, pursuits, and enemies. Don't forget about the Thanksgiving-themed New Frontier Harvest, which runs from November 26th through December 10th. As well, don't forget about the Aftermath trailer that's waiting for you behind the break. [Source: Trion press release]
Trion shuts down ArcheAge APEX purchases again
Good news, ArcheAge fans! APEX purchases have been disabled again following reports of another exploit! Wait, did we say good news? That's not good news. That's bad news. Familiar bad news, but bad news. Community manager Evan "Scapes" Berman addressed a thread calling attention to the exploit on Sunday, stating that the development team was looking into the issue to determine whether or not an exploit existed while disabling APEX purchases as a preventative measure. This is hardly the first time APEX purchases have been disabled due to exploit issues; the same problem was being dealt with last Wednesday, with various hotfixes rolled out to prevent the issue. No ETA has been provided for when APEX purchases will be reinstated, nor have any declarations of rollbacks for characters been made at this time. [Thanks to Siphaed for the tip!]
EVE Evolved: What does Thera mean for EVE?
If you've been keeping up with the recent news updates on EVE Online, you've probably heard about the upcoming Rhea update scheduled for December 9th. This mega patch will introduce the new tech 3 Tactical Destroyer ship class, Sleeper incursions into normal space, hands-on WASD flight controls, and 101 new wormhole systems (including 25 that are limited to small ships). The new wormhole systems have had all of their planets shattered by an as-yet unknown stellar phenomenon, and clues as to what transpired there will be hidden in the rubble. This infusion of new content and story will mark the first time the wormhole storyline and gameplay have been significantly expanded in over four years. Each of the new shattered star systems is guaranteed to have at least one outgoing wormhole leading to normal space at all times, increasing the likelihood that pirates will catch you exploring or farming them. And since these systems won't have any in-tact moons, you won't be able to put up a permanent starbase to retreat to if hostiles appear. I'm pretty excited for exploring this new lawless frontier, but it's a unique shattered star system called Thera that I'm most looking forward to finding. Thera will be the first and only wormhole system to have fully kitted NPC stations and will serve as neutral ground for anyone who wants to live there. It's been described as the Mos Eisley of EVE, a permanent home to pirates, PvP corps, and smugglers looking to make some quick ISK. In this edition of EVE Evolved, I look at how the Thera system could revolutionise EVE for a lot of players and where the EVE storyline could go as a result.
H1Z1 dev vid talks cities, barricades, and more
SOE has published another H1Z1 dev spotlight vid. Environment artist Ruby Opfer is your host, and she spends the clip's three-minute running time expounding on various fan-submitted questions. Want to know about the zombie gankbox's underwater exploration potential? What about cities and the ability for players to take them over? How about structural barricades and whether or not you can line your bunker with crafted wooden spikes? All these questions and a few more are touched on just past the break.
Guild Wars 2 streamlines PvP queuing, adds map voting
How can Guild Wars 2's PvP experience be improved? By streamlining the flow, baby! A new dev diary posted today talks about how ArenaNet is working to improve match flow, starting with the elimination of PvP rosters and simply allowing players to queue solo or with a party. Other significant changes include replacing AFK players before matches begin, group voting on favorite maps, and using the dishonor system to ding those who leave or go AFK during matches. To get into PvP matches, players will now be required to go to the Heart of the Mists, which is being outfitted with additional core services so that it can be a fun social hub between games.
RIFT brings back Unicornalia
As the holiday season swiftly approaches, RIFT reminds us all of an important issue that doesn't get much discussion over the year: Unicorns. Oh, sure, the plight of these noble creatures can easily be dismissed with a waved hand and a claim that "these are fictional animals that do not actually exist," but RIFT's Unicornalia returning is a chance for everyone to adopt a unicorn in peril. During the event, which runs until November 26th, you can provide a home for an Onyx Unicorn or an Opal Unicorn. Both can potentially be received from the limited edition Sparkle Troves in the RIFT store. You can also obtain the Onyx Unicorn as a rare drop from an event in Moonshade Highlands or by completing the "A Rainbow in the Dark" achievement, while the Opal Unicorn can be received via Unicornalia dailies. Please, take time out of your day to consider the unicorns. They're not just for virgins any more.
Guild Wars 2's revamped sPvP rewards skillful play, not just wins
ArenaNet's Justin O'Dell is on dev blog duty today for Guild Wars 2, and his post is all about planned updates to the game's sPvP matchmaking and ladder ranking systems. "We decided to move to a score-based search method that takes into consideration several metrics that we believe are important for a match to be fun," he explains. "We chose a score-based system over other methods because we found that it's a good compromise between the often competing goals of match quality and short queue times." The system will do its best to match players by skill level, rank, party size, and so forth. Points awarded through the ladder ranking system are determined by final score and odds of victory in an attempt to ensure that playing well in spite of a loss is encouraged and that luck isn't the driving force in ranking. "Imagine a world where everyone took the saying 'It's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game' seriously," O'Dell says. "Wouldn't that be great?"
New SMITE vid reveals the Dragon King of the Eastern Seas
I keep thinking that SMITE is going to run out of minor gods to turn into MOBA characters. And I keep being wrong since every week or so, Hi-Rez takes a deity I've never heard of and plops him or her down in the middle of its free-to-play fight club. The latest example is Ao Kuang, the Dragon King of the Eastern Seas that we mentioned last week. This week, though, he's got a video! Click past the cut to see how he fares in the online battleground of the gods.
Leaderboard: Which aspect of ArcheAge needs immediate attention?
It may be stating the obvious at this point, but ArcheAge has had a rough couple of weeks. First there was the Auroria patch and the resulting downtime fiasco that prompted a Trion apology. Then there was the thunderstruck tree market meltdown that was triggered by a new cash shop item, followed by this week's exploit-related shutdown of the very same cash shop. Clearly XLGAMES and Trion have a lot of work to do, but I'm betting that the community has differing opinions on what that work should entail. In this week's Leaderboard, tell us what aspect of ArcheAge needs immediate attention. As always, the poll's just past the cut! Ever wish that you could put to rest a long-standing MMO debate once and for all? Then welcome to the battle royal of Massively's Leaderboard, where two sides enter the pit o' judgment -- and only one leaves. Vote to make your opinion known, and see whether your choice tops the Leaderboard!
Defiance goes free-to-play on Xbox 360 (finally)
Xbox 360 players are no longer excluded from the Defiance party, as the game went free-to-play on the console yesterday. Players will need an Xbox Live gold membership to install the game for free, and they can then enjoy all of the content up through the aftermath of Season 2. Trion Worlds gave a bunch of goodies to Defiance owners with the conversion, including a 30-day patron pass, four character slots, and 1,000 Arkforge. This switch has been a long time coming, especially when you consider that the sci-fi shooter MMO converted to F2P on the PC back in June and on the PlayStation 3 back in August.
Hartsman addresses ArcheAge APEX exploit: 'There isn't a dupe bug'
ArcheAge has been having a bit of trouble with bugs and exploits since its launch, if you haven't noticed. Trion Worlds head Scott Hartsman has weighed in on the APEX bug that has been affecting the game; specifically, he's said that the bug is not a dupe bug. Players were rather upset as soon as this announcement was made, pointing out that the bug is a known issue that has been affecting the game and the playerbase since it was first discovered. Community manager Evan "Scapes" Berman clarified that the bug in question is not, strictly speaking, a dupe bug; rather than duplicating an item multiple times, the bug was allowing players to continue to reap the benefits of an item without consuming it as intended. APEX are still unavailable as more hotfixes are put into place to prevent further abuse of exploits, with action already being taken to both patch out the issue and remove funds accumulated by abuses of the exploit.
Guild Wars 2 plans a big PvP patch for December 2nd
On December 5th, the first World Tournament Series for Guild Wars 2 will conclude with a showdown between the four best teams across the United States, Europe, and China. Right before that, on December 2nd, the Guild Wars 2 team will be deploying several large-scale updates to the game's PvP. So if you've been watching the tournament with rapt interest, you'll have a number of shiny new systems to test out; if you haven't, you can still reap the benefits of an improved PvP system in the game. Matchmaking is one of the biggest game mechanics seeing alterations. Players will be sorted by Glicko2 ratings for matchmaking purposes and subjected to a dishonor system that punishes behavior like leaving mid-match. The net result is a full ladder system for the game that will serve as a foundation for large-scale league play, with a test season planned for mid-December to make sure all of the parts work properly. There are more adjustments to be revealed over the next two weeks, but for now, dedicated PvP fans can rest easy knowing that more boosts are coming. [Source: ArenaNet press release]
Das Tal's latest stress test happens this Saturday
Fantasy PvP sandbox Das Tal is hosting a pre-alpha stress test this weekend, according to developer Fairytale Distillery's latest press release. The test runs from 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. EST on Saturday, November 22nd. Das Tal's previous stress test attracted a population nearly three times as large as a normal test, and as a result the devs have increased capacity which means that the "servers will be packed full of PvP." To get in on all the killing, you'll need to sign up as an alpha tester and then check your inbox for an invite. There's also a sneak preview available for viewing via the alpha test footage after the break.
