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Embark Beach and Mercenary Heroes coming to Guild Wars
Do you play Guild Wars with nothing to lose and nothing to prove? Then you might wind up dancing with yourself in the newest update to the game, which will add a new system of Mercenary Heroes -- turning other characters on your account into special heroes just for your use. And since this update also gives players the option to have a full party of seven heroes, there's plenty of reason to improve alts and play with them even on other characters. Of course, that's the least of the features packed into the new update, and you may not even need the new heroes with the introduction of the group-focused Embark Beach. Allowing players transport to a multitude of locations and missions, the outpost serves as a waypoint for players to find groups and get right into the action of a mission without any trouble. It's also a hub for services, making it an ideal place for players to congregate and look for any needed assistance. That's not even touching upon the new daily quests in Pre-Searing Ascalon, the changes to the Survivor title track to make it earnable on an existing character even after that character has died, and a new Minion UI feature. In short, Guild Wars players have plenty to dance about in the new update, whether by themselves or with others. %Gallery-9135%
J. Robert King talks about the second Guild Wars 2 novel, Edge of Destiny
As ArenaNet has been unveiling more and more racial lore about Guild Wars 2, there have been plenty of other sources for the upcoming game's backstory. Chief among those sources are the novels that have been mapping out the two centuries between the original Guild Wars and the sequel. Edge of Destiny is the second novel, written by J. Robert King, and it continues the story of the awakening Elder Dragons that shake the face of Tyria. We know that we've got more than a few regular readers interested in Guild Wars 2, and so we jumped at the opportunity to ask Mr. King a few questions about the storycrafting that went into writing Edge of Destiny. Click on past the break for more details on crafting the story and lore of Tyria's struggles and on how he worked in characters that are both iconic of the playable races while keeping them distinct and memorable.
Registration opens for Global Agenda's anniversary tournament
Are you a bad enough dude to take on all comers in a Global Agenda tournament? Do you want to have a totally sweet Tyrannosaurus on your head? The two are entirely linked -- the registration for the game's anniversary 4v4 tournament has just begun, and the prize for the winning team will be a new piece of flair in the style of the aforementioned dinosaur head. It's going to be a rough road to the top, but there's incentive to take part in the tourney even if you don't think you'll quite rock the top spot. Every team member who participates through the Group stage of the tournament will receive a Trike flair, and the top four teams in the event will all receive three Cyber Punk dyes as a consolation prize. Obviously you'll need a team of four people to take part, so now's the perfect time to round up three of your Global Agenda buddies and go for the gold. Or for the hat shaped like a multi-ton killing machine with possible tendencies toward scavenging, which is a bit more exciting than a gold medal anyway.
Dervishes get a major turnaround in Guild Wars
Introduced with the third campaign of Guild Wars, Dervishes have always been a unique class, swinging scythes in wide arcs and using a combination of enchantments and melee strikes to take out opponents. Of course, being a unique class also leads to a lot of unique issues, which the development team is hoping to address with the coming update. The preview promises that over 90% of the Dervish skills have been changed, with the overall goal of improving the class in a broad spectrum rather than just tweaking the numbers on a handful of skills. Among the more far-reaching changes are several Dervish skills using Adrenaline, the addition of new "flash enchantments" to allow Dervishes to enchant themselves while on the move, and a restructuring of the many "teardown" combos in place that capitalize on Dervish enchantments. Several of the new skills are previewed, as are examples of how players can use the changed mechanics to still retain the essential playstyle of a Dervish with much more flexibility than before. If you're a Dervish in Guild Wars, the changes should keep you spinning up in the best possible way. [Thanks for the tip, Teina!]
Doubling season comes to Global Agenda
With Global Agenda's switch to a subscription-free format earlier this year, the game was put on track to begin launching content updates and small additions to replace the subscription fees. Up until now, the team at Hi-Rez Studios has been focused on the long-running Sandstorm series of updates, but the game has now begun selling boost packs as the first added service. And what do these packs do? They double your enjoyment -- assuming that you enjoy gaining experience and tokens. The packs -- available in 10-day, 30-day, and 90-day flavors -- double all experience and tokens earned for the duration for all characters on an account. Not coincidentally, the 30-day boost costs just under $15, the same price as a monthly subscription in most subscription-based games. Each boost runs for the specified length of time and is activated immediately upon purchase, which makes the benefits and drawbacks rather transparently obvious. Players of Global Agenda can purchase packs on the official site, with a small guide available for the new feature. [Thanks to Caleb Goh for the tip!]
Alganon making the switch to the full free-to-play model
It's been quite a while since we've heard much from Alganon, with the last major game announcement having been the switch to a subscription-free model back in April. The team over at Quest Online has apparently decided to take that philosophy to the next level, as on Friday, August 13th, the game is going fully free to play. The client will be free to download and play indefinitely, with no time limits. There will be certain restrictions on new accounts, with a lowered level cap and ability cap that can be ameliorated via microtransactions. Said microtransactions are also the game's way of compensating players who had already purchased a copy of the game, with existing purchasers getting several caps removed automatically. The full details, as well as details on a special offer within the first week of the game's free-to-play launch, are outlined within the official announcement. Alganon is certainly no stranger to controversy, but it remains to be seen what the MMO community at large will think about the game in its newest incarnation.
Global Agenda's Todd Harris on the newly added open zones
Global Agenda has been making some changes of late. That almost goes without saying -- very few MMOs exist in a static state, after all -- but very few implement sweeping system changes and zone additions so quickly after launch. One of the largest additions with the newest phase of the Sandstorm patch is the Sonoran Desert, an open and persistent PvE zone for players to enjoy. In a new video developer blog, executive producer Todd Harris explains what the zone means for the game and how the systems within work. The desert, which is aimed at providing a complete experience for players between levels 5 to 15, will be familiar in many ways to long-time MMO players. It's not that the idea of quests picked up from an NPC is new, but it's certainly new within the context of the game. Take a look past the cut to see the zone demonstrated in depth, and if the look strikes your fancy, it would be fair to point out that Global Agenda is subscription free.
Alganon reveals much of the overhauled launch experience
It's easy to get wrapped up in the war of words between the inimitable Derek Smart and the equally inimitable David Allen, but the whole reason behind that back-and-forth is a game. Much of the news coming out about Alganon has been both sides sniping at each other, but it looks like the development team has been hard at work revamping the game for an April 28th launch. As the website has slowly been updated, they've begun posting more and more information about what's due out when the game goes live... which promises to be pretty extensive. There's more about the various cash shop items that can be purchased with the new "subscription-free" model, which follows a vaguely Dungeons & Dragons Online pattern -- increased experience gain, bonuses to study speeds, limited-duration enchanted equipment. The starter areas are also being revamped, with the Asharr Humans starting in the Temple of Argon (which may or may not contain an eye) and the Temple of Xukiss becoming the start point for Talrok Kujix characters. And as expected, the feature list prominently states that Alganon's graphics have been overhauled, especially for the UI. With a little over a week to go, it should be interesting to see how the new iteration of the game plays out.
