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Changes to combat and contracts in EVE confirmed by devs
New changes to EVE Online seem to be on the way as reported by players on the test server, and confirmed by CCP Games developers on the forums: weapon grouping and contract refinements, in addition to the previously-reported certificates. Having several high slots of weapon turrets and needing to change ammo types mid-combat has likely frustrated most EVE players at some point. Now, it seems that it'll be possible to link up weapons systems (turrets and launchers only, at first), simplifying reloads and ammo swaps. EVE dev CCP Ytterbium says, "This feature allows players to group weapons together into one slot. From there you can swap all ammo at once without doing the usual ritual of right-click gun 1, load ammo, right-click gun 2, load ammo again etc..." He does caution that the feature is nowhere near ready to go live on Tranquility, and should be considered a work in progress. More information on this feature (which is a welcome change for many EVE players) will be detailed in a future dev blog, he said.
Claws are trimmed on the CoX Training Room
Not so long ago, Martial Arts got a slickening-up in City of Heroes, and now a similar job has been done on the Claws powerset. In the latest patch to go to the Test Server, the animation times for many of the powers have been pared down, resulting in smoother attack chains, and the use of a 'balancing algorithm' has upped the average damage. (There's one power, Focus, that comes out worse off.) Claws will now be notably more efficient in terms of damage done in relation to endurance burned.Plenty of players are applauding these changes, but some strong voices are against them. Katfood, who plays well-known claw-scrapping poster girl Feral Kat, acknowledges the good intentions behind the changes but points out that with a nerfed Focus, the set is now far less competitive in PvP. (PvP in CoX isn't about long drawn-out fights where endurance is a major concern, but more about dealing burst damage quickly.) Other players have raised concerns about the Stalker version of the power, which developer Back Alley Brawler has promised to address.
LotRO's preview server switches to temporary availability
Turbine recently announced that they're cutting back on the availability of their Lord of the Rings Online preview server, also known as Roheryn. In the past, this server has been available at all times, although its popularity peaked during the release of new content. However, since the activity quickly died down once that new content made it to the live servers, Turbine decided that running this preview server 24/7 was not the best use of their resources. From now on, Roheryn will only open when new content is available, and during special events.Unfortunately, all current installations of Roheryn will not be compatible when the new Roheryn goes live. This means you can actually uninstall everything related to the preview server now, in preparation for the new content. There are complete instructions for doing so in the official press release, as well as a simple FAQ for the process.
Endless superhero retcons available on CoX Test server!
Hot on the heels of the announcement that City of Heroes will now be providing character respecs for a fee, the Test Server has been tweaked so that purchaseable respecs for characters there will be free of charge. Previously, the only way to test out a new build was to copy a character with a stored respec over, burn the respec, and repeat each time you wanted to test something. But now, you can retcon your character on Test as often as you like! Comic book writers do it often enough, so why not City of Heroes players? This blogger never quite got over the wholesale resurrection of Jean Grey, and that was years ago, but after respeccing a beloved blaster several times over, we can see the appeal of flexibility. The player base has welcomed the news. Previously, the only ways to get respecs were through veteran rewards, occasional unpredictable developer awards, trials, or crafting them through found Invention recipes. This is big news for those who like to test out alternative builds for a character before committing. It's also useful to those who use the Test Server primarily for PvP, as many CoX players do. Now that characters on Test can effectively be respecced as many times as the player wants, a CoX PvP toon can take full advantage of the regular tweaks and alterations to how powers work.
Zombie Apocalypse coming to City of Heroes
Yesterday, the City of Heroes test server was host to a terrible event. In one city zone after another, both in Paragon and the Rogue Isles, the dead rose to devour the living. The skies turned blood red, and hordes of the undead clawed their way up from the ground in an apocalypse not seen since the days of the Rikti invasions. Like the Rikti, these horrors attacked anyone in an exposed space, and had no level tag, meaning any character could engage them.The Zombie Apocalypse is coming to CoX in Halloween, where it will form part of the special event celebrations, along with the trick-or-treating that has taken place in previous years.Yesterday's trial run was a huge success, with players all over the city converging to hold back the undead. Even the signature hero Positron, along with NCsoft personnel Lighthouse and Niviene, pitched in to battle the hordes.
Gracia - Part 1 update now live on Lineage II test server
Lineage II players can give Part 1 of the Gracia expansion a go right now on the Public Test Server. Gracia is planned to be a three-part series, and this first installment offers a number of features, such as faster leveling and solo improvements, new hunting areas Kamaloka and Cruma Tower, and some skill and UI changes.Before diving on to the test server, you can get acquainted with Gracia at the expansion's official preview site. As well as listing the update's features, you can learn more about its back-story, reading straight from a stylish pop-up tome and enjoying some rather mysterious and epic music.
AoC Testlive forums now active
As part of the process of testing its new patches, Age of Conan recently unveiled its new Testlive Server, where players can try out the weekly patches in advance and provide feedback, thus helping find and crush bugs. As of last night, the Testlive Forums are now open. Although anything that happened in Beta is still under NDA (amazingly enough, given how often people talk about it!) the Testlive Forums are open to all active players, and thus are under no NDA.Players who want to try out various classes at higher levels will also be able to do this on Testlive, as there will be facilities for rapid leveling and automatic gear aquisition. QA manager Nophex explains: 'In order to streamline the testing process we will be placing out special Testlive vendors that will allow you to level up your characters to various levels. This leveling process will also give you appropriate equipment for your level. These vendors will appear on Testlive in the next few weeks.' The forums are open to both US and EU players, meaning the communities will be sharing a forum for the first time. Age of Conan players can log in to the Testlive Forums with their usual forum name and password.
LotRO guide to Roheryn: Getting the most from the preview server
Lord of the Rings Online has revealed their newest content patch, Book 14, on the preview servers this week. This is very exciting news, as it means we can try out the newest game changes before Book 14 hits the live servers. We realize that sometimes downloading what is essentially an entirely new game for the sake of previewing content may not be your cup of tea, so we've put together this extensive visual guide to let you know just how useful this preview server can be. For example, did you know that you can instantly level to 20, 30, 40 or 50 quiet easily? Did you know that you can max out all reputation, renown, infamy, Book quests, traits and more just as easily? You will also get a full range of top-level items and gold to begin your journey. This server is not only great for trying out the new content for an upcoming Book, but it is also perfect for trying out other classes at max level to see if they're really something you want to pursue throughout the game. This applies to both regular characters and Monster players as well!
LotRO Book 14 hits the preview server
Lord of the Rings Online, Book 14: The Ring-forges of Eregion has just hit the preview server Roheryn, and the extensive patch notes are posted! To see the new content, you will need to download the Turbine Download Manager, which is currently in its second stage of beta itself, allowing new and current players much easier access into the preview content.So let's get a glimpse into some of the biggest features of this new patch: Monster Play emotes are being introduced, complete with racial-specific emotes that can be achieved through deeds. Monster Play races have several improvements and balance measures, especially with the Weaver. New class improvements including several for the Burglar and Captain, plus the inclusion of varying instrument sounds and animations to correlate with the actual instruments being played by your Minstrel (not just the lute!) The Diminishing Returns system is set into place with vast improvements. Plus changes to Crafting, new dye, new outfits, new quests, UI fixes, new items and much, much more! Check out the complete patch notes and take the rest of the day off to read through this monstrous list, you won't be sorry!
Age of Conan test server now open to public
To our ever-lasting surprise and confusion, there always seems to be a significant number of players in any given game who are so eager to try out the latest patch that they're willing to spend their time on a test server testing content before it goes live. For a game like Tabula Rasa, with its monthly deployments, there's at least some logic in this. There's an advantage getting acquainted with tweaks before they go live. For a game like Age of Conan, with its current bi-weekly patch schedule, this isn't quite the case.Still, one thing that's become clear over the past couple weeks is that Funcom could really benefit from a more rigorous testing process for their patches. As we discussed on Saturday, the old beta test servers are coming down in favor of a new public test server, or Testlive, as they're calling it. If you want to participate, simply follow this link to download the executable, point it to the directory where you have the game installed, select a destination directory, and let it do its thing. Once its installed, go into your destination folder, run ConanPatcher.exe and you've got it. They'll have vendors up in the coming days to allow you to buff up your characters to specific levels, which should speed up the testing process as well.
Sneak a peek at AoC's test server patch notes
Curse.com has posted a list of patch notes from Age of Conan's test server, which will likely go live in one of this coming week's scheduled downtime slots. You will notice that stat gains from equipment will finally be functioning correctly, and it's going to be interesting to see just how much of a difference this will make to the strength of each class.The patch notes also feature another round of class tweaks, notably some buffs for Dark Templars and damage changes for Priests of Mitra. Confusingly, Bear Shamans will be getting improved Wreck Armor combo visuals and sounds -- however, this is a Barbarian combo, so is this change actually for Barbs or did they mean the BS combo Crush Armor? Other really good things: lower level mobs will knock you off your mount a lot less (although higher mobs will do it more) and attackers at your sides will have half the chance of knocking you off -- attackers from the front will never knock you off. Finally, player cities will be able to get their Trader NPC at last. Take a look through the full patch notes for some other changes, including quest and item fixes, and perhaps start speculating on what changes will be left off the list this time.
EVE Online: play test factional warfare, June 4-6
CCP Games announced a new series of factional warfare playtests for EVE Online's imminent Empyrean Age expansion, and are seeking help from all available pilots in New Eden. EVE dev CCP Tanis stated that the first release candidate for the Empyrean Age is being put on the Singularity test server, and that CCP is now focusing its attention on the gameplay mechanics of the long-anticipated factional warfare system. The playtest will focus on the offense and defense of capture points and the conquering of solar systems. Players will be divided into either Caldari or Gallente factions; each faction will have an offensive and defensive team. The ultimate goal is to capture as many systems as possible while preventing the opposing faction from gaining any territorial control. CCP developers and ISD will be on hand to answer questions and guide players. When: June 4 to 6 (Wed., Thurs., Fri.) from 11:00 to 14:00 EVE time (GMT).Where: Singularity test serverWhy: "We really cannot stress how important your feedback is to us." Another Why: Each day the players on the winning side will be given a stock of officer modules !! ... *dramatic pause*... on the test server only. (Sorry.) Also the player who submits the best bug report will be given maxed out skills on the test server. How: Join the in-game channel "Faction Testing" for instructions.CCP Tanis also reminds players that the latest Singularity test server patch is required to participate in the playtest. The patch should ONLY be applied to a second copy of the EVE client, and NOT the main client used for everyday play on the Tranquility server. That is, unless you'd prefer to call the test server "home" from now on. Further details can be found in the official announcement; EVE Online account login is required to access this information.
PotBS patch 1.4 available on test server
Those keen to sink their teeth into patch 1.4 for Pirates of the Burning Sea can do so ahead of its release on the live servers, by logging on to the Testbed server. Flying Lab Software is keen to get players to try out some of the new features that this patch brings (like the upcoming class changes) and have set up feedback pages for specific aspects of the game.If you want to leave feedback about career skills in 1.4, you can visit this page, and feedback on the early game missions can be left here, with different forum posts for each nation. Additionally, there is a page for general 1.4 feedback that doesn't fit in these two categories. Don't be scared if you've never been on Testbed before -- there is a handy forum post that will answer all your questions, and you'll be helping test new content in no time.
CoX Issue 12 to enter closed beta
Starting next week, NCsoft's City of Heroes and City of Villains will be entering closed beta for Issue 12:Midnight Hour. This does mean that the Test Server will be unavailable for standard use; however, if you're interested in testing out the new Character Creator, the server will allow you to log in and try out the application. Unfortunately, unless you're part of the closed beta, you won't be able to play with the character you create. One other item of note: the Real Numbers feature is being disabled in character creator for the closed beta, as they're still working on refining the new powers. Still, this should give you a feel for the application, and for how it may look during both open beta and the final release. And, as usual, if you have any questions, concerns, or issues to be raised, please feel free to bring them up in the official forums.
Character copy function introduced to PotBS' test server
The folks at Flying Lab Software have realized that they're probably not getting all the feedback that they could from their Pirates of the Burning Sea Testbed server, simply due to the fact that people have to level up a new character there. Testing out high level content from unreleased builds is left only to the most hardcore testers with this setup, so to remedy this, a "Character Copy" function has been implemented, allowing players to copy their live characters across to the Testbed. We are told that the tool will only be available for a limited time, so if you're likely to want a character copied to Test at any point, now's the time to act.To copy a character across, players need to log in to the official PotBS site, and then visit the character copy page. Auction listings, in-game mail sent while logged out, landmark unrest and society associations will not be copied over. As well as this, at the time of posting an issue has been identified that is causing live characters to have their auctions delisted when they are copied. A fix should be coming soon, and the items are able to be relisted again in the meantime.
Notes for LotRO Book 12 Patch 1 available
The Lord of the Rings Online test server has been patched, and the notes have been made available for viewing. The patch should end up on live servers after a testing period on Roheryn, so it's a good heads up for what is ahead.Highlights of the patch include some Guardian-specific updates, Book 12 bug fixes, changes to stop anti-exploit mode triggering on mobs so often, and ranged auto-attacks will miss more often if fired while moving. The full list of notes can be found after the break.
Epic Gems for Badges on the PTR
Here's some news from the PTR hot off the presses via MMO Champion: Shaani the jewelcrafter is now selling epic gems previously only dropped in 25-man dungeons for 15 badges apiece, and all the recipes to cut them for gold at various levels of Shattered Sun Offensive Reputation. So if you don't raid, and don't mind doing 3 or 4 heroic runs for each gem, you'll be able to socket all that new badge gear too. It looks like it was unlocked with the Razorthorn Root daily, so if you want those gems, be sure to get your friends and guildies on doing that daily once it's unlocked on your server come 2.4 While you're there, you can also grab a new daily from Mar'nah the alchemist which will reward a Bloodberry Elixir, which provides +15 to all stats for an 2 hours, but only on the Sunwell Plateau itself (thanks for catching the Sunwell-only restriction, Aikiwoce). The badgification of epic gear continues apace. What will be interesting to see is if Blizzard is primarily doing this to close the gear gap between casuals and raiders for WoTLK, or if this marks a new loot philosophy that will continue into WoTLK. Will we be able to buy Icecrown Glacier gems for badges as well?
Sunwell closed on the PTR
While it looked like the new 25 man on the PTR, the Sunwell Plateau, was going to be staying open after a few closures in the recent weeks, luck would have that it's not.Daelo announced a short time ago that the instance will be locked until further notice to fix a bug in Lady Sacrolash and Grand Warlock Alythess. What this bug is exactly, we don't know. But I'm sure it has to be quite a good one for them to lock everyone out of the place.Keep an eye out on WoW Insider. We'll let you know when the Plateau is back up and patch 2.4 is ready for more action.
Dofus opens test servers in America and Canada
As of yesterday, and continuing for the next month, Ankama Games' Dofus MMO will offer 5x the earned experience for all players playing on the new American test server. You can download the client software at the community site right away.Dofus is an MMO I signed up for a long time ago and immediately fell in love with its art style. It's completely 2D, but the adorable design and animations are well worth the download -- and it's free! You can check out previous Massively entries on Dofus to help you decide if you want in or not, but don't wait too long ... 5x experience won't be around forever!
Nethaera announces progressive testing, and an update on shared test servers
Everyone's favorite candle has some news for us about the PTR. She reveals that the development team is changing the way they test by adding content progressively to this patch, and changing the patch notes to match. As the testing goes on, they may add or remove test notes or various functions they wish to test. At this least, this could make monitoring the PTR process exciting as we try to figure out what Blizzard may add and take away. In addition, although Blizzard has said that they don't plan any major classes changes, this might mean that we can still hope for the tweaking of some abilities. Nethaera's already made it known that she's watching a few well constructed shaman threads about the changes to the class or lack thereof, at least. In other news, Bornakk has updated his post on International PTRs with the news that Blizzard now plans to make the servers accessible over multiple regions for 2.4.0 only. So unfortunately, if you were planning any raiding or PvP tourneys to see which region reigns supreme, all bets may be off. With this new progressive testing announcement, we'll be sure to keep an eye on the notes for you and tell you as soon as we see any changes, so keep us in mind here at WoW Insider for your patch news needs.
