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Global Agenda rolls out the next phase of Sandstorm to the test servers
To call the huge 1.3 patch to Global Agenda ambitious would almost be an understatement, considering how much of the game's basic structure was rewritten. It was so ambitious, in fact, that there were several features that wound up being slightly delayed from the initial release. And while the focus of late has been on the game's shift in subscription model (namely to the complete absence of one), several of the remaining features have just been deployed to the game's test servers in time for the holiday weekend. One of the bigger additions is the persistent PvE zone being added, the Sonoran Desert, aimed at players between level 5 and 15. On top of that, the team is adding in the option to Salvage unwanted equipment for parts, a persistent defense raid for players past level 30, and the addition of consumable items. While the holiday weekend is set to be the first testing weekend of several, it's the ideal time to get a feel for the next major addition to the game. Global Agenda players are encouraged to check the changes out, and new players would be well-served to remember that the game is on sale right through July 4th on Steam.
Champions Online gives a mini-state of the game
It's been a bit of a rough ride lately for Champions Online. Their initial plan for a paid mini-expansion met with a reception that could best be described as "frothing rage," and even their later reversal didn't exactly calm the waters. To make matters worse, their large "Kitchen Sink" patch met with equally mixed reviews at the same time. In hopes of stepping up their community relations, Cryptic has been pushing out a great deal more news to the players, including both their new GM Blog feature and a recent pint-sized State of the Game letter. A re-examination of the "Kitchen Sink" patch, affectionately dubbed the "Kitchen Sink Scrub," is being pushed out in the near future, with a week or so to go before it hits the live servers. The mini-expansion, dubbed Champions Online -- Revelation, should also be going live sometime in the middle of March. Players hoping to get a bit of an early start on it will be happy to note it's also going to be hitting the test servers some time within the next week, letting the new zone get a thorough examination. With the promise of an upcoming site devoted specifically to the expansion, it seems like Champions Online is really trying to wash out the bad taste of their missteps.
PTR Brewfest includes summoned barmaid pets, rams and kodos segregated by faction
You may remember that we announced that a Brewfest Kodo was hidden in the WoTLK Alpha files some time ago. With patch 2.4.3, the Kodo did in fact get into this year's Brewfest. The Brewfest is currently open for testing on the PTR, and you can see the Kodos for yourselves - but only on the Horde side. That's right. Blizzard has added the Kodo mount, but not in the way many of us had hoped. The Ram mount is now available for purchase only on the Alliance side, and the Kodo mount only on the Horde side. Kisirani has confirmed that this is intended. She says that they came to this decision only after much deliberation, but it's likely staying, although she'll listen to constructive criticism. As you can imagine, this has not been well received.
Bornakk announces region free test servers
Bornakk announced last night that we can expect what could be a fun change for this and future PTRs: the US, Korean, and EU servers will share test realms. We might speculate that this could be delaying the release of the PTRs despite the fact that we have the notes and the patch in hand, though it is, of course, possible that it's the problems with the live servers right now as well. Regardless, it'll be interesting to see how this changes the test dynamic as testing goes forward. There's been some questions in the past over which region's raid groups are better, so it might be fun to see if they decide to duke it out over the new Sunwell content face-to-face. It might be fun to see if some multi-region arena tourneys get set up as well. Even on the casual side, some of us have overseas internet friends who play on different servers than us by necessity, so it should be great to meet up with them and kill a few monsters or do a few dailies together. Of course, before we get to see if anything fun comes out of this, we'll have to make it on the PTRs. We'll be sure to tell you as soon as we see them up and running!
Tabula Rasa gains test server, patch notes
Tabula Rasa received an official test server a few days ago, but of more interest is the public test patch notes that are now up over at the official site.It's about five thousand bug fixes, with a few more welcomed tweaks. 30 max missions in your log, a few specific mob nerfs (not Warnets, unfortunately), plus increased server / client stability & performance. Goodbye memory leak?Whilst there's no new servers announced, French & German TR installations are at least getting their own language-specific channels, which should clear things up a bit on Centaurus. There's no ETA for when these changes will go live, but let's hope soon.Full Public Test patch notes can be found here.
