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SimCity offline update launching today, some server downtime
Update 10, which brings offline play to SimCity for the first time, is launching today after successfully coming through final testing. An announcement on the EA forums reads, "Today at 6AM PT we will be releasing Update 10 with Offline play. This involves server down time and the game servers will be unavailable for a few hours." EA unveiled Update 10 and the new single-player mode back in January, after a 2013 in which the publisher came under severe criticism for implementing an "always-on" system for the city-building sim. That system backfired when servers buckled under the weight. EA has already said players can access their previously downloaded content in the single-player mode, and they can save their files locally. A new FAQ reveals players still have to sign into Origin to launch the game, but Origin can be put into an offline mode while the single-player mode is being played. [Image: EA]
SimCity offline mode update in 'final testing'
SimCity's Update 10, a patch that will allow for offline play, is in "final testing," according to a tweet posted on the game's official Twitter account. Update 10 was revealed back in January, shortly after publisher EA and developer Maxis announced that the game would also start supporting mods. The SimCity saga of server instability and poor service was one of 2013's defining moments in gaming, as well as inspiration for our newly-launched State of Service reviews. The option to play offline has been a long time coming. [Image: EA]
LotRO's Update 10 springs into action
Lord of the Rings Online raiders rejoice: Today marks the end of a very long wait for Riders of Rohan raids. Update 10: Against the Shadow, Part II ushers in the second half of the expansion's instance cluster as well as some fairly significant stat changes as the dev team prepares for wide-sweeping class revamps. The new instances include a six-person fight, The Bells of Dale, plus a trio of 12-person raids: Flight to the Lonely Mountain, the Fires of Smaug, and the Battle for Erebor. Update 10 has beefed up fate's effects and made agility the Warden's primary stat. Also included with the patch are several new store options, the ability to turn off forced emoting, the removal of dread upon defeat on the landscape, and new scaling for all of the In Their Absence instances. You can read the patch notes on the official site.
LotRO's Wardens get grace period to adjust to stat changes
Lord of the Rings Online's Wardens are understandably nervous about the big stat changes coming to the class in Update 10. To help clear up any confusion, Turbine's posted a dev diary crunching the numbers and outlining how the change will roll out. The big change is that the Warden's primary stat will switch from might to agility, and the class' primary form of avoidance will switch from blocking to evading (although the Warden's shield will still provide plenty of the former). As a result, one block-based trait is being reworked to feature evading, and the devs are looking for ways to beef up Wardens' mitigations now that might is no longer a primary stat. Because the change will impact Wardens who have stocked up on plenty of might gear, Turbine is offering a lengthy grace period to allow the class' players to start switching over to agility gear while keeping both might and agility as primary stats. The grace period is said to last the full length of Update 10 and perhaps longer.
New LotRO dev diary details Update 10 instances
A few weeks ago we previewed Lord of the Rings Online's Update 10 raids. Now, you can get even more info straight from the horse's mouth thanks to the latest Turbine dev diary. The lengthy piece offers up detailed mechanical peeks at the new six-man Bells of Dale instance, the Flight to the Lonely Mountain raid, the Fires of Smaug Raid, and the Battle for Erebor raid. There's also a blurb on the ITA ("in their absence") instance cluster that you can read at the official LotRO website.
LotRO's Update 10 converts your Seals to Medallions
Lord of the Rings Online's Update 10 is bringing in some shiny new content, and with that shiny new content comes the problem of currency and reward. LotRO uses a unified currency system of Marks, Medallions, and Seals. In order to make sure that players aren't immediately able to purchase new gear solely on the merits of all the hours they've dumped into the game previously, the LotRO devs have decided to convert players' top-tier tokens to slightly-less-than-top-tier tokens. When Update 10 hits, each Seal a character has will be converted into 20 Medallions. Items that could be bartered for with Seals previously will have a Medallion cost or barter option added to make up for the conversion. Players will be able to run level 85 content to replenish their stock of Seals, which can then be used to purchase some of the shiny new content rewards.
New LotRO screenshots sneak another peek at Update 10
Wondering what to do while whiling away the time waiting for the second half of Lord of the Rings Online's promised Riders of Rohan instance cluster? How about lose yourself in some of the imagery that will be awaiting you when Update 10 finally hits servers! Turbine has released 10 new screenshots showing off scenes from all three raid instances -- Flight to Lonely Mountain, The Fires of Smaug, and The Battle for Erebor -- as well as the single group instance, Bells of Dale. Feast your eyes on the images in the gallery below. And if that isn't enough to tide you over, you can get more up-close and personal with Massively's hands-on preview. [Source: Turbine press release]%Gallery-158706%
LOTRO's Update 10 revamps loot systems and gear set bonuses
Lord of the Rings Online is getting some pretty major itemization updates with Update 10. Specifically, the patch will be affecting the loot in scaling instances and the way set bonuses work. Bosses in three- and six-player spaces will have a chance to drop equipment, and raids will have equipment hooked up to each boss chest. Challenge modes will now come with a complimentary challenge chest. Moreover, the types of gear you'll find have been massaged a bit: Instance clusters will focus on a handful of gear types, so a DPS character will likely be running different instances than a tank in order to grab the appropriate gear. Players will be able to mix and match their set bonuses more after the update. Sets will have either stat bonuses or skill modifying effects, in contrast to the recent trend to have sets that do both. Additionally, skill-modifying effects will on the two- and four-set bonuses, giving players more customization options. As a final treat, each class will have access to two new Erebor sets for all three of their trait lines.
LotRO goes to the Lonely Mountain: Update 10 raid preview
If you haven't heard the garment-rending woes of Lord of the Rings Online players who have had to wait and wait for the promised second half of Riders of Rohan's instance cluster (now with raids!), then you haven't been anywhere near LotRO in the past half-year. Fortunately, the imminent Update 10 will soon swoop in and provide the populace with a trio of raids as well as a six-person instance to tackle. We got on the phone with Turbine for a tour of the new raids. Senior Designer Joe Barry opened the session by explaining that eastern Rohan just plain did not work for a location of instances due to lore restrictions, a lack of a big bad guy, and no iconic locations. So the team decided to tackle the IP-supported tale of the Easterlings' siege of Dale and the Lonely Mountain through the second half of this instance cluster. Join us as we take a look at just what is up with the Lonely Mountain now that Smaug has vacated the premises!
The Road to Mordor: Digesting the LotRO dev chats
Apart from the nightmare of Twitter spam that the recent two Lord of the Rings Online dev chats have produced, I'm pretty happy that Turbine's being more interactive with the community and taking on some of these topics head-on. Of course, everyone has his own areas of interest that were probably not covered to satisfaction, but looking through these two chats (December 20th and January 24th), we can deduce a lot of useful information about where LotRO is headed in the future. Personally, I am pretty excited about 2013 for the game. It feels as if the team isn't slacking at all, and while there are always my wish list items that go unfulfilled, often the devs add cool changes (like the Bree update) that are equally welcome. So let's sift the wheat from the chaff and see what we come up with from these dev chats as well as the recent producer's letter!
LotRO introduces flexible store-bought currency
Lord of the Rings Online has been evolving its in-game store for a while now, and it looks like the next phase of its development has a name: Mithril Coins. These coins are new store-purchased currency that's coming in Update 10 and will be used for a variety of in-game activities. Basically, the use of Mithril Coins is Turbine's way of streamlining several different smaller store options into a flexible currency. These coins can be used as replacements for revive tomes, stablemaster's writs, daily quest resets, and fast travel to quest NPCs. There's a helpful FAQ that answers some of the burning questions fans might have about this new currency, so give it a read if you're still confused.
LotRO devs talk Updates 10 and 11
If you had questions that weren't answered with Lord of the Rings Online's last dev chat, then maybe you'll be covered with Turbine's latest Q&A between players and the development team. Today's dev chat took place on Twitter as the team tackled 40 questions from the community. Chief among the topics was Update 10, of which the team spilled a host of details. The update will go to the test server next week, and promises to contain new armor sets, standardized power pools, the removal of dread on the landscape, a big change to Wardens, and the second half of the instance cluster. Turbine also said that while Update 10 won't have a new book in the epic story, Update 11 definitely will (and it'll be "super-sized"). Update 11 is also slated to add a whole new region to the game that includes mounted and standard combat. We've got the beefy Q&A transcript for you after the jump, so check it out!
LotRO's team fields live dev chat
A gaggle of Turbine developers sat down this afternoon to field scores of Lord of the Rings Online questions from the community in a live dev chat. Among the topics discussed were mounted combat, earlier zone revamps, class updates, and PvMP options. One of the burning topics concerned possible player housing improvements. Turbine said that it needed to address the vacant neighborhoods first, but was moving in that direction: "All I can say is that we have a lot of devs interested in doing some serious home improvement." We have the full chat transcript for you after the jump, starring Senior Producer Aaron Campbell, Lead Systems Designer Matt Zimmitti, World Designer Matt Fahey, Senior Content Designer Lauren Salk, Senior Content Designer Joe Barry, and Community Manager Rick Heaton.
Vindictus releases Episode 10, now with more dragons
It's double-digits patch time, and you know what that means: dragons, and lots of them. Vindictus has released Episode 10 to the public, giving players a trio of challenging dragons to take down. The ice, earth, and black dragons are all raid bosses for top-tier teams to tackle. The update also includes new metallic inner armor (read: underwear that rusts) and hair styles for the fashionably conscious. Nexon's also included the option for players to pay for a skill reset on most -- but not all -- of the characters in the game. Vindictus is currently hosting a quiz event in the game. Players are encouraged to take on the Strange Traveler and best him in a game of knowledge for select prizes. We've got a video of the new dragon fights in Episode 10 after the jump, so if you can't get enough of them scaly uber-lizards, check it out!
Turbine sweetens the deal for DDO subscribers
Dungeons and Dragons Online's free-to-play model has been the belle of the F2P ball since it was released in 2009, but that doesn't mean that Turbine's given up on luring players into subscribing. Today, the studio announced a "summer gift" to those who sign up for VIP status: double bonus points per month from July 11th through September 11th. This means that every month a player is subscribed, he or she will receive 1,000 Turbine Points to spend in the DDO store instead of 500 TP. Turbine's also made sure that the price point for VIP subscriptions is attractive, as it's offered players the ability to sign up for three months at $29.97 (effectively $9.99 a month). By taking advantage of both deals, players can enjoy three months of VIP status and earn 3,000 Turbine Points for just $30. VIP status means that all of DDO's adventure modules are available to enjoy, including the new ones that came with Update 10.
DDO and LotRO prep bonus weekends for all
We're not even at the dog days of summer -- more like the puppy days -- and Turbine is already throwing players a bone with special bonus weekends in both Dungeons & Dragons Online and Lord of the Rings Online. And thus we hit our canine pun limit for the day. DDO is bumping the experience factor up by a respectable 25% across the board and throwing in a +1 loot bonus (meaning better loot in chests) for good measure. It's a great time to come back to the game, too, as players can enjoy the recently released Update 10. Meanwhile, LotRO is encouraging you to farm mobs like crazy, as monster kill XP is going up by 50% (which can stack with the 25% XP trinket from the Rise of Isengard pre-order). Currently, the game is hosting its annual Summer Festival. The four-day bonus weekend for both games runs from today through Sunday, June 26th.
Dungeons and Dragons Online's Update 10 is bringing crazy back
If you're a VIP player of Dungeons and Dragons Online, today is an exciting day for you: It's the date of the arrival of Update 10: Reign of Madness. This update is all new content with a bit of a blast from the past thrown in, and the DDO development team was kind enough to invite us along on a tour of some of the mind-bending new quests. Reign of Madness arrives today for VIP players and Wednesday for the rest of the playerbase, so what better to keep you occupied while you wait than a little tour? Follow along after the jump for a sneak peek at DDO's Update 10!
Information posted on Update 10 for Dungeons and Dragons Online
Looking forward to the next update for Dungeons and Dragons Online? Of course you are, at least if you're in the game; there's a lot of new content to explore as well as the continuation of the crafting beta, enough to make any adventurer look forward to what's around the corner. In addition to making the content available on the test server for players, the development team has posted an abstract of what can be expected from the pending update. Following on the heels of Update 9's story, the newest patch continues to challenge sanity as players are forced to invade Stormreach's insane asylum to rescue some sane inmates in danger of rather horrible treatments. Players will also be tasked with taking part in the feud between the Lord of Stone and the Lord of Eyes, culminating in a plot beneath the Tower of the Twelve that should challenge seasoned warriors. Dungeons and Dragons Online players intrigued by the update list should take the opportunity to preview the content on the test server now.
Star Wars Galaxies Dev Diary: Let the PvP battles begin
Even while the Star Wars Galaxies team is plugging away on their newest game update, the staff still has some time to give us some of their thought process behind their work on the game.Today on Massively we're happy to have Thomas 'Hanse' Eidson, one of SWG's system designers, dropping by to give us his thoughts on creating the brand new PvP battlefields for Update 10. The new battlefields are areas for team based PvP, where teams accomplish objectives in addition to annhilating one another to win the map. Think of it like Battlefield 2, where both teams have a set reinforcement count and will lose should that number ever drop to zero.Thomas has much to say on their efforts to make sure teams were always balanced, to the creation of new rewards for the battefields, to finding plots of land to even make these new areas! Hit the continue reading button below, and grab yourself an insider's view of the development of Star Wars Galaxies.
Star Wars Galaxies Dev Diary: Let the PvP battles begin pt. 2
After making the Massassi Isle, I used it as my central testing location for all the battlefield programming changes. All battlefields function as "reinforcements" style mini-games where teams start out with a set number of points. As players kill members of the opposite team, or accomplish battlefield objectives, they diminish the number of points the opposing team has. Whichever team is reduced to zero points first, or whoever has the least number of points when time runs out, loses. With the core system in place, I then began to customize each battlefield to offer unique objectives to ensure each area features a unique gameplay experience with its own twist. Just tweaking these objectives has allowed us to have mini-games similar to capture the flag, king of the hill, and others. Testing of the battlefields necessitates that we wage pitched battles on each one. This validates which battlefield is fun, needs fixes, or needs polish. So far, I'm very excited to see the Data Runners battlefield completed and in game. It is, by far, my favorite. It is my second attempt at making an island and its beaches are much more lush and prevalent. We knew that just adding new battlefields wouldn't be enough; everyone likes to be rewarded for their efforts. Therefore, we have added two new sets of armor to the game. Rebels can purchase the new SpecForce armor, and the Imperials can get Galactic Marine armor. But that's not all, we also recognize that weapons complete the look of any player ensemble, so with that in mind we created a whole suite of new weapons (i.e., one new weapon of every weapon type in the game). Some notable weapons include the WESTAR-34 blaster pistol that was used by Jango Fett in Attack of the Clones™ and the Darth Phobos double-bladed lightsaber. All of these new rewards may be purchased with tokens obtained for playing on the new battlefields. We hope that players really enjoy the new battlefields and rewards that we've created for them in Update 10!
