Vanguard : Free to Play Round Table Discussion

Yesterday, one of Sony Online Entertainment’s venerable titles, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, began utilizing a hybrid free to play-subscription model. We had the opportunity to sit down with Creative Director Salim Grant and Director of Development Andy Sites to talk about Vanguard and what the future holds for the game. Keep reading!
Since February, the team has been regularly updating Vanguard to, as Andy put it, “smooth out the rough edges”. Most of the current areas have been revamped and optimized to take advantage of the game engine. They even surprised players by bringing much of the F2P functionality into the game in stealth mode about a week ago. In addition, Andy mentioned that in the past, game updates had come along every four or five months. From today forward, however, the team has laid out an assertive update schedule that should see major updates on a monthly basis as well as smaller updates on a bi-weekly basis.

 

The latest edition of the Vanguard Producer’s Letter will strike joy into the hearts of fans of the game as it deals mostly with the transition from a subscription title to a hybrid subscription-F2P title. The letter comes complete with a handy membership matrix and an FAQ.

Over the next several weeks, we expect to begin rolling out a number of improvements throughout the game, in preparation for our free-to-play launch. And, as I mentioned earlier, we’ll need your help testing these changes in order to refine and finalize our improvements so expect to see many of our developers recruiting your help in the Vanguard forums soon!

Lastly, I want to answer the question I’m sure is at the top of your lists – the release date. We are planning our free-to-play transition this summer and as much as we’d love to share a specific date with all of you, we want to make sure we take the appropriate time to test and do this right so that way we’re ultimately delivering the best possible experience to our players. As I mentioned in my last Producer letter, we assembled our team with only the most passionate Vanguard developers. Therefore, you can rest assured that they’ve fought tooth and nail to acquire as much polish time as possible! ?

 

Death in Guild Wars

The cherry on top of all of this: Guild Wars 2 will have a much milder death penalty.Players who have recently been downed several times will take longer to revive each time. If no one revives you, you can spend a small amount of gold to come back at a waypoint. It’s as simple as that, and why not? Why should we debuff you, take away experience, or make you run around for five minutes as a ghost instead of letting you actually play the game? We couldn’t think of a reason. Well, we did actually think of a reason–it just wasn’t a good one. Death penalties make death in-game a more tense experience. It just isn’t fun. We want to get you back into the action (fun) as quickly as possible. Defeat is the penalty; we don’t have to penalize you a second time.

Everyone take a deep breath. It’s going to be OK.

Simple systems like this, along with cross-profession combos, and the dedicated healing skill slot, help free players from the MMORPG shackles, and let us break the mold even more. We’re making players more self sufficient, but are also providing appealing ways for them to effortlessly work together to create a more inspired moment-to-moment experience. That is why Guild Wars 2 does not have a dedicated healing class.

We have lots of people in our studio that enjoyed playing monks in Guild Wars and healers in other games. We examined what it was about the healer archetypes that people really enjoyed, and we took a look at what it was about those archetypes that made the game less enjoyable. Then we created professions to appeal to those types of players.

Support players want to be able to say, “Remember that one time when I saved you from certain death?” They want to stand in the line of fire and block attacks. They want to surround their allies with a swirling dome of air that keeps enemy projectiles from passing through it. It’s not about clicking on a health bar and watching it go up, it’s about being there for your friends when they need you.The November edition of the Fallen Earth State of the Game letter has been published with the news that the team has been actively working on bringing the farm feature into the game. Players will be able to place farms somewhere in the game world and use them to raise organic materials such as animals and crops.
Harvesting the resource will give the player a chance to get a common, uncommon or rare component. Players will be able to use crafted, dropped, or purchased items to extend the longevity of their farms, speed up the growth of their resources, or improve their chances of getting a rare component. Additionally, placing a farm in a higher risk area such as a PVP zone can improve the yield of harvested resources. 

Garrett Fuller : Garrett’s Best of 2012Garrett Fuller : Garrett’s Best of 2012

 

2012 is nearly over and it’s always fun to take a look back at the games that we spent lots of hours enjoying. We’ll be spending this week talking about the games that we, the staff of MMORPG.com, caught our attention in the year that was. As ever, join the conversation in the comments. Garrett weighs in with his choices on this third day of 2013. Read on!
This list is always fun to do. 2012 to me is not so much about individual games but a trend in games. It was the year of Kickstarter, but in more ways it was the year that fans and players told developers the games they wanted to see made and how they would make them. This trend has begun and I don’t think it is going away. More than ever we are seeing games made that we want and more independent MMOs coming to life. With that said, here are my games for 2012.

 

 

Vendors will have a fixed price for your skin

Europe in Berlin, London, Madrid, Spain, Russia, Moscow, Paris, France, Netherlands, Rotterdam, Stockholm, Sweden, the night of 7-10 for 6 points. It can be said, Wow Gold has gradually turned into windows after the game resumed in the “windows”. Reached the on the new tab at the top of the page or go directly to World of Warcraft. The use of plug-in that allows you to WOW listening to music, edit interface. Tol barad: at present is the design of each side, in 50 players beta testing can be extended to each side 100 players. For example, if he is the interviewer Chilton said the real ID friends, so the interviewer can choose not to appear on the list of friends Chilton. Vendors will have a fixed price for your skin that is sometimes higher than the price of the auction house buying lower.

Yet, salvation could come by opening the doors to a DDO type revenue model where you buy Wow Gold to content, quicker experience, and the usual item shop type items. I try to advise you to seek and find the kingdom for you, at the same time I give you the links that my friends and I have found some Wow Gold. You can read the article here. And typically I’d been within that group. You can and is heading to be banned from RP servers (or the whole game) when you do not look at how you speak (i.e. remain in character) whatsoever times. We are very glad to have the chance to serve you.

The metropolitan areas that may be reached by portal from Shattarath are: Exodar, Darnassus, Stormwind and Ironforge for your Alliance and Silvermoon City, Orgrimmar, Thunder Bluff as properly as the Undercity for your Horde.  Not the most gracious form of combat, but all’s fair in war. The tram is also free but at the same time requires a good deal of effort to take while flying is on Wow Gold demand and the cost is a non-factor once you gain a few levels. Finding cheap wow gold is a difficult thing to all of WoW players. 

Star Supremacy : Now With New Graphics

Barbily Games has announced the arrival of enhanced 3D graphics. After responding to player feedback, the dev team has been hard at work enhancing the graphics to make the game more “eye friendly”.

In addition, the team has also announced that prizes will be awarded to the entire community for building the number of “likes” on the Star Supremacy Facebook page and that Valentine’s events will be launched soon.

Find out more about Star Supremacy.

In our latest column devoted to Guild Wars 2, we take a look at what Arena.Net is doing or must do to please the many veterans that will carry over from Guild Wars 1 to the newer game. See what we think needs to happen and then leave us your thoughts in the comments.
There are millions of fans of the original Guild Wars game, and we are going to be the toughest critics that ArenaNet can try to please. One of the reasons we Guild Wars veterans fell in love with the original games, was that they were just different. While they had a lot of similarities with MMOs, such as controls and similar UI layouts, it was the importance of skills, strategy, and less emphasis on what items you had, that gave us a breath of fresh air from endless grinding. I was a player that came from playing MMOs one after the other, looking from something that felt new and interesting. When I played Guild Wars, I noticed my skills were more important than how rare and great my weapons and armor were. 

Three dwarves clans—lived united in Iron forge

When freak natural disasters began rocking much of Azeroth just prior to the Cataclysm, the dwarves lands were not spared from the calamitous upheavals. A series of violent quakes tore through areas surrounding Iron forge, reducing settlements to rubble and taking the lives of many innocent dwarves in the process. To glean answers as to the troubling state of the world, King Magni selflessly underwent a mystic ritual to commune with the earth. The archaic ceremony, however, had an unexpected effect: Magni was transformed into diamond and became fused to the depths of Iron forge itself.

For many long centuries, three dwarves clans—the Bronze beards, the Wild hammers, and the Dark Irons lived united in Iron forge under the wise rule of High King Modimus Anvilmar. When Modimus passed away from old age, tensions boiled over among the clans, and war erupted for control of the city. Thus began the War of the Three Hammers, a savage conflict that raged for many years, during which time the Bronze beard clan won sole ownership of Iron forge and expelled its rivals. The war severed relations among the clans, and they went on to forge new destinies apart from one another.

Start Location: Dun Morogh Encircled by jagged mountain peaks, the snowy region of Dun Morogh has been the cultural heart of Iron forge’s dwarves for ages. Not long ago, quakes roused numerous troggs from their subterranean dwellings and drove the bestial creatures toward the dwarves settlement of Anvilmar inColdridgeValley. The sudden influx of troggs also caused the savage Frost mane trolls to abandon their usual holdings on Shimmer Ridge and encroach upon dwarf-occupied areas. Threatened on two fronts, Dun Morogh’s mountaineers are spread thin. Without additional assistance, the prized lands of Dun Morogh might soon fall to the dwarves’ barbarous foes. Experienced players before the transfer of accounts will have all his accounts of ‘family property to shift focus of roles. If you have friends or relatives, then also by the last tens of thousands of wow gold, then you can become a pilot service and have a good ranking now. 

The developer of “Diablo 3″

“If we could have done anything different, we probably wouldn’t have announced the game when we did,” saidWilson. “We could have waited a little longer. We thought we were closer to release. We want people to get excited, but we don’t want them to feel like they’re strung along. We always try to have a dialogue with the audience and exceed their expectations. “Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhati said “Diablo III,” only available to play on PC and Mac computers, not game consoles, has the potential to sell more than 4 million copies. He estimated Blizzard would sell 3.5 million copies this year. “Diablo II,” released in the summer of 2000, sold 4 million copies in the year after it debuted. In February, 23-year-old Chen Rong-yu was found dead in an Internet cafe inNew Taipei City,Taiwan, after having played the videogame League of Legends for 23 hours straight, according to the Taipei Times.

The 18-year-old, who has only been identified by his first name, Chuang, had booked a private room at theTainancafe in southernTaiwanon the afternoon of July 13, according to the the Australian, which cited the United Daily News broadsheet. Chuang then proceeded to play the videogame for 40 hours straight without eating. On July 15, an attendant went into the room where Chuang had been playing and found the teen resting on the table, according to the Australian. The attendant was able to wake Chuang, who stood up, took a few steps and then collapsed onto the ground. He was pronounced dead soon after arriving at the hospital.

According to the Mirror, authorities believe the teenager may have suffered a blood clot due to sitting for such a long period of time. Blizzard, the developer of “Diablo 3,” released the following statement, obtained by the Mirror and other news outlets, regarding the teen’s death: We’re saddened to hear this news, and our thoughts are with his family and friends during this difficult time. We don’t feel it would be appropriate for us to comment further without knowing all of the circumstances involved. While we recognise that it’s ultimately up to each individual or their parent or guardian to determine playing habits, we feel that moderation is clearly important, and that a person’s day-to-day life should take precedence over any form of entertainment. Chuang is not the first individual to die following a long gaming session.

 

 

These runes were small objects that were placed in skills

The names and function of the stats changed several times during development as well. Ironically, after experimentation with up to five attributes, including a system where each attribute granted more or less identical bonuses to each class, the developers returned to the classic four attributes of Strength, Vitality, Dexterity, and Intelligence. The bonuses provided by these four differ considerably from their Diablo II form. Another system that underwent numerous changes during development; skill runes were items for most of Diablo 3 development. These runes were small objects that were placed in skills, each of which had one socket.

Once seated, the runestones changed the function of the skills, always improving them, in five different ways. Those runestones were called crimson, alabaster, indigo, golden, and obsidian. Though the skill rune effects remained, the item-based runestone system was entirely removed during the beta, and replaced with a system where all of the rune effects are built into skills. They are thus part of the interface, and are “unlocked” one at a time, usually around 5 to 9 levels apart. Thus a base skill such as the Demon Hunter’s Vault is unlocked at level 12, and the rune effects become available one at a time at levels 23, 31, 40, 48, and 53.

Early overachievers played very long hours, forcing themselves through Inferno and scoring amazing loot unfindable in other difficulty levels. Those items entered the Auction House, other players bought them and did their own item finding in Inferno, and soon enough any player could farm gold for an hour or two at level 40 or 50, and earn enough to buy an item that would grant vastly higher damage than they’d have ever found on their own, barring weeks of grinding to find it. This seemed great, but many of those players soon grew bored with the game, as all challenge was gone with their great gear, and they had no joy of finding new gear since they already had quality equipment. 

The Secret World : Player Activity Up 400% Since Relaunch with B2PThe Secret World : Player Activity Up 400% Since Relaunch with B2P

 

 

The latest Funcom financial report is out and contains some interesting tidbits of information, including the note that player activity in The Secret World is up 400% since last month’s relaunch as a ‘buy to play’ game. Funcom is also reporting that over 70,000 copies of TSW have been sold since the relaunch.
Funcom will be undergoing restructuring as well:

The restructuring of the Company will involve cost reductions through the closure and the consolidation of offices with the goal of creating a stronger unified organization that can take full advantage of the exciting opportunities that face the games industry as it steps into 2013 and beyond.

Details on the results of the restructuring will be made available once the process is complete.

Read the full report on Funcom’s site.

 

  

Five ugamesmall.com Facets that Need Innovation

ugamesmall.com.com’s Bill Murphy examines five MMO facets that could stand to be spiced up a bit in this week’s list.ant to buy cheap diablo 3 gold ? We are professional cheap diablo 3 gold provider. We dedicate ourselves to offer the game players with the most reliable and high grade service,in meeting the requirements of game players to sell and trade in-game items,we provide gamers with fast transactions, 24-hour customer service and guaranteed transactional security,and most important,at the competitive price while maintaining the high quality.
I’m not one that’s prone to complain.  Generally, even as a critic, I can find the upsides of every negative.  I’m habitually and uncontrollably a “glass half full” kind of guy.  Still that doesn’t mean I’m content with everything to remain as is because there’s no room for improvement.  I love MMOs, and I’ve long since learned that their weaknesses are sometimes what define them as a genre of games.  There’s a growing sentiment that ugamesmall.comaren’t evolving but rather remaining stagnant because of some cynical viewpoint that everyone just wants to duplicate WoW’s success.  I think companies are starting to realize that WoW is a fluke of the industry, and hopefully that means that the designers will be able to seek what designers should always strive for: innovation.  It may be incremental, but I do believe the evolution of the MMO is already underway with currently released titles and those on the horizon.  Here then is a laundry list of things I’d love to see touched by innovation

In the August edition of the Fallen Earth State of the Game letter, producer Dave “Archangel” Haydysch begins by talking about the changes brought in the 1.6 patch. He then continues with a listing of the items that will be receiving attention in the patches set to roll out this fall.

Combat

We’ve been taking a very in-depth look at two core systems of Fallen Earth—Combat and Factions. Over the next several months we will be making changes as we continually adjust and improve these two systems.

Specifically for combat, we will be changing some of the formulas to create a more fast-paced, exciting combat experience. Major changes coming soon involve adjusting high levels of mitigation, tweaking the random damage spread and making armor require statistics (like Faction or Strength) and character level (rather than Armor Use skill). However, Armor Use skill will still determine how well armor performs. After these changes are in place, we will be making adjustments to Faction skills, Mutations and regular skills, and a balance pass for Items.The most competitive Price. By using a special price searching system to check the diablo 3 Gold prices of our 150 major competitors.We are able to maintain the most competitive price for players to buy diablo 3 gold,We guarantee 100% safe delivery method and take full responsibility for it, our company  have been completed thousands of transactions and meet over 1000 orders everyday, we successfully make all our customers delighted and satisfied.

After talking combat, Haydysch goes on to talk about Progress Towns, Faction Control Points, Color Customization for Clothing, Camp Improvements, and even spends some time talking about the mobile app that devs created several months ago.