MMORPG.com’s own Carolyn Koh was at the recent EA Summer Showcase out on the Left Coast, and during her time there she was treated to the first ever reveal of a dungeon in Funcom’s The Secret World.  Find out what Carolyn thought of the hotly anticipated game’s combat, classless system, and more.

The graphics are impressive, not only on the grand scale but on the intimate, personal scale as they made good use of the 3-D space. Unlike the gigantic architecture and towering landscapes of many fantasy games out there, Solomon Island seemed real, with levels that player characters could jump to or climb easily and foot bridges that weren’t scaled for tanks to trundle down side by side.
 
The game requires players to pay attention and learn. Situational analysis is required and in between encounters, players will be able to change out their skills. The earth is being invaded and Gaia is pushing back. Players will find anima wells at some point in a dungeon where they can change their skill sets, changing the seven active and seven passive skills that they brought into the encounter. 

 

Last week’s Friday Update to the official Star Wars: The Old Republic website consisted of a dev blog by BioWare’s Damion Schubert on the process of creating the game’s various in-game maps.Damion explains how BioWare’s technology can create maps automatically:

What we decided to do was to have a design process which generates maps based on the objects that exist inside of any zone in the game world. To start off, a designer draws a trigger box around part of the world, and then designates which map that trigger box belongs to. He then uses a tool which effectively renders only the objects that are inside of that particular trigger box. This gives us a basic map image. After this, he runs a Photoshop tool which applies a filter that makes the resulting image look techy, holographic and vaguely architectural (if indoors) or topographical (if outdoors). Finally, an artist does a cleanup pass, removing visual artifacts and other noise that might have crept into the process.

The end result is that we have maps that can show astonishing details about the game world. Chairs, crates, statues – all manner of items show up on the map from a birds-eye view, giving the player a real sense of where they are in the world. The resulting map was in fact so good that early on, we found unexpected obstacles were appearing on the map. After investigation, it turned out they were chandeliers and rafters rendered near the ceiling.

  

 

Lazard Capital Markets has downgraded Activision-Blizzard stock from “buy” to “neutral” in light of World of Warcraft’s declining subscription numbers.

Lazard analyst Atul Bagga does not believe Activision-Blizzard can stop the hemorrhaging of World of Warcraft subscriber numbers due to age and increased competition in the

space.  The downgrade was mainly motivated by data coming out of a recent survery of 381 online gamers conducted by Lazard Capital Markets (along with Peanut Labs) . The survey

results have Lazard Capital projecting a potential 900,000-1.6million player drop due to the the imminent launch of Star Wars: The Old Republic alone. 50% of those who were

actively subscribed to World of Warcraft during the time of the survey stated they would be purchasing The Old Republic, while 38% said they may pick up the title.

Bagga wasn’t entirely pessimistic, however, noting that half of former WoW subscribers polled during the survey stated they may return to World of Warcraft if Blizzard put on a

special promotion, and that 33% of former subscribers would return to the game with the launch of Mists of Pandaria, the game’s next expansion 

 

The Everquest 2 team has announced that players will be able to take advantage of a double XP weekend beginning on Thursday, November 24th. In addition, the Marketplace will be giving players some hot deals for Black Friday.

We know you’ll probably be stuffing your face with Turkey over the next few days, so why not also stuff your experience bars? That’s right – we’re having a Double XP weekend! This weekend, from 12:01 am PST on Thursday, November 24th, until 11:59 pm PST on November 27th, we will be running a true Double XP (+100% XP) promotion. The bonus applies toAA, tradeskill and adventure experience this weekend. Our French, German, Japanese, and Test Servers will also be enjoying the increase in XP gain. Huzzah! So have a very Happy Thanksgiving and when you’re done eating with the family, we’ll see you in Norrath!

Indie developer, Redbedlam, has announced the creation of a new MMO called “The Missing Ink”. Calling their game a “mostly traditional MMO”, the team has revealed that some of the world’s most enduring stories live in The Missing Ink but with a twist: “Each of the stories are strangely corrupted.”

Players are treated to very traditional MMO elements such as questing, dungeoneering and “quite literally saving the world” but are also given the tools necessary to create and share their own adventures and stories.

Kerry Fraser-Robinson, RedBedlam’s Managing Director commented, “leave me alone – I’m busy.”  Later, he somewhat more constructively added, “Oh for the press release? Right.  Let me see.  Tell them it’s funny.  Ground-breaking.  Innovation oozing from every pixel.  A showcase for our artistic talent and technical expertise.  And it’s free.”The Missing Ink is slated to begin beta testing in early 2012 and will kick off for multiple platforms in Q3 2012. 

 

 

GamersFirst has announced that over three million players have registered to play APB: Reloaded. According to the press release, the milestone was passed after APB:R was released on Steam. GamersFirst anticipates that the number will rise when a special boxed version hits store shelves that sells with pretty amazing incentives.

“We recognized the potential for APB Reloaded to be a true breakout hit in the Free2Play category all through beta testing,” said Rahul Sandil, SVP of marketing and business development for GamersFirst. “We quickly amassed a vocal, dedicated community, and they’ve been instrumental in growing the game and helping better the experience. We also attracted a partner in [a]list games, a digital game market maker who launched a worldwide campaign to raise the game’s visibility and help it appeal to a broader audience. Ultimately, players who discover a new free game decide if there’s enough value and quality to keep playing, and APB Reloaded’s trajectory tells us a growing number are being blown away by what they’re getting.”

Innova has announced that it will officially swing open the F2P doors of the European iteration of Lineage II in English. Friday’s update will feature the Goddess of Destruction update, premium accounts and the item shop will go live.

A brand new item shop will be opened at launch, and the range of items on offer will include runes to speed levelling, scrolls for fast travelling and stylish wardrobe pieces – these are intended to maximize enjoyment of the game, and do not affect game balance. Players will also have the option to purchase Premium Accounts, which provide perks such as accelerated character progression, energy-boosting items and priority server access. Premium Accounts are not required for success in the game, but may be helpful to players with busy lives who wish to make the most of their game time in Lineage II. 

 

Avatar Creations has announced that Perpetuum Online will be expanding content-wise on December 1st. Called “Intrusion 2.0”, the new content expansion will allow player corporations to fight for and gain control of outposts in the Beta region. In addition, a new freighter robot is coming into the game and new level 3 missions are incoming. Infact, according to Perpetuum devs, the entire mission system has been reworked.

The team also announced that visual enhancements will be included in the update. The lighting system has been overhauled to give more realistic looks to environments including sky and water.

Lastly, Perpetuum is about to turn one year old and developers have in game events planned to celebrate.

Recently the rumour mill went into full swing with regards to the apparent oncoming death of Morsus Mihi. I can’t say I have any vested interest in whichever way this pendulum of fate swings. On one hand Morsus Mihi are historical figures in EVE Online. They kept the north in good stead for many years and were always reliable and stable. However as their lives in the North came to an end and the technetium wells dried up they found themselves in a strange position, an unfamiliar position, and a downright alien position. Ancient as they were, they hadn’t felt the pain of eviction in many years and the events that followed left many of the remaining power blocks feeling the same sort of sympathy you’d feel for an old man who has truly lost his mind, yet in his youth was a sharp, well-kept gent. 

 

Yesterday, Blizzard finally revealed the next expansion for World of Warcraft. Called Mists of Pandaria, the expansion brings new features, a new continent, a new race, a new

class and much much more. MMORPG.com Managing Editor Bill Murphy has a brief write up of the announcement along with some new screens. Check it out and then let us know what

you’re thinking in the comments.

The amount of information shared at BlizzCon about the new World of Warcraft expansion was daunting. There are a ton of new elements coming into the game and loads of new

features. Pandaria brings the Horde and Alliance to the hidden continent and brings the Panderans into play as the new playable race. It also introduces the Monk class to the

game. The Kung Fu Panda jokes aside, Pandaria looks amazing and the Monk run through impressed us with its smooth approach and new punch and kick style combat. Players should

get ready to play to level 90. Overall, the WoW team continues to work hard on filling out the full scope of Azeroth. The only question that remains is whether or not will it be

too much?

Blizzcon 2011 has kicked off in a big way with the announcement of the new World of Warcraft expansion. Here’s what we know:

•Name: Mists of Pandaria
•Race: New playable Pandaren race
•Class: Monk
•Pet battle system
•PvE scenarios
•New talent system
•New continent
•Level cap increase to 90
•Challenge mode dungeons
It sounds like more faction battle will be included in the new expansion. The WoW panel will kick off soon and we’ll keep you posted as information becomes available. 

 

Rift players will want to check their email for notification from Trion Worlds that the data servers have been

compromised.

The database in question contained information including user names, encrypted passwords, dates of birth,

email addresses, billing addresses, and the first and last four digits and expiration dates of customer credit

cards.

There is no evidence, and we have no reason to believe, that full credit card information was accessed or

compromised in any way. We have already taken further action to strengthen our systems, even as we, with

external security experts, continue to research the extent of the unauthorized access.
Players will have to change passwords and reattach any authenticator that they may be using. Unfortunately, at

the time of this writing the Trion/Rift site is down so accomplishing that task is not possible.

We’re just going to let the RuneScape dev team say it in their own words: To pop the cork on the all-year celebration of RuneScape’s 10th anniversary, Jagex Game Studio is hosting a 24-hour challenge for one brave (and well rested) RuneScape moderator, to celebrate the ringing of 2012 with RuneScape players across the globe. 

With each of the 39 strokes of midnight, occurring in the 39 time zones across the world, players will be alerted to the moderator’s in-game location through Facebook, Twitter, and in-game, that they can seek him out and join in these once a year festivities.
 
Using the hashtag “#RS24” on Twitter, players can join in the conversation, keep track of his progress, and connect with fellow players as he celebrates the coming of 2012 with RuneScape players the world round.
Have a happy holiday season, and looking forward to capping RuneScape’s 10th anniversary with global count downs to the New Year! 10…9…8…7…(repeat 39x) 

 

Jagex has been hard at work on 8Realms, a browser-based strategy title. Before summarily dismissing 8Realms out of hand, be sure to read our first look preview of a game that is

said to “sap Internet users’ remaining free time”. Leave us a couple of comments when finished!

As the conversation lulls one moustachioed developer nervously addresses the agenda “just how do we sap Internet users’ remaining free time?” Shocked, the others grumble with

trepidation, before slowly turning their heads towards the shadowy figure at the helm of the meeting: stroking a white cat, and wearing a silver jumpsuit, the CEO of Jagex

clears his throat, palms his shaven head and announces “ladies and gentlemen I give you 8Realms, soon the [Internet browser] world will be ours!”. Cue “Daah-Naah-Naa” music.