Newslist For MMOValue

Well, this is a welcome change — now that Frozen Orbs are going to be the new crafting tokens, exchangeable for Frost Lotus and Eternal Fire, among other things, Wryxian announced that they will be greed only in the upcoming patch.

WryxianNo, you won’t be able to exchange Frozen Orbs for Emblems of Frost. Yeah it just takes one person to press Need after everyone’s pressed Greed on the Frozen Orbs and you miss out. But the good news is that in patch 3.3.3 this won’t be the case anymore — the roll for Frozen Orbs will be an automatic Greed roll. Rejoice!

I wonder whether this is now some sort of flag in their database that they could use for other items. Like Books of Glyph Mastery. Nothing is more annoying than someone ninja looting jerk looting something that everyone gains equal benefit from.

Edit: Ninjas are cool. People who steal from their peers are not. Stop calling them ninjas.

Castille World of Warcraft

The official site for Final Fantasy XIV follows several Square-Enix site traditions, by being designed entirely in Flash and having an obnoxiously slow update schedule. Thankfully, an official update has just hit the site, both in the form of several new screenshots (including the lovely in-game shot seen above) and more solid ability information about several of the game’s disciplines. Much of it mirrors what we’d seen in early leaks from Japanese magazines, but the abilities and spells of each class shed more light on how the game will play.

Conjurers are apparently going to play similar to Scholars, with both traditional black and white magic spells in their arsenal, as well as unique tricks such as being able to cast while moving. Thaumaturges, meanwhile, inherit several Dark Knight draining/sacrificing abilities along with several status ailments. And those are just the two casting professions — each of the five physical damage professions seem poised for a wide variety of ability combinations, along with a heavy emphasis on position. The beta information for Final Fantasy XIV still seems to be restricted, but the game is already looking intruiging for both fans of the series and general MMO players.

Koeningsmark Final Fantasy XI

Yes, yes, it’s my second Los Lobos reference in as many days, but they’re a good band and “That Train Don’t Stop Here” is pretty tight. Anyway, Karli sent in this screenshot of her character using the Rituals of the New Moon to give her lupine friend some companionship. I’d be somewhat concerned that when she changes back in two minutes she’ll be the other wolf’s dinner, but even if it wasn’t domesticated, WoW wolves of this particular fur color tend to be under level 10.

Do you have any unusual, beautiful or interesting World of Warcraft images that are just collecting dust in your screenshots folder? We’d love to see them on Around Azeroth! Sharing your screenshot is as simple as e-mailing aroundazeroth@wow.com with a copy of your shot and a brief explanation of the scene. You could be featured here next!

Catalans World of Warcraft

From

http://www.massively.com/2010/02/28/eve-evolved-staying-safe-in-high-security-space/

One of EVE Online’s defining factors is the idea that you’re not completely safe anywhere in the game. If you’re not docked in a station or securely logged off, there’s always a chance that someone will pick a fight with you. Many pilots opt to stay in the relative safety of high security space but even this isn’t an absolutely safe area. Suicide attacks, corporate wars, can flippers and loot thieves are a common sight in New Eden and if you don’t know how to handle them, you could find yourself on the business end of a 150mm railgun.

In this guide for newer EVE players, I look at the main threats you could be exposed to in high security space and how to keep yourself safe in spite of them.

Read more…

gmaxwell EVE Online

In this installment of WoW.com’s guest writer program, we welcome a handful of authors to share their thoughts on what is a rumored BlizzCon 2010 this October.

BlizzCon has become one of the premier gaming events each year, attracting folks of every different walk of life from every corner of the globe. In 2009 Chris Metzen stood on stage and to thunderous fire announced World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. The expectations set for future BlizzCon are nothing less than spectacular; reading some of the well thought out opinions, you can see what your fellow WoWers want to see at BlizzCon 2010…

Darcy Zalewski (Better known to some as Syrana)

I went to BlizzCon in 2009 for the first time and saw a lot of great stuff. Since I’ve experienced it once, now I have some things I’d like to request — nay, demand — to see this year. I want to see someone in a Pandaren Monk costume and I want them to go all out with it. I also want to see some updates regarding the Warcraft movie. Then there’s the next-gen MMO Blizzard is working on. I hope they’ll show some concept art and maybe a demo of this. Lastly, I want Mountain Dew in the vending machines. The only Dew available was at the end of a long concession line (the machines gave Pepsi no matter what button you pushed!). The developer panels taunted me with their untouched bottles of sweet nectar.

Scott Carson

What I would really like to see at BlizzCon 2010 is a dungeons and raids panel dealing with the design philosophy of the dungeons of Cataclysm or of the design teams “favorite” dungeons of all time (dependant on the timing of BlizzCon and the release of Cataclysm). We got a look at the “how” of dungeon and raid design in 2009, but a panel going into the “why” would be interesting. It could be run with a panel of designers showing a fly-through, giving commentary and pointing out features and elements that make the individual dungeons stand out from the pack. To one-up this, they could have some of the team play through a dungeon, live, while the panel delivers a “director’s commentary,” perhaps with Ghostcrawler playing a retribution paladin.

William Gray

With Blizzard requiring all players to ‘upgrade’ their accounts to Battle.net they have provided themselves with an excellent tool in the tricky task of herding WoW players to whatever their next MMO project is. When they make their next project public, which may very well be at BlizzCon 2010, I’m interested in seeing what their strategy is for making the transition between WoW and the future of Blizzard’s financial success. Will they be able to stay atop the MMO market or will they lose their audience to a rival company?

T.J. Luckman

Two words. New MMO. Is MMO a word? It’s actually an acronym, so maybe I should say it’s four words, but that’s less dramatic. Regardless, I’m really hoping we get some news on the new project they’ve got in the works at Blizzard. It’s not related to any of their other properties, so I’m dying to know more about it. Is it something that could draw me away from WoW? Is it something more serious or more light than Warcraft is? Will there be ponies? We’ve already got a lot to look forward to with Starcraft II and Cataclysm in 2010, and Diablo III in the not too distant future, but we know almost nothing about this new MMO. Blizzard needs to drop some information on this and get us all salivating over their next big thing.

El-ad David Amir

What do I want? More of the same. Let’s be honest here. Blizzard’s main strength is polish. They take the acceptable, the tested, the mundane, and upgrade it to the next level, thus creating a brand new industry standard for others to aspire to. Since 2005, BlizzCon has more or less followed an exact formula: New game announcement; public play of upcoming titles; tough Q&As, answering some difficult questions from players regarding the world’s most popular titles; and, of course, the goody bag. No tricks, no shenanigans, just high quality sessions that form a dialog between the company and us, the fans. The formula works, and I want the formula to stay.

Catalans World of Warcraft

gamigo, a leading publisher of FTP online games, announced its latest creation called Soul Master.

“We are excited to announce that we will be the exclusive European publisher of Soul Master,” says gamigo executive board member Patrick Streppel. “Soul Master provides a unique gameplay experience that combines strategy and role-play, fitting perfectly into our broad portfolio of free-to-play online games.”

In Soul Master, an entirely mission-based world, three factions duke it out for the right to rule all. Inside cities players will find a place to meet and to get quests, something the developer claims to have no shortage of. Besides just running through missions to build up a character, however, players will be attempting to capture resources that will aid them in building up a base and growing an army.

There will be no lack of PvP, either, as players will be able to fight other Soul Masters in PvP battles and in guild wars that are going to be an “absolute highlight” of the experience. Expected to be released in the third quarter of 2010, Soul Master will be staying in the tradition of gamigo’s other titles and remaining completely free-to-play. Join me after the jump for a trailer and some more game highlights.

Here are some of Soul Master’s features:
Real-time strategy elements 3 factions (Valiant, Harmony, Holy) 6 character classes 33 building classes Single and multi-player missions Boss raids PvP battles Captivating guild wars Pet system 18 units, each with their own abilities There is also some mention of an “instant replay” function, but we are not sure what that means. Perhaps PvP battles will allow the players to view them afterward? If so, it will be great to see a feature that players have long been asking for in action. While this announcement covers the EU, there isn’t any information as to when the game is coming to NA. As soon as we know something we will be posting it here! Until then, the game is looking very interesting.

Castillans World of Warcraft

Celestial steeds and more toys aren’t the only new things coming in patch 3.3.3! With the new content also comes a variety of new music. Savvy dataminer Leviathonlx dug up several new tracks for the big events going on in the new patch. Accompanying the trolls in Operation Echo Isles will be an epic score tailored to the event, whether the calm before combat, the thick of the battle, or the climax of the fight, the music will get you in the mood for the voodoo.

Also uncovered was a track centered around the Ruby Sanctum. Not to be outdone by the trolls, the Red Dragonflight has made a strong showing with spooky music all their own.

ZF Big Battle ZF Med Battle ZF Quiet Ruby Sanctum Blizzard has always made it a point to use mood- and setting-appropriate music in all of their zones, instances and, on a larger scale, games. These cinematic-style tracks are no exception.

Be sure to check back often, as we’ll keep you up to date with all news about Patch 3.3.3.

Castillans World of Warcraft

With all the news regarding the WoW Trading Card Game, avid players have been wondering exactly what’s going on, where the license is going, and who’s going to be producing new cards, if any. While there aren’t any answers to these questions specifically, it’s heartening to note that Blizzard just added a new Trading Card Game section to the official forums, solely for discussion about the TCG. The card game hasn’t been forgotten, and neither have its players.

The question of what the future of the TCG will bring has already been addressed on the forums by Eyonix, who restated Blizzard’s earlier announcement that Blizzard and UDE would be parting ways. He also reassured players that Blizzard is committed to supporting the TCG and will be releasing new content in the near future, although there are still no new details as to who is picking up the license.

While this also doesn’t really answer any questions, it’s good to know that Blizzard is still thinking about the TCG community — and this gives an ideal place for Blizzard to post any updates regarding the game’s production. Hopefully we’ll see more news on the future of the TCG soon.

Castille World of Warcraft

Blizzard has released a rather detailed look into a new feature coming in Cataclysm that we first heard about at BlizzCon 2009 — the mastery system. The system will “allow players to become better at what makes their chosen talent tree cool or unique.” Mastery bonuses are passive and are tied to each talent tree for every class. The more talent points you put in the tree, the more your mastery for that tree will increase. Each talent tree will have three mastery bonuses:

Bonus 1: Increase to damage, healing, or survivability Bonus 2: Increase to a stat that’s relevant to the given talent tree Bonus 3: A completely unique effect to the given talent tree The mastery statistic on gear you’ll get from 80 to 85 will increase the effect of bonus #3. Mechanically, the point of the mastery system is to remove talents like “6% more damage” and regulate those effects into the entire tree.

Kins World of Warcraft

Blizzard has released a rather detailed look into a new feature coming in Cataclysm that we first heard about at BlizzCon 2009 — the mastery system. The system will “allow players to become better at what makes their chosen talent tree cool or unique.” Mastery bonuses are passive and are tied to each talent tree for every class. The more talent points you put in the tree, the more your mastery for that tree will increase. Each talent tree will have three mastery bonuses:

Bonus 1: Increase to damage, healing, or survivability Bonus 2: Increase to a stat that’s relevant to the given talent tree Bonus 3: A completely unique effect to the given talent tree The mastery statistic on gear you’ll get from 80 to 85 will increase the effect of bonus #3. Mechanically, the point of the mastery system is to remove talents like “6% more damage” and regulate those effects into the entire tree.

Mustapha World of Warcraft

Sadly, the ultimate answer appears to be “very reluctantly” but it’s an interesting read anyway. J. Allen Brack talks to G4 about WoW, consoles, and the barriers to entry for an MMO. The usual suspects apply, of course. WoW was designed for keyboards, consoles tend to have a short lifespan compared to the development time of a MMO, and WoW currently takes up about 15gb worth of memory while consoles like an XBox 360 have at most 20gb worth of hard drive space without buying any additions. This is no surprise, of course… they’ve said all this before.

What I really found interesting was that this is supposedly something they think about a lot. “In the case of WoW, we talk about it all the time.” I’m the curious sort, so I find myself wondering why, given all the reasons Brack himself lists. Personally, I’d love to see a single player Warcraft property of some sort for consoles, perhaps a God of War style action game or even a Dragon Age/Mass Effect hybrid RPG. And who knows, perhaps Blizzard will come up with a way to do it despite their laundry list of reasons why they won’t, they’ve surprised me before.

Kins World of Warcraft

The official Patch 3.3.3 patch notes have just been posted to the official site, so we’re likely to see the PTR incredibly soon, if it isn’t up right now. You can find the patch notes in full below. Do note, however, that this is Patch 3.3.3 and not Patch 3.3.5. This will not include the Ruby Sanctum raid dungeon.

Some highlights:

Death Knights: Icy Touch: This ability now causes a very high amount of threat while the death knight is in Frost Presence. Many aura abilities such as Unleashed Rage, Abomination’s Might, and Elemental Oath are now passive auras and do no need to be triggered by certain strikes. Frozo the Renowned has moved into the Dalaran Magus Commerce Exchange and will be trading your Frozen Orbs for various other trade goods. We do not yet know what these items are, but we’ll be sure to look as soon as we get on the PTR. Look behind the break for the rest of the Patch 3.3.3 patch notes.

These patch notes have been updated with the changes from February 24th, 2010.
Read more…

Castille World of Warcraft

Remember when Blizzard first offered the Lil KT and Pandaren Monk pets on the Blizzard Store a few months ago? They mentioned that they would be donating half the proceeds from the sales of the Pandaren Monk in game non combat pet to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Selling at $10 per account, the Pandaren Monk managed to raise a whopping $1.1 million which was donated to the Make-A-Wish Foundation on February 16. This figure was based on the November-December sales of the cute little pet.

The Make-A-Wish Foundation is a non profit organization that grants wishes to children with life threatening conditions. Blizzard has had dealings with the foundation in the past with the famous case of the late Ezra Chatterton. Chatterton, who passed away in 2008, was suffering from a brain tumor when the make-A-Wish Foundation granted his wish to be a Game Developer in the game that he loved the most. Chatterton is responsible for the Merciless Gladiator Crossbow of the Phoenix, named after his WoW character Ephoenix. He is also responsible for a quest in Mulgore involving an NPC that even uses his own voice. Since it’s the Lunar Festival now, you can also see him immortalized as Elder Ezra Wheathoof in Thunder Bluff!

So if you bought a Pandaren Monk in November or December, you can be proud to have contributed to this fine cause!

MMOvalue World of Warcraft

Deadlylupine of on Balnazzar snapped this shot of her drake rising through the mist in Terokkar Forest. “I happened to be flying in lovely Terokkar, and my Nether Drake was just so overwhelmed with light, he had to have a celebratory roar,” she wrote.

Do you have any unusual, beautiful or interesting World of Warcraft images that are just collecting dust in your screenshots folder? We’d love to see them on Around Azeroth! Sharing your screenshot is as simple as e-mailing aroundazeroth@wow.com with a copy of your shot and a brief explanation of the scene. You could be featured here next!

gmaxwell World of Warcraft

Big news for Final Fantasy XIV fans today, especially if you’re biting your nails waiting to get into the beta. The official PlayStation Blog has announced that the initial production run of Final Fantasy XIII on the PS3 will come packaged with a special offer for an in-game item, and an extra shot at a potential beta spot for Final Fantasy XIV.

While it doesn’t guarantee a beta key, anything that increases your chances of playing the game sooner is a good thing. But act now, because once those launch copies are gone, so is the offer.

Castille Final Fantasy XI