Back in the day, the Heroes of Might and Magic series was the definition of “just one more turn!” gameplay. Even in the face of real-time strategy titles, HoMaM stuck to their turn-based guns and challenged players to explore a fantasy land, conquer towns, build up armies, and survive the inevitable epic conflict.
Likewise, in the face of real-time 3D MMORPGs, Heroes of Might and Magic Online is holding tight to what made it so popular — a lush isometric look coupled with turn-based exploration and combat. Hoping to recapture the players who loved the single-player titles — and draw in a new crowd — Ubisoft has announced the launch of the HoMaMO closed beta this past weekend.
The closed beta will end with a data wipe, per the results of a player survey, so no need to worry about getting off on the wrong foot. With eight factions to choose from and exciting PvE and PvP campaigns awaiting, the temptation to explore Heroes of Might and Magic Online may prove strong indeed.
Kins World of Warcraft
It’s been an interesting process to watch the growth of Star Trek Online over the past few months, with Cryptic clearly making a concerted effort to pack a great deal more content into the game as fast as possible. They’ve stated prior that they would like to go no more than three months between major content updates, with smaller updates happening on a monthly basis. In the most recent Engineering Report on the official site, we get more details about what’s being planned and worked on for the near future — and the many players eagerly awaiting ship interiors don’t have to wait that much longer.
The report outlines the rough plan for the next three months, for the Season 1.2 patch, the followup 1.3 patch, and the Season 2 update planned in July. 1.2 is aiming at adding a “sidekick” system a la City of Heroes, new playable races, and social improvements. 1.3, targeted for June, is adding Dabo, the option to trade bridge officers, and weekly episodes. And as could be expected, Season 2 is packed to the gills with new features — including Klingon episodes, “neutral” episodes for all factions, and ship interiors. Take a look at the full report for more looks at what’s on the table and being tested for Star Trek Online.
Kins Star Trek Online
Nethaera posted a call for feedback on hunter pets on the official forums:
NethaeraWe’re looking to get some feedback on the types of pets that hunters would like to be able to tame and the types of abilities that might be interesting for those pets to have. Is there a type of creature in the game now that you would like to be able to tame or an ability that you’ve always thought should be added? Here’s your chance to share a bit more about what you think could be great additions for the hunter class.
Read more…
Kins World of Warcraft
After one iteration at the start of the new year and another run that coincided with VanaFest 2010, you would think that Final Fantasy XI was done with the Mog Bonanza for a while. But you’d apparently be wrong, as the official site has just announced that it will be running once again. But it’s kind of understandable when you realize it’s to celebrate the momentous eight-year milestone the game is hitting. That’s a fine reason for players to start up the number-guessing engine in their heads again, especially when the rewards are still more wonderful prizes for every adventurer.
Most of the rules from prior offerings still apply here — a maximum of ten marbles per character, with prizes handed out in ascending ranks. Getting just the last digit right nets some small but pleasing prizes, while getting all five brings huge piles of gil or rare equipment. While it’s not on par with the Relic and Mythic weapons offered at VanaFest, they’re still desirable for almost any player. So mark your calendar foor May 16th, when marbles go on sale, and enjoy a solid eight years of Final Fantasy XI.
Kins Final Fantasy XI
Information on the highly anticipated Final Fantasy XIV has been coming in great rushes with the testing in full swing, and what we’ve been hearing only whets the appetite. Robust character customization, diverse character growth, and a unique battle system all offer something at once reminiscent and yet different from Final Fantasy XI. While Square-Enix has stayed fairly tight-lipped even as we’ve gotten more Japanese news on the game, the first major “leak” from the test has emerged: a full disclosure of the Alpha Tester’s Manual, as sent out by Square to all of the game’s testers.
Although many elements of the game have already been disclosed from other sources, seeing everything laid out in the manual format helps make things a bit clearer. It also goes into more details about the limitations on the test, implying that several of them (such as the 20-ability limit) are unique to this phase of testing. There are also firmer details on things like Aetheryte, which function much like Final Fantasy XII’s Save Crystals. If you’re interested in Final Fantasy XIV, you can still glean more information from the newest leak, but like much news on the game it might just whet your appetite.
Kins Final Fantasy XI
A post in the official forums today, later confirmed by a blue, points to hackers attempting to take advantage of a new avenue to attack the user — the World of Warcraft Launcher.
As you can see from the screenshot above (large version here) the real launcher apparently is replaced with a fake launcher that sends the user to a web site that pretends to be official, asking for subscription information (including answers to secret questions and the original CD-Key) in what is meant to appear as the means to restore a supposedly suspended account. One of the telltale signs that this isn’t legit, besides the very invasive information requested, is the version number in the upper left corner of the screen. We’re way past patch 3.1.1 — however not everyone might know this.
Ancilorn posts confirming that this is not genuine (reiterating that they will never ask for your password in such a manner, and also requesting that such things be sent directly to Blizzard if they happen to you). Goes to show that as security is increased, those looking to breach it become more desperate.
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.
Kins 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
Blizzard appears to be trying to make it easier for everyone to have an Authenticator and to that end, there is now a Mobile Authenticator for Android. The Android version works just like the iPhone/iTouch app and is available at the Android App store (you can view it via a third party site). Once you get it on your phone, you then link it to your account at the official World of Warcraft Account Management page. We have reports of the app working for people.
Though we were unable to find this app from Blizzard directly, we believe it to be legitimate. However, we have contacted Blizzard for confirmation. We’ll let you know what they have to say when we hear back from them. Update: Here is the link to the official Blizzard support page for the Android app. Looks like it’s legit. Update 2: Here is the official announcement.
If you don’t have an Authenticator yet, we can’t recommend it enough. The added protection an authenticator provides to your account is much greater than the slight inconvenience of needing access to your phone whenever you login. This is particularly the case if you game at internet cafes.
Kins World of Warcraft
Icecrown Citadel is just full of news tonight. Hot on the heels of the Lich King’s entire loot table being revealed, it appears that the Icecrown raid weeklies are now available. There seem to be five different raid weeklies (here’s the list), existing in both 10- and 25-man versions, and they appear to be given by a different questgiver within Icecrown Citadel for each quest.
Tonight Anne, our new lore columnist, did the 25-man version of Securing the Ramparts, and she reports back that the frost giant (a special mob that appears only for the quest) was “friggen HARD” and that although they got it in a couple of tries, a PuG might have trouble. There was an interesting fight mechanic in the form of a disease debuff that must be passed to another player within 30 seconds, or else it kills the target. The original target is now immune for 30 seconds (no tagbacks, I guess).
The giant dropped no loot, but for completing the quest you get Sack of Frosty Treasures, which contains 5 Emblems of Frost, some gold, and a chance for epic gems. Has anyone else had a chance to try the new weeklies yet?
Kins World of Warcraft
Welcome once again my friends to the lore that never ends, we’re so glad you could attend, come inside, come inside Know Your Lore.
In the past two weeks we’ve talked about the formation of the Old Horde on Draenor, and the resulting rise of the Alliance of Lordaeron to oppose them. Unfortunately we were forced to give the actual events of the wars slightly short shrift in the interest of being done someday. So this week, we cover the First War. (Note: there are spoilers for the original Warcraft game and several books and comic books contained in this post. Be warned if you continue to read it.)
Read more…
Kins World of Warcraft
The World of Warcraft armory page has just been updated with new features and tools!
As stated on their updates page:
Every character profile now has a 3D model viewer that displays the character in his or her currently equipped gear, and accurately displays the character’s physical features, hairstyle, and helm/cloak display as they appear in-game. Mousing over the character model window brings up a control panel with the following controls
Camera controls: To rotate the camera around a character, click and hold the left mouse button while moving the mouse left and right, or click the arrow buttons in the top left of the window. To zoom in and out, use the mouse wheel while hovering over the character window, or click the zoom buttons in the top left of the window. To move the character within the frame, right-click and drag the character in the window (or on the small square in the bottom left corner of the window).
Animations: Each character has a selection of animations that they can perform. Use the arrows next to the animation’s name to cycle through them. The available animations are determined by the character’s class and currently equipped weapons.
Capture pose: If you are logged in, you can set the default pose of any character on your account. Use the camera and animation controls to create a pose, then click the save icon to set it as the default. All visitors to the character’s profile will then see the character in that pose.
Play controls: The rewind, pause, and fast forward buttons allow you to fine-tune a pose for a character.
Fullscreen mode: You can view the character in a fullscreen display against a selection of backgrounds. All controls will continue to function in fullscreen mode.
Embed: You can embed a standalone, interactive version of the character’s model viewer in a compatible website, such as a social networking site, guild website, or forum.
Options: Extra options include selecting a background in fullscreen mode and toggling the display of a character’s helm, cloak, or tabard.
That’s freakin’ cool! I like the ability to embed the model viewer and the ability to stick a preset pose for people looking up your character is a plus.
Kins World of Warcraft
Now, what’s a purty little thing like you doing in this here bank? Gonna take out some money to buy yourself another nice dress to hang on your ugly little meat frame? You know, this here’s a tree bank, and we don’t cotton to you fleshy types hanging around here, chopping off our limbs and eating our fruits. Y’all best go back to Silvermoon if you don’t want to end up decoratin’ our homes next Winter Veil. (Thanks to David for the screenshot!)
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!
Kins World of Warcraft
A question for the readership this morning (well, two) — is a recent nerf to a specific class a strong incentive against playing it for you? Conversely, does a buff to a class make you more likely to play it?
Blizzard’s observed in the past that there’s often a correlation between the perception of a class as overpowered and the number of people who choose to play it (witness the proliferation of rogues in classic WoW, for example), so it seems fair to say that at least a portion of the player base’s class choice is impacted by the conclusion they reach on design decisions. Then again, my own experience in-game — and the pattern of comment votes here on WoW.com concerning class changes — leads me to believe that yo-yoing between classes based on which one is doing “best” at any given time is not the overwhelming trend. The Warcraft Census’ numbers on class population also seem to be evening out, slowly but surely, from a little bit over 6 months ago (which was itself an improvement over very lopsided numbers in favor of death knights and paladins shortly after Wrath went live). This would seem to suggest that, over the long term, people continue to play the class they like most for reasons that survive design changes. Or is it just that each character represents such a significant time investment that most people don’t think it’s worth it to switch mains?
I’m sure that arena and PvP as a whole wind up driving a portion of this, but what impact do class nerfs and buffs really have? If your main was ever nerfed, did you wind up playing a different toon, or did it just not matter that much to you? If your main was buffed, was it genuinely more fun to play?
Kins World of Warcraft
The Icecrown Citadel raid overview here on WoW.com has been updated with even more information on the bosses contained in the Plagueworks, which has opened this week. You’ll find summaries on the new bosses along with links to other resources like loot, videos and detailed strategy for Rotface, Festergut, and Professor Putricide. If you’re just setting foot in the instance now, don’t worry as there are resources for the first bosses in the Lower Spire.
Enjoy and good luck!
Kins Uncategorized