Goronmon
03-19-2009, 11:50 AM
I was not enjoying the old format too much, as the sheer volume of MMO news was draining and I didn't enjoy just summarizing press releases, etc. So, I am going to reset a bit and start out slow, covering only a handful of topics that looked interesting to me.
EVE Online - The Apocrypha expansion (http://www.eveonline.com/apocrypha/index.html) is live. Major feature for this patch is the addition of wormholes that allow players to explore the dangerous content that lies on the other side. From my perspective, the two most obvious changes were the visual updates and my favorite feature, the 24-hour skill queue. The queue allows you to set up a schedule for learning as many skills as you want that would be able to be started within the next 24 hours. This eliminates having to make sure you have a long enough skill to run overnight, as well as making the lower levels of skills less tedious.
Darkfall - Expected vs. Delivered (http://www.keenandgraev.com/?p=2122) - One player takes his impressions of Darkfall from the released information and compares them to his experiences with the game itself.
Runes of Magic - Krystalle Voecks over at Massicaly provides nicely formatted first impressions (http://www.massively.com/2009/03/18/first-impressions-runes-of-magic/) of the open beta for the free MMORPG from Runewalker Entertainment. Seems to be fairly similar to previous MMOs like WoW, with some refinements like the dual-class system. I might have to check this out at some point.
Warhammer Online - 10 Day Free Trial now available (http://www.warhammeronline.com/trial/). Mark Jacobs provides a 6-month state of the game (http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=693), discussing improvements and bug-fixes to the PvP focused MMO. From my recent playing after a decent hiatus, there is still plenty of room for improvement. I think my main complaint would be the predictability of the PvP. The map provides too much information as to what is going on with the PvP areas, meaning that there seems to be little strategy involved other than trying to be the side with the most AoE for both healing and damage.
Fallen Earth - Developer chat (http://forums.fallenearth.com/fallenearth/showthread.php?t=8459) answering questions from players ranging from discussions on character creation to specifics on mounted combat.
Jumpgate Evolution - Massively talks with Hermann Peterscheck (http://www.massively.com/2009/03/16/massively-speaks-at-length-with-jumpgate-evolutions-hermann-pet/) about their upcoming space MMO. One of the more interesting topics was the potential idea of a choice during character creation to flag the player for "hardcore" PvP or normal, where the hardcore character might get benefits like faster advancement or better drops. Definitely nothing set in stone, but an interesting take on the subject nonetheless.
EVE Online - The Apocrypha expansion (http://www.eveonline.com/apocrypha/index.html) is live. Major feature for this patch is the addition of wormholes that allow players to explore the dangerous content that lies on the other side. From my perspective, the two most obvious changes were the visual updates and my favorite feature, the 24-hour skill queue. The queue allows you to set up a schedule for learning as many skills as you want that would be able to be started within the next 24 hours. This eliminates having to make sure you have a long enough skill to run overnight, as well as making the lower levels of skills less tedious.
Darkfall - Expected vs. Delivered (http://www.keenandgraev.com/?p=2122) - One player takes his impressions of Darkfall from the released information and compares them to his experiences with the game itself.
Runes of Magic - Krystalle Voecks over at Massicaly provides nicely formatted first impressions (http://www.massively.com/2009/03/18/first-impressions-runes-of-magic/) of the open beta for the free MMORPG from Runewalker Entertainment. Seems to be fairly similar to previous MMOs like WoW, with some refinements like the dual-class system. I might have to check this out at some point.
Warhammer Online - 10 Day Free Trial now available (http://www.warhammeronline.com/trial/). Mark Jacobs provides a 6-month state of the game (http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=693), discussing improvements and bug-fixes to the PvP focused MMO. From my recent playing after a decent hiatus, there is still plenty of room for improvement. I think my main complaint would be the predictability of the PvP. The map provides too much information as to what is going on with the PvP areas, meaning that there seems to be little strategy involved other than trying to be the side with the most AoE for both healing and damage.
Fallen Earth - Developer chat (http://forums.fallenearth.com/fallenearth/showthread.php?t=8459) answering questions from players ranging from discussions on character creation to specifics on mounted combat.
Jumpgate Evolution - Massively talks with Hermann Peterscheck (http://www.massively.com/2009/03/16/massively-speaks-at-length-with-jumpgate-evolutions-hermann-pet/) about their upcoming space MMO. One of the more interesting topics was the potential idea of a choice during character creation to flag the player for "hardcore" PvP or normal, where the hardcore character might get benefits like faster advancement or better drops. Definitely nothing set in stone, but an interesting take on the subject nonetheless.