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Through The Mist: Level 85-90 Experience Points

August 15, 2012 by

Through the Mist is a regular column from Luke Le Page covering everything World of Warcraft. If you’d like something covered in a future column, drop us a line!

Last week I looked at the Pandaren starting area and I had hoped to preview some of the higher level content for you this week. Unfortunately the first zone we enter for Mists of Pandaria, the Jade Forest has only been reopened fairly recently after a major overhaul and I have not yet had the chance to replay it.

First I’d like to direct current subscribers to the following information regarding the recent Blizzard security breach. I encourage all current subscribers to follow the steps suggested by Blizzard in regards to account security. This breach also limited my game time last week as I could not for the life of me locate my authenticator for the hotfix so I apologise in advance for not being very content oriented this week.

The pre Mists of Pandaria patch (5.0.4) is also now available via background downloader and the pre expansion event will not be publicly tested.

There’s also some interesting information regarding the use of Blizzard’s recruit-a-friend system for levelling a Monk.  You can see here that Monks using this feature WILL be able to receive realm first achievements. Though using the Scroll of Resurrection feature to have an instant level 80 will not allow realm firsts.

Recently it was discovered that the experience required for levels 85+ was increased significantly in the Beta. There were also a number of changes to the pre-85 levels you can see the conversions below:

These increases seem fairly significant, however my own experience on the Beta has shown that the experience received for killing mobs as well as completing quests shows a significant increase in Mists of Pandaria, we also know that these are not finalised numbers (source).. Though it was some time ago, Level 85-86 took me less than 3 hours in an extremely crowded (and bugged) zone early in the beta. Unfortunately given the overhaul to the Jade Forest mentioned above, I cannot currently comment on this with great detail. A quest in the Valley of Four Winds for example gives 141,900 experience points, so the overall increase is relatively minor when put in perspective:

Next time I’ll take a look at The Jade Forest once again, the small amount of play time I had this week showed it with a significant visual overhaul. I also intend to offer a preview of  the new Pet battle system.

Filed Under: General News, Opinion, WoW Tagged With: ,

SWTOR: No Maintenance Tonight

August 14, 2012 by

Good news – with the two maintenance downtimes last week, BioWare have decided to go without one tonight. It could happen later in the week but at this stage it looks like it could be a maintenance free week.

So no excuse to not play some SWTOR this evening – or at least watch the video on the upcoming world event.

If you’re feeling really kind, we’re still seeking the feedback of our podcast listeners – please take 2 minutes if you can to let us know what you think!

Filed Under: General News, Servers, SWTOR Tagged With:

Enter The Chevin: SWTOR’s Latest World Event

August 14, 2012 by

BioWare have release a teaser video via the Imperial News Network, plus this one sentence of interest:

Rumor has it that the Chevin are making their move and that their presence will soon be felt on the Smuggler’s Moon, Nar Shaddaa

The video:

So – what do you think? There’s not a huge amount of information to go off, but does this look good to you as SWTOR’s next world event?

Filed Under: General News, News, PvE, SWTOR Tagged With: ,

WoW Subscriber Numbers – The Rollercoaster

August 13, 2012 by

Given all the MMO News over the past month, one piece of news slipped under the radar for me.

Thanks to my colleague Simon I’m now aware that World of Warcraft subscriber numbers dropped to 9.1 million, down from 10.2 million at the end of the first quarter of the year.

That’s a big drop, even for a behemoth like Blizzard, but I see it as part of the rollercoaster ride that WoW still has to complete over the coming years. There’s obviously Mists of Pandaria coming up in a matter of weeks, and my money is on a lift in subscribers. That said, it’s a case of diminishing returns in that it won’t boost the subscriber numbers up to their peak, instead providing a needed climb on the rollercoaster before the next drop.

Aside from the realities of an ageing MMO, WoW faces the broader challenge as a subscription-driven game in a challenging economic environment world-wide. Still, I still can’t see WoW going F2P for quite a while, unless its numbers drop a few more million. Even then it’ll probably come down to what the break-even point is as far as subscriber numbers, as well as whether Titan has any firmer timelines as you’d expect a big migration to that from WoW players, depending on the genre it ends up being.

In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if Titan itself becomes a subscription service, with a ‘free’ WoW subscription bundled in. Sounds a bit old-school for an MMO still a long way off being released, but you never know.

Overall, it’s hard to see the drop to 9.1 million subscribers as being too catastrophic (yes, I thought about using the word cataclysmic) at the end of a content cycle. If I were a betting person I’d predict numbers will break 10 million again once the expansion drops.As a WoW subscriber that isn’t at all excited about the Monk class or Pandarians, I’m still damn pumped to be playing the new content when it’s released.

Most importantly of all: what do you think? Are you pumped or indifferent about MoP? What do you see subscriber numbers for the game doing in coming months? Do you want to sign up for a Titan / WoW subscription bundle now or do you think I’m certifiably mad?

Filed Under: General News, Op-Ed, Opinion, WoW Tagged With:

A Peek Into The Planetside 2 Beta: Night Fights

August 12, 2012 by

A PS2 beta tester has posted a short vid of a night battle in the game. How nice does this look:

What say you potential PS2 players: do you like what you see?

Thanks to Alex for the heads-up!

Filed Under: General News, Other Games, PlanetSide 2 Tagged With:

One Gamer Unimpressed With Blizzard’s Security Breach

August 11, 2012 by

I am red-faced at YOU, Blizzard!

Ok, that one gamer is Francis, serial purveyor of parody on YouTube, which makes it even more fun. If you haven’t seen Francis’ videos before, he lets fly with opinions on a whole range of gaming topics (here’s his great effort on SWTOR early access last year).

This time he’s got some thoughts on Blizzard’s most recent security breach and as always it makes for some great entertainment.

It’s expletive filled entertainment to be sure, so consider this not safe for work or kids:

I think he was pretty frank with his feedback to Blizzard?

[via David K at Gamers of Oceania – a FaceBook group on any game for local players]

Filed Under: General News, Humour Tagged With: , ,

TERA: Significant Layoffs

August 11, 2012 by

Layoffs are never good things, and it’s no different with the announcement by En Masse Entertainment that they’ve had to “let go of some of the great talent”.

Like BioWare with SWTOR, the announcement is wrapped up in a lot of PR-speak on how TERA has been a great launch, that there are “awesome game updates’ on the way, and that the commitment to the game remains absolute.

This response on the TERA forums rang some big bells for me in regards to another MMO or two:

So what the [filtered] is going on in EME? How about some transparency? Your community managers are important to us. In case you haven’t noticed they are the face of the company. I was hoping that you guys could do this right. Instead we see you pulling the same [filtered] head moves that NCSoft pulled previously.

So who does this leave for our interface to EME/BHS? The marketing VP?

So when do we go F2P? You have set off alarm bells here, as the only logical time to go F2P is before a big expansion.

How about you skip the bull [filtered] corporate circle jerk. Knock this back online to its original side bar and run it up the flag pole. Ping your VP of Greasing up the plebs and tell him that this low hanging fruit is starting to shrivel. Air out the laundry circle the wagons get the ball rolling with some traction and tell us what your plans are before we get out of dodge.

Can you understand that at least?

Condolences to those who have lost their jobs.

To TERA players – how are you finding the game? It it a keeper for you?

Filed Under: General News, Other Games, TERA Tagged With:

SWTOR Community Q&A 10th August: Last Regular Edition

August 11, 2012 by

BioWare have released their latest community Q&A, with the surprise announcement that it’s the last regular one:

We’ve been listening to your feedback, and as of today, we’ll be discontinuing the Community Q&A blog as a weekly feature. However, this means that going forward, we will be focusing on bringing you more frequent and consistent developer responses in the forums to your questions and concerns. Make sure to watch the dev tracker to make sure you don’t miss anything!

We’ll definitely do a Q&A like this whenever we have big announcements in the future, but again, we won’t be doing a weekly Q&A blog post.

Seems yet another retrograde step in communication with the playing community – you’ll now have to regularly check the Dev Tracker, trawl the forums for info, or even better, check in here for the key info! There just seems to be constant chopping and changing in approach to community info given the Community Q&A only changes formats a couple of months back.

Anyway, onto the Q&A itself, it’s devoted to answering questions on the Free-To-Play move. There’s lots of interesting info in there. My take is that given F2P’ers look like they’ll be able to buy most content subscribers have, and can keep any gear earned as subscribers if they move to F2P, there’s going to be a big cohort not bothering to renew their subscription. Sure, easier levelling / bigger inventory etc is convenient, but I’m not convinced there’s enough differentiation to make subscribing that attractive.

Oh – and as you’ll read, Damion Schubert’s word of the week is cadence.

The full Q&A for you:

ButeoRegalis: Are subscriptions the only way to gain Cartel Coins (CCs) in the future, meaning, aside from the bonus coins we’re getting until the Free-to-Play option goes live? Can you purchase them without a subscription?

Damion Schubert (Principal Lead Systems Designer): All players will be able to purchase Cartel Coins by purchasing them on our website and eventually in-game. These coins are used to buy various virtual items from the Cartel Market. Free-to-Play members can also use Cartel Coins to unlock certain game restrictions.

Samohnat: Will Cartel Coins be available via in-game mechanics?

Damion Schubert: Not initially. We may expand this in the future, but it’s not a goal for launch of the system.

Several players asked: Can you give us more detail about the restrictions on Free-to-Play members? If not, when can we expect more details?

Damion Schubert: Giving more information about these limitations is a core part of our communication efforts over the next few weeks. Our goal is to allow Free-to-Play members to play the game from levels 1 to 50 and encounter most of the class and world content along the way. However, it is equally important to us that the subscription members will have access to a significant number of convenience features that make the game easier to play – leveling speed, bank access, inventory size are all good examples. Once these details are published, I think that most players familiar with the game as it is now will agree that while Free-to-Play members will be getting a good experience andthe subscription members will be getting a substantially improved gameplay experience.

Alahnah: I am interested in more detailed comments about future content releases and how the Free-to-Play option will impact on current bug fixing efforts and the level 50 Operations / 50+ content expansion time frames.

Damion Schubert: We still have a significant portion of the development team focused on creating new content (Operations, Flashpoints, Warzones) – and we have plans to increase the cadence that we deliver new content. One of the nice things about this approach is that it should also speed up the cadence that bug fixes get out to you as well.

Tatile: It’s said that content will continue to come, but will it be like the content we’ve already seen (Operations and Flashpoints in patches with class balancing and new gear) or will the content only be fluffy happy stuff, like speeders and mini-pets?

Damion Schubert: We definitely have plans in the works for more Flashpoints, Operations, Space Missions, and Warzones. Generally, we will have more frequent updates for the game.

Thorvath: So if I cancel/switch to the Free-to-Play option are you going to automatically delete all my Rakata/War Hero gear?

Damion Schubert: You will retain your gear.

LOWTHOR: What happens if all the characters I have already created while subscribed (before Free-to-Play announcement) are now restricted species?

Damion Schubert: Your characters will not be deleted and you CAN still use those characters in the active slots you have as a Free-to-Play member.

VulcanLogic: I have all 8 character slots used up. If I choose the Free-to-Play option, do I get to decide which character slots will be active?

Damion Schubert: Once we institute these limitations, players will absolutely be able to choose which characters are their active characters.

ChazDoit: I’m not much interested in Flashpoints and Operations but will I be able to purchase other features like full access to Warzones, purchase extra character slots, bank slots, and travel features?

Damion Schubert: Yes! When the Free-to-Play option goes live, players will be able to purchase key upgrades to their game experience allowing them to bypass some restrictions, and this list will expand as time goes on. We will have more information about some of these in coming weeks.

 

Over to you: do you like what you read here about the F2P arrangements?

Filed Under: Community, General News, SWTOR Tagged With:

Blizzard Gamers: Change Your Password

August 10, 2012 by

In case you hadn’t heard, Blizzard has had a security breach:

Players and Friends,

Even when you are in the business of fun, not every week ends up being fun. This week, our security team found an unauthorized and illegal access into our internal network here at Blizzard. We quickly took steps to close off this access and began working with law enforcement and security experts to investigate what happened.

At this time, we’ve found no evidence that financial information such as credit cards, billing addresses, or real names were compromised. Our investigation is ongoing, but so far nothing suggests that these pieces of information have been accessed.

Some data was illegally accessed, including a list of email addresses for global Battle.net users, outside of China. For players on North American servers (which generally includes players from North America, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia) the answer to the personal security question, and information relating to Mobile and Dial-In Authenticators were also accessed. Based on what we currently know, this information alone is NOT enough for anyone to gain access to Battle.net accounts.

We also know that cryptographically scrambled versions of Battle.net passwords (not actual passwords) for players on North American servers were taken. We use Secure Remote Password protocol (SRP) to protect these passwords, which is designed to make it extremely difficult to extract the actual password, and also means that each password would have to be deciphered individually. As a precaution, however, we recommend that players on North American servers change their password. Please click this link to change your password. Moreover, if you have used the same or similar passwords for other purposes, you may want to consider changing those passwords as well.

In the coming days, we’ll be prompting players on North American servers to change their secret questions and answers through an automated process. Additionally, we’ll prompt mobile authenticator users to update their authenticator software. As a reminder, phishing emails will ask you for password or login information. Blizzard Entertainment emails will never ask for your password. We deeply regret the inconvenience to all of you and understand you may have questions. Please find additional information here.

We take the security of your personal information very seriously, and we are truly sorry that this has happened.

Sincerely,
Mike Morhaime

 

So although it seems the risk is low, if you play WoW, D3, Starcraft 2 etc, get those password changes happening….

 

[via numerous sources – thanks for the emails / tweets etc!]

Filed Under: General News, News, WoW Tagged With: ,

Oceanic Soap Box: Balancing MMOs

August 10, 2012 by

Welcome to the very first edition of Oceanic Soapbox, replacing our regular Friday SWTOR Suggestion Box. We’ll be putting forward topics that apply to any MMO gamer, so we hope you enjoy the new format.

This week I thought we’d start with the evergreen topic of playing more than one MMO. Do you do it, and if so which MMOs so you play in combination and how do you pull it off? Is it possible to be a hardcore player in more than one MMO?

Looking forward to hearing your comments!

Filed Under: General News, Op-Ed Tagged With: ,

SWTOR: Unexpected Maintenance Tonight (Updated)

August 9, 2012 by

UPDATE: most servers are back up and SWTOR Patch 1.3.5a consists of one thing, being the expected fix to EC:

1.3.5a Patch Notes
08/09/2012

Flashpoints and Operations
Operations

    Explosive Conflict

    • The Minefield Probe Droids are now able to be revealed during the encounter with Colonel Vorgath.

 

An unexpected maintenance is hitting tonight:

AEST 5pm-7pm

AWST: 3pm-5pm

NZST: 7pm-9m

At least it’s only two hours and there will be a patch (we’ll post the patch notes once available)

 

The full blurb from BioWare:

We will be deploying a patch and performing an unscheduled maintenance this Thursday, August 9th, 2012. Patch notes will be made available shortly after the servers come back up.
The servers and SWTOR.com will be down for two hours on Thursday, August 9th, 2012 from 2AM CDT (12AM PDT/3AM EDT/8 AM BST/9AM CEST/5PM AEST) until 4AM CDT (2AM PDT/5AM EDT/10AM BST/11AM CEST/7PM AEST). All game servers will be offline during this period. This maintenance is expected to take no more than two hours, but could be extended.

After the maintenance, please login via the launcher to download the latest patch. If your launcher was open during the maintenance, you must close and reopen it for a fresh login.

Maintenance

Date: Thursday, August 9th, 2012

Time: 2AM CDT (12AM PDT/3AM EDT/8 AM BST/9AM CEST/5PM AEST) until 4AM CDT (2AM PDT/5AM EDT/10AM BST/11AM CEST/7PM AEST)

All game servers and SWTOR.com will be offline during this period. This game maintenance is expected to take no more than two hours.

Filed Under: General News, Maintenance and Downtime, SWTOR Tagged With:

GW2 Oceanic Guild Spotlight: Destiny

August 9, 2012 by

If you’d like your guild spotlighted, just use our contact form to let us know. Or if you like, respond to the questions shown below and send them in – we love to profile guilds and the work they’re doing. The only requirement is that you’re an active oceanic guild. Please be patient if you don’t hear back from us immediately – we will only be spotlighting a guild every week or so.

Name of guild

Destiny (GW2 version)

Guild website

http://destinygw2.guildlaunch.com

History of your guild’s name?

Destiny originated in WoW in 2007. The guild has had a continued membership in WoW until 2011 and in other MMOs including Aion, Rift, Warhammer and SWTOR.

What sort of guild are you?

We are primarily PVE orientated with a semi-serious approach to end-game content and casual PVP participation.

Have key guild members been involved in other games / MMOs?

Yes – GW, Anarchy Online, WoW, Warhammer, Aion, Rift, SWTOR, TSW, Mechwarrior…

How many guild members do you have at the moment?

To date 19 members are preparing for GW2.

What days/times do you see the guild being most active?

AEST/GMT+10 7pm-Midnight have traditionally been our active hours.

What are the achievements that your guild is most proud of?

Continued member friendship in & out of the game, successful end-game participation, enthusiasm for enjoying MMO gameplay.

You have one minute to convince someone they should be in your guild – what would you say to them?

We are primarily a mature-member guild with many players balancing work, family and play. Fun and enjoyment are the reason we play and our guild approach to gaming scaffolds this desire. Enjoy a relaxed, fun evening with friends who can be a bit nerdy about game content and achievement. Oh… bring oreos!

What are your predictions for the next 6 months for the guild?

Some players will continue game play in a variety of MMOs including SWtOR, MWO and TSW with a core group exploring the content of GW2.

Filed Under: General News, Guild Wars 2, Guilds Tagged With: ,
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