All Posts by Stradden

While at GenCon, we had the opportunity to talk to Game Designer Chuck Kallenbach about the Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game, where he gives us details on the game and shows us how the game is played.

Watch the interview here

In Leipzig, MMORPG.com caught up with Pierre-Yves Deslandes from The Chronicles of Spellborn International to talk about their upcoming MMO, The Chronicles of Spellborn.

Leipzig Chronicles of Spellborn Intreview

In Leipzig, MMORPG.com caught up with Pierre-Yves Deslandes from The Chronicles of Spellborn International to talk about their upcoming MMO, The Chronicles of Spellborn.

MMORPG.com's Carolyn Koh attended the recent SOE Fan Faire in Las Vegas. While there, she got some hands-on time with DC Universe Online. Today, she shares her impressions of the game.

The Panel at the SoE FanFaire was titled "Something to do with Capes?" No prizes for guessing what this one was about. Creative Director Jens Andersen, Senior Producer Wes Yamasagi and Studio Creative Director Chris Cao were on hand to talk about DC Universe Online in this packed room at the SoE FanFaire in Las Vegas.

"Rule or Save the World", is the motto of DC Universe Online and players are invited to walk into the DC Universe as a Super Hero and align themselves with the heroes or as a Super Villain, aligning themselves with the villains of the DC Comics Universe. Billed as an action MMOG, there's no auto-attack, no waiting for timers or sitting around waiting for bars to fill. The death mechanic is instant re-spawn with all of your health and power replenished. No potion clicking, graveyards, tombstones or corpses to recover. No running back to your spandex covered body and trying to drag it out of range of the mob camping it, begging someone for a teleport.

Read it all here.

At Games Convention in Leipzig, MMORPG.com spoke with EVE Associate Producer Arend Stuhrmann about the Empyrean Age expansion and what's coming up next for the sci-fi MMO.

Leipzig Interview on Expansion and What Comes Next

At Games Convention in Leipzig, MMORPG.com spoke with EVE Associate Producer Arend Stuhrmann about the Empyrean Age expansion and what's coming up next for the sci-fi MMO.

Check out the written article here.

At Games Convention in Leipzig, MMORPG.com caught up with EVE's Economist Dr. Eyjolfur Guomundsson to talk about the game's democratically elected Council of Stellar Management and how they are influencing the game.

Leipzig - Council of Stellar Management

At Games Convention in Leipzig, MMORPG.com caught up with EVE's Economist Dr. Eyjolfur Guomundsson to talk about the game's democratically elected Council of Stellar Management and how they are influencing the game.

Check out the written article here.

MMORPG.com Vanguard Correspondent Jei Anderson pens this article about his experiences with the PvP system (or lack thereof) in Vanguard: Saga of Heroes.

In my experience with other games, PvP has always been a valuable asset. It gives a high-level player a fun, engaging, alternative to raiding; it oftentimes offers rewards that are just as good as PvE end-game rewards, but most importantly, in my opinion, is that PvP gives the reason to get end-game gear, weapons, and trinkets, definition. Not everyone likes to PvP and not everyone is good at it, but one thing that can be agreed on about PvP is that it separates the novices of any given class from those that really understand their function.

A player character is very different from an NPC because given time, enough wipes on any boss will reveal the keys to defeating it. This is how boss guides are written. However, a good PvPer can kill you 20 different times and you might never figure out how to beat them because a human can be unpredictable. This fact forces anyone who wishes to succeed in PvP to become unpredictable themselves, which means that they have to understand the strengths, weaknesses, and limitations of their class fully. This in turn makes the player a better *insert class title* when they decide to PvE and when they PvE and get those "phat lewtz", PvP gives them a place to use them. Done correctly, PvE and PvP are an interdependent, happy, couple of any game.

Read more here.

The folks from Archlord have provided us with these new screenshots from the Episode 3 update to the game. Below the images, you will find a press release with some details of the free expansion.

Check 'em out here.

In Leipzig, Germany, MMORPG.com caught up with the folks from CCP to talk about their game, its recent expansion,future updates and the Council of Stellar Management. Complete videos of these interviews to follow late in the week. Exclusive to the written article though is a discussion of the much-anticipated Walking In Stations feature that is coming to the game.

It's been an exciting time for CCP, the company behind the sci-fi sandbox MMO, EVE Online. It seems as though they are constantly working at changing and evolving their game to make the EVE universe a better place to be for their players. Recently, the company launched the Empyrian Age expansion that brought a structured war to the universe.

First, I wanted to give you a quick preview of the videos that you are going to see over the next few days. They're interviews that were taken from the show floor at Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany. The first, is the Council of Stellar management, the second is the Empyrean Age expansion and the last is the much-talked about and long-awaited Walking in Stations feature:

Read it all here.

MMORPG.com warhammer Online Correspondent Tom Giblin pens this look at the lore behind the armies that will appear in Mythic Entertainment's Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning.

Warhammer has a rich history that stretches back 25 years beginning with Warhammer Fantasy Battle, a tabletop miniature wargame. Since its creation, Warhammer Fantasy Battle has spawned novels, board games, video games, and a sister universe, the science fiction based Warhammer 40K. All of these things gave Mythic a truly vast library of information to pull from to create Warhammer Online as it is now, and add to it in the future. With the launch of WAR just over a month away it’s a great time to examine the lore of Warhammer. In the first of a series of articles, I’ll take a look at the lore behind the Warhammer setting as it relates to WAR, beginning with the Armies of WAR.

The Armies of Order

Empire

Sigmar Heldenhammer unified primitive human tribes into the Empire thousands of years ago. He served as its first emperor for fifty years before venturing off to pass over the World’s Edge Mountains. Sigmar was never seen again. It was not long before Sigmar was acclaimed as a god, thanks in no small part to visible answers to the prayers of his followers. While the Empire is polytheistic, Sigmar has become its most important god.

Read it all here.

MMORPG.com's Keith Cross had the opportunity recently to speak with Cryptic CCO Jack Emmert about their recently announced upcoming MMORPG, Star Trek Online.

Emmert on STO

MMORPG.com's Keith Cross had the opportunity recently to speak with Cryptic CCO Jack Emmert about their recently announced upcoming MMORPG, Star Trek Online.

In this video interview preview, MMORPG.com Managing Editor Jon Wood discusses some of the information given at a recent Leipzig presentation on Age of Conan. The article includes information on content,DX 10 and a just-announced upcoming expansion.

Here in Leipzig, MMORPG.com has captured some great video interviews and presentations that will be hitting the site over the next week. That's not going to stop us, however, from bringing you the important information right up front, at least until you can hear it from the horse's mouth.

Today, MMORPG.com attended a presentation by the team from Funcom's Age of Conan. A number of interesting points were made that are worth sharing with everyone as soon as we could:

Read more here.

ok, it should be working now.

MMORPG.com is in Leipzig, Germany for Games Convention. There, he took part in a presentation from LotRO Producer Aaron Campbell who told us a little bit about the game's upcoming Mines of Moria expansion.

At Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany, MMORPG.com got its first real look at Lord of the Rings Online's upcoming expansion, The Mines of Moria. Fans of the Tolkien series will recognize the name, as the Followship passed through the massive underground city on their way to Lothlorien. The abandoned Dwarven kingdom, as you may recall, had become home to all kinds of evil, including the famous Balrog that Gandalf the Grey was forced to battle.

Well, the story for Lord of the Rings Online is that after the fellowship passed through Moria, the Dwarves begin an effort to fully reclaim their lost land. Hence, the influx of players into the mines and the action that will bring them there.

Read the article here.

Turbine has published the latest edition of the Stormreach Chronicle, which aims to keep Dungeons&Dragons Online informed of community events, forum activities, and more.

We're very happy to bring you this regular weekly feature, filled with spotlights on the great player activities around the DDO forums and in game! You'll also be able to find summaries of recent Turbine discussions and news, and links to helpful resources. Be on the lookout for rotating features in the Chronicle, and more segments. If you're interested in sending a submission in for the Chronicle you're more than welcome to contact any member of our Community Team. Please keep in mind that due to the volume of requests, we might not always be able to feature all submissions we receive. We appreciate your readership, and hope you enjoy the Chronicle!

Read more here.

MMORPG writer Carolyn Koh was at the recent SOE Fan Faire where a new expansion was officially announced for the well known game. Today, Carolyn files this report, giving us a few details about The Shadow Odyssey.

Senior Producer of EverQuest 2, Bruce Ferguson had several things to announce at the opening Keynote speech. The first was the launch of Guildhalls in the fall, the second was the upcoming zone that would be released for free, Vexar, and the third was that the fifth EverQuest 2 expansion, The Shadow Odyssey would be released on November 18, 2008.

The announcement was followed up the next day by a preview panel in a ballroom. Every single seat was filled, and players lined the sides and the back, standing or leaning against the walls or sitting on the carpeted floor. A total of 15 developers were in attendance to answer questions and as each introduced themselves, the crowd showed their appreciation with the Tradeskills designer receiving the most applause including hoots and hollars.

Read the article here.

MMORPG.com's Richard Cox interviews Warhammer Online's Community Relations Director Robert Mull about all things community relating to Warhammer Online.

Community Interview

MMORPG.com's Richard Cox interviews Warhammer Online's Community Relations Director Robert Mull about all things community relating to Warhammer Online.

World of Warcraft Correspondent Robert Duckworth pens this article giving some details and tricks for the Warsong Gulch Battleground in WoW.

The new Sands of the Ancients battleground is fast approaching along with the rest of Wrath of the Lich King. Just because there is a new battleground does not mean that it is going to replace the old ones though. All four currently in The Burning Crusade, from Warsong Gulch to Eye of the Storm, are going to remain an integeral part of PvP life in World of Warcraft. At this point even the same tokens and the system of secondary PvP rewards through honor is planned. So while there have been no changes announced to the old battlegrounds, that does not mean they don't deserve a look. The next few articles will cover the battlegrounds in depth and discuss the important finer points of each one.

Read the whole thing here.

MMORPG.com News Manager Keith Cross caught up recently with Andy Cataldo, the Community Manager for AC. In the interview, Cataldo talks about the game's 100th update, an expansion-sized update to celebrate the occasion.

Asheron's Call: Update Interview

MMORPG.com News Manager Keith Cross caught up recently with Andy Cataldo, the Community Manager for AC. In the interview, Cataldo talks about the game's 100th update, an expansion-sized update to celebrate the occasion.

EverQuest II Correspondent and relative newcomer to the game Daniel Stull writes this second article about some of the EQII hate and SOE hate responses garnered by his previous article.

After my first article was published, a few players chimed in with comments that I could only best describe as hate. Hate of Sony Online Entertainment, developers and publishers of Everquest 2. Hate of the game itself. Even as I type this, I am watching what can only be described as an argument brewing in the comments section of "Through the Eyes of a Noob." This wasn't my first encounter with people complaining about the game. But I did want to know more, and most importantly, why?

My first trip was to Everquest 2 Flames, an entire online forum community that, for the most part, complains about SOE and Everquest 2, even to the point that they have created a "Declaration of the Populace," a crudely-worded mockery of the Declaration of Independence to SOE. There are also other posts - "Proof that providing sexual favors to SOE staff leads to employment," "I cancelled my account, and here's why," and "Stupid guild names." To the positive, however, EQ2Flames also does have in-depth discussions of the game itself, even going so far as to answer questions from newbies in their own forum, which is moderated. They offer their own caveat to people who register to the forum: "The profanity filter is disabled and strong language is used on this site. Do not read or use this site unless you are prepared to be offended."

Read the article here.

MMORPG.com's Jon Wood has been playing the Closed Beta for Mythic Entertainment's Warhammer Online and today shares his impressions of the early game from the perspective of the Chaos and Empire realms.

Well, the time is upon us and it seems as though that pesky NDA has been lifted. While my time in WAR has been short due to other commitments and circumstances beyond my control, I do have some observations about the game and the functions that I have experienced thus far:

While I have to be honest and say that I haven’t really had a chance to do any extensive testing, but I have dipped my feet into the world enough that I can offer some initial insights to those of you out there who may not have had the opportunity to get your hands on it.

First of all, I’m going to take a minute to talk about the art style of the game. There are critics out there who say that Warhammer looks like WoW. While the stylistic concepts may share some elements, the reality of the visual gameplay is quite different. WoW, in maintaining the look of previous incarnations of the franchise, is a more animated-looking take on the visual design whereas Warhammer take a grittier, more realistic-looking approach.

Check out the article here.