All Posts by Stradden

Have you created your own high-quality class guides? We plan on linking to the best player-created guides on a new special links page. If you've written an excellent guide on playing a particular class, there's a good chance we'll link to it on worldofwarcraft.com! Here are the requirements:

• Page must be focused entirely on how to play one of the nine classes:
• You must host the guide on your own web site
• Site must be capable of getting traffic from our web site (estimated 1,000-20,000 hits a day)
• Guides must contain quality information
• Must not contain offensive content or link to offensive content
• Broken links will be removed if site is gone for a long period of time
• Blizzard reserves the rights to add/remove links at any time based on internal criteria

To submit your guide, mail the link to wowguide@Blizzard.com. Don't forget to include the class in question in the subject line!

Well, we’ve already had one edition this week, but I’d like to get this back on track for Fridays. So this one may be short and sweet, but I think you’ll like the content.

Combat Revision 2.0

I’m working with the team to put together some additional information on what exactly Combat Revision 2.0 is all about. There are going to be significant changes to how the game plays, so we want to get more detail out to you as soon as possible.

Much of the design has been implemented in our early development branch and the work continues steadily. This is one of the top priorities as we have a special deadline to meet: Implementation of an external testing server.

We’ve known since the outset that community participation was going to be a key to making Combat Revision 2.0 come together. I know you’ve all been talking about this for a while, but we’ve had some hurdles to overcome before we were ready to announce this.

We are currently aiming for an early December launch of an external playtest server so you all can log on and try out the changes. We’ll be setting up a special forum for discussion and feedback about the revision so we can polish things up for the live release in January.

The test server will require a separate installation of the game, as did the old QA Test server. We’re working on a way to transfer characters over to the new test server, so you won’t have to start over from scratch (although we certainly would like to see some low-level testing).

We’ll be posting more details about the test server as we get closer to being ready to release it to the public. The team is happy to know that you all are excited about the changes and look forward to your feedback on Combat Revision 2.0.

I’ll be interested to find out what SDKane’s favorite topic becomes now. ;)

Q: Now that subclassing allows casters to use slash weapons, can I start looking for the Malice Axe & scrolls?

A: Even though Darkness Rising will allow casters to spec in weapon types, it does not follow that those weapons have to be artifacts. We decided a while back that we would not widen the access to artifacts (artifacts having quite enough impact on the game, if you know what I'm saying), and that includes this new expansion. If you didn't have access to an artifact before DR, you still don't have access. That includes weapons and shields.

Q: (Insert question about cross cluster guilding)

A: It is in the works. I haven't been saying much about it publicly because I don't know when or how, but the reason it wasn't on the poll was because it's already scheduled. There's always a chance we won't be able to implement cross cluster guilding, but it's one of the most popular requests we have, so we're trying to make it happen. Just watch the patch notes and cross your fingers along with me.

Q: What are your thoughts on buying Plat?

A: Well, as it happens, my opinion is unprintable, but may be loosely translated as "it is lame." I think the people who have a vested, i.e. million dollar, interest in convincing you that you can't compete without purchased gold are slime. Most importantly, I think it's against our EULA for many excellent reasons, and that we have banned for it whenever possible. Account trading is acceptable, but item selling (which includes game currency) is… lame. Game currency derived from encounters by a gold farmer (instead of someone playing for, you know, "fun") represents an opportunity denied to a real player to enjoy that encounter, and perhaps convinces a player to buy gold because he could not get it in the game because of gold farmers! And that's why gold farmers get banned. Because of a certain unmistakable resemblance to roaches, they just keep on coming in the face of everything including nuclear assault, but we try.

But hey, those are just my thoughts. All that's really important is that it's against the EULA because it harms the game.

PILHEY, THE BARD GNOME by Elhavius

Pilhey, the Bard Gnome (By Pildor, Bard Gnome, author of Dr’ Nichtgutwestrollzeehochbaumacher (the rainbow-maker of the bad Western ocean), compendium of 8712 pages, available at Zut Geld Editions, Armstallmenchgutloch, for a cheap price).

Everyone knows that Gnomes are the best Bards one can find. Only they know how to present lies with this oh so beautiful aspect of truth, that makes it so even non-believers stop chatting and lay their Ravage-Bowel goblets on the table, with their eyes wet and their lips dribbling. Now this is poetry!

For example - who but a Gnome will know how to express the magnificent greatness of a gluttonous Jarzlub extracting one of his eight legs from the marsh’s loam? A human would talk about slimy mud, an Elf would pinch his nostrils with contempt, a Dwarf would shake with fear, I’m sure of that... But a Gnome would know how to depict the atmosphere, the greenish light, the very smells, with such a force that you will think you are actually in that place! And for those who are still doubtful, let me direct you towards my last work; you will be enlightened.

Pilhey was one of those. The great Circeliane herself was dazzled by his talent. "Philey", she used to say, "I am really flabbergasted!" And to thank her, in all his modesty, he would tell her a poem. She was mad for his poems. He could have done anything he wanted with her; but us Gnomes, we never developed any taste for women taller than 1 meter and 80 centimeters, so he ended up dumping her. He had learned everything from her at that point anyway.

He ran across the world, appeasing his foes with his words, while others still believed in the power of the bludgeon. He was the best. Well, he was the best of his time... Since then, we made some progress. By the way, I cordially invite the audience to read my last book.

A lot of Elliak and Vuuar’s adepts are still looking for the secrets of his knowledge. Are they looking for it at "Pilhey’s Sand" (or Pilhey Zand)? May they seek, those who need it. As for me, I do not need such accessories. My pure talent is enough.

Wife, please bring my slippers - my ankles have swollen again. I really wonder why.

We'd like to offer Guild Wars players a little keepsake from the recently-concluded Halloween Event. We have a gameplay movie for you featuring images from throughout Tyria, along with player festivities, The Mad King's visit, and more. Halloween Memories is available on this link.

Using his love of Sci-Fi and Fantasy art and his knowledge of the Old Masters, Targete got his first professional commission from Avon books at age twenty. Though it wasn't sci-fi or fantasy, it opened the door to an ongoing fourteen year art career. Sought after by publishers for its meticulous rendering and dynamic colors, Targete's art can be found on book covers for Avon books, Berkley/Ace Ballantine, Bantam, Tor and a host of others.

He has also currently finished a fantasy collector's plate series for the Bradford Exchange. His Art has been displayed in the Spectrum annuals, "The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art." In 1999, his painting "Wrapt in Crystal," for the book by Sharon Shinn, was nominated for a Chesley Award and in 2000 his book cover painting "Circle at Center" for the book by Douglas Niles won a Chesley Award for best paperback cover.

J. P. Targete has been with NCsoft since 2004 and is currently the Art Director for creature concepts in our Santa Monica studio.

The Shot-Online United Cup Tournament Swings For Worldwide Competition

Unique Shot-Online Tournament Unifies Gamers From Around the World in Headed Online Golf Competition

(Sunnyvale, CA – November 4, 2005) – United States, South Korea, France, Brazil – online golf players from every corner of the globe can participate in the Shot-Online United Cup Tournament. Gamers will have a chance to be among the best players from their nations and represent their country as the tournament progresses. Of the many community tournaments rolled out for Shot-Online, the unique massively multiplayer online PC golf game developed by OnNet Co, Ltd., this tournament is the first to include players of every level and capability worldwide.

The Shot-Online United Cup Tournament begins on November 8 at midnight and will be drawn to its exciting conclusion on November 13 at 11:59 (CST). All Shot-Online members are eligible to participate with their highest-level character. The preliminary rounds will be played at the tricky “Fensair” 18-hole course. The top finisher from eight countries in the preliminary rounds will advance to 9-holes of quarter-final match play on the challenging “Forneus” course. The semi-finals will take place with four challengers at the desceptively peaceful “Hela” course, through 9-holes. The finals will conclude the tournament with 18-hole match play at the intimidating “Rufus Arena”.

Prizes are cash with a net total of $1000 to be given away to the top four finishers. Every participant will be given a box of 30 in-game gold balls just for playing.

Shot-Online, developed by OnNet Co., Ltd., is a hybrid massively multiplayer online game, a golfing simulation incorporating elements of traditional role-playing, enhanced by a proprietary physics engine for golf ball dynamics and interaction with eight challenging, varied golf courses. Detailed 3D graphics and smooth-as-silk animation enhance the realism of Shot-Online as a simulation. On the role-playing side of Shot-Online, characters can level and grow in skill and capability through training, while team and solo competitions allow players a chance to win game currency to buy skill-enhancing items, and quests and other community events are offered for even more depth.

Coming soon to a server near you... SOGA models! The long-awaited SOGA models are almost here, and we have the scoop. In Live Update #16, scheduled to go out on November 9, you will be able to use either the new SOGA models or the original character models. Earlier this year, rumors of these mysterious models spread through the EverQuest II community. Many of you expressed an interest in using these models, so we decided to make them available to you!

A little more background on the SOGA models: These character models were created as part of the EverQuest II East project, in which Sony Online Entertainment partnered with Gamania to form SOGA and truly localize EQII for the Asian market. Not only did we create new character models, but user interface modifications have been made (such as click to move) along with other changes to make EQII East appeal to the markets in China, Korea, and Taiwan.

Back to the new character models themselves... As we said before, you will have the choice to use either the new SOGA models or the original character models soon in EverQuest II. To select which race-gender combinations you would like to use the new models for, make your choices in "Options > SOGA Models." Your choices determine which models you see on your screen. Other players will see your character in whichever model they have chosen to display themselves. Note: You must have the Additional Live Game Content box checked in the Preferences window of the EverQuest II Launchpad in order to download the optional SOGA character models.

The SOGA version of your character may not look quite like you want it to right off the bat, so we're also giving you the ability to customize a SOGA appearance for any of your existing characters that have a corresponding SOGA model. To do so, select the character you wish to customize and click the "Set SOGA Appearance" button. You can use this option even if you don't intend to use the SOGA character models yourself. Other players using the SOGA models will see the appearance that you customize. Currently, you can only set your SOGA appearance once, so make sure you have everything set the way you like it before saving.

The following races have new SOGA appearances: Barbarian, Dark Elf, Dwarf, Erudite, Gnome, Half Elf, Halfling, High Elf, Human, Ogre, Wood Elf. Additionally in Live Update #16, two new scale patterns will be available for both male and female Iksar characters. These new skin patterns will allow for a much wider range of colors for your character.

Neocron Evolution 2.1 Release Date

Neocron Evolution 2.1 is a free upgrade package for the action-oriented cyberpunk MMORPG Neocron 2. It updates many of the models used in the game, including the complete vegetation of the game world and many weapons. Several features of the graphics engine have also been updated for better performance and improved visuals. In addition, new content will be added in form of quests and a new dungeon to explore. The free Neocron Evolution 2.1 upgrade will be released on December 01, 2005. It will be available as a (large) patch, but a new client containing all patches and the upgrade can also be downloaded from the Neocron 2 website.

Neocron is the world's only MMORPG that immerses you into a dense FPS-like combat/action cyberpunk atmosphere. Become a citizen of one of the last mega cities on the postapocalyptic Earth of the 28th century. Live exciting adventures with thousands of other players or just lead a normal life in this virtual world.

Free 10 Day Trial

After a hearty breakfast we set off once again to the trenches.

The machines were booted and again and re-organised so that we could display multiple movies across all rigs, plus have the Exclusive Screenshot gallery playing through the big plasma screens. I have to say, they did look awesome on the big screen.

So with the screens set-up, we were ready for the doors to open. I didn’t expect a ninja to come and attack us though.

Actually he's the winner of the Cosplay event, which was sponsored by us out of interest. Didn't enter myself much to everyone's delight.

The day brought us many more interested members of the community and “new” guys to the stand. We even had a link to the homepage set-up do people could take a look at the background to the game and sign up to the newsletter for some interesting news coming soon (ahem Beta)

There was a lot of interest from Lineage fans and guilds, so we hope those guys in particular will keep a close eye on RF in the up coming months. I see that already Deviation and and his compadre, Beast, have been making themselves at home on the forums.

CHARACTER ABILITY SYSTEM CHANGES

In order to fix a bug causing some characters to hit ability caps, which then prevented those characters from earning any new abilities, we have made changes to the structure of the ability and spell systems. For the most part, these changes will be unnoticeable to the average player. However, since these changes are to major systems in the game, thorough testing will be necessary to ensure there are no unwanted side effects. For our Pendragon testers, please be sure and report any issues you see with any of your character abilities as soon as possible.

NEW THINGS AND BUG FIXES

• All styles are now organized into lists according to skill, and both style and ability spell lists are now sorted by level like normal spell lists.
• Bow weapons will no longer delve to chat as crossbow weapons.
  Players who release after death and do not switch regions, or are resurrected, will now have their worn magical effects re-initialized properly.
• Attempting to use an item and failing due to a current action timer was incorrectly setting the re-use timer. This has been fixed.
• Players may no longer place items in saddlebags over the 200 pound limit, regardless of how the item is added.
• Berserkers now return to berserk form properly if they have another illusion that expires while they are still berserked. If the berserk state expires from a berserker, they will not drop out of any other applicable illusions if they're still active.
• Leaving berserk and bainshee form will now correctly return the character to any illusory form it may have had before going berserk/bainshee.
• Players can no longer summon a mount while seated.
• Added all available /bg commands to the message reported back when typing /bg.
• Raised the base concentration pool for players with champion levels who have no native concentration pool. This will allow armsmen, for example, to cast their 5 champion buffs rather than 3.
• Bug fix: When using the command "/where", sometimes guards would not point in the right direction toward the NPC being asked about. This has been fixed.
• Pendragon Only: Abilities which had active timers were incorrectly being reset to 0 when the player quit and reentered the game under the new ability system. This should now be fixed.

When is the beta? Where can I sign up?

Beta began on November 1st. You can sign up for Beta by visiting http://www.fileplanet.com/promotions/ddo_stormreach/ and following the instructions.

I won a Beta slot at either E3 or PAX. When will I get into Beta?

Everyone who won entry into Beta at E3 or PAX will be invited within the first few weeks of Beta provided they meet our requirements (i.e., they meet the system specs, they are over 18, etc.)

If I already signed up through the beta.turbine.com site do I have to sign up through IGN?

No. The accounts registered through IGN will be added to our existing database. Those who signed up through beta.turbine.com are automatically still eligible for the Beta.

Does DDO.COM forum registration still increase my chance to get into the Beta?

Yes it does. You can register here.

I'm a member of the Turbine Beta Rewards Program! When do I get in?

Being a Beta Rewards Member gives you an increased chance of being selected for Beta, however it does not guarantee you a slot. To read more about the Beta Rewards Program click here.

Do I have to be a subscriber to Fileplanet to signup for the Beta?

No. You need to create a Fileplanet account however, you do not need to subscribe. We may do some special promotions that require a Fileplanet subscription, but for general access to the Beta you do not need to be a Fileplanet subscriber.

Once I sign up through IGN how do I get chosen for the Beta?

Turbine will continue to select people for the Beta.

Once selected, how will I get the Beta client?

Those who are selected for the Beta will be able to get the Beta client from IGN.

I went to the Fileplanet website and it told me only subscribers could register! Do I need to be a subscriber?

No. The first 5,000 people to register have to be Fileplanet subscribers, but after that brief period of exclusivity registration will be open for all!

I'm still confused. Do I need to pay to get into your Beta?

No. You do not need to pay. Our Public Beta is free for those people who are selected.

I just saw that a Beta account sold on Ebay for $300! Is this a good way to obtain an account?

While $300 might seem like a bargain, please understand that per the Terms of Service, selling or transfering accounts is strictly forbidden and Turbine will be disabling any accounts that are sold or transferred.