Dear Community,

After reviewing the impact of Monday's mission XP change, we agree that the new timer affects too many players. The settings were too extreme, hurting people who are just trying to have a good time. As a result, we are pulling the timers way back – effective immediately. Limits will be roughly 1/5th of the previous cap—about 2 minutes per mission phase.

Overall, we expect that the vast majority of players will see XP return to the previous levels. Also, we plan to eliminate the cap from story and neighborhood missions in a patch coming soon. If you continue to experience the mission cap, please petition us under in-game feedback and describe how you completed your mission.

We have greatly appreciated your constructive feedback and your clear desire to help us make MxO great. We remain dedicated to making sure MxO is as fun as possible for the entire community and apologize for any frustration that you have felt this week.

Thanks,

William Westwater

The Matrix Online team is pleased to announce the addition of two new servers: Input and Output. These two servers were created in an effort to assure our European customers would not miss out on the Live Event Team’s storyline endeavors. You will see these servers represented on the list like this:

Input-Hostile-EU

Output-EU

As you can see, players have the choice of playing on a hostile world via Input, or an opt-in PvP world via Output. In addition, the live events schedule on both Input and Output will be adjusted to meet the needs of our European players. Players on these worlds will be able to participate in live events a day later than the events on other servers, with events targeted to occur during European prime-time play. For example, if a live event is delivered on Line Noise, it will also be delivered on Input and Output roughly 16 hours later.

While the addition of Input and Output allows us to better schedule events that serve our European community, the new worlds also provides access to those players that are unable to participate in events during American prime time hours. In that way, these two new worlds are open to all, regardless of their geographic location.

We will be opening these servers for your use later today, Thursday, April 14th.

We hope you enjoy the addition of these new worlds and we eagerly anticipate the chance to provide our customers with greater access to our live event offerings.

Cheers!

Aether
Community Events Lead
The Matrix Online

Posted by MXO Events Team, 04-14-05

Following the success of The Race to Find the One live event, WBIE and Monolith Productions are proud to announce our Live Events Team schedule for the next six months. Beginning next week, The Matrix Online moves forward with a new cinematic and accompanying mission pack. Morpheus continues his quest for Neo's body as Niobe, The Merovingian and Agent Grey rally their followers, culminating in another live global event.

WBIE and Monolith are focused on bringing The Matrix Online to life through regularly scheduled live events, expanded gameplay, and the constant presence of the Monolith Live Events Team. As the schedule below demonstrates, the Live Events Team will be planning and running live events regularly throughout the next six months while continuing its ongoing constant presence inside the game.

Continue to check back for more details.

Events Schedule

Week of April 18th
· Global Event
· New Cinematic
· New Critical Mission Pack

Week of May 16th
· Major Global Event (5 Days)
· New Cinematic
· New Critical Mission Pack

Week of June 6th
· Global Event (3 Days)
· New Cinematic
· New Critical Mission Pack

Week of June 27th
· Major Global Event (5 Days)
· New Cinematic
· New Critical Mission Pack

Week of July 18th
· Global Event (3 Days)
· New Cinematic
· New Critical Mission Pack

Week of August 7th
· Major Global Event (5 Days)
· New Cinematic
· New Critical Mission Pack

Week of August 29th
· Global Event (3 Days)
· New Cinematic
· New Critical Mission Pack

Week of September 18th
· Major Global Event (5 Days)
· New Cinematic
· New Critical Mission Pack

Week of October 10
· Global Event (3 Days)
· New Cinematic
· New Critical Mission Pack

 Posted by MxO Team , 04-13-05

The Under Development page has just been updated with a few of the features being implemented next patch! This content patch focuses on the Player vs. Player Honor System, new live events, and bug fixes. This post does not list all of the additions, changes, and bug fixes going into the next patch.

Click here to take a look.

"... there are moreover in our treasuries many things preserved: books and tablets writ on withered parchments, yea, and on stone, and on leaves of silver and of gold, in divers characters. Some none can now read; and for the rest, few ever unlock them." -- Faramir, "The Window on the West," Book Four

There are very clear differences between Middle-earth and just about any other fantasy setting. This is not only because Tolkien was the inspiration for most modern fantasy, but because Tolkien himself was so particular about the details and derivations of his world.

Adhering to the lore is an important responsibility shared across the entire MEO team. The characters and quests in the game must "feel right"; the geography and vegetation must match Tolkien’s intentions; the metaphors used by our game systems and rulesets must be uniquely appropriate to Middle-earth; and on and on. Everything we do passes through two filters: 1) how does this make a great game and 2) how does this fit into Middle-earth?

 Some details are easier to get right than others – or at least have clearer precedents. A telling detail comes in how Tolkien revised The Hobbit to remove a reference to tomatoes. As his understanding of the Shire matured, Tolkien decided "tomato" no longer fit with the linguistic and historic origins of that land. This (and other corroborating information – "corn," anyone?) helps us decide what plants and animals belong in Eriador. Shifting our gaze from the trees to the (Old) Forest, we rely on the texts themselves, with their voluminous Appendices, to chart the way.

But Tolkien’s first goal wasn’t to provide reference works for game developers (if only!), and the information found beyond the books themselves covers only some areas of knowledge. (And some of this even contradicts itself, reflecting the ongoing evolution of the world in the author’s imagination.)

What unnamed forces might remain of the lost armies of Morgoth? What, if any, commonalities are there between Barrow-wights and Shades of Men? And most importantly: if the crops available in the Shire are based on those found in Medieval England, and food like maize and tomatoes are off-limits, then what exactly is a "tater"?

To answer each question, we consult with a number of references (sorting the more-reliable from the less), and seek insight from Tolkien Enterprises. The final result is constructed out of individual imaginings and passionate debate. At every step, we feel the burden of this responsibility, and tread with great care.

Turbine and the DDO Team are excited to announce that Alpha Registrations for Dungeons & Dragons Online are now open to the community in the Members Only forum! Please note: at this time, Alpha signup is reserved for registered DDO forum members only. Non-forum members who attempt to sign up during this exclusive signup period will be disqualified from participating in the Alpha.

So if you are an adventure seeking registered community member, sign up now for your chance to get into the DDO Alpha! If you aren’t a DDO message board member yet, no worries! You can join by clicking here and then immediately sign up for your chance to be in the Alpha. The official Alpha start date will be announced soon. We will be inviting players into the Alpha on a regular basis once it begins.

The world of Eberron awaits your arrival, as you embark on the great adventures that Dungeons & Dragons is known for. Register through the members only area today -- and prepare to master this unique new online campaign world!

We’ll see you in Eberron!

Victor Wachter
Community Relations Manager
Dungeons & Dragons Online Turbine, Inc.

Last night a mysterious message from an unknown source was transmitted throughout the Matrix:

[Attention: Prepare for new orders]
[Attention: Prepare for new orders]
[Attention: Prepare for new orders]

System resources indicate the presence of illegal fragments.
Humans cannot be permitted to possess this contraband.
You will comply with the following directives.
Cease all activities.
Immediately travel to the nearest hardline.
Surrender all contraband fragments.
Jack out.
Humans are no longer welcome in the Matrix.
We will be disabling hardlines.
We will neutralize your auto-jackout.
Opposing these directives will result in permanent death.
If you do not surrender all contraband fragments, and remove yourself from the Matrix… You will be destroyed.
You have exactly twelve hours to comply with these directives.
Resistance is useless.
Platoon leaders will be deployed to ensure your compliance.
There is nowhere you can hide your contraband from the system.

[End of Message]

All of our server worlds have recently been updated with a patch that we believe will address some of the stability issues our players have experienced. While we understand how frustrating this can be, we are working diligently to assure that this week’s events are not hindered by potential technical issues. Rest assured, The Race to Find the One is packed with events that will be presented on each world, with opportunities for players to affect the plot throughout the day and night.

Should we experience further technical challenges, we will momentarily pause the event to address the issue, allow enough time for players to re-enter the Matrix and participate in the storyline right where we left off.

Again, it is important to remember that the Event Team is going to be running various pieces of this event throughout the week, morning, noon and night, across all worlds. To those of you at work and at school, who are no doubt anxious to get involved in today’s events, have no fear! We have spent a lot of time mapping out our event activities so that as many players as possible, regardless of the time of day, will have the chance to participate.

We are extremely excited to engage you in our storyline, and we cannot wait to see how our players will react. After all, the ultimate outcome of The Race to Find the One will be determined by you, and we are anxious to see where you take the story! Thank you for your continued patience, and enjoy!

Aether
Community Events Lead
The Matrix Online

Posted by Aether, 04-06-05

Due to SEGA's recent distribution change in Germany, it was imperative that the German market was fully prepared for a successful release to hit Europe's key PC territory.

For SEGA Europe Ltd and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment to launch on a simultaneous basis throughout Europe, we would therefore like to confirm that The Matrix Online for PC, will release across Europe on Friday 15th April 2005.

As a result of the new release date, the European pre-order beta period will be extended. European players who have successfully registered a preorder key will have until 11:59 PM PST on April 15, 2005 to register their accounts with a retail CD key to avoid any interruption in their service.

Posted by MxO Team, 04-06-05

NPCUBE, developer of the MMORPG Dark and Light, and publisher Farlan Entertainment, jointly announce today that the release date for Dark and Light has been set to November 2005.

César Jacquet, CEO of NPCube, says: "The development team has been reorganized and reinforced in order to strengthen its technical experience and to rewrite the elements of the game engine that were too slow and lacked the flexibility required for DnL expectations. The game has to be able to permanently evolve along with its community".

Frédéric Caille, CEO of Farlan, adds: "This important task allows us to set the release date to November 2005, and to open DnL gates for 2500 new beta testers".

This new reorganization of the production team allowed us to hire new artists, in order to propose you a varied and enriched vision of the world of Ganareth. Among the 12 playable races of DnL, you will be able to play charismatic characters with distinctive facial traits. Role-players will appreciate this!