EA stuck in a fantastic hotel, and here is one of the v...
Saturday, 30 Dec, 2006 - Middle Earth Vault News
Rise of the Witch-King Patch of Shambles Poll! Print News | Mail News | Category: Community - MEV - LOTR This week’s poll is to find out what you think of the upcoming patch. Rumor has it that EA is only going to add plus or minus 25 patches fixes from BFME2's 1.05 Patch. I honestly think they should implement the entire patch 1.05 into Rise of the Witch-King and than balance Angmar accordingly. "Do You Think EA Is Being Fair With Patch 1.01 for ROTWK?" Make sure to vote on the right under the tall ad. As for last week, the results are:
Have You Completed The Entire ROTWK Campaign?
100% Complete - 362
At Mission 8 - 27
At Mission 7 - 14
At Mission 6 - 11
At Mission 5 - 18
At Mission 4 - 26
At Mission 3 - 38
At Mission 2 - 42
At Mission 1 - 14
At The Epilogue - 46
Haven't Started! - 223
Not Interested! - 73
Total Votes: 894
From the looks of it our community has either only started the campaign or has yet to even look at it. I guess this brings up a good poll for next week, mainly wondering if the single player game is as important as it use to be...
Angmar Unit & Structure Information Print News | Mail News | Category: BFME2 Exp. - Community - B4ME2 For those of our community members that like to keep tabs on the unit and structure information for each faction, I have good news for you. Middle Earth Vault has released their full Unit and Structure info for the Angmar faction. Each section will list the powers, CP cost, health, squad size etc... for each Unit and Structure in the game. Middle Earth Vault will be rolling out sections for each of the factions over the next few days, so make sure to check daily for updates. I want to also say that these lists will be updated with each patch released for Rise of the Witch-king.
Some games can't be summed up with just one title. No, these special games need subtitles, expository phrases, and perhaps even a lemma to fully encapsulate the wondrous contents of that box on the shelf. The titles of these games will catch your eye, and will continue to catch them for quite a while as you attempt to decipher them.
So make sure to head on over to Gamespot to vote BFME2: Rise of the Witch-King as the "Most long-Winded Game Title" here.
Yahoo Games Marks BFME2 Xbox 360 In History! Print News | Mail News | Category: BFME2 Exp. - MEV - Community Yahoo Games has wrapped up the entire 2006 year of gaming together and analyzed notable marks within a time line. In that time line EA's Battle For Middle-earth II' for XBOX 360 has made its mark in gaming history. With the genre of real-time strategy reintroduced successfully for the first time to consoles, gamers may expect to see more RTS games make their transition from PC to XBOX 360, PS3, and Wii. Here's a short preview:
Be honest. If we'd told you this time last year that a real-time strategy game could work just as well on a console as on a PC, you'd have laughed, right? It was EA that was laughing in July, as it released the 360 version of Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth II and proved us all wrong. BFME's innovative controls worked just dandy on the 360's pad, and the game opened the door for future EA RTS games (Command & Conquer 3, anyone?) to be released on the platform as well. Good times.
I would agree with these remarks 100% as I have personally played BFME2 on the XBox 360 for hours and have found the same dynamic game play as I get on my PC. To read the full review and see the time line click here.
RotWK Patch 1.01 Critical Changes Print News | Mail News | Category: BFME2 Exp. EA has just announced once again more info in regards to patch 1.01 for BFME2: ROTWK. This time, you can help them out by pointing out the mistakes, bugs, or balance issues in the game.
Hey guys,
We are currently in production on Patch 1.01 for The Rise of the Witch-king now that the game has been out in the wild for a few weeks. We're starting to fine tune the critical balance issues, exploits, etc and would like to know from you, the absolute most critical changes.
We do not want essay long replies, just the nitty gritty most important changes with some context as to why.
Please keep your replies concise and easy to understand and if you agree with someone, please state that so we can see a trend of likes and dislikes on balance opinions.
Remember, balance is not about changing the entire game, its about baby steps to making a perfectly balanced game. With 7 factions, that’s a very challenging task, but we will make every effort to patch and balance this game.
Start posting, thanks!
-Predator
So for the most part EA is pushing to hear your opinions on the major changes that need to take place in ROTWK patch 1.01. To take your changes to the masses make sure to post them here, at EA's main forums.
BFME2 Maps & Player Screenshots! Print News | Mail News | Category: B4ME2 - Community A mass of new BFME2 maps have been updated or added to our Vaults, make sure to check them out and give feedback to the makers. We have also gotten our first few player submitted screenshots, make sure to check them out and submit your own.
Vote: 'The Elven Alliance' In the ModDB's Mod of the Year Awards Print News | Mail News | Category: B4ME - MEV - Community The acclaimed Battle for Middle-Earth mod, "The Elven Alliance", has made it into the second round of ModDB's Mod of the Year Awards. "The Elven Alliance" is the only BfME (including the sequel) mod to make it into the Top 100. The work on this mod has been going on for sometime now and the results are astounding. Creator Cameron Keicks "Celegin" wants to consider this a vote for the entire community, rather than just a single mod.
To Vote and make "The Elven Alliance" #1 head on over to the nomination page here. All you have to do is click on the "Battle for Middle Earth" Tab and click on the "Vote" icon next to the Mod's name.
For more information on the "The Elven Alliance" head on over to the3rdage.net and visit their official web page and check out screenshots, trailers, and (of course) the download for the mod itself. The "The Elven Alliance" has my vote so make sure to support your BFME mod community and give it your vote!
MEV Player Screenshots Print News | Mail News | Category: MEV - BFME2 Exp. - B4ME2 If you didn't know the BFME series of games allows players to make screenshots within the game by hitting "f12", the pictures are than saved into your "My Pictures" folder within a BFME titled folder. Now with this feature you are able to show off your massive armies and powers of mass destruction! So with that said I have made it a bit easier to submit your own screenshots for each of the BFME games. To view and submit your own screenshots click the "Player Screenshot" links to the left or click on the corresponding link below.
ROTWK is 15th Top Seller! Print News | Mail News | Category: BFME2 Exp. - MEV EA's BFME2: Rise of the Witch-King is still hanging in the top charts for one of the best selling games week ending December 2nd. The game did take 15th overall and possibly could be climbing up the charts during the holiday season.
1.) The Sims 2 Pets Expansion Pack - Electronic Arts
2.) Flight Simulator X Deluxe - Microsoft
3.) Medieval II: Total War - Sega of America
4.) Battlefield 2142 - Electronic Arts
5.) World Of Warcraft - Vivendi
6.) The Sims 2 - Electronic Arts
7.) Flight Simulator X - Microsoft
8.) Neverwinter Nights 2 - Atari
9.) Deal or No Deal - Global Star Software
10.) The Sims 2 Holiday Edition - Electronic Arts
11.) Age Of Empires III - Microsoft
12.) The Sims 2 Glamour Life Stuff Expansion Pack - Electronic Arts
13.) Age Of Empires III: WarChiefs Expansion Pack - Microsoft
14.) Civilization IV - 2K Games
15.) Lord of the Rings: Battle For Middle Earth II: Rise Of The Witch-King Expansion Pack - Electronic Arts 16.) Call Of Duty 2 - Activision
17.) The Sims 2 Open For Business Expansion Pack - Electronic Arts
18.) The Sims 2 Happy Holiday Stuff - Electronic Arts
19.) Guild Wars Nightfall - NCsoft
20.) Cars: Radiator Springs Adventures - THQ
Once again EA's Sim's is #1 in the charts with a handful of other games to follow including ROTWK. Allowing EA to hold 40% of the top 20 sellers.
ROTWK Until The End Poll! Print News | Mail News | Category: BFME2 Exp. - Community This week’s poll is to find out who has finished the ROTWK Campaign "Have You Completed The Entire ROTWK Campaign?" Make sure to vote on the right under the tall ad. As for last week, the results are:
What Is Your Favorite ROTWK Faction?
Angmar - 376
Men of the West - 270
Elves - 191
Dwarves - 91
Goblins - 55
Isengard - 47
Mordor - 72
Total Votes: 1102
Well I am not surprised at these results as Angmar is the premiere faction of the game. But it seems we still have our die-hard MOTW members followed up with the Elves. To be honest I chose Men of the West myself.
This is just a brief update to let you know that we are working fast and hard on the first patch 1.01 for ROTWK. The patch will address a number of critical balance issues and technical bugs. Keep your eyes peeled on the forums for a specific release update from Community Manager Predator.
So sit back and relax as the patch is coming and it will fix some of those annoying issues.
BTT is on a roll this month with announcing its 2nd online tournament. This time we will be hosting a tournament for EA's Battle for Middle Earth 2: Rise of the Witch-King. The tournament will be open to 128 players from around the world, and will kick off on January 6th 2007. Prizes are still being nailed down, but slots will be filling. To read all the tournament information & to sign-up, head on over to this link.
So from what I can tell, the community generally still isn't in tune with what balance changes are in ROTWK from Patch 1.05. As I said many times before release, the balance in ROTWK is not a direct port of 1.05 and in many cases, not similar.
This is due primarily to the new faction design with the mini hero hordes, the addition of the Angmar faction, and the new units to existing factions. We knew Patch 1.05 has become extremely popular, but it also came out very late in the development process for ROTWK as well, after design decisions were made and so forth.
So to that extent, patch 1.05 is not a part of ROTWK currently, HOWEVER, there are numerous design and balance changes from 1.05 in ROTWK.
I am totally with you guys on the imbalances but its also been just over 3 weeks since the game was released. There is A LOT to learn and new strategies and designs to get used to. I think everyone can agree that nobody has the perfect balance solution right now, it takes time and lots of playing like it did with BFME II.
We will absolutely be patching Rise of the Witch-king as we have done with BFME II and we're reading the boards and taking all of your comments in play. We just released and need to see how the game continues to play out before we make drastic balance decisions. I'll keep you guys posted.
So lets hope we can get the missing 1.05 changes added to the game and get those KoDA balanced. Also if you have ideas on what needs to be changed in the first patch make sure to note them here.
W are getting ready to celebrate the Millionth Match for BFME II! Seems like just yesterday we were celebrating the Millionth Match for BFME 1, turns out we hare going to hit the Millionth Match in about the same time frame. We'll be giving away some huge prizes in celebration of this.
So stay tuned for more news out of EA on this upcoming prize celebration.
MEV Translate This Contest! Print News | Mail News | Category: MEV - Community - LOTR With current discussions in the forums an idea has come to mind for a new contest. We have tons of international community members at MEV and what would be better than having a contest they can understand "kind of"! The contest is simple in its makeup, The ultimate goal is to translate the the following text into English to reveal what it says.
The Text To Translate:
Hver alltaf hefur the vakkundigheid voor vertalen zulks naar de vastmaken έξω του όλος the BFME κοινότητα testamento vincere un libero camicia da MEV forsynt av Spøk17.
The one community member to do this and get 90% of the text right will win a prize. To get more info on the contest make sure to read about it here.
EA Say's "Gamespy is not at Fault! Print News | Mail News | Category: MEV - Community - BFME2 Exp. The biggest issue within BFME series seems to have been the not so great online gameplay. With users not connecting or falling out of Sync or getting errors while playing. These issue have gone on for sometime now with the communities backlashing at Gamespy for connection issues and firewalls problems etc... Well EA has finally came out and said it was an issue on their end and it was not Gamespy's fault. So in the end all those frustrating hours of not being able to play because of not connecting to people in the end was purely EA's fault. Now the question is "Will EA fix the issues?" To discuss this more make sure to post here.
