"In the next few days we will be putting a new version of the AA window on the Test Server for you guys to check out and play with. We have spent some time trying to streamline the look and functionality of the AA window to cut down on the number of confusing tabs in the window and to make it easier to find the information or AA you are looking for. Below is a summary of the changes:
Reduced the tabs to 3 - General, Archtype, Class.
Added new information to each AA including an Expansion and/or a Category for the AA (Such as Luclin or Veteran Reward).
The column headings can be clicked to sort the AAs in alphabetical order by that column. So you can click on the title, the cost, the expansion, etc to see the AAs sorted by that column.
Several filters exists including: Can Purchase (The AAs you qualify to purchase based on level and prerequisites), Expansion and Category.
We hope that this will make the AA system easier to use and it will definitely make it easier for us to upgrade and add AAs in the future."
He also added:
"There are a lot of behind-the-scenes changes that are happening to support the UI change that will make my life a lot easier when making AAs. I'll have more to say about this."
Registration is now open for the annual SOE Fan Faire being held on August 2-4, 2007 at the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas.
Whether you're a player of one of SOE's many games, or someone who just loves games and good times, SOE Fan Faire is the party where you'll find friends and a whole lot of gaming fun stuffed into an unforgettable three days!
Don't miss out on your chance to meet fellow MMO players from around the world, participate in discussion panels, live events, and tournaments, and mingle with the teams behind each of the SOE games.
Fan Faire Website[ Comment ] Print News Start making your plans now for Fan Faire, August 2-5, in fabulous Las Vegas! Join everyone at the Rio for fun and games.
Fan Faire this year will include players from SOE's newest game, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes as well as all the other SOE titles.
Stratics Chat Logs[ Comment ] Print News Read the entire log of the May 16 developer chat session at Stratics HoC here, plus some additonal comments by the SOE team.
EQOA Vault Developer Blog #1[ Comment ] Print News | Category: Features Associate Producer Leah "Sapphyra" Ruben publishes the first installment of a weekly blog and updates us on what is going on with Everquest Online Adventures. Go check it out...
I’d like to take a moment to talk about our intent here. If you’re looking for things such as update information, interaction with the community, or a weekly play-by-play of what the dev team is up to, please visit our official forums here. If you’re interested in more general “state of the game” type information, check out my producer letter – you can find the latest one here. This space is going to be a bit different…at times we may delve a little more microcosmic and talk about life as a game developer, and at times talk on a high-in-the-sky level on the industry as a whole or game theory. If this sounds like your mug of ale, please stay tuned!
Maddoc mentioned in the developer chat on May 15 that fizzles will not be removed from the game, and after extensive testing he assures the player base that the fizzle rate is steady at around 2% (although his actual number reported of 2.7714% is more like 3% in my book).
Player Aanelar argues that fizzles are annoying and an archaic part of EverQuest, better consigned to "it seemed like a good idea at the time" dustbin. Other players don't agree, and see it as balancing -- as must the devs, since they claim it is working as intended.
Read the arguments in the link above and decide for yourself!
- Jardel's Hook Mission: Long ago, a holy war brewed between the Redfeather aviaks and the Suncrest goblins. Using a blessed artifact of the ocean god, Prexus, the Suncrest goblins shaped the tide in the Buried Sea. The aviaks, fearful of the power the goblins possessed countered with their own artifact blessed by Karana, the god of storms, which created monsoons and heavy rain. This era in the Buried Sea became known as the Time of Storms. Many years after it began, the war ended abruptly when a powerful siren stole both artifacts and hid them somewhere in the vast expanse of the Buried Sea. Find out what happened to these powerful artifacts in a new mission in the Buried Sea!
- Ocean of Tears: The Ocean of Tears has a new look. Sail over to check it out and to experience the return of the boats!
- A new integrated web browser has been added to EverQuest. This web browser will be accessible from either the help menu or the /petition command. From this point forward, all problems related to switching to an external browser will be eliminated because this browser will pull up in an in-game window.
- Congratulations to the winners of EverQuest's "The Fabled Adventurer" Video Contest. The First Place winner was Quarken of the Maelin Starpyre server. You can view the winning video on EQPlayers.station.sony.com.
Did your character earn an artifact in a historical event in the past? Perhaps you earned a title from winning a Best of the Best. On May 14th, we will finally be opening the doors of The EverQuest Hall of Fame. This will be a list of people who earned titles, artifacts, gotten items named after their characters from the Legends server and more. Once the doors open, there will be information about how to get your character listed if you are missing from the initial list. This initial opening will be a news article but I hope to make major improvements to it as we go along and convert it into its own area of the site. "
No one has seen this yet as of today, but perhaps it will be there when the patch finishes.
Note that they are putting more "fun" into the Fan Faire:
"The Vegas Fan Faire should be a lot of Fun. If you have been to a Fan Faire before, you'll see some changes made to this one. We're increasing the fun level! If you haven't been before, Vegas is a good starting point!"
All EverQuest servers are currently locked for the Game Update and maintenance on EQPlayers website. The estimated downtime is 10 hours. We are expecting to unlock the servers around 2 pm Pacific Time.
Previous to the sale, SOE hosted the game but did not own the key assets. This move will make the Sigil employees part of the SOE group, and according to the press release, Brad McQuaid will stay on as a consultant and "creative advisor."
The press release:
May 15, 2007 San Diego, CA – Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE), a global leader in the online games industry, today announced that it has completed a transaction to purchase key assets of Sigil Games Online, Inc. Through the deal, SOE now owns Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, Sigil’s tentpole property, a highly-successful massively multiplayer online game. The Sigil acquisition also builds on SOE’s successful strategy of cultivating game development studios around the world to further boost the company’s capabilities. The announcement was made by John Smedley, President, Sony Online Entertainment.
As part of the acquisition, a majority of the Sigil team will join SOE, integrating into SOE’s worldwide group of studios which includes offices in San Diego, Seattle, Austin, Denver, Los Angeles and Taiwan. The acquisition will strengthen SOE’s position as a leader in the online gaming space by expanding the company’s portfolio of gaming offerings.
“With an unparalleled team and exceptional product, Sigil has been a creative force in the online games space. We look forward to continuing the vision for Vanguard and to continue to deliver some groundbreaking game play,” said Smedley.
In May 2006, SOE acquired the title’s rights and the two companies agreed to co-publish Vanguard. The MMO launched in late January of this year and has sold nearly 200,000 retail and digital units worldwide. Sigil CEO and Vanguard creator, Brad McQuaid will become a consultant with SOE as Vanguard Creative Advisor.
Vanguard: Saga of Heroes takes place in the fantasy setting of Telon, a vast and ancient world of magic, intrigue and adventure where thousands of players from around the world have formed a steadfast community exploring the grandeur of a world crafted by the seminal fantasy artist Keith Parkinson. The game introduced many groundbreaking new features and an art direction second to none.
Developer Chat Tomorrow[ Comment ] Print News | Category: Features Don't forget to join the EQ team and your fellow players at the May Developers Chat on Stratics May 16 at 5:00pm pacific/8:00 pm Eastern.
Some players are discussing whether they do or don't on EQPlayers. Developer Nodyin posted that he spends a lot of time on the lore and the text, so he wishes people would read it!
Some people commented they would like to read it, but are too busy avoiding aggro mobs to be able to take the time to do much more than type the trigger words. Others say when the entire raid is clicking, it's hard to take the time to read it.
The interesting thing about reading quest texts is that you learn a lot more about the lore of Norrath, which is actually fairly complex. Every quest has some kind of story that tries to immerse players in the world, from kill ten rats to epic quest arcs.
SOE Previews New Station Launcher[ Comment ] Print News | Category: EQ Live SOE recently hosted a "Game Day" in New York City, where they unveiled not only the Secrets of Faydwer expansion for EverQuest, but a new Station Launcher feature.
The new paradigm for gaming is community building, and the previewed Station Launcher hopes to promote community across SOE games, as well as cut down logging in time by offering simultaneous patching for all its games.
Player Profiles for All Games Using the the station access concept already in place ($29.95 for access to all SOE games), the new Station Launcher will streamline access to all SOE's games. All SOE games features will be run through the Station Launcher, and as part of that, a player can create a persistent profile that will show characters and names for each game that a person plays. As part of this feature, the Station Launcher will also show where your friends are logged in at any given moment, so you can keep in touch across games. Cross-game tells are also in the works.
Simultaneous Patching The Station Launcher will also allow for simultaneous patching of SOE games. Instead of logging in and waiting for a game to patch, the new Launcher would have patched each game for you while you were away as the patches became available. No more waiting on long patches (or even short ones) when you log in.
A couple of nice features designed to encourage people to play other titles in the SOE library, without worrying about lengthy patches on log in, as well as the ability to sustain friendships that are often lost when players switch games.
What do sharks and EverQuest have in common? Not a lot, unless you are me and allow your mind to do a little more wandering than it ought to. Check out Nature, Sharks and EverQuest for a little bit of quirky comparison!
If you look at the current results, just a little over half of the people that responded are doing something else -- either watching TV or a movie, or even working!
37% responded that they don't do anything else while playing.
She didn't include listening to music, probably because it's not nearly as distracting? I personally listen to music when playing, and I am sure a lot of other people do as well.
It seems, though, that many players find that just playing doesn't require their full attention, hence the addition of TV or movie watching. What does this say about the game? Or about us, the players? Too much down time? Too much repitition that doesn't require absolute attention from the player? Or just people that like to have lots going on at the same time? The answers to the poll might be just as interesting as the poll itself.
According to the advertising copy, the level cap increases to 80!
Steamfont Mountains will be the newest area for adventures, where players will battle Meldrath the Malignant, fight clockworks underground and adventure in the newly re-discovered lost land of Faydwer.
Players will also battle Kerafyrm, the prismatic dragon, who plans to end the world.
There will also be new AAs, and a new type of gear called "heroic."
I also noticed the new artwork for Firiona Vie is much better. The stint at the rehab center did wonders for her.
It's balanced, but mostly favorable. She ends with a quote from producer Clint Morley:
"EverQuest is still growing! We have new content that is being produced at an alarming rate and supporting the players through live events is also increasing. Sony Online Entertainment still believes in the power of EQ and is working to keep the future full of amazing new adventures for the players. We are working on giving the players an inside look of the development process and even help everyone understand how the development team works with customer support to ensure that the gameplay experience is safe and fair. EverQuest was made by a small group of dedicated people and it has become a massive force in the MMO market and it will continue to bring a unique experience that will change players outlook on what is possible in a virtual world."
Please join us on Wednesday, May 16th, for a House of Commons with the developers of EverQuest at 5:00 PM Pacific / 8:00 PM Eastern in the #StraticsHoC channel on Stratics IRC.
The Chinese government may want players to know "when is when" for videogames, but one Chinese gaming company is making sure that doesn't stop hard core players from playing all they want and making some money for themselves in the bargain.
In China, the government is trying to implement a system in MMOs where after three hours of play, the less experience you get, dimishing to zero after the fifth hour. Currently the system applies to players under the age of 18. One of the companies in the trial phase of this "anti-addiction" program is Shanda, which publishes "Magical Land."
It was discovered that Shanda is doing a little more than testing the government's program -- they are implementing a little money making scheme of their own.
The news site Danwei has a translation of a news story from the Chinese site IT68's report:
"...the reporter discovered in the course of investigation that after the fifth hour, the majority of players did not elect to go offline and rest; rather, they chose to use a "1.5 experience boost card" tool in the game. After using it, their characters could continue playing without regard for the anti-addiction system, and gameplay experience and rewards would return to normal.
It is notable that this tool is not visible on the official website. Because Shanda has set up the market for gaming equipment in nearly 1G worth of client space, people who are not players of that game cannot readily discover it. As a result, most people only know that the game is testing out an "Online gaming anti-addiction system" but are unaware of its actual effects.
Although Magical Land is a free game, purchasing a "1.5 experience boost card" tool requires spending RMB, at about 0.9 yuan for every point. Each experience card allows play to continue for six hours into unhealthy gameplay time; so long as the gamer does not care about such a small expense, he can continue to play whenever he wants, causing the online gaming anti-addiction system to fail, and at the same time, bringing Shanda a fair amount of money."
The IT68 article, which is in Chinese, concludes that perhaps Shanda supported the addiction controls enthusastically because they had the tools to subvert the system already in mind. According to the translation of the IT68 article, Shanda's PR department had no comment on this allegation.
Asian gamers come under much more government control than do U.S. players, but that is not to say it couldn't ever happen here. What is for sure is that there will always be someone, somewhere, ready to take advantage of people's desires if there's money in it.
