The Free2Play fantasy MMO Aion is celebrating its fifth birthday with a nostalgic video that still looks to the future.
Aion has now completed five years and is celebrating this milestone on social media and also in-game. Associate Product Manager Sean Orlikowski shared a video with fans for the occasion, taking them on a journey through the last five years in Aion. However, nostalgia and a taster tour through Atreia are not all that the video has to offer. In the second half, the focus turns to the future and provides a brief glimpse of the upcoming zones.
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In the god MMO Skyforge, the concept for PvP has now been presented in a blog post. It looks diverse and varied, even if genre fans see influences from World of Warcraft and other classics.
The god MMO Skyforge is being developed by my.com in Russia. In recent weeks, the plans have finally become more concrete, and the image of a game that combines the action of Asian MMOs with some structural ideas from Guild Wars 2, DC Universe Online, and Final Fantasy XIV is slowly forming. In a dev blog, the ideas for PvP were presented and they really pack a punch.
Here, the influences from MMOs like World of Warcraft are hard to overlook. Like numerous games before it, Skyforge does not reinvent the wheel but uses classic battlefield ideas. In total, there are five modes: a chaotic skirmish, an arena, and three varied battlefields.
In Skyforge’s PvP, there is something for everyone
Lugran Research Base: In a “free-for-all” arena, 6 players compete against each other. The one who collects 10 kills first wins. Those who shout “KS! KS!” here have not understood the game.
Kingezi Arena: Here too, 6 players fit in but form two 3-member teams. The rules are Team Death Match, so to speak, the World of Warcraft variant. Bonuses are supposed to appear on two platforms that players can grab.
Ring of Immortals: 16 players in two teams of eight engage in a contest for control of strategic points. A typical MMORPG battlefield – Arathi Basin.
Alcedon Facility: Also here, 16 players in two teams. But with an unusual twist for the MMORPG genre: Asymmetric gameplay. One group will escort a movable payload. The other team will try to prevent them.
Esten Quarry: Here, 24 players fight in two groups of 12. Classic Capture-the-Flag. However, the map is likely quite twisted and complicated.
What do you think about this? Sounds like a diverse opening offer of modes and maps, doesn’t it?
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The MMO Final Fantasy XIV has opened its own café in Tokyo. Apparently, it is very popular.
Some time ago, we reported on a theme café in Tokyo that is entirely themed around Final Fantasy XIV. It has now become a must-visit for gaming journalists who find themselves in Japan’s capital. With its own unique ambiance and numerous themed dishes, it has become a great attraction, and the food must be quite good too. Among anime and MMO fans in Japan, it enjoys lasting and voracious popularity. In previous review attempts, US colleagues had to return three times before they were finally drawn in the lottery that decides the seating.
Dualshockers.com has now also sent a journalist to the café in Tokyo. There, they even coincidentally met the producer Naoki Yoshida, who was questioned about housing prices and apparently likes blue noodles. In a video, they documented the events. Thus, even we poor souls who probably will never get to Tokyo can take a peek into the Eorzea Café.
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In the luxury MMO Destiny , the developers rely on their skills in the Crucible. Those who defeat them will receive a reward.
Normally, developers are decent but not outstanding in their own game. However, that might be different in the shooter Destiny. Recently, at an event, a selected team of employees took on a group of shooter pros in the Crucible and had a balanced match. Apparently, the developers at Bungie have tasted blood and are now announcing a weekly event where they create the content themselves.
A team from Bungie now wants to hunt in the Crucible at regular intervals and measure themselves against the players. Those who win against their team in previously announced events can post a winner screenshot in the event thread and receive a special emblem, and they can rightfully and proudly claim: “I beat Bungie in their own game.”
The first event takes place Friday night our time from 2:00 AM to 3:00 AM on the Playstation 4. It has been announced that these events will be held more frequently and on all platforms.
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The launch of the sandpark MMO ArcheAge is overshadowed by dark clouds. This is also reflected in the reporting.
As a publisher, you know you have problems when even mmorpg.com publishes a negative report. The major US site focused on MMOs is not known for bashing MMORPG companies. Yet, the report about the first days in ArcheAge reads disillusioningly: Many paid a lot of money for the headstart and could not use it as promised.
And that’s just the article. In the comments, things get even rougher than usual. And that’s only in North America, where the launch took place in the morning and not in prime time like here in Europe. Here, the fans are a little angrier than elsewhere.
You Can’t Get In – ArcheAge in Germany
“Long waiting lines, DDOS attacks, server issues, construction sites taken” – these are the four dominant stories in ArcheAge so far and almost every report about the game – besides the usual guides – touches on one of these topics.
Already during the headstart, there were significant issues. Towards the end, a press release from Trion Worlds made the rounds, claiming how successful the headstart was. Almost no one published it. Not a good sign. A small magazine did publish it and ranked it visibly on Google. “ArcheAge – Headstart was successful” was something you could read on Monday.
The title of a preview on Gamestar captured it somewhat better in our opinion: “You Can’t Get In.” In addition to a detailed description of the game and a presentation of the features, the negative impressions from the headstart dominated the report here as well. The consensus is: The game has a lot of potential and is a welcome change, it would just be nice if you could actually play it.
ArcheAge Slightly in the Shadow of Destiny
Otherwise, it is clear that ArcheAge is not a blockbuster game in the MMO category like The Elder Scrolls Online this year. Its shine also spread beyond the niche of MMOs and MMORPGs. Most major US sites that generally deal with video games do not mention the launch of ArcheAge. There are few reports on the game. If anything, just a short notice addressing queues and server issues. Destiny still dominates the reporting in the gaming sector.
At the moment, ArcheAge appears almost only on sites that explicitly deal with MMOs or online games.
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According to the publisher Activision, the luxury MMO Destiny has already generated sales of 325 million US dollars in the first five days.
Metacritic score notwithstanding – Destiny is a bestseller. Copies worth 500 million dollars have hit the market. Some wondered: “Well, whether all of that could be sold.” After the first five days, it looks like it. Activision claims to have sold units worth 325 million US dollars with Destiny in the first week. The company shares this information.
This figure comes after consulting distributors, retail chains, and VG Charts. Additionally, the company includes its own estimates and numbers in the report.
In the statement, Activision’s Eric Hirshberg emphasizes that this is just the beginning. Destiny is a platform that will grow and thrive. Activision will work on this together with its partners at Bungie.
100 million hours already spent in Destiny
More impressive numbers: Players are said to have already spent 100 million hours in Destiny. During this time, they pursued over 137 million activities.
Analyst Michael Pachter mentions in a report by venturebeat that one can assume Destiny has already sold 5 million copies. Other analysts also evaluate these figures positively according to venturebeat. Especially the hours played reached nearly Call-of-Duty level, although the rather mixed reviews may have influenced some in their purchasing decisions.
A new Wednesday, a new topic, a new reason to get (completely logically and in no way exaggerated) worked up. I should warn that not everyone will share my opinion – I was “overcome” quite spontaneously to write about this topic, I probably won’t see it as so wild on another day. So, let’s get started!
Today it catches all those thin display panels that usually lurk at the bottom of the screen and then wait for us to fill them at a snail’s pace before they overflow – and then want to be filled again.
A world full of limited bars – Who’s to blame?
I curse Blizzard. Why Blizzard in particular? Maybe they weren’t the first to introduce daily quests, but they were surely among the pioneers. When they introduced the “Netherwing” faction, it differed from previous reputation factions that you could slowly and laboriously work from “hated” to “revered” in that it was only possible through daily quests. So, not only did progress come slowly, but you were artificially slowed down by setting a value that the player could maximally reach in a day.
Don’t get me wrong, I sometimes really enjoy grinding – it’s meditative, you can switch off and just plow through the masses of enemies. But the form of limitation through daily tasks has two serious disadvantages for me: Due to a daily limit, you feel more or less compelled to complete the corresponding quests day after day, on the other hand, you can never work on a faction for “two hours straight” because the quest design system prevents this.
From reward to torture
I still remember well my first “Final Fantasy” games. Even then, there were XP bars, but they were motivating because they were just a side note. Today’s games often rely solely on such numerical manipulations, which are solely intended to keep the player engaged with the product for as long as possible with as little effort as possible. What was fun and motivating for me back then is today a terrible torture, even driving me away from such video games.
This is not a daily quest in H1Z1, but it simply counts – to put it bluntly – just surviving.
Games that completely forgo such systems, like “DayZ” or “H1Z1”, suddenly become much more interesting, and that, although they have no fixed goal – or perhaps precisely because of that? What once captivated me about games has now been so trimmed and regulated that it drives me away from my favorite medium. Maybe I stand alone with this view, but because I can only achieve a certain amount of progress each day, no matter how much time I want to invest today, it feels like work and no longer like a game.
A world without bars? Unimaginable.
What bothers me even more is that seemingly all games today need a progress bar, no matter how absurd and inappropriate it is. Why does a card game like Hearthstone need something like that? Why does SMITE need a follower count for each individual god, of course represented in a bar?
[intense_progress size=”large” animation=”1″ colors=”success,” values=”60″ texts=”So many followers pray to You, dear God!” /]
It seems to me that there is a fear that the actual game may not provide enough appeal, which is why such “pseudo-progress” is added. People seemingly crave to see some form of directly visible increase constantly – it bores me by now. I ask you, please come up with something creative again – and no, replacing the bar with a slowly filling pie chart is not creative.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
What may initially read like the promise of an ominous browser game is actually true this time. To let SMITE gain a bit more popularity, the developers have come up with something special for the god-MOBA.
From today until September 30, you can earn 50 gems every day – this currency is typically only purchasable with real money.
And here’s how it works: For the first victory of the day in any mode, you will receive 25 gems, and if you win at least once in all other modes afterwards, you get an additional 5 gems each time. In total, frequent players (and frequent winners) can earn a whopping 700 gems, which can unlock 1-2 skins or purchase 3 treasure chests – if you don’t want any of these “premium items”, you can also use the gems like favor and spend them on new deities. If you have been considering starting in SMITE for a while, you should take the opportunity before it passes.
You don’t know anything about SMITE yet? Then of course I would like to recommend my (incomparably good and wonderfully written) review, which you can find here. Under the review, there is also a link to where the game can be downloaded completely for free.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The sand park MMO ArcheAge has gone through one of the most difficult launches in recent history and has hit some bumps along the way. Some founders who invested in the game before its launch feel betrayed and are vocally expressing their displeasure. The founder packages did not provide the expected benefits.
Trust of the founders shaken
The business policy is clear. The statement is unequivocal: As a founder, you buy yourself privileges. As a paid player, you are treated preferentially. You start before those who want to play for free and can carve out an advantage. But what remains?
The problem: The founders paid for a head start. On two new servers, they did not get it; on a third, it was only one day. And even on the other servers, many found it difficult to get through the long queue to gather enough playtime to say afterwards: I got the value for my money that I expected. It was worth it.
The costly head start access to ArcheAge lost attractiveness for many in hindsight.
Now, right after the launch, comes the next blow. Trion Worlds introduces new “starter packs” that serve as a replacement for founder packs. However, they cannot promise Alpha and Beta access or the head start, so they entice with long-term attractive in-game rewards in the form of cash shop items.
The reaction of the fans can be imagined: Upset. They complain that they got too little from their founder package, and Trion Worlds introduces new packages to – in their view – tap into new buyer segments.
And as if that weren’t enough, reports are now emerging that some “Free2Play” players mistakenly received “Patron” status, thereby receiving the same privileges in the queue as founders. Now many are disappointed, as the privileges of the founder package sounded so tempting just recently.
In ArcheAge, some are still more unequal than others
In every MMORPG, players want advantages over others. In ArcheAge, this situation is further exacerbated by the fact that ArcheAge struggles with a shortage of land. The launch in ArcheAge is front-loaded; in the early days, players can set off and carve out an advantage. The first find flourishing landscapes, the best building spots are still free, the seas are safe, and even the later riskiest trade routes are not yet a problem.
The “head start” advantage in ArcheAge is no “just a nice bonus” like in The Elder Scrolls Online or WildStar, but brings a much greater advantage that was indeed worth the money for some.
The cash flows, the lead swells.
Ironically, the founders paid for this advantage, specifically not having to play by the “same rules” as Free2Play players. Many did not receive this lead, this unequal condition, and now feel disadvantaged compared to those who were not stuck in the queues and could start right away.
It would indeed have been important to ensure at least equal conditions among the privileged. But this cannot be guaranteed with an unstable server version and many bugs No publisher in the world can guarantee a smooth launch. And in ArcheAge – with the special conditions – long queues were absolutely to be expected.
What can we learn from this for the future?
Looking at it soberly: Players expected certain things from the founder package that have now not come to pass. Either the next publisher must ensure that these hopes are fulfilled or the buyers must significantly lower their expectations and prepare for disappointment. This seems to be the impression of outsiders. What a disappointed person usually hears now is: Your own fault. Why did you pay in advance? Didn’t you learn anything from the many disappointments of others?
Among the biggest hopes were the four days of “head start”, the advantage over Free2Play players. With two new servers at launch and the long queues even for founders during the actual head start, this promise could not be fulfilled.
That the other advantages are now diminished retroactively due to starter packs is annoying. This makes the “exclusive” founder rewards much less “exclusive” in retrospect, even though they still are at their core. It is difficult to pinpoint whether the founder packages are now better than the starter packages or vice versa. The excitement surrounding this discussion (the official thread has 41 pages) is certainly not only due to the facts but also to the currently charged atmosphere.
Of course, Trion Worlds seems somewhat tactless in these decisions. If such packages had been introduced in two months or at least waited until the initial anger subsided, there wouldn’t have been such an outcry as now. Of course, Trion Worlds is interested in financial success. However, they should ensure that they do not give the impression of wanting to monetize ArcheAge as much as possible in the first weeks and months when the demand is massive.
With the current decisions, a lot of goodwill has already been consumed. This will also affect future decisions for some who invested in a founder package. Regardless of whether it is an MMO from Trion Worlds or another provider.
Investing in such founder packs or Early Access is done at your own risk. However, it would be better for the genre if founders did not regret their investments afterwards.
In the MMO Final Fantasy XIV, players are now allowed to build their own houses. However, there are no more building plots available on many servers.
It’s a bit like promising free beer and then telling people: The glasses are out. With Patch 2.38 players of Final Fantasy XIV can build houses themselves and no longer have to be content with a room in their guild house . The problem is: there are hardly any new plots. Only two wards. New residential areas were just introduced. And the current building plots are already occupied by the guild houses, the houses of the “Free Companies” in Final Fantasy XIV, on pretty well-visited servers (and those are almost all).
The producer Naoki Yoshida immediately rushed to the forum and apologized for the current circumstances: They were eager to bring this feature now, even if there are now clearly too few building plots on some servers. With Patch 2.4, they plan to double the total number of plots. Unfortunately, it cannot be said at the moment when the patch will come. However, they are aware of the players’ situation and are working as hard as possible to alleviate the precarious situation in the Eorzea real estate market.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In the luxury MMO Destiny, the first raid, “The Vault of Glass”, was defeated for the first time after 14 hours.
As vg247 reports, the first raid of Destiny on Venus, “The Vault of Glass”, withstood the onslaught of trigger-happy Guardians for just under 14 hours. The 6-man group “PrimeGuard” managed to clear the raid. They received a nod, a pat on the back and congratulations from Bungie on Twitter, along with an invitation to try it now on Hard Mode.
Raids in Destiny follow a similar pattern to raids in World of Warcraft and other MMORPGs. Players have the opportunity to defeat bosses in a raid and fill their bags with rare loot. The raid can also be spread over multiple evenings within a week: Progress in Destiny raids is saved. A prerequisite for this is that the leader, the fire leader, remains the same.
While in most MMOs, raids on normal difficulty can be solved without problems right from the start, the hard versions often pose a challenge even for professional players until tactics are clear, equipment is optimized, and processes are refined. It remains to be seen how the guys from PrimeGuard will perform in Hard Mode.
In this video, you won’t see PrimeGuard at work, but another group struggling with the last boss in the Vault of Glass:
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The sandbox MMO ArcheAge was supposed to cost the same as Rift. Now it turns out: The monthly subscription is a bit more expensive than expected. The costs for APEX are also relatively high for Europeans.
Regarding the costs for the coveted Patron status in ArcheAge, Trion Worlds has always said: Check the costs in Rift.
One-month subscription at 15 euros relatively expensive
Those looking for the prices for the privileged “Patron” status in Rift currently see:
1 month costs 12,99€
3 months 35,97€
6 months 59,94€
and a year gives the status in Rift for 107,88€
About the same price are also the costs for paid MMOs like WildStar, The Elder Scrolls Online or World of Warcraft.
If you check ArcheAge this morning to see how much the Patron status will cost, you find these numbers:
1 month 14,99€
3 months 35,99€
6 months 59,99€.
While the costs for players who want to commit for at least three months are just as high as in Rift, the short-term monthly subscription is a bit more expensive.
APEX 10 dollars or 10 euros
The costs for APEX for Europeans are 10€. The price of 10 US dollars has already circulated in advance. Some thought that maybe the Euro-Dollar exchange rate would be considered and that the price for us Europeans would be lowered a bit: After all, 10 US dollars are only worth about 7.72 euros at the current exchange rate (September 17, 2014). But Trion Worlds apparently sees it differently.
An APEX can be redeemed in the game for 1250 credits. The Patron status costs 2400 credits in this currency. And that’s almost two full APEX licenses. The Patron status entitles you in ArcheAge to build and own land and grants significantly increased labor point regeneration. This form of energy is needed for the crafting elements in the game.
APEX are a way for free-to-play players who do not want to invest money in ArcheAge to get the premium currency credits and secure either the Patron status or buy cash shop items.
At Sandpark ArcheAge, the seventh European server has launched. Why are these decisions so difficult with the new MMO?
For the head start on September 12, four European servers were open. On Monday evening, with Aeira, the fifth server came online, yesterday at release with Melisara the sixth, and during last night with Ochindra, the seventh European server added.
The reason: It simply doesn’t work any other way. The queues are huge. Already at the head start, paying players complained about the waiting times and their missed, but expensive, preferential time. Since last night, countless more players have joined. With a new free-to-play title, many want to check it out.
Meanwhile, it is at least not as annoying to get back onto the server when one gets logged out: A “buffer” was implemented, allowing players to log back in without a queue up to five minutes after being logged out.
But why is Trion Worlds so hesitant to respond to calls for new servers?
The problem: At the launch of a game, many more players are active than after a few weeks when the initial rush is over. In ArcheAge, you can’t just add new servers and later melt away capacities like you could with a mega-server system. The servers in ArcheAge are independent autonomous worlds with closed economic cycles and power dynamics – and with a bit of luck, soon a vibrant server history.
That’s what makes the game appealing. Merging servers later is out of the question.
ArcheAge: Between Scylla and Charybdis
If a world were too empty, it would lose immense attractiveness, and the remaining players would also leave out of boredom later on. While theme park games still provide challenges with the MMO itself through raids and instantiated miniature dungeons, that is hardly the case in an open-world sandbox game.
For free-to-play players, new servers would only create space if it was known that they would stay long-term. However, experience teaches us: They do not. But on the other hand: Obviously, players who get stuck in 3000-player queues at launch do not get a good impression of the game, and thus, ArcheAge might now alienate important customers.
A difficult problem that Trion Worlds faces here. How does one weigh the short-term suffering of fans sitting in the queue and cursing the game against the long-term risk of ghost servers?
Other sandbox games like EVE Online solve the problem with a single massive world where all players play together.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The Raptr numbers for August are out and depict a picture of trends in the MMOs and MOBAs. Above all, World of Warcraft, Guild Wars 2, and Final Fantasy XIV have been able to gain ground compared to previous months.
The Raptr numbers reflect how many hours those players spent in the individual games that log this via the Ratpr software. This is also – like any other number in the MMO area – not an absolutely valid measure to say: Which game is “successful” or not? But trends can be read when comparing the Ratpr values from the individual months.
World of Warcraft: And it is moving after all
The Raptr numbers measure played hours. Thus, intensive time-eaters like MOBAs and MMORPGs have the advantage. And this time, League of Legends, World of Warcraft, and Dota 2 dominate the table again. World of Warcraft managed to advance to rank 2. August was a strange month for WoW: Although nothing happened in the game, there were worldwide promo actions to bring players back to the island, back to Azeroth. Especially the discount of Mists of Pandaria, according to raptr, attracted some players. Compared to July, World of Warcraft was played nearly 20% longer.
And of course, Blizzard’s PR machine is now in full swing: The expansion Warlords of Draenor is set to be released on November 13. The numbers should remain about the same in September, pick up slightly in October, and then explode in November.
The MOBA Smite is on the rise and overtook Diablo 3 in August. With some promo actions and new content, this action-oriented MOBA can grow by 170%. Whether the trend will last is hard to estimate. Especially with MOBAs, which are the new “hot shit”, the market is in motion. Everyone wants a piece of the LoL cake, but the others are also gearing up.
Heroes of the Storm, the Blizzard MOBA, is still at the starting blocks, there is Strife, EA is planning something big, a MOBA from the Borderlands creators has been announced and who knows what else will soon enter the genre: Hard to estimate whether Smite can hold its ground up here in the long run.
August was excellent in any case.
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Final Fantasy XIV, Guild Wars 2, and World of Tanks with upward trend
As a core gamer, one sometimes wonders what all the fuss is about all these special discounts and giveaways. Does it really matter to anyone whether a gem package costs half price one weekend or tank shots yield double rewards for the 80th anniversary of a battle? Yes, it does! According to Ratpr, this actually has a significant influence on playtime and the gaming behavior of players.
For the second birthday of Guild Wars 2, there were some discount actions, which significantly boosted playtime. Normally, not much happens in Guild Wars 2 in the second half of August, as players await the feature patch in September. Nevertheless, Guild Wars 2 is one of the big winners of August, improving by five places to rank 12.
There is currently a celebratory atmosphere in Final Fantasy XIV. Not only due to the birthday, but also due to the ongoing popularity.
A nearly identical story can be told for Final Fantasy, as they also used August for various events and special actions. There are now free trials, recruit a friend actions and various other incentives to check out the game. This is having an effect. Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn had already risen in July, has managed to maintain this position and improve slightly. In August, it is rated 10th among Raptr users.
And the last in the king of discounts is World of Tanks. Here, the stronger presence on Twitch is also becoming noticeable. Weekend promotions and eSports events added to this. Wargaming’s flagship tank climbs from rank 19 to 13.
Beautiful story: Star Wars: The Old Republic is making a comeback
The housing expansion in SWTOR is causing a boost.
From the bottom of the table comes a nice success story for all MMORPG fans. The often-doomed Star Wars: The Old Republic barely made it into the top 20 in July, with two and a half toes and help from the Force, while in August it ranks at 14th place among closely packed lower ranks. The reason for this is said to be the early access to the Galactic Strongholds expansion.
The two MMORPGs launched this year, The Elder Scrolls Online and WildStar, have fallen out of the top 20. A comeback seems questionable. For those wanting to compare this with last month: These were the Raptr numbers in July.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The world-shared shooter Destiny has been on the market for almost a week now. It’s high time to provide you with an insight into the game.
In the first part of the new video series on Destiny, TheCadien shows you the basic elements of the game, character creation and the story is also not neglected.
How do you find Destiny so far? Are you still enjoying it or did you expect more and are disappointed by the luxury shooter? Let TheCadien know in the comments what experiences you have already made in the SciFi-MMO and follow the video series on the game here on Mein-MMO.de in the coming weeks.
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Some time ago, it was announced that there would soon be a larger expansion in Star Wars: The Old Republic that would even surpass “Makeb” in scope; now the first teaser trailer has surfaced.
Apparently, the opponent of the expansion is none other than Revan – that alone promises to be a very story-rich expansion. Many questions need to be answered, because Revan was supposed to have been permanently defeated in the Flashpoint “The Factory” – but who knows where his spirit has led him this time? As soon as there are more concrete details about Patch 3.0, we will keep you updated.
Beforehand, however, you should check out the Star Wars: The Old Republic – “A Deadly Force Returns” teaser:
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In today’s Nexus report, the developer “CRB_Lamenth” responsible for Housing in WildStar has addressed the community’s questions and provided an outlook on upcoming Housing features. Some of these are expected in the long-awaited Content Drop 3!
First things first: The decoration limits in Housing will be increased! In the current version, you can only place 800 items inside the house and 300 outside, both limits will be raised to allow 1000 furniture, decorations, and trophies to be placed both inside and outside. The storage limit of the box will also be adjusted accordingly, accommodating 2000 Housing items. With this increase, the light source limit will also be raised, which is currently a low 20, and both interior and exterior lighting are counted together; with Content Drop 3, both areas will have their own limit, which will be 40 each.
But many details will also be improved, almost all of the community’s wishes have been fulfilled: The terrain is customizable (for example, you can choose between grass, desert, and icy landscapes), the music can be freely selected, and interactive items, such as self-opening doors, will find their way into the game. Lamps and other light sources can be turned on and off, and chairs finally serve their purpose: You can “use” them and sit down on them. Those who want to design their house entirely on their own will also be pleased, as new “Building Blocks,” such as walls, floors, and stairs, will be added.
There were also some insights into the further future. Many players wish for glass and rounded walls to build windows or aquariums. The Housing team theoretically has access to all objects included in the game and plans to gradually implement these into Housing, so it is only a matter of time before everything you find in the game world can also be built on your property. You will also soon be able to team up with five other players to form a “Commune” – basically a neighborhood where all Housing areas are interconnected.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The SF-MMO WildStar is going through a tough time three months after its release, it seems. It is also calm around The Elder Scrolls Online, albeit at a stable level.
MMOs have a certain cycle of attention. Marketing agencies work hard to ensure that interest peaks before the release when players are supposed to buy the MMO. Normally, interest in the game remains high in the first weeks, when everyone looks for information, magazines publish guides, and developers release more information to stir up interest in the game.
TESO started with Skyrim wind at its back, WildStar with its own momentum
We have observed these trend curves for WildStar and The Elder Scrolls Online in the past. Especially with The Elder Scrolls Online, the hype was enormous in the first weeks, probably due to the popular brand “Elder Scrolls” that players associate with hits like Morrowind and especially Skyrim.
Interest also rose steeply for WildStar – despite the absence of such a brand name.
Back then, we said for both games that it would be crucial how public interest would look like after a few months.
For both games, one can now say: Not so great. We chose the MMO “Guild Wars 2” as a comparison for the German market, which plays a good but not outstanding role in MMO interest here in Germany. Above all, Guild Wars 2 is very consistent and actually showed – as can also be seen in the graph – very few fluctuations from March to August.
After six weeks, interest in The Elder Scrolls Online and WildStar flattened
The hype around The Elder Scrolls Online was huge, many players expected a Skyrim Online.
In the graph, it can be seen that especially The Elder Scrolls Online reached an incredibly high peak around its release in April. Interest from Google users in The Elder Scrolls Online was at that time 5 times higher than that of Guild Wars 2. This value flattened over the months and sank below that of Guild Wars 2 around the release of WildStar in Germany.
WildStar had a significantly lower popularity boost upon its release in June than The Elder Scrolls Online did at its release – and this boost faded quickly. For both games, it can be observed that the initial hype only lasted for six weeks. After these six weeks, TESO was approximately the first time below Guild Wars 2 and after six weeks, WildStar had to position itself below The Elder Scrolls Online for the first time.
The Elder Scrolls Online now stable – WildStar … not
Whether the announced megaserver will bring WildStar back on track is uncertain.
The Elder Scrolls Online, however, was able to stop the loss relatively quickly. TESO managed to stabilize at a certain level. WildStar, on the other hand, has continued to decline in recent weeks. Whether interest is waning or will rise again remains open. With the release of Warlords of Draenor in the coming months, it seems unlikely that WildStar will recover too quickly. Warlords of Draenor is cutting into the WildStar target audience.
Currently, trends indicate that Guild Wars 2 is queried about twice as often on Google as The Elder Scrolls Online. And The Elder Scrolls Online is queried again twice as often as WildStar.
The trend in Germany corresponds to the worldwide trend.
My MMO says: Well, the numbers are not an ultimate indicator of how a game is really doing, but they are a pretty good trend likely aligning with public perception. Both WildStar and The Elder Scrolls Online launched this year to prove that the subscription model for MMOs can still work. Both games are facing some homegrown difficulties and are currently in a rebuilding phase. At the moment, it looks like The Elder Scrolls Online can at least rely on player loyalty. Here, perhaps, a comfortable niche has been found.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In the Sandpark MMO ArcheAge, the start time is moved back by one hour to 8 PM. Trion Worlds plans to bring two more servers online then.
It’s a bit of a good news and bad news situation. Good news: Trion Worlds is launching two new servers with Melisara for Europe and Enla for North America. Bad news: The start is pushed back by one hour to 8 PM.
However, the servers should be open for download since 7 PM. Free2Play players have not been able to download the client for the game in recent days and were actually supposed to be able to do this since 5 PM. But a hotfix got in the way, causing this delay.
If you want to pass the time in the queue with some reading, we recommend these two articles:
In the fantasy MMO ArcheAge by developer XL Games, after the first few levels, you receive a quest to raise a small foal. Depending on the breed, it can also be another young animal. You carry the little creature to the nearest farm, pose a bit along the way because it looks quite cute, and then prepare everything for its upbringing.
While you complete all these tasks, the foal continues to grow until it eventually becomes an adult horse that then stands by the player as a mount and later also as a combat companion. The entire upbringing process of the animal takes only about 5 minutes.
The approach of ArcheAge is quite nice, but that is just the first step along the way. Because mounts offer much more potential.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
