MMO Wrap Up Page 2

09 Oct 2009 at 13:32:38 by Bill Vaughan

The recently-released Aion is still in the headlines, following its launch two weeks ago. In the wake of the server queue fiasco, executive producer Lance Stites wrote a letter to the community and confirmed that every player will be offered a free transfer to any of the lesser populated servers. Apparently the problem is partially down to the fact that some servers have become more popular than others, and while some players are queueing to enter a high population server, others are hopping straight on to a quieter one. The transfer service should begin next month.

Stites also said that developers ran multiple calculations and even allowed for up to 25% more players than they expected to avoid server queues, but explained that the sheer demand for the game took everyone by surprise, with up to 60% of the playerbase online at the same time during certain periods. Things don't look to be changing much over the coming weeks either; On Wednesday we reported that in a poll, 86% of the people that voted said they would continue playing Aion after the free period has ended.

On to another recently-released game; Champions Online fans were told the release date for the upcoming in-game event, Blood Moon, will be 27 October, just in time for Halloween. Along with that news came some further information on a new powerset that is making its way into the game. Celestial powers will mainly centre around healing, while dealing damage to enemies, which is bound to be popular with players.

Further changes are being made to the game, including another room in the Power House where players can test out newly acquired skills on actual enemies.

Another in-game event based on this spooky time of year is Warhammer Online's Daemon Moon Rising. Several events will take place, such as the Daemonball Rally and the High Pass Cemetery scenario. Mythic released a handy walkthrough video to show off the activities players can look forward to participating in. Daemon Moon kicks off on 23 October.

In other announcements, we found out during CCP's Fan Fest last weekend that EVE Online's next free expansion, Dominion, will launch on 1 December. Dominion will introduce new epic arcs for Pirate factions, and will shake up the sovereignty system. A number of other new features have been mentioned, although information on them is a little sparse right now. Stay tuned for more on that as it is announced.

Shortly after completing last week's MMO News Wrap Up, our roaming WoW reporter Medievaldragon spotted that the name of the Warcraft movie seems to have been changed. Simply referred to as 'Warcraft' until recently, the IMDB listing has now changed to 'Warcraft: The Rise of the Lich King'. Although there has still been no official word on this, if the title has indeed changed, the original plot is also likely to have altered. Blizzard told fans at the BlizzCon 2007 event that the film would be based on the time period between Warcraft III and World of Warcraft, and that it would be about orcs versus humans. The new title suggests that the film will focus on the life of Arthas, now known as the Lich King.

It's also possible that the IMDB contributors confused the film with the recent New York Times Best Seller novel by Christie Golden 'Arthas, Rise of the Lich King'. But until Blizzard or Legendary Pictures care to comment, it's all still speculation.

Finally, Bioware released an article on the Sith Warrior this week, shedding some light on this otherwise dark character. According to Bioware, this class can be the epitome of pure evil, carrying out his dastardly deeds with wicked delight, or he can plot to over-throw the Empire from within, it's up to the player how they want to play it. One thing is for certain though – the Sith Warrior is a killing machine, and I challenge anyone to take on the class without using that deadly force choke at least once.

That's all I can squeeze into this week's article I'm afraid but, as always, there will be plenty more next week to tell you about. May the weekend grant you many levels, much gold and some phat lewtz.

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