MMO News

TERA goes Subscription-Free
Neverwinter Profiles Great Weapon Fighters
Requiem Online Announces First 2013 Update
Archlord Server Consolidation Announced
SMITE Welcomes Hercules to the Pantheon
Command and Conquer

Posted: 09 Jan 2013 02:37 PM PST

En Masse Entertainment™, a player-driven publisher focused on delivering fun and innovative online games, today announced that its award-winning action MMO, TERA™, will be available without a subscription starting in February, giving players flexibility on how they want to enjoy the game. TERA: Rising requires no upfront payment, and provides an in-game store as well as elite status options for players who wish to customize their experience. New players will enjoy standard status with no level cap or content restrictions, while past and current subscribers will receive permanent founder status with exclusive privileges. Any player may opt to purchase elite status, which confers a wealth of benefits, in 30-day increments.

To celebrate this next chapter of TERA, En Masse Entertainment will be launching new in-game content, including a wave-based dungeon and a PvP battleground map that introduces a new way for players to test their skills against each other. The multi-stage Crucible of Flame dungeon challenges players with a series of epic, high-level battles culminating with a new boss fight against the immense Cyclops. This dungeon offers varying rewards based on performance. Additionally, more competitive players can take off in Champions' Skyring, an all-new three-versus-three PvP battleground with some of TERA's best PvP gear at stake.

"With TERA: Rising, we created a fresh, action-oriented play style that is centered around allowing players to take control of their actions on the battlefield," said Chris Lee, CEO of En Masse Entertainment. "We feel the time has come to offer the same level of control in how they invest in the world of TERA, so we are offering a tiered approach that includes a compelling free option, to accessing the game."

Standard players will have full access to TERA's wealth of in-game content with two free characters per server. They are not subject to level caps and will experience no restrictions to content, time, or level. In recognition of their early adoption to the game, players who purchased TERA will gain founder benefits, including eight character slots, four bank tabs, a "Founder" title, the exclusive Terminus mount, and much more.

Available in 30-day increments for $14.99, elite status grants players extra dungeon rewards, 10 bonus quests per day, a daily delivery of items and boosts, an elite mount, in-game store discounts, waived brokerage registration taxes, and more. Elite players will find that their status pays for itself through free items and discounts, let alone in-game perks.

While non-elite players will not benefit from the same perks as their Elite counterparts, they will experience game content, character growth, holding political office, and other in-game determinations of status and power exactly the same way all players have since the game launched. They can also choose to buy most items available to elite status players on an a la carte basis from the in-game store or trade broker.

Neverwinter Profiles Great Weapon Fighters

Posted: 09 Jan 2013 02:33 PM PST

Perfect World Entertainment has released details to profile the great weapon fighter class in Neverwinter through a new video.

Great Weapon Fighters thrive on taking down multiple enemies at once and rely on their innate instinct to strike their foes with deadly precision and timing. Given their versatile combat ability and tank-oriented or DPS-centric abilities, they are able to perform different roles within a party. With special abilities to clear crowds with area-of-effect damage, slow down enemies and deal damage, absorb incoming damage, and close the distance on anyone attempting to escape, Great Weapon Fighters are effective in any combat situation.

Requiem Online Announces First 2013 Update

Posted: 09 Jan 2013 02:17 PM PST

Gravity Interactive has announced plans for its first Requiem Online update of 2013, scheduled to launch on January 15.

The update will introduce a new raid instance, raise the level cap to 90, and introduce new skill points for all classes.Players can also find new Nightmare Accessory sets and raid items, all for free once the update launches.

"This update will be one of the first of many that will come in this year. 2012 has been a great year with us, especially with Facebook. Players all over the world can now access to one of the bloodiest MMO's out there and we're thrilled to have them!" said Denny Kwon, Producer for Requiem at Gravity Interactive US Office. "The Altar of Sacrifice update will contain an all new area where players will face off with lots of customization, all new Raids, and tons of new weapons and items for our players to discover, compound and show off!"

Deep beneath the Secret Temple lays a dormant power hidden for ages. Loose scripts have told of god-like beings ruling for a moment in time during the Dark Ages.
To appease these god-like beings, flesh from across Ethergia was given to them to gratify their hunger. Their hunger for flesh was small at first, a couple virgins every year; then it these being's hunger began to rise. From years to months, months to weeks, to weeks to days, and from days to hours. The sacrifices began to take a toll in the population of Ethergia.
The Holy Xenon Empire's sub-division, "Filias sanctae Matris", a dedicated group of Battle-Maiden decided to end this madness. Posed as the next group of sacrifices, they lured the three beings into an Altar of Sacrifice and had the door sealed from the outside, sacrificing themselves for Ethergia.
This seal was to be casted once and never to be revealed again. Knowledge of the secret altar was stricken from all records and burned.
The three god-like beings were to be forever forgotten… that is until foolish explorative Temperions gained access to it.

Requiem Online Gameplay Screenshot

Archlord Server Consolidation Announced

Posted: 09 Jan 2013 01:21 PM PST

Webzen has announced that there will be a consolidation of Gracia and Zian servers for its medieval MMORPG, Archlord.

On January 30th, Archlord's server consolidation will take place as the result of enduring effort to provide enhanced gaming experience according to players' constant feedback. Through this combination, further intense battles from players will revitalize the most competitive siege warfare and the final battle to be the absolute ruler of the Chantra.

All characters from Gracia server that have accessed the game after July 1st, 2012 will be transferred to the combined server without any further transfer requests. Regardless of merging, relevant server's accounts will be able to enjoy both characters from each server. Players are encouraged to check their eligibility of character transfer prior to the consolidation.

To prepare for the fierce battles before the merge, warriors from Gracia and Zian will be supported with free cash items. After the consolidation, the first Archlord and the guild members will be rewarded special unique items. Also, all servers will be provided with various events to celebrate the combination of both servers.

Jihun Lee, Head of Global Publishing, said, “We have decided to merge servers to fulfill user's enduring requests on consolidation." He also said, "We are anticipating that the further massive battles from this server consolidation will provide enjoyment for players."

SMITE Welcomes Hercules to the Pantheon

Posted: 09 Jan 2013 12:42 PM PST

Hi-Rez Studios has announced the launch of its latest patch for SMITE, introducing a new hero.

Hercules, the Champion of Rome, arrives today with a new reveal video. For the first two weeks, Hercules will cost 11,000 favor; then will drop to 5,500 favor. Hercules comes with the following skills:

Strength From Pain (Passive): As Hercules takes damage, he gains 20 (+2 * your level) physical power based on a percentage of his missing health.
Driving Strike: Hercules delivers a mighty strike, driving all enemies back and stunning them for .8/.9/1/1.1/1.2s if Hercules is at or below 50% health, increasing with Focus up to 1.7s. Anyone hit by the blow takes 80/130/180/230/280 (+60% of your physical power) physical damage. Cost – 60/65/70/75/80 mana. Cooldown – 14s.
Earthbreaker: Hercules smashes the ground, sending a shockwave forward that does 60/110/160/210/260 (+50% of your physical power) physical damage to all enemies. Enemies at the end of the shockwave are thrown into the air towards Hercules. Cost – 70/75/80/85/90 mana. Cooldown – 15s.
Mitigate Wounds: When Hercules activates this ability, 30/55/80/105/130% (+1% for every 2% health missing) of the damage taken in the next 4 seconds is returned to him as health over the next 10 seconds. Cost – 60/65/70/75/80 mana. Cooldown – 12s.
Excavate: Hercules rips a huge boulder from the ground. Throwing the boulder does 200/300/400/500/600 (+100% of your physical power) physical damage and knocks back all enemies where the boulder lands. The boulder continues rolling, doing 50% damage to all enemies in its path. Subsequent hits on the same enemy do 50% less damage per hit. Cost – 100 mana. Cooldown – 90s.

The update will also introduce new game balance changes, and will allow players of all levels to access Match of the Day. Hi-Rez is also offering two new special skins: Frost Maiden for Freya, and Lion of Olympus for Hercules.

Command and Conquer

Posted: 08 Jan 2013 09:07 PM PST

Experience Command and Conquer in a new way – as multi-player free-to-play! Control multiple factions, compete for resources, build your base of operation, and lead your troops into battle.

Publisher: Electronic Arts
Playerbase: ??
Graphics: High
Type: MMO
EXP Rate: ??
PvP: ??
Filesize: ??

Pros: +Uses new Frostbite 2 technology. +Designed for multi-player. +Promises to expand with new content.

Cons: -Limited information available.

Overview

Command and Conquer Overview

Command and Conquer, originally termed Command and Conquer: Generals 2, is a new umbrella series of games in the Command and Conquer series that will be free-to-play online. Featuring all the classic strategy gameplay of the Command and Conquer series, players can expect to battle in old ways and new.