Vanguard: Sneak Peek at Update 5

Hey all! You should expect to see Game Update 5 on the Test sever after the weekend! Below is an outline of the main features included in the final update - please note though that they are not all fully implemented yet. As you play through the content on the test server, please keep an eye open for any bugs and be sure to submit a "/bug" for any you find - particularly in regards to particles not displaying correctly. Thanks, and enjoy!

Game Update #5

1. Racial Mounts
2. Class Updates
3. Anti-Hitching
4. New Particles

1. RACIAL MOUNTS
We have added a unique racial mount for each race in Vanguard! The mounts can be attained through a series of faction based quests that can be started in each race's home town. If you happen to like another race's mount better than your own though, worry not! With the appropriate faction, players will be able to complete any of the quests.

Can't wait until the weekend's over to get a peek at the new racial mounts? Select fansites have additional exclusive shots of these awesome mounts! Be sure to be on the lookout if you want to catch an early glimpse!
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Citizen Favor
The citizens of Telon are seeking adventurers to help spread their influence across the land. By seeking out a faction registrar you can don the banner of a city, gaining favor with its citizens while you battle their enemies. Each creature that is slain will offer a chance to receive tokens bearing the symbol of their registered city. These tokens can be returned to the city in exchange for citizen faction. Be warned that while many factions are friendly with each other, all factions have those that oppose them. Raising your faction with one city may reduce your faction with another. While you can switch factions at any time, those who are worried about becoming outlaws in certain cities should heed this warning.

Gaining faction will allow you to purchase factional rewards with the use of platinum tokens. These tokens can only be retrieved from the vilest of beings and only when you are wearing the banner of your chosen city. Those powerful enough to defeat raid NPCs will receive ancient coins which can be converted into a platinum token of any type you desire.

Racial Mounts
With the release of the citizen favor system comes the first factional rewards -- racial land mounts! All races have been granted a unique looking mount with improved speed over other mounts in their tier. These mounts can be attained at levels 30 and 50 after you have gained the required faction and number of platinum coins. Players will be able to get any of these mounts as long as they do the work involved for their attached cities.
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2. CLASS UPDATES
This update we have given significant attention to three more classes. Blood Mages, Psionicists and Sorcerers have all received a lot of developer attention. Abilities that may have been broken before have been fixed, spells have been tweaked and upgraded or updated and all three classes should be more in line with their intended vision in terms of power and utility. Specific tweaks and updates will be listed in the patch notes.

3. ANTI-HITCHING
As always, increasing performance remains a high priority for our development team. To that end, with this update we will be introducing new anti-hitching code that should have an immediate and noticeable effect.

4. NEW PARTICLES
Sometimes, things just need to look cooler. That was the case for many adventuring class spells and/or abilities. Blood Mages, Disciples, Dread Knights, Druids, Necromancers and Sorcerers all received new an improved particle effects.

Source : WarCry Network

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Lord of the Rings Online : Orc Defiler

Lighting flashed across the sky, briefly casting the forest in a sickly green glow. The wood was quiet, as the battle that had been waged beneath its boughs moved on to another venue. The only sound, other than the steady hum of insects, was of a small fire in a desolate hollow. The green flames of the small campfire crackled and hissed against the jagged stones, their smoky tendrils licking greedily at the pot of bubbling yellow putrescence perched above.

The sound of the fire was punctuated by the gasping moans from a misshapen figure lying amongst the bones littering the ground; the stench of festering wounds signaling the life quickly sliding away from the twisted form.

From a dark corner of the hollow a Defiler emerged; light leather straps crossed his body and a massive bear skull sat upon his brow. His flesh was black as night and covered in red runes and scars carved from the long years of service to Angmar. In one hand he clutched a massive wooden staff, adorned with bits of bone hanging from stretched sinew, while the other toted a gourd filled with a foul-smelling concoction. Uttering a guttural word in the Black Tongue, he stepped toward the fire, sending grey filth into the air.

Leaning his staff against the curve of the hollow, the Defiler made his way to the shattered orc form amidst the bones. The fallen beast howled in rage and pain as his chest wound was pulled open by an uncaring hand. With the full breadth of the putrefying wound exposed, the Defiler worked quickly, pouring the contents of his gourd into the wound while uttering the dark phrases taught him by his master and the masters of his past. The fallen orc ceased to howl, and fell into a fitful sleep as vile liquid spilled from the wound, bubbling and sizzling as it knitted him back together.

As he moved toward the fire, the Defiler reached into the cauldron and filled his gourd with the thick grey-green slime and returned to the sleeping form of the orc, where he applied a dollop of the filth to each of the pustules on the orc's legs. Wound by wound, the disease retreated from the slime. It would be hours before the orc was mended whole once more, but the Defiler, done with his work, called out into the night.

Two Uruks, clad in black iron bearing the symbol of the Krahjarn tribe, appeared from the gloom and hoisted the wounded orc from the dirt floor. As they removed their fallen servant into the night, another of Mordírith's soldiers was deposited unceremoniously into the cave. With a dismissive wave to the troll delivering the new wounded, the Defiler retreated to the darkness of the hollow to scrape fungus from the walls and return to his night's work.

A Message from Akulhún:

"All right, maggots! Mordírith's grown tired of you whining wretches and sent us Defilers from the sulfur swamps and wastes of Angmar to plug your bleedin' wounds and make those lily-loving Free People suffer! All your belly-achin' and screamin' finally yielded somethin' other than my whip! Well, maggots, that make me angrier than ever -- I'll not spare the lash from any of you spineless curs for any longer!

"We're at war here in the Ettenmoors and that means you fight and die for Angmar. You only see fit to whimper and drag your feet, tuck your tails, shoulder your weapons, and flee when War Leaders tell you to fight on... but no longer, sluggards! I'll not bear another visit from Lugbûrz. That happens and I start crackin' 'eads! Now... treat the Defilers with a fair bit o' respect. Give them defense when they need it and slaughter the Free People! The Defilers will be by your side makin' the Free People weak of resolve, weak of strength, and weak of faith. When you bleed, they'll see your wounds closed...if...you decide to whine and cower they'll let me know and then you'll feel the sting of my whip on your back shortly before they turn their talents to bringing about the greatest pain you have ever known...maggots!"

A New Addition to Monster Play

Monster play, where LOTRO players can don the wolf's clothing amongst the sheep by becoming an orc, Uruk, spider or Warg, is adding a new face to the fray. Players have long enjoyed the utility of their numerous classes and multitude of skills, and with the addition of the new orc Defiler; we are taking a step toward filling out the arsenal available to monster players. Hailing from lands filled with toxins and disease, the orc Defiler uses his knowledge of these virulent fungi and slime to aid his foes and hamper his enemies. The Defiler is the first addition to the monster side of the equation in the Ettenmoors since launch -- and is certain to alter the PvMP landscape as we continue to expand the War in the Ettenmoors.

Healing

Defilers utilize the fungus and slimes found within the sulfur swamps and dark places throughout Angmar to concoct pastes, dusts, and other disgusting rubs to apply to their allies' wounds. Through years of practice and learning, the Defiler has turned this practice into an art.

The Defiler begins with the ability to perform two initial heals, with the additional effect of healing over time (HoT).

Fertile Slime: "Living slime coats the target's wounds and restores morale." This is a low-power instant-cast HoT with a range of thirty meters and a six-second cooldown that lightly heals the recipient every ten seconds for a period of sixty seconds. It is meant as a bridging heal, to assist the Defiler or a War Leader in keeping a target alive during a light exchange.

Fungal Bloom: "Gourds filled with foul herbs and liquids from the depths of Angmar relieve the sting of wounds on the flesh of foul creatures." This is a low-cost two second cast HoT with a range of thirty meters and a four-second cooldown. It moderately heals the target upon a successful cast, and then restores a moderate amount of health every five seconds for the next thirty seconds.

In addition to these initial healing skills, the early expenditure of a Defiler's destiny points can net him a targeted revival for defeated comrades. Unlike the War Leader this is a costly skill, utilizing morale and power, that only works out-of-combat and targets one monster player.

Rounding out the remaining healing skills for the orc Defiler are the following:

Fell Restoration: "When finished casting Fell Restoration instantly restores a huge amount of morale to target." This is a low-cost three second cast heal with a long ten-second cooldown healing a great deal of health instantly. This becomes available at Rank Three.

Fungal Spores: "Spores weave their way into the target's wounds, stopping bleeding and helping to speed the healing process." This is a medium power cost instant-cast HoT restoring a great deal of health every six seconds for thirty seconds. The cooldown for the skill is low, and it is available at Rank Five.

Cursing

When looking at the monster player classes, we noticed that the majority of the classes had very little in the way of true debuffs with which to hamper the players. To that end, we decided that the Defiler would serve his second role as a debuffer. Utilizing gourds filled with virulent disease and pestilent oozes and slimes the Defiler is able to curse all who oppose him and assist in turning the battle to the monster player's favor.

The Defiler begins with one curse ability:

Curse of the Sticky Feet: "Coats the opponent's feet in a sticky substance that slows their movement speed." This is a low power-cost ability that reduces a target's movement by ten percent for ten seconds. This is an instant cast skill with a moderate cooldown.

As they progress, Defiler's earn new curses to use against the Free People. We outline these below:

Curse of the Lethargic Heart: "A gourd thrown at the target plagues them with spores attacking their heart and weakening their resolve. This skill is only effective against players." This is a medium power cost disease-based curse reducing the target's vitality by a crippling amount for two minutes. It has a two second cast and a long thirty second cooldown and is available at Rank One.

Curse of the Coward's Soul: "Release hallucinogenic spores that strike fear into nearby enemies." This is a medium power cost fear-based curse affecting up to three targets in a six meter radius surrounding the Defiler. This skill is affected by diminishing returns and applies the fear effect to each target for ten seconds. This is an instant-cast skill with a thirty-second cooldown available at Rank Two.
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Curse of the Deadly Sorrows: "Douse opponent with corrosive liquid that weakens their armour and releases a soporific gas that reduces Will, Fate and Strength." This is a medium-cost poison-based curse reducing the target's fate, will, strength, and armor by a crippling amount. It has a three-second casting time and a thirty-second cooldown and is available at Rank Seven.

Basic Skills

No monster player is complete without the ability to deal some level of damage to their opponents, and the Defiler is no different in this regard. The Defiler begins with one basic damage-dealing skill at the outset and can purchase two others at no rank.

Here are the Defiler's basic skills:

Fire Gourd: "A gourd filled with burning embers is launched at your opponent, setting them alight." This is a medium-cost skill dealing a good deal of initial damage and burning the target for a fair bit of damage every four seconds for the next twenty seconds. It has a range of thirty meters, a casting time of two seconds, and a six-second cooldown.

Plague Gourd: "A plague of flies fills a foetid gourd which explodes on your opponent. On a good throw, the plague flies may cause your opponent to become easier to hit for a short time." This is a medium-cost skill dealing a fair amount of damage, and has a bonus critical effect of lowering the target's avoidance (parry, evade, and block) chances by two percent for twenty seconds. The skill has a two-second casting time and an eight-second cooldown.

Head-crack: "A strong blow from the Defiler's staff. Contact with a Defiler's staff can poison many denizens of Middle-earth." This is a costly melee skill dealing medium damage to a single target with a carrier poison-damage DOT dealing moderate damage over a short period of time. This is an instant-cast skill with a short three-second cooldown.

Follow the Gourd!

Defilers are orcs, and therefore get all the racial abilities inherent to other orcs. In addition, the Defiler can earn enhancing traits to alter and improve their Curse of the Sticky Feet, Plague Gourd, and other skills.

We look forward to seeing the shape of monster play battles change with the addition of the orc Defiler, and know that he will have an impact immediately upon arrival in battles across the Ettenmoors!

Source : lotro.com

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Age of Conan gets ready for launch !

- Pre-order programs now available in all Western territories - Get three day head-start in Hyboria -

Durham, USA – April 16, 2008 – Funcom and Eidos announce that Age of Conan pre-order programs are now fully available in all major territories, including USA, Germany, France, Spain, UK, Oceania and the Nordic countries. Conan fans and MMO gamers are already raving about the incredible pre-order items, including the War Mammoth and Killer Rhino, and today Funcom ups the ante and confirms that everyone who pre-orders may access Hyboria several days prior to the retail launch.*

Ever since Funcom and Eidos started the first pre-orders in early 2008, the program has received great feedback. The exceptional Age of Conan Collector's Edition has topped the charts in numerous online retail chains for weeks, including being #1 on several all-format lists. The most eager fans are therefore urged to order their copy of the Collector's Edition immediately as it only comes in one print-run.

Funcom now also confirms an early access program which will give customers a chance of a head-start in Age of Conan. Funcom reveals that American, European and Oceanic players may enter Age of Conan as early as the 17th of May. Mere weeks away, early adopters can now live, fight and explore in Hyboria, as well as getting an essential head-start before the hordes invade.

"We are very pleased with the reception Age of Conan has had in retail and we naturally hope that the early interest and our early access programs will materialize in an eventual success," said Morten Larssen, VP Sales and Marketing of Funcom. "The positive indications are naturally an honor, but they also bring a great responsibility. As we prepare the roll-out, we know our servers will be put to the test. We therefore hope potential players will aid us by signaling their interest as soon as possible so we can scale our servers and services accordingly."

Age of Conan launches on the 20th of May and is consistently mentioned as one of the most anticipated PC games in development. It has received more than twenty-five magazine covers and more than fifteen major awards, including numerous "Best MMO of E3" awards and the "Best Online Game of Show" award at GC 2007. Age of Conan is a key title in Microsoft's Games for Windows line-up, as well as a showcase title for nVidia.

Visit www.ageofconan.com to join the thriving community or to sign up for the Beta

For a list of participating retailers or to get more information about the game, please visit www.ageofconan.com

Source : MMOGInfo.Com

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Struggling MMO Horizons renamed "Istaria"

Virtrium LLC, the new stewards of the MMO Horizons: Empire of Istaria, announced that Horizons will now be known by the name Istaria: Chronicles of the Gifted.

Virtrium President Rick Simmons explained in a press release blurb and also in an interview with RPG Vault's Jonric that the name was changed because the game is about the world of Istaria and its people, and because it has lived at the domain istaria.com since the beginning. "You have no idea how stupid I've felt explaining that the game was called Horizons, but you had to go to www.istaria.com," he told RPG Vault.

Horizons -- err, Istaria -- has had a rough time of it. After some truly savage corporate politics in the original development studio, the game launched incomplete, buggy, and honestly ... well, lame. It does, however, feature a great crafting system, and it lets you play as a dragon. Simmons was eager to point out both of those things in the RPG Vault interview. It looks like Virtrium is doing as much as a small team can to make the game attractive. Simmons explained: "our niche is very much the crafter, non-competitive gamer, and we're very happy being in it."

He also said that the game has seen a lot of fine tuning in recent months, and that its due for a big content expansion called "the Blighted Labyrinth."

Source : massively.com

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EverQuest 2 : Unforgiving Nektulos

Even though I didn't MMO for most of the weekend (see update tomorrow for more on that), I did play EQII on Friday, and put in good time with Isnin for the challenge. On the plus side, I really started to get into a groove with Isnin. Nektulos forest + Isnin = fun times.

When things were going optimally I was having a LOT of fun with the character. On the minus side, there is a lot of aggro in Nektulos and I pulled more critters than I could handle.

To be specific, I did that four times too many on Friday:

OH Noes!

That really puts the challenge at risk of an early end! I'm now on my very last life! I can't blame anyone either. I was rolling with the content in Nek and just enjoying it. I was in that magic groove where things feel right and it was hard to worry about over pulling. Which means I was getting cocky. Thus the price I paid. 25 levels and 8 lives. Now the trick becomes making this last one really stick — without wimping out on the content. Wish me luck!

EDIT: I forgot to include that the first death was in the Wailing Caves. I pulled a named and didn't see his four buddies. They came along for the party though…

By : Grimwell


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Funcom, Eidos and GameSpot Reveal Unique AoC PvP weekend

- 15,000 gamers get exclusive Age of Conan access from April 18th to April 20th –

Durham, USA – April 9th, 2008 – Eidos and Funcom is proud to announce a unique Beta partnership with GameSpot.com, one of the world's biggest gaming websites. In a highly exclusive event, 15,000 gamers from across the world can log in and play Age of Conan, non-stop, from Friday April 18th to Sunday April 20th. The unique PvP weekend allows lucky gamers to test a limited part of the PvP functionality of Age of Conan, and the two different PvP mini-games Capture the Skull and Team Annihilation will be available.

To make the weekend even more interesting Eidos and Funcom also includes the engaging Age of Conan character creation system, allowing players to create avatars with strong personalities. All 12 classes in the game, including the barbarian, can be picked and tested, with Funcom transforming each character into a fully specced level 20 death machine. In PvP lobbies players can then chat and socialize, prior to entering PvP matches. Participants are urged to test different classes, and offer any feedback on the forums. There will also be forums on GameSpot.com where people can talk about the event, and Funcom staff will be present to gather feedback.

"The battlefields of Hyboria are craving new, fresh blood," says an enthusiastic Game Director/Producer Gaute Godager at Funcom. "Throwing newcomers into a fully specced level 20 PVP character is naturally a challenge in this most unforgiving of all MMO environments, but I am confident the players will rise to this challenge. We have spent years fine-tuning the combat system in Age of Conan, and allowing GameSpot readers to be the first to get a small glimpse of this is something we really look forward to."

The unique PvP weekend marks an escalation in the stress testing for Age of Conan, and aspiring barbarians can now sign up on GameSpot's website. The 15.000 lucky winners will be then contacted by email on Wednesday the 16th of April, and then they can then start downloading the game. The servers open at 1600 EST Friday the 18th of April and close at 1600 EST on Sunday the 20st of April. Funcom would like to point out that the PvP weekend is still a part of the beta testing process, and that it is a part of the planned stress test escalations towards launch. As of such it is not fully representative of the final product, and players are asked to treat it accordingly. Stress traffic issues may therefore occur.

Age of Conan is consistently mentioned as one of the most anticipated PC games in development. It has received more than twentyfive covers on high-profile gaming magazines across the globe and more than fifteen major awards, including numerous "Best MMO of E3" awards and the official "Best Online Game" award at the Games Convention 2007. Age of Conan is a key title in Microsoft's Games for Windows line-up, and a showcase title for nVidia. The game is set to launch in several territories on May 20th, 2008.

For more information on Age of Conan – either in English, German, French or Spanish – visit the official website at www.ageofconan.com where you also can access the respective community websites.

To sign up for the unique PvP beta weekend please visit:
http://www.gamespot.com/test/ageofconan

To post on the Conan PvP weekend forums please visit:
http://www.GameSpot.com/pages/forums/show_topics.php?board_id=909185323

To see what GameSpot has previously written about Age of Conan please visit:
http://www.GameSpot.com/pc/rpg/ageofconanhyborianadventures/index.html

About Eidos Interactive Ltd - Eidos Interactive Ltd is part of SCi Entertainment Group Plc (SEG) creators of some of the world's leading videogame properties. Eidos consists of offices across Europe and the US and several development studios including Crystal Dynamics, IO Interactive, Beautiful Game Studios and Eidos Montreal. The Group has a valuable combined portfolio of intellectual property including: Tomb Raider, Hitman, Deus Ex, Championship Manager and Just Cause.


By: MMOGInfo.Com

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Age of Conan: Character Select Screen Video

Age of Conan developers took a video while working on the in-game character select screen. Figuring that it was pretty cool to look at, they have released the video for viewing pleasure.

Here's what they have to say about it:

Every now and then, we rummage around and find some cool stuff on the way, and we just can't resist sharing it.

For example, we were digging around the various arcane folders in our virtual haunted library and stumbled upon a video from some of the developers, obviously captured while they were working on something.

It was a hot new character select screen, one that's never been seen before. Heck, half the development team probably hasn't seen it. We watched it and we thought, well, that's pretty cool. We should give that to people. Then we should leave, before Gaute comes stomping up to demand an explanation for releasing definite Work In Progress-type stuff.

So, here it is, the very latest, cutting-edge, ganked from the developer's desktop, version of the character selection screen. What's interesting is that has a life of its own, like a day-night cycle (it's night in the clip you're seeing), plus wind and all sorts of things. Some of this is still not even ready for beta, much less public viewing, but we're bringing it to you anyway!

We hope you enjoy!

by:Suzie Ford, WarCry Network

Cryptic beaming up Star Trek Online?

What we heard: Following months of instability, a beleaguered Perpetual Studios officially closed it doors in January, laying off employees and selling off its coveted license to develop a massively multiplayer online game based on sci-fi canon Star Trek. Initial rumblings that came as a precursor to Perpetual's official shuttering indicated that "another Bay Area development studio" would pick up the license to develop an MMOG set in the far-future universe. Although the Bay Area is replete with development houses, eyes quickly turned to Los Gatos-based Cryptic Studios, best known as the developer behind NCsoft's City of Heroes. Evidence continues to mount today that Cryptic will indeed be taking the reins on the Star Trek Online MMOG. Saying it has "independently confirmed with sources," Trekkie hub TrekMovie.com is reporting that the shop is "definitely" the new license holder to develop Star Trek Online. As for why the developer is keeping the project cloaked, TrekMovie states, "Since acquiring the game, Cryptic has been assessing the current state of the game and assets, and deciding what to keep and what to change. Cryptic is holding off on making an announcement because they want to make their announcement more than just words and actually have something to show." Cryptic is certainly positioned to be a likely candidate for salvaging Star Trek Online. After the development house said it would be selling off its interests in City of Heroes/Villains to NCsoft, Cryptic expressly stated that "the decision to sell the franchise allows us to focus resources on our soon to be announced first-party projects." [Emphasis added.] With Microsoft officially pulling the plug on Marvel Universe Online in February, Cryptic's only other announced project is Champions Online. The developer purchased the IP to Champions from pen-and-paper RPG maker Hero Games last month. However, though the developer has expressed interest in developing multiple IPs, much of its resources will be tied up by the task of self-publishing Champions Online. Creating MMOGs in today's market requires an investment of tens of millions of dollars--or $500 million, if Blizzard's World of Warcraft is the target. It seems unlikely that Cryptic, which is a relatively small independent studio, would be able to bankroll more than one MMOG at a time. The official story: Cryptic Studios had not returned requests for comment as of press time. Bogus or not bogus?: Cryptic certainly has the pedigree and experience to handle Star Trek Online, although self-publishing two major MMOGs is a task that even Captain Jean-Luc Picard would find challenging. Either way, with Cryptic keeping mum and no other studios stepping up, Star Trek Online officially remains dead in the water. by gamespot news,( TomM GsCom )