City of Heroes offering a sneak peek of Issue 20 content

The team at Paragon Studios is talking a pretty big game for Issue 20 of City of Heroes. We've already seen a preview of one of the major additions of content, which will also herald several new features to the game, including an auto-team queueing function. Not sure how it will be implemented? Then jump on in for the special sneak preview event on Wednesday, starting at 7:00 p.m. EST, when players on the test server will get to try out the upcoming Behavioral Adjustment Facility for themselves.

As this event is taking place on the test servers, the usual caveats that content may change significantly before release do apply. That being said, it's an opportunity to put the major new systems into play, giving players a chance to test out the queue system as well as the League setup, and of course, the Incarnate trial. If that's not incitement enough, the development team will be on-hand to answer questions and take part in the experience. City of Heroes players with a bit of free time on Wednesday are encouraged to head over and adjust some behaviors with extreme prejudice.

Ladies and gentleman, start your time machines! Today marks the launch of EverQuest's Fippy Darkpaw progression server, and SOE has a trio of new Live Cast videos with the dev team available for viewing on its YouTube channel. The discussion is hosted by Eric "Piestro" Cleaver and features lead designer Adam Bell, designer Ed Hardin, and lead programmer Steve Klug.

Topics covered include the hows and whys of a progression server, the world and zone revamps, and the XP curve (which the team says will be slowed down quite a bit relative to the live game). "There are no 'hell levels,' but it will still be slower than it is on a normal server," Hardin says.

The team also talks about how certain races and classes, and even the game's tutorial, won't be available from launch, as they're locked to certain expansions and will only become available as the progression server ages. Speaking of progressing, the devs have implemented a brand new voting system with a dedicated in-game UI in order to afford players the opportunity to choose when the server should move to the next expansion. As far as who gets to vote, Bell says that "you'll need to be on the progression server and at least level 30 in order to vote to unlock the next expansion, and we may raise that level as the expansion unlocks continue."

Wings Over Atreia: Feeding trolls

"WoW was the first MMO."
"WTF you --------- [bless the filter]."
"Your mom just left here."

Channel /3 will be the death of me. Or perhaps just my sanity. If not, then it may be the cause of some random homicides soon.

Although I had another topic all planned out (and already mostly penned), I had an about-face for this week's article. This subject is something that is always on the edge of my mind, and as of late, it has been more front and center. In fact, this week has seen discussions on the matter with friends, colleagues, legion-mates, and even my munchkins. The hot topic? Trolls.

Aion players know that /3 is the LFG (looking for group) channel, and occasionally you can actually find people looking for groups there! However, because it is the only server-wide channel, people mostly use it for any type of random chatter. And by chatter, I mean a range of sexual comments, preening, raging, and flat-out trolling. Granted, sometimes following along with /3 chatter is simply amusing, but oftentimes it becomes annoying or even outright offensive. In any case, it's hard to pick out anything of value through the fast-paced spam.

Now don't get me wrong; I am all for quips and banter and building a community, but it seems that the folks with any amount of consideration and class stay quiet for the most part. If we were to judge society off of universal chat channels, I think I would be all for large-scale nuclear annihilation; people treat others in virtual worlds like they wouldn't dream of vis-à-vis. Why is that? And what can we do to increase civility, decrease trolling, and improve gaming experiences overall?

Cross the bridge (don't stop to feed the trolls!) to explore these points with me and share some amusing trolling moments from your server! (Please keep it clean folks!)

LFG is literally a communication bridge in Aion, but who can't picture an actual physical span with hideous, hungry beasts underneath, lying in wait for the unsuspecting passers-by to come along and become lunch? Or worse yet, those who come along and fling sustenance down to the trolls? For every person who knows that ignoring the trolls starves them, there are others who seem to delight in feeding them; troll-feeders are as much of a problem as the trolls.

With my interest and focus on social dynamics, I tend to watch and explore this behavior more than perhaps the average gamer. I also seek ways to improve communities, whether big or small. The first step is to understand: What is it about global chat that makes people lose all civility towards one another?

Degrees of separation

One of the main reasons people feel so free to unleash on others in the virtual realm is that they rationalize they aren't really hurting anyone. Interestingly (in a "huh" way, not a "cool" way), the simple action of just placing an object between two people so that they are no longer face-to-face causes a slight dehumanization of each person to the other. An obvious example is to look at how differently people act when they slide into a car; how many people are more short-tempered, impatient, and aggressive towards other drivers? That is only one degree of separation. Now imagine a computer monitor, distance, and another monitor between you and the other person you are typing to. If we can't even think of another driver -- whose face we can often see -- as a being with feelings, how will we envision one behind pixels?

Because of the separation, not only are people dehumanized, but there is no accountability and no fear of actual retribution. How many of you made faces at someone through a window when you were young because he/she couldn't reach forward and slug you for it? You could get away with it because you were out of reach. And this gave you a feeling of power. Look at how far "out of reach" we are when gaming.

Look ma, no brain!

A final point is that some people just need attention. Seriously. Anyone who has worked with children knows that they will seek attention in any way possible, positive or negative. Global chat is equivalent to having the attention of... well, tons of people. You can feel important because your words -- regardless of how empty, untrue, or meaningless they are -- are being read by untold others. This can be a real thrill for some. While the internet allows for people to post their thoughts for the world to see, gaming gives the unique benefit of a (captive) audience; no one may ever find or look at a web page, but there are always gamers online, day or night! Even the meekest of people in real life can turn into vicious, raging trolls in LFG. Add anonymity to the need to be in the spotlight and it pretty well spells disaster; basically, you can say whatever you want with little fear of repercussion.

Mz fix it

I know there are plenty of people who do not participate (and frankly, who simply turn off the channel completely), but there is a reason for the channel -- even those who avoid it have to grit their teeth and wade in sometimes. So it would be beneficial to improve the experience overall. Of the possible solutions to help curb this problem, some are at the player level and some are at the developer level.

As players, the best way to combat trolls is simply to stop feeding them till they starve. Even the best-intentioned players can be sucked into feeding the trolls when comments are made that are so erroneous or even offensive that people simply cannot sit back and let them slide. The problem is, you can't win against a troll. It has nothing to do with truth or logic for them; it's just about the attention. Deny them the negative attention and they go look for it elsewhere.

Another way is to lessen the dehumanizing factor by removing some of the degrees of separation. While you can never fully avoid the separation (short of a LAN or living with someone), using a voice program with your legion and faction will make their members more real and less abstract. Knowing there is a real person behind a character brings a measure of accountability.

As the developer, NCsoft can help by giving us an unlimited block list! Please, please, please! Many of us have full lists for a reason! A wish for Solorius can still come true, right?

NCsoft can also help by restricting the use of the LFG channel. Removing the channel clientside is really the only current solution to avoiding the drama, the language, and the garbage that is so prevalent there. Since NCsoft implemented the feature on the social tab (v) by which you can recruit for a group or offer yourself up for a group, why not restrict LFG chat to this feature only? This way, people seeking groups can still find/make them, and those who don't want to hear the trolls can have a bit more peace. Of course, people can still troll using that tool, but the character limit is much more restricted. You also can't troll if you happen to be in a full group. If there must be a server-wide channel for gabbing, make a separate universal channel -- then those of us who want can turn it off and enjoy the quiet without missing groups.

BioWare and LucasArts have  pushed the fourth pillar. (For those who have not been paying attention for the last one years, the fourth pillar is story.) they have stated that story is the missing piece from MMOs. I  agree. I can't think how lots of times I've stopped reading quest text after level 10 in MMO"RPGs" because I've realized that what I was reading was not the important part. The important part was going to point A, clicking on the shiny, then going back to the quest giver -- rinse and repeat.

Back to Have Gun, Will Travel: they also came to the conclusion that the story SWG gave us did not count toward the development of our characters because it was all the same, and within that story, our characters could not fail. they were "the best." Questing was all done out-of-character or vapor-gamed as a kind of training simulation. It seldom became an integral part of our character development.     flyff gold
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The events that happened in-character were only those that happened with other characters, usually speaking. There were a number of us who liked to roleplay by ourselves, but they won't discuss that here. fundamentally, the actual gameplay became a tool to get the skills, gear, and look they wanted for portraying our character. Guess what  happened? they  became the players I mentioned at the outset: the ones who pay no attention to story (at least not the tales the developers made).

in the event you merge the situation in which there is no reason for one (or more) characters who are "the best" to team up and the way that roleplayers handle a Mary Sue/god-mode storyline, you wind up with yet another group that is going to ignore the fourth pillar -- you know, the part of the game BioWare has pushed so hard.

Let me remind you that this is an opinion piece, and let me also remind you that, despite knowing individuals who are working on the game and in game testing, i have done my best to keep away from getting "insider" information unless I was going to document on it. In short: I do know what you know. My hope is that i am way off base. However, if i am not, then SWTOR will have a  lovely single-player story that has no direct effect on character development.

Regardless, I still think SWTOR will be an amazing game with an amazing story. I will enjoy playing out the tales on lots of, lots of alts. I will  be disappointed if I cannot apply that great story to my roleplay character. what are your thoughts?

We all know that it's a horrible pain to pick skills on the fly as you're leveling up your character. What in case you choose a useless skill or possibly one that doesn't suit your playstyle? Or worse: What in case you  choose the wrong Advanced Class? This has been a major concern for plenty of Star Wars: The elderly Republic fans, especially given the large differences in the Advanced Classes.

R-E-S-P-E-C: Find out what it means to Star Wars: The elderly Republic

Yesterday, in a post on the official forums, SWTOR Lead Combat Designer Georg Zoeller answered this burning question. they confirmed that they will be able to respec our stats within an Advanced Class. However, they had this to say about switching to a different Advanced Class: "You may be able to spec to another Advanced Class, but that is something they haven't entirely made up our mind about as there's plenty of arguments that can be made - pro plus con - plus future class developments could influence this." It may be feasible to adapt from a Jedi Wizard Sage to a Jedi Shadow, but you definitely won't be able to go from a Jedi Consular to a Jedi Knight because of story restrictions.

Exclusive: a glance at RIFT's Druid

Within RIFT's soul scheme, there's room for a wide selection of different classes within the three core options -- three different Clerics might have  different sets of souls equipped plus play like three  different classes. Trion Worlds has been slowly providing information to players about what they can expect from the various souls, but every time a new soul is revealed, it's something  different from what's come before. The Druid is one of the souls available to Clerics, for example, but it couldn't be more different than options such as the Purifier or Sentinel.

Druids are a pet class, but not in the traditional sense. Where a Mage with a pet-using soul would depend on his pets to deal damage, the Druid makes use of her pets as conduits to empower her, making her a fierce combatant in her own right. Although vulnerable if her companions are damaged, the Druid herself is the core of her strength, using a variety of companions for a mass of effects. Click past the break for more information plus backstory on RIFT's Druid, plus check in every day this week for more heretofore unseen souls.

Druids are melee Clerics who forge bonds with Fae creatures, strengthening their bodies, minds, plus spirits by drawing on the magical energies of their companions.

Overview

Where fragile Mages force their minions to fight in their stead, the mighty Druid draws on their bonded Fae to personally take the fight to their foes. Druids themselves are formidable combatants, using their pets more as conduits plus sources of power than as direct attackers.

Strengths

Weaknesses

A Druid's bond with their Fae Spirit is both the key to their power plus their greatest weakness. Enemies who damage a Druid's companion greatly reduce the Druid's prowess plus endurance.

The empty, fog-shrouded streets of the fishing village lay silent. A joyful song rang out, incongruous with the terror that choked this lonely town as faceless cultists skulked amidst the huts. A short figure skipped out of the mists,   jogging straight in to the terrifying priest of Akylios. Her large eyes looked up plus they gulped, audibly.

Background

"And who are you, tiny girl?" they said in an oily voice.

"I'm not a tiny girl," said Asphodel, Dwarven cleric of Tavril, "and I don't reckon you are a  lovely man."

"Shh!" admonished Asphodel, plus the Tidelord's mouth filled to the brim with flowers.

Asphodel hefted a heavy shillelagh plus muttered a prayer, plus shards of stone erupted from the wood. they leapt merrily in to the midst of the crab-men, swinging wildly with strength that belied her size. Claw plus chitin flew across the abandoned marketplace, plus though the Deep Ones inflicted grievous wounds, the Dwarf appeared to heal instantly in a shower of flower petals.

Sputtering, spitting out blooms, they gestured to his minions to assault, plus the Deep Ones skittered up plus lunged at her with their claws.

The Tidelord spat the last of the flowers out of his mouth plus realized what was happening. "Faerie!" they shouted.

sure , a tiny sprite hovered in the background, channeling its power in to the Dwarf who clobbered his Deep Ones. The Tidelord smiled: planar minions were his specialty. A dark bolt flew from his hand plus struck down the tiny faerie.

"Enough of your tricks, girl! On an island in a sea of tears did Akylios himself teach me the profane arts! they will wind your flesh 'round his tiny finger like string around a spool! I shall turn your insides to... to... oh dear..." plus with a gesture from Asphodel, the Tidelord slumped to the ground in an enchanted sleep.

"Dianthe, no!" cried Asphodel, who yanked her club from the last crab-man's gooey insides plus ran to aid her mate.

Asphodel looked at her injured mate. "I reckon we're going to need Lykon's help with this." The faerie nodded before flitting away.

"I have underestimated you," yawned the Tidelord as they rose up off the cobblestone some moments later. "What force lets you bind the fair folk to your will?" they clenched his fist, plus the twisting magics of Akylios wound around his arms as they commanded Asphodel's lungs to fill with seawater.

Hacking plus gasping, they never took her gaze from the evil priest. "That's what's wrong along with your dragons. they reckon everything ought to be destroyed, corrupted, or controlled. I prayed that they were not alone in the universe, that... there were spirits of nice who would be my friends."

A cloven hoof came down behind the Tidelord, vines speeding up from the shattered cobblestone in its wake. The Abyssal turned  in time to see an armored satyr bulky over him, axe raised to strike, its hot breath blowing away the mist.

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Trion hiring for untitled SyFy action MMO, looking for XBox 360 programmers

With RIFT launching in the very near future, Trion Worlds is resting on its laurels and doing absolutely nothing... by which they mean the exact opposite. The team is looking for new staff to help develop the yet-unnamed action MMO created in partnership with SyFy, currently  named the "SyFy Action MMO." This in and of itself is nice news for those who had thought the project had been abandoned, but it gets even more fascinating when you recognize that two of the jobs are targeting XBox 360 programmers.

Assuming that the game is targeting the 360 -- which seems likely under the circumstances -- it would join Final Fantasy XI as one of the only MMO options on the console. That would be a significant boon from a promotion point of view, as would the show/game integration promised back when rumors first began surfacing. The 360 programmers aren't explicitly linked to the long-dormant game, but neither are they linked to the two existing games in Trion's stable. Although the job listing alone doesn't promise a future for the game, it's a step in the right direction for what might be a very different take on MMOs after all.

CardMon Hero allows players to develop and summon various mercenaries by a deck of cards. The mercs will work in concert with a player's skill cards to further adventures and clobber challenging foes through 70 instances and hundreds of quests. You'll find lots more information at the CardMon net site, and you'll also want to check out our earlier coverage for a gameplay video and various screenshots.

looking for something different amidst the recent hullabaloo involving imminent MMORPG releases? Try CardMon Hero on for size, as the free-to-play card-summoning MMO might be  what the doctor ordered. Today marks the beginning of round two of closed beta testing, and you can sign up on the game's official net site and get in on the action beginning tonight at 7:00 p.m. EST.

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Math That Moves: Schools Embrace the iPad

A growing number of schools across the nation are embracing the iPad as the latest gizmo to teach Kafka in multimedia, history through “Jeopardy”-like games & math with step-by-step animation of complex issues.

As part of a pilot program, Roslyn High School on Long Island handed out 47 iPads on Dec. 20 to the scholars & teachers in six humanities classes. The school district hopes to provide iPads eventually to all 1,100 of its students.

The iPads cost $750 apiece, & they are to be used in class & at home in the coursework of the school year to replace textbooks, permit students to correspond with teachers & turn in papers & home work assignments, & preserve a record of student work in digital portfolios.

“It lets us extend the classroom beyond these six walls,” said Larry Reiff, an English teacher at Roslyn who now posts all his coursework materials online.

Technological fads have come & gone in schools, & other experiments meant to rev up the educational experience for kids raised on video games & YouTube have had mixed results. Educators, for example, are still divided over whether initiatives to give every student a notebook computer have made a difference academically.

& some parents & students have raised concerns that schools are speeding to invest in them before their educational value has been proved by research.

At a time when school districts are trying to get their budgets approved so they don't must lay off teachers or cut programs, spending money on tablet computers may appear like an extravagance.

“There is  tiny facts that kids learn more, faster or better by using these machines,” said Larry Cuban, a professor emeritus of schooling at Stanford University, who believes that the money would be better spent to recruit, train & retain teachers. “IPads are marvelous tools to engage kids, but then the novelty wears off & you get in to hard-core issues of teaching & learning.”

But school leaders say the iPad is not just a icy new toy but  a powerful & versatile gizmo with a multitude of applications, including thousands with educational uses.

“If there isn’t an app that does something I require, there will be in the end,” said Mr. Reiff, who said she now used an application that includes all of Shakespeare’s plays.

Educators also laud the iPad’s physical attributes, including its giant touch screen (about 9.7 inches) & flat design, which allows students to maintain eye contact with their teachers. & students like its light weight, which offers a relief from the heavy books that weigh down their backpacks.

“I think this might  well be the largest thing to hit school expertise since the overhead projector,” Mr. Wolfe said.

Roslyn administrators also said their adoption of the iPad, for which the district paid $56,250 for the initial 75 (32-gigabyte, with case & stylus), was advancing its effort to go paperless & cut spending. In Millburn, N.J., students at South Mountain simple School have used six iPads purchased by the parent-teacher organization to play math games, study world maps & read “Winnie the Pooh.” Scott Wolfe, the principal, said she hoped to secure 20 more iPads next school year to run apps that, for example, simulate a piano keyboard on the screen or display constellations based on a viewer’s location.

over 200 Chicago public schools applied for 23 district-financed iPad grants totaling $450,000. The Virginia Department of schooling is overseeing a $150,000 iPad initiative that has replaced history & Advanced Placement biology textbooks at 11 schools. & six middle schools in six California cities (San Francisco, Long Beach, Fresno & Riverside) are teaching the first iPad-only algebra coursework, developed by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

The texas City public schools have ordered over 2,000 iPads, for $1.3 million; 300 went to Kingsbridge International High School in the Bronx, or  for all 23 teachers & half of the scholars to make use of simultaneously.

Even kindergartners are getting their hands on iPads. Pinnacle Peak School in Scottsdale, Ariz., converted an empty classroom in to a lab with 36 iPads — named the iMaginarium — that has become the centerpiece of the school because, as the principal put it, “of all the devices out there, the iPad has the most star power with kids.”

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Welcome back, dear readers, to Massively's Community Detective. This week's issue is going to be a wee bit different, devoid of the community questions and customer support tickets that I usually discuss. While I've examined  a range of titles over the column's first 12 installments, I've yet to present things from the point of view of the fogeys who actually answer your cries for help.

Community Detective Issue #13: A conversation with Funcom customer service

Community Detective will continue to probe the scary depths of various game communities going forward, but I'll also occasionally take time to speak to the fogeys behind the screen in order to give a clearer picture of the whole. Without further delay, join me after the break for a question-and-answer session with Funcom customer support Manager Edward Walsh III.

Way back in July, I took my first look at Age of Conan's community and customer support. The game acquitted itself  much,  when it came to GM response times to a stuck character ticket. In the intervening months, however, plenty of readers have prompted me to toughen up my CSR tests and also to find out why it is that some tickets are resolved favorably and some are not. Read on for a tiny bit of insight in to this and other customer service-related happenings.

Massively: Could you tell us a tiny bit about your particular position and what it entails?

Edward Walsh III: I am the customer support Manager for Funcom. My position entails everything from staffing and scheduling the CS teams, to developing and implementing policies, to working to develop tools for existing and upcoming projects.

Take us through an average day as a Funcom CSR. How plenty of petitions do you normally service on a specific shift? Do you also moderate forums in addition to in-game duties, or are there separate positions on the CS support staff?

The number of tickets handled per day varies widely depending on the shift worked. they operate two shifts of CSRs here in our support office. The numbers also vary based on which product has most recently patched, as any newly found issues can increase the number of incoming tickets. marketing offers can also increase the work load as customers contact us with questions about the offers. they currently offer several options for customers who need assistance: e-mail, live chat and in-game petition systems; however, the moderation of forums is handled solely by our community team which is separate from customer support.

they still support our volunteer programs and have done so for plenty of years on various projects. Interestingly , they have recruited a few volunteers to come work for Funcom full-time. Mostly they will start out as Customer Support Representatives or Quality Assurance Testers and move up in to game development. they are always pleased when they can do this  because they have such a connection to the game before hiring for the position. Likewise, the same applies to their experience over the coursework of [their volunteer] time and dedication to the volunteer programs. reckon it or not, that experience is a lovely leg-up on the competition when applying for any position within the gambling industry not to mention  Funcom.

Is the Followers of Asura program still active? (The commercial for it still occasionally pops on the AoC loading screens, but I haven't seen any of them in chat for ages.) If so, how helpful do you find the Followers of Asura program to be? Do any of this program's volunteers go on to paid CS positions within Funcom?

Do Funcom's AoC CSRs also work on the company's other titles, or are they specifically assigned to AoC?

All Funcom CSRs work across all of our titles.

It depends on the day . Some days they are more likely to get petitions about harassment than others. Some days they get in more tickets with questions about the latest promotional offer they are running. It can also vary widely from shift to shift where one shift will get lots of tickets on one subject and then the next will have most of theirs be about something  unrelated.

Can you discuss the most common petitions that you see on a day-to-day or every week basis? Stuck characters? Griefing? Something else?

In my experience it is a combination of all of these factors. In order to be definite speedy customer support as well as maintain manageable amounts of information for speedy access, definite limits need to be placed on what they can track and replace. it is also important to keep in mind that in plenty of situations where a player petitions about a lost item, they can help. For instance, ought to a player accidentally sell an item to a seller, they can assist them with this in plenty of cases. they are always trying to increase the number of situations in which they can complete a service ticket to the customer's satisfaction.

In general, CS petitions that must do with lost items are not resolved in the customer's favor (by restoring the customer's item). This isn't unique to Funcom; most of the companies I've polled in the Community Detective series do not usually restore lost items. why is that, do you reckon? Is it a software/database limitation? Does it must do with heading off potential exploits? Is it a function of CSR workload?

What kinds of people and/or technical skills do you look for when hiring or assigning CSR positions?

The first thing that I look for when hiring a candidate for our CS department is customer support experience. I look for individuals who are passionate not only about video games but about helping people. I then look at the other skills which the person possesses which may be of value to Funcom in the future. As [they do in] plenty of other game companies, CS people often make the jump in to other parts of our company as positions open up.

i would like our customers to know that they do our best to assist them as much as feasible and as quickly as feasible. I do know that from my experience in the coursework of my time as a CSR with Funcom that the most demanding part of the job is the occasions when they must report to a customer that they are unable to assist them with their ticket. The most rewarding part of the job is definitely the happy response that you get from a customer whom you could help.

Is there anything you'd like readers and/or customers to know about your particular position? What makes it a demanding job? A rewarding job?

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One Shots: Live to ride

Every day in the wastelands of Fallen Earth is a challenge to survive. sure, you're a clone, plus even if you get your face eaten it basically means that you'll respawn in the nearest cloning facility. However, there's something about getting taken down by a bunch of mutant chickens that look like anyone stapled rubbery mannequin hands to them. Not the kind of story you require to tell at the local bar, you know? Well, amidst those moments of challenge, there's a barren beauty to be found in the lands of the Grand Canyon, such as the beauty they see in the picture today from Muttonchops of the Plague clan. he writes in to explain the scene: "I was riding through Toro Bend back to Trumbull after getting badly pummeled by some disagreeable mutants. I couldn't help admiring the new lighting effects  added to the game since the last patch, so I had to send in a pic of the dawn over the wasteland."

C is for Neutral-Aligned Cookie: DDO Update 8 preview patch notes posted

One Shots needs your images of MMOs from off the beaten path! If you find yourself wandering a landscape they don't often see here, we'd love to listen to from you.

What else is the studio baking up for the crowd? First up is a brand new four-mission adventure pack, "Siege of Stormreach," which will give mid-level players a chance to defend plus ultimately repulse an assault on the city itself. For players envious of Lord of the Rings Online's cosmetic outfit system, the upcoming armor appearance kits in DDO are sure to earn a few smiles. Like cosmetic hats, cosmetic armor will visually replace your current outfit without stripping you of the outfit's stats. This special armor can be found in chests, traded, plus bought through the DDO store.

December is right around the corner, plus with it, Dungeons plus Dragons Online's Update 8. Advance release notes are up for the Lamannia test server, plus so far it's safe to say that this patch is the tastiest one yet. Why tasty? Because Turbine is incorporating cookie jars in to the game as a way for players to store edible goodies from Festivault without clogging up their stock. Best of all? This is one treasure chest that nobody can stick his grubby fingers in but you!

Professional game enthusiasts Get Rich And Famous Playing Video Games

in the event you think your children are spending  much time playing video games on their Playstation 3, Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360, computer or PSP or Playstation transportable consoles then you may have a reason to be concerned, but not worried. Before you tell your kid to put down the game remote and pick up a text book you ought to think about one fact and that is that there is a professional video game circuit out there with professional game enthusiasts who earn thousands, even millions of dollars.

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If you're among its over 30 million fans, Rovio's feathered phenom, Angry Birds, is already on your cell phone. and if you've always desired to sling shot birds at pigs on a bigger screen, the Finnish developer has excellent news: Angry Birds will soon take flight on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Nintendo Wii.

Rovio Preparing Angry Birds for Console Launch

Given its mobile success, it was  a matter of time before Angry Birds made the leap to consoles. and at the first Social gambling Summit in London, Rovio revealed it is working on Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, and Wii (PocketGamer).

After dominating the App Store charts for the better part of 2010, Angry Birds reached a true milestone in October when it surpassed the 10 million sales marker. and if you include sales on all mobile platform as well as the game's free version, total downloads topped 30 million.

Few details about the console versions of Angry Birds were revealed, but Rovio did state that multiplayer is a priority, but it hasn't yet figured out the best way for players to experience it.

Ubisoft Announces Animated Short: Assassin's Creed Ascendance

Curious what Ezio was up to after the events depicted in Assassin's Creed II? Find out before you jump in to Brotherhood with a new animated short produced by Ubisoft Montreal, Assassin's Creed Ascendance.

Ascendance was created to bridge the gap between ACII and Brotherhood, and tells the story of Ezio Auditore's efforts to remove the treacherous Borgia relatives from power. See what the animated short looks like in action:

The animated short was created by Ubi Workshop, the team behind the  released Assassin's Creed comic book, The Fall. Set for release as a digital download on Xbox Live and PlayStation Network, Ascendance features a cliffhanger ending that game enthusiasts can resolve by playing Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood.

"The rich universe of the Assassin's Creed franchise allows artists from other media to create extensions of the original Assassin's Creed storyline beyond video games," Ubisoft said in a statement.

Ascendance launches on Tuesday, November 16 -- the same day as Brotherhood -- and Ubisoft has priced the animated story at $1.99.

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If you're among its over 30 million fans, Rovio's feathered phenom, Angry Birds, is already on your cell phone. and if you've always desired to sling shot birds at pigs on a bigger screen, the Finnish developer has excellent news: Angry Birds will soon take flight on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Nintendo Wii.

Rovio Preparing Angry Birds for Console Launch

Given its mobile success, it was  a matter of time before Angry Birds made the leap to consoles. and at the first Social gambling Summit in London, Rovio revealed it is working on Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, and Wii (PocketGamer).

After dominating the App Store charts for the better part of 2010, Angry Birds reached a true milestone in October when it surpassed the 10 million sales marker. and if you include sales on all mobile platform as well as the game's free version, total downloads topped 30 million.

Few details about the console versions of Angry Birds were revealed, but Rovio did state that multiplayer is a priority, but it hasn't yet figured out the best way for players to experience it.

Ubisoft Announces Animated Short: Assassin's Creed Ascendance

Curious what Ezio was up to after the events depicted in Assassin's Creed II? Find out before you jump in to Brotherhood with a new animated short produced by Ubisoft Montreal, Assassin's Creed Ascendance.

Ascendance was created to bridge the gap between ACII and Brotherhood, and tells the story of Ezio Auditore's efforts to remove the treacherous Borgia relatives from power. See what the animated short looks like in action:

The animated short was created by Ubi Workshop, the team behind the  released Assassin's Creed comic book, The Fall. Set for release as a digital download on Xbox Live and PlayStation Network, Ascendance features a cliffhanger ending that game enthusiasts can resolve by playing Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood.

"The rich universe of the Assassin's Creed franchise allows artists from other media to create extensions of the original Assassin's Creed storyline beyond video games," Ubisoft said in a statement.

Ascendance launches on Tuesday, November 16 -- the same day as Brotherhood -- and Ubisoft has priced the animated story at $1.99.

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Hi everybody Zephyra here. Vindictus has many armors & clothing sets & i  love collecting all of them!

Part 1: Vindictus Lann's Armors & Clothing Sets Feast

However armor sets are  as important to other people as they're to me & they must find out how they look beforehand. Here with me is Azurend to help put all the armor on while i take pics. He's not  happy that I took so long making this & taking a good amount of his precious time though. Before they start you require to be aware that armors can be dyed by using the dye shop. Using the dye shop will randomly select colours in the palette & change them with the current one. sometimes the colours are massive changes & others are minor changes especially the weapons. Dying armors costs about the seller sell back cost & can be pricey when you reach higher levels. Full Sets of armors are crucial to becoming a stronger character. Obtaining full sets rewards titles & grants permanent stats. Sets can be sent off to other players as long as you didn't buy the piece from the marketplace.

The Premium Rookie set is given to you free of charge after you've created your character & began your adventure in Colhen. The set bonuses give additional defense stats, but they aren't  much of a worry in the beginning of the game. in the event you ever need a different colour of the items you may simple buy them again in from Clodagh in the General Store for 0 gold. I can't necessarily recommend this to any class since this is the starter set but you need to try & replace it as fast as possible.

Crimson Blade set isn't any stronger than the Premium Rookie set in fact the tunic is actually worse for Lann users in the beginning. The Crimson Blade Tunic does give more defence by itself which allows more survivability. However in the beginning of the game survivability is  redundant since bosses don't hit hard  yet. The cap ought to be worn in the beginning since Premium rookie doesn't include a hat. in the event you happen to lose your Crimson Blade pieces you may buy them back from Marrec at the cost of 3,400 gold for the helm & 4,000 gold for the tunic. Overall this set doesn't give  overall stats to become a clear upgrade & the Premium Rookie Tunic grants greater benefits.

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How long have you been doing these runs?

It seems the original forum post has been lost to the sands of time, but taking a look at Fellowyowler's achievements, I earned the pet achievement in April (usually one of the first things I get on a toon), and they defeated Ragefire Chasm (our first guild dungeon) on May 1. That's as nice of a start time as I can muster, I suppose.

Obviously, you're going up against bosses with the benefit of new class mechanics, bosses that've been nerfed over time, expansion gear, heirlooms ... This doesn't pretend to be an "authentic," at-level experience. how's the balance working out, doing legacy-era content with current-era characters?

Pre-4.0, things were definitely unbalanced toward the mobs, in my experience. they had great difficulty with a number of the game mechanics that usually aren't a huge deal for other toons. For example, how much hit rating do you need to consistently hit a mob 10+ levels above you? I'll inform you -- it's  a bit over you can possibly stack at level 10.

Do you plan to do each and every instance at the maximum level, or do you group instances in a level range "bracket"?

Post-4.0, things seems to have balanced out a bit. As the designated tank for the group, I can say it's been far easier to hang onto threat lately. Granted, our last run was with the benefit of the full range of Hallow's finish candies, but I think the new talent structure probably helped a bit.

Each instance in the game has a maximum required level, and they appear to be grouped every five levels with usually three to three instances per bracket. they usually knock out each instance in a minimum-level bracket, and then the guild kind of levels as one up to the next bracket.

Some instances appear to have their own bracket. RFC was the only maximum level 8 dungeon, and the only maximum level 20 dungeons are the three wings of Scarlet Monastery (which kind of counts as three instances, I guess). usually, all of us know what's coming up and discuss which of them to tackle first in any given bracket.

About how long have you been spending at each "bracket"? Do you plan a leveling/gearing duration before you assault the dungeons?

Each bracket has been taking  some time to get past, so far. all of us have our own schedules, and sometimes it can be difficult to coordinate a run for the whole group. Each instance takes five to three hours to complete, so the members need to have ample free time all without delay. After they complete each bracket, they usually go off on our own and level to the next bracket however they like to do it.

When it comes to gearing, though, they're all  supportive of each other. It would be   impossible otherwise. Most of the best gear resides at the bottom of dungeons they can't basically get through, or at the finish of long quest chains that were never intended for such low levels to complete. With the support of our high-level mains, all of us make sure that they get the best of the best gear possible. I personally enjoy this part of the project as much as the dungeons, both gearing up my warrior and helping the others to gear up as well.

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