Black Desert: Prestige Edition - XB1 Review

Black Desert: Prestige Edition by developer and  publisher Pearl Abyss—Microsoft Xbox One Review written by Nick with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 9 minutes

Black Desert: Prestige Edition is a convenient new package for an MMO that has been out for a while on the Xbox One for some time, the question is – does the core game still hold up after a year and a half? Thankfully the answer is yes, this action-RPG is still quite enjoyable, even if there might not be enough here to convince previous players to come back and give the game a go. Newcomers to this title who enjoy the genre

I actually played Black Desert on PC when it first came out a couple of years ago, and found it generally enjoyable but I had a lot of other games I was tackling at the time, and it just wasn’t quite sticky enough to keep me coming back at o it at the time. I thought that it looked really pretty, but beyond that I ran into a few hiccups that I always assumed would get ironed out, but I didn’t return to world as the life of a game reviewer can make it hard to focus in on an MMO and give it the time you need to really sink your teeth into it. That being said, I’ve been considering a return for some time, and the Black Desert: Prestige Edition seemed like a great excuse to go ahead and give this title another go.

The beginning is something of a chaotic one, as you are presented with minimal backstory and sort of take on the tried and true RPG trop of amnesiac that has to learn everything about the world, giving new players an excuse to be clueless about their surroundings and ask a bunch of questions to help with the world-building foundations needed to make a vast game like this interesting enough to invest in. There are numerous NPCs willing to have a conversation with your character about… well, pretty much everything going on in the world, but local and larger scale.

Even though it’s been a couple of years since I last played Black Desert Online, I have to say I came away immediately impressed with the visuals still. Every now and again I poke in on my old favorite, World of Warcraft, and while WoW is like video game comfort food for me right now, it’s long since moved past being an overly attractive title. By contrast, Black Desert: Prestige Edition is gorgeously detailed, both with characters and environments, and the game knows it. There are numerous opportunities to just pause and look out over the expansive, varied fantasy landscapes.

The part I was more curious about was how well a title like this would translate to console / controller life. After all, many of these action-RPG MMOs rely heavily on hotkey bindings and a mouse for quick navigation. To its credit, Black Desert did a great job of mapping things intelligently to radial menus and face buttons that make it easy to find what you need and not have to click around endlessly to get there. Admittedly, it took me a couple of minutes to get the hang of moving around in the conversation boxes given how little hand-holding there was in general right out of the gates, but this is about the easiest I have ever seen inventory management handled in an MMO and I certainly appreciated that.

Additionally, Black Desert does a great job keeping you on-task. Quest targets are clearly labeled, you have a glowing guided option to help you move from one target to the next and your quest information is always readily available in the UI. These things kept me moving with purpose through the game’s early stages as I allowed myself to enjoy the lore and get more attached to the setting than I did the first time I played the game on PC in the past.

The controller also suits the action-heavy nature of the combat rather nicely. I went with a typical warrior (my usual go-to in MMOs as I am learning my way around, given they tend to be a bit less squishy than many other classes), and it all feels quite natural on console. I was tapping and holding buttons to pull off various combos, leaning into the triggers a bit to execute other moves and found it a very natural way of stringing together attacks that frankly work as well – if not better – than mapped hotkeys on a keyboard. The one area that the controller does suffer a bit compared to the point and click accuracy of a mouse is in selecting certain things. If there are a couple of targets nearby, instead of just mousing over the one you want to talk to / interact with, you need to be a bit more careful in your x-axis placement. Ditto, I would have loved a lock-on for combat, given the swivel-nature of the camera and again how it can be a bit imprecise. I realize that is likely an intentional design choice, but I think it’s a bit more of an issue with a controller versus a mouse and keyboard.

The narrative is set against a backdrop of kingdom versus kingdom politics, though I often found myself jumping off of the beaten path to do just about everything but the core storyline. That’s just sort of my MO on MMOs – find things to craft, play the market, do a zillion side quests for just… fish. It’s funny because I don’t fish in real life but I absolutely would be appalled I am sure, if there was a way to figure out how much time I’ve spent fishing in MMOs.

In terms of the overall presentation, I touched on the graphics already – and they are gorgeous. This even presents itself as early as in character creation, which has a surprising amount of detail available. Character models look fantastic and I found myself sinking more time than usual into character creation as a result. The music is also appropriately majestic and the sound effects are all quite appropriate. Probably the weakest link here is the voice acting, which ranges from ‘decent’ to ‘hammy / awkward’ depending on the interaction. Most of the more notable characters tend to sound a bit better, which is good since they are the ones with content of substance that you might be interacting more than a time or two. Many of the one-off side-NPCs fare far worse.

Progression is solid, with the typical skill tree / point spends to compliment experience / level gains. Equipment options become more diverse and powerful as you progress as well. I actually found myself sinking a decent amount of time into the non-adventure life of house and shop ownership, as I did not particularly care for the Player vs Player elements that become more prominent in the game’s upper level ranges. The structure around it is fine, I just have a tendency to get annoyed with PvP in MMOs and tend to avoid it more often than not, and that holds true here for me as well. In terms of the PvE side of things, it’s all been done before (kill a zillion of this and fetch me a gaggle of those), but it all works fine. It helps that the layered combat at least makes the fighting fun and helps to stave off what would be otherwise painfully repetitious before too long.

This is where Black Desert: Prestige Edition falls into the same rut most MMOs do – the world is meant to be something of a bland one that anyone can imprint their own story on mentally. As a result, quests tend to be redundant, the overarching narrative does little to tickle the emotions and most of the world’s characters are there to serve a purpose but seldom become memorable in any particular way. By now though, this is what I think the majority of players expect. You get less nuanced storytelling with an MMO because of the way the world needs to interact with a large number of players, versus a single player experience that can tell a nuanced, gripping narrative. If you are a fan of the MMO world, and your expectations are set accordingly, Black Desert: Prestige Edition will be rather enjoyable.

What does the Prestige Edition come with? Well, you get the core game of course, but some extra pets (Snow Wolfdog and Black Leopard), some gear for your mount as well as a mount, pearls and more that play into the microtransaction portion of the game. It is worth noting that you can buy the game and access everything it has in it (versus some of the free to play MMOs out there that restrict access to some parts of the game unless you purchase them), but there are plenty of small items that can be bought that accelerate / enhance the gameplay. This currency can be earned in-game or purchased for additional money.

Black Desert: Prestige Edition is a gorgeous MMO – arguably the prettiest one out there. The sweeping landscapes and detailed character creation show off the game’s visuals wonderfully. The primary narrative may be a bit underwhelming at times, but there is a lot to do – even if most of it has been done in other MMOs in the past. Still, the virtual crafting and fishing life is quite enjoyable here, and character progression kept me engaged. MMOs on a console can be a bit tricky at times, but the UI is handled quite well with a controller and the action-oriented combat is well-served by the controller interface. MMO fans should find plenty to enjoy here.

Score: 7.75 / 10

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Jaggy's Corner - Sunday September 2

This is a stroll down memory lane. At the end I cover a couple of quick additions to the game and the anniversary stream that occurred earlier in the week. Keep reading!

The Beginning

One day, long ago, I was playing Neverwinter when a friend of mine told me that I should consider playing Guild Wars 2. My response wasn't great. “But I hated Guild Wars 1. Why would I play the second one?”

He effectively started a conversation which altered the course of my gaming experience.

Why did I hate Guild Wars 1? That's easy. I was an elitest WoW head. I would spend 12+ hours learning builds, reading elitiest jerks, getting potions and buff food, and watching videos on boss take downs. In a couple of the guilds, I was a raid leader. My raiding guilds were basically family. Many of us had played since Vanilla. We raided together, PVPed together, gave discounts on pots, and would help each other through real life issues. I couldn't just leave my family for another MMO. Sadly, when Mists of Panderia was slated to launch, many of my guildies left forever.

I missed those times and I thought to myself, “Maybe I'll give it a shot.”

Guild Wars 2

After my friend convinced me to play the game, I asked to try it. I made a character on a friends account with them present and played it while they were there answering questions.

I told this friend that I would give it until level 20 before I made up my mind. And suddenly, within a few days of time, I was somewhere between lvl 40 to 50. Apparently, I was having fun.

That friend bought me the game. They sent me the materials I collected and a few things to get started. And that friend also laughed at me as I tried my hand at my first jumping puzzle. It was Morgan's Spiral. It took me a long time before I finally got it, but I felt accomplished.

One of the reasons I came to love Guild Wars 2 is actually because of the jumping puzzles. There is a variety of underwater ones, cave jumping puzzles, and specific jumping puzzle instances. There is even one that a player can literally fall into. Just run around in a bush...

Memories

One of my favorite memories from Guild Wars 2 comes from the friend that convinced me to play. They needed another person who would be interested in doing fractals. I didn't even know what those were until I reached level 80.

I'll never forget that day, the day that I first walked into a fractal. I had spent a week and a half playing the crap out of Guild Wars 2 to get level 80. Yes that's right. I powered through a week and a half of playing to get max level. That's how much I enjoyed the game.

After I had hit the magical level 80, my friend asked me if I could join them. He told me, “Don't worry if you die, we'll rez you. We just need another person.” I think it was because you needed a certain number of players to hit some buttons... Anyways, after I died only a couple times, the group leader said something about needing to pay attention to particular abilities. He followed up with a statement about doing well for no agony resistance. My friend chimed in with, “Dude. She just hit level 80 two hours ago! I think she did well.” The group leader was impressed and I laughed my guts out.

One time during Guild missions, my lovely Aussie friends were grouped up to do Crab Toss in Southsun Cove. Basically, one person is the guinea pig, running with the baby karka, while the rest of the group kills all of the bigger ones. It's not supremely difficult but we were only five people on this day. And on this day, we failed hard. What I mean is, we failed at 1 second left. If you don't believe me, I have a highlight video which can be found here. That was pure gold.

When Heart of Thorn launched, I finally set out to change my build. Heart of Thorns introduced a new mastery system and required players to adjust their builds. After all, we had access to specializations now. The zone also introduced the concept of gliding which saved my butt.

In the new zones, I had come across a veteran on top of a pillar. There were three bridges that lead to this platform and I decided to take the creature on. I managed to get the thing down to half health before I blew it and dodged off the edge of the bridge. I was streaming at the time. Instead of saving myself, I think I just laughed while I plummeted to my doom. Good times.

Anniversary Stream of Guild Wars 2

On Tuesday, Guild Wars 2 hosted a long stream where they let the audience hear from various developers and voice actors. Each section was chalked full of information from a developers' point of view.

We heard about how ArenaNet takes care of its voice actors by letting them know about intense character moments. Anyone who played a particular episode with Taimi will recall the heartfelt performance. From a player perspective, that was crushing.

Viewers also heard from legends like Yuri Lowenthal and Matthew Mercer who have done amazing work in many video games. I won't say alot about that because it's better to listen to their comments on the VOD (linked below).

On the official 6th year anniversary, players received a few free things like a novelties chest. In it was a choice of various balloons, kites, and instruments. With the inclusion of the novelties giveaway was a patch that included a new souvenirs tab where players can now store all of their novelties. Yay inventory space!

Down the line, ArenaNet is finally releasing a personal character instance called Sun's Refuge. Unfortunately, since its origins come from Guild Wars 1 outside of the base game, I have no idea what to expect but I'm excited for the new content.

If you missed the anniversary stream, you can catch the VOD on Twitch.

Try the game for free! The details can be found here.

What are some of your favorite moments from Guild Wars 2? Let us know in the comments below.

Until next time.

Article by Susan N.

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Into the Infinite: Wonderstruck signs up Square Enix Collective to publish PC version of space epic Boundless - News

So we have something a little interesting for you today, the Square Enix Collective is publishing the PC version of an MMO that has been in development for some time and me, who doesn't generally do MMOs, is interested!

Boundless is an open-world sandbox that could be that something great that we had hoped for with EverQuest Next. We've got the trailer for you below and the press release below that!

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Into the Infinite: Wonderstruck signs up Square Enix Collective to publish PC version of space epic Boundless

Create, explore, influence. One universe, all the players

London, UK (27th June, 2018) – Square Enix Collective® is excited to announce it has signed up to publish forthcoming MMO Boundless from UK studio Wonderstruck ahead of its release later this year.

Currently in Early Access, Boundless is a single universe of connected worlds in which everything - including politics, the economy, crafting and building communities - is entirely created and run by the players, all without stepping into the realm of the kind of starbound battles or spaceship travel other games have made their signature. Instead, in Boundless, you can simply step from one world directly into another.

There's no set path to follow within the game, so players can choose how they want to fit into the diverse expanse of pursuits on offer. Whether it's mastering martial prowess, economic superiority, crafting finesse, unparalleled building creativity, or bringing people together to create a new settlement, Boundless is open to all: all paths, and all possibilities.

The game, which has been in development since 2014, is due to hit both PC via Steam and PlayStation 4 later this year. As part of the deal, Square Enix Collective today announces it will publish and support the PC version of Boundless, with developer Wonderstruck in tandem handling the game's release on Sony's console.

"Boundless has been on our radar for some time, and it's genuinely thrilling to be able to come together with the team at Wonderstruck to help bring the game to Steam," offers Phil Elliott, Director of Indie Publishing at Square Enix West. "It's a game which, to me, feels like nothing else I've played. The universe is constantly evolving, and that's because everything in the game is made by the players - everything you do, you do in the full view of everybody else that plays the game. This gives the choices you make, and actions you take, so much more meaning."

Ahead of its release, players involved in the Early Access version have already collaborated to create varied and sprawling cities on multiple different worlds across the game's universe, building a fluid and vibrant environment that bodes well for Boundless' full debut.  

"Partnering with Square Enix Collective on the PC version of Boundless is a big step forward for us here at Wonderstruck," says James Austin, Director of Wonderstruck. "They get what we're trying to do and I think they're going to do an amazing job of conveying everything the game has to offer to what we hope will be an excited and growing group of gamers."

Article by Pierre-Yves

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Jaggy's Corner! - Sunday June 3

My whole week has been busy with a few games like Antigraviator, review Tuesday, and Dauntless, a Monster Hunter style of game that is in open beta. The second one will be covered at a later point in time.

Today however, I want to return to the downfall of Bless Online. My less than high hopes were validated by the community this week, for good reason. Heck, if you don't believe me, take a look at the long list of reviews on its Steam page, or watch some of the YouTube content. It's not pretty.

In fact, many have demanded refunds, but one has to ask themselves what happened?

Is it because the developers didn't care much for their game? Did players hold it to such a high standard for an Early Access build? Did the Quality Assurance staff fail to do what they were hired to?

Maybe the developer didn't have the money to hire a small group of QA testers. It was at this point that I began considering the job of a QA tester in relation to game development to see what could be determined about Bless Online.

Quality Assurance Testers

Let's talk about whether Bless Online's failure was a result of poor QA.

For the uneducated, QA testers are game testers and are often hired to find game breaking bugs before its release. Unfortunately, QA testers are often regarded as the foot in the door when it comes to video game careers. It's often not. This position is underpaid, often used as a scapegoat for a company's faults, and tends to be tediously boring.

How would it feel to play a game for free but at the cost of repetition to make sure that a section isn't broken or buggy? That's what QA testers do; they play a game to death in order to find every possible bug and game break they can think of.

At first I considered the idea that perhaps the QA testers did not do a good enough job for Bless Online. Again, remember that I haven't actually played the game, so it's tough to judge from my purview. But after digging further, I discovered that it was unlikely the fault of the QA staff – assuming, of course, that Neowiz hired some... One of the multiple issues cited for Bless Online is that the servers couldn't handle the load. Forget the fact that players wanted to try the combat system, because players couldn't even log into the game! That isn't a QA issue, that's a developer issue. What this shows is that the company did not stress test the servers before launch. Whoops.

"Not all game tester jobs are created equal. Unfortunately, many studios treat their QA department as second-class citizens – and pay them accordingly. At others, the testing and QA groups are treated better. They're viewed as key partners in developing video games that are stable, bug free, and fun"

- Video Game Tester Salary for 2018

How does QA affect Early Access?

Let's consider the function of early access games despite my skepticism about them.

If you really think about it, early access functions as a beta test for a company. Truly. You are paying for access to a game that you know is not complete and are encouraged to send feedback. People are paid to do this job! And while QA testers are often mistreated, at least they get paid to do it. Instead, likely because of that reputation, players would rather pay to play something that is buggy and then they have the privilege to complain to the developers. Companies don't have to pay you for your 'job', you pay them and then hope for a refund...

Now, that doesn't mean all early access games are bad. And often the QA testers do their jobs to the best of their abilities. They do inform the developer of issues they've discovered but the decision lies on the developer to fix it. If a bug isn't game breaking, chances are the developer isn't going to take action.

The good news is that there are plenty of indie developers that care about their products and release early access games because they lack the necessary funding to continue development on them. But that's the real kicker. Quality early access games can be as ellusive as unicorns because some games are properly programmed by people who actually understand coding, while others are heaping piles of crap.

Why the discrepancy? That's simple. Gamers want to create their ultimate game and get paid tons of money for releasing the next hit game! Rarely is that the case. Instead, we get some RPG Maker games put together by people who don't understand game design, while others like Stegosoft Games' Ara Fell (95% Positive on Steam), or Dancing Dragon Games' Echoes of Aetheria (91% Positive on Steam), are fantastic for the community because the developers used an RPG Maker for what it is. A gaming creation engine and not the means to a quick buck. Others will take a game they already enjoy and do what is known as an 'asset flip' which essentially is a copy of a game with a new coat of paint. Joe-schmoe, from his basement, is going to slap together a piece of crap and launch it on Steam.

These are the kinds of early access games I worry about. And even when a game developer had years to fix their game into something that gamers were really excited for, they failed to do their product or the community any justice.

So What Happened?

The answer to that is, I don't precisely know. The developer of the MMO officially launched the game a while ago and it had unsuccessful receptions in Korea, Japan, and Russia. It was buggy, over-hyped, and it had detrimental receptions in its launched countries.

Another fun fact: this MMO's western launch was cancelled by the original game publisher, Aeria Games, sometime last year! Ambitiously, Neowiz choose to self publish the game instead of using another publisher, in hopes that the game would receive a better reception than previously earned.

Considering the game had been beta tested in South Korea in 2014, I question what happened from then until now. Really I just think that the developer shot themselves in the foot launching Bless Online.

Suffice it to say that the QA testers are not to blame because one of the primary issues revolving around the game were blatant servers issues. It also lacks of content and features a poorly executed combat system, amongst a long list of other issues.

In fact, most people are upset with the final product to the point that many YouTubers and streamers talked about it. As a result, I was linked a video done by TheLazyPeon which outlines what he disliked about the game in a succinct manner. You can watch that video here:

What Now?

The biggest reason I was upset about this MMO was because of the sheer number of people that were steamrolled (pardon the expression) by Steam because of their two hour refund policy. Some people couldn't even get into the game in that time, let alone try to play the game. But because of that rule, only some people were refunded the money while others were shafted. Steam has, in a weird way, allowed Neowiz to get away with highway robbery. I heard about some people who dropped a ton of 'time' into Bless Online and were refunded their money. Many people are to blame in this colossal failure of a product.

This is not how things should be.

That said, the developers released an apology to the public, and it reads like a lot of vague promises and is chalked full of industry buzzwords. Neowiz's post doesn't inspire confidence in the company's ability to deliver a solid product now or in the future. And after the amount of people that have expressed their outrage over the game, I can't say that I'm surprised either. While I don't necessarily enjoy the thought of people getting screwed over, it would be much better for everyone if research was done into a game or a developer before purchasing Early Access content. I don't know how many times gamers have to make the same mistakes before they learn...

Anyways, I doubt that Bless Online, and consequently Neowiz, will recover from this debacle because they have done their fans a massive disservice.

I will say this to conclude my thoughts about Early Access games. Be very careful on your purchasing decisions, or else, prepare to lose tons of money.

Until next time.


Article by Susan N.

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Jaggy's Corner! - Saturday May 19

Throughout the week I've been hearing about this new MMO called Bless Online. Being a fan of MMO's, I decided to research the game to see if the hype is worth it. Keep in mind, I have not played this in any rendition so take my opinion for what it is, just an analytical opinion.

Blessed is the questionable for hours tick away...

As I have mentioned previously, MMO's are more likely to succeed if they provide players with something different to their players. It could be that fans are part of a franchise that they really enjoy. Franchises that pop into mind include Oblivion which became an MMO called Elder Scrolls Online. Maybe players are die hard Final Fantasy fans so they went from the turn based RPGs into FFXIV. Sometimes they do provide a different appealing system like Secret World (in either rendition of it). It doesn't matter which MMO has grabbed a players attention, there is always a reason that people flock to certain games.

In this case, Bless Online does not have any previous franchise to draw people in. It stands to reason therefore, that the game would have features that other MMO's do not have. Unfortunately, that isn't the case here. Already there have been discussions on Reddit about pay to win components, standard class types, standard dungeons, and PVP components. It boasts to keep both PVE and PVP fans immersed with content but I'm skeptical.

Keyboard warriors have jumped on the bandwagon to say that the game is pay to win because of cosmetic items...? Let's use Googlefu to find out what pay to win means, because clearly the keyboard warriors don't know how to research... Pay to win games are games that allow "players who are willing to pay for special items or downloadable content" that "may be able to gain a significant advantage over those playing for free." As in, a paid player must be able to do things that a free to play player cannot. This definition does not extend to cosmetic items which simply makes a character or item look better! That doesn't provide any serious advantage unless the game is some kind of porn game but I digress...

Now that we know the definition of pay to win, from my understanding Bless Online does not exhibit that kind of advantage, and the developers have already stated the following:

"Q: Is the premium membership subscription based? What are the benefits?

A: Premium membership is not a subscription-based product. Premium membership can help increase efficiency or provide an effect that will, for a limited amount of time, reduce the costs of convenience related fees. As anyone with the base game can enjoy all of Bless' content without restriction, premium membership can be see as an option for those who want a more convenient gameplay experience. As we are aware of your concerns regarding P2W, there will be no items that can directly enhance characters or items." [emphasis added]

At launch, the game will have Berserker, Guardian, Ranger, Mage, and Paladin. In the future the Assassin, Mystic, and Warlock because these classes need to be reworked. Already, one of my regular classes has been taken off the table and the game isn't even out yet.

Graphically the game looks appealing. It's set in a high fantasy environment which does spark at least a little interest but that's not enough to draw a crowd. Looking at the footage, the game does ring similar bells to that of Lineage II, so for perhaps that's a plus?

A bonus to the game that I've discovered is that Neowiz is self publishing it, meaning that they will have full control over the monetization system. It won't be taken over by greedy publishers who have a different vision than the game developer. So, perhaps this developer will stick to their claims but keep in mind, they will need to make money back somehow. We shall see how this goes for the company.

Here's the thing: Publishing an MMO is a huge undertaking, and I hope for the Korean based company, Bless Online has some decent success at the outset. After the initial hype dies down, then we'll be able to see if the game holds itself up.

You see, this isn't a story based game that has a linear or dynamic storyline that comes to a satisfying end. We are talking about a game style that will need regular updating, balancing, content additions, and its fair share of gold farmers who will destroy the online gaming space. Let's face it, that will happen. And in terms of the trolling and flaming, the game hasn't been launched in Early Access yet and already there is drama.

Not only that, but the developers have to make sure that the servers can handle the server load. I say that because Neowiz is including an open world PVP system. Part of the reason that Blizzard did away with it in World of Warcraft is because the players crashed the servers. One of those instances was an epic showdown between the Alliance and the Horde in southern Durotar. I think it wasn't long after that when open world PVP ceased to exist. Anyways, from what I understand, the kicker to this is the only way a player can avoid the world PVP is to buy an item out of the shop. Do you want to die all the time while questing? Because that's what's going to happen in Bless Online! Ugh.

Blessed are the Good for they shall inherit something?

The game does have some things going for it though. Hans Zimmer has written the music for the game which will add to the high fantasy atmosphere. He's a brilliant composer and has worked on a large number of films to his credits. While the music in the announcement trailer (linked below) is amazing, I don't feel as though it fits the genre all that well. I'm not sure what the intended result was meant to be but it's a bit of a disconnect.

Bless Online also has a feature to allow players to tame any creature in the world to use as a mount. If there is any big selling point (although the irony of calling this as a selling point is amusing to say the least), this fact makes the game mildly appealing.

Despite those two features, I'm going to pass on playing the game. It's difficult for me to justify playing another MMO for a minimum of 50 hours just to become decent at a game that I'm not completely invested in from the start. I know that many people will be giving the Korean developed MMO a shot but I won't be one of them due to lack of interest and time constraints.

Early access is set to launch May 29th for those who bought the Founders Pack and May 30th for everyone else.

Here's the Announcement Trailer for the game,

What are your thoughts on Bless Online? Will it survive the original launch or no? Leave a comment below.

Until next time.

Article by Susan N.

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Jaggy's Corner! - Saturday May 12

This week I'm going to talk about all things MMO starting with updates to Guild Wars 2 and then following it up with Neverwinter's new module.

Guild Wars 2

Earlier in the week ArenaNet let the community know about patch updates, which is less exciting than the bigger news they announced. In the near future, ArenaNet has been working hard on updating something that has been ignored up until this point. While they've been great at keeping their promise to add new content every quarter, they've slacked on other things like guild missions, dungeons, and underwater combat.

As you may know, underwater combat has always been despised by the masses. For example, I used to do weekly guild missions where the easy bounty would always be Brekkabek or Poobadoo. Poobadoo wades through water on his path and if a guild starts the fight in it, he becomes MUCH harder to defeat. It's partly due to the lack of mobility underwater and partly due to the lack of weapon choices and/or abilities on those weapons. To summarize, it's not an experience that most people enjoy, myself included.

On the Guild Wars 2 channel, Rubi had the devs talk about why they chose to focus on the underwater aspect of the game. Hopefully, they do this system justice because other MMOs have not served the underwater combat system well.

My case and point is a zone called Vashj'ir in World of Warcraft. The whole place had quests completely underwater and many did not like the zone.

Another zone that Blizzard changed in WoW was Thousand Needles. It went completely underwater because of the Cataclysm (an expansion that many felt led the game down hill. Personally that wasn't the expansion that led me to quit the game.)

This isn't to say that underwater combat is terrible, it's to say that I'm skeptical about it walking in. Regardless of my skepticism, I will keep an open mind with the update when it releases.

More information about the update can be listened to on Guild Chat

Watch Guild Chat: Underwater Combat from GuildWars2 on www.twitch.tv

Neverwinter Module

A week or two ago I picked up Neverwinter after four years of absense. In those couple of weeks I've done a ton of research on gearing up my character, finding the best zones to explore, and pulled out my hair trying to find an appreciable guide or map. WHY DON'T THESE THINGS EXIST?! All I want is a map to say “Underdark (iLvl 8k+)” because when I first came back, I walked into places that kicked my ass so damn hard that I had to use a scroll to GTFO. Truly.

As for the guides, all I was looking for was something to say, “By the way, if you don't have 85% ARPen, then it's not worth walking into this zone.” Seriously! Knowing that ONE THING would have saved me 40 gold and a stack or two of potions!

Anyways, the reason I'm talking about Neverwinter is because Perfect World is launching a new module in a little over a month!

This module is set in Ravenloft. (Keep in mind that Neverwinter is based in the Dungeon's and Dragons universe. If you aren't familiar with Ravenloft in D&D, do some research. The campaign setting has been around since at least AD&D with the dreaded THAC0 system... But that's a whole other conversation.)

Here is the official announcement page though I'm going to briefly highlight some of the changes.

This is what I've uncovered about module 13 “Ravenloft”.

• Players start in a zone called “Barovia”
• The home screen has been revamped. In fact, it even gives tips for new level 70s
• AD maximum is 100k per account (up from 25k per character to infinite characters. The 100k per account is meant to curb botting.)
• Features a new day/night cycle which affects the mobs depending on the time of day
• New hunts are available
• A new dungeon called “Castle of Ravenloft”
• A new swarming bat mount which sports a new ability
• Will release on June 26th

After jumping through some hoops, I managed to jump into the public test server to try the new zone out. So far I'm super excited, I mean, you give me vampires and I'm all over it. When guildies mentioned the new bat mount, I became more excited. We know where my priorities lie...

Creatures in the new zone were much tougher than I expected them to be, even with the higher level gear to help survivability. And I like the new story direction, despite not having caught up to the current module. (Soon! I can get into Chult without dying horribly now.)

I especially like the addition of the Tarokka Deck which is modelled after a traditional Tarot Deck. There are 54 cards in the deck which consists of High Deck cards, Swords, Stars, Glyphs, and Coins. Each card allows player to get a different boon OR a different challenge. Some of these cards will increase the amount of damage the creatures will do to your character. If defeated at a higher difficulty, then players earn higher rewards. Once you complete the deck, you gain an artifact. It's a nifty addition in my humble opinion.

Anyways, I think that I've given enough of information without spoiling much of the new module. As a returning player, I'm excited for module 13. (Also, module 13?! A factor that isn't lost on me...)

There are lots of exciting additions to MMO's lately and not enough time to play the ones I enjoy.

Until next time!

Article by Susan N.

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