Wizard101:Sunken City Dungeon Guide
May 25, 2009 Articles Recommend|906views
After defeating Lord Nightshade, you will discover a place called Nightside. The door to Nightside is hidden behind the waterfall near the Rainbow Bridge in the Wizard City Commons. Apparently, the Death School fell into a ravine! Here, you can learn the remaining Death School spells and some taunt/de-taunt spells as well. Further, the entrance to the Sunken City is in Nightside. Marla Stinger needs to prove that Grubb exists, and you are tasked to help her.
Sunken City is the first “dungeon” in Wizard 101. What’s a dungeon? Dungeons are instanced/private zones in Wizard 101 which are more difficult than the other areas in the same world. When you are about to enter a dungeon, you are prompted with a warning which tells you that the area will reset if you are gone for 30+ minutes and approximately how long it takes to complete. Sounds like fun!
Preparation
Always have your health, mana, and potion(s) filled before entering a dungeon. Always make sure you are “friends” with everyone joining you in the dungeon - this makes life much easier as you can warp to them if you fall behind or are defeated. Setup your deck to fight groups of monsters (AoE spells), and leave the minion spells out if you have a full group of four. With Sunken City, you really want to finish-up your Wizard City quests and travel on to Krokotopia first. Why? The quest that leads you into Krok gives you another potion. This will help more than you think in Sunken City.
Not in Kansas Anymore…
Sunken City doesn’t mess around. I thought Wizard 101 was too easy, until my wife and I duo’d Sunken City at level 14. The sidewalks are no longer safe - the monsters will pull you from quite a distance sometimes. For the street fights, expect 2 enemies + 1 enemy per extra player character. Further, the typical “street mob” has ~500 health (compared to ~175 health in Wizard City). Needless to say, Sunken City is not for the feint of heart.
The Rundown
(note: my experience was strictly solo or duo - the number of enemies may change if you have a full group)
Marla Stinger promises to meet you inside the Sunken City to begin your search for Grubb. However, she’s not right inside the entrance. A batch of street minions will jump you before you have a chance to say “is your homework assignment *this* important”? After you dispose of the minions (or learn the hard way that you’re just not that tough), Marla Stinger sends you on your first quest within the dungeon. Simple enough - figure out how to open a gate. This will bring you to a nearby tower where you must face-off against three elite wailing wraiths (death). Be sure to read the book (Tome of Decay) within the tower before you exit.
Next on the quest list is Paulson. Enter the next tower to defeat Paulson (ghost) and his two minions. Paulson is a Death School boss, so his resistance to all death spells is jacked far higher than death minions/elites. Don’t even attempt to reduce his 800 health to 0 with death magic. You could use life magic, but Paulson and his minions pack life shields. You’re better off using any other kind of magic. Defeating Paulson will give you the “Knock” scroll, which opens the second gate.
This brings us to the most grueling part of Sunken City - Norton’s tower. Welcome to five floors of Heck. This marathon doesn’t play nice like later end-stage towers (Big Ben, for example). Norton’s tower has no health or mana globes scattered about to help you on your way. Nope - you are tasked with making it all the way through the tower without reprieve. Completing the Golem Tower in Wizard City at a relatively low level will prepare you well for this marathon. Try to end each fight with a fair amount of health and save one potion for the last floor. The first floor contains he Wandering Specters (500 health, rank three elite myth). After that is an easier fight against one Wailing Wraith (death) and 1 Wandering Spectre. Up next are two Wailing Wraiths. On the 4th floor, you will encounter 1 Wailing Wraith and one Living Scarecrow (675 health, fire). The final battle against Norton (Balance Boss) and his two Wandering Spectres would be a tough one normally - but, you are asked to do it after four floors of dueling! Balance has no opposite school, so it becomes a straight-up slug-fest. Hopefully, you have enough ammunition! Defeating Norton will give you the Skeleton Key, which is needed to gain entrance to Grubb’s castle.
After Norton’s tower, you make your way to Grubb’s castle. Grubb is a rank three death boss with 1,000 health. As with Paulson, don’t even bother with death spells against Grubb - his resistance is just too high. Grubb is accompanied by two Living Scarecrows, so this fight isn’t exactly a walk in the park. Try to kill the scarecrows first and then take down Grubb - less total enemies is always easier to deal with. Plus, Death bosses can life drain, so you may as well save Grubb for last.
Congratulations! You found proof of Grubb’s existence and validated Marla’s homework assignment. More importantly, you can wear the title of “Sunken City Survivor” - you earned it!
Tips & Tricks
After you defeat an enemy on the street, that enemy will remain defeated - there is no respawn!
I’ve read numerous posts about Sunken City around the internet, and some people believe you cannot warp to/from Wizard City while you and your friends are in Sunken City. This is wrong! As long as one of your friends remains in the dungeon to “hold” it, you can freely warp back and forth to Wizard City to refill potions and gain health/mana. Use this to your advantage!
If you are defeated in a close fight and your friends don’t know if they’ll pull it off, FLEE! Drink a potion, and warp right back to the fight. You might just save the day.
If you are a seasoned MMO veteran, Sunken City will probably be your first major challenge in Wizard 101. Finding a reliable group could be troublesome, but the badge is worth the effort. Don’t expect to be challenged at this level again until Marleybone, Kensington Park…. but, that is another story.
Tags: Wizard101
Freesky Online: Terraforming
May 25, 2009 Freesky Online|547views
Freesky Online (http://fo.igg.com) allows you to build an Empire from the dust of the earth. You get to watch your cities grow and flourish like roses in a garden. However, when the garden gets crowded, and you want more roses, what do you do? Let terraforming take the guesswork out of your plans for your Empire. When you need a resource you don’t have space for, you can terraform other land into whatever you need!
Terraforming can have huge benefits for your Empire, no matter what kind of development you have planned. Both Economic and Militaristic Empires have resources they need, and both often have a limited space for them. This is where terraforming comes into play. Let’s say you need to increase Sand production. Simply look at your resource fields and find ones that you either don’t need, or don’t need now, then terraform them into Deserts to boost Sand production. For those players more focused on the economic side of imperial expansion, focusing production on one or two types of resources will cut the cost of constructing unnecessary buildings, in addition to saving skill points from being wasted on upgrading buildings you don’t really need.
Terraforming gives you a whole selection of land to choose from, including Plains, Deserts, Lakes, Mountains, and Woodland, each with their own available resources and ore.
Freesky Online is the new Empire building game from IGG that lets players design and develop an Empire, forge alliances, and fight for control of the world!
For more information, here.
Tags: Freesky Online
The Chronicles of Spellborn:Paragraph of Timed Strike -hot fix-
May 24, 2009 Articles Recommend|182views
The Patch 1.0.4.2 is now in place on all of the Spellborn servers.
1. General
• Fixed an issue where players could no longer receive mails in-game
• The Free To Play Fame Level cap has been raised to 9.9! New players will now be able to complete more quests in Hawksmouth and Aldenvault
• The tutorial has been slightly extended to explain new players how to place newly acquired skills in their Skill Deck
2. World
• Added a detection mechanic toward the player, for Pooch and Tack in Citadel of Ail
• Added a timer so that the Demon Room event now ends at 0:00 (CEST)
• Removed Health Bars from Hoppies all over the world
• Adjusted the light maps for Demon Chamber stairs
3. Quests & Lore
• Fixed an issue with broken chat requirements for the quest “More Than One Helping Hand”
• Fixed an issue with the crystals being broken in the quest “The Crystal Theory”
• Changed the re-spawn rate of the Finks for the quest “The Hills have A Lot of Eyes”
4. Combat
• Absolute Bonus Damage is now scaled toward the Damage it modifies.
5. Sound & Music
• Added new ambience sounds and music for the Demon Chamber.
6. Economy
• Increased the drop rate chances for the Key of Cowardice
• Decreased the drop rate for the Urvhail key
7. Arena
• Several fixes has been made to the Arena:
- the matching rules have been improved
- when less players than required for the match team size are queued up in a skirmish match, the free spots are filled up with (free) random players
- skirmish: whenever a player leaves while waiting for a matching opposing team, the team goes back to the waiting list to fill up the empty spot with a random player
• Fixed an issue with the Arena, where choosing a “rematch” would previously start before the match was over
2029 Online:Alpha Begins May 24th
May 24, 2009 2029 Online|187views
It’s been a long time coming, but the day is almost here! The 2029 Online (http://2029.igg.com) Alpha release date has been set and were ready to rock! We’ve been eagerly waiting for 2029 to be released into Alpha testing so our players can see the lush post-apocalyptic world they’ll soon be fighting for. Mark your calendars for May 24th at 10:00 pm EDT (GMT-4) and be ready to download the official client. Testers can enter the game using their Alpha accounts.
Alpha testers should take note that all character data will be wiped out after the test, so don’t get too attached to your characters. However, all our hard working testers will receive a special elite weapon worth $50 during the Closed Beta that should more than make up for it.
The 2029 Online Alpha test will begin at 10:00 pm May 24th EDT (GMT-4). We are proud to give our dedicated players the opportunity to be the first to see this unique, action packed game. Testers can enter the game during the Alpha phase with their activated Alpha accounts. To get off to a good start, check out the following Notes.
Read more here.
Tags: 2029 Online
Final Fantasy XI:Getting Maat’s Cap
May 24, 2009 FFXI|568views
Adventurers of Van’adiel love to run around town in their hard-earned gear, showing off their achievements in the game. So why not start the quest that will reward you with one of the most ‘fashionable’ head pieces in the game to show off around town, that also is a wonderful piece to macro in for situational use? The truth is, Maat’s Cap is a wonderful hat to macro in for weaponskills, SATA, straight tanking, jumps, cures, nuking, etc. and the added enchantment of Ru’lude Gardens warp isn’t bad either. So why doesn’t every player have this hat? The versatility and potential of this hat would make it a wonderful addition to every adventurer’s wardrobe, and the fact that all jobs can wear it entices even the laziest leveler to level up some jobs to be able to equip the hat. So what? How do you get it? It’s simple, to obtain Maat’s Cap, you must complete the quest “Beyond the Sun”, which is accomplished by defeating Maat with Bard, Beastmaster, Black Mage, Dark Knight, Dragoon, Monk, Ninja, Paladin, Ranger, Red Mage, Samurai, Summoner, Thief, Warrior and White Mage in the 70 cap quest called Shattering Stars.
So it’s simple, right? Beat Maat on every pre-CoP job, and then he gives you his hat. It’s a lot harder than that: First, you must have these fifteen jobs leveled to at least 66, which is the minimum level to enter the battlefield “shattering stars” , in order to even begin this quest. Second, you actually have to beat Maat for it to count towards your progress in the quest. You can repeat the battle as many times as possible until you actually defeat him, but defeating him can be hard, depending on the job. At level 66, it’s possible to beat Maat, yet it usually requires capped skills, expensive gear, and taxing meds and food. Even with the best gear, food, and capped skills, a win isn’t guaranteed at level 66, so it would be smart to take into other things such as moon phase (if you’re leveling Summoner, for example), the particular day (for Black Mage, Red Mage, etc.), and what time it is (for Ninja). All of these aspects will help you beat the relentless Maat the 15 times required for your hat.
Maat’s Cap will be a very arduous piece of equipment to obtain if you are the perfectionist that enjoys wearing the most expensive, hard to obtain equipment for whatever job you’re leveling at the time. If this is the case for you, and you love playing Final Fantasy at your own slow-paced speed, then trying to speed your way to a Maat’s Cap won’t be any fun at all for you. If this applies to you, then simply level these jobs at your own pace, getting the jobs you enjoy all the way to 75, and the jobs you don’t particularly care for to 66, fighting Maat only when you feel your character is able to defeat him. If you play like this, don’t expect your Maat’s Cap any time soon, if ever, but that’s just how some people are. For you more fast-paced players that can get a job to 75 in three weeks, the thought of a Maat’s Cap is more viable, and the reality of actually having one is a reality that can actually happen pretty soon with some hard work.
Here’s some pretty decent advice when starting Maat’s Cap quest and not knowing where to begin: Unlock (if you haven’t already) all the extra jobs at the same time, and level all of them to 20 before you do anything else with them. This is made possible, because, through level 20 most gear is interchangeable between jobs, separated only by mages and DD’s. So pick up some versatile, cheap armor, and spam through every job through the dunes, and decide which jobs you want to do from there. As disgusting as leveling 15 jobs through the dunes consecutively sounds, after you finally finish, then you’ll never need to go back through that step in this quest again, and you’ll thank yourself for doing that later, I promise. With every job unlocked, and every job at least level 20, the ‘hardest’ part of getting every job to 66 is finally done - with the horrible events that happen in the depths of noob-infested Valkurm Dunes, Qufim Island will be very promising — and now it’s time for some classic, grinding experience points parties in FFXI.
If you’re serious about obtaining your Maat’s Cap, then it would be very wise to conserve and recycle Gil as much as possible, spending large amounts for items only when you absolutely have to. The good thing about leveling up many jobs at once is that a lot of jobs typically wear the same gear at those respective levels. A Scorpion Harness, though expensive, can be used by almost all of your DD jobs that need accuracy, so it’s wise to purchase these expensive, yet necessary items. For job-specific gear, such as Scythe’s, Great Axes, Long Swords, Guns, Bows, etc. that you’re sure you’ll only use once, it would be wise to re-sell these items as soon as you level out of them, to effectively recycle your Gil. This will ensure that a little bit of Gil can go a long way, and also that your inventory slots won’t be maxed out on unused items.
There are some jobs, Summoner for example, that has essential items, that are unfortunately rare/ex, and some time must be spent to obtain them. Unfortunately these items are pretty much essential to the job, and time must be spent in order to receive them. So you can either take the time to receive these items the same day you unlock all the jobs, as you aren’t even leveling them up at this point, or you can do them while you’re completely exhausted from leveling, and need to do something else before you collapse from boredom. Some necessities that can be received fairly easily (and free!) include: some ichi spells for your ninja, all the summons, Carbuncle’s Mitt’s, Evoker’s Ring, for Summoner, RSE for all jobs, and selected AF, there are some items you simply must get for survival in the experience points party world.
I hope this guide hasn’t scared you off from trying to obtain Maat’s Cap, rather, I hope it has served as a source of inspiration for all aspiring adventurer’s out there wishing to obtain one of the most powerful headpieces in the game. So now it’s time, absorb what I’ve told you, kiss your social (or endgame) life away, and prepare to be the envy of all your friends.
Tags: Final Fantasy XI
Freesky Online: Open Beta on Its Way
May 23, 2009 Freesky Online|205views
Freesky Online has been enjoying a very successful Closed Beta. Within just 72 hours 200,000 players from almost 200 different countries help us to make this CB one of our best ever! Today we are also happy to report that the Open Beta will be available on May 22nd EDT (GMT-4).
Although the Closed Beta has been a definite success, that doesn’t mean there haven’t been setbacks. We’ve been busy fixing bugs, adjusting code and improving the overall feel of the game. With 5 servers launched to date, and so many problems resolved, we expect that Freesky has a bright future ahead in Open Beta!
We’re so excited about the Open Beta we have a special event planned for our players to enjoy right off the bat! Our Treasure Box Party is going to be a big hit with players being able to open 80 treasure boxes each day. This means 30 extra boxes containing various resources, gold, and airships for players to enjoy everyday!
Tags: Freesky Online
Galaxy Online: New Corps System Preview
May 23, 2009 Galaxy Online|350views
Recently the Galaxy Online development team has been working hard to improve and enrich the corps system. After next week’s scheduled maintenance, new functions will be introduced to Corps.
a)The corps founder will still be the Corps Colonel by default. Corps Colonels are the leader of the corps and control all corps functions. Corps Colonels will also be able to design/change corps badge and transfer the position to other members of the corps as they see fit.
b)Each corps will consist of 1 Corps Colonel, at most 3 Vice-Colonels, 1 Chief of Staff and other members.
c)Vice-Colonels and the Chief of Staff are able to recruit/remove common members and edit the corps bulletin.
d)Other members will be graded at different levels according to their contribution to the corps and shootdown. The titles are Private Soldiers, Corporals, Sergeants, Pilot Officers, First Lieutenants, Captains, Majors and Group Captains from low to high. The official rank will affect the player’s jurisdiction in the later development.
Tags: Galaxy Online
Free Realms:First Impressions
May 23, 2009 Articles Recommend|321views
During a recent family gathering, I was explaining MMOs to my dad, the guy who still doesn’t believe that adults can earn their livings making and playing these things. In trying to explain the success of World of Warcraft, I hypothesized that WoW was a gazillion seller because they understand that the rats in the skinner box want a pellet every…single…time they whack a bar.
Free Realms gives you a pellet for thinking about whacking the bar, reaching for the bar, almost hitting the bar, hitting yourself in the face instead, hitting the bar, and raising your hand to whack the bar again.
Naming involves spinning three wheels. Or, you can pick your own name, and spin three wheels for the name you’ll use until your chosen name is approved. Character creation is light and cheerful, with tons of cosmetic options. Well, character creation is entirely cosmetic, because your traditional RPG stats are completely hidden from you. They do exist, in a limited sense (in the game, items and potions can increase your health, your mana, your ability to hit stuff with weapons, your ability to hit stuff with magic, your offense, and your defense), but everyone starts out exactly the same.
The tutorial is a work of genius. You cannot click past many components. Even those that can be clicked past have a voiceover that can’t be skipped. In short order you learn movement, NPC and object interaction (left clicking, not right, which required major brain rewiring for me), the basic minigame, and the basics of combat. You also get a feel for the tone of the game, which is that everyone is gosh darn glad to see you.
And then you’re in.
Anyone with plain exclamation points over their heads are eager to get your help with this or that, or to teach you a career. People with winged exclamation points are only willing to talk to those of you that shelled out your five bucks a month. Five of the fourteen careers are subscriber only.
There are lots of minigames. Lots. Seriously, more than once I thought I was in an elaborately reskinned version of MSN Games http://zone.msn.com/en-us/home . There’s chess, checkers, hideously addictive RTS games (Command and Conquer, but with happy little penguins and bees), simulators, trace-the-glowy-pattern-with-the-mouse, and probably more. But the main game you will play if you want to harvest cooking or crafting components is sort of a Bejeweled/Chuzzle thing. You will play this for hours. You will play this in a mindless haze until your wrist cramps up… or until your 60+ year old mother wanders in and says brightly, “How about that! I’m a gamer like you! I play a similar game all the time!”
Travel is a delight. Once you discover a warpstone, you can fly there whenever you want, however often you want, by opening and clicking on your map. Rather than stifle exploration, this feature encourages exploration. You’ve got nothing to lose by running off down a mysterious path, or getting distracted by side quests, because you can pop back to any city you want in seconds.
The look is cartoony, but very, very clean. The art direction is miraculously consistent, with every environment, every set piece, every item, and every prop working together. The world has been designed so everything you touch, see, and hear is a little bit of sunshine.
For example: The coins your dead enemies drop appear in a shiny pile of gold, and when you pick them up (no keyboard commands or clicking - run over the pile like a console RPG) there’s a metallic jingle, a musical serenade, and an enthusiastic text message.
Tickets, coins, points, stars - everything you do gets at least one reward, and usually several. Stars can be spent adding levels to your attack skills. Tickets are taken to the Royal Vault to be traded for a random prize. Coins buy components for crafting, armor, and potions. I’m not clear on what the points are for - probably the gazillion leaderboards, although the website has been unable to display those to me for the last week.
There is a microtransaction level to Free Realms - you can just buy your potions and armor if you’d rather. Honestly, it’s not necessary. As of this writing, I have careers ranging from level two to level ten, and I’ve never come close to running out of coins.
It’s light, it’s fun, and I find myself logging into it more often than I do with my various traditional MMOs - because it’s the first MMO where I genuinely felt like I could accomplish something fun in fifteen minutes. The browser based platform (and associated bandwidth needs) make it as portable as my iPod. I mean, I knocked out two quests and a Mining level while I was killing time at the airport.
And yet, I wonder if “MMO” is really a fair name. This is a first impressions article, and my full review is still a week or more away. It’s possible I just haven’t gotten to the cooperative bits. Still, I see lots of other people running around, but no one is talking. The chat window feels like an afterthought, a vestigial remnant of the designer’s MMO roots. I have yet to encounter any content that encourages grouping, let alone demands that I group. It’s in the game, I suppose. I clicked on someone else once (she was blocking the forge), and an array of options popped up. But unlike traditional MMO open chat channels, or traditional MMO content, there is no point or pleasure in interaction with other people.
My first impression, though, is that if you haven’t given it a try, you’re missing a fun game. I’ve watched kids from five to twelve enjoy the heck out of it. I’m enjoying the heck out of it. And if the hordes of Bejeweled fans out there discover this product, forget what you think you know about the potential for MMO success. The designers of Free Realms are going to spend the rest of their lives drinking margaritas in the sun.
Tags: Free Realms
World of Warcraft:Trouble with Ulduar
May 21, 2009 world of warcraft|424views
It’s all really the same. All bosses before Ulduar were “hard” at some point. Sure, people just went in and cleared the content, cause we had a preemptive strategy to work off of. All of the kind hearted players who ran the Naxxramas content in the “Vanilla WoW”, and even the lucky few who ran through during The Burning Crusade, all knew what they were up against, and all had an idea of what was going to happen in there. So, when the time came in Wrath of the Lich King, people knew exactly what to do in these fights and situations, which were toned down slightly and revamped for 10 and 25 players, rather than the classic 40.
;)
Ulduar, The new raid dungeon introduced in patch 3.1, is only hard for some, due to its “newness”. As a collective, the players who were experiencing the endgame content in the initial installment of wrath, were asking for and craving a challenge that would take them time to complete. Blizzard’s answer was Ulduar. With its release, people were rushing to the area to view the new dungeon, and Northrend and servers were crashing left and right. While some were able to clear and have content down the launch night, the world first Yogg-Saron kill, came to Ensida, only two days after the patch was released. People have questioned whether or not the guild had pushed themselves too far and too hard, or if they were coordinated and geared enough to do it without much error. Others complained that the content was far too hard to be completed even by classic “hardcore” raider standards.
Now in the recent patch of 3.1.1, there have been some noted changes in the fight, making it so that some mobs and adds that appear during a few of the boss fights can be snared and controlled, making it easier for some of the people to progress into. This falls under the list of bugs that are becoming less apparent, but they have fixed the issue with pets and minions not being able to attack Kologarm. Blizzard also hot fixed an issue with being able to sneak past some mobs leading up to the Mimiron fight, some argue that they are making the fights easier.
;)
While the instance has been difficult for some players who can’t PUG the raid, and some guilds have even disbanded over the difficulty and drama that result from the instance, some people are regretting that this instance may be “too hard”. Comparing to some similar past events, this raid could be similar to the installment of The Black Temple or Sunwell Plateau raids, that were released some time ago during the end of The Burning Crusade. In the end, the initial intent by Blizzard with this new raid was to bring in a raid that would, “Amaze and blow people away” with its gear, graphics, design and challenges. This goal has been met.
;)
Many guilds, and their management, are now gearing up, recruiting and retracing their steps through the old instances, collecting any missing gear, glyphs, and rethinking their actions and rotations with the new changes to many of the classes and abilities that Patch 3.1 has brought. Some who had relied heavily on the abilities and moves that they have grown used to over the past near five months since the release of patch 3.0, have dubbed this patch the “worst patch ever” and a ruiner of the game. While some have either left or are taking a break, their voices can still be heard on the official community forums, located on the World of Warcraft website.
So, a new question has risen with this insertion of “Hard” endgame content. Will this be the first and only time that Blizzard listens to the player base and inserts what is asked for, a “hard raid” that requires planning, training and strategies? Or will this be a harbinger of what is come in later patches. We have yet to fully get into the area of Icecrown, though with the introduction of the Argent Tournament, you are placed in the direct vicinity of the Icecrown Citadel in their later quests. I could not wait longer, and went around to ask some players what they thought of the new instance. The initial thought was that many players I spoke with are wondering “If Ulduar is this hard, what will the Citadel be like?” and “Will Blizzard make Arthas as bad, mean and tough as the lore and story makes him out to be?” Over time, we will tell.
Tags: world of warcraft
Cronous Launched in Taiwan
May 21, 2009 Articles Recommend|253views
Seoul, Korea – May 21, 2009 – Lizard Interactive announced that XtraVision Entertainment, strategic partner in Taiwan, officially started service of the globally played fantasy MMORPG title Cronous for Taiwan last May 20, 2009. The decision to start official service came only after five days of Open Beta Testing and no Closed Beta Testing. Cronous is already serviced in many major countries and stable, so CBT was deemed unnecessary. OBT started on May 15 and the number of concurrent users quickly climbed to over 5,000. With a major Taiwan holiday coming up, it was decided to start official service on May 20 with special opening celebration events.
Lizard CEO Sang Wook Lee stated that the successful launch was in main part due to the detailed market studies and major promotional campaigns by XtraVision in all the major media platforms.
Cronous is a long running fantasy MMORPG title developed by Lizard Interactive using its own proprietary 3D game engine. As with other Lizard Interactive MMORPGs, Cronous is constantly updated and renewed to meet the needs of today’s gamers.
XtraVision Entertainment is a Taiwanese publisher of such popular titles as RAN Online, MoonShake Online and Secret Adventure Online.
Tags: Cronous
Skills in Darkfall Online
May 20, 2009 Articles Recommend|386views
In this article, we are going to take a deeper look into one of the core game mechanics of Darkfall Online, the skill system. Having a skill system in and of itself is a vast departure from the more mainstream mmorpgs such as World of Warcraft or Everquest. In Darkfall you are simply a sum of your various skills. You have no level, no class, and when you die…you will have no gear. Pretty much the only thing you can take with you are your skills. There are many skills in Darkfall ranging from melee skills, magic skills, crafting skills, and general skills (like running and swimming). To increase a skill, simply use it. For instance if I put an axe in my hand, and begin whacking away on a monsters (or player!) my axe skill will begin to increase. If I switch to a sword, my sword skill will begin to increase. Now magic has an extra skill set, the spells themselves. All magic spells are grouped into different magic “schools”. You begin with Lesser Magic, and after you reach a skill level of 50, you can buy the Greater Magic skill. Once you reach 50 in Greater Magic you have a good many more magic schools that become available for purchase. 
So when I cast Mana Missile for instance (one of the two spells your start the game with), both my Lesser Magic skill as well as the spell itself will increase. This is a great mechanic and really drives home the fact that if you neglect a skill or a spell, it won’t get better regardless of how skilled your character becomes in other facets.
One of the common criticisms you will hear about Darkfall is that skill levels mean nothing, or you only get benefits at certain points in your progression (25 skill, 50 skill, etc). The truth is that the skill system remains the most misunderstood facet in Darkfall. This is primarily for two reasons. One, the lack of manual and any concrete evidence by the developers leaves the player completely on their own to figure things out for themselves. Secondly, the few skill based games that you may have played in the past (Ultima Online, Asheron’s Call) had skill systems that differed from Darkfall. So most newcomers assume skills work the same way. In fact it’s very logical to think that the more skill I have in swords, the more damage I will do. This is actually not the case. In terms of melee combat, your skill does two things:
- It causes you to use less stamina per swing
- It causes higher “rank” weapons to deteriorate slower
Let’s look at these two items in greater detail. First, stamina management is a huge part of combat, especially in PVP. With no stamina you cannot swing your weapon, fire your bow, parry attacks, or run away (well you could actually run away, but you can’t “sprint” away). So the longer your stamina holds out the longer you are in the fight. There are ways to regenerate your stamina faster such as food, potions, and the resting skill. Typically however, once you are out of stamina your are dead meat. Item deterioration is also a huge facet of Darkfall. Darkfall tries extremely hard to put most of the skill involved in PvP out of the die rolls, and into the hands of the player. That’s right, in-game skills are no match for player skills in the world of Darkfall. This is even more apparent when you realize that any player can equip 95% of all armor and weapons in the game from day one, the only restriction being racial requirements on epic gear which I do not believe anyone has seen at this point. This may sound like “twinking” to some, but I can assure you it’s anything but. Better items in this game obviously cost more. Costs get exponentially higher the better the “ranks” of loot become. Also, items degrade with use and cannot be repaired. That’s right… no one in Darkfall should get married to their gear. If you aren’t killed and have your gear looted, it will eventually break and vanish forever. So when you spend your hard earned gold on some new equipment, it gives the same benefit to you as it would the newbie logging into Darkfall for the first time. The difference being that it will last far longer in your hands than in the hands of the unskilled. In fact, at extremes, the high ranking items can decay over five times faster if you don’t have the appropriate skills to use them. It becomes an extremely interesting mix of allowing freedom, but making it cost you more to do so if you try and “jump the gun” so to speak.
Some skills do offer benefits when you hit certain invisible markers. For instance, in many cases reaching a skill level in one particular skill, opens up other skills for purchase. In other cases it physically makes a spell noticeably better. For instance the self heal spell that you start the game with works as a HoT (Heal Over Time). It ticks a few times adding health with each “tick”. When you reach 33.3 in the skill it gains an additional tick, and again at 66.6. Your skill in between (33.4 - 66.5) increases your overall health earned per tick.
Not everything is so cut and dry however. Skills like “run” (not to be confused with “sprint”), which claims to make you run faster, don’t seem to do anything. I have raced several people in the game with my maxed run skill and regardless of the other player’s skill, we seem to run the exact same speed. These instances only seem to amplify the confusion. The misnomers and confusion grows even larger when you throw attributes into the mix. It’s widely believed that your attributes can greatly benefit your skills. For instance, higher Intelligence will add to your spell results. Since your intelligence slowly goes up as your cast magic, it’s very hard to tell where the added bonuses are actually coming from. I am sure all of this will become clearer over time as more crafty players run tests and reach higher levels in both skill and attributes. But it sure would be nice to have a more basic understanding of what everything does, especially because the skill system works so differently than other skill based mmorpgs out there. There really is no excuse for not being clear and concise about exactly what various skills and abilities do, without necessarily giving us the math behind it.
Last but not least I want to touch on actual player skill. Darkfall did something that I have not seen in years. They brought player skill back mmorpgs in a big way. Many mmorpgs suffer from the cloning effect. At a certain point in my character development I am essentially a carbon copy of anyone else at the same point in their career. The same spells, same damage, etc. Darkfall throws all of that completely out the window by allowing the skill of the actual player to play a huge role in the outcome of nearly everything you do. This is primarily because you have what I call “active combat”, similar to Dungeons and Dragons Online. This means that you can choose to block with your shield or weapon whenever you want. It’s not a button on a hotbar you push, you can map it to any key on the keyboard and try and physically block attacks at will. Combat does not have a “die roll style” hit or miss system either. Hits and misses are entirely up to you, much like a first person shooter. If you aim your bow or spell at an enemy and you are off, the attack simply misses the intended target. If you are dead on you hit, without exception. This is a blessing for any gamer who felt it ridiculous to stand point blank in the face of an enemy and somehow miss with your attack. The same holds true for melee attacks. If your crosshair is on your enemy at the time your weapon comes around, you hit. It’s that simple. Regardless of how you feel about the game, it’s great to see a developer put so much emphasis on the skill of the person sitting behind the keyboard, instead of how much time they have physically spent in the world itself.
Tags: Darkfall
Silkroad Online:Unique Monsters, Part Two
May 20, 2009 Silkroad|1,121views
BeakYung The White Viper
BeakYung is like no other Unique monster in all of Silkroad Online. But wait! You can’t get to Medusa unless you enter her realm and kill her Guardians.
At 0400, 1000, 1600, 2200 hours SRST (Silkroad Standard time) the Serin Gate opens at the center of the B4 level of the Qin-Shi Tomb. People generally start meeting up there in the half hour prior so it’s a good place to get a party. The gate will only stay open for 10 minutes and once it closes you cannot enter the B5 level. If you disconnect while inside or teleport town town, you will respawn at the gate on B4, not even reverse returns will get you back inside.
The B5 area is like a cross and you have four choices of where to proceed. Four Guardians are at the end of each arm the cross. They are as follows: North room is JeonUk The Black Tortoise, south room is YumJae The Red Hawk, west room is TaeHo The Blue Dragon and east is SoHaow The White Tiger.
JeonjUk The Black Tortoise
At level 98 the north room “Turtle” is probably the easiest of the four rooms. His attacks are slow and cause knockback, knockdown and shortsight (decreased range). A good tactic for quick defeat is to place a tank at the front and attack the Turtle from behind and his effects will not reach you.
YumJae The Blue Hawk
The south’s Guardian is level 98 and the second easiest of the four. Electric shock (reduces parry) and stun make him a bit harder than the Turtle north of him. His range is quite long and his stun can affect 5 players at once. There is no real trick to killing him, just bear with the stuns and use holy spell to reduce shock time.
TaeHo The Blue Dragon
This level 99 Guardian is in the west room and he is the easier of the two 99 Guardians. He is fast and his attacks cause electrical shock but at a low probability. There is no real trick to killing him and he is a good boss to drop those top tier 10th degree items.
SoHaow The White Tiger
This is the hardest of the four Guardians. Level 99 and in the east room, his attack are the strongest and the most annoying. His attacks are physical and his stun probability is 80% so unless you bring a warlock along to keep him slept or stunned be prepared for a long fight. Having a lock will cut the kill time in half.
Shinmoo: The Man of Flames
Once all four rooms are cleared level 100 Shinmoo spawns in the SW corner of the center room. He was a warrior who came to Medusa to kill her and take her blood to cure his lover of poison but he lost and became her minion. He appears as a 10th degree armor wearing spearman in berserk status. His attacks cause burn, stun and fear (causes you to lose target). The best tactic to kill him is to let the tank keep aggro and attack from a distance. He has a lot of hit points but there are usually a lot of people there after the four other Guardians go down. This is the first and one of only three monsters in the entire game that will drop level 100 gear so getting the kill for your party is a real boon.
Once Shinmoo dies the three blue crystal portals in the center room become operational. They are located at the southeast, northeast and northwest corners of the room. Each of them teleport you to a random room on the B6 level and contain one of three possible secondary Guardians. They are one way portals, so it’s a gamble if you get something you don’t like or want.
The Guardian Chamber: You can get a series of level 92 - 99 monsters with four spawning at a time. As each set dies, the next one spawns. This is the easiest and fastest of the rooms and will get you to Medusa the quickest.
The Man-viper Chamber: The four Snake Generals are your second possibility. These Uniques are also on the B3 level and are level 95. They each have one spawn of mobs and are not difficult to kill.
The Black Viper Chamber: Soso the Black Viper is the third possibility and the most sought after because she is level 100 and may drop level 100 10th degree gear. Her attacks are physical with a low probability of zombie. Having a cleric with you negates even that small threat.
Once you clear your room, the teleport where you entered becomes operational again but this time it teleports you to the center room of B6. There are four large green crystal teleports that will take you to B1 through B4 levels of the tomb. If you don’t want to go for Medusa, then a nice way to cap off the raid is to teleport from the southeast corner teleport crystal (to B4) and teleport from there to B3 and kill the Snake General Unique that spawns there. If you are going to go on to kill Medusa, then go straight north for the teleport to the north room, the White Viper Chamber.<\/p>
BeakYung The White Viper
This is the highest level Unique in Silkroad Online. Affectionately known as “Medusa” or the “Snake Lady” she is level 105 and has some mean, mean attacks. She is a beautiful woman with a snake’s body from the waist down and a large rattling tail. When she was just a spirit, she fell in love with a mortal man and managed to get to the mortal plane but her lover was repelled and betrayed her. So for years she has been sealed in the Qin-Shi Tomb, refining her skills and her plans to take over the mortal realm. Medusa is mostly magical with only a physical tail attack and has no summons. She gives you several status attacks such as fear, poison, and bind. Her most frustrating attack though is her petrify attack. At regular intervals, she shoots out balls of magic and then attacks with a radiating magical field that encases anyone within it in stone. Nothing can cure it or prevent it (except being attacked by a player) and it lasts a full minute. Wizards can use teleport and the Chinese skill Phantom is the best way to avoid this attack if you are aware and see it coming. Because Medusa’s “center” is in front of where her snake body rests against the ground, attacking her from behind means her range of attack is shorter than the front. Medusa has 183,535,199 hit points so even with many parties there, Medusa is not a quick kill. The kill is much sought after because she is most likely to drop the level 100 10 degree gears. Once Medusa dies, the teleport is reactivated and you can return to the center of B6. You may teleport to any level of the tomb or you can log out and log back in which will put you at the Serin gate entrance on B4.
Unique killing is a great way to pass time in Silkroad Online and gain some notoriety for yourself. People who get multiple kills become well known and are regarded as pro players. It’s considered bad form to kill very low level Uniques but there is no restriction on level or class, all Unique kills are granted on a damage basis only. Good luck and happy Unique hunting on the Silkroad.
Tags: Silkroad Online
Freesky Online: 3 Military Development Directions
May 20, 2009 Freesky Online|271views
Freesky Online is a strategy-oriented web game that challenges players to found and then build up Empire. If players want to stand out in the future, they must have solid goals for development and clear plans about how to achieve these goals. We’ve talked about Economic development before, so today were going to be discussing the details of the other primary development strategy, strong militaristic development.
Money Then Military
Although this is a very common development strategy, the differences here are in the details. The only major drawback is the obviously insufficient military power of your Empire when its in its most crucial growth stage. Selling large amounts of resources is one way to stimulate the development of the economy in the short term, while you prepare to quickly build the military when the time is right. Because you’ll be focused on stockpiling resources to fund a military buildup that hasn’t happened yet, this can be a confusing and sometimes effective way of staying one step ahead of your enemies in the region.
Secret Strike
This means of development takes one part of the previous strategy and moves it front and center. Forget trying to jump start the economy. Forget about the mind games. Just stockpile every military resource and airship you can get your hands on, keep it secret til you’re ready and then launch a pre-emptive (surprise) attack on an enemy of your choice. This method can be devastating, and with good size Armies taking only a day or two to build, very effective. However, because it relies on secrecy and surprise, it usually can’t be used more than a few times before someone pre-emptively attacks you, so as a long term strategy, it’s not quite as useful.
Keep Your (Potential) Enemies Close
This is a very flexible development direction, because how you develop depends on what your Alliance needs. If there are many economic-oriented players in this alliance, then you’re probably going to be the muscle, and quickly developing a strong military is essential in order to protect them from danger. Remember, they got the funds you need to keep the airship production lines humming, and you have the protection they need so they don’t get mugged by a hostile army. Just make sure you let them know that they need you a lot more than you need them.
With certain items, you can take control of a war with ease. If military-oriented players use these kinds of items, enemies might even mistake them for an economy-oriented Empire and make the mistake of picking a fight. Then, you got them right where you want them…
Tags: Freesky Online
Perfect World International:Exploring the Genie System
May 19, 2009 Articles Recommend|771views
Our second expansion, “Age of Spirits”, will open up a new layer of customization for PWI players with the release of the Genie system. The Genie system allows players to further refine and add to their current skill set to make battle even more exciting.
The Genie system will allow players to access a completely new set of skills that can be interchanged and customized to their liking. This means more well-rounded players, and more strategic gameplay. In terms of PvE, players could obtain skills to help them slay monsters and bosses faster and more efficiently. In addition to the improvements in PvE battle strategies, the use of Genies will also change the way players participate in PvP, whether that be in duels or Territory Wars.
Many Genie skills are either character buffs or enemy debuffs, and sometimes both in the same skill. For example, the Virulent Poison skill will deal poison damage to the target while making your character immune to physical damage. This could be a good skill for Wizards or Archers, who are both high DPS characters but with very low vitality. Another useful skill for the lower HP characters could be Evil Ward, which makes your character immune to taking additional damage for a period of time after casting.
Many PvPers like to use spells like Silence or Stun to gain the upper-hand. With the Genies, however, a player has access to spells to negate some of these effects. Fortify will make a character immune to Stun and Will Surge will make a character immune to Silence. There are also spells that Genies can cast that will break players out of those status effects. With this in mind, the former Silence and Stun users will have to rethink their PvP strategies.
There are also many Genie skills that will improve player strategy in Territory Wars. Holy Path will increase a player’s movement speed, as well as the speed of his/her squad mates nearby to the maximum. That may just be the extra push need to win the war! Perhaps even more advantageous would be Windstorm, an ability that will deal damage to multiple targets around you and reduce their movement speed. That will definitely come in handy if you suddenly find yourself overwhelmed and need to make a quick exit.
Some spells have limitations to where they can be used, whether it be on the ground, water or in the air. Some of the air-specific spells (ones that require that you be flying) include Electro Dance, which summons thunderbirds to deal Metal damage to all targets around you in a 12 meter radius. Several Water buff spells like Heal Ripple: Birth and Acid Ripple: Luck can only be cast while in water.
There are also class specific spells. For example, Aquaflame Armor is a wizard only spell, which will decrease the amount of damage a player takes for a short while, then increase the amount of damage they take. The idea here is to temporarily buff yourself long enough to deal high damage and kill your opponent before the buff reverses.
For more class specific spells, there is also Fireball which is limited to Archers, which deals fire damage according to the amount of accuracy your character possesses. Being that archers depend on very high accuracy and dexterity, they can be assured that this spell will be very powerful.
For the Barbarians, there are skills like Solid Shield. This spell absorbs both physical and magical damage for a limited amount of time, further increasing the Barbarian’s tank ability.
All these skills can either further strengthen a player’s characteristics, or can add spells they didn’t previously have access to. It really depends on what you would like to improve most. We firmly believe that the Age of Spirits expansion, and more importantly the addition of the Genie System, will provide our users with a whole new level of customization to their gaming experience.
Tags: Perfect World
Galaxy Online: Warship Design Contest
May 19, 2009 Galaxy Online|260views
Since the opening of the International Battleground, more and more warships have been taking up advanced positions in all corners of the universe, and skirmishes between fledgling and well established Empires have been growing. Consequently, warship design has become extremely important as each Empire seeks advantages over others. Equipping ships with the proper modules not only saves resource consumption but also plays a big part in how long a fleet may last in the unforgiving emptiness of space. Which designs are the most practical, the most devastating, or the fastest? We want answers to all these questions and more, so step forward and show us what you know.
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To participate in this event, simply sign up by replying to the event thread http://forum.go.igg.com/viewthread.php?tid=3696&extra=page%3D1Â and submit your favorite blueprint of an offensive ship, defensive ship, decoy/anti-decoy and also explain what inspired you to design them in your unique way. The deadline for submissions is 20th May and a player poll will be held from 21st to 24th May to select the most popular warship designs. The top 3 blueprints of each type of the offensive ship, defensive ship and decoy/anti-decoy will then win different amounts of Karma. (Karma is the credits obtained from the forum event and can be exchanged for mall points.) We will also draw 10 lucky players among the voters, and reward them with 100 Karma each for participating.
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Hurry up! We can’t wait to see the best designs from the community.
Tags: Galaxy Online
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