All Posts by Stradden

With so many choices of characters out there, I decided I wanted to play something a little bit different from the crowd - a sorcerer who concentrates on the undead. As a nod to one of my real-life D&D characters, I'm playing a halfling sorcerer who focuses almost exclusively on necromancy spells. This is giving me a solid opportunity to see just how well that school really works in the heat of DDO combat and gives me a chance to use a specific combination of spells other than things such as Mage Armor and Burning Hands.

Sorcerers have the advantage of having lots and lots of spell points and being able to use any of their known spells at will. The downside is you're limited in spell selection, and you earn higher level spells more slowly. That means that for the first few levels you're going to have only two or three first level spells to use. So since you can cast those spells many, many times a mission, you need to make the best use of them you can.

The level 1 necromancy spells, and my little guy's main arsenal, are Chill Touch, Ray of Enfeeblement and Cause Fear. Each spell is quite powerful in its own way, and combined can affect any creature out there.

Chill Touch is particularly nasty. In DDO, this spell does a single high damage attack on living creatures, and against undead causes no damage but makes them panic and retreat from the caster. One Chill Touch can take out many low level monsters in one hit, making short work of scores of kobolds, spiders and other baddies. Against undead the fear effect means you can pummel the horror at will without fear of retribution. The main limitation for the spell is that it doesn't work on constructs like iron guardians, and its short range makes it hard to land if your intended target is chasing someone else.

When Chill Touch isn't going to do the job, Cause Fear works great on low level living creatures. The panic effect forces them to slowly back away from you and stop attacking. This is especially good against enemy casters, who are so terrified they are unable to cast spells for the duration. Cause Fear's limitations are that it only works on living creatures, and only up to a certain level of creature. If you fight something particularly high level, undead or a construct, it's no good...

A wealth of wonderful Halloween-centered art poured into the ArenaNet offices over the last several weeks, as Guild Wars players responded to the call to show their Halloween spirit with a Guild Wars theme. The variety, and the exceptional level of creativity, really impressed our team, and everyone from artist to programmer greatly enjoyed serving as judges for the contest. We’re happy to present the winners today, 25 in all. Find them on this page. And look for more Halloween goodies coming… soon.

Blizzard is proud to officially announce our upcoming World of Warcraft expansion set, World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade! Join the Horde as one of the power-driven Blood Elves, or aid the Alliance as a yet-unrevealed new race! Explore the scarred Orcish homeland of Draenor! Delve into mysterious new dungeons, engage your enemies on new battlegrounds, and acquire wondrous new items! Take up dangerous and rewarding new quests for your faction! Train in an all-new profession! Increase your might as an adventurer up to the new level cap of 70, with new spells, abilities, and talents, and meet head on the plethora of new challenges awaiting you!

We will be revealing new information about the expansion set, including the identity of the new Alliance race, as the release draws closer. Be sure to visit our new expansion site for the latest updates! Read the press release.

Time to ‘Declare Your Allegiance’ as new RF Online movie, “Episode 1,” premieres

New York (Oct. 28, 2005) – Codemasters today unveiled the latest cinematic movie for the forthcoming sci-fi & fantasy epic MMORPG RF Online. This epic movie, titled “Episode 1,” is the first released fully cinematic introduction to RF Online and is now available from the official website at www.rf-onlinegame.com

“Episode 1” features almost five minutes of non-stop RF Online beautifully rendered action and provides a brief introduction to each of the games leading factions, the Holy Alliance Cora, the Bellato Union and the mighty robotic Accretia Empire. Another movie, “Episode 2,” will follow hot on its heels next month.

RF Online is an epic mix of traditional fantasy and explosive sci-fi bringing a completely unique experience to multiplayer online gaming. Published by Codemasters Online Gaming, RF Online is set for release in Spring 2006 across the U.S. and UK, with the BETA being announced soon on the official RF Online website www.rf-onlinegame.com.

Gravity Forms Strategic Alliance with CJ Internet Corp.

SEOUL, South Korea- October 27, 2005- Gravity has entered into a strategic alliance with CJ Internet Corporation to co-market and co-publish online games in Korea. Gravity will utilize CJ Internet's www.netmarble.net, a leading online destination, to increase the distribution and marketing of its games. CJ will be able to provide Gravity's lineup of popular games as an additional service to its internet customers.

This agreement further solidifies CJ Internet's position as a premier online distributor of games. The ability to reach a larger audience of internet gamers signifies a potential boon for Gravity to add to its existing base of subscribers worldwide.

KNIGHT ONLINE, THE MOST POPULAR MMORPG ON DOWNLOAD.COM

With over 2 million registered accounts, the game is reaching 40,000 concurrent users making it a highly popular game in North America and with English speaking players worldwide

AUSTIN, Texas – October 27, 2005 - K2Network, Inc. (www.K2Network.net), a global online entertainment and community management company, announced today at Austin Game Conference 2005 that its flagship game title, Knight Online (http://www.K2Network.net), has been listed as the most popular massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG) on CNet’s download.com.

Since the official launch on December 2004, Knight Online has experienced a steady increase in user registration and successfully reached over two million registered accounts and is quickly reaching forty thousand concurrent users. In response to its rapid growth the company added three new worlds, tripled its operation and support staff and completely revamped the game with a major upgrade called “Return of King” (a.k.a Empire Patch), exceeding customers’ expectations.

Furthermore, the company will launch its sixth world named Olympia during the first half of November, 2005. In conjunction with the new server launch the company plans to run its first ever class-based tournament "Tower of Might" to determine the best in each class. Thus, a total of four tournaments will be run to determine the best player in each class in a full PvP (Player vs. Player) setting.

“We are thrilled about CNet’s recent recognition of Knight Online as the most popular MMORPG title on Download.com. We believe this success has been achieved largely through our intense focus on PvP features and the ground-breaking Free2Play pricing strategy that no other major fantasy MMORPG in North America has tried on a large scale. It represents K2 Network’s commitment to offering what today’s gamers want and an approach to innovation and creativity.” said Joshua Hong, Chief Executive Officer of K2 Network.

He also added “We put our gamers first because we are grateful for the overwhelming success of Knight Online. We will continue to listen to our fans and strengthen close relationships with them by making Knight Online the destination for MMO gamers who want the world’s most exciting, heart-pumping PvP events”

Knight Online is the critically acclaimed medieval fantasy adventure game with perpetual war servers operating with local language-support in China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Malaysia, and North America. Since its first introduction in Korea three years ago, Knight Online has been enjoyed by millions of players from over 80 countries.

With constant improvements to the game and aggressive marketing, K2 Network expects to grow its global English speaking player base to 3 million by early 2006 for its North American servers.

US FILM-MAKER PAYS US $100,000 FOR VIRTUAL REAL ESTATE IN THE LARGEST VIRTUAL PURCHASE EVER

Just Three Days after Launch, Project Entropia Announces Winner of First Virtual Space Resort Auction

(Gothenburg, SWEDEN) – Project Entropia, the fastest growing virtual world utilizing a real cash economy, today announces film-maker and director of the movie "Hey DJ!", Jon Jacobs, a.k.a. "NEVERDIE", as the winner of this historic auction for virtual real estate. The auction began taking bids on the 21st of October and just three days later its buyout price was met. The auction includes a virtual Space Resort. The final bid was the astonishing amount of $100,000 US, the largest amount ever spent in the massive multiplayer online gaming space, surpassing last years world record-breaking sale of the virtual Treasure Island almost four times!

The Space Resort as a true high point in the MMORPG virtual gaming community as it provides instant Real cash revenue to the new owner. The Resort, boasting such facilities as a 1000 Apartment complex, Commercial Space Ship Docking, Themed Shopping Mall, and a Mega Stadium for championship sporting events. It also contains a Nightclub with multiple Dance floors, Live Amphitheater, lounges, and 10 Hunting Biodomes with individual land management facilities which will enable the creative owner to create Rare, Unique and Exotic creatures, is at a never before seen scope of virtual real estate. Mining and PvP fighting areas are available. In addition the Resort will feature Owner Operated PA System for streaming music and video to biodomes and screens/billboards strategically placed throughout the space resort and, for a fee, even a planetside Video Billboard Network, located in all major towns and cities can be accessed for marketing.

“The sale of the Space Resort, which met final buyout bid in just three days time, shows that the awareness of investing in virtual universe really has exploded! The Project Entropia participants see this extension of the virtual universe as a natural next step in an online community,” Marco Behrmann, MindArk Director of Community Relations, says, “This is an enormous validation that Project Entropia leads the way in future online entertainment and business.”

Excited buyer Jon Jacobs says "The real estate market inside the Project Entropia universe is on fire, because there is so much money to be made, Gamers everywhere are realizing that our virtual worlds can compete with reality on an economic level. The Space Resort which I plan to name 'CLUB NEVERDIE' is the perfect vehicle to bridge both reality and Virtual Reality. I'm, already in talks with some of the worlds biggest DJ's about spinning Live sets inside the Nightclubs. Gamers want to be entertained while they play, hunt, socialize and craft and because of the real cash economy aspects of Project Entropia, they can afford to pay for their entertainment. Club Neverdie will enable the Entertainment industry to reach inside Virtual Reality and target the Gamer while he's in his element while also harnessing the economic power of the Gamers to raise the quality level of the content on offer traditionally a club, theater or a stadium were the only live venues, where you could have a social experience while enjoying your favorite artists. But now Virtual Reality can offer an alternative that anyone who has ever played a video game is already pre-conditioned to enjoy. I truly think that this will be the decade that Gaming and Virtual Reality changes the face of popular culture."

Project Entropia is part of the next generation of gaming known as MMORPG (massive multi-player online role playing gaming) which seem to resemble more of a virtual world and society rather than a typical online video game. This new wave of interactive entertainment allows players to interact in a world of three-dimensional virtual environments.

However unlike many other MMORPG’s, Project Entropia actively supports sales of virtual products with actual cash value within its real economy system. The economy offers the user a secure and safe way to make purchases, sales and exchange real life currency into PED (Project Entropia Dollars) and back again into real money, at a fixed exchange rate to the US Dollar. PED allows members to invest in personal development and growth through the acquisition of goods, buildings, and land in the Entropia universe.

The heart of Project Entropia lies in a distant planet named Calypso, which includes two continents with large expanding cities that offer a variety of entertainment and social interaction for the citizens. Members of Entropia can create their own persona (avatar), via a character generation system, allowing them to choose a suitable life and virtual existence. Characters enter the evolving world full of unexplored and uncultivated lands where they can join a community or even create a civilization of their own. Project Entropia offers a new way for individuals to pursue dreams and fantasies through an adventurous virtual experience.

Last year Project Entropia sold a virtual Treasure Island for 26,500 US Dollar to 22-year old Australian David Storey, a.k.a. "Deathifier". With the sale of the Space Resort, that world record (noted in Gunniess World Records), is broken, and a new one is set at 100,000 US Dollar.

The online game 'SilkRoad' targets the unceasingly active world other than the existing online games which the has built the entrenched world. On the specious Silk Road, the merchants constantly moves for trading and burglars who intend to strip them of goods. In addition, there are hunters who specialize in removing such burglars. On the Silk Road which seems to be static, the hostility and secret strife in which various groups continuously engage for the benefit of their own groups inform the Silk Road world with new life.

Have you ever wished you could emulate your World of Warcraft character's exploration and fighting skills? Well, it so happens that at BlizzCon, we'll have a few special activities set up just for you to give it a try. Climb to the tip of Blackrock Spire on our rock-climbing wall! Do battle with other enthusiastic combatants and relive your dueling experience in our jousting area! And if you're looking to make an appearance in Azeroth without all of the strenuous activity involved, you can have your picture taken and superimposed onto one of many scenic settings straight from the game. Hoist your foam lances, pack your virtual climbing gear, and look your best -- at BlizzCon, Azeroth is nearer than ever!

We're dedicated to making every moment spent at BlizzCon a memorable one, and to help us do this we’ve lined up an extensive schedule of events for both days of the show. Listed below is the final BlizzCon event schedule, detailing when and where each of the different activities are taking place. We don't want you to miss anything that you’re coming out to BlizzCon to see, so please take some time to review the schedule below. A copy of the schedule will also be found in your souvenir BlizzCon show guide, which will be part of the goody bag you receive at BlizzCon.

You can also now take a look at the BlizzCon floor plan for an idea of how the show will be laid out. This should be helpful in setting up a travel plan between each of the BlizzCon events you’re planning on watching or participating in. While a 2D floor plan is no substitute for actually being inside the Anaheim Convention Center during BlizzCon, we did feel it was important to make the layout available to those of you who are curious about where exactly all of the events at BlizzCon will be taking place. Don't forget to check out the BlizzCon Event Schedule too, to see what times you'll want to be at the various locations listed on the floor plan.

NEW THINGS AND BUG FIXES

• When a group has an active instance, but the group has fully exited the instance, the group leader is now able to immediately request a new instance just as a solo player can.
• Artifacts and Champion weapons are now dyable by player crafted weapon lusters as well as new weapon dyes available on the King's Quartermaster. These new dyes are called Burnishes and are available at champion levels 2, 3 and 4 at the cost of 125 gold each.

HALLOWEEN FUN

• Treat sellers have been spotted selling sugary confections inside Meath, Erikstaad, and Caerwent.
• The consignment merchants would like to show you their Halloween spirit! Pick up the merchant and place it back down on your house porch and he will change into a Halloween outfit for you!
• Be aware adventurers! Ghosts haunt the streets of your capital cities as the pumpkin moon rises!
• The horses you once rode have joined the spirit realm. (This affects stable and merchant horses only-not player controlled horses.)
• Something strange has happened to all of the puppies.
• The pumpkins have been carved into jack o' lanterns!
• A trio of crazy old women have been spotted selling costume potions inside Camelot, Jordheim, and Tir na Nog.
• The costume potions last 15 minutes each and come in a variety of flavors.
• They work best if you remove your helm and armor.
• You cannot digest another costume potion if you are transformed into any of the monster forms.
• The potions' magics are short-lived and the potions will be useless after the festivies end so don't horde them.
• Some of the potions allow you to take the form of the enemy, so don't be scared if you see some in your capital city or housing zones, it's just your realmmates playing dressup!
• The costumes and potions only work while you are in the captial cities or housing zones. You cannot use them outside of these zones and if you leave the zone while in costume, you will lose the effect.

Fresh and crunchy.

• There are now two candy merchants in housing zones. One at the entrance and one in the market.
• Fixed an issue with some housing market explorers and server channelers.
• Artifacts and Champion weapons should now be flagged as dyable. The Quartermaster's stores now have the burnishes available.