On Saturday 28th of June, Blizzard Entertainment announced their latest project  at WWI ‘ 08, and to the surprise of all the fans, this project is Diablo III, the next chapter in the Diablo franchise, sold very well all over the world as the best isometric action RPG series.

You might be wondering why we talk about this on a MMORPG Portal. Well Diablo I and Diablo II had also online play, trough battlezone.net, a service owned by Blizzard, where players could gather and play the game online with friends, so due to the quality and popularity of this game where most of the players played it online, we could take it like as an online rpg, but still remains to be seen if we add it in our list on our site.

So what’s new in Diablo III ?

Well, first you will be surprised with how good it looks in terms of graphics, from the gameplay movie below. Secondly, they kept the old features and added some new interesting ones, as in better customization over the characters to give you a better way to specialize fighting skills, abilities that you like, some parts of the environment are destructible, available for you to unleash the wrath on your enemies, havoc powered physics, improved random world generator, dynamic encounters, random scripted events, quests and other goodies.

Storyline

“It has been twenty years since the events of Diablo II. Of those who faced the Lords of Hatred, Terror, and Destruction in the battle over the fate of Sanctuary, there are few still living who can bear to remember the horrors that the Prime Evils wrought upon the world. And of those who did not witness the terrible events firsthand, most believe the stories to be little more than myth. But something evil is stirring once again in Tristram, and it may already have claimed its first victim: Deckard Cain. ”

Being old rpg players, we remember well Diablo I and Diablo II, for their great story, superb presentation, and fast paced, fun game play, and we can’t wait for Diablo 3, to play again for the story, and cooperative and online play, a mode where Blizzard might have bigger plans than we know at this moment.

More info on the official site: http://www.blizzard.com/diablo3

]]> http://www.popmmorpg.com/feature/diablo-iii-is-coming.html/feed 0 http://www.popmmorpg.com/feature/the-current-state-of-the-mmorpg-market.html http://www.popmmorpg.com/feature/the-current-state-of-the-mmorpg-market.html#comments Sun, 30 Aug 2009 02:20:27 +0000 admin http://www.popmmorpg.com/?p=825 As with all markets that can make serious money, the MMORPG genre began to attract the attention of the sharks (big corporations, clueless share holders, people that only care about ching! ching! cash).

While 10 years ago the mmorpg games, like Ultima Online, Everquest and Asherons Call opened a new genre of games with persistent online world, where players gathered together to adventure and challenge the unknown, and the genre started to attract attention of the media and players. During the next years other games were released, games like Anarchy Online, EVE Online, Dark Age of Camelot, Star Wars Galaxies and many others that weren’t that popular, but that doesn’t mean that they weren’t great. The Developers of these games had a large freedom in design and they came up with some great things, like total freedom over your character evolution, superb features, like the vassal<patron in Asheron Call, pvp system in Ultima Online and EQ, and a multitude of features on SWG, RVR in DAOC, and that stop when…

What did WOW for this genre is at the same time good and bad. At first with the uber Blizzard marketing department, that could promote horse shit and sell it to 10 million people(RESPECT!), managed to inform the people and catch them in the mmorpg genre which is great for all the games, companies. The Bad thing that WOW did for this genre, is that it destroyed it. Why? Well when the sharks found out that so much money can be made, they started to tell their companies to make something similar, to get their money for their 10 houses, 10 cars, and the 10 women that  they never know their names, and of course power. Our Society these days teaches us, that financial power is a part of evolution process, not knowledge…With these facts in mind, developers stopped to innovate, or to take the genre to the genre to the next level because they had people screaming in their ears, that they want money!

WOW was made with the idea kept in mind, to be played by everybody, and thus no conscience in PVP, no harsh world, only a fantasy game, very polished, that copied everything that was made so far, where most of the things dropped from the sky,  and made it better, and also made a system, so the player can grind multiple months for equip, fame, glory until next addon, expansion, thus subs, and cash in, much like cigarettes, drugs, you got to keep the player in it. WOW didn’t come with innovation to the market, just took what it was there, and made it 100% commercial and more accessible, which is not bad overall, but there are big design flaws there, intended

When making a game “FUN” like producers, share holders ask us these days, usually means try to make it accessible to as many people as possible, more people equals more money, and destroy the genre eventually. Let’s take for example the FPS genre, which is made for people that like to shoot things from first person view, with big guns, explosions, and uber graphics, and from time to time, we actually have a good story (see Half Life, Stalker, etc). Of course it’s not bad to add some rpg elements like Deus Ex, or Stalker did, but don’t destroy the genre, keep in the basic recipe which works, evolve it as a genre, don’t dumb it down. The only games I found that did something for this genre as in taking to the next step are Half Life(story and presentation), Call of Duty(gameplay elements), Stalker (rpg and story elements based on FPS), and the old and fascinating System Shock 1, 2, and Deus Ex.

Now you would ask how come a multibillion company as Blizzard, didn’t want to make a superb mmorpg game, with tons of innovation features that work, thus, evolving, taking the genre to the next level (they did but only to a limited level) , for a player base of 1-2 million, or copy everything and make it better, and get 10 million sub with a powerful brand and marketing. Which one will you choose? Money and innovation, or just money? If I will make a poll, I am sure that most of you will choose 10 million. Why? Because our society has indoctrinated us so badly that all we want is money, and after that, more money, so there is no place for art, passion, things that the old game designers from 10 years ago had, when making a game.

In the last years, the most pleasant surprises in this genre I received from titles that are not promoted that heavily, they are unknown, with a small player base, games like Saga (made and taken to the professional level by a few enthusiast gamers), Shattered Galaxy (old rts online game, that could score huge, with decent budget), Mabinogi with its simplistic but great features in, Project Torque and even Navy Field, Jumpgate. And on commercial level EVE Online ( the only mmorpg game that had the balls to do something different and survives very well with his 300-500k player base) and Anarchy Online with his unique universe and features.

So what happens these days? Well we are waiting for games like WAR ( I have high hope because of Paul Barnett, I hate you Paul:P, great marketing skills he has), Aion (tho original is made for korean people so I don’t have high hopes for this title), old skool Jumpgate Evolution, Earthrise, Spellborn, Fallen Earth and the resurrection of Ryzom. While every major company like SOE, NC Soft, Mythic maybe?! (will see), tries to bring features from WOW so they can get more subs like Blizzard did.

I don’t want to say to you guys, that they are not developers out there that are trying to make great mmorpg games, but those usually you won’t see them on every mmorpg portal, with videos, “paid” previews and other things, because they are small, and probably they are not interested to sell bullshit to you, they are busy working their ass off. If they get 100-200k subs they are happy and they can get enough money to survive(no! not to buy 1 mil houses, and wifes, but to have a decent life), and develop the game further.

In the end it’s all our fault, us, the players, because we buy their incomplete, or flawed products,  see Age of Conan. Age of Conan is the most sold MMORPG (Beta) ever in the history of mmorpg games in the first month of release, they say, but in reality in my country you can even buy the collectors edition from the store. Where you saw that on a successful commercial mmorpg? Indeed I think they made lots of money in the first month, but after that, collapse…

Ending Note:

This is an opinion of a one man, gamer for 20 years, developer, and MMORPG Center Owner. This article must be taken as it is, I don’t want to influence you in a way or another, read and understand what you want. Also you must understand that this portal, website, is created and maintained by gamers, players like you, not people that can be bought on the first sight of a euro or a dollar. We try to make some money, but we won’t sell our mothers just to promote a commercial title that doesn’t bring anything new, or doesn’t have a place in our standards which some are similar to yours and some are not.

Have a good day

“In the end when the papers will burn, what will be left of you? They will love you for you character, for your looks, for what you accomplish in the past, or for your wisdom?”

With the launch of the highly acclaimed MMORPG Game, Warhammer Online, many mmorpg players from all of the world are starting to populate the world of WAAAGH!. With this in mind and having the privilege to play from open beta, we thought that it could be helpful to make a Top 10 WAR F.A.Q for New Players.

1. Which server to choose?

It important before choosing the server, to see the population balance between the faction, so it advisable to get on a high to full server (preferably for Order and Destruction), even if you stay on queues, because in this game it important that the server to be as populated as possible.

2. What’s the best faction?

While numbers matters usually, from my experience with open RVR, the group that coordinates the best wins, even if they are half in numbers then the enemy, so choose whatever fits you, tho people are saying that order have lower numbers, which is not always true.

3. What’s the best class?

While WAR is a RVR game after all, where big armies fight for fame and supremacy anytime in the world, it important to understand that it a team based game, so choose what you like to do when participating in this clashes. From healer, tank, damage dealer, ranged damage dealer, etc. Also with time you can become a hybrid if you want, by specializing in the dps, tank, support trees. Healers can do damage in this game, and also they are hard to kill if you’re a not a damage dealer.

4. What’s the best way to level, gain rank?

The beauty and the success of this game is that you get xp from about anything you do, so sometimes you will notice you leveled without even knowing. If you are PVE player you can level from the normal quests given by NPC, Public Quests which are great, exploring and unlocking the world, and by just playing and reading the Tome of Knowledge you can find out that you can get xp for anything you do, and you choose what to do next. On the other side you can basically level by doing RVR scenarios and some outdoor RVR. You get enough xp from participating in RVR so you can only do that if you really want to.

5. How do I get PHAT LOWT!?

You get equipment by doing normal quests, you get good rewards from participating in public quests, and finishing all stages, thus getting rewards for each stage where the last two give the best rewards. You get random world drops in RVR or in PVE which sometimes are great. I got some nice shoulders from a RVR scenario. And last you get to buy Renown Gear from Renown Merchants in the cities, which are accessible if you level up in Renown Rank which is basically the PVP – RVR rank. The more you participate in RVR, Scenario and Out Door RVR, the faster you will level your RP rank, and by killing enemies and conquering RVR Objectives, Keeps.

6. Where is the Renown Merchant for rank/level 10?

Until level/rank 8-9, you will be able to purchase Renown Gear from Merchants from your War Camp in Tier 1 (deselect Filter Usable to see all items), after that your next Renown Gear Merchants you will find them on the top floor of the Keeps in the Tier 2 lands. But if your faction doesn’t own the keep, well get in a Warband and Conquer the Enemy Keep! You’re still here?!

7. What happens when a territory is controlled by a faction?

In tier 1 (first map where you start), if your faction controls that territory, all players there will get 20% Renown Bonus, 20% Influence Bonus (with this you advance trough the stages of the Public Quests), + 5% Buy Discount at all Merchants, – 5% Sell Discount at all Merchants, and the chance to piss your enemies off =)) . In Tier 2 it gets more dramatic, besides the bonuses if your faction doesn’t control a keep, well you can’t buy Renown Gear, so no PHAWT Loot! But you still can get decent to great equipment from PVE and RVR Scenarios. Tier 3 and 4, well we are not there yet, but it something similar.

8. When I can buy my first mount?

You can buy your first mount at level/rank 20, and it costs 15 Gold. So far we know that Chaos have Horses, Orcs have Pigs, Goblins have Wolfs, and DarkElfs have Dinosaurs to ride. What about Order? No idea, Pink Ponies maybe.

9. How do you visit other lands?

You can visit other lands from your faction by visiting a Flight Master, usually located on the War Camp, last village in your area, close to the RVR objectives. From there you can fly to your Capital, or visit the Tier 1 lands of your allies and get back of course.

10. How do i meet or play with my friends from the other allied faction?

Well until you get to the War Camp with the Flight Master, you can group with your friends from the same faction, and participate in RVR Scenarios. The one who joins the scenario from his territory will automatically take the party members with him in that RVR Scenario from that territory and vice versa.

Enjoy!

]]> http://www.popmmorpg.com/feature/top-10-war-f-a-q-for-new-players.html/feed 0 http://www.popmmorpg.com/feature/runic-games-torchlight.html http://www.popmmorpg.com/feature/runic-games-torchlight.html#comments Sun, 30 Aug 2009 02:12:32 +0000 admin http://www.popmmorpg.com/?p=819 The developers behind Mythos return as Runic Games, and they have a promising project already in development named Torchlight.“Torchlight” is an adventure-themed Action-MMORPG. Adventurers set out from the town of Torchlight into the nearby mountains in search of the magic ore that imbues their equipment with power, yet imperils their very existence. “Torchlight” emphasizes a simple and intuitive interface, fast and furious action, and a colorful and compelling game world.

Runic Games will initially release Torchlight as a standalone Single Player game, Torchlight will be released in the latter part of 2009 as a download or in box. Following the single player release, work will commence on a fully-featured MMO version.

In our small interview with the developer before E3 we found out this:

1. Mythos was a very popular game at MMORPG Center, can you tell us what happen with this IP?

You know, we loved making and playing Mythos, but don’t have any information on it anymore. We’ve taken all the passion we had for that project and the feedback from our amazing fans, and put that towards making a brand new game, Torchlight.

2. With the new company formed, can you tell us what are your plans, goals, what type of games you are planning to make?

We love games and love to make games that we love to play! That said, we are so happy to be working on Torchlight! We’re creating the single player version right now which is already really fun. We’ll be doing a demo of it at E3. Look for it to be released later this Fall.

3. What can you tell us about your upcoming project Torchlight?

Torchlight is an action-adventure RPG in the finest tradition of the genre – everything you would want and more, cool bosses to conquer, loot to find, trap doors within the levels, highly moddable and great fun to play. The single player version will be out in Fall 2009, and the MMO version will build on the Torchlight world and will be released later.

4. What are the key features that you will think will keep players busy and entertained?

Torchlight is already addictive – the graphics are great, quests and challenges are very satisfying. I think players will really appreciate the mod-ability in Torchlight and it will keep them coming back for more.

5. What model of pricing you will use?

We’re still figuring this out, but will let you know!
From the E3 factsheet we get more information:

Single Player Version

Players will choose from among three character classes, and venture from the safety of the town of Torchlight into randomly generated dungeon levels, with a huge variety of creepy monsters, endless variations of loot to find, and quests to complete. The endless randomization ensures a long-lived gameplay experience.

KEY FEATURES:

1.    Randomization – Our level layouts are randomly created, so each adventure is unique. Monsters, treasures, puzzles, and items are also different each time you embark on an adventure.
2.    Easy, approachable interface – Torchlight is designed to be easy to play right from the beginning. The intuitive interface gives players easy access to a rich and varied world.
3.    Retirement System – Once characters are sufficiently leveled up, they can “retire” and bestow specific benefits and perks to new characters.
4.    Pets – Players will choose a pet to accompany them. Pets can level up along with the player, and will help in battle, carry items, and perform a variety of helpful services.
5.    Character Classes – Players will create and customize a character and choose an animal companion. Through cosmetic choices, skill path decisions, and the treasures they acquire, each character will be custom-tailored and different.
6.    Fishing – Players can take a break from the high-energy pace of adventuring to visit one of the fishing holes and relax and see what they can catch. Fish have interesting benefits for the player and pet, and other rewards can also be discovered
7.    Included Editor – Runic Games is embracing our modding community by including an editor so our players can create and design their own content.

MMO Version

The Torchlight MMO expands on virtually every aspect of gameplay. While maintaining the fast-paced Actiion RPG gameplay style, Torchlight will introduce many traditional MMO features and an expansive world. Like the other Perfect World-published MMOs, Torchlight will be “Free-To-Play.” Players can earn and spend money to upgrade a large variety of items to enhance their game play experience through an in-game item shop.

Published by Perfect World, the Torchlight MMO will offer a rich social environment where players can adventure together in a contiguous over world environment with many different dungeon types to explore. Populated by a diverse and colorful set of vendors, quest-givers, and town elders, players will learn about the rich lore and history of Torchlight and the surrounding Ember veins, and set off on quests and adventures that reveal the secrets, dangers, and long history of the magical substance.

The release date for the Torchlight MMO is yet to be determined.

KEY MMO ADDITIONS

8.    Expansive World – Large overland areas and deep, randomly generated dungeons offer a variety of exploration and adventuring opportunities.
9.    Customization – The level of character customization is upped significantly in the MMO, with more class choices, looks, and options which allow a truly personalized character.
10.    Territory Wars – Torchlight will take advantage of precedent set by other Perfect World MMOs and offer weekly battles for territory, with winners receiving significant rewards.
11.    Mounts – Large variety of mounts to assist in navigating the world.
12.    PvP – Torchlight will give PvP fans a variety of constructs to determine just who the mightiest warrior in the land is.
13.    Social Features – Marriage systems, buddy lists, chat features, and world events will all create a rich social environment never before seen in an action MMO.

Due to the success of Mythos but the sad demise of the company, we are waiting with joy this action rpg mmo, and I am sure many Mythos players will love this game.
Check out the latest trailer on our site Torchlight – Destroyer Trailer.