Old Republic player uses meme, gets banned

In this week’s episode of Unnecessary Permanent Bans Stemming From Ineptitude, we join a Star Wars: The Old Republic user as they recount their last few moments in that online galaxy far, far away. How did they get banned? Why, posting on the Old Republic forum of course; it’s similar in nature to what EA has been doing with the string of Origin bans.

This time around, the team that monitors BioWare’s public forums needs an education in memes. They banned a player because he or she posted “I’m 12 and what is this?”. Obviously, the super-officious mod members jumped on this and “permanently suspended” the player’s account, thereby locking them out of the forums and the MMO. They cited a breach of the EULA which does not allow anyone under the age of thirteen to make an account.

The post was a meme response; the meme in question is obvious to those who know it, which clearly does not include BioWare’s mod team. You can read more about the meme here, but in the meantime here’s hoping that somebody from BioWare and EA fixes this. Depending on how you look at it, this could be a glaring example of internet ineptitude, or a shining example of how meme users should be treated online. Take your pick.

Source: Destructoid

Posted by Miklós Szecsei Jan 23, 2012

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SWTOR’s immortality boogie gets killed tomorrow

In case you don’t know by now, there’s a Travolta-inspired method of avoiding damage in Star Wars MMO The Old Republic. If you’re getting your Rebel Scum ass handed to you (or Sith ass handed to you if you’re playing Empire I guess) then all you need to do is type in the following emote: “/getdown”. Any incoming damage is automatically negated as your character dances in the face of death. Hit play above to see this in action; feel free to cringe as well.

This sneaky exploit clearly managed to slink past the weeks of beta testing, but its days are numbered. BioWare has announced a patch that will be thrust out onto the internet “sometime in the early hours of the morning tomorrow (CST)”. So if you were planning on shovelling Froot Loops down your gullet and cackling with glee as your Bounty Hunter gets his Saturday Night Fever on tomorrow morning, think again.

If all goes well for BioWare, by tomorrow morning local time this exploit will be deader than MJ in a propafol factory. And damn it man, now I want Froot Loops.

Source: Eurogamer

Posted by Miklós Szecsei Jan 05, 2012

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Let’s talk The Old Republic numbers!

EA and BioWare’s MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic is certainly proving popular, with some people having to “stand” in online queues before they can even get onto the more populated servers. The game has been active since 20 December 2011 (longer if you count the early access invites that were issued to a bajillion people) and now we’ve got industry analyst firms chiming in about the most important aspect of any MMO out there: numbers.

One such analyst firm is Baird Equity Research (no relation to Damon S. Baird – I checked) which believes that the Star Wars MMORPG has attained a concurrent online user number of 350 000. According to Baird Equity Research this indicates “an early success” for the fledgling MMO but the firm also believes it’s indicative of a “viable market for multiple million-user MMOs in the US and Europe”. That’s great news for EA considering they’re about to co-publish The Secret World with Funcom.

All this back-patting might be a little premature; it’ll be interesting to see what happens with the numbers once the initial, bundled 30-day access codes finish and people are forced to pay for further subscriptions.

Source: GamesIndustry.biz

Posted by Miklós Szecsei Jan 03, 2012

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Queue, or queue not. There is no try.

EA and BioWare’s years in development MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic officially launched on 20 December 2011. That makes the online galaxy far, far away about three days old. Bless it; it’s so small and vulnerable and hassled by teething problems.

Word on the interwebs is that people are loving the game; that’s great news for EA and BioWare considering the amount of effort and money that went into the project. The bad news is that people might be loving it a little too much as servers are DYING out there. Some of the more popular US and EU servers have queues before you can join the game, and sometimes those queues last for up to two hours.

It’s an odd notion, standing in a digital queue before you can play a game you’ve purchased, but I’ve never really been down with the whole MMO thing so maybe it’s part and parcel during the early days of a new title? Be that as it may, it must be pissing off a few people. The bad news is that according to the game’s senior online community manager Stephen Reid, those virtual queues are going nowhere.

Posted by Miklós Szecsei Dec 23, 2011

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Blizzcon 2011 – Mists of Pandaria Hands-On

As a retired World of Warcraft player, sitting down to spend a few hours with the starting zone of the upcoming expansion Mists of Pandaria, is a bit like someone on a diet going to an all-you-can-eat buffet. Not to eat, but just to check out the menu and see how nice the place is.

So it’s kinda sucky, but not too bad. Did my time with the xpac make me want to dive back into WoW? Nope. It does not represent a significant enough of a change or refresh to pull me back in. Granted, the pet battle system and new talent tree system were not on show, but even if they were I doubt it would have made a difference.

However, is the new area, race and class worth the time for someone new to WoW and loves pandas? Totally.

You can read my impressions of the new race and class after the break. The starting area only covered up to level 10, so it’s not an entirely representative slice, but it did highlight a lot of interesting elements to the upcoming xpac.

Posted by Miktar Oct 23, 2011

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Blizzcon 2011 – Mists of Pandaria

Well, here it is. Not surprising anyone really, since the secret got outed when Blizzard registered the domain name, but Mists of Pandaria is the next World of Warcraft expansion. It raises - among many things – the level cap to 90, introduces the Pandaran as a new playable race (both sides), a new Monk class and a pet combat system.

The full FAQ is after the break, it will have everything you need (except the expansion itself, you addict you).

Posted by Miktar Oct 21, 2011

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Star Wars: TOR has a date and pricing structure

BioWare’s years in development MMORPG, Star Wars: The Old Republic is poised to be a big deal. EA has thrown millions of dollars at the project and it’s hoped that people will be playing the game for well over a decade.

The game went up for pre-order a few weeks ago, but now there’s a release date to go along with it. Hoping to cash-in on the Christmas present frenzy, EA has announced that the game will launch on 20 December in North America and 22 December in European locations.

Insofar as subscription fees go, Star Wars: TOR will adopt that traditional monthly fee that seems to be going the way of the dodo for most online games. Each copy of the game will ship with a 30 days subscription but once that’s over you’ll need to pay in order to continue.

Posted by Miklós Szecsei Sep 27, 2011

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DC Universe Online goes Free-to-play

Break out your spandex underpants people, Sony Online Entertainment’s DC Universe Online is about to punch subscription fees in the nuts and become Free-to-Play from October 2011. If you have a PC or a PlayStation 3, then you’ll be able to download a copy of the game with all of its content for free. You’ll also get two character slots, but any future expansion packs will need to be purchased.

According to a SOE representative, this decision to go Free-to-Play is not a response to declining subscriptions, but was always intended from the start of development: “This is the right business model. If I can be honest, the game ended up costing a lot more than we thought it would, and this was our preferred business model from day one.”

So because the game cost them more to make than they anticipated, they charged early adopters for buying the game so as to recoup some of the financial loss. That’s mean! That’s business, I guess. It’s not all bad news though, as everyone who has ever spent money on DC Universe Online will get a bunch of extra features that those tight-fisted, Free-to-Play leeches don’t.

Posted by Miklós Szecsei Sep 20, 2011

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WOW: Cataclysm patch 4.3 getting PTR treatment soon

You know your game is a big deal when update patches get treated like full-on expansion packs. Patch 4.3 for World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will be heading to the Public Test Realm server “within a couple of weeks” according to lead game designer Tom Chilton. The PTR server is where Blizzard uses WOW players like guinea pigs before patches are released to everyone else.

Patch 4.3 will add a whole bunch of new content, much of which was revealed at Gamescom 2011. Included will be Void Storage for your excess loot, Transmogrification and a Raid Finder. You’ll also be able to take on Deathwing in a final showdown at The Maelstrom. Defeating him will net you a mount reward, Chilton confirmed.

The PTR server is open for anyone with an active account. You must have had an account prior to the PTR for Patch 4.3 going live, however. All you need to do is copy a character to the server; there will be a list of requirements you’ll need to fulfil before you’re given access though, and all progress on the PTR server is obviously non-permanent. Keep an eye out as Blizzard will reveal the requirements closer to the time. Once the PTR goes live you can expect the final Patch 4.3 to be release in about a month.

Source: Eurogamer

Posted by Miklós Szecsei Sep 19, 2011

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Kim Jong-il has a gold farming hackers group

I’m not sure whether this is awesome or completely insane, but North Korea’s loopy dictator, Kim Jong-il, has a group of hackers made up of agents in North and South Korea as well as China. Their job is to farm gold in Asian MMOs and then sell that gold online for real money. Their MMO of choice is Lineage.

The Chinese operatives have since been arrested, but not before the team was able to generate about $6 million (just over R40 million). Roughly 55% of that was kept by the hackers, and the remaining portion went to Kim Jong-il.

Just what does Kim Jong-il spend his private mountain of money on, which supposedly amount to billions of dollars according to the Americans? For one he uses his private cash reserve to fund North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. Thanks for nothing MMORPGs.

Source: Joystiq

Posted by Miklós Szecsei Aug 09, 2011

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