Archive for the ‘MMO Gaming’ Category

Final Fantasy XIV’s beta has finally begun (and is expected to come out later this year after a long beta) is hoping to become an even bigger success than FXIII. The biggest factor here is, of course, FFXIV is going to be available for consoles, which opens up a whole new market that WOW can’t even touch. However it has been stated a few times by the Devs of FFXIV they have been looking closely at the big (or formerly big) games such as World of Warcraft, Age of Conan and Warhammer to see both what they did right and wrong. Hopefully this will benefit the players and turn this game into something amazing.

Apparently there’s a new Trojan about that can intercept Blizzard Authenticator codes and send the wrong code back to Blizzard. It can enable a hacker to change your password, steal all your hard earned goodies… and reach out of the computer and slap you (ok I made that last part up, but if you don’t have an anti virus or take precautions perhaps you should get slapped! )

If you’re infected with this Trojan, when you log into your WOW account via the authenticator the Trojan will intercept the authenticator code, send it to the hacker and send a wrong code to blizzard. So, you’ll get an error and the hacker will get the code and be able to access your account!  If you are infected, you have the file name“emcor.dll” on your computer. It will probably be at “C:\Users\(Your user name)\AppData\Temp

So, though the authenticator may give you an added sense of security, it is not foolproof, so remember to be careful what you download and use a virus scanner!

Source

Here’s something that made me think… normally one hears about parents trying to get their children off WoW, how it can cause them to pay less attention to school, sports and other things, which is basically an addiction. I found this comment interesting, a child wondering what to do about his father who is addicted to WoW! It’s an unfortunate situation either way but geez, dad, you only have one chance at parenting. Have to feel some sympathy for the kid in this situation. What do you think?

My dad is addicted to World of Warcraft, HELP?

Ok so I am in Middle school now, and my dad has been playing since I was in third grade. Ever since he started he has been distant from the family, playing 8 hours a day, and never doing anything for me. The only time he actually gets up is when my dad’s girlfriend asks him to, and only when we go eat. The day The Lich King came out, he played it non stop and called in sick for work, while he never takes the day off if it’s my birthday, or summer break, or i have the day off, or any other occasion. It’s like he doesn’t realize he has an actual life, but his life is in the game. I am sick and tired of it! Please help?

Read the question and response here.

Bright Future For A Bloody Game!

On Febuary 24th, an unexpected piece of news hit the Herald, Carrie Gouskos is becoming the new Franchise Producer for Warhammer Online. Although Warhammer has been in rough waters lately, from what I’ve heard they have been gaining a good amount of subs later with the new RvR changes (woot!) which were part of Carrie’s first goals, and they went over well, I think with Carrie Gouskos joining the team, Warhammer is going to have a real bright future with some good (and much needed) updates!

After doing a bit of reading in Patch 1.3.4, it seems as if the some of the PvE of Warhammer Online is going to be switching gears to become more RvR oriented, which is a great step in the right direction in my opinion, how it will affect Warhammer in the long run is still up for debate.

In patch 1.3.5, things are going to be a lot more friendly to casual players, making it so they can actually compete in City Sieges and RvR in general, and still get a good amount of rewards, as I play WAR pretty casually lately (may change with all these nice updates coming out), I think these changes are going to help bring in a lot of new subs.

In Patch 1.3.6, is going to improve the auction house, which is one of the things I hated most about Warhammer, it seemed to me as if it were thrown together hastily at the last minute, however I’m no programmer :-p, but I can tell by using it that it doesn’t work as intended.

So you can see, with Carrie Gouskos, Warhammer is finally seeing changes that should have been added long ago, let’s just hope they keep their promises and keep the updates coming!

The Russian guild Exorus has completed the newest instance Glory of the Icecrown Raider 25 Man Instance coming in patch 3.3.3. they were also the first to complete the 10 man Gory of the Icecrown Raider 2 weeks ago. They were rewarded with the Icebound Frostbrood Vanquisher Mount . Very cool looking, Congrats!

This week the comic corner is back…in full force!!  I have managed to find several great comics…some new some old for your enjoyment!

First up is one from newcomer Sparkly Doom.  I love this one because it’s just putting out there what I know we all thought when we started doing our Sons of Hodir dailies!  Haha!

Next I found a few from Daily Quests that tickled my funny bone.  The first, called Goblin Ingenuity, shows the possible result of improperly installed rocket packs!  The next one called All’s Fair in Love and Warcraft is just plain funny…boys can be so gullible! The last one from DQ teaches us a valuable lesson…to Always Listen to Your Elders.  Love it!

The next couple for this week are from another newcomer, K’s Grab Bag. The first one from this artist shows a triumphant pair looting their kill, it’s amazing what forest animals carry on them sometimes! Next from this artist we have Insults to Injury which teaches a valuable lesson…do NOT pick on your healer before a major fight!!  HAHA

Next up is one from Complex Actions that is a great showing of just what desperate players might resort to when farming mats. Neckrokleptomania is simply hilarious…oh and I love the word!!

Read the rest of this entry »

So whats new with Aion?

Aion: Paid Account Services… About time!

Tired of looking at your characters weird face? Always wanted to be a female? I know I did! As most of you may remember, earlier this year NCSoft discussed the addition of paid account services, such as server transfer, gender change, name change and “plastic surgery”, while we didn’t get the Server Transfer yet, they have finally released the options to change your name, legion name, gender change and best of all character body and face customization. While the majority of players were eagerly awaiting server transfer, this is still good news and will most likely hold people over until they decide to release server transfers. Check out the store.

Prices:

Character Customization – $9.99

Character Name Change – $9.99

Gender Change – $14.99

Legion name Change – $19.99

Also, they’ve added Valentine ’s Day items as well. First off there’s the True Love Valentines Pack, which includes 5 True Red Dyes, 10 Love Potions, 1 Sunflower Headband and 1 Heart emote. Also, the Chocolate Valentines Pack, which includes 5 Hot Pink Dyes, 10 Dark Chocolates, 1 Tulip Headband and 1 Flower emote. Both of these Valentines Packs are only available until February 28th.

True Love Valentines Pack – $9.99

Chocolate Valentines Pack – $9.99

If you’ve purchased an account service, all you have to do is log into your NCsoft Master Account, go to your Aion Game Account Details page, and use Apply In-Game Items on your selected character. Log into Aion with the selected character, and the appropriate account service ticket will be waiting in your in-game express mail.

Aion Version 2.0 is getting closer

Tamat’s recent statement in the 2.0 Speculation thread on www.AionSource.com, along with a few other speculations, it seems that Aion Version 2.0 is getting bigger, better and closer. According to NCSoft’s quarterly conference call, it seems that the Korean Aion is scheduled to get two large updates in the first half of 2010, while the first is speculated to be Aion Version 2.0, the second still remains a mystery.

While the information regarding the content inside Aion Version 2.0 has yet to be revealed, a few things have been semi confirmed. Some of the major things include a level cap increase to 55, a new talent system, a new instance: Alatr in the Water and a 24 man raid. Rumors have it that this may only be the tip of the Aion Version 2.0 iceberg, and definitely is going to give Aion a second wind.

We will be releasing an Aion expansion for our Aion Online Leveling Guide which can currently be viewed here. Get it now before prices go up!

Love is in the Air in Aion, and also double exp!

Is there a trend going on around here? Oh yea, Valentine’s Day… humph. Have no fear if you’re dateless this Valentine’s Day, Aion is here to keep you company with the new Valentine’s Day Double Exp weekend which is going to run until Febuary 15th, at 7am GMT, so get out there and grind to your “valentines” heart’s content!

Mosaic Tiles

In honor of the World of Warcraft and Battlecry 5-15 year anniversary, you can submit a picture of yourself holding either a Horde or Alliance emblem to contribute to a gigantic mosaic picture. An interesting way to become a part of WOW history! See more information at the dedicated mini-site for this event here.

Love is in the Air

Of course the yearly Valentine’s Day event is on now in world of warcraft… so even if your love life is lacking you can get plenty of lovin’ till your heart’s content in this year’s event! A great free guide to the love is in the air event can be found here and a guide to the daily quests here.

No more tiered content before Cataclysm?

Zarhym has confirmed that there are not going to be any more tiered dungeons within the Wrath of the Lich King expansion, seems like they might have learned from past mistakes.

While not everyone is happy with this, it is a fact that World of Warcraft has more than one type of population. This may be a blow to some top end raiding guilds; more casual people see this as an opportunity to finish content before more is thrown at them. Some raids only take top end guilds a week or two at the most to have on farm, while more casual guilds never get to complete a certain dungeon before it becomes obsolete, so this is definitely a step in the right direction!

Q and A from forums:

Zarhym: As we stated before releasing Wrath of the Lich King, we still intend for Icecrown Citadel to be the final raid of the expansion in terms of tiered progression.

Zarhym: We’ve said numerous times we didn’t like spending so much development time on Naxxramas or Sunwell so a few thousand players could kill the final bosses. If a handful of players, who make up the top guilds in the world, or even top on a single server, are occupied in Icecrown Citadel for at least another two months, you can infer that an incredibly larger percentage of players will find challenges here for months to come.

While some of the answers may seem a bit vague, there seems to be hints that there may be content still on the way, just as mentioned before, it won’t be tiered content. What do you think? Let us know in our comments, facebook or twitter. The full post can be viewed here.

The future of Spugnort’s Blog

Greetings and happy Valentine’s Day!

You may notice a few changes in the blog and newsletter, hopefully only to make it better!

In the next few weeks we are working on adding new and interesting content to the blog (along with your old favorites) including free guides, game reviews, and up to date news from all your favorite MMO games and gaming sites.

Keep an eye on us in the next while, for some great new information!

Is there anything you would like to see? Feel free to leave suggestions.

Now, I know that the holidays are rapidly coming to a close here, but I did find some holiday-related machinima this week that I thought truly worthy of sharing with everyone, so here goes!

• First we have one from NinthBatter, which is part of his ever popular “Nobody Like You” series.  This one is all about Hanukkah…and I have to say, I had NO idea Arthas was Jewish!! 
• Next up is a pretty cool one from Oxhorn that is part of his Christmas for Geeks album that we featured here last week.  It’s called It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like This Raid Isn’t Going to Happen (longest title ever) and I had to include it this week as I know it’s one we can all relate to on some level!
• Lastly we have one for  you from Firebolt Productions called Northrend Wonderland.  This one is hilarious as it shows a loyal servant of the Lich King trying to cheer him up…the way he does it is pretty great!  And anytime I get to hear the Lich King sing is WIN! in my book!

Ok, well that’s what we have for you this week in our belated holiday version of Movie of the Week.  See you next year!