So That's What You've Been Playing: Planet Crafter, Girl Genius, Palia

 

Besides Second Life, yours truly has been playing a few games. There's Planet Crafter in which instead of blowing things up, you're trying to make a world habitable for people. There's Girl Genius: Adventures in Castle Heterodyne, in which you take on the role of an online comic heroine. And there's Palia, one of the new "cozy MMOs," in which you win over the locals at a village as well as building a house to impress your fellow gamers.

Read the reviews in Other Grids, Games and MMOs.

Reader Submitted: Rust Seasons Beatings, Part 2

 

 

 From Snowy AngelBunny Lefavre (Skylark Lefavre). After seeing my "Seasons Beatings" brief the other day, she sent me this picture of a pile of Krampus zombies after they unsuccessfully tried to raid her base in the Angels server. She may or may not be getting coal, but all their weapons should reap lots of metal when recycled.

 

Meanwhile, Back In Rust: Seasons Beatings

 

 

 A number of my virtual neighbors are still going at it in the Rust survival MMO on the Angels server. To make things a little more interesting, Umbra had a mod put in that sends loose zombies every few nights. But this month, they're a bit different. They come out wearing red coats, red stocking hats, and sporting fake white beards. But these guys aren't really Santas, but Krampuses. And they're here not to deliver gifts, but to deliver punishment in the form on knives, pitchforks, and chainsaws.

 

It takes several shots, or a few to the head if you're good, to bring then down. Searching the bodies, you can grab the weapon they were using, plus a few other various items.

 

It's unclear if there will be a special challenge later this month or not. But it is looking more likely that in-game we're just getting coal under the tree.

 

Bixyl Shuftan

 

Misadventures in Rust Angels: The Base Defense Contest

 

As a survival MMO, Rust is among those most noted for it's competitive (or downright merciless in some places) PvP action. Wanting to avoid the "PvP kiddies," many players prefer the PvE servers such as the Angels server for Nydia Tungsten and some of her friends. But how do you keep things from getting too predictable and give something extra special for the players to do? For server moderator Umbra, the answer in August was a race. For September, he had another competition: who could design the best base in terms of resisting a raid.

 

Read the story in "Other Grids, MMOs, and Games."

 

Rust: Automotive Addition and "Wacky Races" Part Deux

 

Months ago, Nydia Tungsten and a number of our Second Life friends started playing Rust once more, and with the addition of cars decided to hold a race.  About a month ago, I joined up with them. And when there was talk of another race, I was interested. The moderator build the course, and a date was soon chosen. Several people, including myself, would take part in this new round of "Wacky Races." So who won?

Read the story in Other Grids, MMOs, and Games.

Video: "Warthunder's Strange History of April Fools"

 

 From ZoltanSultan on March 20. On April 1 2013, Fans of the "War Thunder" MMO were surprised to see the developers had added flying ponies in the style of "My Little Pony"armed with machine guns and candy bombs. While this only lasted one day, it continues to be talked about years later. But this would only be the first of many stunts pulled by War Thunder ever year. Perhaps none were as funny as the ponies, but most were interesting and some amusing.
 

Virtual Funeral Held By Friends of MMO Player

A little over a week ago, an online funeral look place in the Final Fantasy 14 MMO game. The event, described as having hundreds of people taking part, was for a player known as Ferne Le'roy. Her friends organized the effort on Reddit.

The event on the Zalera server began in the city of Ul'dah with people gathering at night, server time, many dressing in black for the memorial service. They then walked over a half hour, the night giving way to day as the players crossed different areas along bridges and roads. They would travel to a place known as the Guardian Tree, considered a holy location in the game.

Ferne had an alt known as Poppy Rose in the Coeur server, and a similar event took place there. She had died of Coronavirus.

Leafelda Moonchild, one of the players who organized the event, would say, "When I made the post on Facebook, I didn't expect anyone to actually show up. I made the post so that those that may have known her would be informed. The fact that so many people showed up, not only from Zalera but from other servers, really took me by surprise."



Someone named Kealmir made a video for Youtube.

Sources: Daily Mail, Inverse, MMORPG,

Bixyl Shuftan

World of Warcraft Update 8.3 "Visions of N'zoth" Live

After weeks of anticipation, the MMO World of Warcraft's major update 8.3, "Visions of N'zoth," is now live and running. The main point of "Visions" is one of the old gods is out to wreck havoc on Azeroth with visions of madness (above video link), and once again it's up to the heroes of the Alliance and Horde to save the day.

But this isn't all. Two new "allied races," or races available as player-characters once you finish certain achievements, are now available. The Alliance have the Mechagnomes, and the Horde have the foxlike Vulpera. The latter have gotten the attention of many of my friends to the point one managed to do the required achievements to be able to make one (intro video link).

Nobble87 did a video checking out their character creation, mount, emotes, and one special ability (link), of which there were a number of comments, "I wish I never saw the /sleep emote. 15 years of Alliance loyalty down the tubes." "How are we going to PVP them? I will be feeling like I am going to be kicking a puppy."

So will Azeroth see a population explosion of Vulpera? Will the Alliance find themselves outfoxed? Feel free to leave comments below, or send in  your own stories about Azeroth's new foxy heroes and heroines.

Sources: World of Warcraft, MMO Champion

Bixyl Shuftan

Reader Submitted: Warcraft Elvis Souvenier

 Jasmine Dawn was going about Hyjal Summit when a demon she clobbered dropped a couple items, including a pair of Blue Suede Shoes. Maybe the demon was an Elvis fan, though no telling where he got them.

As a Worgen, the shoes look better in her human form (above) than her were (left).

Rust After Five Years

It's been over five years since the Newser first reported on the survival multiplayer game Rust. It became one of the more noted games of the genre, with it's starting off with just a rock to get everything you have afterwards, and it's sometimes notorious PvP action. Although Rust left "early access" a year and a half ago, there have still been some changes. In this article, yours truly briefly goes over the basics, but most of the article is about what has changed since our last article on the game.

Read the story in Other Grids, MMOs, and Games.

Minecraft Player's Hardcore Game Ends After Five Years

When it comes to Minecraft, most people known by yours truly either play it in servers with friends or in single-player mode. In the latter, I've never known anyone to play a serious game in hardcore or "permadeath" mode. There's a lot of things in Minecraft that can do you in from skeletons to zombies and those infamous creepers. And once something gets you, everything you've accomplished is gone and there's no one else that can see or touch what you've made. So it's no surprise that the second longest lasting time in hardcore is supposedly a "couple weeks."

What such a player can do to make a lasting record is take pictures or videos. And apparently that's what a Minecraft player known as Philza did. His run at Minecraft hardcore went beyond two weeks thanks to some skill and a little luck, getting past a few near-misses that would have meant the end had something gone slightly different. But about a week ago, he met his end when he was tag-teamed by enemy mobs, including a powerful one, when not having quite the right equipment on. "Oh NO! Really?! That's how I die?!" And so his marathon Minecraft permadeath game ended at five years. "Stupid! I'm f***ing stupid! ... a baby zombie ... of all the things ..."

One can view the video Philza made on his Twitch account, with the end coming just after 1:12:36 (warning, some profanity). Near the end, he comments, ""stupid lucky ... been getting lucky too much, ran out of luck. Thanks everyone who's stuck with me for so long,it's been a *** trip, it really has."

Philza's score was 761246, though what people will be paying attention to is just how long he lasted. It's a safe bet this is one Minecraft record that may never be broken.

Sources: PC Gamer, Polygon 

Bixyl Shuftan

Reader Submitted: Space Engineers "The Walkyure"

Besides busy modding her outfits, Valkyrie Ice has been busy in the MMO "Space Engineers." Here is a work of hers that took over a year to make: "The Walkyure, an exercise in large scale ship building." But as the game is in early release in beta, it has been subject to change. Among the changes were some that made the ship impossible to finish as planned, at least for now.

Well, at least you can see what I spent over a year building, only to have SE's "PVP balancing" make impossible to finish.

The Ship made to use the Leviathan Engine wings, The Walkyure was supposed to be a massive carrier ship, able to support multiple fighters, manufacture more at will, defend itself against entire fleets of pirates, etc.

Instead, she's an unfinshed hulk that is likely to never be finished until Keen decides to make the game friendly to BUILDERS again, instead of PVP combat junkies.

Oh well. If you have any interest in ART instead of blowing each other up, feel free to load her. It's a world, and will load all mods. It's primarily Shao mods, with a few others for specific items. You can fly through most of her since the game has turned the majority of her into a ghost, and made it impossible to add any more blocks.

Reader Submitted: Game Review - World of Tanks

Rita Mariner, who sent us a series of articles on how to get through Subnautica, recently sent us a review of a noted game that's been out for a few years: World of Tanks. Developed by Wargaming in 2010, "WoT" as it's called for short was the company's first Massive Multiplayer Online game, and remains it's most popular one. Rita has been a longtime player of the game. But in her opinion, the game has not gotten better with age.

Read Rita's reader submission in Other Grids, MMOs, and Games.

Wildstar MMO Game Shuts Down

Wednesday November 28 was the last day the Wildstar Massive Multiplayer Online game was up and running. In September, NCSoft made the decision to shut it down. The game had gotten attention for ir's cartoony look and being one of the small number of sci-fi MMOs taking place in space and an alien planet with most being on fantasy worlds. But it wasn't enough.

Why did Wildstar fail? Some people I talk to put the blame on NCSoft, which a few years ago had shut down the superhero MMO "City of Heroes" despite please from its fans, some vowing never to play another game from them. An article by MMOS World blamed mismanagement by it's developers Carbine Studios, lack of substantial content compared to other MMOs, lack of promotion and marketing, and more. In any event, the news was sad news for the games casual and core fans, hundreds of whom stuck around on the game for it's last few hours until the lights went out.



Longrem Smalls, one of my virtual neighbors on an extended hiatus from Second Life, had been a fan of the game, playing it for some time. He filmed his last few hours for a youtube.

I am deeply saddened to upload this video, a recording of the last hurrah of Wildstar from my point of view. This was a very emotional time for me, because Wildstar has given me some very fond memories. This was the first MMO since Star Wars Galaxies where I was so enthralled that I dove in deeply and actually tried to join the community. I made a lot of new friends that I will take with me even though the game itself is gone. We roleplayed together, we quested, we dungeoned, we raided, we worked on housing and explored... Everything about this game will be missed deeply, by myself and many others. I can only hope that a similar game with deep lore, exciting combat, and amazing housing will come out again. 

 Some technical details: The Sunset party was held at Wigwalli Village in Whitevale so both the Exiles and Dominion could be in one place. Attendance was over 450 players, nearing 500 at some points, and I know there were plenty who wanted to attend but could not. The devs were having some zany fun, turning us into rowsdowers, cupcakes, various NPCs from the game, and even changing our sizes from ginormous to miniscule. This event also pushed my computer pretty hard, dropping my FPS to single digits at times, but it held up. Toward the end there are a few major lag spikes on the server side, so the video will appear to glitch out and freeze for up to half a minute, but it does come back, so please be patient. And yes, there were also weird changes in the music being played, or sound cutting out, just because there was so much going on. 

This was recorded so that those who could not make it could at least get a sense of closure and watch it when they get a chance, and has not been edited in any way.

And so, the final sunset has fell on Wildstar, a unique MMO that no doubt will be missed.

Sources: MMOS World

Bixyl Shuftan

Elder Scrolls Skyrim

Skyrim is not a new game. It was first sold eight years ago. It wasn't perfect, having a few glitches and bugs. But it quickly developed a devoted fanbase who would play the game again and again. Among them is Nydia Tungsten. In her return to the Newser, she writes about why she still plays the game occasionally.

Read more in Other Grids, MMOs, and Games.

Wildstar MMO Facing Shutdown after Developer Carbine Studios is Closed

Some sad news for MMO gaming fans, especially those who prefer sci-fi games. Carbine Studios, the developers behind the science-fiction multiplayer online game Wildstar, was ordered closed yesterday by it's owner NCsoft. While the game itself will also close, no date has been given yet.

NCsoft issued a statement about the closing to Kotaku:

Today, we are closing Carbine Studios and will begin the process of winding WildStar down to ultimately shutter the game. WildStar players who have spent money within the game will be refunded purchases from July 1, 2018 until the payment system is shut off. We are also in the process of identifying the teams that will be doing the work to bring WildStar to a close. These decisions are very difficult to make and we are in the midst of shifting as many of our teammates as possible into other roles within the organization.

The news was greeted with shock and sadness on the Wildstar forums, and presumably other gaming boards. Some put the blame on NCsoft, which had made the decision a few years ago to shut down another MMO with a group of devoted fans: City of Heroes. It is noteable that City of Heroes lasted three months after the company announced their decision to close it. So this may be the amount of time Wildstar has left.

In the game, players take on a character of one of the races in the Dominion, a space empire that controls known space, or the Exiles, a ragtag alliance of peoples that opposes it. Both seek control of the recently discovered planet of Nexus, the home of a vanished race and a storehouse of valuable artifacts and ancient knowledge. The game was unveiled in 2011, and the Newser would write about Wildstar during it's open beta in 2014. The game would be released in June 2014, and made free-to-play a little more than a year later. The game received some praise for it's lighthearted style, as well as being one of the few sci-fi games in a field dominated by fantasy.

Sources: Kotaku, Wildstar 

Bixyl Shuftan

A Jailbreak In Archeage

It's been a while since the Newser wrote about the MORPG Archeage. This game has attracted the attention of a few fans of the paper, notably because of the feline PCs, and it's detailed crafting system. One player, Jasmine Dawn, decided to explore around a little, and seeing the Solis Prison decided to fly over it. Unfortunately, her curiosity got her into a situation that left her feeling a little "cagey." So she took matters into her own hands.

Read the story in Other Grids, MMOs, and Games.

Reader Submitted: Girls And Their Giant Melons on Tera's Beach

Malya Violetsong's reports on the MMO "Tera."

"Newsfox Malya here once again! The one and only president (and member) of the Bixyl Fan Club of TERA! Today I am investigating the beach and right away someone said to me "nice melons! Think I will squeeze the juice from one!" It was only after I knocked him out I realized he didn't mean mine, since apparently he wanted vitamin C and not a size C. ^^" Next, I built a sandcastle that would impress anyone other than Anakin Skywalker, since I guess it was too coarse a structure for his taste! Up next I played with the biggest water cannon on the beach! And splashed the local 'stud' with a solid 50 gallon shot to his groin! Unfortunately for him, ... it was a real wet one! Yes, it was silly. Anywho, this is Newsfox Malya, President of the Bixyl Fan Club of TERA (and vice-president of island spice!) signing off from the--hey!!! Don't touch my melons! That would make me a real beach, you bum!! D:< This segment was brought to you by TERA-Bull Sandy Wet Shorts, where sand in your buns would lead even DJ Snowy to laugh from the deep tickles wherever she sits! After all, even Ra-pun-zel couldn't escape that hairy situation...! No fairy tail characters got hair knots and no actual DJs ended up with a lifetime supply of sandpaper during the making of this advertisement, thank you!"

Malya Violetsong

Reader Submitted: At The Tera Summer Festival

Malya Violetsong's reports on the MMO "Tera."

TERA Newsfox Malya, President of the Bixyl Fan Club of TERA (and Vice-President, with a vice only for fresh pepper!) reporting that the TERA Summer Festival has gone off without a hitch, since the posts were removed after mounting horses or dragons was deemed to be too perverted... Tonight at the Temple of the Wisdom Tree it seems the Vampirs are having a bloody-good time... not so much for their human hostages, but hit them with a holy spell and even Vampirs will run around high on the hog since they get turned into... hogs and their bacon gets fried! Holy bad pun-ch lines, Batnotman! Even the sloths in the temple are having a party! But it's a rather crappy situation for those who clean it up... trust me, at the moment the entrance smells like real big dump at the moment! Shaved ice, on the other hand, is this summer's coolest treat, and quite cold when it falls off it's cone and hits you. I recommend wearing strawberry red dresses like mine, so the stains of Vampir's Blood flavoring doesn't stain! ...much! Tank battles seem to happen here a lot for some reason! And being tanked, it is no wonder why the the players driving them can't hit anything! Anywho, this is Newsfox Malya of the Bixyl Fan Club of TERA, signing off! And autographs! This message was brought to you by TERA-Bull Vampir Repellant and Shaved Ice Flavorings, the vendor stall where the featherweight jokes are so bad they will tickle DJ SnowBuns into fleeing from last week's bakery as one hawt, cross Bun to say "BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" No actual bunnies or DJs were tickled in response to the making of this advertisement, thank you!

Malya Violetsong

Reader Submitted: "The Three Amigos" in Tera?

From Malya Violetsong (DaughterOfArboria Resident). She talked me into playing the MMO Terra a bit, so I decided on the name "Gaskyl" for my character while she had one, Kacina. Going along, we came across one with a name very similar to my Second Life name, "Bix?! You has a twin?! 'Bixano'?!" She would send me this picture

Los Dos Amigos y Una Amiga?!

Gaskyl (Bixyl) the Ferret, Bixano the Puss in Boots, and Kacina the sideways horse rider?!

The guy was Away From Keyboard, so no telling where the name came from. Maybe he was a reader of the Newser who was giving Tera a try as well.