Filed under: Classes

The development of the Sith Inquisitor in Star Wars: The Old Republic

by Eliot Lefebvre Feb 5th 2010 at 9:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, Classes, Previews, Star Wars: The Old Republic

The Sith Inquisitor is not meant as just another Force-using class. That's one of the central themes behind the most recent developer blog from Star Wars: The Old Republic. Saying even that the Inquisitor is meant as a Palpatine to the Sith Warrior's Darth Vader is only a fraction of the whole story. No, the Inquisitor exists as someone whose diet of dark secrets and forbidden knowledge is as much a survival mechanism as anything, the manipulator and scholar, the calm and reason to balance against the Warrior's bravado and power.

Where the Warrior begins as a member of high society, the Inquisitor begins life as a slave, sent to either become a part of the Empire's almost monastic order of Sith or die unknown and unmourned. Inquisitors face the difficulties of choice, not only of morality but of their personal desires weighed against the needs and demands of the Empire. And through it all, they are the keepers of secrets and mystical knowledge of the Force, learning and studying into the otherworldly aspects it posseses. While we're still more than a year out from the expected launch of Star Wars: The Old Republic, fans should still enjoy this look at one of the game's most devious classes.

Battle of the Immortals reveals classes

by Eliot Lefebvre Jan 27th 2010 at 7:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Classes, New titles, Previews, PvP, Free-to-play, Battle of the Immortals

Perfect World Entertainment has spent a fair amount of time talking up their upcoming PvP-focused game, Battle of the Immortals. The game certainly looks gorgeous, but we've only heard bits and pieces about how it will actually play. The most recent update, however, certainly provides a fair bit more information on how the game, as it details the game's classes -- Berzerker, Heretic, Magus, Slayer, and Champion. Each class is given a brief writeup of their strengths, weaknesses, and preferred opponents.

In no particular order, Slayers deal a mix of physical and magical damage at close range but have next to no defensive abilities. Heretics are a combination of priests with more sinister magics, dealing damage and healing as well as inviting a few obious comparisons. Magi (or maguses, if you prefer) are... well, okay, they're kind of obvious. Berzerkers have an errant "z" in their name and focus on dealing out physical damage at the cost of some defense, and Champions wield a weapon and shield to be all but indestructible. The classes seem set to provide a fair mix of the usual "holy trinity" mechanics and PvP skills, so take a look at the official preview to get a clearer picture of what you might want to play once the game goes live.

Linden Lab to crack down on events listing spam. Again

by Tateru Nino Jan 26th 2010 at 12:00PM

Filed under: Business models, Classes, Culture, Events, in-game, News items, Opinion, Second Life, Virtual worlds

Come February, Linden Lab is having yet another attempt at enforcing the existing rules for event posting in Second Life. In the past, the Lab's gone at the process in a rather determined fashion on a number of occasions, but its energy each time ran out after only a few weeks of vetting events listings.

One of the matters of concern would be how event rules are actually applied this time around. If we were to divide events listings into quality events and spammy junk, quite a large number of the quality events don't actually comply with the posting rules – usually due to the number of events being held, and limits on the number of listings (or of listing changes) that the events system will tolerate.

Alganon gives preview of class updates with first expansion

by Eliot Lefebvre Jan 23rd 2010 at 4:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Classes, Expansions, Previews, Alganon

The first free expansion for Alganon, titled "The Dawning," has been getting a fair bit of talk from Quest Online. They've been a bit longer on talk than on details, however, leaving us largely to guess what it might contain aside from promises of new dungeons and large changes to the game world. Some of the silence has been broken now, however, with Systems Designer Josef Shindler breaking word on several upcoming class balance changes in the game. The most recent small patch contained a number of small class tweaks, but there are more extensive changes for everyone in the future.

Mages are currently in the best place, from the design team's perspective, but there are plans to allow characters specializing in one type of damage to branch out to other elements without sacrificing damage. Healers are also going to see some changes to damage, as their focus on one element makes them susceptible to enemies who are strong against it. Meanwhile, Rangers will see an extensive overhaul in terms of damage buffs and their operation in groups, and Soldiers will see several tweaks to their Anger generation to make its buildup and release more strategic. While it's not a great deal of information, it's good to see the design team keeping themselves hard at work on improving Alganon's overall class balance.

Star Trek Online character customization in pictures

by Dan O'Halloran Jan 21st 2010 at 3:00PM

Filed under: Betas, Sci-fi, Galleries, Screenshots, Classes, New titles, Star Trek Online, Races

Cryptic Studios, the developer behind Star Trek Online, is well known for their character customization options. I know that I spent more time making characters in City of Heroes than beating up bad guys. Cryptic has brought that same design aesthetic to STO. For those of you not currently in open Beta, I've captured a gallery of shots below spotlighting all the available races in open beta (Federation and Klingon factions.) I've also shown the cosmetic customization screens for both factions and the color palettes available.

However the true fun lies not in tweaking the familiar Vulcan, Bajoran or Klingon races, but in the build-you-own-alien race tool. For both factions you can randomly create an alien species based on a humanoid model. Blotchy skin, tentacles, protrusions, ridges, antennae and more await those players looking for a unique presence in the game. I've taken screenshots of some crazy creations randomly generated, too. You can also customize your alien if you have something specific in mind.

Not seeing the alien life form you're looking for? Borg will be available as a Federation faction playable race to those who pay for the Lifetime subscription option. Ferengi and Risian will be added as playable races right after launch and future expansions promise more familiar faction race sets including Romulan. Star Trek Online launches on February 2, 2010.

Gallery: Star Trek Online Character Creation

Enter the Star Trek universe with Cryptic Studios' Star Trek Online. From hands on reviews of the early levels and space combat, through noob question and developer interviews, we've got everything you need to know about the game trekkies are dying for.

Educators find common ground in Second Life, for now

by Tateru Nino Jan 13th 2010 at 6:00PM

Filed under: Classes, Culture, Opinion, Second Life, Academic, Virtual worlds

There's no doubt in our minds that virtual environments are here to stay, for a significant fraction of the foreseeable forever. Love them or loathe them they're in their third decade now, and like the Web, it's now more a matter of how they fit in to the rest of the world, rather than if they do.

In education, virtual environments are now a part of an educator's toolbox and as education continues to combine, refine, and recombine tools, virtual environments will find increasingly better, more effective uses in education. There's no doubt about that among educators, even if the technologies aren't ready for widespread educational uses today.

Star Wars: The Old Republic releases more intel on the Imperial Agent

by Eliot Lefebvre Jan 2nd 2010 at 11:00AM

Filed under: Sci-fi, Classes, Previews, Star Wars: The Old Republic

One of the frequently-voiced concerns about Star Wars: The Old Republic is the possibility that the non-Force classes will wind up becoming almost irrelevant. Who's going to pay attention to being a spy when you can wield an energy sword and fling lightning, right? As a matter of fact, the Imperial Agent would like very much if no one ever notices they exist. They're quite happy to stand in the background and never be observed, because as the latest developer's entry explains, that's precisely what the Agent does best. They exist in the shadow, the man of many faces and a hundred names, a presence whose influence is strongest when it isn't evident at all.

Star Wars: The Old Republic faces the difficult task of making the Sith -- traditionally the villains of the franchise -- into a playable and likable faction rather than monolithic evil. As the developer entry points out, the Imperial Agent is a major part of that, of giving the chance to look at someone who is quite possibly a proud citizen of the Empire and happy to serve in keeping the peace and bring down the Republic. It's also a look at the parts between the lines of the films, the spies and intel operators whose role was important but whose faces were rarely seen. But you might decide not to look at the full discussion of the class anyway -- and as we've mentioned, really, that's what the agent would want.

The evolution of classes

by Seraphina Brennan Dec 29th 2009 at 8:00PM

Filed under: Classes, Culture, News items

Classes are one of those central components of our MMOs. From the early days of Dungeons & Dragons to the use of class based systems in MUDs, we've been relying on the concept of characters with unique sets of skills working together to get the job done.

Andrew Vanden Bossche over at Gamasutra has recently sat down and looked at everyone's favorite FPS, Team Fortress 2, to analyze how classes have gone beyond their original roleplaying roots. While the article isn't exactly MMO-focused, it certainly does have bearing on our genre as we too begin to branch out away from the sword-and-board fantasy and into FPS territory with games like Global Agenda and Darkfall.

So if you want to see how experience and bullets go together while making gameplay more social and fun, check out the full article at Gamasutra.

BioWare on developing the Dark Side of SWTOR

by Kyle Horner Dec 27th 2009 at 12:00PM

Filed under: Video, Classes, New titles, News items, Star Wars: The Old Republic

Would you like to know more about BioWare's lengthy effort of creating the dark side classes in Star Wars: The Old Republic? Well, of course you would! We mean, who wouldn't really? Well, probably Jedi, but nobody really listens to those guys anyhow. Except maybe for angst-ridden youth who've just recently discovered their father is a dark lord of the Sith. Oh, wait, nevermind.

In this video glimpse into the game's development, we're treated to some insight on the Sith Warrior and Inquisitor's overall design. BioWare details their thought process behind the various aspects of each class, including lightsaber hilt styles, armor styles and of course overall story focus within the game. Our collective jaws were on the floor during the shots of all the concept art for Sith armor. Players definitely won't find Star Wars: The Old Republic to be a game lacking in depth and breadth of loot.

Check out the full video after the break.

Attacking the holy trinity of MMOs

by Eliot Lefebvre Dec 22nd 2009 at 10:00AM

Filed under: Classes, Game mechanics, Grouping, Opinion, Academic

If you've played MMOs for any length of time, you've probably grown very familiar with the trinity. You can't help but be acquainted with it in any sort of group content, where in more games than not there's that split between the tank, the healer, and the DPS. Certainly there are subdivisions and extra roles, but for the most part those extra roles are slight twists on one of the existing roles. (Controllers in City of Heroes are DPS with a debuffing/controlling aspect and slightly less damage, for instance). Brian "Psychochild" Green has an article on Gamasutra examining the issues with the holy trinity in game design: what purposes it serves, what its drawbacks are, and how useful it might be to get rid of it entirely.

Examining the roots of the trinity design in Dungeons & Dragons and common gameplay types it offered, Green goes on to take a look at how the structure has become codified, what other potential systems could be put in place, and if there's even an advantage to doing so. He discusses the issues of hybrid classes, group versus solo design, and proposes a potential alternative that remains rooted in the core elements of the design. Anyone with an interest in design should take a look at the full article, as it contains some interesting insights and analysis of one of the core underpinnings of our genre.

Ether Saga Online delivers major content update

by Rubi Bayer Dec 17th 2009 at 9:00AM

Filed under: Fantasy, Classes, Patches, News items, Free-to-play, Ether Saga Online

Perfect World has given a holiday gift to Ether Saga Online players in the form of a significant amount of new content that's bound to keep fans busy and happy for quite a while.

The first item on the list is the addition of eight new classes - a huge addition considering that it brings the total to twelve. Players who have hit level 90 have a new zone to enjoy, and if you are level 50 or below, you'll find a revamped set of beginner quests. If you love crafting but have crafted all the armor and weapons you possibly can, head back in to check out the enhanced crafting system, because it goes way beyond those two items now. The pet system has improved as well, as has the transformation system.

Product Manager Craig Beers says "We are always looking for ways to improve the gaming experience Ether Saga Online has to offer and this update delivers on that promise. We're delivering expansion quality features and content in this update that gamers can get right now." The full patch notes can be viewed here.

The Daily Grind: What's your SWTOR class of choice?

by Kyle Horner Dec 17th 2009 at 8:00AM

Filed under: Classes, News items, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Star Wars: The Old Republic

Well, every class for Star Wars: The Old Republic is out for the world to see and discuss, and you know what that means: time to start considering your first class. We find that most people fall into two categories here. They either pick a class archetype they're very familiar with (tank, DPS or support) or go for whichever class appeals to them thematically. You also have those who simply go with something different for the sake of variety.

As for this particular blogger, it's safe to say the Sith Inquisitor is likely to be the first character rolling off the creation line come launch day. Then again, there's always beta to consider as well... hmm, the choices just don't stop, do they?

Well, what say you, good readers?

New Aran class fights gigantic beast in this MapleStory trailer

by Kyle Horner Dec 16th 2009 at 10:00AM

Filed under: Video, MapleStory, Classes, News items

Nexon has released a video featuring their new Aran characters in MapleStory. In the video they fight a Balrog, although this isn't the exact beast most of you will remember from Tolkien's books, it's a close proximity... Okay, who are we kidding? This Balrog looks like a giant hairy beast with armor. At least it's more frightening than that cute kitty in the image above.

Nexon says, "The Balrog Party Quest is available for players with characters level 50, up to 120, and rewards the victors with formidable prizes like the Chaos Scrolls and White Scrolls." which to us, says you've basically got to put a hefty amount of time into playing before you'll even see this guy. However, the real focus of the video -- at least in our minds -- is new polearm wielding Aran characters whooping butt, so to speak. So if you're curious to see what this is all about, take a gander at the video below the cut.

Sith Inquisitor class page open for business

by Kyle Horner Dec 11th 2009 at 6:00PM

Filed under: Classes, New titles, News items, Star Wars: The Old Republic

The final Star Wars: The Old Republic class page is up and features the Sith Inquisitor. We're pretty certain BioWare has a winner here, because it's difficult to go wrong with a person that can cast copious amounts of force lightning. If you weren't aware of that fact, the new screenshots released alongside the class page will correct that problem quite immediately.

Not only does the Inquisitor wield the iconic lightning blast regularly, it also incorporates the ability into just about every other attack. When stunning an enemy with a force tornado, why not throw a little lightning in to jazz things up a bit? In fact, why not charge a lightsaber with lightning and call it good? The more we hear about this class, the more it's beginning to appeal to our sense of wanting to lay waste to everything in sight with lightning from our fingertips.

Gallery: Star Wars: The Old Republic Screenshots

Angels Online expansion introduces new class

by Rubi Bayer Dec 8th 2009 at 12:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Classes, Expansions, News items, Free-to-play, Angels Online

Angels Online, the free-to-play MMO from IGG.com, has released its latest expansion and with it a new class for players to enjoy.

The Assassin Alliance in Eden has been in hiding, but with the new expansion comes the Floating Island, the place that appears to have served as a shelter for the alliance. With its appearance, the Assassins are pushed into the spotlight and have become an available player class: "With the Evil Lyceum gaining in power, the fate of the holy land in danger, the Assassin Alliance was forced to come out of hiding and confront the rising power of evil."

The assassin's strengths, weaknesses, and attributes are going to be familiar to most MMO players, so they'll be a welcome addition to the game. Assassins in Angels Online are quick, sneaky, and deadly with a pair of daggers. They enjoy some pretty devastating class-specific skills such as "Shadow Blade", "Avatar" and "Assault", as well as the highest agility in the game and the ability to enhance their weapons with debuffs.

More information on the new class is available at Angels Online.