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EA has announced that BioWare’s MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic will become free-to-play in all territories on November 15th.
The F2P system will allow players to experience all of the class storylines through to the current level cap – level 50.
Existing subscribers will be boosted with free Cartel Coins to reward them for their loyalty. Former subscribers who reactivate their accounts will also get some free coinage.
EA decided to abandon its subscription model for SWTOR after the game had spent eight months on the market. Subscriber numbers had been falling, so the publisher introduced a free-to-play aspect to the game in a bid to entice new users.
“I don’t know about whether it was inevitable but it seems that the market is definitely moving in that direction,” VP of BioWare Austin Matt Bromberg told MCV earlier this year.
“There may be subscription products in the future, maybe more niche products but for a big, broad game like Star Wars, it’s the right way to go.
“We are really hopeful that it’ll bring a new wave of interest and that was really our goal. Star Wars is a very big, broad picture and people love it and there are millions of followers and not all of them were familiar with MMOs as a category. A lot of them were turned off by the barrier that was subscriptions. We hope that lowering that barrier will encourage more casual players to try.”
Bromberg acknowledged that there has been an “explosion of free-to-play MMOs on the iPad”. And that this is something that has caught BioWare’s attention.
“The world seems to be moving towards tablets and devices so the thing we’ll have to figure out as game makers is how do you recreate the engagement that you can on a PC, on a tablet or a mobile?” he asked.
“There’s no question that the consumers are moving there and we have to follow them. A lot of people are working on it, including us.”
November 8th, 2012 by Lonesamurai |
| Posted in General | Comments Off on Star Wars: The Old Republic’s free-to-play switch dated |
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In a rather bullish release yesterday (5th November), Apple announced that in the week of the iPad Mini's launch, both it and the iPad 4 amassed a total of three million sales in just three days, doubling the 1.5 million sales of the iPad 3 in its first weekend in March.
CEO Tim Cook called the sales "record-breaking", adding: “We set a new launch weekend record and practically sold out of iPad minis."
However, close analysis of the figures reveals some hidden details. At the time of the iPad 3's launch, Apple only targeted 12 countries in the launch window; the new devices target 34. Given a near-200% increase in market size from launch, a significant increase in sales is only expected.
In addition, while the iPad 3's launch was a single device, the iPad Mini's launch introduces two products at the same time. Interestingly, Apple's announcement offers no breakdown of sales for the individual devices, rather treating both as almost a single entity. Many analysts are taking this as a sign that the iPad Mini is, as many had predicted, a slow burner which is not yet drawing much interest; though it is hard to say for sure, as in absence of a breakdown it is impossible to state for certain whether the predicted "1 to 1.5 million" sales of the Mini were in fact achieved – and given the reports of a lack of queues for the new device (unusual for an Apple product launch) and constant rumours of high return rates, there's always the possibility that this is simply an attempt to hide potential embarrassment to the company.
In all cases, it was the WiFi-only version of the tablet that went on sale. Cellular versions of both products will hit the stores in a few weeks. Given that early Apple customers tend to be those who care more for a device's specifications than its price, in the absence of a breakdown the likely assumption is Apple may be keeping its hold in the top end of the market where the iPad 4 sits, but failing to make a dent in the cheaper 7 inch tablet market where they want to make an impact. What do you think?
[Originally Posted on Technically Motivated]
November 6th, 2012 by CrimsonShade |
| Posted in General | Comments Off on Apple claim “record-breaking” new iPad launch sales; won’t say which device sold more |
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General
- Fixed a bug in targeting that was causing left-dragging to deselect/select targets incorrectly.
- Fixed a bug in targeting that was allowing users to deselect all targets using the select next target functionality.
- Fixed a bug with human female sword and pistol animations.
- Fixed a bug that was causing quickness to get stuck on players and enemies indefinitely.
- Fixed the Mystic Forge recipe for Melandru's Gaze that was rewarding the Mystic Staff instead.
- Fixed a potential bug with skill challenge conversations not closing for all parties speaking with the NPC.
- Fixed a bug in weaponsmith Destroyer recipes being swapped for Valkyrie and Berserker weapons.
- Fixed the Mystic Forge recipes for platinum and mithril ingot conversion taking cloth bolts instead of the appropriate ingots. This also fixes the issue with linen and silk bolt conversion recipes sometimes rewarding ingots.
- Fixed the Mystic Forge recipe for Immobulus requiring a defunct item. It now requires giant eyes instead.
- Fixed a bug with Rune of Divinity that was causing it to do 50% more critical damage than listed.
- Removed laughing audio from crafting stations in Divinity's Reach.
- Raised the maximum karma limit.
- Superior Rune of the Adventurer is now set to give 50% of endurance on heal.
- The character select screen now reflects hidden armor choices.
- Updated Rune of Earth [sic] and Rune of the Grove to have a 25% chance to grant 4 seconds of protection and 30-second recharge for superior runes, with 45-second recharge for major runes.
- We’ve relaxed our anti-exploiting system for loot and events.
Camera
- We’ve updated the camera to reduce the amount of camera smoothing currently in the game in order to lower the frequency of related bugs. We’re still looking into other camera issues, but we decided to make this quick change because it greatly improves the gameplay experience.
Events
Caudecus’s Manor
- Upper Spider Path: Increased the attack range of the Nightmare Tree. The area attack and its effect now take place at the same location.
- Nightmare Tree Spider Path: The area attack now correctly does damage at the point of the effect.
- Forward Upper Husk Path: Added damage to the Nightmare Tree’s immobilize skill. Also added damage to the Nightmare Tree egg launch skill.
Story
Profession
- Attributes gained from traits now apply to the downed state.
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Glyph of Renewal: This skill will now revive downed allies only, not dead ones.
- Signets of
Earth,
Fire, and
Water: These signest have been updated to not fire at targets behind the player.
- Signet of Fire: This skill is now able to hit targets at its indicated range.
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Signet of Air: This skill now displays a hovering signet effect over the user when activated.
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Whirlpool: This skill’s damage has been decreased by 33%.
- We are moving towards retaliation being more of a counter to taking many hits rather than a general boon to keep up all the time. We also wanted to improve the combo finisher of the guardian, so we reorganized guardian greatsword skills to the following:
Guild Wars 2 Wiki notes
- Skill activation time is now shown in tooltips.
- Mesmer clones no longer leave floating weapons when they shatter.
- Guilds with leader with no access to guild functions have been fixed.
October 8th, 2012 by Lonesamurai |
| Posted in General | Comments Off on Guild Wars 2 Update – 7 October 2012 |
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General
- Fixed bugs for various stuck events and skill challenges.
- Fixed bugs for various map areas that allowed players to get outside of the playable space.
- Fixed a bug in dungeon speed-clearing code. Players should no longer experience reward reductions without triggering the speed-clearing debuff.
- Fixed a bug that was automatically killing players as they entered Sharkmaw Caverns in Lion’s Arch.
- Fixed an exploit in renown regions that allowed players to quickly complete them by interacting with objects while their inventory was full.
- Fixed a bug that caused charr characters to enter a state where any fall resulted in a long falling yell.
- Fixed a bug that caused older characters to have their monthly achievement reset upon completion before the current month ended.
- Fixed the conversion on all items that were changed from soulbound to account bound to actually be account bound now.
- Fixed a bug that was preventing certain music from playing.
- Fixed an issue with the loot table for undead grubs.
- Fixed a camera bug which occasionally caused the camera to get too close to the player’s backside.
- Updated the Barrel and Green Plant environmental weapons to disappear after lying on the ground for a set time. This will prevent map issues caused by hundreds of these bundles idling on the ground.
- Updated Rune of the Adventurer and Sigil of Energy to each grant 25% endurance when activated.
- Updated map completion rewards for Plains of Ashford and all World-versus-World maps to match the map level/content.
- Added an appropriate error message for players when trying to accept too many guild invites.
- Armor that is currently equipped can no longer be transmuted.
- Keg Brawl has received some updates:
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- Lob: This skill is now ground-targeted.
- Throw: This skill now has the range of the old Lob but with a casting time.
- Master Weaponsmiths now sell their goods for coin instead of karma, as was originally intended.
- Miss Mipp at Almuten Mansion now sells Curry Buns instead of directly selling outdated buffs.
- Surfacing while downed underwater no longer grants invulnerability. This change was made to stop players from exploiting the surface of the water to maintain permanent invulnerability.
- The Trading Post will properly refresh when using item context menus from your inventory.
- Transmuted cultural armor now prevents opposing races from equipping it.
- Valkyrie armor boxes will now properly contain a coat instead of two helms when crafted.
Story
- Fixed bugs in the story step “Ships of the Line.”
- Fixed blocking bugs in the following story steps: “Forging the Pact,” “Killing Fields,” “Shell Shock,” “Short Fuse,” “The Battle of Fort Trinity,” “The Machine in Action,” and “Tower Down.”
- Updated difficulty of the following story steps: “Killing Fields,” “Lines of Communication,” “Minotaur Rampant,” “Mired Deep,” “Ships of the Line,” “The Battle of Fort Trinity,” “The Greater Good,” and “The Queen’s Justice.”
Events
- Fixed a bug that was periodically preventing the Claw of Jormag event from completing.
- Added catapults and scaling veterans to the bridge repair event in Kessex Hills.
Dungeons
Crucible of Eternity
- Reduced the difficulty of creatures and bosses, particularly health and armor.
Citadel of Flame
- Fixed exploits that were allowing players to speed clear paths of this dungeon.
- Reduced difficulty of the Searing Effigy.
Arah
- Fixed map exploit that was allowing players to speed-clear paths of this dungeon.
- Fixed a blocking bug in story mode.
Player versus Player
- Games will no longer autobalance after one team has reached 80% of the maximum score if the game ends by score.
- Games will no longer autobalance when within two minutes of the end of the game if the game ends by time.
- Autobalance functionality has been updated to give a new volunteer bonus to any players who volunteer for balancing, as well as giving any players balanced the winner bonus. When volunteers are lacking, random selection will be used. The text for this system has also been updated.
World versus World
- Updated the Red Portal Keep in the Eternal Battlegrounds to ensure the “no siege” debuff encompasses the entire start point.
- Fixed a bug with Keep Lords in World versus World where they could become immune to damage.
Professions
General
- Profession bundle weapons (engineer kits, elementalist conjure skills, warrior banners) can now save their autoattack status.
- The following profession skills now hit 3 targets instead of 1:
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- Elementalist Dagger: Lightning Whip, Lightning Touch
- Mesmer Spear: Stab, Jab, Evasive Strike
- Ranger Spear: Stab, Jab, Evasive Strike, Dart, Counterstrike
- Thief Spear: Stab, Jab, Poison Tip Strike, Nine Tailed Strike
- Warrior Spear: Stab, Jab, Impale, Mariner’s Frenzy, Parry
Elementalist
- Flame Burst: This skill will no longer fire if the target is behind the player.
- Lightning Surge: This skill no longer has infinite range and cannot fire at targets behind the player. It also is properly affected by line of sight and works with the Arcana trait Blasting Staff.
Engineer
- Elixir X: This skill now gains a duration increase from both the Inventions trait Elite Supplies and the Alchemy trait Potent Elixirs.
- Freeze Grenade: This skill no longer benefits from the Explosives trait Grenadier for 5-second cooldown reduction.
- Knee Shot: This Firearms trait now affects all immobilize skills for engineers. The effect can only trigger once every 5 seconds to prevent players from exploiting it to stack massive amounts of cripple.
- Mortar: This skill is now properly affected by the Inventions trait Rifled Turret Barrels.
- Rifled Barrels: This Firearms trait now works with the Elixir Gun kit when underwater.
Guardian
- Bane Signet: This skill’s animation will now work properly when activated by greatsword and hammer users.
- Line of Warding: This skill now lasts for 5 seconds instead of 8 seconds.
- Merciful Intervention: This skill has been updated to heal when it completes and isn’t aborted.
- Renewed Focus: This skill now functions better while underwater (players are able to use abilities sooner) and functions with the Virtues trait Elite Focus. This skill now also properly refreshes Virtue of Courage when it is being affected by traits.
- Shield of Absorption: This skill will now appear correctly for all races.
- Wrathful Spirit: This Honor trait’s retaliation duration has been decreased from 10 seconds to 3 seconds.
Mesmer
- Updated all phantasms and clones available to the mesmer to ensure they activate within their range.
- Updated mantras to now function underwater as they do above water. They also no longer go on full recharge when interrupted.
- Illusionary Riposte: This skill now functions properly with the Dueling trait Blade Training.
- Phantasmal Warden: This skill no longer has a 0-second recharge when affected by traits. It now has approximately a 5-second recharge.
Necromancer
- Blood Is Power: This skill now grants 10 stacks of might but does not grant additional life force.
- Chill of Death: This Spite trait no longer slows down the player’s autoattack when activated.
- Epidemic: This skill no longer has infinite range.
- Haunt: This Shadow Fiend skill now triggers instantly.
- Last Gasp: This Soul Reaping trait will now apply protection and remove stun as if using Spectral Armor. It also now has the displayed 60-second recharge, and the duration has been reduced to 6 seconds to properly match the skill.
- Life Transfer: This skill will now work properly with the Soul Reaping trait Path of Midnight.
- Life Siphon: This skill now properly applies damage at its intended range of 600.
- Spectral Grasp: This skill now also grants 10% life force when used. It also benefits from the Curses trait Spectral Attunement to properly increase the chill duration to 6 seconds.
- Spectral Walk: This skill now stops granting life force when struck if the player activates Death Shroud, Plague, or Lich Form.
- Vampiric: This Blood Magic trait’s interaction with the Bloodthirst trait now increases health siphoning appropriately.
Ranger
- Entangle: This skill is now properly affected by the Wilderness Survival trait Wilderness Knowledge.
- Lick Wounds: This skill now functions only with ranger pets.
Mac Beta Client Update
- Fixed a bug that prevented players from entering the at sign (@) in the launcher’s log-in fields when using French Apple keyboards.
- Fixed a bug that prevented gem purchases.
October 2nd, 2012 by Lonesamurai |
| Posted in General | Comments Off on Guild Wars 2 Update – 1 October 2012 |
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General
Black Lion Trading Company
Story
- Adjusted difficulty for the following story steps: "A Fragile Peace," "Breaking the Bone Ship," "Killing Fields," "Political Homicide," "Sabotage," "Set to Blow," "Stand By Your Krewe," "The Ringmaster," "The Stone Sheath," "Track the Seraph," "Unscheduled Delay," "Unwelcome Visitors," and "Welcome Home."
- Fixed bugs in the following story steps: "A Fragile Peace," "Against the Corruption," "Bad Blood," "Forging the Pact," "Stand By Your Krewe," and "Tower Down."
- Fixed exploits in "The Sound of Psi-Lance."
- End of Story Loot Bags:
- These have been improved to only give green or better gear of level 78 or higher.
- The number of bags received has been reduced from 5 to 3.
- More improvements will be made in coming weeks. Players who complete the story before the final update will be equally compensated once the new rewards are in.
Dungeons
General
- Updated vendors in the Ascalonian Catacombs and Caudecus's Manor to sell level 80 versions of their unique skins rather than level 60 and 70. Players who purchased the level 60 and 70 versions will soon be given the opportunity to upgrade those to level 80 without having to use transmutation stones.
- Fixed an exploit in Magg's chain that was allowing players to skip the entire dungeon and still be rewarded.
- In Magg's chain, if Magg happens to die in the lava field, he'll teleport himself to the start of the area just outside it.
- In Magg's chain, Magg must be much closer to things to draw their initial aggro. This only affects the escort to the magmacyte rock.
- Fixed an exploit that was allowing players to skip content.
- Fixed a bug in the Butcher's chain that prevented a boss from spawning.
- Fixed blocking bugs in Detha's chain.
Dungeon Rewards
We've made some significant updates to dungeon rewards. I wanted to try and clarify them here. All of these changes have been the result of an original exploit which was letting players receive upwards of 20 levels by completing a single dungeon run. We initially closed this exploit, which caused some new problems. The result is this new system which should increase dungeon rewards for players who play though them normally but help curb inflation of rewards for those who are using exploitative methods to farm them.
- Dungeon tokens are now rewarded at the end of an explorable chain. This was done to stop players from repeatedly entering a chain and farming the first boss that dropped tokens rather than playing the entire chain. At some point in the near future, we will make up for this by making dungeon tokens a rare drop so that even players who are not completing a chain can make partial progress toward the rewards.
- Dungeons reward 20 tokens for completion and now reward an additional 40 tokens for the first time they are completed each day. This means that if players can complete all 3 chains of a dungeon in a day, they'll receive a total of 180 tokens, which is enough to purchase some of the smaller rewards.
- Dungeon tokens should be account bound. This will allow players to have a single character farm tokens for their other characters.
Professions
General
Elementalist
Engineer
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Grenade Barrage: This Grenade Kit skill should now be usable underwater.
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Short Fuse: This trait is no longer overwritten by the Grenadier trait. Also, this trait now works with underwater grenades.
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Speedy Kits: Added a 5-second recharge to the trigger for this trait. This was to prevent players from exploiting it to gain vigor buffs of extreme duration.
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Invigorating Speed: Added a 5-second recharge to the trigger for this trait. This was to prevent players from exploiting it to gain vigor buffs of extreme duration.
Guardian
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Merciful Intervention: This skill has been updated to work with the Meditation Mastery trait. The tooltip for this skill has also been updated to display the healing amount when affected by traits.
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Elusive Power: This trait has been updated to not grant might when aegis was blocked.
Mesmer
Necromancer
Thief
Races
Norn
Player versus Player
World versus World
September 25th, 2012 by Lonesamurai |
| Posted in General | Comments Off on Guild Wars 2 Update – 25 September 2012 |
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