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The game of DC Universe Online is beginning a bid to free up account names, clearing out those used by inactive players so that they can be chosen by new active ones. If you’ve not logged in recently, make sure you do by January 20th to keep hold of your name.
Sony Online Entertainment are going ahead with the process, hoping that more new players will be able to find their perfect name for the character they will have spent a good while creating if they’re anything like the majority of gamers presented with a character creation page. “Finding just the right name for your character can be tough, especially in a game like DCUO where millions and millions of characters have already been created, locking up their millions of names. It’s even more frustrating when the character with that perfect name you want hasn’t logged in in years or never even made it off of Brainiac’s ship. That’s where we come in.” wrote community manager Mepps.
The inactive accounts that will be affected by this are the ones that haven’t been touched since July 20th 2013, which will leave the accounts intact, bar a rename. A few days later that name will come into circulation again to be used at the character creation page or the name change service.
The assault on the Iron Horde begins on February 3rd. The Blackrock Foundry and the third Warlords of Draenor world boss, Rukhmar, drops in the next few weeks. And if you’re sitting on the edge of your seat like the rest of the World of Warcraft Raiders, then you will want to ask for the following days off.
Those who plan to jump into the action in the Raid Finder will need a minimum item level of 635.
February 3, 2015:
–Blackrock Foundry opens with Normal and Heroic difficulties available.
–World boss Rukhmar becomes available in Spires of Arak.
February 10, 2015:
–Mythic difficulty becomes available.
February 17, 2015:
–Raid Finder Wing 1: Slagworks (Gruul, Oregorger, and The Blast Furnace) unlocks.
February 24, 2015:
–Raid Finder Wing 2: The Black Forge (Hans’gar and Franzok, Flamebender Ka’graz, and Kromog ) unlocks.
March 10, 2015:
–Raid Finder Wing 3: Iron Assembly (Beastlord Darmac, Operator Thogar, and The Iron Maidens) unlocks.
March 24, 2015:
–Raid Finder Wing 4: Blackhand’s Crucible (Blackhand) unlocks.
Next Tuesday, Guild Wars 2 will receive the eighth—and last—episode of the Living World: Season 2. Point of No Return launches on 13 January, and in preparation ArenaNet have released this here trailer.
As is the way of things, the first minute or so is footage of previously released episodes. The actual contents of episode eight are, as yet, unknown. The big, roaring plant dragon at the end is probably a good hint, however.
Here’s the way of things as they stand: Caithe has Glint’s dragon egg, the Pact are preparing an assault on Mordremoth, and the player has discovered a big ol’ ominous tomb. To summarise, things are pretty lore up ins.
At a guess, the dragon seen at the end of the video looks a lot like Shadow of the Dragon, who was last seen bothering the Pale Tree at the end of episode four. There’s every chance he’s a boss at the end of the story—it seems a bit soon to face Mordremoth himself. We do somewhat hope that he’s planned as another World Boss. We’ve not had a new one of them since Season One’s Triple Wurm and Twisted Marionette fights and things are getting a little boring.
ArenaNet will be revealing what comes after Season 2 later this month at PAX South. A presentation, titled Beyond The Point of No Return, is scheduled to take place on 24 January.
Dataminers may have found evidence in the information for World of Warcraft’s upcoming Patch 6.1 that indicates the developers are planning for a new free-to-play option.
The recently discovered data files with references to a “Veteran Edition” are noted to resemble those for the already existing Trial Edition that allows everyone to play from level 1 to 20 for free. Like the Trial Edition, the Veteran appears to have limits as information in the files show a level cap, money cap and chat restrictions.
What all of this actually means is unknown at present, but Superior Realities suggests that it may be a system to allow subscribed players with lapsed accounts to continue playing with restrictions.
What do you think? Can you see WoW going free to play? If it does, what do you think non-subscribers would lose access to?
Australian retailer EB Games will remove The Elder Scrolls Online from its bricks and mortar shelves on January 13, a Kotaku AU source claims. If the report is true then it serves as fresh evidence that Bethesda intends to scrap the MMO’s monthly subscription fees in favour of a free-to-play model.
Both boxed copies of the game, as well as pre-paid subscription cards, will reportedly be discontinued.
The development follows news late last year that players can no longer purchase six-month subscriptions to the MMO, which was met with mixed reviews when it launched last year. While a moderator on an official French TESO forum claimed the six-month blocks were discontinued due to lack of demand (ie, customers prefer to buy shorter blocks), evidence is certainly mounting that a change is imminent.
We will keep you upto date on this story, as we’ve not reviewed the game since release, however if Free to Play does happen, we’ll have another look at the game which we were underwhelmed by during the betas
