The original definition of “blog” was as an abbreviation of “web log”, where you’d point out interesting places you found while surfing. I don’t really have anything to write about today – I did 1.1.11 in LotRO last night on my hunter and started in on the Forsaken Inn quests, and played Free Realms for a couple of hours but I can’t write about that, so… welcome to my web log! ...
Friday’s dev “Webinar” was beset by a number of technical problems – for the first half hour, all I could hear was the software repeating in a pleasant voice that the organizers hadn’t yet joined the webinar, though I could see them moving things around on the screen. After two restarts, I finally was able to hear what was going on. Discussion centered largely around a few questions. First, what should the new max level for the free content be? Almost everyone agreed that 7 was too low; between levels 10 and 12 seemed to be the new ‘sweet spot’. Second, should Spellborn allow auto attack? Currently, unless you are mashing buttons, you are not doing anything. This would let you do a certain amount of damage automatically. There was violent opposition to this. ...
Like or hate the price of a Spellborn subscription rising and falling with the price of Acclaim Coins, it can work to your advantage. March 27th - 29th, Acclaim is having another Bonus Coin Weekend. For the price of a Silver Membership (if you don’t have one) and $70 for the coins, you can purchase enough coins for nine months of Spellborn for $80 (or $70 if you already have a membership). This makes the effective monthly rate to play the premium side of the game cheaper than any subscription MMO of which I’m aware. ...
It was a sad day when the trolls discovered lawyers. I suppose that living in Freeport, they were bound to stumble upon some, sooner or later. The Dark Brotherhood, after all, is largely comprised of lawyers. I guess I really should have expected that letter from the Big Bend Basher’s League threatening a lawsuit I wouldn’t soon forget (or survive) if I didn’t start featuring more trolls and ogres in my model shots. The vellum was made from stretched and scraped gnome skin, so I knew they were serious. I knew that gnome skin. That burn, that scar – that was Tsuki, last week’s fashion model. ...
The Chronicles of Spellborn is a game you can solo, start to end, never having to group. But while it’s possible, it’s not a really good idea. Some things you can only do in groups – like the Wanted posters. Those give quests to kill a named mob and give a HUGE amount of experience when you kill them. But if you go it alone at the level you get the quest, you won’t last long. ...
One of the really great things about the open beta is that it is the FIRST time, my time on the EU servers included, where there were enough people running around that it felt like an MMO. You could go from Hawksmouth City to the docks without happening upon even one Young Bear last night, I kid you not. I’m surprised there were any older bears, seeing as how we completely slaughtered the next generation. ...
Just finished listening in on the Spellborn dev chat/‘webinar’. Lots of interesting discussion, some of which is after the break. While the devs were talking, I was programming. I went through everything on the Acclaim website, trying to figure out what combination of memberships, terms of subscription, and quantities of coin bought would combine to form the cheapest monthly cost? They will be, at some point, adding a set price of $15/month (for now, possibly rising to $18/month when they end the introductory price), but I thought we could get it cheaper. ...
Announced today, and thanks to Tierrunner for catching this, the Acclaim hosted Chronicles of Spellborn is now in open beta. Also announced is their pricing plan, which is managed via Acclaim Coins, their RMT currency, to tie it in with other Acclaim games. The game is available for free download, and lets you go to the first two zones and reach level 7 before being asked to pay. I’d urge prospective players to use the free download and level a char or two to 7 before deciding whether or not to subscribe to the game. ...
The second round of closed beta has begun, all the old characters were wiped away (well, at least mine were), so I started up a new mage and brought her through level 5 so that she could become a Void Seer. Void Seers were, I thought, going to be pretty close to a basic healer. This isn’t the case – not at level 5, anyway. The only heals she has are the heals all mages get (and every class gets some kind of heal, even if it’s self only). Mage heals are curses placed on a monster, and when that monster gets hit with melee, ranged, or magic (depending on the curse), the group gets healed. To heal in Spellborn, you don’t spam the “more healing” button. You attack more. ...
This isn’t going to be a new player’s preview to the Chronicles of Spellborn – you can find links to that sort of information after this post that point to my experiences playing on the EU servers prior to the Acclaim closed beta, or take a look at Dragonchasers’ excellent initial impressions. On the EU servers, I played a Rune Mage. My special power: Special tattoos that could be triggered to cause explosions. Rune mages are the EQ2 warlocks (or WoW frost mages) of Spellborn, and since many of my damage spells also triggered instant heals or heals over time, I felt very comfortable mostly tanking things, moving only to get out of enemy AOEs, but mostly just building and executing combos through the skill deck. ...