EverQuest Goes F2P in March

Following EQ2, now the original EverQuest will go free to play in March!

EverQuest^® is the massively multiplayer online game that started it all!

Now in its unprecedented thirteenth year, EverQuest continues to add immersive gameplay, captivating storytelling and exciting worlds to the EverQuest legacy.

Join us in Norrath and explore fantastic lands filled with amazing creatures. Complete exciting quests, earn wealth and honor and take the fight to all those who would stand in the way of your destiny.

Starting early March 2012, all of this epic content will become Free to Play. Your Way.^™       - SOE

Of course, as with most P2P games that go F2P there is the list of restrictions pertaining to free accounts. Below is the link to EQ's free account restrictions.

http://www.everquest.com/free/

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SWTOR Reaches 1 Million+ Subscribers

Sorry I haven't been keeping up with the updates and news lately, got myself caught up in the holidays (and SWTOR :p)

Over one million people have registered to play Star Wars: The Old Republic less than one week into the game’s launch, making it the fastest-growing subscription MMO (massively multiplayer online) game in history, according to developer BioWare.

“We likely had the largest one-day subscription account registration process in MMO history — over one million people are now registered players of the game, and the number is growing rapidly,” say BioWare co-founders Dr. Ray Muzyka and Dr. Greg Zeschuk on the game’s official blog.

“As you might imagine, this presented a huge strain on our infrastructure and systems,” they add, ”but the good news is that we seem to be through the worst of it now thanks to folks working hard all day to serve our community.”

The developers say they are also working to resolve the issue of server queues, claiming it’s another side effect of the huge demand for The Old Republic. ”We were definitely anticipating a very high load but if anything the demand for the game has only exceeded our expectations.”

To date, BioWare says players have logged 28 million hours in the game – roughly the equivalent to watching all six Star Wars movies two million times. They have also created more than 3.8 million characters, including 510,000 Jedi Knights and 550,000 Sith Warriors. BioWare says players have averaged well over five hours a day online and have killed more than two billion non-player characters in the eight days since early game access began.

“Everyone at BioWare, EA and LucasArts is honored — and humbled — by the stellar response from our fans,” says Dr. Muzyka. ”We’re going to work together closely with our community in the weeks, months and years ahead, continually serving our audience with regular delivery of compelling new features and content.”

BioWare has already given a sneak peek at the new upcoming content for the online role-playing game, which includes a new Flashpoint and an expanded Operation. The new Flashpoint will take place on a brand new world, the developer says, while the new Operation will take the existing Karagga’s palace scenario and more than triple it in size.

Source: http://venturebeat.com/2011/12/23/star-wars-the-old-republic-1m-users/

So, what are you playing during the holidays?

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Blizzard wins lawsuit against Pirox

 "By the time that Activision Blizzard had a trip to Germany, to meet at least 3 Bot Devs, one of them was Pirox ( July 2011 ).

Other than us, Pirox was ready to talk with Blizzard about an settlement, and as it seems they finally agreed the conditions.

The settlement was about stopping Pirox to work, not about personal details of users, that means there is no data going to Blizzard.

As of this was confidential, i could not have talked about it, unless it turns into public news."

Source: mmosite 

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EverQuest II Behind the Scenes Video: A Goddess Risen

Nathan "Kaitheel" McCall (Game Designer II) gives us a sneak peek into the upcoming EverQuest II live event, "A Goddess Risen." The live event starts December 15, 2011 so be sure to check it out! - Isulith; (Sony).

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Star Wars: The Old Republic Post-Launch

New Content – We will be adding new content to the galaxy on an ongoing basis. These worlds will include Operations, Flashpoints and solo content.

Guild Functionality – Guilds are important to the long term health of any MMORPG. We have a huge list of guild centric features. This will be an ongoing effort that will probably never end. Guild banks are the first thing we’ll be delivering in our plans for increased guild functionality. Eventually we even want to deliver on the promise of the long hinted at "Guild Capital Ships".

UI customization – You like choice. We hear you! SWTOR is all about choice. Being able to choose how you interact with an online game is something we feel is very important. We are going to be giving more control over the UI as an ongoing effort. This is a very big priority for us.

PvP – We have an entire team dedicated to adding content and features to player vs. player. We have some of the most experienced PvP developers in the world on this team. So far very few people have seen, or know much about the stunning Open World PVP on Ilum; when you get to the high levels prepare to be blown away! In addition to that high level PVP content, expect new Warzones and new PvP features on a regular basis.

Space Combat – We will continue to add missions to the space game. We also have a special project going on right now that will expand space gameplay in a significant way... for now the details will have to remain under wraps.

Legacy System – The ability to select a surname for your character is just the start of something much bigger. Soon, the Legacy experience and levels you earn will grant your characters access to powers, objects and other cool benefits.

And more – We have an entire team of developers working on future content. Right now we are focused on nothing else but Star Wars: The Old Republic, so expect new and cool things.
The Old Republic will be launched on December 20 and you can purchase the game from retailers or download it via Origin and enjoy a 30-day free trial. The game's one-month subscription fee is $14.99 (£8.99), 3-month fee is $41.97 (£25.17), and 6-month fee is $77.94 (£46.14).

Source: pcgamer

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AION [EU] to go Free 2 Play in February 2012

 

Website: http://uk.aiononline.com/news

"In the last few months the lands in Atreia have become more and more deserted. We want to reinvigorate the world of Aion and attract new adventurers to the towns to take to the skies as Daevas."

Hopefully the NA Aion will follow!

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Guild Wars 2 to start CBT on 12/16/2011

Website: http://www.guildwars2.com/en/

"We will officially enter Closed Beta Testing this Friday. It will be marked with an increase in our pool of testers. To clarify, this phase of testing is still under NDA and is not open to the public.
Based on the feedback we get from our current Closed Beta Testing, we will determine the next phases of our beta program in which we will open beta access to more people. - Arena Net Team"



Source

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/nclu0/im_a_guild_wars_2_developer_ama_about_professions/c380yy0

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