About David

David Holloway has been involved with gaming since the early 1970′s and with virtual worlds since heavy use of a MOO in 1993 – he even admits to having owned a Vic 20 and used it heavily to play cassette-based roleplaying games. As far as Star Wars goes, he still owns his original set of Star Wars figures and can vouch for the fact that a 1978 Stormtrooper can be blown to bits by shooting it with a slug gun from a distance. He’s also played Star Wars games as far back as the Super Nintendo console and to this day is devastated by the accidental erasure of all his progress on Lego Star Wars on the Wii.

Australia/NZ WoW Launch Details Announced

We’ve just received the info on the server live times and when people can pick up their box copies of Mists of Pandaria.

Here it is, straight from the horse’s mouth:

While heroic adventurers hailing from Australia and New Zealand can purchase a copy of Mists of Pandaria directly from www.warcraft.com, they can also pick up the game at their favourite retailer on Tuesday, September 25th beginning at 9 AM local time. (9 AM NZST/9 AM AEST/9 AM ACST/9 AM AWST)

For a handy reference, the game servers will go live at:

New Zealand Standard Time: 7:00 PM

Australian Eastern Standard Time: 5:00 PM

Australian Central Standard Time: 4:30 PM

Australian Western Standard Time: 3:00 PM

The new continent reveals itself to a broken world just as the Alliance and Horde are spiralling ever closer to a war that will consume all of Azeroth. Will the mists of Pandaria part to reveal the world’s salvation? Or will the battle to control this rich and breathtaking new land push the two mighty factions over the brink of war and into total annihilation? The answers await within Pandaria’s mysterious shores!

 

So if you’re like me and have ordered a box copy, you have plenty of time to pick it up and have things ready for the servers going live.

Over to you: what plans do you have for launch day?

TSW Issue #2 Full Patch Notes

It’s been a while coming but it’s now a reality. The Issue #2 content update is live on the servers, and we’ve got the full patch notes for you right here.

As you’ll see, there’s no shortage of things to delve into, so here we go:

 

“Issue #2: Digging Deeper” Game Update 1.2 – September 18th

Highlights

Brand new missions, the rocket launcher – our first auxiliary weapon including its own mission line – and the plastic surgery and barber shop are now all available as part of The Secret World Issue #2: Digging Deeper. Please click here for more information about the new missions in Issue #2.

And there is also a new title available if you complete all of the Digging Deeper missions!

 

Top changes

  • Two additional dungeon Nightmare modes are now available: The Facility and Hell Eternal.
  • The plastic surgeon’s shop Modern Prometheus in New York is now open for business.
  • Visit Ockham’s Razor barber shop in London for a new haircut or change of facial hair styles.
  • You can now access a Looking for Group (LFG) Tool using the Shift+C keyboard short cut or via the in-game menu.
  • You can now equip an 8th active/passive ability! This is reserved only for auxiliary abilities.
  • All lair NPCs now have a chance to drop Bind on Pickup rare core items.
  • All Lair bosses will now drop two Bind on Pickup rare items, 1 rare signet, 1 rare Glyph kit, and two Region boss blueprints.
  • All Region bosses will now drop a loot bag containing 2-4 blueprints to summon that boss, 3 epic Bind on Pickup items, 1 epic signet, 1 epic Glyph kit and a unique Raid Puzzle Piece.
  • NEW Lair Kill missions :
    • From Beyond the Iron Curtain (The Carpathian Fangs)
    • The Spoils of Cold War (The Shadowy Forest)
    • Midnight Mass (The Besieged Farmlands)
    • Sinking Feelings (The Savage Coast)
    • Unto the Beach (Kingsmouth)
    • Citadel of Pain (City of the Sun God)
    • Return of the Red Nights (The Scorched Desert)
    • The House always Wins (Blue Mountain)

 

General

  • London – Fixed the hat vendor’s voices to match their genders.
  • Tabula Rasa – Gave some NPCs more health. You can now use active dodge in this playfield.
  • Pangaea mannequins no longer have (U) tooltips.
  • Corrected several visual issues with clothing.
  • You are no longer able to get stuck between the bookcase and a chair in Dracula’s Castle.
  • Slightly optimized client memory usage.
  • Athletic Hoodie, blue should now appear correctly in the players Dressing Room after purchase.
  • Turrets will turn to their original rotation after combat and when they deactivate.
  • A new Anima Well can be found in the vicinity of the Lair area in Shadowy Forest.
  • The Magna Cum Laude achievement should now always be achievable.
  • You are now unable to accept dungeon teleports before reaching Jack Boone in Kingsmouth, to prevent an issue where your character could become totally unable to progress.
  • Adjusted the animation of running while using a cellphone.
  • Fixed an issue where the Shirt and Tie would clip through your equipped jacket.
  • Each lair now has a “warning area” encircling it on the map.
  • On the London map, the spelling of “Ealdwich alley” as been changed to “Ealdwych Alley”.
  • The clock on the top menu can now switch between showing game time and real time. Switch by clicking it.
  • Rifles will no longer clip through your character’s body when drawn.
  • Fixed an issue with naked characters in cinematics.
  • Fixed several locations worldwide where it was possible to get stuck.
  • Fixed some clipping issues with new female hairstyles and hats.
  • London: A specialised arms dealer in Ealdwic Station will now provide you with the necessary components to create and cast your auxiliary weapons.
  • Signet of Echoes will no longer cause friendly targets to attack you.
  • Fixed an issue with NPCs not playing attack animations for Assault Rifle attacks.
  • The sound of your headlamp will no longer be heard by other characters.
  • Fixed an issue with ocean reflections.
  • The camera will no longer jump when changing sex during character creation.
  • Fixed a few issues with hairstyles that caused clipping issues.
  • Fixed collision issues in several places worldwide.
  • Lair – Spoiled Garden – The Chain Spore detrimental effect on players should now display its icon correctly.
  • Fixed an issue with flickering shadows with crossfire enabled.
  • Fixed the cause of a server crash.
  • Fixed a spot where players took unintended environmental damage.
  • Fixed a crash caused when skipping introduction cinematics.

 

Abilities

  • Do or Die no longer has a brief delay after activating it.
  • Turn the Tables and The Scarlet Arts will build counters on Hot Iron.
  • Turn the Tables updated to indicate that it is not affected by any heal increasing effects.
  • Mass Provocation will now affect up to 5 targets.
  • Mass Confusion will now affect up to 5 targets.
  • Queued dash abilities will now change weapons correctly when they are executed.
  • Assault Rifle
    • The tooltip for Leeching Frenzy will now correctly state that the beneficial effect has a duration of 4 seconds.
    • Anima Outbreak now specifies the number of friendly targets healed per enemy target hit.
    • Tactical Retreat grenade will now damage targets.
    • Tactical Retreat will no longer go on cooldown if it can’t be used (e.g. if you have a cliff behind you).
    • High Explosive Grenade’s tooltip now reflects that it does more damage to Afflicted targets.
    • Frag Grenade now does area damage when used with 4 and 5 resources.
    • Lucky Bullet’s tooltip now reflects that the effect happens on the 7th attack, not on the 8th attack.
    • The tooltip for Shellshocker now correctly states that it hits every 0.25 seconds instead of every 0.3 seconds.
    • Fixed an issue with Demolition, Man.
    • Updated the tooltip for Groundwork to state that up to 5 friendly targets will be affected. Improved Groundwork will affect the same number of targets.
    • Updated Veteran Passive ability to only apply once per cast of abilities.
    • Demolition, Man will only proc once from Tactical Retreat.
    • Updated spelling error in Call your Shots.
  • Blood
    • Gaian Exposure’s buff is now correctly named “Gaian Exposure”.
    • Updated Blood Pact tooltip for barrier with numeric information (absorption rate and amount).
    • Updated the tooltip for Prolonged Darkness to correctly show that it adds 3 seconds (instead of 2 seconds) to Left Hand of Darkness’ damage over time effect.
    • Blood Pact: Updated tooltip for barrier with numeric information (absorption rate and amount).
  • Elementalism
    • Aidelon: Reduced the critical chance bonus on Afflicted targets with Blaze from 100% to 40%.
    • The damage buff from Short Fuse is now consistent whether the caster is in a group or not.
    • Group mates will receive the Short Fuse buff when a group member casts it.
    • Blaze is now affected by Seal the Deal.
    • Final Fuse passive ability now correctly improves the buff from Short Fuse.
    • Manifestations will now more reliably trigger the Elemental Skill: Fury.
    • Fire Manifestation will now trigger hit effects.
    • Updated description for Elemental Skill: Fury to clarify what triggers it.
    • Fixed several issues with Short Fuse and its passive Final Fuse.
    • Phantom Purge now removes the particle effects from targets that have been purged.
  • Fist
    • Hog Wild now only effects NPCs located within the specific cone effect area.
    • Lick Your Wounds’ healing ticks are no longer able to crit.
    • Using Anima Burst will now increment stacks of Hot Iron.
    • Nurture, Cauterise and Shelter will now trigger Adrenalise.
    • Vigour can now critically heal.
  • Hammer
    • Updated tooltip of Blowout to display proper health increase %.
    • The tooltip of Epicentre has been updated to say that it creates a damage area around the targets of the caster’s attacks.
    • The Thor Hammer ability will now stop to play its animation when the caster is interrupted.
    • Epicentre should no longer cause FPS drop when used by multiple players near each other.
  • Pistols
    • Big Bang will now actually trigger each time each time a manifestation, turret, or drone deals damage.
    • Critical Help will only trigger when a manifestation, turret, or drone is summoned.
    • Win-win will now affect the caster and cleanse the correct number of detrimental effects.
    • Mad Skills will now trigger when critically healing.
  • Shotgun
    • Smart Bomb: Reduced placement range to normal shotgun range.
    • Bomb Squad: Reduced placement range to normal shotgun range.
    • Riot Act will now show the advanced tooltip when the Show Advanced Ability Descriptions option is selected.
    • Shotgun Damage Skill attack will now appear in the combat message window as CQC instead of Point Blank.

 

PvP

  • Cover in Stonehenge has been more evenly spread out.
  • Hit Rating and Defence Rating have been removed from the World Domination buff.
  • Updated the mechanic for capturing an Anima Facility.

 

Dungeons

  • The Facility and Hell Eternal Nightmare portals in Agartha have been added.
  • You will now be able to rejoin a Nightmare dungeon that you previously left, provided the instance is still active. An instance will remain active for 5 minutes when empty.
  • Generic pets are now disabled in dungeons.
  • Wallachian nightmare dungeons give an increased amount of Black Bullion.
  • The Facility: Anima Control Rod beams should no longer flicker.
  • Hell Fallen – Nightmare: Some issues have been fixed and balance adjustments have been made.
  • Hell Raised Nightmare and Hell Eternal Nightmare: Lifeburn will no longer cause certain passives to damage you.
  • Nightmare Xibalban Bloodhound (Darkness War), Nightmare Pit Dweller (The Ankh), and Nightmare Piston Predator (Hell Eternal) mobs now have a 50% chance to drop Bind-On-Equip Band 10 purples.
  • Trash in Nightmare dungeons now has a chance of dropping either Band 10 blues or a low chance to drop Bind-On-Equip Band 10 purples.
  • The Slaughterhouse
    • The dungeon has been rebalanced extensively and it’s now significantly harder.
    • Aleksei-Chetyre should now die immediately when reaching 0 health.
  • Darkness War Nightmare
    • Wayeb-Xul: The duration of the stun applied by Concuss is now slightly shorter.
    • Wayeb-Xul now pauses his combat a few seconds after casting Concuss.
  • The Ankh
    • A particle now plays on the target and Doctor Klein right before he casts Dreaming Shroud.
    • Added tier and goal text in the mission journal for Pandora’s Box and Pandora’s Box Revisited.
    • Removed the filth spawned along the edge in Normal/Elite.

 

Items

  • Healing signets will now trigger on the correct target.
  • Signet of Castigation will now have a visual indicator when active.
  • Fixed an issue with Signet of Ablation not activating properly.
  • Fixed an issue with Signet of Equilibrium not applying properly.
  • Penetration kickbacks will now trigger correctly.
  • Black Mark of the Morrigan now correctly applies Flurry of Feathers from all heals, including blood magic barriers that have a direct healing component.
  • You can now create moulds with weapons such as Taipan’s Last Resort and Soul Crusher.
  • The clothing item Atenist Garb no longer causes your character’s eyebrows to change color to orange.
  • Fixed the name of the ability cast by the Fragmentation grenade, now named “Frag Grenade”.
  • The cost of purchasing Glyphs from the PvP vendors has been significantly reduced.
  • The cost of purchasing Venice Glyph Upgrade Toolkit has been significantly reduced.
  • The cost of purchasing Venice Talisman Upgrade Toolkit has been significantly reduced.
  • Auxiliary Weapon Mould: Original now for sale from vendors.
  • Auxiliary Weapon Mould: Gold-Plated now for sale from vendors.
  • Auxiliary casting Toolkit now for sale from vendors.
  • Auxiliary weapon mould blueprints now have a chance to drop from all Nightmare bosses.
  • Adjusted Signet of Order to behave more like its description.
  • Signet of Temperance should now trigger properly.
  • Plethron Epipens will now behave more consistently.
  • Fixed spelling mistakes in several signets.
  • The Atomos head talisman will no longer incorrectly place a stacking buff on your hostile target.
  • Fixed an issue where some Dress shirts would clip through the Punk Blazer.
  • Fixed some issues where the Female tight plaid pants would deform multiple shoes meshes.
  • The Orochi Field Uniform will no longer change the your pants and shoes when equipping it.
  • Shell of the Nautilus from normal Polaris has had its icon corrected.
  • Achievement Rewards: The male “Dawn Leathers” item is now a green poncho similar to the female, as intended.
  • Faction Marks sold by the Explosives Vendors now clear each other – a given target can only have 1 Mark. These Marks also no longer falsely claim to only effect one target at a time.
  • Thoth’s Condemnation (normal and elite versions) now add the correct amount of stats to you.
  • Wosret’s Marvel can now be properly disassembled.
  • Caress of the Void can now be properly disassembled.
  • Calabi-Yau Manifold can now be properly disassembled.
  • Grotesquely Bloated Heart can now be properly disassembled.
  • Pishacha’s Hunger can now be properly disassembled.
  • The coveted Taco Hat is now available if you have consumed 7460 tacos or more in-game.

 

GUI

  • Fixed an issue with the gear manager swapping builds with similar weapons.
  • Marketplace : The marketplace search no longer returns with items that are already sold.
  • The equip button has been replaced by a reassign button for abilities already equipped.
  • Improved the mission tracker visuals and feedback.
  • Cabals – Added a new permission to cabals (Can Withdraw Items).
  • Cabals – You can now invite other players to your cabal even if they are not in your area.
  • Made the GUI of states and resources a bit easier to understand.
  • Added burst as a subtype in ability search.
  • Fixed target decal option not saving properly.
  • Crafting – Assembly window should now never open without text on the assembly button.
  • The in-game browser should no longer crash when a download link is opened (it will rather just be ignored).
  • Fixed an issue where the PvP GUI would not update properly after a Battlefield was completed.
  • Fixed an issue where the Gear Manager would sometime not load the gears that are part of a build.
  • You can now invite other players to your Cabal by Right Clicking their name in chat regardless of how far the invited player is from you.
  • TO MODDERS: Added the possibility to set a target though the UseShortcut function in com.GameInterface.Game.Shortcut (UseShortcut(pos:Number, targetId:ID32)
  • Changed cabal member promote button from Ok to Ok/Cancel.
  • Opening up the dressing room tab should no longer show a blank Back tab by default.
  • Gear manager has been updated to work with auxiliary abilities and weapons.
  • Removed outdated achievements The Grimms and Heart of the Matter.
  • Fixed a brief delay when joining a group where group chat would not display right away.
  • Hazmat Suit will now correctly appear in the multislot section of the Dressing Room.
  • Corrected an incomplete sentence on a character selection screen popup.
  • The maximum number of possible gear manager slots your character can have when purchasing all upgrades, has been increased to 20.
  • Added new icons to playfield maps to show the lairs.
  • Area names and Lair names should no longer appear onscreen at the same time.

 

Missions

  • Into Darkness – Illuminati : You will now be able to continue if you skip the road flares and proceed to the meeting point in the dark.
  • Dawning of an Endless Night: Correct instance name will appear when attempting to enter Illuminati Archives.
  • Dawning of an Endless Night: You should no longer be attacked by friendly Undying Thanes in The Savage Coast stone encounter.
  • Hub cities: You are now unable to leave the training rooms until the weapon missions are complete.
  • Virgula Divina: Fixed an issue which caused some players to be unable to move after watching a cinematic in the mission.
  • To Catch a Thief: Goalmarker now guides you back to the instance on the ‘follow the rogue agent into Agartha’ step.
  • Total Eclipse: The Headlamp is now removed from inventory upon mission completion.

London

  • London Underground: Fixed an issue where the door found in the Bazalgette could be interacted with without having the mission active.
  • London Underground: The Crocea Mors item has been removed from the mission as it is no longer required.

New York

  • Mainframe: A locked door found in the instance will now provide appropriate feedback when interacted with.

Kingsmouth

  • The Pick-Up
    • Adjusted the trigger areas for this escort mission.
    • Fixed an issue where Cassandra would sometime stop following you during tier 6 which would prevent mission completion.
    • Fixed an issue where leaving the instance would sometime not solve the “Leave the maintenance tunnel” goal during tier 7.
    • One of the 3 doors will always allow you to pass through to the other side.
  • Floater: Lost Drone can now be spawned by other players after someone else already spawned it.
  • It takes Two to Tango: Tango should automatically respawn after it despawns either from mission completion or failure.
  • That’ll Leave a Mark: Fixed an issue where the Injured Man would duplicate himself.
  • The Kingsmouth Code: Fixed an issue where the mission would pause after clicking some paintings.
  • Runaway Light – Fixed a few issues with Ellis gun during the mission cinematic.
  • The Hunger: Voracious Wendigo will now consistently spawn at the bones for tier 1, and then run away after the first ambush (without getting stuck at half health).
  • Hell and Bach: Theodore Wicker’s spiritual memory re-lived on the seance circle in tier 2 is now distinct from his tape-recorded journal later in the mission, as intended.

The Savage Coast

  • Carter Unleashed
    • It is no longer possible to get stuck in the generators in the basement.
    • You can now complete the mission even if you have crafted the Charged Ward Generator before the intended goal.
    • Another Portable ward generator can be picked up while on goal “Assemble a charged ward generator” if it was used up previously.
    • The Media pop-up is now larger and easier to read.
  • A Carnival of Souls
    • Fixed an issue where you would sometimes be unable to destroy the Joy of Children during tier 3.
    • “Joy of Children” can be destroyed when re-entering the instance during “Free the Joy of Children”.
  • Bring it Bach: Camera effect appears when the camera is used.
  • Jack’s Back: Jack will reliably spawn after killing the 3 revenants in Tier 3.
  • Ami Legend: Fixed an issue where the encounter would sometimes break if you died during tier 2.
  • The Exterminator: Burrows can be attacked by melee attacks.
  • Dear Reader: Fixed an issue where the ravens would sometime not fly away when approached.
  • The Faculty: Professor Jones now drains less life from her familiars.
  • The Breakfast Cult: Ward generator effects in the library will show properly now.
  • Sinking Feelings: Added a text for when the mission has been solved. The number of slurs to kill has been adjusted.

The Blue Mountain

  • Bitter Servants can no longer attack you through walls in the Franklin Mansion and can no longer pass through walls.
  • Fixed an issue in pathfinding near the Franklin Mansion staircase where NPCs would end up under the stairs or on the above floor.
  • Fixed an issue that prevented you from entering the area for the Aspect of the Long-Toothed.
  • The Filth Amendment: The waypoint for finding Subject-Zero among the prisoners has been increased slightly in radius.
  • The Filth: The Media pop up in Tier 2 should now be localized in the mission journal.
  • His Master’s Voice: French and German version of the pages should appear correctly in the journal.
  • Jack of the Lantern: Fixed an issue that could make Jack of the Lantern take a lengthy amount of time before spawning in the pumpkin patch.
  • Up in Flames: The Hazmat Suit awarded when completing the mission will now properly appear as a Multislot item in the Dressing Room.
  • Scavengers: Fixed an issue where the Faction Report would not show any text.
  • Dreamcatcher
    • Fixed an issue that prevented you from completing the goal “Find a Wabanaki Guide’s feather” after pausing and unpausing the mission.
    • The mapmarkers for the Ancestor’s Nightmares have been adjusted to better reflect the location.
    • Fixed an issue that could cause the mission to not complete correctly.
    • Ancestor’s Nightmares will no longer keep you on their hatelist, preventing you from regenerating health.
  • The Orochi Group
    • The Poisonous Smoke can now be prevented by wearing the hazmat suit (from the Up in Flames mission).
    • Fixed an issue where the required password was incorrectly shown on the computer terminal GUI during Tier 3.
    • The Media pop up for Tier 4 of the mission should now be localized.
  • Homeland Insecurity
    • The Tactical Map found during the mission will now match the visual look of it’s media popup.
    • Fixed an issue that could prevent you from completing the mission if your inventory was full.
  • The Ghosts and the Darkness
    • Fixed an issue that prevented you from hearing Billy Woodrow’s spoken dialogue.
    • Jimmy Rigby’s corpse will now be easier to find.
  • Echoes in Eternity
    • Fixed an issue that prevented you from completing the mission if you resumed it on the last tier.
    • Fixed an issue that sometimes prevented you from completing the mission if you paused it.

The Scorched Desert

  • Old Gods, New Tricks: Mission dynel used to spy has been renamed to Spy on Tanis.
  • The High Cost of Dying
    • Tier 1: Interacting with the Altar of Learning inside the Ancient Marya Atheneum will now properly complete the mission goal.
    • Tier 2: Leaving the Ancient Marya Atheneum during the mission will no longer block the mission from progressing.

City of the Sun God

  • The 3rd Age – Tier 3: Fixed an issue that prevented you from completing the mission if it was paused.
  • Batteries Not Included: The Malfunctioning Drones found during the mission will no longer remain immobilized on the way to their destination.
  • Waters of the Nile: The mission will no longer disappear from certain instances.
  • Halls of Lost Records: The locked door in the Chambers of Horus will now unlock properly when the mission asks you to pick up the Key of Horus.
  • The Way of Things: Slightly improved lighting inside the pentagram room.
  • Blood and Fire: The Statue of the Voice of Aten encountered at the end of the mission will now respawn faster and should not lock anymore.
  • Changes to NPCs:
    • Shade Stalkers should be easier to handle.
    • Foreman Gahiji found new strength and should be slightly harder.
    • Eiz has drawn even more power from his altars.
    • Filth-Warped Aspirants now know how to use their weapons correctly.
    • Golems now properly bind to the will of the Shaper of Golems.
    • Transformed Orochi Soldiers have grown and found their proper powers.
    • Filthy Orochi Assaulter should be more interesting to fight.
    • Vile Dive ability from Soul Corruptors now have a clearer area of effect.
    • Bullrush ability from some Guardians now have a clearer area of effect.
    • The Corrupted Corpses NPCs in City of the Sun God have been tweaked to be more enjoyable.
    • Infectious Commander should be easier to handle.
    • Several NPCs have been made stronger in the mission “The way of things”.
    • Shezmu the Betrayer found new defensive moves making him harder.
    • The manifestations of Amir now have less health.
    • Mummy ability “Old Blood” area of effect will now be clearer.
    • Envoy Runihura has gained new gear and will be harder to kill.
    • Rib-Hadda has gone through some soul searching and has been completely rebalanced.
    • The Bling Blang ability of Mummies should be less of a problem.
    • All NPCs in the mission “The Sad Song” should be easier to handle.
    • Jinn Riftseeker has channelled more power.
    • Heropsis, found in the Tainted Burrow, will now properly spawn adds during combat.

The Shadowy Forest

  • Respawn timers for standard NPC population have been increased around The Shadowy Forest.
    • You should no longer find oddly placed object interaction labels around the playfield.
  • Mortal Sins
    • The Water of Life pouring should no longer appear to cut abruptly.
    • Puzzles in the Dreaming Prison can now be solved without audio.
    • Each letter of the Water of Life puzzle should now reset correctly after a moment.
  • The Cellar Door
    • Fixed an issue where you would be unable to complete the mission if you Disabled the Security Wall too early.
    • You won’t be able to skip ahead of the security systems and use levers unless you are on the appropriate objectives.
  • Fatal Framing
    • The Camera should now be removed from your inventory when you are not currently on the mission, or if you have completed it.
    • You should now be able to interact with the Romany Corpse again during the first goal of tier two, should you decide to abandon the mission.
    • The Camera should no longer be removed pre-emptively if you are in a grouped situation.
  • The Drăculeşti: The Goal Marker for the Photograph Fungal Incubators should now be more accurate.
  • The Amazing Brothers Blaga: The Electric Hazards debuffs in the area should no longer display placeholder text.
  • Free Spirit: The Goal Marker for Tier 1 is now more accurate.
  • The Wild Hunt: Leaving the cinematic directly after taking the mission does not continue to hinder your movement speed anymore.
  • Lord of the flies: You now have two minutes to kill the Forest Heart’s Decay, and should revert back to the first goal should you fail by dying or running out of time.
  • Fungal Fireworks: The Electrical Substation image should no longer display to every player in the area, it will only display for the player using the terminal.

The Besieged Farmlands

  • Moved General Rodica slightly to prevent him from floating.
  • The Lone Wolf won’t be lazy anymore, it will stand up and use its correct fight animations.
  • Added collision to Slave Dog Gladiators and Slave Dog Trackers in the Besieged Farmlands.
  • Ripples: The Herald of Sorrow won’t disappear anymore if summoned while the summoner is outside of the circle.
  • Mortal Sins: The Forest God will now properly hold a mug while he is drinking during the cinematic on tier 2.
  • The Cost of Magic: The page can be picked up again if deleted or never picked up in case of a full inventory.
  • The Kindly Ones: This mission can now be picked up again after being paused.

The Carpathian Fangs

  • NPC respawn times in Carpathian Fangs have been adjusted.
  • Improved pathfinding in The Breach.
  • Breached
    • The Orochi message triggered from the terminal now plays to completion in all languages.
    • Audio will now be played when accessing the audio file on the computer terminal.
    • The Zmeu-Mother’s will now respawn more quickly.
    • Adjusted the map marker for the “Access the terminal and find out what happened” goal during tier 1.
    • Adjusted the map marker for the “Gain access to the research data” goal during tier 2.
    • Adjusted the waymarker for ‘Breached – Tier Two’
    • Finding the Orochi terminal will now update closer to the actual terminal.
  • The Girl is Gone
    • Fixed an issue where the helicopter would despawn before you could reach it.
    • Lidiya will be more aware of new players entering the observatory while she is in combat.
    • The helicopter should now arrive on time.
    • Boss lockout barriers encountered in Tier 4 of the mission will now come down sooner following the encounter’s completion.
  • Eye Spy
    • The mission will now provide the correct amount of experience.
    • The mission will now fail properly if the triggering player disconnects. Note that the mission will only provide credit for grouped players – solo players must each escort the drone.
  • Too Deep: Fixed an issue where the four Bringer of the Beyond would sometime not spawn.
  • A Dying Breed: The mission will now provide the correct amount of experience.
  • Bloodlines: Added map markers to the goals requiring you to acquire blood sample from vampires.
  • Cabin Fever: Virgilu’s respawn timer has been adjusted.
  • The Castle: The ability cast by House of Danesti vampires now has a proper name.
  • Icebreaker: The Ice block found during the mission can now only be destroyed by players on the appropriate goal of the mission.
  • Metal Detective: Adjusted the waymarker for Tier 1.

 

NPCs

  • Blue Mountain soldier’s arms now match the color of the rest of their skin.
  • Blue Mountain – Fixed the respawn times on the Ellri Lords and Broodmothers in the Quarry.
  • Reanimated Warrior’s XX_Mesopotamian Snare cast is now named “Halting approach”.
  • Ellri Destroyers’ XX_Attract Zombie cast is now named “Undead attraction”.
  • Zamira Vata now has her shades above her head.
  • The House of Danesti Keeper located in Dracula’s Castle is now more aware of people sneaking up behind him.

 

World Design

Seoul

  • Added collision to some gas canister found in the Fight Club.

The Shadowy Forest

  • Fixed an issue where the runestones near Mama Padurii lair were floating above the ground.

The Savage Coast

  • Fixed an issue where players could get stuck in the Shadow version of the Theme Park instance.

Guild Wars 2 For Mac Announced

Ok I have to admit this has come as a major surprise. ArenaNet have just announced that GW2 is ocming to the Mac and a beta version is already avilable for download.

Here’s the details:

Today we’re happy to announce another major milestone in the development of Guild Wars 2: going forward, ArenaNet will also be supporting the game on Apple’s Mac OS X. The Mac Beta client is available immediately for all Guild Wars 2 players. It shares the same features and connects to the same live game servers as the PC client. Anyone who purchases Guild Wars 2 can now play it on both PC and Mac.

Bringing Guild Wars 2 to the Mac is huge for us, because it introduces the game to an entire group of players who are often ignored by game developers. The ability to play together with your friends is one of the underlying principles of Guild Wars 2, and providing a Mac client means that friends and guildmates can play together regardless of what operating system they favor.

On top of it all, ArenaNet staffers are big fans of Macs. We offer them as part of our employee laptop subsidy program, and our president Mike O’Brien is rarely seen without his Mac laptop. We’re as excited as anyone to play Guild Wars 2 on OS X.

The Mac Beta is available to anyone who has purchased or purchases Guild Wars 2. All you need is an active Guild Wars 2 account to download the Mac Beta client. Just log in to account.guildwars2.com and click Download Client to get started. If you have any questions, check out our Mac FAQ.

Keep in mind as you play the Mac Beta that it is a beta product. Performance and system requirements aren’t finalized. Review the beta hardware specification, and understand that your overall experience will be better when we release the final version. Even though it’s a beta, the Mac client does connect to the same live environment that the PC client connects to.

To bring Guild Wars 2 to the Mac, ArenaNet worked with our partners at TransGaming, whose Cider technology allows us to mirror the game experience as closely as possible between the PC and Mac. This means that future updates to Guild Wars 2 will be available for both platforms simultaneously.

So whether you’re a PC or a Mac, or both, we’ll see you in-game!

The hardware specs mentioned in the post aren’t too harsh either:

  • Mac OS®X 10.7.X or later
  • Intel® Core™ i5 or better
  • 4 GB Ram or better
  • NVIDIA® GeForce® 320M, ATI Radeon™ HD 6630M, Intel HD 3000 or better
  • 25 GB available HDD space
  • Broadband Internet connection
  • Keyboard and mouse/equivalent

 

The Mac beta version of Guild Wars 2 runs well on the below machines or better. Your results may vary if you’ve upgraded or changed your Mac hardware or are running on lower hardware specifications.

  • iMac 21.5″, 27″ (Mid-2010)
  • iMac 21.5″, 27″ (Mid-2011)
  • MacBook Pro 15″, 17″ (Mid-2010)
  • MacBook Pro 13″, 15″, 17″ (Early and Late-2011)
  • MacBook Pro 13″, 15″, 17 (Mid-2012)
  • Mac Mini (Mid-2011)

So over to you: are you a Mac user that’s been waiting for this?

GW2 Patch Notes: 17th September 2012

The full patch notes for you from the latest GW2 game update – enjoy! :

General

  • Asuran players will now aim toward their targets when using a rifle.
  • Fixed various broken events and skill challenges.
  • Fixed various locations that allowed players to move outside the map.
  • Fixed various locations on maps where players could become stuck.
  • Discovery crafting may now use items directly from a player’s bank.
  • Fixed bugs in the Exploration achievement so players can now receive 100% map completion.
  • Added a system to limit the experience and gold that players can receive from speed-farming dungeons.

Story

  • Fixed bugs in “A Different Dream,” “A Fragile Peace,” “Dredging Up the Past,” “Forging the Pact,” “Pastkeeper,” “Ships of the Line,” “Stealing Secrets,” “The Priory Assailed,” and “The Source of Orr.”
  • Reduced the overall difficulty in “Dead of Winter.”

World-versus-World

  • Retaliation: This boon no longer reflects damage received from siege weapons.
  • The Experimental Rifle is no longer usable in World-versus-World.

Professions

Warrior

  • Smoldering Arrow: This skill’s casting time has been reduced.

Mesmer

  • The Prestige: This skill now requires full recharge if it’s interrupted at any time.

Thief

  • Descent of Shadows: This trait’s effect can now only trigger once every 8 seconds.

Engineer

  • Rocket Boots: This skill is no longer usable underwater. This is a temporary change until we can figure out why players can launch themselves into the sky using this skill.
  • Detonate Mine Field: This skill is no longer a blast finisher.

The Fall of Theramore: Thoughts

Well, I’ve just finished the pre-Mists of Pandaria event, The Fall of Theramore.

I went in with fairly big expectations after having a ball with the pre-Lich King and pre-Cataclysm events. I’m here to tell you that the Fall of Theramore is a pimple on the arse of the previous two events.

I won’t give any details away, but it’s essentially a three-person, six stage event that reminded me in some ways of The Culling of Stratholme dungeon for some reason. Except that dungeon had a bit more ambience – I have zero desire to go back and do the Theramore event again.

Overall, this event seemed a little cobbled together and can be completed in 15-20 minutes. That’s about all the time you’ll want to give up for it anyway…

Over to you: did you enjoy the event? Did you find it as good as previous events?

Get Your Mists of Pandaria Wallpapers Here

For those unaware (which is probably just me), Blizzard have a nice handful of Mists of Pandaria wallpapers up on their site.

Well, there’s two of them really but they are pretty.

Go grab one for yourself here.

TSW Issue #2 Update: Tonight

It’s had some delays but The Secret World is getting it’s Issue #2 update tonight (Tuesday).

The servers will be down for five hours, which is pretty reasonable for a full update.

Here are the local time conversions for you:

AEST: 9pm-2am

AWST: 7pm-Midnight

NZST: 11pm-4am

The short official blurb from Funcom:

The servers will come down for “Issue #2 – Digging Deeper” on September 18th at 11:00 GMT / 7am EDT / 4am PDT (check this link to see when this is in your timezone). The downtime is scheduled to last 5 hours.

Don’t forget you can check out the preview vid of the new content right here.

Over to you: are you excited for the new content?

BioWare Announce Dragon Age 3: Inquisition

BioWare have announced, over a year-ahead, that Dragon Age 3 is coming. This instalment is called Inquisition and it’s coming in ‘late 2013’.

Exec Producer Mark Darrah has written a brief post over at the Dragon Age website, which includes this summary of the state of play:

 

So here’s what I can confirm for now:

  • The next game will be called Dragon Age III: Inquisition.
  • We won’t be talking about the story of the game today. Though you can make some guesses from the title.
  • This game is being made by a lot of the same team that has been working on Dragon Age since Dragon Age: Origins. It’s composed of both experienced BioWare veterans and talented new developers.
  • We are working on a new engine which we believe will allow us to deliver a more expansive world, better visuals, more reactivity to player choices, and more customization. At PAX East, we talked about armor and followers… Yeah, that kind of customization. We’ve started with Frostbite 2 from DICE as a foundation to accomplish this.

There’s much more to talk about, of course, but it will have to wait until it’s ready for the prime time.

So really, the announcement is one of those “Hey, we’re working on the next game” ones, but Dragon Age fans will be pretty excited all the same.

Here’s the full press release:

BIOWARE ANNOUNCES DRAGON AGE 3: INQUISITION

The Return of Dragon Age will be Bigger, Deeper and Powered by Frostbite 2

SYDNEY, Australia– September 18, 2012 – BioWare, a Label of Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: EA), today announced Dragon Age™ 3: Inquisition, the next chapter in the award-winning role-playing game (RPG) franchise, is in development at BioWare Edmonton and BioWare Montreal. Coming in late 2013, Dragon Age 3: Inquisition combines the storytelling legacy BioWare is known for, with deep RPG gameplay, all on a brand new RPG game engine underpinned by EA’s critically-acclaimed Frostbite™ 2 technology.

“The Dragon Age team has been working on Dragon Age 3: Inquisition for almost two years now,” said Aaryn Flynn, General Manager of BioWare Edmonton and BioWare Montreal.  “We’ve been poring over player feedback from past games and connecting directly with our fans. They haven’t held back, so we’re not either. With Dragon Age 3: Inquisition, we want to give fans what they’re asking for – a great story with choices that matter, a massive world to explore, deep customization and combat that is both tactical and visceral.”

Added Flynn, “At the same time, we know we need new technology to truly make this vision become fully realized. And we’ve been working with DICE to make Frostbite 2 the foundation for the engine that is going to power Dragon Age 3.”

The Dragon Age franchise has received over 80 awards from critics around the world, and has sold over 8 million copies to date*. Created by BioWare, the property has spawned many novels, an animated film, comic books, collectibles and more since Dragon Age: Originslaunched in 2009.

For more information about Dragon Age 3: Inquisition, including updates from the development team and a letter to the fans from Executive Producer Mark Darrah, please visit the game’s official web site at http://dragonage.com.  Dragon Age fans can also receive updates on Twitter® at http://twitter.com/dragonage, or on Facebook at http://facebook.com/dragonage.

 

So over to you: given some of the bumps in the road DA2 had, are you excited for DA3 and its new engine?

SWTOR Server Maintenance 18th September 2012 (Updated)

UPDATE: BioWare have tweeted that the maintenance has been extended, with no ETA at this stage for when servers will be up.

It’s a long downtime this Tuesday night: 8 hours. It could be 1.4 dropping though it seems a little early for that. Either way you won’t be having any quality SWTOR time this Tuesday.

Here are the time conversions:

AEST: 5pm-1am
AWST: 3pm-11pm
NZST: 7pm-3am

And now for the official blurb from BioWare:

 

Hello everyone, we wanted to let you know that we will be performing scheduled maintenance for eight hours on Tuesday, September 18th, 2012 from 2AM CDT (12AM PDT/3AM EDT/8AM BST/9AM CEST/5PM AEST) until 10AM CDT (8AM PDT/11AM EDT/4PM BST/5PM CEST/1AM AEST). All game servers and SWTOR.com will be offline during this period. This maintenance is expected to take no more than eight hours, but could be extended.

This weekly maintenance is done in order to make general improvements and to check performance of the game so that we can continue to provide a consistent, quality experience. Quite often (but not always) after a maintenance period there will be a patch to download. After the maintenance, please login via the launcher to download the latest patch. If your launcher was open during the maintenance, you must close and reopen it for a fresh login.
Scheduled Maintenance

Date: Tuesday, September 18th, 2012

Time: 2AM CDT (12AM PDT/3AM EDT/8AM BST/9AM CEST/5PM AEST) until 10AM CDT (8AM PDT/11AM EDT/4PM BST/5PM CEST/1AM AEST)

All game servers and SWTOR.com will be offline during this period. This maintenance is expected to take no more than eight hours.

Thank you for your patience as we maintain service for Star Wars™: The Old Republic™.

Over to you: are you putting money on 1.4 dropping?

Flash Point 41: Short Rant Is Feasible

We’re back with some good in-depth chat on SWTOR 1.4, TSW Issue #2

Points of discussion:

SWTOR
– 1.4 update on PTS
– Shout-out to Jem for her great Mercernary/Commando 1.4 expert panel
– Speculation on 1.4 dropping this week
– Remaining active SWTOR podcasts discussion (Reddit link)

GW2
– State of the Game updates
GW2 Economy post
– GW2 forums
– approach to client updates
– general impressions

TSW
Issue #2 content update
– general impressions and having fun in Polaris and Inferno

WoW
– Patch 5.05
– Theramore event
– Pandaria anticipation

Marvel Heroes
– quick progress update

Wii U release schedule in Australia

– Shout outs for our forums, Facebook page, Twitter account and Simon’s Twitter account.

Please review or rate the podcast on iTunes if you can – it makes a huge difference!

Listen via iTunes or right here:

Guild Wars 2 Economy: Metrics Update

Click on image for full size

John Smith from the GW2 team has provided an interesting blog post on the state of play with the GW2 economy.

He covers off the Trading Post, supply and demand and economy exploits in some detail.

I found the most interesting bit to be the supply and demand issue, where John gives some insight on how interventionist ArenaNet are being:

We’ve noticed several markets that are clearly out of sync in terms of supply and demand. It isn’t interesting or fun to have a market flooded with items that contain very little value, so we’re making adjustments to the game every day. Players can expect to see these markets even out over time.

While adjusting the supply and demand will bring markets closer to non-vendor based equilibrium, there is still the matter of massive surplus of some items. To address the surplus, we’ve created some new, limited-time Mystic Forge recipes that use these items. These recipes create boxes that give chances for gold and some cool items.

Of course, all MMOs have interventions in their economy, but this seems to be some pretty formalised stuff. The graph you see above (click on it for the full size), shows the character gender spread in the game (roughly 60/40 to males), and the breakdown of professions, races and crafting. You can read the full blog post here.

Over to you: how are you finding the GW2 Trading Post so far? Have any tips to share?

Wii U Australian Release Date Confirmed

For those like me who love a bit of Nintendo action, you’ll be pleased to know we have some more info on the Wii U and its release date and pricing in Australia. It’s an iconic console and it seems that’s not about to change with the latest update to the franchise.

A launch was held at midnight last night, with the following snippets provided:

1. 30th November 2012 is the release date

2. There’ll be two ‘packs’ you can buy. Either:

A Basic pack which includes a
– Wii U Console (White)
– Internal flash memory 8GB
– Wii U GamePad (White) x1
– Wii U GamePad stylus (White)
– Wii U AC Adapter x1
– Wii U GamePad AC Adapter x1
– HDMI Cable (1.5m) x1
– no sensor bar included – but you can use one from your old Wii or buy one separately
PRICE: AU $349.95

OR

A Premium Pack which includes:

– Wii U Console (Black)
– Internal flash memory 32GB
– Wii U GamePad (Black) x1
– Wii U GamePad stylus (Black)
– Wii U GamePad Cradle
– Wii U GamePad Stand
– Wii U Console Stand
– Wii U AC Adapter
– Wii U GamePad AC Adapter
– HDMI Cable (1.5m)
– Sensor bar x1
PRICE: $429.95

3. As far as games go, the only confirmed available for launch day itself is Nintendo Land, but a bunch more games are due out pretty soon afterwards: New Super Mario Bros U, Rayman Legends, Zombiu, FIFA 13, Mass Effect 3: Special Edition, Call of Duty: Black Ops II, Wii Fit U and SiNG

4. You can play “almost all” Wii games on the Wii U

5. Other features of the console include:

Miiverse

Miiverse is a brand new network communication system that lets gamers from around the world share experiences, discuss games and discover new content.

Using their personalised Mii character, players enter Miiverse and see games, applications or entertainment content that either they have interacted with recently, expressed interest in learning more about or that their friends are using or discussing.

From here they can challenge their friends to play together, ask a question about a difficult level or discover new elements of their favourite games they never knew existed. After a notable achievement or other share-worthy moment, players can pause their game or application and seamlessly post messages to the Miiverse community.

TV Remote

The Wii U GamePad may also function as an infrared TV Remote, whether users are watching TV or playing a game.
Near Field Communication (NFC)

The Wii U GamePad has the ability to communicate wirelessly with objects that are held above it. This allows for a variety of interesting new possibilities for games and activities.
Nintendo eShop

The digital storefront for Wii U will be available at launch and offer a variety of content for people to download and enjoy. Consumers will also be able to purchase and download select games that are also available at retail stores.

There are plenty of ways to discover new games on Nintendo eShop:
you can watch trailers, view charts based on popularity, or search for games using a variety of search filters.

Video Entertainment

Nintendo is working with other partners to bring video experiences to Wii U that will take advantage of the integrated second-screen experience. Additional details will be released at a later time.
Video Chat

Using the built-in camera of the Wii U GamePad, people can communicate with other Wii U owners in real time.
Internet Browser

Wii U comes with a browser that lets people with a wireless Internet connection surf the Internet from the comfort of their couches. Using the simple controls on the Wii U GamePad, it’s possible to display your favourite web pages on the TV to share with family and friends, or just browse the web on the GamePad without using the TV. You can even use the browser when you are in the middle of a game!
Compatibility with Wii games

In addition to being able to play almost all Wii games you already have, you can also continue to use your controllers and other accessories such as Wii Remote Plus (and Wii Remote) controllers, and Nunchuk controllers.

Please note: excludes some software and accessories.

I for one am counting the days until I can play the next iteration of Mario Kart. Please Nintendo, tell me you’re working on that as we speak… I’ll also now have no excuse not to play Mass Effect 3 and Call of Duty – aside from money to buy the damn games of course.

Over to you: how appealing is the Wii U to you?

[via Nintendo AU]