Weekly Recap #353 March 22nd – Skyforge, ArcheAge, EverQuest & More

Weekly Gaming News summary for the week of March 22nd (March 15th – March 22nd)

MapleStory Fest Announced for May 2019:

Nexon announced that MapleStory Fest is back for the second year in a row! This celebration will bring fans and developers of MapleStory and MapleStory 2 together for major announcements, Q&A sessions, and plenty of exciting events. Tickets will be available in a few days starting on March 25th, and the event will run on May 11th, this year. Popular MapleStory streamers will be in attendance, and there will even be a special MapleStory-themed concert! That sounds interesting, literally. MapleStory Fest will have limited edition items and exclusive prizes and gifts for those who can make it out as well. If you’re in the LA area around May 11th it might be worth checking out.

EverQuest Announces Two Progression Servers and New Content for 20th Anniversary:

But speaking of celebrating, Saturday, March 16th was the beginning of EverQuest‘s 20th Anniversary Celebration, where they actually launched brand new content and two progression servers. Since the initial launch on March 16th, 1999, the high-fantasy MMORPG has released a steady stream of content, with 25 expansions and counting. EverQuest also features 1600+ playable areas, 700+ raid events, 50,000 design scripts and over 3,000,000 lines of code. With that in mind, the new Selo and Mangler Progression servers have launched recently, and there is also new content in the “Gnome Memorial Mountain”. It’s full of new quests, collections, and so much more to celebrate this anniversary. In addition, there are partnerships and collaborations including a BattleMage Brewery team-up for an exclusive EverQuest Brew in San Diego, and an SDCC (San Diego Comic Con) Everquest Museum. Games that have been going strong for 20 years deserve to have their own Museum.

RIFT Is Celebrating Its 8th Anniversary:

Not quite on par with EverQuest, RIFT is proud to announce that with update 4.8, they have reached their 8th anniversary – with it comes two new major content initiatives. The first of these is the Expert Dungeon: Enclave of Ahnket. This is a five-man dungeon and players can prove their might from Alittu to the Tower of Ahnket. The Ascended will battle their way through simulacrum standing in their way, before ultimately establishing a base camp for further expeditions into this area. Then there’s the World Event, Carnival of the Ascended. This worldwide Carnival celebration will have carnival games and special items to acquire. There are a wealth of mounts, essences, costumes, pets, consumables, and titles available for purchase during this time. Check out the site post at MMOHuts.com for more event details.

Armored Warfare’s Arabian Nights – Part II Now Available on PC:

Next up, the second part of the Arabian Nights season of Armored Warfare dropped on PC this past week, with two new special operations set to bring the Arabian Nights storyline to an explosive conclusion. Magnus Holter is on a campaign to get revenge on Clayburn Industries and you’ll be helping to craft a strategy to deal with the final confrontation looming on the horizon. There’s also a new armored vehicle dealer, Francine De Larouche, who has a new selection of powerful French and Italian vehicles to obtain. These tanks are configurable to fill multiple roles on the battlefield, making them one of the most diverse branches ever added to the game. Not a bad little update to Armored Warfare.

Skyforge Reveals New Planet for ‘New Horizons’ Expansion: 

Also with My.com, Skyforge has a new expansion coming in April that will, for the first time, add a new planet to the game. “New Horizons” will drop on PC April 9th, PS4 on April 10th, and Xbox One on April 11th. Terra, the new planet, features overgrown cities, lush jungles, and lawless wastelands. There will be new mechanics to learn and a brand new race to discover. Preliminary reports show the planet has overwhelming air pollution in some spaces, which seems to indicate that advanced weaponry had been used for war there. New Horizons looks to be the most ambitious expansion for the game to date, boasting that the new planet will develop based on player decisions. I feel that’s a step in the right direction for Skyforge, pretty cool expansion.

ArcheAge’s Third Relics of Hiram Update Arrives with 5.3:

But speaking of which, fans of ArcheAge can now delve deeper into the long-forgotten past of the Hiram with the game’s newest update! Update 5.3, as it’s known, brings a new dungeon called the “Fall of Hiram City”. Players will be tasked with rescuing villagers with rewards scaling based on the number of prisoners saved. In addition, Erenor’s festival of strength is here, and players will be doing battle with powerful bosses around the world. Victors will be rewarded with Noryette Accessories, so it’s definitely worth checking out. The game’s UI has also received an overhaul, alongside an adjustment to the rate at which potions and food are crafted and obtained. Plenty more details around the update at the site post at MMOHuts.com.

Guardians of Ember Enters Open Beta: 

In other news, the gates of Olyndale await again, as Gameforge has launched the Open Beta of the free-to-play hack ‘n’ slash MMORPG, Guardians of Ember. As a way to thank their playerbase, special items and free rewards are available to both newcomers and veterans alike. Those who registered during the Beta phases will be rewarded with an exclusive in-game title honoring their participation. Players who had purchased the game on Steam while it was under publisher Insel Games have been taken care of by the Veterans’ Reward program, which provides many valuable items at no cost for them when they return to the game. There are also free items in the newly-opened Premium Shop as well. These range from resurrection spells, stat boosters, and more. The full list can be found at the site post linked in the description below.

Albion Online Goes Free-to-Play + Oberon is Live 

On a slightly similar note, Albion Online, the fantasy sandbox MMORPG sporting a player driven economy, classless combat system and intense PvP battles with plenty of hardcore elements, has decided to take the plunge into free to play. Albion Online is entering a new era: on April 10th of this year, the gates will open for a plethora of new players. This new blood, along with the numerous content updates planned for the coming months, will make 2019 a thrilling year for Albion. The game’s business model will still feature a premium status, which can be bought with either real money or in-game currency, and a cosmetics only in-game shop, but now you won’t need to purchase the game to play. Not to mention free accounts who aren’t premium status will have no gameplay restrictions and can take part in all aspects of the game. In asking what prompted the developers to go the free to play route, they felt that in today’s world, a 30 dollar paywall is a massive deterrent for trying out a new game, especially one as unconventional as Albion online. I’ve got to say, I’ve played the game in alpha and beta and it was quite fun, sounds like starting in April will be the time to check it out if you never got the chance.

Survived By Announces They Are Ceasing Development: 

Up next, After much deliberation by the developers of Survived By, a game published by Digital Extremes, they came to the decision that they were not going to reach the vision they had in mind and are not going to continue forward with development. They greatly appreciate everyone who spent time playing Survived By, since their launch into Closed Beta. They still believe in the concept, but will not be able to get the game where they want it. With that in mind, the servers will stay up until April 19th, but no further development will be made. They also announced that anyone who spent money on Survived By, either items or packs will be given automatic refunds in the coming weeks. It’s a game eat game world out there and only the strongest survived by… see what I did there.

JetX Announces April 2019 Launch Date: 

And this is the point recap where I mention a bizarre and crazy new game. Singularity Lab and Fibrum Limited are proud to announce their new game, JetX which has a release date of April 11th, 2019. JetX features sci-fi arcade racing, combined with arena shooter gameplay and unique flying mechanics. All of this is wrapped up in a PVP package. Extreme speed, dynamic combat, and epic arena battles are on the way. Though also a VR title, it has a regular PC release, and players can combat each other across the two playstyles. Certainly looks weird, with those mechanics I’m not sure how most people wouldn’t just puke all over the place playing in VR, the trailer alone is giving me vertigo.

SMITE Patch Notes Discussion – Darkness Falls: 

And finally, our last two pieces of news are mentioning two awesome editorials brought to you by Jason, the first one being a Smite patch notes discussion around the latest Darkness Falls update. Both Jason and I have the same love for nearly all the skins revealed considering I play NOX, Scylla and Cernunnos. These skins are legit and I honestly think its cool that they did a genderbend Thanatos skin called Valkyrie’s Rage, though it won’t make me hate dealing with Thanatos any less. There are some major changes to Ranked, Conquest game mode and some hunter bridge items but I’ll let you check in with Jason at MMOHuts.com to read up about that.

How Easy is it to Begin Final Fantasy XIV

The last piece of news is for those wondering just “How easy it is to get started in Final Fantasy XIV?” Again Jason’s got you covered there too with a complete guide on the subject. Think of it as a complete review of the game up to this point that is thorough, very thorough. According to Jason, Final Fantasy XIV is easy to start, but the only thing holding it back from being a 5/5 is that there is simply so much information. There are so many things you might miss, like hidden bosses, quest chains, mounts, and awesome gear. That’s half the fun though, figuring out what you’ve missed, and always having a new adventure to go on. Give Jason’s guide a look over at the site post linked in the description below.