The patch notes for NCsoft's City of Heroes/City of Villains July 22 update have been released. This patch sees quite a number of changes including some fixes for cone attack powers and reduction of animation time for certain abilities.

Perhaps the biggest change though, involves a pair of bugfixes on the character selection screen which resolves the "disappearing characters when renaming" problem as well as the character moving to a different slot when renamed.

Anyway, here are the patch notes for the City of Heroes/City of Villains July 22 update. Enjoy!

AI
Entities which use the Pet AI should now cycle through their Ranged attacks, even while in Melee with a Target.Badges
Fixed a bug that sometimes caused a Supergroup s progress towards earning SG badges to be lost.Corrected the badge descriptions of Task Force/Strike Force challenge badges that referred to stature level 1 as being 1-15 to be 1-14.Corrected stature level 8 and 9 badge descriptions from erroneously being level 40-44 to 40-45 and from 45-50 to 46-50.Custom Weapons
Rularuu Claws should be available to Female and Huge players who have unlocked themCustom Roman axes granted by completing the Imperious Task Force should now be properly awarded.
Global Chat
Players with Trial accounts will no longer be able to use Global chat channels.Invention
Corrected two recipes in the Trap of the Hunter set that stated they granted range or damage. This set grants neither.ToHit Buffs/DeBuff Common IOs should not state they buff or debuff Accuracy any longer, but should properly state that they buff or debuff the To Hit chance.Powers
Cone Attack Powers Corrected an issue where Cone Attack powers would not hit moving targets.Animation time for Energy Punch, Stone Fist, Shadow Punch, and Charged Brawl changed from 1.0 second to 0.83 seconds. Activation time changed from 0.57 seconds to 0.83 seconds.Archery / Ranged Shot - Fixed some minor issues with Archery - Ranged Shot s animation and graphical effects.Brawl - Animation time corrected. Old cast time was 0.67 seconds, and the new cast time is 0.83 seconds.Earth Control / Animate Stone - Replaced Animated Stone s Stone Hammer Power with a version of Seismic Smash. He now understands how to cycle between powers more effectively.Energy Melee / Energy Transfer - Increased visual impact of Hit graphical effects.Accolade / Portable Workbench - The Portable Workbench should no longer be seen as a viable target for critter attacks.Flurry and Sands of Mu should now play the correct animation while Spines - Quills is activeTasks
The Lost and Found story arc will now correctly award salvage for players that are significantly higher levels than the mission levels.User Commands
"Synch" Command - Players can now use "Synch" in addition to "Sync" if they are experiencing any synchronization issues with the game servers.
User Interface
Character Selection Screen - Corrected a bug where a Renamed character may disappear from the Character Selection screen until the player logs out and logs back in.Character Selection Screen Corrected a bug where renaming a character moved the character to a different character slot location.CITY of HEROES
Powers

Blasters
Defiance - Corrected the Defiance Buff value granted by secondary power set powers. They should now be back to their previous values.Blaster / Energy Manipulation / Total Focus - Reduced Blaster Energy Manipulation Total Focus Disorient Magnitude from 4 to 3, to bring it in line with other versions of the powerBadges
Corrected text in the Firefighter badge.CITY of VILLAINS
Powers

Masterminds
Mastermind / Ninjas / Genin no longer have Archery attacks. Snap Shot and Aimed Shot have been replaced with Shuriken (a second Shuriken throw) and Explosive Shuriken attacks.Mastermind / Necromancy / Lich should remain at Range in combat more often now.

Related Links:
City of Heroes/ Villains gets nerfed behemoths in new patchCity of Heroes Patch 6/17/08

Buy: [City of Heroes]
Buy: [City of Villains]

It s more like an action-shooter; it s more like Resistance, or something like that than it is Hulk: Ultimate Destruction.[The gameplay] reflects what you would actually expect if you were a superhero.

But that s the hard part because if you look at our existing games, EverQuest and EverQuest II, they deliver a really good experience but at a different pace it s much slower, it s much more methodical.
Does this mean, that they will be alienating the core MMORPG players? Not exactly. Blakely said that while the MMO guys will be a little uncomfortable with the system at first it is "going to be something they re going to get excited about learning about and getting into."

It also seems that Blakely is very confident with this move towards a less traditional combat system saying "we are an MMO company and we know what our players like." Further adding that "you can look at the feature sets that we have in our existing products, and we re going to draw a lot of those pieces in People are used to it."


Related links:
SOE spills DC Universe detailsE3 2008: DC Universe Online's first trailer

Today's update is aimed at helping address some of the memory leak issues that some users have been experiencing.... We know that the memory leak issue was affecting users game experience though and we didn't want to hold it back due to the testing on the other content so have decided to roll it out today on it's own.
Tarib further adds that one additional tweak has been made to the game. According to his post, the status of feat resets for all players will be reset after the patch. This basically means that the price of feat resetting will go back down to its starting point, giving you the perfect chance to try out some builds for the future.

The memory leak fixes are probably going to be well-received by those folks plagued with frequent crashes. Tarib does mention that Funcom is continually working on fixing memory issues with the game, so expect more fixes in the coming weeks.


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Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures - July 17 patch notes releasedAge of Conan test live servers: PvP consequence system, focus for next updates revealed

Over at the official Pirates of the Burning Sea site, Taelorn of the Flying Lab Software dev team sat down with a new log discussing the MMORPG's patch 1.6. This patch aims to be a big change from the game's previous updates, given that instead of dealing with skill issues, it will instead be delving into high-end ship issues. After all, a pirate without a boat is like a ninja without black pajamas.

Taelorn posted that the most noticeable addition for PotBS patch 1.6 is the addition of 11 new ships: The Archelon, Cyclone (Test Ship), Dauntless, Mastercraft Couronne, Mastercraft van Hoorn, Monarch, Treason, 'Cruizer' Heavy Snow, 'El Dragon' Mastercraft Marque, 'Minerva' Mastercraft Frigate, and 'Trinidad' Frigate.

Aside from these new ships, Taelorn mentioned that patch 1.6 will be implementing changes that should narrow the considerable power gap between regular level 50 ships and those listed above. The changes are specifically meant for the regular ships, with the devs intentionally leaving PotBS' high-end ships untouched.

To that end, Taelorn also posted a list of the planned changes 1.6 will be implementing for game mechanics. We've listed the changes here, though those interested in reading Taelorn's full dev log can visit it via the source link below. PotBS' patch 1.6 is currently going through its paces in the testbed server, so you may want to keep on the lookout for any changes.
Patch 16. changesAbaddon s Will: Armor Bonus 10 -> 35 , Structure Bonus 10 -> 20 , Reload Bonus 10 -> 12.5  Alexander: Broadside DR 10 -> 11 Athena: Acceleration 0.8 -> 1.2, Deceleration 1.68 -> 1.35, Broadside DR 4 -> 6, Topdeck 6lb -> 8lb Capricieux (Mastercraft): Armor Bonus 25 -> 35 , Structure Bonus 20 -> 35 , Reload Bonus 12 -> 17.5 , 14 8lb -> 16 8lb Conquistador (Sleek): Armor/Structure Bonus 5 -> 15 , Reload Bonus 10 -> 15 , Visibility 69 -> 63, Capacity 135 -> 145, Speed 16 -> 16.1. Fixed a bug with its wind angles, changing: Close Haul 70 -> 87.5 , Beam Reach 87.5 -> 94  Curieuse (Trader s): Speed 16 -> 16.5 Cursed Blade: Reload Bonus 10 -> 12.5 , Turn Rate Fast 9.45 -> 9.75, Close Haul 75 -> 80 , Beam Reach 87.5 -> 90 , 10 8lb -> 12 8lb Defiant: Speed 15.4 -> 15.6 Defiant (Mastercraft): Defense 19 -> 20, Broadside DR 7 -> 8, 10 8lb -> 14 8lb Defiant (Sleek): Tracking 13 -> 16, Acceleration 1.2 -> 1.3, Defense 20 -> 21 Deliverance: Armor 3520 -> 3740 Deliverance (Heavy): Reload Bonus 5 -> 10 , Broadside DR 10 -> 11, 10 9lb -> 12 9lb, 24 16lb -> 26 16lb Discovery: Accuracy Bonus 2 -> 4, Reload Bonus 10 -> 17.5 , Tracking 18 -> 21 El Dragon: Defense 42 -> 47 Gallant: Accuracy Bonus 1 -> 5, Tracking 13 -> 23 Hercules: Speed 15.4 -> 15.3 (does not effect Sleek variant) Intrepid: Armor/Structure Bonus 35 -> 45 , Reload Bonus 20 -> 22.5 , 14 8lb -> 16 8lb Mignone (Privateer): Armor/Structure Bonus 25 -> 30 , Reload Bonus 10 -> 15 , Tracking 16 -> 17, Added 15 Sail Bonus, Speed 15 -> 15.4 Minerva: Acceleration 0.8 -> 0.95, Mordaunt: Broadside DR 10 -> 11 Myrmidon: Bow Armor 550 -> 560 Neptune s Disgrace: Armor/Structure Bonus 25 -> 30 , Tracking 18 -> 23, Added 20 Reload Bonus, 34 9lb -> 34 10lb Oliphant (Heavy): Armor/Structure Bonus 30 -> 40 , Broadside DR 7 -> 9 Oliphant (Mastercraft): Armor/Structure Bonus 15 -> 25 , Reload Bonus 10 -> 15  San Mateo (Heavy): Armor/Structure Bonus 25 -> 40 , Added 15 Reload Bonus, Broadside DR 12 -> 14, Narrow DR 5 -> 9 San Mateo (Trader s): OS Speed 62 -> 64 Tigre (Heavy): Armor/Structure Bonus 25 -> 35 , Added 7.5 Reload Bonus, Broadside DR 6 -> 8, Narrow DR 3 -> 4, 24 14lb -> 24 16lb Tigre (Mastercraft): Armor/Structure Bonus 2.5 -> 10 , Reload Bonus 5 -> 10 , 24 16lb -> 26 16lb, 14 9lb -> 16 10lb Tigre (Sleek): Added 7.5 Reload Bonus, Speed 15.75 -> 15.9 Valiant: 14 6lb -> 14 10lb
Ammo changes:  Round Shot: Sail Damage 15-20 -> 12.5-17.5  Bronze Round: Sail Damage 17-22 -> 15-20  Stone Shot: Sail Damage 17.5-21.5 -> 17-21  Explosive Round: Sail Damage 20-25 -> 17.5-21  Bar Shot: Sail Damage 60-80 -> 57.5-77.5  Chain Shot: Sail Damage 67.5-95 -> 65-92.5  Star Shot: Sail Damage 82.5-110 -> 80-107.5

A.11717 / S.6401-A (the videogame bill) establishes an advisory council to conduct a study on the connection between interactive media and real-life violence in minors exposed to such media. This bill will also require new video game consoles to have parental lockout features by 2010, and mandate that games sold at retail disclose the ratings obtained from the gaming industry's voluntary rating system.
GamePolitics' coverage (external link) of the legislation also has a comment from Richard Taylor, Senior Vice President of Communications and Research for the Entertainment Software Association (ESA):

The state has ignored legal precedent, common sense and the wishes of many New Yorkers in enacting this unnecessary bill. This government intrusion will cost taxpayers money and impose unconstitutional mandates for activities and technologies that are already voluntarily in place. It also unfairly singles out the videogame industry over all other forms of media. One wonders where this overreach by government in New York will end. If New York lawmakers feel it is the role of government to convene a government commission on game content, they could next turn to other content such as books, theater and film.

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New York Senate passes mandatory game ratings bill

A Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning guild is an organism, one that's constantly growing thanks to the combined efforts of its individual members. In light of the recent launch of WAR's Guild Beta phase, EA Mythic has let loose with a new Guild Highlight segment, titled Living Guild Advancement. The guild as a whole can opt to do the following to earn Guild Experience Points (GXP):
Standard Guild Experience is rewarded each time a guild member receives standard experience by accomplishing goals within the game including:Defeating opponents (both NPCs and in RvR)Acquiring Tome UnlocksCompleting Public QuestCompleting PvE questsParticipating in RvR ScenariosCompleting RvR QuestsRvR Keep Ownership Guild Experience is rewarded to a guild over time for maintaining ownership of an RvR keep.Battlefield Objective Ownership Bonus: While a guild possesses a claimed Battlefield Objective, a bonus is applied to all guild experience gains throughout the battlefields of WAR.
What exactly can a WAR guild strive for as it levels up, aside from bragging rights? Quite a lot apparently, including access to a guild vault to store your loot, and a custom guild cloak for the members:
The ability to access a guild vaultAdditional guild vault spaceThe ability to create a custom guild heraldryGuild cloaksGuild Standards template Guild Standard tactics slotsGuild Standard trophy slotGuild Standard trophiesGuild tactics points (used to purchase guild tactics)
Upon levelling up, a WAR guild is notified via a guild-wide chat notification which is also logged in the Guild News Log. That's the lowdown of this week's Warhammer Online Highlights segment - those interested in reading EA Mythic's complete entry can visit the article via the source link below.

TestLive data: 1HE, 1HB, 1HE/B Dagger, 1HE/B 1HE/B, Dagger Dagger, Unarmed and Unarmed 1HE/B/Dagger data is corrupted for both Male and Female characters. A fix for this is on its way and should hopefully be patched to TestLive tomorrow or the day after.

Live data: Male 1HE data and Female 1HB data is partially corrupted. I'm going to investigate if we can a fix for this applied to Live ASAP, but I can't make any promises beyond that as it's not my decision to make.

Related Links:
Age of Conan developer addresses the female attack-speed issue

Welcome, Hyborians, to yet another episode of the Age of Conan Weekend Warrior. This was an exciting week for subscribers to say the least as we see the biggest, meatiest patch yet! If that's not enough, there was also an announcement of new content and an expansion in the pipeline at this year's E3 2008.

Crom's balls, we're wasting time here! Let's get to the biggest news this week in Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures!


This week, we experienced yet another E3 event. Erling Ellingson, the product manager for Funcom's Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures was at the event where he let slip that the developers are currently working on a new expansion of the game

He also mentioned that we will also be getting some new content including a new area at Ymir's Pass for level 55 characters as well as a new raid dungeon called the House of Crom.

Link: E3 2008: Age of Conan to get new expansion, dungeon, areas, features

Moving on, this week sees the biggest (and some would argue the meatiest) patch to ever grace the game. We've got mount cost reductions, improvements on the GUI of the game (complete with and emote GUI!) and more. Follow the link below to check out the patch notes for yourself.

Link: Age of Conan July 17 patch notes released
Link: Age of Conan preliminary patch notes for July 16 update


Under the Loincloth: enjoying the changes in the patch?

A lot of gamers have been posting very positive comments about the recent July 17 patch that Funcom rolled out. I was actually pretty impressed with all the fixes and changes the developers were able to sneak in. However, there were still a number of bugs that made it into the game. Well, at least the major issues were hotfixed soon after.

Now, as expected there are players who are still complaining about the patch. Now, it made me wonder, why are these people still playing the game? If they hate the game so much, why don't they just leave? Sure, they always say that they're going to be leaving once their subscription comes out, but a month later they're still on.

Do they really hate the game, or do they really just enjoy being that negative? I know this is a phenomenon found in multiple MMORPGs, but I still cannot understand what the heck is up with these people. Oh well, it's not really a big deal since most of the players who actually enjoy the game are online playing. I guess it's better that these people are on the forums and not in the game itself.

Greetings, and welcome to another round of QJ.NET's MMORPG Weekend Warrior! A lot has happened in the past week, starting with the massive influx of beta testers for EA Mythic's Warhammer game.

Over at E3, BioWare's just unveiled what their new MMO project is shaping up to be, while Sony Online Entertainment's let loose with the first official trailer for their new DC Universe game. Not that this week's all glitters, if you happen to have been following the recent row that's been going down with Flagship Studios' management.


While the developers were forced to remove some features from Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning's current build, that doesn't seem to have phased the fans. EA Mythic reports that its recent opening of WAR's Guild Beta has garnered a considerable number of applicants.

Link: Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning Guild Beta launches


Members of Magic World Online's beta community were cordially invited to the union of two souls earlier this week to demonstrate the MMO's marriage system. Mgame also unveiled details on the other features that have been added, which should offer quite a challenge even to the vets.

Link: Magic World Online open beta: Of marriage, promotions, heroics, and the devil's dozen


After continuous testing for the past couple of weeks, Jagex has now released RuneScape HD for use for both the free and paying members of the community. A couple of new improvements have also been announced for the game.

Link: RuneScape HD and other updates go live


Richard Garriot's Tabula Rasa kicked off the week with patch D10.3. While it's still running through its paces at the test servers, this new patch promises bug fixes for some of the bugs that may have afflicted players on the public realms.

Link: Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa - patch D10.3 hits test server


Crossovers. In the world of comic books, that word is one of the more epic things you can hear, signifying a step into some entirely new, exciting territory. It's the same step that NCSoft is about to take, as it merges the City of Heroes and City of Villains MMORPGs into one world

Link: City of Heroes and City of Villains merged into one universe


More spandex-clad adventures await as Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) lets loose with DC Universe Online's very first official trailer. No, you won't be playing as Gotham City's caped crusader, though it looks like you'll get to work under him. On the flip side, you may want to control your eagerness in spreading chaos and disorder over in Metropolis.

Link: E3 2008: DC Universe Online's first trailer


All those at E3 felt a great disturbance in the force - and they couldn't be any happier. BioWare used the event to confirm that the mystery game they were working on was definitely an MMO version of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Given how Galaxies turned out in its later years, could BioWare's project prove to be A New Hope for the fans?

Link:E3 2008: New Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic MMO confirmed

In not-so-pleasant news, there's more on the matter of Flagship Studio's mass layoffs of all its employees, save for the core members. The move has certainly rocked more than just Hellgate: London, with development on another of Flagship's MMOs coming to a literal standstill.

Link: Bill Roper: Flagship Studios still alive
Link: Mythos: Development team says goodbye to beta community
Link: Flagship Studios founding members "selfish and irresponsible," says HanbitSoft

Does bigger always necessarily mean better? Fellow blogger Enrico poses this question to the MMORPG fans out there, in an article delving into matters of map size, and how it may affect your overall immersion experience in you choice game.

Link: MMORPGs: does size matter?


Flagship's recent announcement definitely comes as a shock to many of Hellgate's fans, give that it also signalled a temporary halt to any more new registrants. That aside, however, I am pretty worried about what's going to happen to Mythos now that its dev team is gone. A quick look at the beta forums indicates it's a pretty close-knit community, with player discussions there hinting that the MMO showed a lot of promise if it was ever completed.

What'll happen to the game now? I'm not sure. The first option would be that Flagship decides to find a replacement team to continue Travis' work, though given the company's current status, this seems unlikely. The second option calls for shelving the game entirely, though at great loss. The third option is that the Mythos team finds a new backer who will hopefully see the game through until its public launch.

Flagship not only lacked effort, but were only looking for personal gain. Firing all of the Flagship employees in order to protect the personal interests of its founding members only shows how selfish and irresponsible they are.
Now, that was certainly direct to the point. But harsh criticism isn't the only thing that HanbitSoft will dish out to Flagship, but also serious legal proceedings as they believe that the Hellgate: London developer committed a breach of duty towards the stockholders.

Updates as they come along.


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Flagship Studios experience mass lay-offs, HanbitSoft trying to take over Hellgate: LondonBill Roper: Flagship Studios still alive