It seems like just last year we were announcing the open beta for APB, well APB is back in open beta, this time with GamersFirst and re-branded as All Points Bulletin: Reloaded.  The APB: Reloaded open beta was originally supposed to launch last week, but due to a major bug, the open beta had to be delayed.

In addition to the improvement from closed beta, open beta features a brand new skill rating system, redesigned “witnessing” game mechanics, new items and weapons in the Armas Marketplace, as well as an additional East Coast datacenter to host the game.

Bjorn Book-Larsson, the Chief Operating Officer for GamersFirst and CEO of Reloaded Productions had this to say about All Points Bulletin: Reloaded open beta.

“From the start of the development of APB Reloaded last fall our focus has been to remove obstacles preventing players from having fun. While our development and design teams have done an amazing job improving driving, shooting, skill ratings, witnessing and other key elements of the game, I am also thrilled with the changes slated to be released during the latter part of open beta,” “We expect APB Reloaded to set a new bar for what is possible to achieve in a free to play MMO game, and the open beta represents another big step in that direction.”

 

Along with its sibling titles from Sony Online Entertainment, DC Universe Online went back online this week and its executive producer Lori Jameson wrote a welcome back post meant to reassure fans that while the “downtime has caused our publish schedule to shift a bit”, development work is chugging along.

In the letter, Mr. Jameson rattled off the content coming in the now-delayed Game Update 3, like the inclusion of an Oolong Island hard mode alert, a tightly tuned Ra’s al Ghul encounter, and a spring brawl between Poison Ivy and Swamp Thing.

Still, the main attraction for Update 3 is the Two-Face-themed duo instance, where the erratic coin-flipper ventures into the sewer lair of The Penguin, setting up what seems to be a four-way free-for-all between heroes, villains and the two crime bosses. Radioactive shapeshifter Clayface also makes a cameo.

Mr. Jameson then teases the new Raid series in Game Update 4 as being set in a “somewhat crystalline location”, a description that brought up the Fortress of Solitude in my mind’s eye. Read the producer’s letter for the full teaser details, complete with MegaServer pimping and all.

For those of you still thinking about whether or not to get into Rift, Steam is offering a pretty nice discount this weekend on the recently released MMORPG.

Steam’s RIFT discount is 33% off which bring the cost down to $33.49 for the game and 1 month of game time.  So if you’re still contemplating, stop and grab yourself a copy before the end of the weekend.  The RIFT sale ends Sunday night.

Wargaming.net today launched the highly anticipated Clan Wars mode for their tank MMO World of Tanks.  Clan Wars is a browser-based multiplayer addition and geopolitical component of World of Tanks MMO.  Players can participate in Clan Wars by creating clans, which requires 15+ players who have tier 5 vehicles and above.  Once your clan is created, players can begin their attack for world domination from the World maps.

Commanders and Deputy Commanders manage chips distribution on Global Map, so not everyone in the clan gets to make moves.  Other clan members can observe the location and movement of their clan’s forces and headquarters. Also they have access to battle schedules of all clans. World of Tanks: Clan Wars is also turn-based and allows for 24 turns per day, each turn lasting 60 mins.

Below is the official launch video for Clan Wars.

The first expansion to Mortal Online might be delayed, but that’s no reason why we can’t take a look at what the expansion will bring.  Mortal Online: Dawn is the name of this expansion and the release date has been pushed back to late May or early June due to server issues dealing with the Unreal Engine that powers Mortal Online.  Check out our Mortal Online Dawn preview below.

The Dawn expansion introduces many new features and adjustments, one being the new Skill window where every single action will be listed.  Players will no longer have to dig though their skill tree to find the skill they want to perform.

New plants, flowers and herbs will also be added that can be used for cooking and alchemy. However players should beware, not all plants will have positive effects as some will have negative side-effects.  These new harvesting items will become important with the new Cooking system which is implemented in Dawn.  Eating the wrong foods can make you character fat which would produces negative effects on combat.  However fat players can receive bonuses from interacting with NPC’s and even learning special skills, or joining NPC factions.  So their is an advantage to being fat.  Eating certain herbs will also allow players to change their stat-caps, so characters can be customized to fit any archetype.

A new thirst system will be implemented in the Dawn expansion.  Players will have a thirst bar and once it runs out will start to feel negative effects.  Players will have the options to carry around potions or kegs to keep themselves hydrated.  However as with the new cooking system, some potions meant to quench thirst might have negative side-effects depending on what plants were used.

Healing potions will now have 3 stats a player must watch out for, weight, units of liquid and healing effect.  If a player has a low alchemy skill level, they will not be able to see the exact healing effect number and instead will be given an general range of what it might be.   The general use of potions will also be adjusted so that using a potions in a row will not be possible and players will have to use them in a more tactical manner.

In combat the new reserve system will have a large effect on battles in Mortal Online.  While in small and short term fights the reserve system will not come into play, it become more noticeable in long matches or after several deaths.

As an example, a single reserve of stamina will allow you to run from Meduli to Toxai and back, sprinting the entire time. The stamina pools are drained whenever any of the stats are regained, whether be it HP, Stamina, or Mana, and they take a large dip after a single death. During longer sieges or even drawn out marches, the reserves will start becoming an issue to the deployed force, and they must either carry with themselves some extra supplies, or be forced to retreat should they have nothing.

This new system can be used strategically and exploited to defend a position or to ambush a group that are recovering.  However a single effective mean will quickly restore the reserves, if you happen to have one.

Another new feature is the Assault list.  This will list all players that have attacked you which lead to your death.  Players will be able to either forgive or punish the attacker by giving them a murder count.

Transport tasks will allow players to transport good across the continent without any financial risk.  Players will be able to create a transport task and assign a reward to it.  If another player accepts the task, they must give a security deposit first, then if they complete the task will receive the deposit back and the reward.  This allows the creator of the transport task to take no risk.  This new feature will allow players to transport goods while offline because other players will be doing the transporting for them.

Two new house types will be added with the Dawn expansion.  The first is the Tindrem style house, which starts off as a one story, but can be upgraded into a three-story Villa.  The second is a storage house, which will have high starting HP with upgrades that can increase it even higher.    The storage house can be used as a guild bank allowing all members of that guild to use it.  The upkeep is determined by the size of the guild.

All houses will now have a friends list and anyone not on this list will will be considered an intruder and automatically teleported out of the house if they manage to enter.

For more information about the upcoming Mortal Online: Dawn expansion, head over the the official MO site.

Fogster today announced the Runes of Magic Chap IV update will be released on June 16th.  The Land of Despair update will include a new chapter adding to the storyline as well as new features and two new races, dwarves and rhinos.  The level cap will also be increased to 70 with this update from 62.  In addition four new zones will be introduced in Lands of Despair, as well as two new instances and the new multi-class system.

DC Universe will soon be unveiling a new technology that will allow them to combine their current servers into huge MegaServers.  To get ready for the big merge, DCUO released a FAQ to answer some of the questions about what the merge means for DC Universe Online players.  Lorin James, DCUO executive produces, answers the following questions.

Why are you creating MegaServers?

We have a very large and active population in DCUO. As players achieve higher levels, a lot more of the game involves participating in Raids, Arenas, Duos, Alerts, and other queued instances. After examining how the queues were working in detail, we saw our players were spending far too much time waiting and not enough time playing. This just would not do. We wanted an approach that would not only help players waiting for queued content, but ensured that no matter when you play, there are a maximum number of people in the cities as well. MegaServers offers a way to have an incredible experience no matter what your play habits are.

I am on a PvP server. Will I still be with other PvP players when I get to a MegaServer?

Yes! MegaServers use “phasing” technology, meaning there is more than one version, or phase, of Metropolis and Gotham on the server. Players who selected PvP servers when they created their characters will always be in a PvP phase of the shared world with other PvP players. The same goes for PvE players; They will always be placed in PvE phases. However, since the queues will be shared, PvE and PvP players will be able to group up for Alerts, Raids, Duos, etc. greatly increasing the pool of available players for matchmaking. It is a very cool system that really maximizes the people online, and nearby, for you to play with.

Will I still be able to play with my friends?

Yes! We have algorithms that will attempt to place you in the same phase as your friends and League members. Even if you you end up in a different phase, you can almost always phase to your friends. Using the UI, or a command like /phase SooperBFF you will be relocated to SooperBFF’s phase in the same location that you phased from. There will be some limitations on when you can phase based on whether you are in combat, in an Alert or Duo, etc. but I think you will find it is easy to get together with the folks you want to play with.

MegaServers? Why that name?

It just felt big. Putting hundreds of thousands of folks on the same server felt Mega! We considered ‘UberServers’ and ‘MonsterServers’ as well.

Turbine today released the first screenshots for the upcoming update for Lord of the Rings Online titled Lost Legends of Eriador. Update 3: Lost Legends of Eriador brings two new 3-player instances, two new skirmishesas well as new items in the LOTRO store.  Below you can find the full details of the LoTRO Update 3.

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Two New 3-Player Instances

• Halls of Night: Level 40-65 – This story draws from the tales of Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin and their experiences within the Barrow-downs. Nightmare, an ancient Barrow-wight, has trapped your spirit within his mysterious dreamscape. To wake you must battle against the evil that haunts this dream realm, or risk sleeping forever!
• Inn of the Forsaken: Level 20-65 – Tales have spread across Bree and the Lonelands of the noises that fill the Forsaken Inn when the moon is high. Travelers tell stories of a stolen ruby necklace hidden within a maze of twisted caves and protected by traps, riddles, guardians who never sleep, and a ship marooned deep underground.

Two New Skirmishes

• Attack at Dawn: Level 30-65 – Esteldín has long been a hidden training ground for Rangers and Free People against Angmar. It is a site the enemy has been desperate to discover and stamp out. While many scouts have been stopped, a lone goblin has learned the location of Esteldín and reported it to his masters. You must venture into the hills of Dol Dinen, and confront the attacking force before it can threaten the sanctity of Esteldín.
• Icy Crevasse: Level 40-65 – With the aid of the Gauradan and Dourhands, Angmar is planning its next attack! By funneling icy winds through the great Forochel crevasse and down into Evendim, they plan to freeze the lake and march straight through Tinnudir to Annúminas. You must head to the frozen North and stop this sorcerer, before the chill winds freeze everything.

New in the LOTRO Store

• More Slots! – Two new Cosmetic Outfits slots are available up to a total of five slots
• Reset your Skirmish Marks! – Using this scroll will refund all skirmish marks you have spent on skirmish traits.
• Get more Criticals at the relic forge! - The Scroll of Combination increases your ‘Critical Success’ chance to 25% while combining relics at the relic forge.
• And other updates:

• • The skirmish Reconnaissance Report now lasts 60 minutes instead of 15!
  • Try the new Combat Run Speed Boost, and sprint while in combat!

Wargaming.net announced today that its free to play MMO World of Tanks took home the Best Game honor at the Game Developers Conference Russia, which took place this over this past weekend.  Wargaming.net also won the Games Industry Award.

“It’s a big honor for us,” said Wargaming.net CEO Victor Kislyi. “We took our time to develop World of Tanks to make sure that we were putting out a top quality game, and the award for the Best Game of 2011 that we’ve been honored with is additional proof of what a great project we’ve managed to create. I would also like to thank the gamedev representatives for giving us the Industry Award. And, of course the most important, a very special thanks to the players who supported us and made the Audience Award possible. We are working 24/7 and won’t stop until World of Tanks reaches perfection”.

World of Tanks continues to pick up momentum and released patch 6.4 today which introduces new tanks as well as two new maps. Together with the new game content, the patch will also bring enhanced physics and server modifications crucial for managing the growing community of the game.

With the released of the Incursion 1.5 patch comes some changes to Eve Online’s agent system.  The biggest change is the consolidation of the 21 divisions into 4 main divisions, which are Distribution, Mining, Security and Research.  Each division  now gives out only one type of mission, meaning you won’t have to decline that occasional mining or courier mission when all you want to do is blow stuff up.

Connection skills have also been consolidated from 7 to 3, Distribution, Mining and Security Connections. The used skill points will be refunded to players so they can redistribute them as they see fit. Each grants a 10% bonus to LP gain per level for its namesake division. These new skills are all rank 2, as opposed to the old rank 1 skills (meaning these new ones take twice as long to train), since there are roughly half as many to train now.

For more information about the Eve Online agent changes you can check the official Eve page.