Event Reports

At the "Plans for World Domination" keynote on the final day of EVE Online Fanfest '08, various CCP higher-ups talked about the past, present, and future of the spacefaring MMO.

On the final day of EVE Fanfest, Senior Producer Torfi Frans Olafsson unveiled the upcoming "Summer 2009 Expansion" for the sci-fi MMO, calling it the "biggest expansion in EVE to date."

John Funk takes a look at Ambulation - "Walking in Stations" - for EVE Online at Fanfest '08, and gets an eyeful of Geomerics' new Enlighten technology.

From EVE Online Fanfest 08 - the "Party on the Top of the World" - John Funk reports on the latest technical achievements of the giant sci-fi MMORPG ... even if it does make his head spin.

JR "razor" Sutich traveled down to Atlanta to attend the ribbon-cutting for CCP North America. This is the former Whitewolf office where the company now has customer support, the early creative elements of World of Darkness and of course all the RPG stuff.

World of Darkness Online is indeed being worked on, and I got to see some early concept art and it looks great. It's dark enough with just the right amount of grit and neon and it captures exactly what I think of when I picture running around a city at night. The werewolf looked awesome. Mike explained that the bulk of the content for WoD Online was being created at the new office, while the majority of the technical infrastructure was being worked on in Iceland.

For more, check out the full item on Razorwire (link below).

Having visited Obsidian Entertainment a mere two months prior to last year's release of Neverwinter Nights 2, I found myself looking forward to this year's visit literally weeks before the release of NWN 2: Mask of the Betrayer, or NWX1 as the developers call it. To my great delight, the Obsidian folks did not disappoint.

The day started at ten o'clock with a Rogue Dao Studios tour of the Purgatorio module currently nearing its beta testing stage. Conducted by studio lead Montgomery Markland, press members were treated to a very recent version of Purgatorio. Press members were well-represented but the room was also packed with Obsidian developers anxious for a look at the module. Markland took the assembled crowd on a tour of The Hive, arguably the "star" of Purgatorio.

There is no question that Rogue Dao has raised the bar considerably for other community created modules and custom content creators with Purgatorio. Already sporting twenty custom creature models, the module, if fully explored, will treat players to twenty hours or so in the gorgeous Sigil environs. There is the main quest and over fifty side quests that players can use as an excuse to completely discover Purgatorio in its entirety.

Click below for the fully story.

Attendees of BlizzCon were able to enjoy the treat of demoing the new expansion first hand. Blizzard had set up about 200 Computers that allowed you to go to Northrend. For 30 minutes, we could explore the entry zone called the Howling Fjord. Howling Fjord is the southeastern most area of Northrend. While it is Northrend, the zone is not a snow zone like Alterac Mountain or Winterspring, but that doesn't mean you don't get a sense that it is supposed to be cold. High cliffs and large trees dominate the zone. The trees are definitely new in design and have a height double or triple the trees in the zones of WoW Classic.

Nearly everything you ever wanted to know about the many discussions at Fan Faire 2007 can be found in Cebot's "Consolidated Fan Faire 2007 Report":

Pretty much everyone agrees that the game is in good shape now and is definitely heading in the right direction. Chapter 7 looks great, an update to the space game will be quite welcome, and Droid Commander should be a welcome addition as well.

A special thanks to Loche, Pex and GreyPawn for the amount of time they spent listening to us outside the panels (as well as during them) - they deserve a lot of credit for how much commitment they're showing to the game at this and no doubt the other similar events of this summer.

Click below to check it out.

At Blizzcon 2007, two class discussion panels were held to discuss the current state of each class, what to expect in the future and to take questions and answers from people like us, the players.

Death Knight
The Death Knight will have three talent trees and new spells and abilities will be added for the death knight. The death knight will be looked at being primarily a tank or a dps character. The Death Knight will wear plate and will tank with a two handed weapon or dual wield. Death Knights will not likely use shields.

And More...

Here at Blizzcon 2007, Blizzard held an excellent panel on raid and dungeons, lets the information spill. I attended the panel and jotted down some information of interest.

• Possibly one new 5 man before next expansion.
• KTM and Deadly Boss Mods built into game.
• Ideas for an Item Rack functionality that has extra storage space for alternate sets of gear.
• And more...

Click below to read more,