What’s an blog anniversary posting without some sort of reminiscing? Here’s a look back at several MMOtaku posts that have piqued the interest of most of its readers:

Perfect World Tideborn

Perfect World Tideborn Debuts On Nov. 25th
In the first week of November 2009, MMOtaku announced the coming of the Tideborn race in the free-to-play MMORPG Perfect World from Beijing-based Perfect World Co. Ltd.. I consider this game one of the most visible non-subscription MMOG, thanks to the establishment of Perfect World Entertainment in North America and the licensing of the game in different parts of the world, like in the Philippines under Level Up! Games.

Top Ten Thursdays: Best MMORPGs In The Philippines
First off, I’d like to point out that this piece was written on January 3rd, 2008, and reflected the crop of MMORPGs that were hot back then. Now that we have that out of the way, let me tell you that I intend to restart Top Ten Thursdays by updating the previous postings under that category. Coincidentally, this particular Top Ten Thursdays posting has one of the most number of comments, and I have MMOtaku readers based in the Philippines to thank for that.

In This Part Of The World, MMORPGs And Cosplay Go Hand In Hand
And I mean Asia, not just my little tropical paradise. It’s a fact that cosplay plays a crucial role in the success of MMORPGs and the industry that spawned them in Asia. This can be gleaned from attending the various video gaming conventions across the continent. In the Philippines, we have several events, usually hosted by online games publishers and video gaming magazines, that highlight cosplay as a form of love for favorite MMOs.

Third Job Classes Coming To Ragnarok Online
One more proof that you can’t let a good game down. I’m talking about Ragnarok Online and the updates that keep it alive. Early last year, news came out of Gravity that third job classes were coming out. To date, however, we haven’t seen any of the new jobs, at least in my corner of the world. I’m sure it’s already out in Korea, if it was really Gravity’s intention to come out with the new classes.

Well, that’s it for our short reminiscing session. Stay tuned for another MMOtaku anniversary posting!

Post from: MMOtaku

For one, it’s one of the best holidays to launch events. I just wish that online game developers and publishers would come up with better gimmicks than simple bash-this-monster-and-get-this-item or open-this-box-and-get-a-random-item-that-is-totally-useless events. I mean, come on, guys! Fire up those neurons and produce something fun!

Like what, you ask? Okay, here’s an example. I’m currently playing Atlantica Online, and as part of the game’s Halloween events, publisher NDOORS Interactive asks players to purchase 13 candies from NPCs (which takes forever in game terms, by the way), craft them into a candy bag, and submit it to another NPC in exchange for a flying broom.

Here’s what the broom looks like on my Atlantica Online character:

Atlantica Online character on Halloween event flying broom

Cool, eh? Indeed, it’s a visual spectacle. But that’s as far as its use goes. It gives only minimal bonuses to stats, something like +5 to all attributes and a 10-percent boost to movement. So why not use it for some other event, like a race.

Guilds can be asked to field a representative to participate in a race around the virtual world of Atlantica Online on the clutter-free Titan Server, from Sapporo to Vancouver, with a game moderator at different check points. I know it’s a difficult undertaking, but it’s the kind of event that gets loins fired up and the spirit of camaraderie and friendly competition alive.

Heck, even the cities featured in Atlantica Online can be egged on to participate by providing trivia about them for players to answer before moving on with the race, or something like that.

See what a little imagination coupled with real-world smarts can come up with?

View from the front of an Atlantica Online character on a Halloween event flying broom

Post from: MMOtaku

For starters, all characters above level 20 and is logged on at 6 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time will receive a special gift. What this gift is, we still don’t know. It better be “special”!

Happy Birthday, Atlantica Online!

Well, if the gift doesn’t cut it, there’s always the 200-percent experience point bonus time for the entire first week of November. So break out those mercenaries you’ve been keeping in the merc rooms and put them to work on finishing quests that you’ve missed.

Still not enough to sate your hunger? Hmmm, maybe a mouthful of Delicious Chocolate Cakes and Fresh Strawberry Cakes will fill you up. On November 7th-8th and 21st-22nd, Atlantica Online will again be threatened by a monster invasion, and yes, it’s from these mobs that you’ll get your just desserts (pun intended!).

(Note to NDOORS: You may want to spice things up a little by adding a bit of background story to why these monsters are frequenting our cities and towns. It is, after all, an MMORPG. What happened to the “role-playing” element?)

If that is still insufficient, you’ll have the chance to prove your mettle against the game moderators in the already-monthly affair that is the GM Battles. The twist is, this time around, all players on a server gets five Fresh Strawberry Cakes when a player wins against a GM.

For the rest of the rewards, head on over to the Atlantica Online website. It’s almost 6 p.m. PDT and I’ve got to log in my character.

Post from: MMOtaku

As I write this, NDOORS Interactive, publisher of the hit strategy massively multiplayer online game, has just announced that the maintenance, which began at 5:30 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time on October 22nd, requires two more hours to complete. More waiting!

Fortunately for NDOORS, we Atlantica Online players are a patient bunch, but they shouldn’t push their luck. It is also good that they have already released the latest patch notes.

Frank Reade, the Punisher of Atlantica Online. Image courtesy of NDOORS Interactive.

The most notable new feature is the introduction of the Punisher, a saw-wielding mercenary. Yeah, now that Minstrel you recruited after the previous Atlantica Online patch can make use of her Seal Power Saw skill—that is, if your Nina Paganini can survive long enough to face The Punisher Frank Reade.

No, Frank Reade is not the Atlantica Online version of that other famous punisher Frank Castle but rather of the hero in a series of Steampunk novels. According to Wikipedia, the first of these novels, Frank Reade and His Steam Man of the Plains, was written by Harry Enton and serialized in the Frank Tousey juvenile magazine Boys of New York, February 28th through April 24th, 1876. The novels revolved around Frank Reade’s adventures with his inventions, various robot-like mechanisms powered by steam.

Check out the Punisher in action in this video of Atlantica Online Korea’s Titan League:

Bah, enough of the Punisher and the history lesson. Let’s go back to discussing what else is new with Atlantica Online’s latest patch.

Here are some of the good features I’m dying to check out:

Atlantica Diary. It’s basically a to-do style list of daily activities. Through the diary, you may check the latest news about Atlantica Onlien, some historical facts, and increase the daily limit for some activities like Free League participation bonus experience and equipment analysis.

Title System Improvement. No longer will you lose the effects of Title Buffs because of disconnection. The title will also remain active when transitioning from any of the six servers—Delphi, Macedon, Mycanae, Thebes, Argos, Sikyon—to Titan. If that isn’t enough, you may be interested in acquiring the four new titles that have been added to Calliope and Kleio’s lists.

Better Rewards For Active Fishers. Thanks to the new update, you may now get more bang out of every fishing point with the addition of Fragment of Divine, Phoenix’s Feather and Depraved Seed in the list of items you can exchange with Fishing Points. The downside is, they’re probably expensive.

As for the dreadful features of the new Atlantica Online patch:

Reduction in Free League Auto-Battle Rewards. The question is, “Why?” I know that NDOORS is pushing players to enjoy Free League by playing manual, but why put in an auto-battle feature if you’re going to treat it differently? Are auto-battle Free League players so inferior to those duking it out in manual? To be totally honest, I’d rather see a reduction in Battle Points and Fame rather than a blow to what one earns in ABFL.

Clothes Book. Hey, it’s a novel idea, that of allowing players to keep all costumes in a nifty book and earn Collection Points from them, but it’s driving the prices of Costumes and Hair Accessories up. Of course, this hike in prices in the two item mall items is pushing the prices of other stuff through the roof. Have you ever heard of the saying “The strong gets stronger and the weak gets weaker”?

Battle Point Cost of Pointry Items. All I can say is, “Ouch!” Warrior’s Sign for 100 points? Merc. Room License (7 days) for 1,000 points? Come on! I just bought 10 Merc. Room Licenses yesterday and it cost me 8,000 points, and now you’re telling me that I’ll have to dish out 10,000 Battle Points next time I want to open my mercenary rooms? You guys at NDOORS realize, of course, that this will drive the price of permanent Merc. Room Licenses up, right?

I guess what I’m trying to say with my rants against some features is the more you make it hard for some players to earn Atlantica Online gold, the harder it will be for them to play. The farther you push prices of item mall stuff like costumes and licenses, the fewer the players that can afford them, both through hard-earned real-world cash and in-game gold.

For a complete list of the changes, check out the Atlantica Online website for the patch notes.

Post from: MMOtaku

While other MMORPGs market in its item malls some trinkets that boost experience points rates, NDOORS and Atlantica Online takes it a step further with the Blessing License, which essentially works the same except for the fact that it also increases attack power or damage by 150 percent and defense by 110 percent.

Atlantica Online Blessing License

These bonuses are pretty handy if you’re exploring shadow dungeons—high-spawn areas where your skills as a player may be put to the test—on your own. Couple the boost to attack and defense with the 150-percent bonus to experience points gained, then you have a formidable tool for leveling in the world of Atlantica Online.

This power, however, comes with a price. The Blessing License costs 1,499 Gcoins, which is roughly USD$15, on the Atlantica Online item mall. Fortunately, the license lasts for 30 days. It is suggested that you purchase a Blessing License only if you have lots of free time in your hands.

I’m saying this based on experience: My Blessing License is about to expire. I was unable to play Atlantica Online for around two weeks because of problems with my computer. So I wasted half of the USD$15 I paid for the license.

Don’t be discouraged. Just be aware that the clock runs on this item even when you’re offline. So is the Blessing License still a good buy? Of course! The license has seen my character through the worst that Atlantica Online can throw at her. I assure you that it’ll drastically change your gameplay experience—for the better.

So what are you waiting for? Grab a Blessing License and start delving into the belly of those shadow dungeons in Atlantica Online.

Atlantica Online player party versus mobs

Post from: MMOtaku

Not.

Actually, I’m just a little flustered after a few hours of playing my merchant TikaWaylan on Valkyrie, the free-to-play server of Ragnarok Online Philippines. Oh, yeah, she’s now a blacksmith. Damn job change quest!

The source of my frustration is, as you may have already guessed, the Blacksmith job change quest. The Merchant job change quest is a walk in the park compared to that of the Blacksmith.

Nah. It’s easy, really. The problem with the way I did it was I followed the instructions of a guide published before all the important updates were introduced. In hindsight, I should have consulted online resources prior to going on the quest. It would have saved me a lot of zeny, the in-game currency, not to mention time and exertion.

If you’re a Ragnarok Online old timer like me, you probably think the Blacksmith Guild, the place where you begin the quest to change from merchant to blacksmith, is still in Geffen. Well, it isn’t. It’s now in faraway Einbroch, and the only way to reach it is to ride a damn zeppelin.

My Ragnarok Online merchant character on board the zeppelin to Einbroch, home of the Blacksmith Guild.

The quest still starts with a conversation with Guildsman Altiregen (Altazen) at the Blacksmith Guild (ein_in01 18, 28). Finding him is the easy part. It gets muddy after that. He refers you to an NPC named Geshupenschte (Getsufenst) who, in the old days, stayed in Alberta. Nowadays, however, he “lives” in nearby Einbech (ein_in01 201, 27).

This was where I got lost.

Anyway, I won’t bore you with the other details. Suffice it to say that I have learned my lesson, but don’t care to do everything all over again. I’ll leave my Ragnarok Online characters to my daughter, who has taken a liking to romping in my old MMORPG flame.

Post from: MMOtaku

The last decoration item to hit the market was the Kitty Bag, which gave its bearer a cool 400-500 bonus to damage, a 70-point increase in vitality and additional 500 points in defense. The Kitty Bag broke the trend of Atlantica Online publisher NDOORS Interactive’s penchant for coming out with contrasting accessories. The first two decoration items were Wings of Darkness and Wings of Light, with light overcoming darkness both in looks and bonuses.

With the Kitty Bag in the way, the Archangel Michael definitely takes the cake from poor ol’ Lucifer. Here’s a comparison of statistics:

Michael’s Wings: Minimum Level: 65, Attack Power: 450-550, Vitality: +80, Defense: 500.

Lucifer’s Wings: Minimum Level: 50, Attack Power: 350-450, Vitality: +60, Defense: 500.

Now that we have that out of the way, let’s check out the announcement on the release of Atlantica Online’s Michael’s Wings from NDOORS Interactive:

Michael may be an archangel, but now his angelic power can be yours!

Receive Gabriel’s Deliverance, and the holy Michael’s Wings may be delivered unto you. With these wings at your back, you will strike fear into the heart of evil, as well as receive a formidable boost in your character’s statistics.

Take up Gabriel’s Deliverance, and you’ll receive one of the following treasures:

• 1 Michael’s Wings
• 1 Armed Mount Box, which may give you either an Armed Byzantine Elephant, an Armed Volcanic Raptor, or an Armed Snow Tiger.
• 1 Random Item Box containing 50 Dragon Jewels, 50 Giant Jewels, 50 Redemption Jewels, 50 Phoenix Jewels, or a host of other useful items like scrolls and potions.
• 1 or 3 or 10 Gabriel’s Deliverance.

Post from: MMOtaku

If you’re an MMOtaku regular, you’d probably recall the article featuring the title buffs of Atlantica Online and how they affect gameplay and gaming experience in that virtual world. There’s an almost complete guide on Title Buffs on the My Atlantica Online forums.

Here’s a screenshot, for posterity, of MMOtaku’s brief stay in the limelight:

Post from: MMOtaku

But wait, we’re straying from the topic. I’m here to talk about why I’ve revisited Perfect World and how I found the experience. As the title suggests, I reentered the game world of Pangu to help a friend, who had been having problems with several quests requiring the elimination of boss monsters.

Fortunately for Relly, erstwhile Perfect World Philippines blogger and super video games writer and reporter, my character still packs a punch … or a curse … or a bite with fangs and a slash with claws.

Enter Malystryx, my level 99 yaojing, also known as werefox or venomancer in international versions.

She still looks somewhat impressive, considering I haven’t used her in over three months, give or take a few days. So what’s with the “somewhat”? Well, some of her equipment are on loan to a dear friend.

In the two hours that I was online helping Relly and his fashi, a.k.a. wizard, we finished five boss quests. To quote Relly, “I feel pathetic. It has taken us two hours to finish what I couldn’t do in four months.” Well, that’s why it’s important to have friends playing the game. Similarly, it’s also important to make friends while playing Perfect World or any other game.

So what did it feel like to play Perfect World again? To be totally honest, I was just happy to help a friend. The game would always have a special place in my video gamer’s heart, but it could never again be THE game for me.

Post from: MMOtaku

What the hell am I talking about? Check out these Atlantica Online screenshots of the new mount:

Well, whatever you call the new mount, it’s anything but weak and useless. Consider the stat bonuses your Atlantica Online character or toon can get by riding the new unicorn:

Unicorn – Mininum Level: 70, Attack Power: 320-420, Strength: +120, Dexterity: +120, Vitality: +180, Defense: 3600, Movement Speed Increase: 20 percent.

So how do you get such a magnificent mount in Atlantica Online?

Like other mounts in the game, you can purchase the mount by waiting on other, more affluent players to get one from the item mall and buy it from them at an insane amount of in-game currency. Or you can take a chance by getting Janet’s Crest from the item mall.

If you don’t get a unicorn (Pegasus: cough! cough!) on your first attempt, you might receive some other goody for your troubles. These goodies range from an Armed Mount Box, from which you can get an Armed Byzantine Elephant, Armed Volcanic Raptor, or Armed Snow Tiger (powerful mounts in their own right), to scrolls, upgrade jewels, and more Janet’s Crests.

Take a gander at all the goodies that can be had from Atlantica Online’s Janet’s Crest.

Post from: MMOtaku