Gold farming is “inevitable?”

January 21st, 2009

Kerry Fraser-Robinson, the founder of virtual world developer RedBedlam, stated in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz that the industry should focus more on integrating gold farming into the game design, rather than attempting to stomp it completely out of the system.

“It’s going to happen whether you like it or not,” he said in today’s interview. “People will always find the path of least resistance, if you stop them buying your gold then they’ll buy that gold from somebody else who is gold farming.”

Fraser-Robinson pointed to examples started by EVE Online, such as the inclusion of a robust virtual economy and the inclusion of a professional economist to provide advice about that changing economy. He believes that companies should start following the carefully planned advice of economists, even going so far to add one to your staff for consulting.

On the other side of the fence is Broken Toys writer Scott “Lum the Mad” Jennings. He makes the point that MMO companies do need to re-evaluate their own business models, as people will gladly co-opt an outside agency to buy gold from, yet they don’t tolerate the company that runs the game selling gold for cash. Sales models need to be adapted on a per-game basis, and not blanketed across the industry. Scott has much more to offer on this issue, so check out his own blog on the matter and weigh the opinions for yourself.

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Wrath of the Lich King Released

November 14th, 2008

WOTLK had made its big debut yesterday. In less than a day there has been reported players of hitting 80 already. That’s quite unbelievable timing. WOTLK includes some of the newest featured in MMOs, including world events, the new death knight class, inscription tradeskill, and much more. The price of this expansion was fairly priced at $34.99 USD. We hope to see more fans prowling through the next 10 level. Good luck.

World of Warcraft

Real Taxes for Real Money Earned From MMO Gold

November 5th, 2008

Here’s a new shame that may put every gold buyers face into a frown for the end of this years holidays, China is imposing a tax law for gold farmers. To us that would create a huge impact as we all know roughly 70% of the gold acquired are from China. This would create a huge price leap for currencies of almost all games. As always, we will do our best to keep that down to a minimal or we’ll have to find new sources to supply you the gold at the price you deserve.

Successful online video game players and Internet surfers in China have found ways to make real money from virtual assets. Now China’s taxman wants a piece of the action. The State Administration of Taxation said on its Web site Wednesday that China will impose a personal income tax of 20% on profit from virtual money. The announcement, which was distributed to local tax bureaus, specifically takes aim at those who buy virtual currency from gamers and surfers and sell it to others at a mark-up. Taxation officials are granted the right to determine the original price of online virtual currency if the individual fails to provide proof of an original price, it says.

For the original post see http://blogs.wsj.com/chinajournal/2008/10/31/real-taxes-for-real-money-made-by-online-game-players/

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750,000 Warhammer Online Subscription

October 11th, 2008

Warhammer Online has been a great success compared to the many MMORPGs released over the last 4 years and we are just as happy to see that Warhammer Online now has 750,000 subscribers. Keep up the good work and keep the players coming. For the official announcement see http://www.warhammeronline.com/pressreleases/20081010.php

Everyone here at Mythic Entertainment is beaming with pride at the current success of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning! The WAR is raging, players are having a great time, and today we announced that we have 750,000 players registered. This is an incredible number just three short weeks after launch. We want to thank each and every one of you for your support, and we look forward to standing shoulder to shoulder with all of you as our numbers continue to grow!

Warhammer Online

Warhammer Online Gold & Banhammer

September 24th, 2008

WAR gold is now available for sale on most US servers. The current price for gold is averaging about $1 per gold. EA Mythic has recently announced the #s of gold sellers they have banned and we are happy to say, we haven’t lost any. We promise to do our best to not disrupt game play while farming the gold we provide. Another guarantee that we’ll offer is we’ll NEVER spam you. We are gamers as well and we hate getting messaged with ingame spam over and over.

News, Warhammer Online

Wraith of the Lich King Pre-Order & Release Date

September 20th, 2008

The Lich King invades stores on November 13th, 2008! Retailers throughout the world are accepting reservations now for the next epic chapter in the World of Warcraft experience – Wrath of the Lich King.

News, World of Warcraft

Benefits of Running Multiple Warhammer Accounts

September 16th, 2008

Just like many other massively multiplayer online role playing games, having a second or even a third account can have its great benefit in accomplishing small tasks, questing, and many other benefits.

If you own a very fast computer such as a duo core 2.4 GHZ with 2 GB of ram and a really nice video card, you can probably duo log an additional Warhammer Online account at the same time. By running two or more accounts you can have many benefits at your side. You are able to tackle down quests that are a little more difficult for solo, take down harder mobs, farm more gold, and even swap around different characters to play when you are bored with one.

There are a few types of classes that can be mixed as 2 to create a really strong team. To break things down, the most common classes of any MMORPG includes a heavy tank, a healer type of course, the range damage dealer such as a caster or archer, a melee damage dealer, a support class with crowd control abilities, minor heal abilities or buffs and usually the least wanted class are the sneaks such as a stealther type. The most commonly build up of a duo usually pairs with a healer / support with a tank, melee or a range damage dealer.

Every group, whether it’s a group of 2, 5 or whatever numbers it may be it requires a healer or a support class. The healer is more or less the heart of the group and should be kept alive at all times. If your healer is dead, you are more or less going to go down as well. Secondly you would of course need to deal damage; tank, melee or caster dps would do just fine depending on the situation and what your plans are.

Playing 2 accounts is rather much easier than you would probably think it is. It is ideal to set up both clients on windows mode and have a very comfortable key setup. The “follow” command is your best friend. That will be first and most important command you will need to move 2 different characters around. My 2 most favorite combinations include a tank with a healer and a caster with a support class. I sometimes even mix tank with a caster as well. A caster with support combo can take down large piles of mobs faster but tank with a healer can take out much higher level mobs, usually good for bosses or special encounters. For an even faster killing you can go with double damage dealers.

Leveling 2 characters at the same time isn’t much slower than leveling 1 alone. Sometimes you can even level faster on certain games and situations. Another major benefit is if you are out in a RvR group, you have the many classes available to fill what your group needs. Sometimes your group may only have 1 spot left and they need a specific class to fill that spot. Running multiple accounts, you have the variety of options available. If you can afford an additional $10 to $15 a month, I would surely invest my money into that second account. If you want to play different classes, you can level 2 at the same time instead of leveling a new 1 over and over again. Keep in mind, with 2 different accounts, you can farm Warhammer gold much faster and sell those gold to other players to cover your account fees.

Warhammer Online

Warhammer Online Subsciber Base

September 16th, 2008

Looks like Warhammer has really put a dent into World of Warcraft subscriber base. EA Mythic has already sold over 1.5 million copies to retailers in North America, Europe and Oceania. That is even before the official release of the game. This has been by far the largest amount of copies sold pre release. Not to mention WAR will be going to more than just those 3 regions listed, don’t forget Russue, Japan, Taiwan, and China are joining the WAR in early 2009. We are looking for a population not too far from World of Warcrafts current 10 million population. We believe Warhammer will have a very good chance to take down WoW.

News, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft

Warhammer Online Head Start Live

September 15th, 2008

Yesterday the head start program for Warhammer Onlines collectors edition has officially started. Tomorrow the 16th, all regular pre orders will join the head start and on the 18th, the game will be publicly open to everyone. I hope some of you guys are enjoying the game as much as I am, at least for those who have pre ordered the collectors edition.

We’ll soon have gold avaible for WAR so be on the look out. I would expect approximately 2 weeks from now we’ll be fully stocked and ready to go.

News, Warhammer Online

Mythic VP Refuses to Grant Designer Credit

September 5th, 2008

Most gamers like you and myself probably have never read credits to developer information other than the main publishing company itself. Well, to others, especially those have participated may mean quite alot. If they have spent years into the development of the game, they would expect some sort of quote in the credit. An anonymous former developer has recently left the company before the release of Warhammer is looking to take legal action for not receiving credit for the work contributed in the past. Here are some replies from Mark Jacobs himself.

“I think the credits belong to the people who have been working on this game non-stop, whether they’ve been with us for a week or whether they’ve been with us for three years.”

“If we set that precedent right now, that anyone who worked on the game at any point in time is going to be in the credits, the credits will be 20 pages long.”

“If all the game companies agree on [a standard for credits] — on that day, I’ll be thrilled.”

For the full story and interview visit MTV’s blog.

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