MMORPG News: Blue Protocol CBT, PSO2 PC, Elyon, New World Delayed, RaiderZ Update

Hopefully you guys are all staying home, staying safe and playing the new Final Fantasy 7 Remake. If you’re not.. then why? Oh, wait, is it because you’ve opted to take a few minutes outta your day to catch up with what’s going on in the MMO-world with Daddy Stix?
Aww you’re too kind. Well it’s a good thing we got a ton to talk about this week then, huh?
So I guess go ahead, relax with a nice hearty breakfast like fried ham and egg muffins and a glass of milk and let’s jump into this Weekly Byte of MMORPG News.

Let’s start this off talking about Fractured. If you’re a backer of the game then you’ll be happy to know the game is going to be open to test for all backers – this begun on Friday and will last through Sunday.
If you haven’t been playing it then you should definitely take this opportunity to jump in and see all the updates made.
For those of us that never backed the game, if you’re interested in playing during this test phase then you can head on over to their store and purchase your way into the Alpha.

Next.. let’s talk about New World. I don’t even know where to begin with this one.
I guess I’ll have a much more dedicated video for this coming in the next few weeks when I can fully gather all of the information I need and my thoughts on the topic but until then, Amazon’s upcoming MMO has been delayed.
While it was initially scheduled to launch in May, the devs have claimed to have made the “hard decision” to delay the game until August 25th.
This is due to a certain virus spreading around the world, and not at all due to the fact that they were unprepared and not able to launch when they had initially expected.
Having an NDA in place is totally normal for an MMO slated to release within the near future. While New World no doubt needs this time to continue to develop the game, making excuses isn’t really necessary.
Just tell us you need more time. I mean they took the game offline for an entire year and retooled a lot of the game and people are still excited. A few more months isn’t going to kill the game, trust me.

If you’re an avid fan of Final Fantasy XIV then you’d know they release updates almost religiously. I’ve not seen them actually miss a scheduled update release, but this may mark the first.
Yoshi-P revealed that patch 5.3, which was scheduled to release during the middle of June would instead be delayed into July. When in July is unconfirmed, but judging from the reasoning behind the delay, it doesn’t seem too long of a wait.
There are a variety of reasons that ultimately contributed to the delay – art assets, a lack of recorded voice-over work, a general lack of staff.
Yet even though the update will be delayed a couple weeks, patch 5.25 which just rolled out brought with it some brand new content in the form of Relic weapons and armor, and a new Extreme mode trial.
Seriously, this mini-patch brought with it more content than some games do in full large-content drops. Final Fantasy XIV is really on top of their game.

I discussed this earlier in the week but someone left a Tweet on the official PSO2 Twitter pertaining to the PC release of the game and they officially reiterated that the game will still be launching onto PC within the next 2 months.
When specifically is unconfirmed, but even with what’s going on in the world right now, and all of these other games getting delayed, they seem to be on-schedule to release.
We currently have the game on Xbox consoles so it’ll be refreshing to finally be able to play the game on PC soon. Hopefully this dissuades the remainder of people that think the game will remain an Xbox exclusive.
The game is still expected to be releasing on additional consoles in the future as well, just a small FYI.

ArcheAge Unchained is buy-to-play, requiring players pay a one-time fee to play the game.
However, currently the game will be completely free for the remainder of the weekend. This will provide you the option to try out Unchained and see how specifically it differs from the traditional version of the game.
Additionally, Gamigo is working with Eden Reforestation Projects for the purpose of reforestation, agroforestry and reducing extreme poverty through the employment of local villagers. You can participate by making purchases in various games in Gamigo’s library.

In what could be some of the best news of the year, the team behind Ascent: Infinite Realm have revealed a plethora of changes coming to their game.
Namely, a complete revamp of various systems and a rebrand – yup, the game will henceforth be known as “Elyon.”
If you ever watched my initial videos on A:IR you’d notice that the game seemed a little slow with its tab-target combat and fairly clunky.
It struck me as an unusual choice to go with tab-target combat considering these are the same devs that worked on TERA but I didn’t judge it too harshly.
Now, with their revamp, they’re adopting a more modern version of TERA’s action combat system.
They’re also significantly reducing the amount of aerial content found in-game, since originally the game had a large emphasis on aerial combat, aerial PvP and aerial exploration.
There will still be a lot of PvP in-game but the game, overall, is going to look very different once the next phase of testing rolls out.
They’re aiming to get the game to release in South Korea this year, with a release in North America and Europe likely happening shortly after.

In Artificial Core’s first “Quarterly Update of 2020” they went on to reveal some juicy goodies regarding their upcoming MMO “COREPUNK.”
Initially, it was announced that the game was going to make use of pre-determined characters referred to as “heroes,” as opposed to player-created characters.
However, they’ve made alterations to the core game that now allows you to edit the hero you want to play as going as far as removing gender restrictions all together.
How this is going to impact the lore for each character is unknown but I’m glad to see them embracing freedom over gender locking.
They also revealed that there will be several livestreams coming out over the course of the year showcasing progress made on the game thus far, including features they’re in the process of working on.

I talked about the closure of Chronicles of Elyria last week, but wow. This is.. this is pathetic.
Caspian, the very same guy that gave us the crap last week about laying off the entire studio because nobody would invest in the game has made a brand new post stating that they’re continuing development on the game.
They re-opened the forums, and he even went on to state that there are going to be several people continuing to work on the game for free for the foreseeable future until they find new investors. If they find new investors.
The post actually looks like it was written by a lawyer and is no doubt his half-assed attempt at trying to limit the damage by the impending charges coming his way.
I mean let’s be honest here, is it really committing “fraud” if you’re still “technically working on the game”? This guy should never be trusted to work in the industry ever again.

I haven’t talked about RaiderZ in a while, because.. well, honestly, after it was announced to be getting a major re-work… the developers went completely silent. How long has it been now? A year? since their last update?
Regardless, Masangsoft actually posted a new video detailing progress for the rebooted RaiderZ game showing off a variety of updates that players have been anticipating.
This includes the new overhauled combat and skill system, while making efforts to detail additional plans for the story along with the changes to classes.
Honestly, though, while I was initially excited for RaiderZ and Masangsoft’s overhauled reboot, after seeing that Masangsoft doesn’t really care about their games and instead just tries to milk as much money out of them as they can.. I wouldn’t waste time being excited for this anymore.

I know a lotta people were looking forward to getting to play Greymoor on May 18th but alas, the highly anticipated Skyrim chapter, like various other updates, has been delayed.
But only by a week, as the devs revealed that they’ve had a little difficulty acclimating to working from home but it’s not nearly as bad as they’d anticipated. Instead, the update will be rolling out on May 25th.

Who here has seen the Log Horizon Anime? Oh, a lotta you guys, huh? Well then, this might be right up your alley. Or, it might’ve been right up your alley.. if I wasn’t the one talking about it.
See, there’s this brand new upcoming MMORPG in development called “Elder Tales.” It’s an MMO based on the Log Horizon Anime. And from what I can see, it looks.. pretty detailed and has quite a lot going for it.
It’s set in the very same world that the Anime takes place in, but that’s where the positives end. The developers behind the game have no official license to actually create a video game on the Log Horizon IP.
This isn’t mentioned anywhere and is thus misleading potential players into believing this is a legitimate game. They also accept donations.. for a game being developed illegally.
In essence, they’re profiting from illegally developing a game that will not last. Yup… Great concept.. if it wasn’t built as a “Log Horizon MMO.”

In good news for fans of Blue Protocol, Bandai Namco have added an additional 5,000 Closed Beta slots for players.
They’ve also re-opened the registration application process for players that want to get in – with the registrations for this extended recruitment process closing on April 13th.
I have a guide on how to register for the chance to get one of those 5,000 new keys if you’re interested. Don’t forget that the Closed Beta begins on the 23rd of April so registering now is paramount if you’re aiming to try it out.