New Sketchy MMO Site Stealing Everyones Content

So, I’m not going to give them a proper link here, because they are sleaze bag IP-thiefs, but I thought I’d drop warning in case anyone happens across their site. MMORPGnetwork(dot)com rips content from other MMO focused sites, uses a really bad ai to paraphrase the content and then posts it as if it is there own. They are stealing from us, wowhead, and more. While legal action is being considered (because what they are doing is absolutely criminal), I wanted our viewers to be informed so that they may choose to not support such a terrible organization with their views.

Again, I don’t recommend trying to find them, just, if you happen to see that address, consider not clicking and/or leaving. They actively hurt the business of those creating the content that they blatantly steal.

Lost Ark Closed Beta: Prologue + Character Creation Videos

Lost Ark Image

Lost Ark is an upcoming (Western release, at least) MMORPG featuring isometric action combat (think Diablo). Check out a couple of videos from the Lost Ark closed beta, including their character creator and the full prologue / introduction of the game. Find both videos after the break.

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Is It Pay to Win? Elyon (Ascent: Infinite Realm)

Welcome to ‘Is it Pay to Win’ – a column where we examine a game and decide if that game is has aspects of pay to win and to what extent. Check out Is it Pay to Win?: Defined to see how we break down the components of pay to win (p2w), such as pay for advantage, pay for convenience, and pay for cosmetics.

Elyon (formerly Ascent: Infinite Realm) is a korean MMORPG developed by Bluehole and is being published for Western audiences by Kakao. The game has 5 classes with a large variety of skills. It features both PVP and PVE. The game must be purchased (buy to play) and has a cash shop with microtransactions.

Scoring:

  • Pay for Power: 2/5
  • Pay for Advantage: 3/5
  • Pay for Convenience: 5/5
  • Pay for Cosmetics: 5/5
  • Pay to Win: 3.14/5

Here’s a video discussion of the cash shop. Continue reading for a break down of the games system, an explanation for those scores and our final verdict on the game.

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Elyon CBT2: Beta Key Giveaway + Info

The second Elyon (Ascent: Infinite Realm) closed beta is coming up soon and beta invites went out today. This beta test will be significantly closer to the current Korean version of the game than the last one and will feature their cash shop. Now that New World’s launch has moved to be almost exactly the same day as Elyon, it’s even more important for those testing to see if they are interested to get into this beta as it may be difficult to play both of these upcoming MMOs at their launch – this is definitely a personal struggle here.

Fortunate for you, not only does this post have the CBT2 schedule, but also a way to win one of our five beta keys that Elyon gave us to give to you.

Continue on for the key giveaway and the closed beta schedule at the end.

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Ashes of Creation: Big Expectations

We’ve seen games heralded as “the next big thing” or a “WoW Killer” for years upon years. So far, nothing has killed World of Warcraft and we rarely even get a new big thing. Sometimes, in the worst case, we don’t even get a thing at all as upcoming MMO’s often never launch due to complications or financial constraints given how large and expensive developing this sort of game is – particularly for indie developers.

So here we have Ashes of Creation. It’s an independently developed upcoming MMO. It has more going against it than for it. The market is saturated with MMOs: WoW, ESO, FF14 & Runescape dominate the market, and there’s dozens if not hundreds more eating up little slices of the potential player base. Each game brings with it a their take on the genre – their own unique trait or gimmick. So what does AoC bring to the table that is unique? And what is it that has players expectations so high? What has people willing to spend $500 to get into the first alpha tests?

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New World: First Impressions

So, I was able to get into this New World preview. I didn’t get in until 3 days to the end so I didn’t get to progress very far, however, I made it to level 17, got into factions, did some questing, some exploring, and some crafting. For context, getting to level 17 took 5.5 hours. This probably wasnt the most efficient 5.5 hours of my gaming time, but getting to max level will probably take a significant time investment. In this post, I’ll throw out my thoughts on the look and feel of the game, the combat, crafting, my overall thoughts and a review of the interview their developer did with Richwcampbell and Asmongold. Also, at the end, there’ll be a little story regarding Amazon’s customer service for their gaming division. Make sure to subscribe to the blog to get future updates for the game, including details about their November beta test and a bunch of already-created game resources.

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