Why you should NEVER use Powerlevelling services

Last time, I shared a video from NCSoft about the dangers of using RMT. Now, here's one more about what will happen to you if you use power-levelling services:



A bit exaggerated, but I guess you get the idea.

I for one do not approve of piloting, but powerlevelling services are a nastier breed. At least with piloting, you give your password to someone you know, but with these services you don't know who will be handling your character and how that character will react to other people.

Source

Why gPotato banned Aika international players?

Recently, gPotato has banned non-North American players from Aika Online NA.

Dear Aika players,
We have an important announcement to bring you tonight. Starting tomorrow night after our weekly scheduled maintenance, we will be restricting our area of service for Aika Online to North America, given Gala-Net’s status as the North American publisher for Aika Online. This decision may result in gPotato blocking IP addresses which originate outside of North America (for Aika only – other gPotato games will not be affected). We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this action causes, and we encourage you to email us at aika_support[at]gala-net.com with any comments or concerns you may have.
-The Aika Team-

Source

As expected there were a lot of complaints coming from the non-NA player base. A lot of speculations were thought of as to why it was done, ranging from blocking RMT sellers to saving on bandwidth. But it seems Hanbitsoft, the game's developer, will be publishing Aika Global!

We are proud to announce that Aika Global site is now officially up.

With www.aika.t3fun.com; all of the updates, from the news to game informations are just a click away.
For those who are unfamiliar with Aika, it is an upcoming fantasy MMORPG and designed to reimagined the “massively” in MMORPG. Aika Global’s CBT informations will be updated in the new site.

Source

The question begs then if the global version will ban NA players or not. If they do, then the NA players will lose out on playing with other people in the world (some of them might actually like that, but I still think most of them won't). If they do not, then gPotato will be in such a rut that it's better to shut down the NA version anyway.

In this case, Hanbitsoft will have to answer a lot of questions! One of them is why create a global version after  gPotato offered it to everyone on the planet. It should have banned everyone else outside NA from the beginning.

My condolences go to the international players who have given their time to Aika Online NA. Look on the bright side, you have a new server you can play in soon!

Why you should NEVER buy gold from RMT sellers

This was made by NCSoft to remind Aion players not to buy Kinah (in-game currency) from RMT sellers or ELSE!

Watch the end of the video to know why!


Source

RMT is now LEGAL in Korea!

Image by LotusMonger via Flickr

When you deal with Real Money Trading (RMT) within an MMO, you're likely to get a permanent ban (permaban) from the game, unless you play in South Korea.

The MMO world has been abuzz with the news that a court in South Korea has just ruled that converting in-game money to real money has been deemed legal after two Lineage players did some business and got caught:

The two allegedly purchased “Aden,” cyber money in an online multiplayer role-playing game “Lineage,” worth 234 million won ($207,558), which was lower than market price, through game item-trading Web sites.

Then they allegedly resold those purchased items to some 2,000 other players and earned about 20 million won.

However there are some details that the RMTers should follow before dealing business:

• Players cannot cash in if they used bots or macros (good luck detecting that!).
• The article also notes that Korea passed a law that the government will collect a VAT of 10 percent on these types of transactions... given the alleged trading volume of $1 Billion or more per year, that is real money in these fiscal hard times. This may have even more impact on game companies in terms of record keeping and reporting.

As expected a lot of people (players and non-players alike) have had negative reactions to the ruling:

Parents' associations and anti-gambling activists criticized the decision, arguing it may set a bad precedent for the younger generation. Others said it will provide fresh impetus to the online game business.

However, some are embracing the thought that game developers/publishers will be earning more:

"The ruling has brightened the future of the Korean game market," said Prof. Chung Hae-sang at Dankuk University. "So far, the industry's growth has been interrupted by tough regulations."

The global scene is worried because most of the MMORPGs (like NCSoft games: Lineage 2, Aion, Guild Wars, etc.) comes from South Korea. Does that mean gameplay changes in the international versions will be in order? Will this improve in-game economies? How will this affect the booming Free-to-Play market (F2P)?

The face of MMORPGs surely has changed...

Korea Supreme Court rules virtual currency convertible
Ruling to Boost Sale of 'Cyber Money'
Supreme Court acquits two in cyber money game case

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Gracia Update Review

After a week or so of absence, I'm back in Ether. Below is my review for Gracia.

Returning to Gracia as a Newbie

In order to fully experience Gracia for what it is--a more newbie friendly update--I decided to make an alternative character in Blackbird. Take note, I named him Alcarcalimo as well--that means you can have the same name from Aria as long as no one else is using it in Blackbird as well.

I expected that like in the NA servers, all new characters would be getting the 4 Vitality points right away, but unfortunately it's not the same here. It's okay anyway as you will read in a couple of paragraphs after this one.

Lineage 2's Vitality points Rock!

As you can see from the screenshot above, I was able to level up from 1 to 6 just by killing one Gremlin. Yes folks, it's THAT easy! I was also able to add more vitality points up to 4 as I went along and completed the non-violent tasks. Her's a tip for newbies: don't grind! Just kill the required number of mobs and you'll do fine. You'll be wasting precious Vitality points if you do.

After approximately 8 hours of playing, I am now on Level 18--and that's with large intemittent spaces of not playing. Which means that if you do take rest periods, your Vitality points will shoot up eventually. The problem is, that some players burn all their Vitality points away by just grinding. I would suggest that you do quests and take some rest periodically.

Vitality point system vs. PTP scheme

Unfortunately, resting would be a problem if you have a timer ticking. Yep, the Pay to Play scheme is going against the idea of resting for vitality points. This is fine if you only bought a loadtime for one day, but there are a lot of players who buy the 30-day gametime load (like me).

Now, we're torn if we'll let our characters rest while their Vitality points rise. Possible solutions? Get an alt character or do some Raid Boss hunting. However, that will require getting some high levelled weapons and armor--and it's easier now!

A whole new world...for cheapskates

One of the gripes of many Lineage 2 players is the fact that weapons and armors are extremely expensive. Usually they resort to buying from RMT sellers or create bots to farm out mats and sell them for high prices to obtain one piece of armor. Now, with the reduced prices, more players will be able to get up until B-grade level weapons and armors.

How this will affect the in-game economy is still to be seen, but at least the standard rates are low. The only way for a player to sell the same weapon or armor is by selling it a lower price. Good for players, maybe bad for sellers.

Kudos to NCSoft and AMDG for the Gracia update as it seems to be a resounding success! The only thing we have to wait for now is Part 2 and the final part of Gracia to be updated as well.

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Technorati Tags: Gracia, Lineage 2 SEA, Lineage 2, AMDG, Alcarcalimo, NCSoft

AMDG puts its foot down on RMT

For those unfamiliar with Real Money Trading (RMT) look here first.

AMDG just floored the community with news last night regarding its fight against RMT/Adena sellers.

On to date, AsianMedia is standing firm to address the RMT concern in Lineage II. A total of 50,000 characters have been sanctioned for third party program usage and over 30 billion adena has been seized from 19 accounts in both Aria and Blackbird servers. This action was based on the continuous intensive investigation from the Lineage II SEA GM Team in which the said “bank” accounts are the ones responsible for fueling RMT spammers in town, which cause item price increase (economic inflation) and too much botting.

AMDG finally shows its teeth and muscle! I'm hoping that the company continues it's streak against these sellers.

Kudos to you guys!

Source


Technorati Tags: Lineage 2 SEA, Lineage 2, AMDG, iPlayAsia, bots, cheats, RMT

Lineage 2 SEA is a year old

Yep, according to HGM Gilrain, it's Lineage 2 SEA's first birthday. Congratulations to AMDG, iPlay Asia & Trade, Cubetech, and NCSoft for bringing to us such a grand game.

There's been a lot of challenges (crit errors, bots, RMT), we've a lost a lot of people (both on the players and management side), but we're all still here. I hope that we can continue to expand and grow in population.

To celebrate this event, below is the first sighted Lineage 2 ad. Please remember to pause the mp3 player on the right bar.

Thanks to the guys at Lineage 2 Fansite!

Cheers!

Technorati Tags: Lineage 2 SEA, Lineage 2, AMDG, iPlayAsia, Cubetech

The Grind Tip #2: Mucking Around with Macros

Macros in Lineage 2 are rarely discussed in the net, yet they can tremendously help in Player vs. Environment (PvE) situations and in some Player vs. Player (PvP) ones as well.

When you google: Macro Lineage 2, 85% point to Bots, Cheats, Bugs, RMT, and all that filth. It's a cool thing though that iPlay Asia Community Portal has an article on it. I was also able to get a video from youtube on how to do a macro:

Remember my Grind Tip #1 regarding using the Hot Key slots? Well, I plan to make it even easier (yeah, I know freaking lazy) by incorporating all of it under one macro. So last night until today, I kept on experimenting differnt macros before I went outside to test it on some orcs.

Alcarcalimo: Confused

I wanted the following to happen in the following order using just ONE HOTKEY:

1. Equip my bow
2. Shoot my target with a Power Shot
3. Shoot with a normal bow shot
4. Equip both my shield and sword
5. Attack my opponent
6. Attack my opponent
7. Attack with Power Strike
8. Attack my opponent
9. Attack my opponent

When I tried this out in the field I kept on un-equipping my bow. So I decided that I'll walk around with no weapon equipped. When I focus on a target then I use my hotkey macro and do my dirty work.

So far, it's succeeding. I'll post more combo macros as soon as I get them.
Technorati Tags: Lineage 2 SEA, Lineage 2, Macro, Tip, Grind

Here's where it starts

Hi, thanks for coming in.

This is my first post on my Lineage 2 character's journey to becoming a Spectral Dancer. The Dark Elf, Alcarcalimo. His name is the elf's translation for alcar "glory, splendour, brillance"and calima "bright". Although I will have to admit that a Dark Elf with a name that signifies bright light can be confusing.

Here's a picture of him at Level 10:

Why Lineage 2? It's got great graphics, well thought of background story, and the details are just so crazy. I'm falling in love with it. I would've gladly taken this on during its Closed Beta (CB) or Open Beta Phase (OP), but was just so busy at work.

Why am I creating this character so near the new Lineage 2 SEA launch of Kamael? I just decided to join the game again after a long hiatus because of pending day jobs. Besides, I have no plans of going Kamael on anyone yet and I just love Dark Elves more.

Why a Spectral Dancer (SD)? Well, I've always wanted to be support rather than a Damage Dealer (DD), besides, players would gladly accept supports rather than DDs (there's quite a number of them running around I heard).

I'm expecting quite a lot once the Kamael updates come in. Hopefully there's going to be a system that will deal with botting, gankers, and Real Money Trading (RMT) in-game. I know it's next to impossible, but Asian Media Development Group (AMDG) and NCSoft has to take this seriously....arrrghhh I'll take up that issue on another post.

Anyways hope you can join me online one day and let's form a party. Just whisper "Alcarcalimo" in the Aria Server.

Technorati Tags: Lineage 2 SEA, Lineage 2, Alcarcalimo