Tagged News: ncsoft

NCsoft has released Hellbound, the latest installment in the Lineage II series. The expansion comes with a brand new retail box as well that bundles several together, although it itself is free.

Read more after the leap.

Lineage II passed around a little developer journal today that asks "what's so cool about Hellbound and the 4th anniversary edition". Along with it come 16 new screenshots from the update.

Read and see it all after the click.

Issue 12 is about to hit the live servers and we took the chance to catch up with City of Heroes/Villains Lead Designer Matt Miller and Senior Designer Floyd Grubb to catch up on the Issue, their transition from Cryptic to NCsoft, in-game advertising and much more.

"We thought it was going to be a tougher transition than it was," said Miller of the switch from Cryptic's leadership to NCsoft's. "We kind of hit the ground running once we got into the new studio"

As NCsoft NorCal is exclusively focused on all things City of, they had promised to dedicate more resources to it. For example, when they release new elements of micro-content, such as a recent wedding pack, the money they make off it is put right back into the game's expansion and development.

Read more after the leap.

In City of Heroes: Issue 12, NCsoft has focused in on Epic Villain Archetypes and today they released a trailer that explains them. To go with it, they also dumped a pile of Issue 12 screenshots we have tossed in our gallery.

For the video, click below.

NCsoft has moved a step further down the microtransaction path with the introduction of a new single currency for their games: NCcoin. This allows players to buy items in their games that use cash for item transactions.

Read more after the leap.

Tim Tan is the Producer of Lineage II: Hellbound, the upcoming free expansion to the popular NCsoft MMORPG. He spoke with our Jordan Deam last week by telephone about the update in this exclusive interview.

WarCry: Hellbound is the final installment of the First Throne Saga. Talking about that overall storyline, how important is it to a typical Lineage II player?

Tim Tan: From a storyline standpoint, I feel that we started with the Kamael, and we introduced the Hellbound zone, and unlocking the different areas. I feel that Hellbound, basically the signature part of the last segment of the First Throne, is the completion of that. Your goal is to actually explore the rest of Hellbound, enter areas like the Steel Citadel, and your ultimate goal is to meet and fight Beleth, the biggest baddie in the game right now. So I think it will be significant. It definitely is, in terms of story, the higher-end content. And we do have a good group of roleplayers that always know the storyline and progression in that way.

Read more after the leap.

About a month ago it was announced that players would be able to purchase additional character slots on the server of their choice following Issue 12. Today, the full details of this system have been revealed in an announcement on the City of Heroes official forums.

Some highlights from the announcement include:

Pricing: $5.99 for 1 slot, $9.99 for 2 slots, $19.99 for 5 slots

Issue 12 Bonus Slots: Every player of CoH/V will receive 2 complimentary slots with the launch of Issue 12: A Midnight Hour, these slots can be applied to the server of your choice.

Veteran Rewards: For every 12 months you've been subscribed to the game you will gain an additional complimentary character slot. 1 for 1 year, 2 for 2 years, etc

To view the full announcement click here.

The beta for Issue 12 has begun today on the Training Room! The beta is currently closed and is limited to a small pool of NCSoft employees and some Friends & Family. Although that may sound like a bit of a tease you ARE able to patch the test client up and check out character creation.

On Tuesday, April 8th we are starting the closed beta test of Issue 12: Midnight Hour. As we had announced previously the start of the closed beta would be a small pool of NCsoft employees, friends and family. We're looking forward to the coming days and weeks and opening the beta up as it progresses and our testing needs dictate to include a wider group of players. There will be an open beta period, where everyone who wants to can patch up to the Training Room and see Issue 12 before it goes live and provide feedback.

Oh, and don't panic about the fact Electricity Assault for Dominators is a straight copy of Electricity Manipulation from Blasters, it's not final.

There are no patch notes available, and unfortunately you will not be able to take a peek at the Villain Epic Archetype powersets, as they involve you actually be able to LOG IN your level 50 to unlock. Please, no pitchforks, I'm only the messenger!

You can find the official announcement here.

Exteel is the mech shooter game from NCsoft and today they released a developer journal and metric truck load of screenshots to show off weapon highlights in capture the flag and territory control modes. The journal goes over each weapon, then we have dozens of images of each in action.

Once most Exteel players complete the full range of tutorials and finish a few matches they should have enough in-game money (credits) to purchase a new Mechanaught, or at least purchase some new Mechanaught parts. One of the Mechanaught sets that will be immediately available for purchase is the Mekhi, a light Mechanaught design that is nearly superior in every fashion to the standard Pinkett Mechanaught that everyone receives when they first start playing.

Read more after the leap.

NCsoft and DoubleFusion have announced a deal to introduce "optional in-game advertising" to City of Heroes/Villains. The press release is on the next page, but you can also read NCsoft NorCal General Manager Brian Clayton's explanation on the official website.

For the official release, see below.