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ELotH Online: The Bloodrage Chronicle
Note: Information about the MMO remains sketchy as it is in a sealed alpha and those taking part are bound by NDAs. Information presented here is second-hand and may or may not reflect the content of the retail version.
Logo, Revealed?
About the Bloodrage Chronicle Logo
| (Updated) 7/28/2006 |
| More detailed information on character classes was distributed to the public in the ELotH:TES Magazine! |
| (Updated) 5/31/2006 |
| Recently, it has been revealed on the Bloodrage website that Beach Elves and Half-Trolls were being added to the list of playable races! There has been a great deal of criticism over this topic, ranging from complaints about more elves, about the lack of Epic lore behind the Half-Trolls, and why they have to wear a special apparatus around the groin region for 2 hours after playing a session of the game. |
| Interview 3/23/06 |
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From an interview with two developers at a recent convention we got this:
"We already have lots of things planned, a card game tie-in that gives special bonuses in the game. We also have collectible miniatures and action figures. A special 6-part live action mini-series on the Sci-fi channel.. uhhh... what else? OH, right- burger king LCD mini games and monthly magazine."
Notes/Rumors
General Information
**The MMO is currently scheduled to be released for the holidays in 2006. What little we know about the MMO is summed up below; this information largely comes from the legendary Pnakotic Email, which was sent to various mailing lists in October of 2005. Nothing has been confirmed by the actual game designers, who actually deny that any such game exists. Recent and dated update information is marked and has been confirmed by multiple sources involved in the project directly.
- The GMs clamp down excessively on players who exploit the obvious and flagrant imbalances in the game as it stands. In this regard it also resembles the CCG.
- When asked about how the new Elemenstor level cap of 50 would affect any expansions to the game, the source denied the existence of such expansions.
(Updated) 12/10/2005
- New info from the beta! At level 5 you enter the capitol city of your race and choose whether you want to be an Elemenstor, Sorcerer, or Warrior. Could this mean that not all players get Furniliars?
Character
Character Progression
- Characters start as potential Elemenstors and work their way up to the rank.
- There are 20 levels as an 'apprentice,' followed by 763 levels as an Elemenstor. Characters who reach level 763 are eligible to take the trial and become a High Elemenstor. Only two players have reached this rank, and details of the test remain obscure. It seems to involve "Rock, Paper, Scissors."
(Updated) 11/24/2005
- In a recent alpha build, the leveling system has been slightly modified to address the concerns of "casual gamers". The level cap has been decreased from 763 as an Elemenstor to 50 levels. The original 20 'apprentice' levels still remain. Also, a source close to the project has revealed that the "Rock, Paper, Scissors" system has been set aside indefinitely while the development team fine tunes the content for levels 1-20.
- The first expansion, Lost Islands of Uthrandar, has been (allegedly) announced. It will (allegedly) allow players to explore and adventure the long forgotten lands of Uthrandar, an underwater chain of magical islands haunted by a dark past and the whims of a long imprisoned evil demon-master. This expansion (allegedly) raises the level cap to 984, as well as drastically enhancing the tradeskill system, which according to Alpha testers is currently like "having your life sucked out of your body milligrams at a time". It will also let players play as the Quilp. The second expansion is (allegedly)(rumored) known as the reformation of the Wang Empire. It's (rumored)(allegedly) an attempt to reach out more to the oriental audience of the game, who are predicted to be in bad terms with the the developers of the game due to a very bad dinner party hosted by them in whats is thought to happen in two years.
- A variety of robes, pointy hats, staves with advanced particle effects, and magical familiars are said to be in the works for this game. Some sort of "curve-enhancing" and "revealing, yet tasteful" robe overlays are in the works for female Elemenstors.
- The email makes mention of forum discussions involving certain basic quests for advancement, where the items required drop 1% of the time from a mob that has a 1% chance of spawning every 36 hours. Reportedly, the designers' response was "Sony does that all the time."
- Combat is a real-time amalgamation of the CCG rules, using the Pillar system but resolving in real time.
Character Classes
There are several character classes. Primarily, there are the Elemenstors of course, which are seperated into sub-classes by Element. Stoners, Wiffles, Moisteners, and Hotbloods will be playable in the initial release, with more types to follow in expansions. Only Elemenstors will have access to Furniliars.
Other initial beginning classes include Sorcerers (who generally function like weaker Elemenstors that are easier to level up and have no elemental alignment), Axe Lord (slow but strong melee class), Warrior (balanced melee class), Clerical Healer (support class), Monk (melee and support), Ranger (support and ranged fighting), and Rogue (Enemy annoyer and stealth). These other, less Epic classes will have to make due with Familiars.
Hidden prestige classes that can only be unlocked after sidequests include Bard, Badass Philosopher, Ninja, Paladin, Quasar Rider, and Token Master. Details on how these classes will function in the game is unknown.
Graphics, Sound, and Hardware
- Originally, the entire game was to make use of 'geo-mod' technology. This was abandoned after the 8 realms of the test server were reduced to blasted plains of ash and broken rock 2 days after the alpha went live. 'Geo-mod' is now reserved for "duel" realms, where players take on other players. Now the rest of the game has been redesigned around a state-of-the-art isometric engine, capable of displaying literally dozens of colours on screen at one time.
- The email also makes mention of a song written, performed and celebrated by the testers entitled "ELotH Online: The Bloodrage Chronicle is a Feeling" in which the testers sing about their lack of social skills outside of an ELotH context. Various versions of the song have been "leaked" to the internet, but all have been discounted as hoaxes at present.
- If the game continues to expand at its current rate, minimum system requirements are estimated to be 200GB of hard drive space, 3.4TB of RAM, and a video card capable of resolving the motion of a single electron against a background of quantum interference patterns. Fortunately by the time the game leaves "alpha" this should be a fairly typical home system. Simultaneous launch for the PS3, Xbox360, and Revolution are likewise planned, along with a 'stripped down' version for the PSP and DS. Rumours that the game will also be adapted for the Video iPod, home DVD players and Samsung microwaves are unconfirmed.
*
(Updated) 11/24/2005
- In the recent alpha build, the development team has employed a technique known internally as 'compression' and externally as 'reverberant consolidation mapping.' In doing so, the size of the game has been reduced to 175GB. The team feels that further use of this extremely advanced technique could continue to reduce the installed files as far as 170GB or lower. Also, the RAM requirement was reduced to 2GB when a bug was discovered that caused the client to render each frame in succession while also rendering each of the previous frames simultaneously. The bug would lead to inevitable crashing as the client continued to demand more and more RAM. The original 3.4TB requirement was sampled after approximately five minutes of gameplay (not including character selection).
Innovation
- Comes with a catheter, bottle and I.V. bag to remove pesky "bio-breaks".
- The ability for GMs to "burn" unbalanced abilities and monsters has just been added. Some of the playtesters complain this too closely resembles the Gangster Octopus (Card) fiasco and should be removed from the game. The offending players were "burned" from the server and made to start with a new character.
- Rumors are sweeping ELOTHO:TBC forums about the "revolutionary" integrated voice chat system in the game. In an attempt to force a roleplaying environment, voice chat streams will be monitored and altered to add dialect and change wording (but not meaning) depending upon race and class. Example: "Let's go raid the dragon!" becomes "Let us go forth to slay the dragon!". Supposedly, the delay for this processing is on the order of picoseconds. Amazing, amazing.
- For more information on the unique in-game economy and player-run legal system, check the entry on The Begin In An Inn Inn.
Discussion
* This seems to be the case. My personal belief is that the timeline up to the year 40,000 is so richly detailed and well-known by fans that the developers chose to set the game in a "new frontier" to avoid contracticting the series timeline. As for how they'll get around the End of All Years, maybe something will crop up in a trailer or press release on the matter.
* The MMO is set in
The Ending Times, 20 years after the Betrayal Of
Princess Crystalcrown.
Really?? How did they manage to do this, as by all my accounts the Betrayal Of Princess Crystalcrown occurs in 39,998 ½, and the End of All Years happens less than 2 years later (in 40,000). Are they re-writing canon, yet again?
* You know, "The End of All Years" is a speculative fan contrivance based on the furthest forward available canon. If there's more beyond this, then this could be it.
Anybody nervous about how this is going to turn out given the poor reactions to the D&D MMO?
The DnD MMORPG suffers only because, as the first role-playing game, the MMORPG came too late to impress all the hangers on. Plus they messed with the actual DnD system. This? This will be as one with the pulsing heartbeat of the ELoTH:TES experience! Oh, bright and shining God, truly it runs through my veins like lightning! ...ahem. That is to say, it'll work because it's so intimately close it makes sex looks like church.
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