Now we know we've gotten excited about dynamic battlefields and a persistent world that keeps changing, even while players are offline, Richard Garriott continued to expound on the gameplay facets of Tabula Rasa and how it can be a fleeting experience from today's ordinary MMORPGs in an interview with WarCry.

 

Although NCSoft's Tabula Rasa isn't about grinding for hours on end to achieve a single reward, they do encourage taking out as many of the enemy you can. It's not just for ensuring the success of the Allied Free Sentients in the war against the Bane, but Garriott believes it will also reveal more interesting aspects of gameplay.

He highlighted what seems to resemble a berserker fury bonus. Like Blood Rayne, a player can kill enemies in quick succession to receive a bonus to experience gain. In the case of Blood Rayne, it would grant the lithe half-vampire an increased damage mode.

The more enemies that a player kills in succession, the gain modifier continues to rise until it reaches a maximum peak. Grinders won't have to spend hours on end just to level up, because if they make an effort to improve their means, they can easily satisfy the ends.

And what ends they would be. Depending on your weapon and damage type, a player can trigger unique "death sequences" that can randomly appear on an opponent on the verge of death. Garriott may have mentioned that each sequence adds interest to the entire backdrop while the battles rage on, but he hints that curious players should "think Mortal Kombat."

And speaking of grinds, no player feel that they have to keep killing hordes of Bane troops to level. Unlike other MMORPGs, core players are not obliged to level first and quest second. In fact, because a war is raging on and the ASF could end up losing the fight due to player ignorance, the player must make sure that missions get accomplished, bases are protected, objectives get taken and the enemy taken out every step of the way.

Now that's role-playing. A player can get to be a contributor that matters, not another nobody that scatters.

Yesterday, we ran a new treasure chest article for EverQuest 2. And now, how about a dev chest article to cap the week? When you really think about it, a developer's word could prove to be more valuable than actual in-game treasures. And we'll take their words over riches, any time of any given day.

So, what do the developers have to say his time? Quite interesting, actually. Lord Mayong Mistmoore remains elusive and a puzzle to players. Some regard him as a hero while others see him as a vampire. Game designer Tony "Sir Lucan" Garcia (aka Vhalen) agrees when he mentions, "Lord Mayong Mistmoore may be more powerful than any of us can ever dream of being."

Vhalen then hinted that the greatest mystery Norrath has ever seen will soon be revealed. He explained,

"He has discovered a hint of something far away and ancient, something that cannot be answered in conventional means. He could be leading us to a destiny where the secrets of Mistmoore will finally be revealed as Norrathians take one step closer to the inevitable."

Lastly, programmer Chris Kozak discussed +Spell Damage items and clarified certain issues on the matter. In simple terms, he'd like to reiterate that the casting time used is the base casting time. He warned players not to confused this with hasted casting time from items/achievement. His explanation reads,

"Dot's dont use the casting time to normalize. They normalize based on the number of ticks. If its less than 5 ticks then the benefit amount is reduced( ultraviolet would get 3/5 of the quoted amount in the description). AOE spells also get a further reduction due to the fact you are likely going to hit multiple creatures with it. Once all of that is done the total amount remaining is split over the total dot ticks."

Game dev Ilucide was more than happy to talk about one of the more prominent places over at EverQuest II, and we figured you'd wanna hear about the new residence that's gonna be popping up too. Enter Castle Mistmoore.

Located across the Loping Hills, Mistmoore Castle's the residence of Lord Mayong - your not-so-friendly neighborhood elven vampire. The local villagers have long looked upon this castle with a twinge of fear, deathly afraid of the power that Mayong holds, and the aforementioned eerie atmosphere of the castle. If it's any good news, Mayong's often hidden away in his inner sanctum, studying the Zebuxoruk's prophecies.

For a reception, would-be visitors (Raiders, treasure hunters, demon hunters, Belmonts, Blade...) will first have to fight their way through the other vampires inhabiting this castle, which should prove to be meaner than your everyday brand of enemies.

Old-time EverQuest players will also be happy to know that the devs have taken special care to make this castle a tribute to its previous incarnation in EQI - evident in the the piano, stained glass, and gray stone walls that were faithfully copied from the EQI version. As for the rest of the castle's majestically malicious feel, you can thank Michael Bacon for his efforts, and numerous items such as the high ceilings which were inspired by European gothic cathedrals, specifically those in Barcelona.

Mistmoore Castle:  Your recommended party's tour destination for EQ2's EoF expansion.

We've reported on the merger before, and we have stated that it's obvious to expect offline hobby based incarnations of CCP games' EVE Online, courtesy of the tabletop people from White Wolf. Well, here's a bit more detail on that off line possibility.

MMORPG.com reports that recently, CCP games has released a CCG version of EVE Online. CCP America/White Wolf announced that the CCG is just the beginning. North American hobby shops should eventually be full of CCGs, pen-and-paper RPGs, and other collectible hobby products that tie back to EVE Online.

It's good to see the EVE Online world spread onto other areas of gaming. What this writer is personally hoping to see is the White Wolf flagship – the World of Darkness – move into the MMO scene. Given EVE's reputation, it seems safe to say that the EVE Online people have the right pedigree to create a proper MMO version of the World of Darkness (Vampire: The Masquerade, Werewolf: The Apocalypse, Mage: The Ascension, Something: the Something... you get the idea).

EVE Online marketing entity Magnus Bergsson, says that the two companies work very well together. White Wolf is good at the things CCP is not: storytelling, product distribution and alternative avenues to expand IPs. CCP excels where White Wolf does not: creation of technically excellent online universes.

We all certainly hope that both companies achieve great things and expand both their major intellectual properties where they could not otherwise have gone.