Even Crom, from high up in his mountain, is probably smiling right now. Why? Well, the first issue of the Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures Weekend Warrior is now out! This week we're going to be talking about a pair of patches, downtime, a free day of gameplay, and a special shoutout to a guild on the Wiccana server! So what are you waiting for? Head on over to the full article by clicking on the "read more" link below!

There's a new update for Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures, and it seems to be a pretty extensive set of changes. Find out what these changes are by visiting the full article after the jump!

If you're wondering just how Funcom's Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures for the PC (and Xbox 360) will be handling magic, then you've no need to go any further than this update. No longer just a skillset that you click and wait for your opponents to die, spellcasting in Age of Conan is now a stance that you get into for maximum strategical factor. Check out all the details in the full article, and see if you like Funcom's idea of magic.

The mage-playing half of the World of Warcraft has been in an uproar recently ever since they heard that their other spellcasting brethren, the warlocks, will be getting their own Blink-like defensive spell. They explained that this seriously offsets the game balance given the warlock's quick damage dealing abilities. Find out how Blizzard responds to these protests by reading our full article.

If there's one thing you can say about Dungeons and Dragons Online: Stormreach, it's that you have a pretty good idea what they intend to do to improve the game and know just when that fix will happen, more or less.

To that end, DDO fans may want to look at this week's development details. Some of the stuff is redundant when compared to last week's development details, but you might just find the good news you've been hoping for, like free items or that bandwidth reduction to make the game run more smoothly. Unlikely? Yeah, it is, but it's good to hope for a saving throw, isn't it?

If you'd like to brush up on what those poor folks at the Dev Dungeon have to go through, keep reading.

Change is always a good thing. Although, sometimes tedious, the rewards of changing makes up for all the trouble one has gone through for it. This maybe what the developers of Dungeons and Dragons Online have in mind everytime they dish out their consistent weekly updates just to satisfy the cravings of their gaming community. So, here are the new things you could expect from DDO.

Performance

• We are making some changes to the Twilight Forge to improve performance.

General

• NEW - The House Kundarak banking system will be opening a new branch in the harbor inside the Harbormaster's House.
• NEW - Tell messages will be displayed in all chat windows by default (for new characters and new chat tabs).
• NEW - Fixing a problem with the Mail UI that causes attached items to not display.
• Loot messages from other players will be tagged as loot messages and can be filtered out.
• Players will no longer get stuck while dismounting from ladders.

Monsters

• NEW - Wildmen will apply the feeblemind effect less often, generally on critical hits and/or their special leap attack.
• NEW - The effects caused by the warforged quori humanoids in the WFT area will no longer produce FX. Previously this on-damage effect could slow down performance due to the spam of visualized effects.
• Improved the dragon's spellcasting AI and line of sight recognition. For more information on possible changes to the dragon, please read this thread.
• Melee oriented Troglodytes will move closer to their targets - they should no longer attempt to make melee attacks from out of range.

The full list of DDO weekly development updates await after the jump!

We've been covering Bullet Witch for a while now, and while waiting for the final release is making us antsy, they've released another gameplay trailer to let you see what it's like being a sexy, spell-slinging witch with a giant, transforming gun.

In this video they've compiled some of their battle shots and some of Alicia's spells. While our previous gameplay vid showed us the power of thunder and lightning as it blows up a a barn, Alicia casts the "Ancient Wall" and "Rose Spear" spells for us in this one. The Ancient Wall spell brings up a wall that acts a temporary shield for her, stopping enemy bullets in their tracks. The Rose Spear, on the other hand, is an offensive spell, where Alicia uses her powers to make spears rain from the sky, striking and impaling enemies.

At the same time, we get to see some of the different modes her gun can use, from a machine gun, rifle, shotgun, and something that seems to fire high-powered slugs at the enemy.

In any case, Alicia is definitely a force to be reckoned with, so watch out for her arrival on the Xbox 360.

Thanks to GameTrailers for having these cool new videos to share.


Download: [Bullet Witch Gameplay Video - Guns, Spells, and Locales]

Players of Dungeons and Dragons Online: Stormreach will be happy to know that the good folks at Turbine have been busy making improvements to the game. Along with improved performance in Twilight Forge, here's a quick overview of what you can look forward to seeing this week.

New features and fixes for this week include:

• The House Kundarak banking system will be opening a new branch in the harbor inside the Harbormaster's House.
• "Tell messages" are now displayed in all chat windows by default
• A problem with the Mail UI causing attached items to not display has been fixed.
  
• Loot messages from other players will be tagged as loot messages and can be filtered out.
  

Additionally, Players will no longer get stuck while dismounting from ladders. New for this week is a fix in which Wildmen will not apply the feeblemind effect as often. This will be confined to critical hits and/or special leap attacks.

Other monster fixes:

• The effects caused by the warforged quasi humanoids in the WFT area will no longer produce FX. Previously this on-damage effect could slow down performance due to the spam of visualized effects.
• Improved the dragon's spellcasting AI and line of sight recognition. For more information on possible changes to the dragon, please read this thread.
• Melee oriented Troglodytes will move closer to their targets - they should no longer attempt to make melee attacks from out of range.
  

The full article awaits after the jump!

Another week has passed and the Dark Age of Camelot (DAoC) Grab Bag is back to bring answers to some of the most difficult questions relating to gameplay. The resident DAoC guru has shed light on the factors affecting spell resists. The term "Resist" is used two ways: 1) to reduce the damage/effectiveness of a spell, and 2) referring to the outright success or failure of a spell.

For outright resists, the only factors that should play in to the equation are: level of the player casting the spell; level of the spell; type of spell; level of the target; type of target (realm enemy or not); mastery of focus.

To illustrate, a level 50 player who casts a level 50 spell on a level 1 player has a lower chance of being resisted. It's sounds simple enough, right? It just boils down to taking into account the  level of the player as well as the level of spell. It does get confusing with different spell level/player combo, but you should be fine after hours of playing. Also, keep in mind that there are other factors that (e.g. Master Level Storms) affect Resists rate, but those listed above are the important ones.

Also, if you're one of the players who've been clamoring for a level 20 command for Catacombs classes, Gareth, etc., well, DAoC is not giving in to that request just yet. Though it had a positive impact on the game, it emptied out the newbie zones, which makes the game less inviting to first time players.

Lastly, if you're unable to attack some leprechauns in Cursed Forest, that's because the area is flagged as a no-kill zone, so don't waste your time trying to kill them, they're immortals.

It's a good thing that developers are constantly trying to make Dungeons and Dragons Online better via the numerous updates they make on the game. Even though players have encountered (many) downtime because of several updates, the game's all good.

Here now is a rundown of what changes to expect in the next scheduled update of DDO:

Performance

• Changes are being made to the Twilight Forge Module to improve performance.

General

• Filtering out loot messages from other players will now be possible by tagging them as loot messages.
• Players won't get stuck dismounting from ladders anymore.

Monsters

• The dragon's line of sight recognition and spellcasting AI have improved.
• NEW - Melee-oriented Troglodytes will not make attacks from out of range; they'll be moving closer to their targets.

Combat

• NEW - The critical threat range will not be doubled on the 4th swing combo anymore.
• NEW - Wildmen bestowed feeblemind now curable by restoration.

Items

• As per the Players Handbook, vorpal weapons will behead monsters; players must roll a natural 20 and confirm crit to vorpal targets.
• NEW - Niac's Cold Ray and Knock scrolls will be available at Lorna Wyrmtouched, Arcane Scroll Vendor
• NEW - Featherfall-casting items will get usability upgrade. These items will use a self-only version of Featherfall and will be fast-casting.
• NEW - The "of Destruction" weapon effect will now reduce the target's AC by 4 on the first hit. No saving throw for this effect now.
• NEW - The names for Seeker +1, Seeker+2, etc. items will be changed to be consistent with effect naming conventions (those renamed will match the bonus they give, Seeker+2, Seeker+4, etc.).
• NEW - Laina the Excoriated will close her shop window properly now.
• The Freedom of Movement effect on the Kundarak Delving Boots won't ward the Mummy's Despair ability or the Beholder's petrify eye beam. It will ward the movement effects of Storm Giant weather control.

Spells

• NEW - Developers are currently fixing the dispel effects that cause much harder dispels from the Dispel Magic.

Quests

• NEW - Gnarl's Tomb - Old Gnarl's ghost will open his door after a fight if he dispatches any would-be thieves. This will allow parties to attempt him again without resetting the dungeon.
• NEW - Restless Isles - The Runetust Commander won't speak to players anymore when he dies; developers are also fixing the repetitive DM text of several encounters.

We'll keep you posted on the latest Dungeons and Dragons Online news.