Thursday, February 26, 2009

New round of bans

Many accounts were yesterday banned, following a short server down-time.

Chromatic, Hot Springs and other busy places were empty this morning.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

NC profits down 40%

NCSoft has issued a report with interesting facts:
  • Profits down 40%, to $20 million. 
  • Number of concurrent players for their MMOs; LINEAGE, LINEAGE II, CITY OF HEROES/VILLAINS, AION, and GUILD WARS. That's the snippet for L2, but I am not sure what the numbers indicate.
  • GUILD WARS 2, widely-believed to be arriving this year, has been postponed in a very broad release window , with the explanation that release timing is still "to be announced." (does this mean 2010 or 2011?)

Sources:
also:

Monday, February 9, 2009

Should I use these cubic pieces today or not?

If you have a cubic (award from A Special Order quest), you daily get a cubic piece.

Each cubic piece (plus some adena) can be exchanged for an enchant scroll.

Scroll Exchange Prices:
  • EWD: 1 Fine Blue Cubic Piece + 150.000a
  • EAD: 1 Rough Blue Cubic Piece + 18.000a
  • EWC: 1 Fine Yellow Cubic Piece + 330.000a
  • EAC: 1 Rough Yellow Cubic Piece + 45.000a
  • EWB: 1 Fine Green Cubic Piece + 1.500.000a
  • EAB: 1 Rough Green Cubic Piece + 80.000a
  • EWA: 1 Fine Red Cubic Piece + 5.400.000a
  • EAA: 1 Rough Red Cubic Piece + 720.000a
  • EWS: 1 Fine White Cubic Piece + 15.000.000a
  • EAS: 1 Rough White Cubic Piece + 1.500.000a
I would assume that it's always worth getting your enchant scrolls like that, instead of buying them in player shops. However few weeks ago, there was a strange phenomenon and the scrolls were sold in very low prices, even less than the adena needed to exchange your cubic piece for a scroll. Rumors said that this was due to a bug exploit. In any case, it was not worth exchanging your cubic pieces any longer.

Recently I had a look at l2wh.com (Teon sellers) prices and here are the results, comparing the price:
  • if you directly buy the scroll from a player shop
  • if you already own the cubic piece, and exchange it for a scroll
  • if you buy the cubic piece from a player shop, and exchange it for a scroll

buy scroll exchange piece buy + exchange piece
EWD    270k 150k 120k + 150k
EAD    27k 18k 10k + 18k
EWC    600k 330k 300k + 330k
EAC    150k 45k 55k + 45k
EWB    3M 1.5M 1.3M + 1.5M
EAB    200k 80k 170k + 80k
EWA    5.8M 5.4M 2.5M + 5.4M
EAA    800k 720k 300k + 720k
EWS    79M 15M 60M + 15M
EAS    7M 1.5M 45M + 1.5M (?!)

So things are back to normal, keep exchanging your cubic pieces!

If you do not have enough of the pieces you need, check the table above to see if it is worth buying the scroll or the (respective) piece. 

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Misc News

1. Mr Playmobil died. Hans Beck, the creator of Playmobil toys, the tiny figures loved by children the world over, has died aged 79 on 30/1/2009 (newspaper article in greek). It's interesting to note that so many Playmobil figures have been produced that, if they were real people and had their own country, it would be the most populous nation on earth: 1.3 billion!
 2. We get a new ingame event on Tuesday. It's about valentine's day, but it doesn't include any bows! It *does* include chocolates - which is yet another proof that the story writers at NC Soft have increasingly better ideas.