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Cryptic announces that hackers stole account info in 2010

Cryptic, the dev studio behind Champions Online, Star Trek Online and the upcoming MMO Neverwinter, has just released a notice that some of their servers that contain users’ personal information were hacked in 2010 and that the encrypted data had been compromised. But the good news is that if you follow good internet practice and have changed your passwords sometime in the last two years, you probably don’t have to be worried by the bleak letter that just appeared on Cryptic’s website, or the cautionary email you may have just received.

DC Universe Online maps show you where to find everything

A while back, an OCD DCUO player put together a detailed map of the game’s main hub for heroes, The Watchtower. Today, another industrious fan took it three steps further by building detailed interactive maps for all of DCUO’s two major cities, Gotham and Metropolis, inside of Google Maps. And now he’s in the process of adding icons to help you locate everything you could possibly want to find in the urban sprawl.

5 underrated player-created missions in City of Heroes

I love games that let players create their own content, and City of Heroes is currently experiencing a renaissance of player-made mission arcs, thanks to the switch to free-to-play rejuvenating the playerbase. Paragon Studios does a great job of highlighting top-quality story arcs that it comes across, but there are a lot of awesome adventures falling through the cracks. Here are my five personal favorites currently slipping under the radar. You can find all of them by visiting any of the Mission Architect headquarters in-game.

From closed to open beta in Warhammer Online: Wrath of Heroes

In the sea of free-to-play games, you need fresh gameplay to stand out. Five-versus-five PvP? Been there, done that. With Warhammer Online: Wrath of Heroes, the latest venture under EA’s Play4Free banner, BioWare Mythic is taking a stab at an entirely new approach—6v6v6. Three teams, one map, and six heroes per side makes for a whole lot of chaos, and we’ve our hands dirty with blood and goblin guts inside it over the past several months. Read our impressions inside, and if WoH sounds like a raucous good time to you, joining the ongoing open beta is just a few clicks away.

What is League of Legends: Supremacy?

Riot Games’ primary domain manager, MarkMonitor, has just snatched up a ton of URLs all involving two key phrases: “League of Legends” and “Supremacy.” What do we know so far, what could this mystery announcement be, and how far off is it? We take a look at all the facts and speculation inside.

MMO update: Allods Online

Allods was one of the first free-to-play MMOs to offer comparable production values to boxed and subscription-based games. When it launched in Europe and North America, its steep leveling curve, strict death penalty and the availability of premium convenience items earned it a reputation as an MMO for the hardcore, and one where some investment of real money would ultimately be necessary.

Since 2010, the game has gradually adapted to be more accessible and less punishing to players who choose not to pay. It’s worth stating that microtransactions are still a major part of the game – equipment-enhancing runes are regarded as an essential factor in endgame success, and the easiest way to get them is through the in-game store. It’s now possible to trade in-game gold for boutique coins, which can be used to buy items from the micropayment store. The system is based on a dynamic enconomy where the exchange rate for gold and boutique coins is established by supply and demand, combating inflation. Each boutiqe coin is equal to one gPotato, meaning that it’s no longer necessary to spend real money to earn premium items.

City of Heroes issue 23 will bring the Praetorian War to an end

City of Heroes is preparing to launch their latest big content update. Issue 23, which will be called ‘Where Shadows Lie’ will bring an end to the dramatic Praetorian War storyline, which has already claimed the live of City of Heroes’ signature crime fighter Statesman, pictured above (centre). The war will be resolved in a new mission called the Magisterium Incarnate trial, which promises to give players the chance to end the threat of Emperor Cole, whose lieutenants they’ve spent the last few updates battling.

Cartography leads to victory with Aion’s new map features

Let that be our rallying cry, oh Wallys of Atreia: “Cartography will lead us to victory!” Or at least to disgruntled groupmates yelling at me as I meticulously redraw every line representing our plan of attack in Aion’s new battle map, which was introduced in yesterday’s big patch that took the game free to play.

Aion free-to-play launches in North America, brings huge updates

In last month’s issue of PC Gamer US, we revealed Aion’s plans to go free-to-play with our hands-on impressions of the massive update. NCsoft has quickly turned around the launch of Aion 3.0, which has just landed on live servers for everyone to experience today.

Among the big updates are giving every piece of content in the game away for free, new open-world player housing, and a whole expansion’s worth of new spells, zones and dungeons. Read our article that originally ran in the March issue of PC Gamer US, check the official features guide, and download the game client for free here to jump in.

PAX East: Dungeons & Dragons Online weaves a tale of expansion

With a huge, intricate spider web hanging down from the rafters of the Boston Convention Center, the Dungeons and Dragons Online booth is overshadowed by the evil presence of Lolth, the main villain for the upcoming Menace of the Underdark expansion, hanging overhead. The spider queen’s presence lends an air of, well, menace to my time with Executive Producer Fernando Paiz and Senior Producer Eric Boyer as we take an extensive look through what Menace of Underdark will offer players, as well as a quick look at the Druid class and some of its abilities.