Atlantica Online: There's A New Sheriff In Town

Good news for players of the popular free-to-play massively multiplayer online role-playing game Atlantica Online. Now, whenever you activate the title buff Legendary Sheriff, you can play the part as well—you and a hundred other players who have had the luck of getting a Sheriff's Outfit from a random box off of the item mall.

The introduction of the Sheriff Outfit comes at an opportune time as bandits run rampant in North America—at least, that's the scenario that NDOORS Interactive, publisher of Atlantica Online, will have us believe.



At least this new costume, the Sheriff Outfit, is way better than the previous costume NDOORS put out—the nefarious zombie costume—which hasn't really taken off. If only NDOORS had the good sense to release it in Atlantica Online on a holiday that's ripe for zombies and other undead. Halloween perhaps?

Going back to the topic ... as usual, you can only get this costume if you're lucky enough to squeeze it out of the random item mall box known as the Sheriff's Bounty. Here's a list of the other goodies you can get from the box (that is, in case it fails to produce a Sheriff's Luggage that gives you a choice of either a Sheriff's Hat or Sheriff's Outfit):

• 100 Freezing Scroll [V]


• 1 Mount Box


• 1 Ancient Skill Book (Merc. Only)


• 10 Skill Decrease Book


• 8 Scroll of Bewitching[V]


• 12 Scroll of Life's Blessing[V]


• 12 Scroll of Resurrection[V]


• 12 Scroll of Judgement[V]


• 12 Freezing Scroll [V]


• 50 Dragon Crystal


• 50 Giant Crystal


• 50 Redemption Crystal


• 50 Phoenix Crystal


• 30 Water of Life


• 1 Sheriff's Bounty


• 2 Sheriff's Bounty


• 3 Sheriff's Bounty

For more information about the new Sheriff's Outfit and the game you can find it in, head on over to the official Atlantica Online website.

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Atlantica Online Empress: Pincushions Beware!

I'm sure by now you've heard about the upcoming introduction of a new B-class mercenary to the virtual world of Atlantica Online. This new mercenary is called the Empress, and she packs quite a punch, thanks to her weapon of choice, the bow. Oh, did I forget to mention that she's a B-class mercenary?

The Empress is already out in the South Korean servers of Atlantica Online, but I have yet to see her being used to full potential. Oh, sure she makes pincushions out of soft-skinned mercenaries, but skills seem to be a rarity. It's either Empress skill books are expensive or very hard to come by.



Atlantica Online's Empress has two skills, both upgrades of existing mercenary skills:

Empress' Blessing. According to the Atlantica Database, this skill is a clone of Holy Guard in the sense that it blocks the casting of spells on specific mercenaries as long as it is in effect. There are differences, of course, the first—and most important—of which is the fact that Empress' Blessing does not block the effects of scrolls. This is great news for those who depend heavily on scrolls to decrease or remove stun counters.

Empress' Curse. If there's a blessing, there's also a curse. The curse is apparently an enhanced version of Silence, the archer's basic skill. Damage is, for obvious reasons, better than the lowly archer skill, and so is the defense debuff. Empress' Curse doesn't give the targets an attack modifier, though. It is also unclear whether this skill, being a skill of a B-class mercenary, can affect characters, non-player characters and monsters that have immunity to silence.

What makes the Empress more interesting is her damage potential, especially when inserted into a sniping formation. Players of Atlantica Online who frequent Free League and Competition League, and their big brothers, the Weekly Championship and the Titan League, will do well to respect the damage that the new mercenary deals.

To give you a better idea of the damage output of this new Atlantica Online bow mercenary, take a look at how it performs in this video of the Korean Atlantica Online Titan League:

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MMORPGs Remind Me Of Food

Playing my favorite massively multiplayer online role-playing games always makes me hungry, even when I'm not at home and spending countless hours—not to mention money—in some Internet gaming cafe. This is because MMORPGs remind me of food. Of course, food also reminds me of some MMORPGs. Well, you get the picture.

Here's a list of well-known free-to-play MMOs, the food they remind me of, and why I think of having a meal while playing them:



Allods Online - Filet Mignon. Mouthwatering, to say the least. Allods Online is definitely a force to be reckoned with as the food it reminds me of is a powerhouse of culinary delight. The problem is Filet Mignon is expensive, and the thought of a bill the size of Rhode Island often disuades your tummy from its flights of fancy. Yes, playing Allods Online can be expensive, but that shouldn't stop you from enjoying a hearty meal.

Atlantica Online - Clubhouse Sandwich. Altantica Online is like a whopping clubhouse sandwich that's oozing with meat and vegetables and literally bursting at the seams. The game is chock-full of content, but some players either get overwhelmed or turned off by the amount of information they need to digest. There's also some sort of parallelism between the number of portions of a clubhouse sandwich and the number of mercenaries you can have in an Atlantica Online formation. But then again, that's just me.

Cabal Online - Ginisang Ampalaya (Sauteed Bitter Gourd). Some like it, some don't. This is the essence of my comparison of Cabal Online to a plate full of sauteed bitter gourd. And when you're young and don't know any better, you are usually forced to eat the stuff. Like Cabal, eating ginisang ampalaya is an acquired taste.

Casvian - Chop Suey (Stir-Fried Vegetables). This uniquely Asian dish turns off most kids as its main ingredients are, well, vegetables, and you know how children react to seeing—and thinking about eating—veggies. Most children avoid it like the plague, but adults sure like it. Casvian is a healthy distraction, with hundreds of elements that remind you of the variety of vegetables in a dish of chop suey.

Granado Espada (Sword of the New World) - Paksiw na Lechon (Roasted Pork Stewed in Vinegar). Paksiw na lechon is a recurring dish in the culinary culture of my homeland, and Granado Espada is much like it in the sense that the thought of playing the game haunts one's mind. I'm an on-again-off-again Granado Espada pioneer and I find the game, like a heaping bowl of roasted pork stewed in vinegar, as rarely stale but too much for a single person to finish.

That's all I have for now. I might continue my list later in the week. For now, let me go grab something to munch on while playing one of my favorite massively multiplayer online games.

How about you? What's your favorite MMO and what food does it remind you of?

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Atlantica Online: Mephisto's Cross

NDOORS Interactive has finally unleashed the decoration item known as Mephisto's Cross in the hit massively multiplayer online role-playing game Atlantica Online, and I can't say that I'm ecstatic about it.

I first saw the damned thing called Mephisto's Cross on one of the main characters in a video of the Korean Atlantica Online and have since vowed never to don it—that is, if my semi-active character on the North American servers of Atlantica Online can afford it.



Those who wish to condemn their Atlantica Online main characters to eternal damnation are advised to purchase Faust's Soul Shard from the item mall and take a chance that the random box will give them a Mephisto's Cross.

Take a gander at the stat bonuses that Atlantica Online's Mephisto's Cross gives:

Mephisto's Cross - Min. Level: 70, Attack Power: 650-750, Vitality: +120, Defense: 500

As is the case with most random boxes from the Atlantica Online item mall, Faust's Soul Shard may also yield different items if Mephisto's Cross doesn't "drop," including an Armed Mount Box, which in turn can give players an Armed Byzantine Elephant, an Armed Volcanic Raptor or an Armed Snow Tiger, or an Extra Inventory License (Perm.).

If that's not to your liking, maybe the fact that Faust's Soul Shard also drops Druid Recruitment items—Shining Gold Sickle or Giant Bull's Horn—is more appealing.

For a full listing on what you can get from Faust's Soul Shard, visit the official Atlantica Online website.

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Altantica Online: Mercenary Madness!

NDOORS Interactive, publisher of hit massively multiplayer online games such as WonderKing and Luminary, has finally come up with another great event for its best title Atlantica Online. In fact, the event is so good (at least in my mind) that it's probably the best one the company has come up with since the launch of the game.

I'm talking about the Mercenary Madness promo that gives players, ordinary folk like you and me, the opportunity to develop a new mercenary for Atlantica Online. Sounds cool, eh? Well it is!



"Have you ever wished to develop your very own mercenary in Atlantica Online? Well, guess what—here's your chance! That's right: the mercenary that you have had in your head, that you've always thought would make a great addition to Atlantica, can finally become a reality," NDOORS says in its official announcement for Atlantica Online event.

If you have the creative juices to come up with a unique mercenary for Atlantica Online, here are a few things you need to do:

The new mercenary idea must include ...

Type of Mercenary (Existing Classes Only). What this means is that your mercenary must belong to the one of the mercenary types, which include sword (Swordsman, Sailor, Exorcist, Lady Knight), spear (Spearman, Spartan), bow (Archer, Prophet, Hwarang), gun (Gunner, Inventor, Janissary) ... well, you get the picture.

Name of Each Mercenary Upgrade. You must provide your mercenary with an Initial Name, a Level 20 Upgrade Name, a Level 50 Upgrade Name, a Level 80 Upgrade Name, and a Hero Name. Example: Artilleryman, Artillery Officer, Artillery Captain, Napoleon, and Hero Napoleon.

Backstory of the Mercenary. Here's where a bulk of your creative juices are needed. You need to conceptualize and write a background story for your new mercenary. This will help establish a time and quest line for your mercenary in case NDOORS decides it is good enough to be included in Atlantica Online.

Description of Mercenary's Appearance. If you can't draw, you might as well provide sample images by scouring the web and doing a good job at describing how your mercenary looks with words.

Mercenary Skill Names and Descriptions. This is where the remainder of creative juices must be spent. I'm sure most players already have an idea of which skills are needed in Atlantica Online. It's all a matter of matching them to new mercenaries that they have in mind.

So there you have it. The five rules you need to keep in mind to join Atlantica Online's Mercenary Madness promo. Once you have everything in the list in place, fire off an email to event@ndoorsinc.com any time between March 5th and March 22nd, 2010.

Are you limited to just one mercenary idea for Atlantica Online? No, says NDOORS. Each participant can submit up to three separate mercenary ideas, provided each has the five requirements. Oh, and there's a Merc. Submission Template. Simply download it and use it to enter the contest.

The reward: Aside from getting their mercenary into Atlantica Online, the winner will receive the mercenary itself to be used in their formation, an artwork of the mercenary with signatures of all the developers involved in bringing the mercenary to life, and a year's worth of Atlantica Online merchandise.

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MMORPG: Get Rid Of Spam Bots, Please!

This is a shoutout to developers and publishers of massively multiplayer online games: "Get rid of spam bots!" For those who remain unaware, spam bots are not exclusive to email and social networking sites like Friendster and Facebook where spam goes into the inboxes of unsuspecting users on a daily basis.

The only difference between receiving spam in email and getting spam in an online game is, in the latter, spam comes in a wide array of forms, from chat, a common function of MMOs (for obvious reasons, as it is the only way to communicate in a virtual world ... at least at the moment), to whispers and in-game mail.



What are they spamming? Well, mostly advertisements for websites that sell in-game currency in exchange for real money, or some sort of service that almost always include power leveling. Yes, some people actually pay other people to level characters in online games.

The sad part is some MMO developers and publishers take pains to either block these spammers from setting up shop in their virtual worlds while some don't—at least nothing that is transparent to the inquisitive minds of some players.

Take, for instance, two of the MMORPGs that I currently play: Allods Online and Atlantica Online. These two are great games. For me (read: in my opinion), these two titles are at the cutting edge of today's generation of free-to-play online games. They do suffer, however, from minor flaws, and foremost among these is the existence of spam bots in the game.

In Allods Online, owners of these spam bots take advantage of the game's multichat functions, particularly the one that lets players broadcast messages to all players in a given map or area (for reference, check out the screenshot). Thank the gaming gods that they haven't exploited the in-game mail yet!

In Atlantica Online, spam bots have been plaguing all servers since the commercial launch. What's happening in Atlantica is actually worse than the situation in Allods Online. In NDOORS Interactive's gem of a game, spammers not only utilize the chat system, they also send spam mail to players via the mail system.

The question now is: Whose responsibility is it to get rid of these spammers?

My take on the matter is the responsibility falls on MMO developers and publishers. Hey, players may be inconvenienced by the daily barrage of advertisements in their chat windows, but they're not the ones losing money—that is, unless they patronize these so-called gold sellers whose reputation is always suspect.

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