RaiderZ

There's some bad news for RaiderZ players: Perfect World announced on Wednesday that they will be permanently shutting down the game on August 7, 2015. Now that developer MAIET has stopped operating and can no longer maintain the game, too many issues have cropped up and the publisher has come to the conclusion that closure would be best for the title.

Look at this guy. He's adorable, isn't he? I'm sure he has a wife, kids, and a picket fence. Hahaha, yeah right, no, you get to knock this guy around. But RaiderZ really wants you to feel bad for him, with all the adventurers lining up to thump him on the head. And it's a pretty charming video. So please, once in a while - think of the bosses. 

Julian "Mirai" Williams

Fall in the northern hemisphere truly seems to be MMO season. 

Let's see… Guild Wars 2 launched just before September. World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria released less than a month later. RIFT: Storm Legion just hit last week, along with free-to-play Star Wars: The Old Republic. Today, we have not one but two brand new MMOs going live - Planetside 2 and RaiderZ. In case you've lost track, and who could blame you, this post is about RaiderZ. And if you're wondering, no - this isn't yet another zombie survival game!

What do you do when your closed beta results in eager players slaughtering over 500,000 deadly monsters? If you are Gameforge, then you make an infographic to commemorate the carnage, and then follow it up by subjecting your monstrous creations to the onslaught of thousands more blood-thirsty players. RaiderZ, the monster-hunting MMO developed by Maiet, has finally entered open beta. If taking down a range of truly epic foes sounds like your foaming mug of Mountain Dew, then head on over to the official RaiderZ US website, or the european site, to register your account and start downloading the client.

The level cap in RaiderZ has been raised to 35, and players can now explore new areas of Rendel; Rits, Riode and the Grand Wall of Silence. That last one sounds particularly ominous to me. If HunterZ need a break from the fiendish creature encounters, they can now relax with a little retail therapy. Vanity and convenience items have been added to the time shop, in the form of costumes, resurrection stones, and skill resets. Gareth Harmer spoke to Rüdiger Moersch from Gameforge during the summer, and you might remember that the Producer was adamant that no 'pay-to-win' items would be introduced to the cash store, and the developers certainly seem to be sticking to that motto. 

As for those that made it into the closed beta, the Infographic from Gameforge indicates that quite a few 'HunterZ' were very keen on a certain feathered mount. Now, I don't know about you, but I'd certainly want a nice, comfortable mount like that after a hard day of killing leviathans out in the wilds of Rendel.

Sarah "Pewter" Nichol

RaiderZ's open beta is inching ever closer, October 24th in fact, and just to make sure nobody forgot, Perfect World Entertainment has unveiled this new trailer, showing off all the sights and sounds of the city of Reitz, including merchants, city squares, and capital building. But don't be fooled by the serenity - Reitz has a darker side too, particularly under the sewer system. 

Julian "Mirai" Williams