Free Realms ~ Ref Ruby's Guide to Hoverboards

Oh, hey guys. I’m just chilling on my MOST AWESOME HOVERBOARD EVER!

Yeah, it’s pretty sweet. This is an ATH, or an All-Terrain Hoverboard. Land, water, air… no problem.

Sure, it hovers, and that’s awesome on its own…but guess what? It can also do tricks! Press the space bar while you’re cruising around and you’ll do some sweet moves.

So that right there is double awesome. But we aren’t done yet. Nope, we’re taking it up to TRIPLE AWESOME!!! Try it out on a launch pad to see what your hoverboard can really do.

Jealous yet? Ready to get your own? Just head over to the Rides section of the Station Cash Marketplace, or the Stables outside of Sanctuary to pick one up!
While you’re there, talk to my buddy Durn Cogspinner. He can tell you some pretty cool stuff about where hoverboards came from. Ooh, mysterious…

Yeah…I guess you could say I’m pretty much the master at hoverboards. Like I haven’t really met anyone who matches my skill or anything.





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Free Realms ~ Empty Lots For Your Construction Dreams

Empty Lots For Your Construction Dreams

What can you do with an empty lot? Lots! Without a house in the way you are free to build upways and sideways and slantways and longways and backways. Any ways you want! Fill it with blocks, pirate ships, potted plants...whatever you like!


We currently have a Briarwood lot and a Snowhill lot available. Each holds a whopping 1500 items! Think of the obstacle courses you can make with something like that!

You can use Station Cash in the Housing section of the Marketplace to find the lot that is best for you.

To make a purchase, click on the Marketplace, Claim and Membership icon on the game tool bar.









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Explore the Mother Lode Quarry

Deep inside Bristlewood is the Mother Lode Quarry. The mine is notoriously difficult to get to and only the best miners can dig here.

Located along the path northeast from the Vale of the Ancients, the area outside the quarry may be more dangerous than inside. The woods, which some claim to be haunted, keep all but the most dedicated miners from even trying to find their way to the mine.

What makes the mine a destination despite the dangers? Gold! There is more gold in the Mother Lode than anywhere else in Free Realms. With such riches just waiting to be dug up, many are willing to risk the trip.



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Meet the Mayor !!

Mayor Gilly is the elder statesman of Seaside. For as long as most citizens can remember, he’s been watching out for the town, fixing problems and working hard so everyone else can have fun.

The Mayor is older now and moving a bit slower. He uses a cane and is unsteady on his feet, but he is still hard at work. He can usually be found near the post office.

Of all the problems he’s seen, the latest has to do with the Crays on the beach. For some reason they have been attacking people and destroying things. He’s too old to see for himself and could use some help. If you speak to him, he will gladly ask you to explore the Cray Caves and help him find out why

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There's a new card duelist in town. His name's Dominic, and he's in Briarwood helping Sir Wellington keep an eye on his archeological dig site. There have been thefts and attacks at the site, and Wellington needs help protecting it.

Dominic is the first link in a new card duelist quest chain. (You can get the new quest from Poe Tatters in Sanctuary.) While playing through the new quest, you'll meet new card duelists – and see a number of cards you've never seen before. No, the duelists aren't cheating by making up their own cards. These cards are previews from the brand new second set!

That's right, there's a whole new set of cards on the way! There is a bunch of new game mechanics in the second set, some of which are previewed in the new duelist quests. You could wait patiently to see the cards when they're played against you – or you could read on for an overview some of the new hotness from the second set!

Crush
One of the major new mechanics of the second set is the concept of "crushing" your foe in a battle. In order to "crush," your creature must not only win the battle, but must win by 4 or more. If you do, you gain an extra bonus effect – scoring an extra card, for example, or readying your creatures. With crush effects in play, you might find yourself playing tricks even when you're already winning. Winning isn't everything – not if you can win and crush at the same time.

Trickster
The second set also introduces "Trickster" creatures, which changes the way you think about defense. While a creature with the Trickster keyword is attacking, its foe uses its attack instead of its defense. For example, if a Trickster attacks Changeling Rock Warrior (which has 1 attack and 4 defense), the Warrior uses its attack (just 1) in place of its defense (its now-unused 4).

By swapping its foe's defense for its attack, a Trickster turns your opponent's low attack/high defense "wall" creatures into easy targets. But watch out for those high attack creatures for which Chaos is so famous. Attacking Shadow Talon Archer with a Trickster would be a mistake; not only does it have 3 attack, but its power-up gives an additional 3 attack for one blue gem. You'd be much better off attacking the archer's 1 defense with a non-Trickster creature.

Artifact Shards
There are four artifact shards in the second set – one for each sphere – and they feature prominently in the new quest line! What do these powerful artifacts have to do with Dominic and Sir Wellington? You'll have to play through the quest and find out for yourself.

What we can tell you is that the artifact shards are represented in the trading card game by new resource cards. These resources actually come into play zapped, and only take effect when you ready them. We'll be talking more about these ticking time bombs of arcane fury in the future, so watch this space for updates.

And Much More!
Like the new card duelist challenges themselves, this has been just a small preview of the cool new cards coming in the second set. There will be plenty more information on the new set in time, but for now, track down Poe Tatters and see if he has a new quest for you!


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Free Realms ~ Explore the Rob Goblin Camp !

North of Sanctuary, on the road between Highroad Junction and Shrouded Glade, you will come across a makeshift Robgoblin campsite. You will be greeted by vendors selling food and potions as well as a traveling show stage where you can laugh at the antics of the juggler. It looks like a place to spend some time and have fun, but don’t be fooled!

The ragtag group of Robgoblins that occupy the camp pretend to be entertainers, but their true purpose is to rob travelers of anything they can get their grubby, little hands on.

Boss Bigguns runs the camp. He is constantly yelling and is usually in a foul mood. He’s probably the shortest Robgoblin in the Realms, but he makes up for it by being the biggest pain. Something has happened recently to make his mood even worse, but he isn’t talking to just anyone about what has him so upset.

Members with at least one combat skill can talk to Fizzlesticks. He’s been with the traveling camp a lot longer than Boss Bigguns, but he’s getting forgetful in his old age. If you can help him get back his spellbook, he will teach you the secrets of being a wizard!

In a cave to the south of the camp is the Robgoblin Trove. This is where the Robgoblins store all of their stolen loot. The Trove is watched over by the wizard Hildegarde and her guards. You’ll have to defeat them all to get any of their loot!

If you want to be a wizard or if you’re looking for some fun, potions, food or chef supplies...or to have your wallet stolen...the Robgoblin camp is a great place to go.





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Wildwood Demolition Derby Day !!

Pex has announced today Aug 7th from 2pm - 4pm PST (5pm - 7pm EST) that in Wildwood Speedway they will be holding a community Demo Derby on All Servers. This seems fun and maybe players can even demolish some members of the Free Realms Dev/Community Team. Sounds fun !! See you there...Look for Larrz Fackler :)



Today is a great day to crash some karts! Head to the Wildwood Speedway and get ready to do some damage.
Today, August 7th, 2009, from 2pm to 4pm Pacific time, the Community Team challenges everyone to some crazy demolition derby action. It’s a great time to crash into friends and damage the karts of competitors. If you’re lucky, you might even get to topple a member of the Free Realms team!

To get into the fun, head to the Wildwood Speedway. It’s just south of Crossroads.



If you haven’t learned how to drive (or crash) a kart, just speak to Mad Jack. He’ll get you set up with the equipment and training you need to be a demolition derby driver. Once you’re ready to go click on the demo derby icon at the turnstiles and choose the “Demo Derby Lobby”. You can start your own race or join someone else’s. Look for races hosted by Ambassador Pex!



Where: Wildwood Speedway - Demolition Derby Track
Date: Friday August 7 th, 2009
Time: 2pm – 4pm Pacific time
Servers: All

The plan is destruction. The goal is to have fun!

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Free Realms Item Code !!

With the release this week of the Thunder Speedway update, a new code has been found for another Race Car Helmet. This one looks like a strawberry !!

STRAWBERRIES - Strawberry Surge Helmet



Thanks to FreeRealmsInsider for the code.


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Free Realms Pixie History

Free Realms posted some really interesting history about the playable race The Pixies. Are you curious where they came from and learning about the history of the race?

If you want to learn more about the history behind the world of Free Realms -- and in particular the history of the Pixies -- you should visit the Memorial Caverns in Sanctuary...

The Memorial Caverns are located directly north of the World Tree. Inside you will find a museum detailing the long and troubled history of Sanctuary and the Pixies. Tour the murals to learn more about the Age of Harmony, the Gloam Council, the Gleam Council, Ayani the Druidess Queen, World Tree and the Heartseed. Members can talk to Tori to find out about becoming a volunteer guide. In addition to the museum, there are some battles to be fought underground. Darvon’s Descent and Forgotten Caves are two exciting combat quests you can explore in addition to other quests. You can also get some collection updates inside Memorial Caverns, and if you look closely as you explore, you might even find some Sanctuary Rare Exploration coins!

I'll know where I'll be going tonight. I want to check this place out and I'll bring back some more picts and a reports on the caves...

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The Economy of Coin from Pex.

In response to all the recent outrage about the 6/22 coin nerf, Pex found it necessary to make a post about the reasoning behind the nerf to fan down the flames a little bit.
So with out further ado, here is the post over at the Free Realms message boards...


Hey there, everyone.
My apologies for the delay in getting back to you on this topic. We know that the sell-back prices and coin drop rates in battles is on a lot of people's minds.
The very basic answer to 'why' we made these changes is that the coin drops coupled with high sell-back prices were generating far more coin in the game than ever anticipated. On our side of the spreadsheet there was just a huge amount of coin in the world. A lot of it wasn't getting spent, just piling up and reducing the value. Free Realms doesn't have a lot of coin 'sinks' to remove this cash from the game. Pet upkeep and health potions are probably the most popular, but in the long run, those are fairly minor compared to the amount of in-game cash that can be earned.
The cuts made recently were drastic, but something we felt was needed to stem the flow of coin into the game and reduce the effect it would have on the economy. Changes are often needed when it comes to in-game economies and we will increase or reduce sell and drop rates as needed.
Someone (I think it was Stefferweffer) asked about how new players will be able to afford post-20 armor and weapons for each character. Excellent question. We will keep an eye on the numbers and see if we need to correct them in the opposite direction. We will also keep going through items and upkeep costs and tweak those as needed. Reducing the flow of coin into the game was just one step. We will take everything into account and find a good balance.
The biggest issue with these changes was lack of communication. We didn't accurately (or at all) detail out the changes that were being added to the game. We won't always explain why we do things, but something like this should at least be announced either in the update notes or on the forums. For those of you coming from some of our other titles, you're used to very, very long update notes. We don't intend to list every change (positive or negative) in our update notes, but big-ticket items like this should definately be included and that was our mistake for not doing so.

As always, we welcome your feedback, but remember to keep it constructive, polite and on-topic.


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Free Realms Hits 4 Million !!

Sony has announced that its smash hit family MMORPG has reached the mile stone of 4 million registered players.

To celebrate this milestone Sony has announced that it will be giving out double Treasure Tickets in game starting today July 2nd until July 8th. So, thats 6 days of getting double tickets to go purchase items from the Vaults located under the bridge over the water in Sanctuary. In the Vaults you can get Stun Orbs and Replenishing vials among other things.

Here is the official announcement from Pex the community manager...

To celebrate the 4 million registered players in Free Realms, we’re hosting an in-game bonus reward event for all our players.
From July 2nd to July 8th 2009, receive double the Treasure Tickets! You can use these Treasure Tickets at the Royal Vault in Sanctuary to get cool rewards.
Don't wait or you will miss the chance to experience this limited time event and don’t forget there are sweet Members Only rewards as well. Log in now to play!
See you in Sanctuary! You Rule!

How can you get tickets you ask?
Doing the various ticket quests in game. A good one is Robgoblin Trove which nets 15 tickets and takes 1.5 - 2 min. to run. He is located Northwest of Lakeshore which is Northeast of Sanctuary.

Over at the Robgoblin camp by Lakeshore talk to Boss Biggins, in camp and accept the quest Cruisin' for a bruisin'. Has a pay out of 15 Tickets.

UPDATE: So I am running the Wizard Hildegard 2 dot Dungeon and it is taking me about 4 to 5 min per run for the double bonus of 30 tickets. The exp is nice as I gained a few levels from 9 to 12 and the loots are nice as I upgraded a few peices grinding here. Also, the stars and coins are very nice. here is the break down of what to expect...

Room 1: 5 Brawlers. Each can drop 3 coins. I usually get 9 coins in this room.
Room 2: 8 Wizards. Each can drop 3 coins. I usually get 15 coins here.
Room 3: Boss Mob Wizard Hildegrade and 3 healers. Each healer can drop 2 coins and the Boss drops 23 coins.
Completing the Bonus of finding the spell book will give you 13 stars and 65 coins.
Completing the Dungeon gives you 22 stars and 65 coins.
Speaking to Boss Biggins gives you 30 tickets and 28 coins.

So, my last run I got 30 tickets, 35 stars, and 209 coins.
On top of that I also picked up a Twisting Cobra GI, Rowdy Rumbler Pants, and a Street Scapper Shirt.

Review: This is a great quick 2 dot dungeon to grind during this double ticket weekend. You will gain lots of coinage and items to sell plus 30 tix per run is nice.

And out of 104 pulls from treasure chests 1-4 in the Royal Vault, these are the percentages of different items you can expect to receive...

104 pulls from 1-4 Chest
8.65% Freestyle Clothing
13.46% Restoration Vials
11.54% Matching Shards and Rings (Postman, Blacksmith, Miner)
10.58% Crafting Shards and Rings (Chef)
7.69% Combat Shards and Rings
14.42% Combat Armor and Weapons
6.73% Other Jobs, (2 Miner, 1 Kart Racer, 2 Chef, 2 Demo Derby Driver)
25.96% Orbs

Thanks to Kerian for the percentages.

Good Luck in all of your ticket gathering !!
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Free Realms Gold Nerf !!

Free Realms is now starting to follow EverQuest in that they are stealth nerfing things for no reason and not telling the players about it.
The patch update on 6/22 ushered in guilds to the game, much to the cheers of the palyers. But, updated unannounced, was some very sneaky and game changing nerfs that lowered the price of everything the players sold to merchants and lowered the coinage drop rate from mobs. However, the price to buy stuff from the merchants remained the same.

This is not a small change. It is a HUGE nerf. Prices were reduced up to 75% on items sold back to merchants. Any new players are starting with a hinderance in Gold which is required to buy healing and energy potions, trade-skill items, and weapons and armor. So, the gap between newer and older players are going to increase dramatically.

This nerf basically puts the game in an unenjoyable fasion. To go through fights we need to buy heal potions. The price for these before the nerf was fine with the amount of gold the player received. After the nerf, one cannot even afford these to go fight anymore.

And to add insult to injury, tickets received were also nerfed. They made tickets almost non existant. The vault rewards were an added bonus for completing different mini games, thus making playing them at least somewhat rewardable for your time. Now, with tickets rewarded nerfed, why would I waste my time doing these things?

Why would I go do an instance when the potions costs me more then I receive in rewards?
Why would I be a smithy when the item I make sells for LESS then the items I have to buy to make them??

Honestly, this breaks a game that was once fun and rewarding for the time invested into it. Sony wanted to make a game that was fun to log in for a few hours and still feel like you advanced your character without having to GRIND. They had this game before the 6/22 patch. Now they have steaming pile. Sony. Do you know people who play this game do not want to Grind...Do you know what that word means? Do you understand Risk vs. Reward?!?

Devs. WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO?? Was this nerf intentional? Many on the boards think it is a mistake. It is that huge of a nerf, that players are thinking it is a joke or a mistake. If it is not, then you really do not know your game and what it is that makes a game enjoyable as a casual experience.
I suggest you take a hard look at these nerfs and change them back. Or, that 3 million registered record, will be 3 million customers LOST. Another new record for Free Realms !!

Sony, listen to your players who are in an uproar over this...If you have trouble finding the thread, I'll point it out for you here...UPROAR THREAD!!

The Sony Fanfaire is this weekend. I encourage anyone going to ask the Devs about this nerf and illicit their views on this and the reasoning for it.




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Free Realms Guilds Update !!

Posted by Pex over at the Free Realms Message Board is the Patch Notes for the latest update...

We've got a lot of great stuff today! In addition to the normal bug fixes and behind the scenes updates we have Guilds and more. Here are the update notes for today:



Mysterious incidents are happening across the land. Help out any of these people, and jump in the middle of the adventure:

*A Royal Courier is in trouble in Greenwood Forest.
*Impress Sal Monella at Blackspore, and see where the next adventure takes you.
*Henry Farnum has trouble with the local hooligans
*If you rescue Starshine's child, she will have another task for a hero like you.
*Help Sorin out near the Bat Caves, and see where he'll send you to, or
*Complete Ceard Bauchlog's task for further instructions.
(If you have already helped them out, return to them for another task!)

Quests & Collections & New Content
Guilds! Gather your friends and be one of the first to start a guild! Talk to players in your guild using /gu

Pets
Watch how your Pets react to wandering encounters differently based on their disposition

Marketplace
When viewing Pets in the Marketplace you'll be able to read about their personality before you purchase them

Check out the new tool tips in the Claim Window of the Marketplace.


Also, Pex was kind enough to post a help page FAQ about how to set up a guild and various other guild commands and funtions complete with screenshots.

To set up a guild, you need to be at least 15 in 1 of your jobs, guild names will need approval, you need only yourself to set up a guild (most games require 10+ people to sign a petition to create a guild), and guilds are free to create. So, I can guarantee we are going to see TONS of guild created. Hopefully the guild creation server will not blow up int he first 24-48 hours :)

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Free Realms News

Well it is a slow day for Free Realms News. So, instead I'll post some pictures I have taken in-game of the Community Manager Pex, and also a really cool pict of an Battle Axe on fire and cool Battle Armor.







Here is a cool picture of Pex dancing to the Dares when they had their E3 concert in Snow Hill.





Here is a really cool particle effect on a Battle Axe and Ninja Battle Armor.


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Free Realms Guilds !!

From the Free Realms Twitter we got a glimpse of what the guild names will look like for a character. Basically it's the same as it is in Everquest. Also, this confirms that the guild function will be coming very soon to our favorite game. Good news indeed !!

So, from the looks of this to be the first 'guild' in Free Realms, we can deduce they are testing out the guild functions for a very near future update. YAY !!

Also, Sony Everquest has registered 2 new IP's. This is something that they usually do before they release new expansions and is a 'hint' as to the annoucement and theme of the new expacs.

One is for the original game, Everquest, and the other for Everquest 2.

Everquest: Underfoot and Everquest 2: Sentinels Fate will be the names of the titles, though no other details were given. It is possible that the expansions will be revealed at the SOE Fan Faire next week.

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Free Realms Dungeon Maps !!

Free Realms is huge vast world in which one can get lost of they do not know where everything is. I came across a few maps that were posted online by Tara aka. Lady P. They are maps of where dungeons and trainers are located. Click the maps below to see the larger version.
The top on is of all the trainers in the world, and the bottom map is of all the dungeons.

Enjoy...

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