| The Road to Mordor: Ranking LotRO's expansions Posted: 19 Oct 2013 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Expansions, Free-to-Play, The Road to Mordor I'll admit that Helm's Deep has really started to grow on me as of late. Perhaps it's the dev tours, the increase of official posts on the expansion, or the fact that my Captain is finally done with Wildermore and ready to go, but I'm excited about the next chapter of the game. More than anything else, I'm dying to see how the class changes and trait trees are received. But any time that we're anticipating a new expansion, there's a natural desire to want to look back and see where we've been in Lord of the Rings Online. It amazes me just how big this game's gotten since 2007, and now that we're on the cusp of seeing a full Rohan, I feel like I'm almost at the summit of an important mountain in the game. So for fun and debate, I'm going to rank LotRO's four expansions to date, from best to worst, and share what I liked and disliked about them. This list comes with a caveat that I've never been much of a dungeon runner, so instances and raids do not factor into this ranking. Continue reading The Road to Mordor: Ranking LotRO's expansions  The Road to Mordor: Ranking LotRO's expansions originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 19 Oct 2013 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Shroud of the Avatar shows off crafting sigil and more Posted: 19 Oct 2013 09:00 AM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Previews, Crafting, Housing, Shroud of the Avatar A plus-sized project update for Shroud of the Avatar kicks off with a look at the crafting sigil, the diagram that shows how the game's crafting disciplines are interconnected. The crafting sigil is made of three rings (inner, middle, and outer) that hold five skills apiece. The inner ring is devoted to crafting, the middle to refining, and the outer to production. This setup is not just for eye candy, but provides a visual representation of the crafting process as items are made by going from the inner ring to the outer. The update goes on to tease male avatar armor, a story sneak peek, Shroud of the Avatar swag, and several screenshots of housing exteriors, interiors, and basements. Yes, basements: truly the most requested MMO preview aspect ever. Please try not to wet your pants. Actually, they are kind of cool, so disregard that sarcasm. Shroud of the Avatar shows off crafting sigil and more originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 19 Oct 2013 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| WRUP: Five seven five edition Posted: 19 Oct 2013 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: Massively Meta, Miscellaneous Haiku as a form of poetry is taught to students as five syllables, followed by seven syllables, followed by another five syllables. The problem is that this isn't quite accurate. The Japanese poem does use a five-seven-five structure, but what we count as syllables are not analogous to the Japanese context. Despite this, the five-seven-five structure remains widely accepted, partly due to custom and partly because it's a reasonable approximation of the overall cadence. Why do I bring this up? Because I told the entire Massively team to write their WRUP entries in Haiku this week, and for some reason the majority of the team actually complied with that request. Despite this oddity, the article past the break still contains a good shot of what the team will be up to this weekend. Let us know what you're going to be doing down in the comments, and if you can do so in haiku, so much the better. Continue reading WRUP: Five seven five edition WRUP: Five seven five edition originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 19 Oct 2013 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| The Daily Grind: What else do you do while you play MMOs? Posted: 19 Oct 2013 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Culture, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous I like gathering in Final Fantasy XIV, but I have plenty of time to do other things while slowly accumulating piles of ore, lumber, and future cloth. One of those things is play Pokémon Y. There's nothing like readying the axe and then slowly wandering around with cute critters whilst I harvest in the background. You might argue that if I'm playing a second game during part of the first game, I'm not really enjoying myself, but it's something I like to do. I made my way through many books playing Final Fantasy XI, I've watched movies while farming in World of Warcraft, and playing City of Heroes gave me plenty of reason to read through old comics. There's nothing wrong with splitting your attention a little. I suspect most of us do it to some degree. Do you listen to Pandora while the game is on? Chat with people on Steam? Browse the web? What else do you do while you play?  Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!The Daily Grind: What else do you do while you play MMOs? originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 19 Oct 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Storyboard: What are you scared of? Posted: 18 Oct 2013 07:00 PM PDT Filed under: Culture, Opinion, Roleplaying, Storyboard, Miscellaneous I've made it pretty far into October without a single article that could be seen as remotely Halloween-themed, so I think I'm doing pretty well right here. But that's changing right now because it's time to talk about another topic that I thought I'd covered long before: fear. Unfortunately, fear is also difficult to address in a logical fashion. Fear itself isn't logical. From a logical standpoint, there is nothing serious that a spider can do to me. I'm thousands of times larger (no fat jokes please) and have access to a variety of tools; it just has eight legs and poison that's generally harmless to me. That doesn't mean I'm not scared of them, despite the fact that logic dictates that I should be more scared of seeing a bear in the woods. So I'm not going to talk about that. What I will talk about is giving your characters fears that feel real, making sure that you're afraid of things that work, and portraying those fears in a consistent way. After all, even if fear isn't logical, it certainly is understandable with a bit of effort. Continue reading Storyboard: What are you scared of? Storyboard: What are you scared of? originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 18 Oct 2013 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Betawatch: October 12 - 18, 2013 Posted: 18 Oct 2013 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, MMO Industry, News Items, Betawatch, Miscellaneous Black Gold is not in testing in the west yet, alas, but there is hope over the horizon, as the game is probably going to enter testing in the start of 2014. That might seem like quite a wait, but we don't have all that much of 2013 left at the moment. Other games have been a bit more active. Excalibur has finished porting its sidescrolling mobile take on the MMORPG genre to the iOS platforms, while Blood & Jade kicked off its first testing phase on the 14th. Heva Clonia Online kicked off its first open test event and second overall beta, and with no more wipes before launch it's one cash shop away from "launch." We don't cotton to soft launches in these parts. There are other games still in testing, and you can find the full list of them just past the break. As always, if a game has a cash shop or has opened testing without our noticing, please, let us know in the comments so we can investigate. Continue reading Betawatch: October 12 - 18, 2013 Betawatch: October 12 - 18, 2013 originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 18 Oct 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| EverQuest Mac shutting down (again) Posted: 18 Oct 2013 05:30 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, EverQuest, Free-to-Play, Sunsets After a stay of execution last year, EverQuest Mac will be shut down on November 18th. SOE cited the need to devote its resources to upcoming games as a reason for the sunset. "After much review and consideration, we have made the decision to sunset EverQuest Mac," the studio posted. " EQMac was originally scheduled to sunset in early 2012, but we kept the game up and running following the passionate feedback received from the community. As we align development resources towards our upcoming slate of games, we cannot justify the resources required to continue to support EQMac. The remaining EverQuest titles ( EverQuest, EverQuest II, EverQuest Next, and EverQuest Next Landmark) will not be affected by this closure. We appreciate all of your contributions over the years and hope to see you in other EQ games." SOE President John Smedley added his condolences: "Please know that this was not a decision that was taken lightly. It was a hard call to make, but we know it's the right thing to do." EQMac is a Mac-only version of the game that's been effectively frozen in time since the Planes of Power expansion. You can read our history as well as veterans' stories of the title. The last EverQuest game to be shut down was EverQuest Online Adventures in March 2012. EverQuest Mac shutting down (again) originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 18 Oct 2013 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Garriott talks 'selective multiplayer' at NYCC Posted: 18 Oct 2013 05:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Video, Events (Real-World), Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, New Titles, News Items, Sandbox, Shroud of the Avatar, Buy-to-Play If you missed this year's New York Comic Con, you also missed a meaty chat with veteran developer Richard Garriott. Lord British spent a bit of time looking back at his career which at this point has spanned nearly 40 years. He also looked forward to Shroud of the Avatar, and shared his thoughts on a concept called "selective multiplayer." He compared SotA's blueprint with traditional MMOs, which typically feature large numbers of players who either ignore each other or who are sharded away from one another on different servers. Garriott's aim is to make a single shard game that fills player instances first with preferred friends and then with strangers, while maintaining "ad hock private instances for storytelling." You can watch the full panel video after the break. Continue reading Garriott talks 'selective multiplayer' at NYCC Garriott talks 'selective multiplayer' at NYCC originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 18 Oct 2013 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| New SWTOR dev blog sorta talks about Galactic Starfighter Posted: 18 Oct 2013 04:45 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, Expansions, MMO Industry, PvP, News Items, Free-to-Play, Star Wars: The Old Republic There's a new Star Wars: The Old Republic dev diary in town, and as you may have guessed, it's all about the recently announced Galactic Starfighter expansion. Lead designer Michael Backus is the blog author, and he pens the first of what is surely to be many paragraphs "delving into the background and development of Galactic Starfighter and its place within the SWTOR experience." This particular entry doesn't contain much in the way of gameplay info, unfortunately, but Backus says that more details will be forthcoming in the future. New SWTOR dev blog sorta talks about Galactic Starfighter originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 18 Oct 2013 18:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| SOE to run EQNext Landmark for all regions, offers beta sign-ups Posted: 18 Oct 2013 04:30 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, MMO Industry, New Titles, News Items, Free-to-Play, EverQuest Next European fans hesitant about working with Prosiebensat.1 will not have to worry about going through the company for EverQuest Next Landmark. SOE has just announced that due to the unique nature of the game, it will directly manage Landmark for Europe, North America, and all other regions. The official statement says, Since we are delivering an entirely new and unique approach to MMO game design and development with EverQuest Next Landmark, and given that SOE's Player Studio program is one of the cornerstones of EverQuest Next Landmark, SOE will directly manage EQNL and Player Studio for all regions. Players in all regions wanting to get in on Landmark's beta will use the same the same sign-up form. Beta for EverQuest Next, however, is still split into regions; EU players can sign up at either the EU site, the UK site, or the German site, while those in North America and all other regions head to one page. SOE to run EQNext Landmark for all regions, offers beta sign-ups originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 18 Oct 2013 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Yep, Star Citizen's still raking in the money Posted: 18 Oct 2013 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, Business Models, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, New Titles, News Items, Sandbox, Crowdfunding, Star Citizen, Buy-to-Play Cloud Imperium founder Chris Roberts has announced Star Citizen's latest monetary milestone in a new letter from the chairman. The crowdfunded space sim topped $23 million this week, which unlocked a new Xi'an scout plane. "The goal here isn't simply to add an extra ship to the game, but to add a new type of ship which can be expanded upon as we go," Roberts writes. "Once we've put the effort into building an alien experience for the Khartu, we can apply it to other Xi'an ships moving forward. Essentially, the extra funding lets us build an even more immersive universe." Roberts also announced the game's $25 million stretch goal, which is basically a wider alpha testing net that will ensure extra servers and worldwide infrastructure for the game's early testing. The company will also be expanding the number of remaining alpha user slots. Yep, Star Citizen's still raking in the money originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 18 Oct 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Return to DUST 514, get free dropsuits Posted: 18 Oct 2013 03:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, Interviews, MMO Industry, PvP, News Items, Free-to-Play, DUST 514, Promotions CCP wants you to know that it's made a bunch of changes to its EVE-universe DUST 514 shooter. The company has a new " welcome back" page on its official DUST website that features a promotion for players with that have been inactive for more than 60 days. Gifts include 100 copies of the Black Eagles Scout dropsuit and 100 copies of the Quafe Scout dropsuit. The blurb also mentions various in-game improvements since last May's Uprising 1.0 patch. In other DUST news, Polygon interviewed new executive producer Jean-Charles Gaudechon, who says his first order of business is to amp up the new player experience. "If I would want to push the game somewhere right now," he explained, "it would be to really focus on that kind of visceral gameplay -- that intense first few hours, first few days of playing the game -- and making sure that we can engage more people into that world, into that fiction, and show you how deep and rich that universe is." Return to DUST 514, get free dropsuits originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 18 Oct 2013 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| TUG prepares Survival Games servers Posted: 18 Oct 2013 02:30 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Previews, PvP, Sandbox TUG's hardcore survival mode will get its first iteration of testing with the so-called "Survival Games" coming to the beta in January 2014. The team is preparing limited, focused matches on special servers to experiment, refine, and polish its PvP systems. The Survival Games servers are a prelude to TUG's survival mode in which players are thrown onto a map and challenged to be the last man or woman standing. In addition to straight-up combat, these maps contain enemy NPCs and crafting resources. The shrewd survivalist might be able to fashion a weapon or trap on the fly to help gain an edge. As players engage in the Survival Games, the TUG team will be changing the rules constantly and allowing players to implement their own mods in order to develop the best final product. "No name handles, no global chat, and dead is dead," the team described the servers. "Expect some serious trolling from us in these matches... FOR SCIENCE!" TUG prepares Survival Games servers originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 18 Oct 2013 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Archlord 2 launches in Korea Posted: 18 Oct 2013 02:00 PM PDT |
| MMObility: Checking in on location-based MMO Life is Magic Posted: 18 Oct 2013 01:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Real-Life, Game Mechanics, Previews, PvP, PvE, Opinion, Free-to-Play, Mobile, Hands-On, Casual, MMObility The mobile market is a great place for unique games as well as remakes and games that are influenced by past titles. But mobile is sort of a Wild West right now, one filled with titles that are obvious ripoffs of more popular games or games that are advertised as MMOs but are nothing like an MMO. I don't mind coming across a game or two that is MMO-like, but when a game claims to be something like the "most popular MMO on the market" or "the first mobile MMO," I get a bit peeved. Luckily there are a lot of great titles to choose from, games like Arcane Legends from Spacetime Studios or Grepolis from Innogames. There are also games like this week's Life is Magic, a neat location-based MMO that comes from Red Robot Labs. It leans a bit more to the pseudo-MMO side but is still a lot of fun when you want some turn-based action. Continue reading MMObility: Checking in on location-based MMO Life is Magic MMObility: Checking in on location-based MMO Life is Magic originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 18 Oct 2013 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Blizzard wins its case to shut down World of Warcraft bots Posted: 18 Oct 2013 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Culture, MMO Industry, News Items, Legal, Subscription Bad news, everyone. It increasingly looks as if you're going to have to actually play World of Warcraft instead of just letting a program do all the work while reaping the benefits. After a two-year legal battle, Blizzard has emerged victorious in its case against Ceiling Fan Software, responsible for two of the most popular WoW botting applications. The company is facing a $7 million judgment and has been ordered to fully cease operations. Ceiling Fan Software issued a statement saying that the company lost its fight to allow people to play World of Warcraft as they chose (although the method of playing in question, it should be noted, involved no actual play of the game). This is the second such time that Blizzard has targeted people creating software directly contrary to the game's basic user agreements and also the second victory the company has acquired in that same arena. Blizzard wins its case to shut down World of Warcraft bots originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 18 Oct 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| RIFT frees up inactive character names Posted: 18 Oct 2013 11:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Culture, News Items, Free-to-Play, RIFT No one likes changing a character's name because of a server merge, but there are definitely ways to add insult to injury. If you wind up losing your original name to an active high-level character, it feels fair. If you lose your name to a naked bank alt someone made years ago and has almost forgotten, it feels like cheating. That's why RIFT is freeing up the names of inactive characters prior to the next major server merge. Any players with characters flagged as inactive will be sent a letter stating that the characters in question are in danger of losing their names. If it's a mistake, you can just log in on that character and you'll be fine. If you legitimately don't play the character, then someone who does use the name will be able to use it. Everyone wins -- assuming that there aren't two active characters with the exact same name, in which case we're back to the default situation where someone wins and someone loses. RIFT frees up inactive character names originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 18 Oct 2013 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Plan your EVE Vegas weekend with this final schedule Posted: 18 Oct 2013 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, EVE Online, Events (Real-World), MMO Industry, News Items, MMOFPS, DUST 514, Sandbox, Subscription Wondering what's in the cards for EVE Vegas this weekend? Speculate no more: The final schedule of events has been released for EVE Online's convention being held at the Rio Las Vegas from October 18th through the 20th. The weekend kicks off with poker and a pub crawl on Friday, then dives into seminars, round tables, and PvP tournaments for both EVE and DUST 514 on Saturday and Sunday. Attendees will also have the chance for some hands-on with the VR dogfighter Valkyrie. If you aren't one of the virtual pilots able to attend the event live, you can still watch the various seminars and talks from both the developers and members of the community via CCP's official Twitch channel. For the times of each event, see the schedule below or visit the official site. Continue reading Plan your EVE Vegas weekend with this final schedule Plan your EVE Vegas weekend with this final schedule originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 18 Oct 2013 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Less privacy restrictions for Facebook users under 18 
Dell's holiday lineup is a memorable one
G-Sync technology amping up PC gaming
Nvidia The Way It's Meant to be Played 2013 (Day Two)
