MMO Updates |
- Behind the Mask: I put on my robe and wizard hat
- Age of Conan: Unchained (a.k.a. F2P) starts tomorrow [Updated]
- Win big in the Rusty Hearts beta giveaway
- Dragon Nest open beta date announced
- Wargaming.net forms partnership to expand into mobile gaming
- The Daily Grind: Which character death did you find the most memorable?
- Battlestar Galactica Online launches private 1v1 battles
- Blizzard's Titan a 'casual' MMO
- Fallen Earth announces cash shop sale
- A Mild-Mannered Reporter: In the case of Stalkers
- Massively Speaking Episode 154
- Enter at your own Rift: Checking out Update 1.3
- City of Heroes' Intrepid Informer introduces new Freedom tutorial
- Champions Online adds Impulse archetype, delays Issue 5
- One Shots: Dressed to kill
- Choose My Adventure: Cue da ork-estra
- Free for All: Going on a hot date with Lucent Heart
- Faxion Online announces guild war system
- All Points Bulletin: Reloaded dev blog discusses patch 1.5.2
- Bounty Hounds Online coming in both boxed and digital versions
- World of Tanks 6.5 patch debuts June 30th
| Behind the Mask: I put on my robe and wizard hat Posted: 30 Jun 2011 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Super-hero, Classes, Opinion, Free-to-play, Champions Online, Behind the Mask  However, the Grimoire has a lot of quirks. He's not a blasty glass cannon, and leveling one up requires a lot of finesse and a totally different style of play. He lacks the ability to use easy damage attacks -- he can't draw a SMG or unleash mighty fire breath upon his foes. The Grimoire must approach battles much more tactically, especially in the early stages of the game. Continue reading Behind the Mask: I put on my robe and wizard hat
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| Age of Conan: Unchained (a.k.a. F2P) starts tomorrow [Updated] Posted: 30 Jun 2011 09:30 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan, Business models, MMO industry, News items, Free-to-play  Funcom is inviting both new and old players to check out a good portion of its Hyborian content on the house, and the company will also be unveiling its cash shop (complete with a new "temptress" pet that helps the title live up to its mature rating). Unchained also marks the release of new content in the form of the Forgotten City and The Breach solo instances. As we told you last month, these new dungeons scale to your level and offer an experience designed to relieve the monotony of the well-traveled Noble District villas. Stick with Massively all weekend as we bring you the latest AoC: Unchained news and impressions, and don't forget to check out the Unchained launch trailer after the break. [Update]: Funcom has also posted its traditional monthly dev update and it's focused on all of the new content coming soon to AoC (and there is a lot of it). In addition to the two dungeons debuting tomorrow with Unchained, players can look forward to the long-awaited House of Crom dungeon (no, really!), new tier four raids, the Savage Coast of Turan stuff, and of course Blood and Glory. Continue reading Age of Conan: Unchained (a.k.a. F2P) starts tomorrow [Updated]
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| Win big in the Rusty Hearts beta giveaway Posted: 30 Jun 2011 09:00 AM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Contests, Free-to-play  Three Rusty Hearts limited prize packs are up for grabs, each containing a Logitech G510 keyboard, a Logitech F710 gamepad and a limited edition Rusty Hearts bear. This prize pack is valued at around $170, and it can be yours by simply redeeming a beta key. Players who enter in their Rusty Hearts beta key by July 3rd have a shot at this package (specific rules are on the official forums). Don't have your key yet? We've got you covered -- head on over here to snag a key to this hack-and-slash title! Rusty Hearts' closed beta will begin on July 27th.
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| Dragon Nest open beta date announced Posted: 30 Jun 2011 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, News items, Free-to-play, Dragon Nest  Action RPG fans, rejoice! Nexon has announced that the newest member of its MMO stable, Dragon Nest, will be entering open beta on July 26th. You may remember that we had some hands-on impressions with the game at this year's E3, but what exactly should players expect from Dragon Nest? From the looks of things, players should expect equal parts adrenaline-pumping action and good old-fashioned dungeon crawling. Players get to take on the role of one of four (gender-locked) classes -- Cleric, Sorceress, Archer, or Warrior -- and dive headlong into some combo-based hack-and-slash combat in search of phat loot and all that jazz. If this sounds like your proverbial cup of tea, head on over to the official site to register.
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| Wargaming.net forms partnership to expand into mobile gaming Posted: 30 Jun 2011 07:00 AM PDT Filed under: MMO industry, Legal, World of Tanks, Miscellaneous  The partnership will allow Wargaming.net to start exploring gaming possibilities on mobile platforms, including iOS devices. DAVA is located in Eastern Europe and provides a wide variety of services from bottom-up application development, consulting, handling ports, and game testing. Wargaming.net CEO Victor Kislyi apparently wants to make as big of a splash on the iPhone as the company did with the PC: "Having known the DAVA team for some time, we are thrilled to have them spearhead our efforts in the mobile games and applications development. We are looking forward to establishing a strong presence on the mobile market and DAVA is the best partner to assist us."
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| The Daily Grind: Which character death did you find the most memorable? Posted: 30 Jun 2011 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Culture, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Humor, Miscellaneous  Maybe you died because you were raising a teammate in City of Heroes and didn't think about where you were standing. Maybe you died from a knockback effect in Warhammer Online that threw you right off a ledge. Whatever the case, today we want to hear about your legendary death stories, the times when your character met his or her end in the most spectacular fashion possible. Which of the many deaths you've experienced still sticks in your head?  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!
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| Battlestar Galactica Online launches private 1v1 battles Posted: 29 Jun 2011 07:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, Patches, Free-to-play, Browser, Battlestar Galactica Online  If you're into PvP for the pure sport of it, you can duel any consenting player of any faction, rating, ship size, or class in a private 1v1 match. However, if your into the rewards or you want to prove that you are indeed the best, join in the ranked matches. The game's matchmaking system pairs up players of similar arena rating, ship size, and class in their own private portion of space for a battle to the death. The top 100 on the Top Gun Leaderboard will be recognized with a special icon above the pilot and ship name. And when you're playing BSGO with the three million other registered players, check out the two new star systems in the Veil Sector: Nilfhel and Muspell. These two areas contain high-level NPCs for you and your allies to conquer. For more information, visit the official website, or better yet, just play the game. It's free!
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| Blizzard's Titan a 'casual' MMO Posted: 29 Jun 2011 06:30 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Business models, Culture, Game mechanics, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Rumors  Arvind Bhatia is quoted on the game industry website as saying that Blizzard's product pipeline includes "expansion packs for StarCraft and World of Warcraft, a new Diablo game, [and] a new casual MMO." That casual MMO is of course Titan, the secretive WoW followup that has reportedly gobbled up Blizzard's most experienced designers. While no one outside of Blizzard has any inkling as to Titan's setting, mechanics, or target audience, Bhatia's prediction makes a certain amount of sense given the realities of the MMO marketplace and the costs inherent in developing and marketing AAA titles. Head to Gamasutra for the full report.
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| Fallen Earth announces cash shop sale Posted: 29 Jun 2011 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, Fallen Earth, News items, Promotions, Post-Apocalyptic  Even after the apocalypse, price-slashing still appears to be a running tradition. GamersFirst announced today that everything in the Fallen Earth cash shop must go! Or something like that, anyway. Many Fallen Earth cash shop items have had their prices lowered drastically, with the sale lasting until the launch of Alpha County on July 6th. The selection of items on sale is extensive, with extra character slots -- usually $30 -- dropping to a comparatively dirt-cheap $11. Faction resets drop from $15 to $9, and many other items, such as a fashionable pair of brass goggles and a terrifyingly fowl (ha ha) prairie chicken mount, have had their prices lowered by 50% or more. So if you're a Fallen Earth player looking to part with your hard-earned cash, head on over to the official site for the full sale listings.
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| A Mild-Mannered Reporter: In the case of Stalkers Posted: 29 Jun 2011 05:00 PM PDT Filed under: Super-hero, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Classes, Game mechanics, Opinion, A Mild-Mannered Reporter  Long story short, there's just one archetype left, and in many ways it makes sense that this one would come at the absolute end of the proceedings. After all, we're talking about a class that prefers to stay hidden, one that sneaks out of sight and destroys opponents through a sudden and unexpected blow to the vitals. That's right, it's time to talk about Stalkers, and whether you're new to the game or just the class, let's cap things off with the sneakiest player option in the entire game. Continue reading A Mild-Mannered Reporter: In the case of Stalkers
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| Massively Speaking Episode 154 Posted: 29 Jun 2011 04:30 PM PDT Filed under: Podcasts, Culture, Opinion, Massively meta, Humor, Massively Speaking  Have a comment for the podcasters? Shoot an email to shawn@massively.com. We may just read your email on the air! Get the podcast: [iTunes] Subscribe to Massively Speaking directly in iTunes. [RSS] Add Massively Speaking to your RSS aggregator. [MP3] Download the MP3 directly. Listen here on the page: Read below the cut for the full show notes.  Massively Speaking is the official podcast of Massively.com. Hosted by Editor-in-Chief Shawn Schuster and Community Manager Rubi Bayer, Massively Speaking takes on the week's biggest news and dev interviews with plenty of opinion, rants, and laughs thrown in for good measure. Join us every Wednesday afternoon to listen in and see what we'll say next!Continue reading Massively Speaking Episode 154
This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Enter at your own Rift: Checking out Update 1.3 Posted: 29 Jun 2011 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Events, in-game, Opinion, RIFT, Enter at Your Own Rift  Fortune's Shore isn't the only place to experience chaos and danger, though. Whatever the Dwarves did in Hammerknell, it's finally caught up with them -- and with all of Telara. Abyssal and Endless Court forces are posing a real threat, and the Ascended are now tasked with repelling the invasions and charging back into Hammerknell. In this week's Enter at your Own Rift, we'll look at a few of the changes from Update 1.3. Read on for a look at tithes, character transfers, trial servers, and towering colossi! Continue reading Enter at your own Rift: Checking out Update 1.3
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| City of Heroes' Intrepid Informer introduces new Freedom tutorial Posted: 29 Jun 2011 03:30 PM PDT Filed under: Super-hero, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Previews, News items, Free-to-play  Paragon Studios has released a very special Intrepid Informer for City of Heroes players today, giving them a look into the new-player tutorial that will arrive with the advent of City of Heroes Freedom. In true superhero fashion, the new tutorial will incorporate a hand-drawn comic book by Paragon's own David "Noble Savage" Nakayama. The game will open by dropping new players smack in the middle of Galaxy City as it falls under siege by Shivan invaders. The villains of the Rogue Isles -- opportunists that they are -- aim to take advantage of the chaos to cause mayhem while the heroes work to thwart the threats to the city. The full post details the process that went into creating this exciting new tutorial and also includes a sneak-preview of Nakayama's stylish comic work, which players will see prior to the tutorial proper. To read up on all the fine details of the game's new introduction, head on over to the official CoH site.
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| Champions Online adds Impulse archetype, delays Issue 5 Posted: 29 Jun 2011 03:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, Super-hero, Classes, Patches, Free-to-play, Champions Online  Champions Online has a little of both today. On the downside, Aftershock: Issue 5 is being delayed until tomorrow due to various unspecified issues introduced with the latest update. Hopefully the team can get them ironed out so that Issue 5 can be enjoyed to the max. On the upside, free players now have another potential superhero archetype to choose from: The Impulse. Priced at 920 Atari Tokens (or free for gold players), The Impulse permanently unlocks a force field-using hero for your account. According to the official description, The Impulse "allows you to knock foes back, keeping them away from you and preventing them from attacking while they fly through the air. You will gain the ability to shield yourself and allies, while also being able to dish out serious damage."
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| Posted: 29 Jun 2011 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Galleries, Screenshots, Anarchy Online, Free-to-play, One Shots  The character in the black dress is Redmorgan, a level 220 Meta-Physicist. The black dress is a Halloween social clothes item earned from killing Halloween Leets near PvP Tower sites. The blue item in Redmorgan's hand is a bow weapon. The green monster behind Redmorgan is her pet, a mortig, which helps her do damage. MPs also have healing pets and mezz pets. Redmorgan is sitting down at a park in Omni Entertainment called "Checkers," so named because the park looks like a checkerboard on the map.Ready to show off your gear? Send a screenshot of your favorite items to oneshots@massively.com along with your name, the name of the game, and a paragraph or two telling us what your items are and how you got them! Don't forget that we're also planning for pet week next week -- send us your best pet screenshots and let us know all about them.
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| Choose My Adventure: Cue da ork-estra Posted: 29 Jun 2011 01:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Polls, Classes, Game mechanics, PvP, Warhammer Online, Opinion, Choose My Adventure  Or at least, I would have, if not for the fact that one of the polls was a dead heat from start to finish. See, while my faction and class were apparently pretty easy to assign by consensus, getting my ork-or-goblin's class decided proved quite an ordeal. By the time the class poll closed, ranged DPS and melee DPS were in a dead heat. Well, I had to have a little executive initiative, right? Klurgind the Choppa was born on Gorfang and given the oldest and most intelligent ork face I could find. (I would have gone with Grignr, but it was sadly taken.) So jump on past the cut to see what I got up to during my first foray into Warhammer Online and to let me know where I'm going next. Continue reading Choose My Adventure: Cue da ork-estra
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| Free for All: Going on a hot date with Lucent Heart Posted: 29 Jun 2011 12:30 PM PDT Filed under: Video, Culture, Game mechanics, Interviews, Opinion, Free-to-play, Hands-on, Humor, Massively Interviews, Free for All  We were finally able to hang out for a while, and I captured a lot of it on video for your viewing pleasure. We decided to look at the Cupid system and a bit of a dungeon, but we could have gone on for a lot longer. The fact is that the game, like many of its foreign counterparts, simply packs more gameplay and new systems into every square inch of its design than many Western MMOs. With the Japanese version of Lucent Heart two years ahead of the U.S. version, more content is guaranteed. Click past the cut to check out my hot date with Mark, Product Manager of Lucent Heart, and to hear a bit more about the game! Continue reading Free for All: Going on a hot date with Lucent Heart
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| Faxion Online announces guild war system Posted: 29 Jun 2011 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Patches, News items, Free-to-play, Faxion Online  You know that one guild? The one you hate? The one whose members you've ignored, and the one that makes your teeth grind just from the mention of its name? Well, UTV True Games wants you to do something about it! An upcoming update to Faxion Online will introduce Inquisitions, which will allow guilds to declare all-out war on one another. These guild wars can last anywhere from a single day to a fortnight, throughout which the involved guilds' members will be free to gank one another to their hearts' content. Not a guild kind of person? Don't worry! Free agents can be hired on as mercenaries if they wish to join the fray. And if the guilds don't want to fight it out to the bitter end, the system also includes ways to negotiate a surrender or declare a stalemate, all the while tracking each guild's stats on a leaderboard. So get out there, don your halos and horns, and start killing one another! After all, you're already in purgatory anyway.
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| All Points Bulletin: Reloaded dev blog discusses patch 1.5.2 Posted: 29 Jun 2011 11:30 AM PDT Filed under: Betas, Patches, News items, Free-to-play, All Points Bulletin, Crime  Citizens of San Paro, listen up, because TechMech has a new blog post to share with you lot and it's got a pretty solid amount of information for your perusal. The first point of discussion is the upcoming 1.5.2, which sees quite a few new items added to All Points Bulletin: Reloaded's development roadmap. The most important of these features are the new district recommendation system and skill-rating based matchmaking, which should make it much simpler for APB players to find a challenge suitable for their personal skills and character levels. Other items of note include "meta-grouping for better PuG-ing, action grouping relaxation (fancy way of saying you will be able to shoot right as you stop sprinting instead of being blocked from shooting), 70+ different mission fixes, new clothing, new items and a boat-load of various bug fixes and improvements." The post goes on to explain why this big honkin' patch is going to miss the scheduled mark of June 30th, and then it outlines some of the current build's known issues (and possible fixes). For the full post, head on over to the APB dev blog.
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| Bounty Hounds Online coming in both boxed and digital versions Posted: 29 Jun 2011 11:00 AM PDT Filed under: Betas, Sci-fi, Free-to-play, Promotions  The game puts players in the role of mercenaries tasked with cleaning up an intergalactic war on a planet known as Clear Sky. You'll get to choose between five classes and four military companies before heading into the battle, not to mention the awesome-sounding CTU transformable combat pets. Recently out of closed beta, Bounty Hounds Online is slated for open beta on August 2nd. You can sign up by visiting the official website.
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| World of Tanks 6.5 patch debuts June 30th Posted: 29 Jun 2011 10:30 AM PDT Filed under: Historical, Real life, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Patches, News items, War, Free-to-play, World of Tanks  Update 6.5 brings two new maps to the battlefront. Redshire takes it inspiration from traditional British settlements, while Arctic Region is the game's first pure winter locale. In addition to the maps, 6.5 also features a new lineup of American destroyer tanks including the famous T95 "super-heavy monster." The patch also introduces two premium light tanks (the American M22 Locust and the Russian T-127) as well as the M46 Patton, which is slated to replace the M26 Pershing. Wargaming.net CEO Victor Kislyi says this tweak is the first step toward a global tech tree revision. "We constantly keep polishing the game balance, and updating World of Tanks to 6.5 is yet another important step in this direction."
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