MMO Updates |
- The Tattered Notebook: The EQ2X community speaks
- SWTOR launch day questions answered
- WRUP: Let's hear it for shock safety orange edition
- The Daily Grind: How important is your look?
- BioWare announces launch date for Star Wars: The Old Republic
- MMOs may be on the horizon for OnLive
- DCUO's Game Update 5 now on the PC test server
- Betawatch: September 17-23, 2011
- City of Heroes bringing early Freedom to lapsed subscribers
- Wasteland Diaries: PvE like a boss
- Champions Online's September Ask Cryptic: Introducing the UNTIL Field Report
- BioWare releases more SWTOR companion info
- One Shots: Flying high
- Storyboard: A matter of times
- LotRO dev blog talks Rise of Isengard crafting changes
- The Road to Mordor: 'Twas the night before Isengard...
| The Tattered Notebook: The EQ2X community speaks Posted: 24 Sep 2011 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, EverQuest II, Business models, Interviews, Opinion, Free-to-play, The Tattered Notebook  In this week's Tattered Notebook, I tracked down guild leaders and members of guilds on the Freeport server in order to hear from them what their gaming experience is like. While I had been playing my bronze account for the column, I made a character on my main account in order to have access to chat channels and in-game mail in order to get in touch with them. I spoke to two of the top raiding guilds on the server as well as a large crafting guild. We talked about raiding, the economy, and the community overall. What I uncovered was eye-opening. Read on for their stories. Continue reading The Tattered Notebook: The EQ2X community speaks
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| SWTOR launch day questions answered Posted: 24 Sep 2011 09:00 AM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, Launches, New titles, News items, Star Wars: The Old Republic  First off, the Australian and New Zealand launch dates have not been set, and BioWare cannot commit to a launch day yet for that region. However, back in August, Senior Community Manager Stephen Reid posted on the official forums that "There are no plans to 'region lock' or 'IP block' players from the game. You may experience some latency issues if you're not playing in a launch territory." This still holds true today. To prevent signup issues on launch day, log-ins will be throttled. However, pre-order customers will still gain early access to the game. Senior Community Coordinator Allison Berryman reported on the official forum: "The beginning of Early Game Access will depend on a number of factors, including results from our Game Testing Program and Pre-Orders, but there will be multiple days of access." Lastly, in case you missed it earlier, BioWare did announce the subscription costs. It comes as no surprise to most MMO gamers that the first month is free with the purchase of the game. After that it's $14.99 per month (£8.99 or €12.99), $41.97 for 3 months (£25.17 or €35.97), or $77.94 for six months (£46.14 or €65.94). There have been no lifetime subscription announcements as of yet, but we will let you know if we hear anything.
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| WRUP: Let's hear it for shock safety orange edition Posted: 24 Sep 2011 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: Massively meta, Miscellaneous  Moving on from my love of things with day-glo coloration, it's time for this week's installment of WRUP. Past the break, we here on the Massively staff will talk about what we plan to do over the course of the weekend as well as whether or not we think that next year is going to be the end of the world for MMOs and not just for the Mayan calendar. So jump on past the break, and let us know what you'll be up to in the comments. Continue reading WRUP: Let's hear it for shock safety orange edition
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| The Daily Grind: How important is your look? Posted: 24 Sep 2011 06:30 AM PDT Filed under: Culture, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous  Of course, I know I'm not the only one. There are people who will devote even more time than I will to getting a character's outfit just right, even in games that don't allow costume-customizing free-for-alls. And then there are players who couldn't care less that their RIFT characters appear to have been dressed by a blind MC Hammer as long as their stats are high. So where do you fall on the spectrum? How important is your look?  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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| BioWare announces launch date for Star Wars: The Old Republic Posted: 24 Sep 2011 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, Launches, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Star Wars: The Old Republic  The retail copy will include 30 days of subscription time, with further pricing as follows:
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| MMOs may be on the horizon for OnLive Posted: 23 Sep 2011 08:00 PM PDT Filed under: Business models, MMO industry, News items, Miscellaneous  OnLive celebrated its UK release this week during Eurogamer Expo in London, and we were on the floor to ask the OnLive staff some questions about the service. Representatives were able to confirm that there are plans to bring MMOs to the OnLive service in the future but no solid deals had been made. The only thing keeping MMOs out of the game catalogue is the fact that no deals have been signed with MMO publishers. OnLive representatives stated that it would be unlikely to see Activision-Blizzard's games like World of Warcraft on OnLive, but that Star Wars: The Old Republic and other MMOs could eventually be licensed to both the PC client and the home console. Talks are already underway with Electronic Arts, which released its first game on the system this week to coincide with the UK launch. When asked about latency issues, staff explained that the service already supports a large number of multiplayer titles with similar connectivity requirements to MMOs and latency is not a problem in those games.
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| DCUO's Game Update 5 now on the PC test server Posted: 23 Sep 2011 07:00 PM PDT Filed under: Super-hero, Bugs, Patches, News items, DC Universe Online  Calling all DC Universe Online heroes and villains! Game Update 5 is now available for testing on the PC test servers, and it's up to players to help work out the kinks. PvE players get a new treat in the form of Fortress 2, the second in the Fortress of Solitude raid series. With the help of some new Kryptonian friends, players must go toe-to-toe with Brainiac's Avatar of Meta. A "beefed-up" version of the HIVE alert has been introduced as a new Tier 2 alert, and players can take on updated bosses for epic new loot. Meanwhile, on the PvP end of the spectrum, the duelling system has been updated and SOE wants players to lay the smack down on one another to ensure that it's bug-free. A quasi-new PvP map is also available in the form of the former 2v2 Legends Batcave map. Now players can take their own characters into the arena to fight for dominance in Bruce Wayne's not-so-secret-anymore hideout. For the full details on what's being tested, and to to get in on the fun yourself, head on over to the official forum post.
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| Betawatch: September 17-23, 2011 Posted: 23 Sep 2011 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Massively meta, Betawatch, Miscellaneous  Star Supremacy joins the closed beta list this week, and the open beta list is getting a bit longer too thanks to the addition of Immortal King. Finally, we bid farewell to Luvinia Online as the game heads off into launch territory. Follow along after the jump for the latest Betawatch list. Continue reading Betawatch: September 17-23, 2011
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| City of Heroes bringing early Freedom to lapsed subscribers Posted: 23 Sep 2011 05:30 PM PDT Filed under: Super-hero, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Business models, Patches, News items, Free-to-play  Throughout the weekend, the team at Paragon Studios will be reactivating lapsed accounts as premium members, the tier for players who were once subscribers but decided to take a break from the game. And while you won't get all of the VIP content for free, you will be able to enjoy the game and your old characters without owing a dime. So if you've got an old account, keeping checking in to see if you can get a little early play on City of Heroes Freedom over the weekend... and if you don't, you can look forward to the servers opening up sometime next week.
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| Wasteland Diaries: PvE like a boss Posted: 23 Sep 2011 05:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, Fallen Earth, PvE, MMOFPS, Wasteland Diaries, Post-Apocalyptic  Many of my posts center around PvP. If I didn't PvP (and since I'm not a big roleplayer), I doubt I would still be playing Fallen Earth. That's just what I spend most of my time doing in the wastelands. So I tend to write a lot about it. But all PvPers have to PvE. PvE has its own set of challenges for the player. Granted, these challenges are quite static, and once you find a way to overcome them, you are done. But they are challenges nonetheless, and knowledge is power as much in PvE as it is in PvP. In this post I will give you some tips and tricks that might help you get through that next tough mission. Much of this stuff is common sense, but it may not occur to you until it's too late. So click past the cut and let's get started. Continue reading Wasteland Diaries: PvE like a boss
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| Champions Online's September Ask Cryptic: Introducing the UNTIL Field Report Posted: 23 Sep 2011 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: Super-hero, Game mechanics, News items, Free-to-play, Champions Online  It's time for Champions Online's September edition of Ask Cryptic, and as always, it's packed with delicious Q&A goodness. Many questions are related to new content, new powersets, and when players can expect either. The answers vary but for the most part seem to be variations of "we're working on it, but we can't give you a date yet." The same goes for the Nemesis system, though players who were hoping for theme-specific story arcs seem to be out of luck. Costume change animations are also requested, and the team says that such animations are in the works but will likely not see the light of day until further down the line. If you're more interested in what's coming to the game in the immediate future, though, Cryptic has you covered there as well. The team has introduced a forum feature known as the UNTIL Field Report. These Field Reports will be posted every other month alongside the State of the Game letter and will provide players with a status report on many fixes and upcoming features. It's important to note that the Field Reports are not intended to be comprehensive, but rather are meant to give players an idea of what they can expect to see in the near future and to give them a single place they can go to voice comments or concerns. For the full, meaty Ask Cryptic article as well as the premiere UNTIL Field Report, head on over to the official forums and take a look.
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| BioWare releases more SWTOR companion info Posted: 23 Sep 2011 03:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, Classes, Game mechanics, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Dev Diaries  Er, sorry, wrong BioWare RPG. You'll have to forgive us, though, as the firm's latest dev blog references dear old Minsc in the very first sentence. Yep, it's another treatise on companions in Star Wars The Old Republic, and this time senior game designer William Wallace (really) treats us to a lengthy entry explaining a bit about companion customization and combat. The latter presentation takes the form of a few short videos showing off the fighting prowess of one Corso Riggs, a heavily armored blaster specialist who functions as one of the Smuggler class companions. Head to the official SWTOR website for all the goods.
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| Posted: 23 Sep 2011 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Galleries, Screenshots, Vanguard, One Shots  This is the Kojan archipelago, and the place is Jalen's crossing, not so far from Caia'l Brael, the starting place for Wood Elf and Raki races. Here you can hire a flying pegasus to get yourself to Arks of Harmony (the group of floating islands in the screenshot). Jalen's Crossing is a gigantic bridge that connects Youthgreen island with the eastern islands and was built and protected by Raki. Raki are a foxlike race whose members fled their homeland after it was destroyed by the Ulvari. The Arks of Harmony became their safe haven and a place to store important information on how to protect themselves from future threats.We're all about looking up this week on One Shots! Show us your favorite aerial image -- whether it be taken from the ground looking up or from atop a high-flying mount or tall perch, we want to see! Next week we're throwing the ball back to you. There's no theme and no requirement; just send us your favorite screenshots and tell us why you love them. Add your name and a little bit about the image, send it in to oneshots@massively.com, and we'll feature it in this week's One Shots!
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| Posted: 23 Sep 2011 01:00 PM PDT Filed under: Lore, Opinion, Roleplaying, Storyboard, Miscellaneous  But whether or not you find time interesting, it's important. Time has a bigger impact on the game world than you might think, and it's one of those facets that you can't un-see once you look at it. It's as problematic an issue as character death, and in some ways even more so, because there's no comfortable way to skate around how screwy time is in the game. And the proof lies entirely in a simple question: What did you do today? Continue reading Storyboard: A matter of times
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| LotRO dev blog talks Rise of Isengard crafting changes Posted: 23 Sep 2011 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Expansions, Game mechanics, MMO industry, News items, Free-to-play, Crafting  The latest Lord of the Rings Online dev update shines the spotlight on crafting in the Westfold, which Turbine describes as an "all-new crafting tier [...] filled with valuable natural resources, sought-after ancient artifacts, rare recipes, and powerful crafted items." Unlocking the new content happens by way of mastering your particular profession's supreme proficiency tier. The expansion also gives you more options in the form of a new reputation rank for the game's various crafting guilds. Furthermore, Turbine has eliminated component recipes in the new tier to "reduce the amount of time spent crafting intermediate ingredients." Finally, there are also a couple of changes to resource gathering, including yield tweaks and the ability for Farmers to produce crops individually or in bulk. That's not all, but you'll have to head to the official LotRO website for all the details.
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| The Road to Mordor: 'Twas the night before Isengard... Posted: 23 Sep 2011 11:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Classes, Expansions, Launches, Free-to-play, The Road to Mordor  I've never been around for a Lord of the Rings Online expansion release, which makes this a first for me. Sure, I have my concerns about Rise of Isengard, but on the whole I'm ready to jump into an untamed region and explore the living deeds out of it. I'm not in a rush to get through it all and start raiding or anything, so my Lore-master will be taking his sweet time milking each quest for the calcium-rich story within. Oddly enough, I'm most excited about the prospect of cool new cosmetics because I have a sick obsession with them that's going to require a full-scale intervention. I'm not quite sure how LotRO's third expansion will be taken by the larger community, and I probably won't know until the launch fever dies down and we evaluate how useful, entertaining, and engaging it is over the long term. I'm just glad we're moving forward. In this week's Road to Mordor, I want to look back at the build-up to Isengard's release, what we know so far, and what changes are in store for our characters. Might as well tidy up the place since it's going to get hecka messy soon enough. Continue reading The Road to Mordor: 'Twas the night before Isengard...
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