MMO Updates |
- Warhammer Online Patch 1.4.4 goes live this afternoon
- Massively's WildStar interview with Jeremy Gaffney
- Mortal Online looking for a few good testers
- Clone Wars Adventures celebrates its anniversary with free money and guns
- Online sales will dominate the market by 2013
- World of Battleships website leaves dry dock
- Perpetuum down today due to datacenter move
- The Daily Grind: How important is an active guild to you?
- Directing the devs for a day in Asheron's Call
- End of Nations' Executive Producer discusses F2P model, buying power
- Massively Exclusive: New Eden Eternal trailer teases new race, racial crafting
- Paragon Studios introduces MARTy to City of Heroes for Issue 21
- Not So Massively: Diablo III faces competition as it enters closed beta
- Wings Over Atreia: Into the Abyss (real life) I go
- Not So Massively Extra: Our impressions of Bloodline Champions
- Final Fantasy XIV previewing beastman strongholds and UI improvements
- Lost Pages of Taborea: Test driving Magic Hub
- Undead Labs learns the psychology of the apocalypse at Burning Man
- Flameseeker Chronicles: The care and feeding of your PUG
- Face of Mankind revamps mission system, hints at combat and economic tweaks
- One Shots: Welcome to starting zone week
- DDO's Update 11 arises with the artful Artificer
- Not to be underestimated: Guild Wars 2 Asura Week begins
- Storybricks taking an alternative approach to MMO story
| Warhammer Online Patch 1.4.4 goes live this afternoon Posted: 13 Sep 2011 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Events, in-game, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Patches, Warhammer Online, News items  The new patch introduces the Wild Hunt live event, which allows players the chance to "test their skills tracking and slaying fierce animals, collecting sacred pelts, and sighting the elusive White Stag." There's also an opportunity to earn event influence and participate in the Curse of Kurnous public quest. Mythic has also tweaked the RvR keep defense mechanics, introduced new vanity pet packs, and shifted the scenario lineup. Finally, you can vote for the next batch of scenarios via the Dev Discussions forum on the official WAR website.
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| Massively's WildStar interview with Jeremy Gaffney Posted: 13 Sep 2011 09:30 AM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, Game mechanics, Interviews, Previews, WildStar  Jeremy Gaffney was kind enough to answer several of our questions about WildStar, giving us a look at the time Carbine Studios has spent on developing the game and what sort of gameplay we can expect when the game is available for everyone. Even beyond the already-previewed Path system, there's a great deal of interest for excited fans to see, so take a look past the break for our questions and Mr. Gaffney's answers. Continue reading Massively's WildStar interview with Jeremy Gaffney
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| Mortal Online looking for a few good testers Posted: 13 Sep 2011 09:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Game mechanics, MMO industry, News items, Mortal Online, Sandbox  "Because Star Vault is a small, independent developer, we do not have a very large QA department which often means that bugs will slip through the net resulting in many issues on the live server," writes GM Discord on the official forums. Qualified testers will be 18 years old, well-versed in Mortal Online, and have a game account that is in good standing. There will also be an NDA involved, and breaching it will not only result in the removal of your testing privileges but also a ban on your in-game characters. Full details are available on the official boards.
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| Clone Wars Adventures celebrates its anniversary with free money and guns Posted: 13 Sep 2011 08:30 AM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, Events, in-game, News items, Free-to-play, Casual, Clone Wars Adventures  It's time for bounty hunters, Jedi, smugglers, and Sith alike to come together for Clone Wars Adventures' anniversary celebration. From September 12th to September 16th, Sony Online Entertainment will be providing players with a wealth of free shinies to commemorate the occasion. For starters, any players who log in while the celebration is going on will receive 5,000 Galactic Credits to spend on whatever their hearts desire. Logging in once again on the 15th will net players the first of a pair of anniversary-exclusive versions of Captain Rex's chrome plated blasters, named Vigilance. To top it all off, log in on the 16th and purchase Station Cash for your account, and you'll be rewarded with the second of the pair of blasters, known as the Negotiator. For the full details and fine print, head on over to the official Clone Wars Adventures site.
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| Online sales will dominate the market by 2013 Posted: 13 Sep 2011 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: Business models, MMO industry, Miscellaneous  GamesIndustry.biz cites a new report that predicts online game sales will become the dominant force in the market by 2013 through individual websites, retailers like Amazon.com, and video game distributors like Steam. A DFC Intelligence analyst noted that boxed game sales already peaked in 2008, and that as physical game sales slowly decline, online sales will pick up at a marked pace. DFC is a research and consulting firm that covers the field of video games. Last year online game retailers sold over $19.3 billion worth of digital merchandise -- a figure that's expected to rise to $37.9 billion by 2016. While real-world stores have much to worry about as the market shifts in the direction of online sales, the industry as a whole is expected to continue to substantially increase its growth over the next half-decade. One of the "key drivers" for that growth is PC games. The analysts also predicted that in-game advertising will increase two-fold in the next few years as advertisers realize the potential for this blossoming market.
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| World of Battleships website leaves dry dock Posted: 13 Sep 2011 07:30 AM PDT Filed under: Historical, New titles, PvP, Free-to-play, Miscellaneous, World of Battleships  Wargaming.net's latest entry into the "World of" series is taking the battle to the sea, handing the wheel of classic 20th century battleships to players and waving liability insurance. The website allows us to get a better look at the fleet vs. fleet title, with information, videos and screenshots ahoy. Wargaming.net's Victor Kislyi broke the champagne bottle over the website's bow: "We're excited to launch World of Battleships' website. We want to make it home for all those in love with naval battles and WWII-era warships." The title was announced a month ago, and is the third entry in Wargaming.net's increasingly popular vehicle-based PvP MMOs.
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| Perpetuum down today due to datacenter move Posted: 13 Sep 2011 07:00 AM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, Lore, MMO industry, News items, Perpetuum, Dev Diaries, Miscellaneous, Sandbox  Avatar Creations' latest dev update says that the game will remain offline "for the better part of the day," and status updates will be available on the Perpetuum Facebook page. When the hardware comes back to life, Perpetuum will be sporting a brand-new website complete with everything you need to keep track of the game on the homepage, not to mention an entirely new section devoted to lore and short fiction. Finally, the newest dev blog mentions that this is not the server move that Avatar has been planning to make in order to address routing issues. Rather, this one is necessitated by a datacenter expansion to a larger facility.
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| The Daily Grind: How important is an active guild to you? Posted: 13 Sep 2011 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Guilds, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous  Last week's Flameseeker Chronicles column about Guild Wars 2 guild mechanics was followed by some heavy discussion on how it might work, what the pros and cons might be, and overall importance of guilds to various individuals. Thoughts on guilds in MMOs go way beyond Guild Wars 2, though -- they might be called guilds, clans, or kins, but they all serve the same general purpose and are in nearly every MMO. Is an active guild something you look for in a game? Are you a social player who enjoys that structure and activity level, or are you content to go your own way?  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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| Directing the devs for a day in Asheron's Call Posted: 12 Sep 2011 08:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Asheron's Call, MMO industry, Patches, Sandbox  Today, Turbine has posted up the best of the best ideas from the recent round of submissions from the playerbase, and apparently, AC players want their team working on everything from casino tweaks to tailorable undergarments (really!). Check out the whole list of itty-bitty incoming enhancements on the official forums.
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| End of Nations' Executive Producer discusses F2P model, buying power Posted: 12 Sep 2011 07:30 PM PDT Filed under: Business models, Economy, MMO industry, News items, Free-to-play, MMORTS  With each game that announces a free-to-play business model, the same concerns immediately arise in the minds of the game's fans. Will the game allow players to pay for convenience, or will it allow them to pay to win? David Luehmann, Executive Producer of upcoming MMORTS End of Nations, addressed that very concern in a recent interview. What did he have to say? He was quick to put players' anxiety to rest, claiming that the game "will not be selling pay-to-win items that give one player a significant gameplay advantage over another" and adding that most cash-shop items will also be purchasable using in-game currency. But why go the free-to-play route to begin with? According to Luehmann, the team realized that in a game such as End of Nations, which is focused on large-scale multiplayer warfare, the game's fun factor will be directly tied to the number of players battling it out at any given time. As such, the team wants to "minimize the barrier to entry and maximize the fun." Of course, the game also features an optional subscription option. Luehmann is quick to note, however, that just like the item shop, subscriptions will not provide players with a gameplay advantage. It will instead yield "significant value and convenience extras." The full interview also includes a few details on the game itself, so if you're interested in Petroglyph's upcoming MMORTS, head on over to Gamefront for the full interview.
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| Massively Exclusive: New Eden Eternal trailer teases new race, racial crafting Posted: 12 Sep 2011 07:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Trailers, Video, Game mechanics, Professions, News items, Free-to-play, Races  To commemorate free-to-play MMO Eden Eternal's latest content update, Aeria Games has released a short trailer showing off some of the new features available to players. For starters, there's a new race: the amphibious Anurans. Racial crafting has been introduced alongside the new race, allowing each race to ply its specific trade. For the full trailer, hop on past the cut, then head on over to the official site to download the client and register to play. Continue reading Massively Exclusive: New Eden Eternal trailer teases new race, racial crafting
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| Paragon Studios introduces MARTy to City of Heroes for Issue 21 Posted: 12 Sep 2011 06:30 PM PDT Filed under: Super-hero, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Patches, News items, Free-to-play  So what does MARTy do? Scan for exploitative behavior and cut it short. The system monitors player activity for exploitative experience, influence, or reward gains, and people who trip the system stop receiving rewards for a short time. The official FAQ on the system makes it clear, however, that even players aggressively leveling with experience boosters shouldn't hit MARTy's radar. The only way to hit it is by exploiting the game engine for overly accelerated gains, at which point you get shut down. And with City of Heroes Freedom opening the door to everyone, it might be good to have an anti-exploit gatekeeper in place.
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| Not So Massively: Diablo III faces competition as it enters closed beta Posted: 12 Sep 2011 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Trailers, Video, Game mechanics, Patches, PvP, News items, Free-to-play, Not So Massively  The past few weeks have been full of Diablo III news, and this week is no exception. With the friends and family portion of the closed beta underway and no NDA imposed on participants, videos of Diablo III gameplay have been flooding the net. It seems the upcoming title will be in for some competition when it releases, however, as Diablo-inspired action RPG Path of Exile is also in closed beta. League of Legends drops support for its Mac client this week and publishes a champion spotlight on popular champion Corki. Rise of Immortals also releases its second spotlight video, featuring health-draining immortal Lazarus. Heroes of Newerth releases Midas this week, a new damage-dealing hero with the ability to turn enemies into solid gold (at least temporarily). The oddest piece of news we received this week was that upcoming Wii-based RPG Dragon Quest X will feature MMO features and might even require a subscription fee. Skip past the cut for details of this week's biggest news from the world of MOBAs and other online games that aren't quite MMOs. Continue reading Not So Massively: Diablo III faces competition as it enters closed beta
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| Wings Over Atreia: Into the Abyss (real life) I go Posted: 12 Sep 2011 05:30 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Aion, Events, real-world, Opinion, Massively meta, Humor, Wings Over Atreia  Has anyone ever suggested to you -- even in jest -- that you should take a break from Aion? Maybe step back, venture outside, and check out that thing called "sunshine"? (Don't worry, you really won't melt!) Sound familiar? It's not like the game will disappear without you in it. And a break might do you good, especially if the game seems stale and you feel you've "been there, done that" 50 times over. I know I could step away, easy-peasy. But then, even on vacations across the country, I have managed to slip into game long enough for daily quests and checking the broker. Computer in the shop? Pfffft -- just steal the kids'; I did buy it for them after all. *cracks whip* Now hurry up with that homework! I could step away... if I wanted to. I just don't want to. Well, Mother Nature obliged, succeeding where even vacations and broken computers couldn't: I have been forcibly removed from the world of Atreia for a week now. Amid my new quests of obtaining drinking water and procuring a real shower (hot water and all), I found my mind flitting back to those daily tokens I was missing. Oh, and the weeklies! This made me stop and consider how enmeshed in Aion we are (I can use the excuse it's my job, right?). Can we really completely step away from the game we love -- and love to hate at times -- or is there a point we might even miss the drama? Is it possible to cope without wings? Check past the cut to see how I fared. Continue reading Wings Over Atreia: Into the Abyss (real life) I go
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| Not So Massively Extra: Our impressions of Bloodline Champions Posted: 12 Sep 2011 05:00 PM PDT Filed under: Game mechanics, PvP, Opinion, Free-to-play, Hands-on, Not So Massively  Of all the MOBAs on the market today, Bloodline Champions is probably the most action-oriented. Traditional MOBA gameplay with lanes, towers, and creeps is thrown out the window in favour of fast-paced action and skill-based aiming. Produced by indie developer Stunlock Studios, Bloodline Champions won the Best XNA Game award at 2009's Swedish Game Awards and went on to officially launch at the start of this year. Since the game's release, Stunlock and publisher Funcom have worked together to introduce Bloodline Champions to the e-sports and competitive gaming arenas, sponsoring several competitive tournaments with cash prizes. Massively staffers Patrick Mackey, Matt Daniel and I recently spent a night of frantically smashing internet people to pieces in this high-action MOBA to see what all the fuss was about. In this collaborative hands-on impressions piece, the three of us give our first impressions of Bloodline Champions. Continue reading Not So Massively Extra: Our impressions of Bloodline Champions
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| Final Fantasy XIV previewing beastman strongholds and UI improvements Posted: 12 Sep 2011 04:30 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Patches, Previews, News items, Consoles, Final Fantasy XIV  The UI changes include the long-requested feature to make aetheryte, retainer bells, and similar environmental objects directly targetable. But that's the least of the improvements that include a UI lock feature, several adjustments to text colors to help indicate item quality and rank, and an auto-compare feature for equipment bought from vendors or retainers. While there's still no word on exactly when FFXIV players can look forward to the update going live, all signs point to "soon" for the latest major update.
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| Lost Pages of Taborea: Test driving Magic Hub Posted: 12 Sep 2011 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Opinion, Free-to-play, Runes of Magic, Lost Pages of Taborea  It's a lot like what Trion has built into RIFT, only in a third-party package, and Frogster partnered with Overwolf to provide a Runes of Magic-branded version called Magic Hub -- complete with RoM-specific buttons. After some technical problems, I got Magic Hub to work and put it through its paces. There are other applications out there that provide a wide range of functionality for gamers, but since this one is customized for RoM, I thought I'd give my impressions. Continue reading Lost Pages of Taborea: Test driving Magic Hub
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| Undead Labs learns the psychology of the apocalypse at Burning Man Posted: 12 Sep 2011 03:30 PM PDT Filed under: Horror, Culture, Events, real-world, MMO industry, New titles, Post-Apocalyptic, Miscellaneous  "At Burning Man, real-world currency is largely useless... much like it would be after a societal collapse," Gronk writes. "Would you want to trade the food you need to survive for some green paper? I sure wouldn't." Reading a personal experience like this leads us to believe that the Undead Labs zombie MMO will have a heart -- a rotting, putrid, maggot-infested heart -- but still, a heart. [Photo Credit: Wacky Archives]
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| Flameseeker Chronicles: The care and feeding of your PUG Posted: 12 Sep 2011 03:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Guild Wars, Opinion, Flameseeker Chronicles  As is often the way, some quality time with Guild Wars and my alliance solved that problem! While I was playing last week, I was keeping an eye on a discussion in alliance chat regarding PUG groups and the frustration that some of my allies were experiencing at their virtual hands. It set me to thinking about the unusual situation PUGs find themselves in in Guild Wars, so follow along after the jump and let's talk about it! Continue reading Flameseeker Chronicles: The care and feeding of your PUG
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| Face of Mankind revamps mission system, hints at combat and economic tweaks Posted: 12 Sep 2011 02:30 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Patches, News items, Roleplaying, Dev Diaries, Sandbox  Nexeon Technologies has just sent out another email blast to former players detailing the game's latest update, and the new patch contains a pretty extensive mission system overhaul designed to "create an experience full of roleplay and player freedom." We've linked to the patch notes below, and you'll also want to check out the new Face of Mankind developer blog on the game's official website. The first entry contains some exciting hints as to the game's new direction, including bits about the combat system, the economy, and the factional structure.
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| One Shots: Welcome to starting zone week Posted: 12 Sep 2011 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: Galleries, Screenshots, Perfect World, Free-to-play, One Shots  Here's a night-time shot of my Seeker in Tellus City, part of the Earthguard starting zone in Perfect World International. I've always thought the moon glow and huge stone faces make for some gorgeous adventuring in the evenings, not to mention the scenery included when you cruise through your home port attached to a kite!It's starting zone week here at One Shots. First impressions are a big deal, so many developers put a lot into that first zone you see. Show us a screenshot of your favorite starting zone -- 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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| DDO's Update 11 arises with the artful Artificer Posted: 12 Sep 2011 01:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Classes, Patches, Free-to-play  Update 11 adds a completely new high-level quest hub called House Cannith, where players can adventure out into a new wilderness area, dive into a trio of dungeons, tackle a pair of raids, and finish off the day with a trip to House Cannith's famed crafting hall. The cornerstone of this massive patch is the addition of the Artificer class, a steampunk-infused hybrid ranged damage-dealer with a snazzy look that would fit in fine at any geek convention in the world. To celebrate the advent of the Artificer, Turbine's Kyle Horner and Steve Muray sat down to compose a back-and-forth dev diary about the development and dark secrets concerning the class. The duo thinks that it will appeal to trigger-happy players who love their "pew pew." VIP players (subscribers) can start enjoying the new content today, but the rest of the playerbase is going to have to wait until the 15th to purchase the class and quest content from the DDO store.
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| Not to be underestimated: Guild Wars 2 Asura Week begins Posted: 12 Sep 2011 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Guild Wars 2, Races  Matt Barrett is the first to weigh in with an in-depth look at the design process behind the look of the Asura race. There have been a lot of changes from the original appearance of the race as the artists worked to find a style that truly reflected who the Asura are, and Matt treats readers to the original look as well as later iterations. The blog post also includes a video narrated by Matt that shows off real-time creation of a piece of Asura concept art. Check out the video and details of Asura creation on the ArenaNet blog.
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| Storybricks taking an alternative approach to MMO story Posted: 12 Sep 2011 11:00 AM PDT Filed under: Game mechanics, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Miscellaneous, Sandbox  Enter Storybricks, a new concept from Namaste Entertainment that eschews the big boys' affinity for tacking single-player narratives onto a traditional MMO foundation in favor of player-generated content. Storybricks is more tool than game at this point, and a new post at Kill Ten Rats sheds a bit of light on what makes the software unique. Ravious describes Storybricks as an offshoot of tabletop roleplaying, and as such, a concept that linear gaming and conventional MMO fans may not embrace. It's an interesting read, and it features commentary from developer Brian Green and community manager Kelly Heckman. You can read more about Storybricks via Massively's hands-on impressions piece from this year's GenCon.
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