MMO Updates |
- Gazillion's president says MMOs are in a rut
- The Game Archaeologist answers Asheron's Call 2: The fansite managers
- Win a Blizzcon ticket from Gamebreaker.TV
- Blizzard introduces RMT loophole in World of Warcraft
- The Daily Grind: Do you attend fan-created events in game?
- En Masse releases October TERA producer's letter
- Not So Massively: Diablo II ladder reset and Path of Exile livestream
- Lost Pages of Taborea: Patch 4.0.3 changes
- Get ready for War of the Immortals with a closed beta key from Massively
- Flameseeker Chronicles: Community, contests, and minion apocalypse
- Nexon takes Mabinogi offline to combat RMT
- Wings Over Atreia: The anti-rant
- Age of Wulin videos show life skills, combat
- EVE capital ship balancing coming this winter
- DUST 514 to be the 'biggest multiplayer FPS on the market'
- Devs reminisce on Dark Age of Camelot's 10th birthday
| Gazillion's president says MMOs are in a rut Posted: 11 Oct 2011 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Super-hero, Business models, Interviews, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Free-to-play, Marvel Universe Online  Who's David Brevik? Well he's the president and COO of the company bringing you the free-to-play Marvel Universe MMO (yeah, the one where you can't make your own character). More importantly -- in terms of gamer cred -- he also co-founded Blizzard North. Brevik was recently interviewed about WoW clones, free-to-play business models, and everything in between, and you can read the full text at GamesIndustry.biz. You'll need to register for an account to access the content, but registration is free.
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| The Game Archaeologist answers Asheron's Call 2: The fansite managers Posted: 11 Oct 2011 09:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Asheron's Call, Interviews, The Game Archaeologist, Post-Apocalyptic  The Game Archaeologist: Please introduce yourself, your current job position, and how you got involved with Asheron's Call 2 back in the day? Kiersten Samwell: I'm Kiersten Samwell, Community Relations and Social Media Manager for KingsIsle Entertainment, the creator of Wizard101. I used to be the Site Manager for Warcry's Crossroads of Dereth/Asheron's Call site as Ellen Ripley, so it was natural to work with the site manager of their Asheron's Call 2 fansite as well. His name is Roberto, and he was just an incredible site manager. Of course, being an avid AC1 player, I enjoyed AC2 for both its similarities to and its differences from AC1. Robert Hackett: Hi, I'm Robert Hackett, the Managing MMO Editor of GamersInfo.net. I actually got invited to one of the betas along with a friend of mine. The lag was so bad (the day I logged in may have been a stress test; I can't remember) that I told my friend that there was no way my rig could handle that. Fast forward to the month after release and Ophelea from the old AC Crossroads site begged me to come over to AC2 and be an editor for the database she was trying to build. Logged in and the game was a million percent better. I stayed to work on the database and eventually fell in love with it beyond "work!" Continue reading The Game Archaeologist answers Asheron's Call 2: The fansite managers
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| Win a Blizzcon ticket from Gamebreaker.TV Posted: 11 Oct 2011 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: Contests, Events, real-world, Massively Event Coverage, Miscellaneous  To try your hand at winning the golden ticket, you simply have to buy as many Wonka bars as you can possibly... no, wait, that's not right. Actually, all you have to do is head over to Gamebreaker.TV's Facebook page and click "like" to be entered into the drawing. Blizzcon tickets were priced at $175 apiece and were sold out as of this past May. The convention might not have the big reveal of Blizzard's next big MMO, but it's got plenty of Foo Fighters to compensate.
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| Blizzard introduces RMT loophole in World of Warcraft Posted: 11 Oct 2011 07:00 AM PDT Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Business models  World of Warcraft's newly announced Guardian Cub is on its way to the pet store and will retail for $10. The difference between this and other pets available in the store is that the Cub will not bind to the player who purchased it, but will remain bind-on-equip -- and tradable -- until it is used. Effectively, this turns the Cub into a $10 currency item that can be traded for in-game gold, a fact that Blizzard openly acknowledges in the pet's FAQ: While our goal is to offer players alternative ways to add a Pet Store pet to their collection, we're OK with it if some players choose to use the Guardian Cub as a safe and secure way to try to acquire a little extra in-game gold without turning to third-party gold-selling services. However, please keep in mind that there's never any guarantee that someone will purchase what you put up for sale in the auction house, or how much they'll pay for it. Also, it's important to note that we take a firm stance against buying gold from outside sources because in most cases, the gold these companies offer has been stolen from compromised accounts. While some players might be able to acquire some extra gold by putting the Guardian Cub in the auction house, that's preferable to players contributing to the gold-selling "black market" and account theft.Player reaction has been strong and varied, with many seeing this as a full endorsement of RMT in WoW. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
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| The Daily Grind: Do you attend fan-created events in game? Posted: 11 Oct 2011 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Events, in-game, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous  Those aren't the only ones, though. Enthusiastic fans love to get involved and create events to celebrate milestones, support charities, or just have fun and blast through content as a big group. Large or small, these sorts of events are everywhere. What we want to know today is whether or not you participate in them? If the community is promoting a party in your game of choice, do you add it to your calendar and make sure to stop by? Are there deciding factors that help you decide whether you'll attend or not, factors like event size, level of organization, or potential prizes and loot? Hit the comment button and let us know!  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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| En Masse releases October TERA producer's letter Posted: 10 Oct 2011 07:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, News items, TERA, Dev Diaries  It's been a while since we last heard from En Masse Entertainment, but the wait is now over. Chris Hager is back on the scene with the newest TERA producer's letter, and there are a few details that may make fans a bit more excited about the upcoming title. The studio recently met with a few members of the Bluehole Studio overseas team. The result of this meeting? "A firm alpha/beta/launch schedule" for the upcoming action MMORPG. What is that schedule? Well, we don't know yet. Sorry! The next phase of alpha testing will be taking place soon, though it's important to note that the studio is selecting testers internally. With any luck, this means that beta is just on the horizon. Keep in touch for further updates, which Mr. Hager assures us are coming soon.
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| Not So Massively: Diablo II ladder reset and Path of Exile livestream Posted: 10 Oct 2011 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: Video, Game mechanics, New titles, PvP, News items, PvE, Free-to-play, Not So Massively  With all the recent fuss over Diablo III, the game's predecessor Diablo II has gone largely unnoticed. This week we discover that the Diablo II ladder will be reset at the end of the month to give players a chance to experience the online game from the start before its sequel hits the shelves. We also introduce upcoming online FPS Hedone and invite all of our readers to tune into an exclusive Path of Exile closed beta livestream on Friday 14th. Heroes of Newerth this week released new ranged support hero Monarch, who is a giant butterfly and therefore awesome. League of Legends enjoyed the release of ranged ganker Xerath, a champion who can practically turn himself into an electric mortar cannon. Rise of Immortals delivered early details of upcoming immortal Talia, the dual-wielding vampire queen. Finally, upcoming online FPS Blacklight: Retribution released its closed beta schedule this week, announcing that the game will be playable for selected individuals starting October 27th. 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 II ladder reset and Path of Exile livestream
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| Lost Pages of Taborea: Patch 4.0.3 changes Posted: 10 Oct 2011 05:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Events, in-game, Game mechanics, Patches, Free-to-play, Runes of Magic  As it turns out, many vocal players were saddened to see the removal of macro functions that gave them an incredible amount of flexibility. The abilities given to players to make scripts, macros and addons with amazing freedom have been among RoM's strong points, but they also allowed so much freedom that they skirted the boundary between "helpful addon" and "botting." The proposed macro change may be one of the fastest retractions Frogster has ever had to make, but there's also the balancing that Knights received and the Juice Festival to talk about in this week's Lost Pages of Taborea. Grab your favorite juice and meet me after the break. Continue reading Lost Pages of Taborea: Patch 4.0.3 changes
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| Get ready for War of the Immortals with a closed beta key from Massively Posted: 10 Oct 2011 04:30 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Free-to-play, Giveaways  If you're anxious to start checking out the game and hunting down the bugs, we've got you covered here at Massively with a pile of beta keys courtesy of Perfect World Entertainment. Just visit our giveaway page to grab your key code, then head to the Perfect World site. Log in, go to "My Account," click "Redeem Beta Keys," and enter your code. That's it -- you're in the War of the Immortals beta! Have fun, and thanks to PWE for the beta keys! 
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| Flameseeker Chronicles: Community, contests, and minion apocalypse Posted: 10 Oct 2011 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Guild Wars, Events, real-world, Events, in-game, Flameseeker Chronicles  It's a chance to take a bit of a breather, so this week I'm focusing on some community events and a little extra. Jump past the cut and let's get started! Continue reading Flameseeker Chronicles: Community, contests, and minion apocalypse
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| Nexon takes Mabinogi offline to combat RMT Posted: 10 Oct 2011 03:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, MMO industry, News items, Free-to-play, Mabinogi  Players were warned of the downtime approximately one hour before it occurred, and though there's no time table for a restart, Nexon has said that it will compensate customers accordingly. "We have found lots of RMT [resulting] from workers and auto players during the last holiday. So we are working on [an] investigation [...] and proceeding [with] broadscale system maintenance to root it out," the company said.
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| Wings Over Atreia: The anti-rant Posted: 10 Oct 2011 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Aion, Opinion, Wings Over Atreia  Unfortunately, this is not a rant. In fact, this week's Wings Over Atreia is going to be an anti-rant. No, that does not mean I will rant against rants because I am opposed to them (that would still be a rant, not to mention they can be cathartic at times); rather, this will be the opposite of a rant. Yes folks, I am going to do something radical! Trolls, cover your eyes: I am going to give a compliment. And not just any compliment -- I am going to give praise to NCsoft's customer service! *gasp* What confluence of events in Aion brought me to this? Take a peek past the cut to see for yourself. Continue reading Wings Over Atreia: The anti-rant
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| Age of Wulin videos show life skills, combat Posted: 10 Oct 2011 01:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Video, Game mechanics, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Free-to-play, Sandbox, Crafting  While most MMOs focus completely on combat, Age of Wulin features some very intriguing non-combat aspects, many of which are found in the life skills tree. In addition to traditional gathering and crafting disciplines, there are also sewing, musician, artist, chess, fortune teller, and beggar skills, just to name a few. Combat isn't forgotten, course, and you can view a basic combat tutorial video and some life skill clips after the break. Continue reading Age of Wulin videos show life skills, combat
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| EVE capital ship balancing coming this winter Posted: 10 Oct 2011 12:30 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Patches, PvP, News items, Dev Diaries, Sandbox  The proliferation of supercapital ships has been roundly criticized in various EVE Online discourses over the years, and CCP feels the time is right to begin addressing the stagnant fleet fights that often result when hundreds of hard-to-kill megaships are clogging the space lanes. So what's the
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| DUST 514 to be the 'biggest multiplayer FPS on the market' Posted: 10 Oct 2011 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Sci-fi, EVE Online, Business models, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Free-to-play, MMOFPS, DUST 514  That's a fairly bold claim given the sheer number of multiplayer shooters already in existence, not to mention the staggering sales figures many of them achieve. Laurino's talking world maps and content, though, and when it comes to the ginormous sci-fi universe of New Eden, size does matter. "You're looking at a conflict taking place across thousands of planets, so we're not just talking a dozen maps -- we're talking an entire universe of planets and areas of engagement within them," Laurino told Eurogamer. Such scale doesn't come cheaply, though, and the only thing bigger than Dust 514's galaxy map is its in-game store. Laurino says that CCP has thousands of microtransaction items ready to be purchased over the PlayStation network, and Sony's willingness to work with the CCP devs is noted as the primary reason for the upcoming shooter's console exclusivity. Laurino also mentions that Dust's beta will be something of an exclusive rollout called Private Trials, but no date-related info is available as of yet.
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| Devs reminisce on Dark Age of Camelot's 10th birthday Posted: 10 Oct 2011 11:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Dark Age of Camelot, Culture, MMO industry, News items  The piece is heavy on the meta details, and a read-through will give you an idea of how drastically the MMO industry has changed over the past decade. Firor talks about Mythic's scramble to meet the crushing demand for more servers and the resulting mad dash for the nearest computer retailer to purchase a dozen desktops that were quickly loaded with Linux and whipped into an ad-hoc server cluster. There are more interesting details, of course, and you can read them all at Broken Toys.
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