MMO Updates |
- Massively Exclusive: RIFT - Drowning in Snow, Chapter VI
- Grudge match: RIFT faction rivalry heating up for one-year anniversary
- Square-Enix preparing for Final Fantasy XIV recurring billing
- Massively Speaking Episode 177: Wonton hussy
- Ubisoft may be working on a Wii U MMO
- The Daily Grind: What MMO holiday event are you looking forward to?
- Issue 3 of Whiteout available for Champions Online players
- Not So Massively: It's a tactical online action MOBA-RPG MMO!
- Jade Dynasty: Legacy to introduce new classes, dungeon, and more
- Diablo III game designers talk Inferno difficulty and twinking
- Allods Online implements Overwolf in-game overlay
- Lock and (re)load: BioWare preps us for The Old Republic's launch
- Undead Labs' writer talks story in zombie MMOs
- EverQuest II dev tour video details Beastlord, new Freeport, Mercs and more
- Flameseeker Chronicles: Guild Wars' elite areas -- The Fissure of Woe
- Star Wars: The Old Republic beta test attracts 2 million players
- Wings Over Atreia: In defense of PvP -- a carebear's conversion
| Massively Exclusive: RIFT - Drowning in Snow, Chapter VI Posted: 06 Dec 2011 09:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Lore, RIFT  Wait, no, that's not right at all. When we last left the adventurers Kira and Uriel, they weren't riding off in triumph. They were knee-deep in betrayal, which throws the entire story up to this point into question. So it does seem they've got a little adventuring left to do, doesn't it? Click on past the break for Prone Meridian, the final chapter in this exclusive piece of RIFT fiction, brought to you by the team at Trion Worlds and (of course) the team here at Massively. Or take a look at the previous five chapters if you've missed them before now, since this one won't make much sense otherwise. Continue reading Massively Exclusive: RIFT - Drowning in Snow, Chapter VI
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| Grudge match: RIFT faction rivalry heating up for one-year anniversary Posted: 06 Dec 2011 08:30 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Events, in-game, PvP, RIFT  Trion said that it's already deep into the planning stages of heating up the conflict between the game's two sides, which is planned for next spring. The current Fae Yule festival is meant to be a quiet moment before everything explodes; a peace that is soon to be shattered. Design Director Hal Hanlin puts a date on the upcoming Factionopalypse: "We're planning to drive a wedge between the factions for the game's one-year anniversary." This puts the date of the event in early March 2012. Currently, while the two factions don't necessarily get along, they both are working toward the same goal of repelling the invading planar forces. It's just that they use different approaches and philosophies as they truck along.
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| Square-Enix preparing for Final Fantasy XIV recurring billing Posted: 06 Dec 2011 08:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Business models, MMO industry, Patches, News items, Final Fantasy XIV  Square plans to suspend all FFXIV service accounts on January 5th in order to ensure that no customers are charged without their consent, and the company suggests that fans who wish to continue to play the game renew and set up their payment methods on December 16th. Finally, Square is offering a discounted billing rate ($9.99 per month) that will last until the release of Final Fantasy XIV's 2.0 patch. More info is available via the game's official website.
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| Massively Speaking Episode 177: Wonton hussy Posted: 06 Dec 2011 07:00 AM PST Filed under: Podcasts, Culture, News items, Opinion, Humor, Massively Speaking, Miscellaneous  Have a comment for the podcasters? Shoot an email to podcast@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. Continue reading Massively Speaking Episode 177: Wonton hussy
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| Ubisoft may be working on a Wii U MMO Posted: 06 Dec 2011 06:00 AM PST Filed under: New titles, Consoles, Rumors  The first step in the puzzle comes from Ubisoft's Emile Gauthier, who posted the following tweet yesterday: "Ubisoft Quebec is working on a NEW AAA MMORPG Game and we need people to fill these very strategic positions." The link attached sends readers to Ubisoft's Facebook page, where a number of recently posted job descriptions are listed. These jobs include Senior Engine Programmer (Wii U -- AAA title), Network Programmer (Wii U -- AAA title), Tools Programmer (AAA MMO), Online Game Design Project Manager, Programmer Gameplay (MMO AAA), and Animation Art Director (MMO AAA). Since all of these have been lumped together and added within a few days of each other, one might come to the conclusion that it is for the same game -- a Wii U MMO. Of course, the MMO and Wii U title may turn out to be two separate projects, but in any case we're interested to see what Ubisoft has planned for our favorite game genre.
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| The Daily Grind: What MMO holiday event are you looking forward to? Posted: 06 Dec 2011 05:00 AM PST Filed under: Culture, Events, in-game, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous  So what are you most looking forward to? Will you be sticking with the familiar, long-running traditions of Wintersday in Guild Wars? Are you hoping for more of last year's hilariously misinterpreted holiday traditions from the citizens of Fallen Earth's Wasteland? Or are you dying to check out RIFT's very first holiday celebration? What holiday event are you looking forward to and why?  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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| Issue 3 of Whiteout available for Champions Online players Posted: 05 Dec 2011 06:00 PM PST Filed under: Super-hero, Patches, News items, Free-to-play, Champions Online  As with previous installments of the series, the new issue can be played by any character over level 11 and provides special rewards in addition to the usual mission benefits. But if you've already played through the mission, you can take a look at the game's latest Art Corner, which shows off the design of the mechanical antagonists plaguing the newest mission installment (and the subsequent ones as well, most likely).
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| Not So Massively: It's a tactical online action MOBA-RPG MMO! Posted: 05 Dec 2011 05:00 PM PST Filed under: Betas, Video, Game mechanics, New titles, Patches, PvP, News items, Free-to-play, Dev Diaries, Not So Massively, MOBA  This week we learned that Diablo III beta testers will soon be getting a taste of the real money auction house, and fansite DiabloFans has been digging inside the game files to unearth details of the Mystic follower and her array of equipment enchantments. Blacklight: Retribution opened its closed beta on Thursday 1st December, and Path of Exile received a huge patch as it draws closer to release. Bloodline Champions launched a charity pack containing a limited-edition avatar and title, with all the proceeds going to gaming charity Child's Play. Rise of Immortals reveals upcoming lion immortal Kavashiir and shows off its new crystalline creep models. Skip past the cut for details of this week's biggest news from the world of MOBAs and other big online games that aren't quite MMOs. Continue reading Not So Massively: It's a tactical online action MOBA-RPG MMO!
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| Jade Dynasty: Legacy to introduce new classes, dungeon, and more Posted: 05 Dec 2011 04:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Classes, Expansions, News items, Free-to-play, Jade Dynasty, Dungeons  Perfect World Entertainment announced today that it will be releasing a new expansion for its free-to-play MMORPG, Jade Dynasty. The expansion, known as Jade Dynasty: Legacy, is the largest single update to the game since 2010's Vengeance, and it brings quite a few new features to the martial arts title. For starters, heroes will be able to venture into the mysterious Incense Valley in search of -- what else -- powerful, delicious loot. Players will also be able to step into the shoes of two new classes: the pyromaniacal Incense Valley Mage and the completely uninformatively named Forta. These classes will no doubt be very helpful in the new Crimson Peaks Voidland instance, which will play host to a party of 10 to 25 players as they face its dangers in hopes of securing the treasures hidden within. A number of balance passes have been made as well, which will hopefully ensure a more fair and enjoyable experience. For the full details, head on over to the Jade Dynasty official site. [Source: Perfect World Entertainment press release]
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| Diablo III game designers talk Inferno difficulty and twinking Posted: 05 Dec 2011 03:30 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Game mechanics, Interviews, Previews, News items  And speaking of getting by with a bit of help from one's friends, Cheng and Chambers both agree that twinking out new characters is a time-honored part of the game's tradition; their job as designers requires them to find ways to ensure that twinking is a fun process for players. It's the sort of interview that can leave fans wanting more of the game before it's released -- which ties in nicely to the fact that you can pre-order the Book of Cain (a collection of in-universe lore and artwork) on Amazon right now. And you can even take a look past the break to see what the book looks like. Continue reading Diablo III game designers talk Inferno difficulty and twinking
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| Allods Online implements Overwolf in-game overlay Posted: 05 Dec 2011 03:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, News items, Free-to-play, Allods Online  If you're similar to me -- my condolences if you are -- then you're probably very friendly with your alt and tab keys. Browsing the internet, chatting with your non-gamer heretic friends on AIM, and gaming all at once requires a certain mastery of alt+tab-fu. Allods Online, however, is looking to remedy this multitasking predicament, so it has enlisted the help of Overwolf. Overwolf is an in-game overlay that provides players with a means to browse the interwebs, IM friends on multiple protocols, record their gameplay, and more without ever leaving the comfort of their game windows. Overwolf will be bundled with all future Allods client downloads, and existing players can download the gPotato version of the application from Overwolf's official site. For the full details on the new partnership, head on over to the official announcement.
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| Lock and (re)load: BioWare preps us for The Old Republic's launch Posted: 05 Dec 2011 02:30 PM PST Filed under: Sci-fi, Launches, Star Wars: The Old Republic  First on the list is to make sure that SWTOR players have the latest version of the client installed on their computers. BioWare says that if you played the game prior to November 25th, you'll probably need to install a completely new client; if you played since, you should be good. There are instructions on the forums as to how you can check which version you have. Pre-orders are wondering about early access, which BioWare says is the same between the three editions of the game -- it only matters when you added your pre-order code, not which edition you purchased. More information about the early access program is coming later this week. Finally, BioWare is preparing to make major changes to SWTOR's forums following a December 10th outage, during which all posts and PMs will be erased (as will infractions!). New forums, including those covering crew skills, story, lore and PvP, will be added, and guild forums will be expanded significantly. Those just starting to learn about the game will appreciate the new player help forum and community blog that's coming with the update.
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| Undead Labs' writer talks story in zombie MMOs Posted: 05 Dec 2011 02:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Horror, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Consoles, Dev Diaries  Stout is a huge fan of the zombie genre, and that's a good thing given Class3's focus on the walking dead and the creeptastic atmosphere surrounding them. So what does Stout see as a writer's main mission when it comes to the upcoming MMO? "Take the zombies out of the equation and be damn sure you've got a rock-solid story full of interesting, well-developed characters and exciting action," he explains. "Then put the zombies back in so those characters can smash their heads in with tire irons."
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| EverQuest II dev tour video details Beastlord, new Freeport, Mercs and more Posted: 05 Dec 2011 01:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Video, EverQuest II, Expansions, Previews, News items, Free-to-play  Sony Online Entertainment is getting the EverQuest II: Age of Discovery hype train up to full speed today with a new dev tour of the upcoming content. Emily Taylor, the game's Executive Producer, takes viewers through the new features that players can expect from the upcoming expansion. To start things off, she gives players a look at the new Beastlord class, which can tame creatures to utilize as Warders in order to alter its playstyle. We then get a look at the new and improved city of Freeport, which has been completely revamped. The city's four zones have been consolidated into one single zone, the visuals have been updated, and new questlines and content has been added. Finally, the tour stops off at the Seafarer's Roost Inn, where the new mercenaries can be hired -- for the right price, of course. So for the full video, click on past the cut and take a look. [Source: Sony Online Entertainment press release] Continue reading EverQuest II dev tour video details Beastlord, new Freeport, Mercs and more
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| Flameseeker Chronicles: Guild Wars' elite areas -- The Fissure of Woe Posted: 05 Dec 2011 12:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Guild Wars, Flameseeker Chronicles, Guides  With that in mind, I want to spend some time on one of my favorite parts of the game: elite areas. If you've finished all three campaigns and the expansion -- preferably both in normal and hard mode -- and you're ready for a bigger challenge, it's time to take on the elite areas. I'll be focusing on one elite area each week while we wait for Guild Wars 2 news, so follow along and let's get you started on the first area: the Fissure of Woe. Ready, set, kill! Continue reading Flameseeker Chronicles: Guild Wars' elite areas -- The Fissure of Woe
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| Star Wars: The Old Republic beta test attracts 2 million players Posted: 05 Dec 2011 11:00 AM PST Filed under: Sci-fi, MMO industry, News items, Star Wars: The Old Republic  It's no secret that Star Wars: The Old Republic is one of the most highly anticipated MMORPGs in recent memory, and the game's recently concluded public testing phase confirms the hype. The game's publisher, EA, announced that the SWTOR test phase drew in over 2 million players, and of those 2 million, 750,000 unique players jumped into the game over the Thanksgiving weekend alone. EA also shared some interesting statistics about the game's test players. Over the holiday weekend, players averaged about 12 hours of game time each for a grand total of over 9 million hours of playtime across the playerbase. If you didn't get a chance to try the beta, or if you simply couldn't get enough, you don't have much longer to wait. The game launches in about two weeks on December 20th, with pre-order head start beginning on the 15th.
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| Wings Over Atreia: In defense of PvP -- a carebear's conversion Posted: 05 Dec 2011 10:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Aion, PvP, Opinion, Wings Over Atreia  Sound familiar? How many times have we heard the phrase "It would have been perfect without PvP" or see gamers just pass over a title that fit their wants and needs almost to a "T" just because of that one feature without even giving it a chance? How many people have been captivated by the beauty and promise of Aion but refrained from trying it because of two little words: "open PvP"? Plenty. Even among my own circle of friends I have heard that refrain many a time. To that I say: It's your loss. In fact, I propose that PvP can be not only tolerated but actually enjoyed by almost everyone. And this week's Wings Over Atreia is dedicated to showing you how. Poppycock! you say? Now, before you dismiss me out of hand, please consider where this declaration is coming from. No one can (accurately) accuse me of being a PvPer. In fact, I more fully fall into the quintessential carebear category than anywhere else -- I am a casual-ish player and a roleplayer. Even so, I can now make the following (qualified) statement: My name is MJ. And I like PvP.* Don't believe that you, too, can make this statement? Take the leap past the break for a look at some tips on how to come to enjoy this integral feature more and not let fear keep you away from Aion. Continue reading Wings Over Atreia: In defense of PvP -- a carebear's conversion
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