| The Anvil of Crom: Server merges, separation, and why both are potentially swell Posted: 05 Jun 2011 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Opinion, Free-to-play, The Anvil of Crom Last week I mentioned that the Age of Conan Unrated announcement has given us a lot to talk about. There's the 800-lb. free-to-try elephant in the room, there's a bunch of new content that's both coming soon and already here, and there's also an endlessly fascinating quote from Funcom game director Craig " Silirrion" Morrison that is, well, endlessly fascinating. This last bit got lost in the big announcement blitzkrieg, and because it was buried in the depths of a thread about roleplay on the EU boards, it's safe to assume that 99.99% of Age of Conan players didn't read it. Regardless, it may well be one of the more interesting and exciting developments in Age of Conan's short history. What was it about? Well, it involves servers, server merges, and new technology that could change the way we think about MMORPGs and server populations. Continue reading The Anvil of Crom: Server merges, separation, and why both are potentially swell  The Anvil of Crom: Server merges, separation, and why both are potentially swell originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 05 Jun 2011 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| LotRO musicians prepare for Weatherstock 2011 Posted: 05 Jun 2011 09:00 AM PDT Filed under: Culture, Events, in-game With summer almost upon us, the fair free folk of Middle-earth are gearing up for the largest player-organized in-game event of the year: Weatherstock 2011! Lord of the Rings Online adventurers from around the world will flock to the summit of Weathertop in the Lone-lands on the Landroval server to hear nine excellent outfits perform in an epic Battle of the Bands. A Casual Stroll to Mordor has all of the essential details for this event, which runs from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. EDT on Saturday, June 18th. Among those contributing to the concert are The Green Hill Music Society, The Breakfast Club, and The Blackheart Pirates. Each band will perform a trio of songs (plus a possible encore) in an effort to take home one of three awards. Weatherstock is made possible by LotRO's unique music system, which allows players to compose and perform songs with a variety of instruments. This is always a fun event, and the LotRO Lorebook has additional information for those attending (hint: turn off names!). Mark this on your calendar so that you don't miss the excellent tunes! LotRO musicians prepare for Weatherstock 2011 originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 05 Jun 2011 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Global Chat: To each his own edition Posted: 05 Jun 2011 08:00 AM PDT |
| The Daily Grind: What game rewards you best for limited playtime? Posted: 05 Jun 2011 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Game mechanics, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous Sometimes, we have all the time in the world to sit down and play a game to our hearts' content. But that's not the most common situation -- more often than not we have to scramble to get some playtime in. In party-based games such as EverQuest and Final Fantasy XI, that can unfortunately make any serious play impossible, which is part of the reason more recent games have allowed players to do something with only a little time to spare. But the specifics of what you can do with a limited play session can vary a great deal. There are games that will let you pick up and go from anywhere, and there are games that still expect you to commit a solid chunk of time to get anything accomplished. We've asked before how you manage your limited time, but today we want to know -- what game feels like it does the best job of rewarding you even if you only have a little while to play? Where does it seem that you get the maximum reward for your minimal play?  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!The Daily Grind: What game rewards you best for limited playtime? originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 05 Jun 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Not So Massively: Overpowered characters edition Posted: 04 Jun 2011 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: Galleries, Screenshots, Video, Game mechanics, News items, Not So Massively  Welcome to Not So Massively, our weekly roundup of the top news from popular multiplayer online battle arenas (MOBAs) and other multiplayer online games that aren't quite MMOs. Published every Saturday, the column covers games such as League of Legends, Heroes of Newerth, Defense of the Ancients, Bloodline Champions, and more. Each week here at Massively, we're inundated with news about multiplayer games that are clearly massively popular but aren't quite MMOs. With the growing popularity of online gaming, many MOBAs and other online games have have developed bigger communities than some popular MMOs, and their developers have adopted ideas from the MMO genre. Last week, we looked at Ubisoft's upcoming online FPS Ghost Recon Online and the huge Bloodline Champions patch 1.2 update. We also looked at Diablo III's runestone system, the Rise of Immortals cash shop and co-op PvE maps, and the Heroes of Newerth servers coming under attack. The big news of last week was undoubtedly League of Legends' ambitious player-mediated banning Tribunal going into full live testing, putting the fates of offensive players into the hands of their milder-mannered counterparts. In this week's Not So Massively, we take an in-depth look at Heroes of Newerth's latest overpowered hero Amun Ra and League of Legends' devastating new clockwork champion Orianna. We also get a first look at the Rise of Immortals 3vE map layout, Realm of the Titans' hero Abraxas and Karma Online's upcoming closed beta. Continue reading Not So Massively: Overpowered characters edition Not So Massively: Overpowered characters edition originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 04 Jun 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| The Mog Log: A tour for May Posted: 04 Jun 2011 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Final Fantasy XI, Game mechanics, Patches, Opinion, Consoles, The Mog Log In times past, I've generally discussed the various update tours of Final Fantasy XI separate from this column. This time around, I'm trying something different because I got to take the May version update for a spin not so long ago and there's some interesting stuff to discuss that came out of that tour, stuff I wouldn't really be discussing normally as my Vana'diel-endgame-fu is pretty weak at the moment. So that's the preamble for this week; if you really don't like this way of doing things, let me know and I'll not do it again. Cool? Cool. The May version update, as regular readers may recall, was an update with a roadmap that left some questions in my head. Is revitalizing Dynamis really a worthy goal? Will Voidwatch be enough to tide over players? How will everything balance out? Why can't I transform into a baby chocobo at will? So getting a chance to see the content firsthand was enlightening, both for the questions that it did wind up answering and the questions that it didn't. Continue reading The Mog Log: A tour for May The Mog Log: A tour for May originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 04 Jun 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| One Shots: Customization is king Posted: 04 Jun 2011 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: Galleries, Screenshots, Free-to-play, One Shots, All Points Bulletin, Crime The APB community has turned out in force this week to show off high-tech mounts on One Shots, and those players submitting images have good reason to be proud of their vehicles. APB enthusiast John explains further: Customization is the single best thing a game can offer to keep my attention. Not since pre-CU Star Wars Galaxies have I felt the sense of ownership I get in APB. Driving, shooting and designing unique looks and rides -- what's not to love? Attached is a picture of Tha Crim Huntah, my choice ride when I am out arresting Crims. We're gearing up (pardon the pun) to move from mounts to enemies for next week's One Shots. Send the funniest, most strangely designed, or scariest enemy you've taken on in an MMO to oneshots@massively.com along with your name and the name of the game. Tell us a little about the foe and we'll share it here on One Shots! One Shots: Customization is king originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 04 Jun 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| ArcheAge CBT3 review talks crafting, labor points, and nautical exploration Posted: 04 Jun 2011 01:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, MMO industry, New titles, News items, ArcheAge If you've been curious about the crafting and gathering systems in XL Games' forthcoming ArcheAge sandbox, you'll want to check out the third and final part of ArcheAge-Online's extensive CBT3 review. The piece has a detailed breakdown on the game's labor point system (a third point pool, if you will, much like more traditional health and mana pools). Labor points are somewhat scarce despite regenerating over time, and most of the game's non-combat activities require them (harvesting apples from apple trees, chopping down said trees, building furniture and boats, etc.). It's a unique system, and ArcheAge-Online goes into the nitty gritty of the mechanics and offers up plenty of opinion as well. The review also features commentary and video footage on sailing and nautical exploration, with interesting tidbits about boat construction and the discovery of player settlements on uncharted islands off the beaten path. Head to ArcheAge-Online for more. ArcheAge CBT3 review talks crafting, labor points, and nautical exploration originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 04 Jun 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Win a new Wizard101 pet and accessories from Massively! Posted: 04 Jun 2011 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: Contests, Free-to-play, Kids, Wizard101, Giveaways What's better than a new in-game pet for Wizard101? A new in-game pet that comes complete with a bundle of goodies to help your new friend grow up big and strong much more quickly than normal! The folks at KingsIsle Entertainment have given us 25 codes to share with our readers. Each code contains one pet and a Mega Snack Pack -- a bundle of consumables that's " full of healthy snacks that will help your pet by greatly increasing their Agility, Strength, Intellect, Will and Power, and even their Experience!" You might be wondering what pet you'll get with this code -- and we're wondering too! Each code contains one of 20 random pets: everything from frogs to unicorns to dragons to snowmen and more. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment here telling us what you love about Wizard101 by noon EDT tomorrow, June 5th. We'll send codes out to 25 lucky winners shortly after the deadline. Check out our contest rules, and good luck! Win a new Wizard101 pet and accessories from Massively! originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 04 Jun 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| SWTOR shocks us with a new trailer for E3 Posted: 04 Jun 2011 11:30 AM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, Trailers, Video, Events, real-world, New titles, Star Wars: The Old Republic E3 starts next week, and Star Wars: The Old Republic is more than prepared. In fact, late yesterday evening, the developers at BioWare released a brand-new trailer via GameSpot that teases everything we will see coming out of the expo. Daniel Erickson said this to GameSpot: We will have stations on the show floor for the first time, giving everyone hands-on [time] with Tatooine, a planet we've never shown. We'll have a first look at some boss fights and will be taking the wraps off our end-game content. We are also going to be debuting the grand conclusion to Blur's amazing CG trilogy and will have a few more surprises thrown in as well. BioWare is known for producing top-quality story-driven RPGs, but this is the company's first step into the MMO world. Players who have questioned whether SWTOR would be an MMO may be happy to see words like vehicles, social hubs, and raids in this latest trailer. Watch the full trailer and let us know what you think. I suggest watching 1:03 to 1:05 over and over. Who can get enough of electrocuting Jawas? SWTOR shocks us with a new trailer for E3 originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 04 Jun 2011 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Intel's new found commitment to Ultrabooks might lead you to believe they are giving up on the Atom market, but the company used its forum at Computex to reassure the media that the platform is not just alive and well, but 
