MMO Updates

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• Choose My Adventure: So long, Lineage II
• Year One: A look back at DCUO on its first anniversary
• New TERA gameplay clips feature dungeons, boss fight, exploration
• Portions of Twinity virtual world taken offline
• Age of Empires Online readying skirmish mode, new booster pack
• League of Legends pops the cork for Lunar Revel
• The Daily Grind: Do character wipes influence your beta participation?
• Dawn of Fantasy shows off the Online Kingdoms mode
• RIFT asks its community to test raids
• The Game Archaeologist moves into Lucasfilm's Habitat: Part 1
• Newest City of Heroes video documents the heroes of the Freedom Phalanx
• Massively Speaking Episode 181
• And then there were two: Warhammer Online merges servers once more
• BioWare responds to The Old Republic performance issues
• CCP shows off EVE neocom updates
• Hyperspace Beacon: Cheating vs. poor design
• Massively Exclusive: WindSlayer 2's dungeon diary
• New ArcheAge video shows off 34 minutes of housing gameplay
• Betray your mates with Age of Wushu's boss sidekick system

Choose My Adventure: So long, Lineage II Posted: 11 Jan 2012 10:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Galleries, Video, Lineage 2, Events, in-game, PvP, Endgame, Opinion, Free-to-play, Choose My Adventure I'm here at the end of the line. Six weeks and 48 levels brings me to the close of my time on Choose My Adventure with Lineage II. It became a little grindy toward the end, but that's due to my inability to find a group, something that's important in order to experience some of the content. When I began this little adventure, I knew nothing of Lineage II. I'm walking away a regular player who's looking forward to trying out the numerous PvP options. I wanted to finish this ride with a bang, and I was lucky enough to be ending after a siege weekend. Lineage II has some rather involved sieges and other PvP content that should please many players at mid- to high-level. I was a litle confused at first, but I was able to use the broadcast crystal to watch some siege gameplay. This final farewell covers a lot of PvP in the game, so buckle up! Gallery: CMA: Lineage 2 Continue reading Choose My Adventure: So long, Lineage II Choose My Adventure: So long, Lineage II originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Year One: A look back at DCUO on its first anniversary Posted: 11 Jan 2012 09:00 AM PST Filed under: Super-hero, Business models, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Patches, Free-to-play, DC Universe Online Given the popularity of Batman, Superman, and the rest of the DC Comics license, you'd think an MMO based in and around Gotham City and Metropolis would be nothing short of wildly successful. If anything, though, DC Universe Online (as well as dearly departed Sony Online Entertainment titles like Star Wars Galaxies and The Matrix Online) has proved that big-name IPs are not a surefire recipe for an MMO blockbuster. While DCUO has picked up a head of steam over the past couple of months, it took a free-to-play business model conversion to help the superhero title achieve success in its rookie year. Continue reading Year One: A look back at DCUO on its first anniversary Year One: A look back at DCUO on its first anniversary originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 11 Jan 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

New TERA gameplay clips feature dungeons, boss fight, exploration Posted: 11 Jan 2012 08:30 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Video, Game mechanics, MMO industry, New titles, News items, TERA, Dungeons TERA has fallen a bit off the radar due to the lengthy gestation period of its North American client release. The game launched in Korea a year ago, and so far En Masse Entertainment hasn't managed to nail down a definitive launch date for the western version. Fortunately, there are fan sites to pick up the slack, and Steparu has updated with a trio of TERA gameplay videos sure to warm even the most jaded Arborean heart. The clips are all fairly lengthy, and they feature a Castanic Slayer in various gameplay locales including dungeons, boss fights, and the open world (specifically, the picturesque New Ellenon zone). We should also point out that the main character in all three clips is a female Castanic, so fair warning to those who take offense to skimpy armor. Continue reading New TERA gameplay clips feature dungeons, boss fight, exploration New TERA gameplay clips feature dungeons, boss fight, exploration originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 11 Jan 2012 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Steparu

Portions of Twinity virtual world taken offline Posted: 11 Jan 2012 08:00 AM PST Filed under: MMO industry, News items, Legal, Virtual worlds, Miscellaneous Twinity users are experiencing a bit of lawyerly inconvenience according to virtual world blogger Tateru Nino. Portions of the Metaversum GmbH sim have been taken offline for unspecified reasons, and Nino speculates that "someone's team of undead zombie lawyers woke up and started asserting intellectual property rights and licensing restrictions." The Twinity project makes use of both Google Maps and 3-D data to recreate cities like Singapore, London, Miami, and New York, but patrons will need to put their online party plans on hold for the time being. Twinity's dev team posted a cryptic explanation, along with its intent to "try to reactivate the cities in the future." Portions of Twinity virtual world taken offline originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 11 Jan 2012 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Dwell On It

Age of Empires Online readying skirmish mode, new booster pack Posted: 11 Jan 2012 07:00 AM PST Filed under: Trailers, Video, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Patches, News items, Free-to-play, MMORTS, Age of Empires Online Age of Empires Online is getting a skirmish mode courtesy of the upcoming Skirmish Hall booster pack. The new gameplay will allow players to team up and fight AI opponents in pursuit of experience and loot. Skirmish mode will pit you and a friend (or computer ally) against four computer-controlled enemies, and each AI can take on a variety of different playstyles. Each style is represented by a unique leader, and there are eight of these to choose from. Also of note is the fact that skirmish mode unlocks all of the game's units regardless of your overall level. If you want to preview some powerful Age of Empires units that are hidden away behind hours of advancement gameplay, skirmish mode is the way to go. Check out the skirmish mode trailer after the break for more details. Continue reading Age of Empires Online readying skirmish mode, new booster pack Age of Empires Online readying skirmish mode, new booster pack originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 11 Jan 2012 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: PC Gamer

League of Legends pops the cork for Lunar Revel Posted: 11 Jan 2012 06:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Galleries, Screenshots, Events, in-game, Free-to-play, MOBA Feeling the doldrums of winter settling into your bones? Missing the colorful lights and excessive sugar dosages of last month? The good news is that there's still a great holiday to celebrate this month -- the Chinese New Year -- and League of Legends is totally on board with any excuse to party. Coming to the game is the brand-new Lunar Revel holiday, which is "a time to celebrate the possibilities of the future with the coming of the new moon." Not only will the game be decorated with cheery lanterns, but Riot Games is adding some new goodies to enjoy, including special consumables in the store and unique skins for Talon, Sona, Wukong, and Lee Sin. The devs say that this marks the beginning of many cultural-themed holidays as they go on a "world tour" to highlight the many countries that play League of Legends. You can get an advance sneak peek at the new Lunar Revel costumes in the gallery below. [Source: Riot Games press release] Gallery: League of Legends League of Legends pops the cork for Lunar Revel originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 11 Jan 2012 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

The Daily Grind: Do character wipes influence your beta participation? Posted: 11 Jan 2012 05:00 AM PST Filed under: Betas, MMO industry, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous A decade ago, there was never any question that characters you created during an MMO beta would be deleted. It was going to happen. You didn't really question it; no tantrums were thrown when it happened. But that's been changing in the last few years as more and more companies allow their open beta testers to keep their beta characters into launch, perhaps as incentive to get gamers playing and testing riskier, newer games. Of course, sometimes that launch never happens anyway, and the game just lingers on in beta forever, giving us the impression that keeping characters is not so much a reward for early adopters as it is a necessity for a game that will never emerge from its open beta. Would you be more likely to play a beta if you knew you could keep your characters permanently? Or do you just roll your eyes at the idea that such a beta is a beta in the first place? 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: Do character wipes influence your beta participation? originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 11 Jan 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Dawn of Fantasy shows off the Online Kingdoms mode Posted: 10 Jan 2012 06:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Video, Game mechanics, Previews, News items, MMORTS If you've followed stories on Dawn of Fantasy, you know that the game offers an MMORTS mode in addition to its offline modes. What you may not know is exactly how the MMO side of gameplay works out in practice, and that's the sort of thing that's really important to know before you dive into a game. The team at Reverie World Studios has helpfully put together a video diary detailing the Online Kingdoms mode, showing off how players can experience the game in a persistent online world. The focus of the game, naturally, is on creating and running one's own city; it takes some time to turn your plot of land into a functional city, and in the midst of all that you still have troops to recruit, train, and improve. It's a mixture of quest-based gameplay and more traditional RTS mechanics, but you don't need to take our word for it. Jump past the break to watch the full video and see if it looks like the right mix of both tastes for you. [Source: Reverie World Studios press release] Continue reading Dawn of Fantasy shows off the Online Kingdoms mode Dawn of Fantasy shows off the Online Kingdoms mode originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 10 Jan 2012 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

RIFT asks its community to test raids Posted: 10 Jan 2012 05:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Guilds, Patches, Endgame, News items, RIFT Do you like RIFT? Do you like raiding? Do you like to test raids in RIFT? Well, then, your ship may very well have come in. The team at Trion Worlds is looking to get some solid raid testing going, giving players a chance to see the next tier of raiding before it goes live. So the call is going out to guilds that have demolished the current endgame, and the best of the best will be pitted against the newest challenges on the horizon. To be eligible, guilds must have at least 20 members able to participate in two hours of raiding two nights per week; they must also currently be at 11/11 in Hammerknell. Candidates are also expected to have mature members capable of responsible feedback, since they are going to be testing new and possibly buggy combat. If you think your guild qualifies, have your guild leader (which may be you) respond to the call. And be prepared to blow through everything in minutes once it goes live -- that's always the risk. RIFT asks its community to test raids originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 10 Jan 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: RIFT Wants You! Via: TenTonHammer

The Game Archaeologist moves into Lucasfilm's Habitat: Part 1 Posted: 10 Jan 2012 04:00 PM PST Filed under: Video, MMO industry, Virtual worlds, The Game Archaeologist, Miscellaneous For some of you reading this, you may simply never have known a world before the internet existed by virtue of your age. It's not your fault, but as generational divisions go, this was a biggie. The internet saturates so much of our lives now that it's even difficult for those of us born prior to the '90s to remember how we functioned without smartphones, Google searches, and terabytes of cheap entertainment on demand. I think there were video game arcades in the mall or something. Because of this, some of you will not understand the import of how it felt when technology advanced to the point that people could reach out online and interact with others, first through written communication and later through applications and games. What we take for granted in today's MMOs -- the constant presence of thousands of real humans interacting with us in a virtual space -- simply blew the minds of those who first encountered it. And way back when, those encounters depended on the person and technology available. Some folks had access in the '60s and '70s to the early form of the internet and email in universities and government offices, but these close encounters of the virtual kind only started to make its way into households in the '80s (and even then, mostly to those plugged into the geek community). The developers of these programs -- the MUDs, the BBSes, CompuServe, etc. -- were truly pioneers forging a path while trying to figure things out on the fly. So it amazed me to hear that I've been missing out on a key part of MMO history by overlooking Lucasfilm's Habitat, which wasn't quite an MMO by modern standards and yet created a graphical virtual world with many of the elements that were adopted into later projects. In our two-week look at Habitat, we'll see just how eerily similar this 1986 title is to what we know today -- even though it came out on the Commodore 64. Continue reading The Game Archaeologist moves into Lucasfilm's Habitat: Part 1 The Game Archaeologist moves into Lucasfilm's Habitat: Part 1 originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 10 Jan 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Newest City of Heroes video documents the heroes of the Freedom Phalanx Posted: 10 Jan 2012 03:30 PM PST Filed under: Super-hero, Video, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Lore, News items, Free-to-play The Surviving Eight, the members of the Freedom Phalanx, are the most important heroes in the mythology of City of Heroes. But in the not-so-distant future, they're going to be down a member as the game's first signature arc reaches its conclusion. In case you're not totally familiar with the characters in question, however, you're in luck -- the latest video documentary shows off the big eight in all their glory, explaining how they got where they are and what the team hoped to explore with each character. Narrated by Matt Miller and Sean McCann, the video goes into detail about the powers of the survivors and their roles in the game, from Positron to the now-marked Statesman. It's a useful refresher on the game's lore, so if you're looking forward to the remainder of the signature arc and want to get a refresher on some of the fine points of lore, jump past the break for the video. Continue reading Newest City of Heroes video documents the heroes of the Freedom Phalanx Newest City of Heroes video documents the heroes of the Freedom Phalanx originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 10 Jan 2012 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Signature Arc ViDoc #2

Massively Speaking Episode 181 Posted: 10 Jan 2012 03:00 PM PST Filed under: Podcasts, Culture, News items, Opinion, Humor, Massively Speaking, Miscellaneous Massively Speaking Episode 181 is back this week with special guest Shawn Schuster! He's so handsome and charming. Anyway, Shawn joins Rubi and Justin this week to discuss the week in MMO news. Topics include Star Trek Online's move to free-to-play a little earlier for former subscribers, Star Wars: The Old Republic's patch 1.1, the new Elementalist update in Guild Wars, the Dominus bounty hunter system, and more! 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 181 Massively Speaking Episode 181 originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 10 Jan 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

And then there were two: Warhammer Online merges servers once more Posted: 10 Jan 2012 02:30 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, MMO industry, Warhammer Online, News items, Free-to-play Warhammer Online's server culls continue today as the Gorfang (North America) and Karak Azgal (Europe) servers are being retired. As we mentioned last month, Gorfang players will now be taking refuge on the Badlands server, while Karak Azgal's denizens will find a new home on Karak Norn. For those of you keeping score at home, this brings Warhammer Online's total operational servers to a whopping two. Players with characters on either server can transfer them to the remaining servers via the Mythic Account Center, though at the rate things are going, there may not be any servers left soon enough. And then there were two: Warhammer Online merges servers once more originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Warhammer Online server merges

BioWare responds to The Old Republic performance issues Posted: 10 Jan 2012 02:00 PM PST Filed under: Sci-fi, Bugs, News items, Star Wars: The Old Republic Many Star Wars: The Old Republic players have raised complaints on the official forums about the game's technical performance. A disconcertingly large number of users report poor framerates despite lowering the game's graphic settings or running the game on a high-end PC. BioWare, however, is not convinced that there's anything wrong with the game, and instead the company asserts that users' lame rigs must be to blame. OK, not really. But game director James Ohlen told Eurogamer that "most players aren't really having performance concerns" and chalks the reported performance issues up to low-end hardware. He goes on to add that "[the team] knows that it's important that there is a smaller group of people usually with lower end machines that are having problems in some areas. And one of the most important things for [the team is] to grow [its] service is to continue to bring in more players, including those players who only have low-end machines." In light of this, the studio has a team of developers who are devoted to fixing performance-inhibiting bugs, so if all goes well, we poor low-end-rig-users will be able to play the game comfortably soon enough. BioWare responds to The Old Republic performance issues originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Eurogamer

CCP shows off EVE neocom updates Posted: 10 Jan 2012 01:00 PM PST Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Game mechanics, MMO industry, News items, Sandbox Remember that dev blog about a year ago that mentioned updates in store for EVE Online's neocom interface? Well, it hasn't been forgotten, but the New Eden poo-storm of 2011 kind of bumped it to the back of the line. Today, the EVE website has been updated with a look at the new neocom's design, and CCP Optimal has plenty of pics as well as some insights into what's changing below the pretty exterior. Chief among the tweaks is the ability for pod pilots to pick and choose the features they use most and remove extraneous buttons from the interface. The new neocom is slated to go live in the Crucible 1.1 patch coming later this month. CCP shows off EVE neocom updates originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 10 Jan 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Neocom dev blog

Hyperspace Beacon: Cheating vs. poor design Posted: 10 Jan 2012 12:00 PM PST Filed under: Sci-fi, Bugs, New titles, Opinion, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Hyperspace Beacon Recently, Ilum took center stage in an argument about exploits, and I honestly cannot say which side of the fence I'm on. When do the intentions of the designers take precedent over the players taking advantage of poor design? Well before Star Wars: The Old Republic even crossed the mind of BioWare's creative brain-trust, exploiters have been taking advantage of unintentional game design. Even more interesting about the situation with Ilum was that the design was not exactly flawed; instead, players did not respond to the designs the way the developers intended. The game was "working as intended," but the players weren't. At what point do we blame the designers? In a game as large as SWTOR, we know that if someone is allowed to do something, he will. At the same time, players are lazy efficient when playing the game: They will find the fastest and easiest way to level or gear up despite the intended path. Designers should know this. I remember in Ultima Online when players would raise skills by poking each other with low-level swords for hours on end. I am sure the designers intended that players would earn skills by actually battling each other, but the simplest solution was to prod one another with a dull stick. I honestly don't know if that was ever fixed, but I certainly don't remember a GM tossing out a ban hammer for it. Continue reading Hyperspace Beacon: Cheating vs. poor design Hyperspace Beacon: Cheating vs. poor design originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Massively Exclusive: WindSlayer 2's dungeon diary Posted: 10 Jan 2012 11:30 AM PST Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Previews, Free-to-play, Dev Diaries What separates MMO avatars from we mortals in the real world? Other than a surprising tolerance for 60-pound shoulder armor, we'd have to say, "the near-suicidal tendency to continually dive into long-forgotten caves, castles, and other dungeons of doom," although perhaps there's a few of you who do pull off the side of the road while driving in order to run into an open sewer pipe. We don't know. What we do know is that MMOs wouldn't be the same without the classic dungeon dive, and WindSlayer 2 is on board with that concept. In the latest exclusive developer diary from Ignited Games, the team talks about the advantages of forming adventuring parties to go danger spelunking and what the risks and rewards might come out of such actions. Continue reading Massively Exclusive: WindSlayer 2's dungeon diary Massively Exclusive: WindSlayer 2's dungeon diary originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 10 Jan 2012 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

New ArcheAge video shows off 34 minutes of housing gameplay Posted: 10 Jan 2012 11:00 AM PST Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Video, Game mechanics, MMO industry, New titles, News items, ArcheAge If you're into player housing, you'll want to have a look at the latest closed beta test footage from ArcheAge. The clip was recorded by Korean players in XLGAMES' ongoing CBT4 testing phase, and it shows off a whopping 34 minutes of housing-related shenanigans. The really interesting bits begin around the 28-minute mark, as we get to see a pretty good demonstration of the game's interior decoration mechanics. It looks a bit like EverQuest II in terms of object placement and rotation abilities, and there are also quite a large number of unique furniture pieces and accoutrements. Continue reading New ArcheAge video shows off 34 minutes of housing gameplay New ArcheAge video shows off 34 minutes of housing gameplay originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 10 Jan 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: YouTube Via: Dual Shockers

Betray your mates with Age of Wushu's boss sidekick system Posted: 10 Jan 2012 10:30 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Game mechanics, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Free-to-play, Sandbox How does becoming a boss mob in your favorite MMORPG sound? It certainly raised our eyebrows, and Snail Games' new Age of Wushu (also known as Age of Wulin in Europe and its native China) is apparently going to allow you to do just that. MMO Culture has the details, and the new boss sidekick system basically involves random boss mobs that ask players for help. If a player agrees, he will spawn next to the boss mob, essentially becoming one of its minions for an upcoming fight. The source article notes that Age of Wushu lacks grandiose fantasy elements, so the boss (and you as its minion) will still be human as opposed to a variation on the gargantuan crab/dragon/spider creature you may be expecting. Another point of note is that the minion player will temporarily relinquish control of his character, and the avatar will fight alongside the boss AI against player characters (and it will provide substantial rewards if the human party is defeated). Finally, MMO Culture says that player decisions relative to the boss sidekick system will affect the world storyline for every player on a given server. We don't know how just yet, but we'll certainly keep our eyes on this curious new mechanic. Betray your mates with Age of Wushu's boss sidekick system originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 10 Jan 2012 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: MMO Culture

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