MMO Updates |
- The Road to Mordor: Out of game on party business
- WRUP: Massively Core is the same as regular Massively edition
- The Daily Grind: How many times do you try before you give up?
- Raph Koster: Immersion is not a core game virtue
- Betawatch: January 7 - 13, 2012
- Mortal Online announces a new expansion called Awakening
- Storyboard: They all laughed
- SOE shows off PlanetSide 2's Quad and Liberator
- Bill Roper looking to partner with Korean companies for more MMO development
- Pick up a free copy of Dawn of Fantasy from Massively and Reverie Studios
- The Secret World ends Illuminati Week with new interview
- Star Wars: The Old Republic highlights upcoming Kaon Under Siege flashpoint
- LotRO reverses policy, plans to sell PvE stat gear through the store [Updated]
- Blizzard kills Diablo III's RMT to appease South Korea
- Gods & Heroes crucifies subs and slashes box prices
- Double, double your excitement (and XP) with Aion's winter festival
- Massively hosts Star Trek Online free-to-play launch event
| The Road to Mordor: Out of game on party business Posted: 14 Jan 2012 09:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Opinion, Free-to-play  It's not as bad as it looks at first glance because I do this all the time with any MMO I play. I found out the hard way years ago that nonstop gaming in a singular dedicated title was a terrific recipe for spectacular, many-onlookers-injured flaming burnouts. No matter how good that pixelated pizza is, we've been told, if you have it for every meal, sooner or later it will taste like moldy routine in our mouth. And that's not good for anyone. The good news is that my sabbatical is at an end after only flitting into LotRO on occasion over the holidays, and I'm rested up and recharged for another great year of slaughtering wildlife in Tolkien's honor. Before I do that, however, I'd like to take this opportunity to share why I feel that it's OK to "go on sabbatical" from LotRO... and why it even benefits the game as a whole for its fans not to play once in a while. Continue reading The Road to Mordor: Out of game on party business
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| WRUP: Massively Core is the same as regular Massively edition Posted: 14 Jan 2012 07:00 AM PST Filed under: Massively Meta, Miscellaneous  Anyway, despite these disappointments, another edition of WRUP has seen fit to grace everyone with news of what the Massively staff will be doing over the weekend. We're also talking about how much we have paid or would be willing to pay for a spiffy in-game ride. So click on past the break to see our weekend distractions, and let us know what you'll be up to in the comments! Continue reading WRUP: Massively Core is the same as regular Massively edition
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| The Daily Grind: How many times do you try before you give up? Posted: 14 Jan 2012 05:00 AM PST Filed under: Culture, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous  After 14 attempts, she succeeded and was giddy from the victory. But I could tell she was growing close to throwing her laptop across the room right before that point. I could identify, as a week earlier I had spent an hour and a half trying to master a tricky series of jumps to get a datacron on Nar Shadda, only to land it right before I lost my sanity. So what about you? How many times do you try a difficult challenge in an MMO before you give up? I'd love to hear specific stories about particularly problematic obstacles that resulted in eventual success or frustrated surrender.  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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| Raph Koster: Immersion is not a core game virtue Posted: 13 Jan 2012 06:00 PM PST Filed under: Culture, Game mechanics, MMO industry, News items, Opinion, Miscellaneous, Sandbox  Koster characterizes immersion as a style whose time has come and gone, and he concludes that games are no longer for dreamers due to their far-reaching popularity. "I mourn the gradual loss of deep immersion and the trappings of geekery that I love," Koster writes. "I see the ways in which the worlds I once dove into headlong have become incredibly expensive endeavors, movies-with-button-presses far more invested in telling me their story, rather than letting me tell my own." Whether you agree with him or not, it's a sobering read coming from one of the chief creative forces behind Star Wars Galaxies and Ultima Online.
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| Betawatch: January 7 - 13, 2012 Posted: 13 Jan 2012 05:00 PM PST Filed under: Betas, MMO industry, Betawatch, Miscellaneous  The full Betawatch roundup is tucked beyond the break. Continue reading Betawatch: January 7 - 13, 2012
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| Mortal Online announces a new expansion called Awakening Posted: 13 Jan 2012 04:30 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Expansions, Game mechanics, Patches, News items, Mortal Online, Sandbox  The expansion will provide more than simply a new city, however. It offers improved artificial intelligence and a better user interface to players, along with new dungeons in which players can test their skills against improved enemy intelligence. There's also a new set of special Trade Brokers in the cities, dyes for clothing and armor, and several other improvements that should be cheered by every Mortal Online player. [Thanks to James for the tip!]
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| Posted: 13 Jan 2012 04:00 PM PST Filed under: Culture, Opinion, Roleplaying, Humor, Storyboard, Miscellaneous  I realize that there are circles in which humor is anathema, where the mood moves between "somber" and "depressing" with nary a chuckle between, lightless pits into which no good cheer is allowed. Far be it from me to say that you're doing it wrong if you happen to be one of those people, but there's a reason why people don't want to join you in a roleplaying session. You guys are kind of depressing just to be around, and your roleplaying has all the verisimilitude of a goth kid's poetry while his parents are getting divorced. But let's not kid ourselves. Doing humor effectively anywhere is hard, and in roleplaying it's made even more difficult due to a variety of circumstances. So let's start out by examining some common pitfalls and laying some ideas down for what you can do to make your humor go over better in a game. Continue reading Storyboard: They all laughed
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| SOE shows off PlanetSide 2's Quad and Liberator Posted: 13 Jan 2012 03:30 PM PST Filed under: Sci-fi, Game mechanics, Lore, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Free-to-play, MMOFPS, PlanetSide 2, Sandbox  Today's reveal showcases the Quad, and Sony Online Entertainment tells us that "it has the highest top speed of any ground vehicle and is easy to acquire." As you would expect, the speed comes at a price, and let's just say that you don't want to be riding on a Quad when it takes a hit. Head to the PS2 website for a couple of screenshots and some backstory. When you're done reading about the Quad, click on over to SOE's Liberator reveal to get the goods on another Nanite Systems product. The Liberator is a gunship, and while it boasts a ton of firepower and decent armor protection, it pays for its bristling bulk by being quite slow in the air.
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| Bill Roper looking to partner with Korean companies for more MMO development Posted: 13 Jan 2012 03:00 PM PST Filed under: MMO industry, News items, Miscellaneous  Specifically, Roper is looking for a partner company in South Korea to work on co-development for several titles, which include MMOs. The obvious benefit for the Korean company would be increased visibility of licensed properties, with Roper hoping that a visit to the nation will produce a better way of developing new games. No word yet on whether or not anyone is interested in the offer, but there's probably no shortage of gamers made apprehensive by anything involving Bill Roper and a new online game.
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| Pick up a free copy of Dawn of Fantasy from Massively and Reverie Studios Posted: 13 Jan 2012 02:30 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Contests, MMORTS, Giveaways  Dawn of Fantasy has a purchase price of $29.99 US -- unless you happen to be a Massively reader. Reverie Studios has given us 1,000 digital copies of the game to share with some of our community. Simply visit our giveaway page to pick up your code, then get the game via our download link. When you're asked for your CD key during installation, enter the key you picked up from us and you're all set! The codes are only good until January 27th, so grab yours right away, enjoy the game, and thanks to Reverie Studios for the giveaway! 
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| The Secret World ends Illuminati Week with new interview Posted: 13 Jan 2012 02:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Horror, Interviews, Previews, News items, The Secret World  The Secret World's Illuminati Week is drawing to a close, and to round out the excitement, the game's Lead Content Designer Joel Bylos sat down for an Illuminati-centric interview with IGN. Joel outlines what kind of players would find themselves most suited to a life with the Illuminati, what principles the society upholds, and even what sort of faction-specific abilities Illuminati players can look forward to. While he's not too forthcoming on that last point, he does reveal that "[Illuminati faction abilities] will reflect the Illuminati obsession with combing magic and technology to greatest effect." To get the full details and round out your Illuminati fix, just click on through to the interview below.
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| Star Wars: The Old Republic highlights upcoming Kaon Under Siege flashpoint Posted: 13 Jan 2012 01:00 PM PST Filed under: Sci-fi, Video, Patches, Previews, News items, PvE, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Dungeons  Despite only having launched about a month ago, Star Wars: The Old Republic is already gearing up for its next content update. As BioWare ramps up to release the update, it wants its fans to be getting excited for it as well. In that vein, the studio has released a new video highlighting Kaon Under Siege, one of the new flashpoints in the upcoming patch, The story behind this flashpoint continues the game's current storyline, this time giving players a glimpse at the Tion Hegemony sector of the galaxy. Prior to the flashpoint, the Rakghoul plague has spread across multiple world in the system, killing the lucky and transforming those less fortunate into Rakghouls themselves. A few lucky survivors on the planet of Kaon have managed to hold out against the Rakghoul menace, and of course both the Empire and the Republic wish to rescue these survivors, eradicate the Rakghoul plague, and ultimately negotiate an alliance with the Tion Hegemony. For the full video preview of Kaon Under Siege, just click on past the cut. Continue reading Star Wars: The Old Republic highlights upcoming Kaon Under Siege flashpoint
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| LotRO reverses policy, plans to sell PvE stat gear through the store [Updated] Posted: 13 Jan 2012 12:30 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Business models, Economy, Free-to-play  Consider the law cast aside today, then, as Turbine's announced the coming sale of statted gear in the LotRO store to normal PvE play as well. Light, medium, and heavy armor pieces will soon be available for purchase in the cash shop, and will come with beneficial stats attached. In addition to the typical stats, the store boots will come with a 8% run out-of-combat run speed boost attached. While the gear in question has reasonable stats, it certainly raises the specter of the game's heading toward pay-to-win territory by having it for sale at all. Massively has reached out to Turbine for an official comment. [Update: On the official forums Sapience commented about the sale saying, "It's lower level gear. Many players have given us feedback that there is a sparsity of gear on the AH at these levels and they wanted an alternative. We're trying to accomodate that."]
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| Blizzard kills Diablo III's RMT to appease South Korea Posted: 13 Jan 2012 12:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, MMO industry, Legal  The board was quoted as saying that "the feature involving for-cash trades between users was not included in the presentation to the rating committee, and therefore it was not subjected to any scrutiny." To appease the board and pave the way for release, Blizzard has dropped the RMT auction house for the Korean version. The ratings board has warned the company not to sneak in the feature in a future patch and gave the title an 18 rating for the country. Interestingly enough this makes South Korea the first country to slap a rating on Diablo III to date.
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| Gods & Heroes crucifies subs and slashes box prices Posted: 13 Jan 2012 11:30 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Historical, Real life, Business models, Free-to-play  Today, Heatwave Interactive announced that the subscription model wasn't working out for the underperforming Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising (perhaps it did not sell enough fancy helmets) and as of today subs are a thing of the past. Instead, players can enjoy the game without a fee while the team works on creating a true free-to-play plan. In addition to making gameplay completely free, Heatwave has cleaved the price of the client in twain, reducing the cost to $9.99 for those who have yet to get it. If you've previously purchased the game, whether you were currently subbed to it or not, your account is now flagged for unlimited free play.
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| Double, double your excitement (and XP) with Aion's winter festival Posted: 13 Jan 2012 11:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Aion, Events, in-game, Free-to-play, Promotions  You know what's not annoying? When developers recognize how dull the first couple months of the year are, holiday-wise, and invent their own cause for celebration! Aion is breaking out all the stops with this year's Atreian Winter Festival, and that includes insatiably cheerful penguins and scantily clad avatars. For the next three weekends (starting today), players will enjoy double XP and drops in Aion from Friday at 1:00 p.m. EST until Monday at the same time. There's also an "adorable" -- their words -- Daru fur costume that you can purchase in the game store for $10 and flaunt to all your friends at the lodge after a long day on the slopes.
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| Massively hosts Star Trek Online free-to-play launch event Posted: 13 Jan 2012 10:00 AM PST Filed under: Sci-fi, Events, real-world, Events, in-game, Launches, Star Trek Online, Free-to-play, Massively Event Coverage  In celebration of the launch, Massively will be joining Cryptic Studios in welcoming all new and veteran captains. The team is hosting several fun events ranging from costume and trivia events to livestreamed character creation tutorials and dance parties! Please join me, Massively's humble STO columnist, as I pair up with STO's Community Manager Brandon Felczer to stream our way through all the fun. You could win up to 5000 STO Promotional Points! All livestreamed events can be viewed during and after the event on Massively's Twitch channel, and all other communications can be monitored on the "F2PLaunchParty" chat channel in-game. The fun begins at 1:00 p.m. EST on Tuesday, so check out the official schedule of events after the break. Continue reading Massively hosts Star Trek Online free-to-play launch event
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