MMO Updates

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• Rise and Shiny recap: Wakfu
• Previously on MV TV: Week of January 9th, 2012
• The Daily Grind: How much searching do you want in your game?
• Blizzard seems to think that Cataclysm was too linear
• The Mog Log: Adventures equal battles
• Captain's Log: A new era begins
• The Tattered Notebook: If you think wings are weird...

Rise and Shiny recap: Wakfu Posted: 15 Jan 2012 09:00 AM PST Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Screenshots, Video, Events, in-game, Previews, Opinion, Free-to-play, Hands-on, Casual, Humor, Rise and Shiny, Livestream, Miscellaneous In June, I drove down to Austin, Texas, to once again participate in GDC Online. I do it every year if I can, and I love it. It's a smaller event when compared to the larger E3s and other conventions, but it is more personal and up-close. My favorite speaker at this last event had to be David Calvo from Ankama Games. When he first came out barefoot, I was honestly worried that the chat would be all about goofy, "deep" design techniques that had no real use in practice. In the end, his talk was deep but was really just asking developers to have fun and try new things. Yes, I know: new things. Crazy, huh? If Wakfu is any proof, those design theories are put to practice every day at Ankama. Wakfu, for me, is a breath of fresh air in so many ways. Even though I am somewhat used to the design and art style, thanks in large part to playing the previous title Dofus, I still find myself loving how simply complex much of Wakfu is. There are issues that come with complexity, however. Continue reading Rise and Shiny recap: Wakfu Rise and Shiny recap: Wakfu originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 15 Jan 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Previously on MV TV: Week of January 9th, 2012 Posted: 15 Jan 2012 07:00 AM PST Filed under: Massively Meta, Livestream, Miscellaneous, Previously on MV TV Welcome to the brand-new Previously on MV TV! Our livestreaming schedule has picked up a lot over the past few weeks, and our readers have busy lives, so we know it's impossible to watch every single streaming event live. Fortunately for you, we save all of our streams all for posterity on Massively's Twitch TV channel, so you can view them at your leisure. Even better, we've got a roundup of a few of last week's MV TV highlights from the livestream team. Follow along after the jump for the best of the best! Continue reading Previously on MV TV: Week of January 9th, 2012 Previously on MV TV: Week of January 9th, 2012 originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 15 Jan 2012 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

The Daily Grind: How much searching do you want in your game? Posted: 15 Jan 2012 05:00 AM PST Filed under: Culture, Game mechanics, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous No matter how clear the maps and how many waypoints we get, our first time in any MMO is going to include a whole lot of getting lost. After all, we're not familiar with the game yet. But some games give you plenty of pointers to send you in the right direction, ways to ensure that you know where a given quest is pointing you. It's useful, but at the same time, it means that you aren't exploring the wild reaches in the distance so much as following a glowing blip on your minimap. Most players aren't clamoring for a return to days when you had to draw maps on graph paper as you walked, but there is something to be said for having a bit more ambiguity in destination. How much do you want to search for things when you play? Do you want to have clearly marked objectives, a wide-open map to explore, or something in the middle? 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: How much searching do you want in your game? originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 15 Jan 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Blizzard seems to think that Cataclysm was too linear Posted: 14 Jan 2012 05:00 PM PST Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Expansions, News items Designing MMOs is often the art of shepherding players in a given direction while at the same time giving them a sense of freedom. Even in a themepark environment, players want to be invested in areas, to have reasons to come back and explore and go off of the rails should they want to. World of Warcraft's most recent expansion, Cataclysm, has frequently been accused of giving players nowhere to go but a series of rails, and according to a recent response from a community manager, Blizzard agrees. A very long thread on the official forums has spawned some interesting discussions about the game's overall endgame philosophy, with community manager Draxxari stating that Cataclysm's tightly linear design was an "error" on the design level. He goes on to state that Mists of Pandaria is meant to give players more reason to venture out and explore the world, although players will have to wait to see whether that promise holds true or not. [Thanks to SgtBaker for the tip!] Blizzard seems to think that Cataclysm was too linear originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 14 Jan 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Forum thread

The Mog Log: Adventures equal battles Posted: 14 Jan 2012 03:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Game mechanics, Endgame, Opinion, Consoles, Final Fantasy XIV, The Mog Log One of the big selling points of Final Fantasy XIV before launch was that there were many classes devoted to doing things other than fighting. The promise was made, more than once (if memory serves), that even non-combat classes would get to take part in the main story, and it was also stated that these classes would still be useful to an adventuring party even if not quite as good as another Disciple of War or Magic. At this point, of course, we can confidently say that part was a lie. A Botanist is about as useful in combat as an actual botanist in a fistfight. But Naoki Yoshida has gone on record that the former part is a lie as well -- that if you want to take part in the main storyline, you really do need to level a combat class. It wasn't something that was really highlighted, but it was still there, and it's worth unpacking as we look forward to another year of the game's ongoing development. If you came in expecting to only craft and gather, you're no longer going to have your run of the place. Continue reading The Mog Log: Adventures equal battles The Mog Log: Adventures equal battles originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 14 Jan 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Captain's Log: A new era begins Posted: 14 Jan 2012 01:00 PM PST Filed under: Sci-fi, Events, in-game, Launches, Opinion, Star Trek Online, Free-to-play, Roleplaying, Captain's Log, Livestream As you probably know by now, Star Trek Online is converting to the free-to-play format this coming Tuesday, January 17th. If you've held off subscribing to STO for the past two years, you might be wondering what you can expect should you decide to give STO a try. If you've never played an MMORPG and are thinking that this might be a perfect time to try one, I think you might be right. STO is not like most other MMOs. That can be a good thing but also a detriment. This column is here to help you, Trekkie or not, gamer or not. And I'm going to try to help you decide whether STO is the F2P game for you. Continue reading Captain's Log: A new era begins Captain's Log: A new era begins originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 14 Jan 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

The Tattered Notebook: If you think wings are weird... Posted: 14 Jan 2012 11:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, EverQuest II, Business models, Opinion, Free-to-play, The Tattered Notebook Last week, EverQuest II rolled out two new Marketplace items: the nightmare flight wings and the Pegasus feather flight wings. At first, I didn't think much of it because it was just another flying mount, but as I watched the promotional video, it seemed strangely out of place for characters of all races to be sprouting wings and flying around of their own power. While many players are excited about the new flight wings, others question whether they fit into the lore and the world of EQII. And this isn't the first time an item has left players with tilted heads and confused expressions. Read on for a collection of oddities from the world of Norrath! Continue reading The Tattered Notebook: If you think wings are weird... The Tattered Notebook: If you think wings are weird... originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 14 Jan 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

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