MMO Updates |
- GDC 2012: The Repopulation demonstrates world-building elements
- WRUP: I've been waiting two years to do this edition
- The Daily Grind: Do you miss player-written books in MMOs?
- Diablo III shelves PvP to make launch
- Betawatch: March 3 - 9, 2012
- MMObility: Utilizing Windows 8 to help with MMO chores
- Storyboard: Out of the rut
- DC Universe Online explains how the Earth powerset rocks out
- Fallen Earth's March state of the game gets territorial
- LotRO cleans up the Warden's act
- GDC 2012: Wargaming.net on World of Warplanes, clan wars, and taking over the world
- The Repopulation populates pre-alpha
- DUST 514 driver's ed includes stealthing, siege mode, and power draining
- Massively Speaking Episode 191: GDC Thursday
- GDC 2012: TERA's growth spurt and dynamic events
- Star Wars: The Old Republic subscription numbers stabilize at 1.7 million
- The Soapbox: My MMORTS is more MMO than your MMORPG
| GDC 2012: The Repopulation demonstrates world-building elements Posted: 10 Mar 2012 09:00 AM PST Filed under: Sci-fi, Game mechanics, Interviews, Previews, News items, Opinion, Roleplaying, Massively Interviews, Massively Event Coverage, Sandbox, Crafting  While I had a monopoly on the team's attention, I had the chance to see some of the customization available to characters, both in appearance and gear, as well as get the lowdown on the world building element. We actually walked through the building of a nation, a feature that will make many a sandbox fan giddy! Although Josh was quick to point out that only a few items were available at this point in development, there was certainly enough to get a feel for the system. And I am looking forward to it! Continue reading GDC 2012: The Repopulation demonstrates world-building elements
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| WRUP: I've been waiting two years to do this edition Posted: 10 Mar 2012 07:00 AM PST Filed under: Massively Meta, Miscellaneous  This week's installment of WRUP doesn't actually include much in the way of ME3 beyond this, however, but it does include what everyone on the Massively staff will be doing over the weekend. It also includes our individual stories about the last MMO that we each deleted off of our respective hard drives. So come look at our plans, and then let us know what you'll be doing down in the comments. Continue reading WRUP: I've been waiting two years to do this edition
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| The Daily Grind: Do you miss player-written books in MMOs? Posted: 10 Mar 2012 05:00 AM PST Filed under: Culture, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous  I can't say that player-written anythings have no potential for abuse and inanity. There's a guild in UO, for example, that uses books as advertising spam, and the game's designers were forced to implement a system to lock-in text to circumvent the "Dudebro was here" graffiti that miscreants would otherwise inscribe on other players' masterpieces. But the potential for cool outweighs the potential for abuse for me, and I miss writing and reading in-game books so very much. What about you -- do you miss player-written books in MMOs? Or do you think they're a niche idea that was retired from MMO design with good cause?  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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| Diablo III shelves PvP to make launch Posted: 09 Mar 2012 06:00 PM PST Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Launches, PvP, Diablo III  Blizzard announced today that Diablo III's PvP is not living up to the studio's standards and that it will be removing it for now in order to keep the game on track for launch. So why not just hold back the game until it's completely ready? In the words of the studio, "We ultimately felt that delaying the whole game purely for PvP would just be punishing to everyone who's waiting to enjoy the campaign and core solo/co-op content, all of which is just about complete." Diablo III's PvP functionality will be restored at an unspecified later date with multiple Arena maps, achievements, personal progression, and a matchmaking system. [Thanks to Marc for the tip!]
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| Posted: 09 Mar 2012 05:00 PM PST Filed under: Betas, MMO industry, New titles, Massively Meta, Betawatch, Miscellaneous  Meanwhile, the TERA team has kicked off a series of contests to accompany its third closed beta weekend. Line of Defense and Remanum have begun accepting beta signups; Dragon Born aims for a closed beta later this month; and City of Steam is offering a sneak-peek for long-time followers. Finally, we say farewell to Rise of Dragonian Era, which launched today, and Crystal Saga, which launches on March 12th. Enjoy the full Betawatch roundup! Continue reading Betawatch: March 3 - 9, 2012
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| MMObility: Utilizing Windows 8 to help with MMO chores Posted: 09 Mar 2012 04:30 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Culture, Opinion, Free-to-play, Browser, Hands-on, Casual, MMORTS, Kids, Miscellaneous, MMObility  Recently Microsoft released the Windows 8 public preview, so I downloaded it after reading that it was really geared for tablet or touchcreen devices. Sure enough, the same 10-inch netbook that was not getting a lot of use around here suddenly became faster and much more friendly to the eyes. It's perfect timing, as well, especially since I will be starting my "chores" experiment in which I see whether scheduling my gameplay each day will help me with an issue I have been having. Continue reading MMObility: Utilizing Windows 8 to help with MMO chores
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| Posted: 09 Mar 2012 04:00 PM PST Filed under: Opinion, Roleplaying, Storyboard, Miscellaneous  Granted, depending on your roleplaying, that boring routine might involve several betrayals, affairs, and potential murders, but a routine is a routine. The point is that your character can get stuck in a rut. No matter how much you might like a character, it's no fun to keep running through the same basic stories again and again. You need to kick your character out of that rut, preferrably without destroying the elements you like about the character in the first place. So how do you get out of stagnant waters and start churning things up again? Continue reading Storyboard: Out of the rut
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| DC Universe Online explains how the Earth powerset rocks out Posted: 09 Mar 2012 03:30 PM PST Filed under: Super-hero, Game mechanics, Previews, News items, Free-to-play, Consoles, DC Universe Online  Mastery of Geokinesis allows players to summon earth golems to fight alongside them, solidifying a defensive strategy with transferred damage and special stone totems. On the other hand, mastery of the Seismic tree lets you summon localized epicenters and yank pillars of stone from the ground, flinging enemies around and knocking them off their feet. While it doesn't seem like the new set will be kind to property values, players will probably have more than a few new tricks to use like a stone-cold killer.
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| Fallen Earth's March state of the game gets territorial Posted: 09 Mar 2012 03:00 PM PST Filed under: Fallen Earth, Patches, PvP, News items, Free-to-play, Post-Apocalyptic, Sandbox  Another month is upon us, and Fallen Earth is bringing some changes to its Global Territory Control system. While players wait with bated breath for the new features to hit the PTS at the end of the month, GamersFirst has put out a new blog post outlining what players can expect from the next round of updates. We've covered the basics of Global Territory Control previously, so if you want to get up to speed, go on and have a read. Don't worry; we'll wait. Caught up? Good. So what's new this month? The buffs granted by controlling territories have been changed. Now, each town and keep is worth a given number of points. The faction that has the most points will receive a buff that "improves crafting and harvesting speed as well as Random AP, Death Toll, Faction, and Experience gains." Meanwhile, the faction system is getting a revamp that "will see the elimination of shoulder factions." Completing tasks for your faction of choice "will only affect the specific faction you completed it for and its opposite on the faction wheel." This really only scratches the surface of the myriad changes coming to Fallen Earth, so to get the full details just head on over to the game's official site.
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| LotRO cleans up the Warden's act Posted: 09 Mar 2012 02:30 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Classes, Patches, Previews, Free-to-play, Dev Diaries  The latest dev diary by Turbine walks us through these changes as the team works to clearly define the three styles of play. One of the big changes is the addition of a brand-new gambit builder, which comes from javelin throws when players are fighting in the new ranged (Assailment) stance. This gambit builder will replace the spear thrusts in the stance, as it's somewhat difficult to jab someone from 40 meters away with a stick. Another significant change is the addition to what Turbine calls "flavoring" for gambits. These are bonus effects that change depending on the Warden's stance to strengthen tanking, melee DPS, or ranged DPS. Other fun tweaks to the class include allowing Wardens to prep a gambit ahead of a battle and a huge overhaul to the three trait lines.
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| GDC 2012: Wargaming.net on World of Warplanes, clan wars, and taking over the world Posted: 09 Mar 2012 02:00 PM PST Filed under: Betas, Historical, Events, real-world, Game mechanics, Interviews, MMO industry, New titles, PvP, News items, War, Free-to-play, World of Warplanes  CEO Victor Kislyi told me that over the past year the firm has expanded to include 700+ employees and a global presence that features development centers in Kiev, Ukraine, and Russia. The firm's flagship World of Tanks title currently boasts 18 million players worldwide, and it is paving the way for the second and third entries in a World War II trilogy. Its clan wars mode is also the starting point for a grand vision of military combat at the squad level. Continue reading GDC 2012: Wargaming.net on World of Warplanes, clan wars, and taking over the world
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| The Repopulation populates pre-alpha Posted: 09 Mar 2012 01:30 PM PST Filed under: Sci-fi, Patches, News items, Sandbox  Beyond Technologies, the studio behind upcoming sci-fi sandbox title The Repopulation, has been spending the last couple of months preparing new features for the game to show off at GDC 2012. Well, the wait is over as a new changelog post on the game's official site gives players a look at all the hard work that's been put into the game over the last two months. Oh, we're sorry, did we say changelog? We meant novel. The team has clearly been slaving away nonstop if the sheer number of changes and additions is any indication. If you're waiting to see these new features in action, though, don't worry. The studio says that some new video footage has been prepared that will be publicly released after GDC 2012. And to top it off, the post announces that the studio "will be opening Alpha testing in June." More information on that will be coming next week, so hang tight and read up, and be sure to stay tuned for our own MJ Guthrie's look at the game straight from GDC 2012.
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| DUST 514 driver's ed includes stealthing, siege mode, and power draining Posted: 09 Mar 2012 01:00 PM PST Filed under: Betas, Sci-fi, Game mechanics, Free-to-play, Consoles, DUST 514  In a new dev post, CCP opens up the manual of vehicle operation in its upcoming title and tells it like it is. For starters, players will need to train up specific skills in order to even be allowed behind the wheel of any of these beasts, and even then, a clueless operator could find him or herself a sitting duck if attention isn't paid to power consumption (in DUST 514's terminology, capacitors). Equipped modules all draw power from capacitors during combat, and while capacitors do regenerate over time, they can be drained, both from a player's actions or an enemy's attack. As such, it's important to keep power demands in mind when modding a vehicle. Two DUST 514 war machines are used as examples in the article. There's the Marauder HAV, a tank-busting tank that comes with an alternate siege mode, and there's the Force Recon dropship, which can clock, jam enemy sensors, and drain enemy vehicles' power. The post ends with a hypothetical battle scenario involving both of these, showing how they could be used out in the field.
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| Massively Speaking Episode 191: GDC Thursday Posted: 09 Mar 2012 12:30 PM PST Filed under: Opinion, Massively Meta, Massively Event Coverage, Massively Speaking, Allods Online, Aika, TERA, 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 191: GDC Thursday
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| GDC 2012: TERA's growth spurt and dynamic events Posted: 09 Mar 2012 12:00 PM PST Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Events, real-world, Game mechanics, Massively Interviews, Massively Event Coverage, TERA  Thus began our time with En Masse at GDC, in which enthusiasm for the forthcoming TERA was positively infectious. Hager sighed happily as he reminded us of the title's May 1st launch date: "You have no idea how happy that makes me to be able to say that." Just because a launch date is on the horizon doesn't mean that the hardest part is over for this crew. During this past month, the team's been running a closed beta test that's provided vital feedback for last-minute tweaks and preparations. "We've taken that feedback and it's helped us evolve TERA into the game we all want to play," Hager said. So just what has En Masse been doing for the past year, and what has us most excited about getting our hands on a launched version of TERA? Read on to find out! Continue reading GDC 2012: TERA's growth spurt and dynamic events
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| Star Wars: The Old Republic subscription numbers stabilize at 1.7 million Posted: 09 Mar 2012 11:00 AM PST Filed under: Sci-fi, Economy, MMO industry, News items, Star Wars: The Old Republic  It's shaping up to be one hell of a good month for BioWare. If you consider the amount of money made by the launch of Mass Effect 3 and by the continued success of Star Wars: The Old Republic, the entire studio must be swimming in pools of gold coins a la Scrooge McDuck by now. At any rate, it would appear that Star Wars: The Old Republic's subscriber numbers have stabilized at about 1.7 million active subscribers. It's also worth noting that, according to EA's John Riccitello, the "vast majority" of these active subscribers have already used their 30-day trials, which means most of those 1.7 million subscribers are shelling out $15 per month to play the game. It'll be interesting to see how these numbers change (or don't) in the coming months, but for the time being The Old Republic seems to be doing BioWare proud.
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| The Soapbox: My MMORTS is more MMO than your MMORPG Posted: 09 Mar 2012 10:00 AM PST Filed under: Opinion, Free-to-play, Browser, Casual, MMORTS, The Soapbox, Miscellaneous  Have you ever played an MMORTS? No, I'm not talking about a single-player PC strategy game or city sim; I mean an MMORTS. There are so many to choose from that it would be hard for me to even begin to list them all, but I'll try. There's Illyriad, Ministry of War, Evony, Call of Gods, Dragons of Atlantis, Thirst of Night, 8Realms, Lord of Ultima, Golden Age and many, many others. Either you recognize some of those titles or you do not. Oddly enough, I've found that many standard, three-dimensional-world explorers do not consider MMORTS titles to be MMOs. I'm not sure why, but every time I stream an MMORTS live or write about one, I have to answer, at least once, the concern from the audience that what I am playing is not really an MMO. The reality is that the MMORTS, as a design mechanic, genre, and style, is very much an MMO. I'd like to explain why in the hopes that many of you might grow to enjoy the genre as much as I do and that some much-needed light shines on the fact that the MMORTS is actually one of the last true MMOs around. I think the task is to define "MMO" and to show how MMORTS fits in. We've attempted it before, but for a quick refresher, let's go over what I consider an MMO to be. You can add your own definitions in the comments section. I have no problems admitting that my definition could probably use some tweaking. Continue reading The Soapbox: My MMORTS is more MMO than your MMORPG
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