MMO Updates

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• Turbine talks Rohan landscapes in latest LotRO dev diary
• Blogger details adventures in Guild Wars 2 customer service
• A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Requiescat in pace, City of Heroes
• SideQuest MMO kickstarts your funny bone
• The Daily Grind: What's the best way to deliver MMO lore?
• RIFT: Storm Legion targets November 13th, begins pre-orders
• ArenaNet's Regina Buenaobra on Guild Wars 2, Reddit, and community
• Glitch status report discusses the impending relaunch
• Blizzard unveils launch events for World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria
• Champions Online celebrates its third anniversary
• Flameseeker Chronicles: Guild Wars 2's launch week in review
• BioWare dev blog talks SWTOR's 1.4 balance changes
• We want your most creative City of Heroes character!
• The Game Archaeologist: Is Ultima Online 2 a doomed prospect?
• PAX Prime 2012: Hammerpoint shows off The War Z gameplay
• New Age of Wulin trailer released
• Funcom tweaking The Secret World's lairs for casual players

Turbine talks Rohan landscapes in latest LotRO dev diary Posted: 05 Sep 2012 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Galleries, Screenshots, Video, Lord of the Rings Online, Expansions, MMO industry, News items, Free-to-play, Dev Diaries The latest Turbine developer diary is here, and of course it's focused squarely on Lord of the Rings Online's Riders of Rohan expansion. There's the usual mix of developer talking head shots interspersed with landscape footage of Rohan's rolling plains, rivers, and the dwellings of the region's horse-lords. Famous locations from Tolkien's novels make an appearance too, including Amon Hen and Fangorn Forest. Turbine says that designing Rohan was more challenging than other areas of the game because Tolkien described the lands and their layout it in a fair amount of detail. Check out the new screenshot gallery below, and don't forget to click past the cut for the dev diary video. [Source: Turbine press release] Gallery: LotRO: Riders of Rohan Continue reading Turbine talks Rohan landscapes in latest LotRO dev diary Turbine talks Rohan landscapes in latest LotRO dev diary originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 05 Sep 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Blogger details adventures in Guild Wars 2 customer service Posted: 05 Sep 2012 09:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Guild Wars 2, Free-to-play While some of us are happily slashing, casting, and shooting our way through hordes of baddies in Guild Wars 2's Tyria, some ArenaNet customers are still suffering the pain that accompanies prolonged login issues. OK, we know, first-world problems, but still. Case in point is blogger Saylah over at Mystic Worlds. Her latest post outlines how she's following ArenaNet's suggested customer service escalation path to the letter but is still unable to play a game she purchased some time ago. "Every time the wiki says they've moved past a certain date of tickets and if yours wasn't fixed you should submit a new ticket, that's exactly what I do. Will today be my lucky day," she asks. Blogger details adventures in Guild Wars 2 customer service originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 05 Sep 2012 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Mystic Worlds

A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Requiescat in pace, City of Heroes Posted: 05 Sep 2012 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: Super-hero, City of Heroes, MMO industry, News items, Opinion, Free-to-play, A Mild-Mannered Reporter Sometimes I know about things before other players do. Friday was not one of those times. Friday I heard the rumor, and I dismissed the whole thing as being patently ridiculous... and then the reports poured in, and I could only stare with horror. City of Heroes is going to be shut down. Later this year. November 30th, less than three months away. For me, this isn't just a game closing. This is a huge chapter in my professional life coming to an end. Covering City of Heroes has been a major part of my writing for the site over the past three years. To think that it's going to be gone soon is just... baffling. So this is a column written in mourning. It's going to be disconnected, and for that I apologize, but there are a few things that I think should be put down right now. Next week I can start in on the process of creating a tribute; this week, it's about sadness. Continue reading A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Requiescat in pace, City of Heroes A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Requiescat in pace, City of Heroes originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 05 Sep 2012 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

SideQuest MMO kickstarts your funny bone Posted: 05 Sep 2012 07:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, MMO industry, New titles, Free-to-play, Browser While we're not in the business of promoting every MMO Kickstarter project we see (no, really), we do feel like it's in all of our best interests to spotlight the particularly interesting ones. Fractal Entertainment's SideQuest is a good example of one of these MMO Kickstarter projects that grabbed our attention. Promising a deep single-player campaign with MMO PvP and endgame elements, this browser-based game has a long list of features that make it sound unique and exciting to play. And if you read through their Kickstarter pitch, you can tell that this game will have a wicked sense of humor. The best news is that Fractal Entertainment seems to be willing to make this game even if their Kickstarter campaign doesn't meet its goal, but the extra funding will be going towards making it bigger and better than it already will be. So check out their Kickstarter page, thumb through the rewards, and browse the game's features. This might just be the browser-based game you've been looking for. SideQuest MMO kickstarts your funny bone originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 05 Sep 2012 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

The Daily Grind: What's the best way to deliver MMO lore? Posted: 05 Sep 2012 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Game mechanics, Lore, MMO industry, Opinion, Massively Meta, Roleplaying, Miscellaneous, Diablo III The MMO genre is increasingly dominated by AAA titles like The Secret World, Guild Wars 2, and Star Wars: The Old Republic, all of which tuck story and lore into special cutscenes bookending regular combat, but that's not the only way to drop backstory into a game. In fact, Diablo III's lore-delivery system might just top them all. Did I just use Diablo III and lore in the same sentence? I did! Diablo III reveals its backstory to the player through a series of voiceovers that play as you play rather than take you out of the fight. Little audio pop-ups narrate the significance of characters and places so you understand what's going on. It's not that the game never employs cutscenes; it just restricts cutscenes to Very Important Events. Granted, this type of system might not work so well in a full-fledged massively multiplayer game, so today we're asking what you think: How do you want lore delivered in your MMOs? 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's the best way to deliver MMO lore? originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 05 Sep 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

RIFT: Storm Legion targets November 13th, begins pre-orders Posted: 04 Sep 2012 08:30 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Trailers, Video, Expansions, Launches, RIFT The last big unknown of the fall's releases has just set a date for destiny. Trion Worlds announced that it will be releasing RIFT's first expansion, Storm Legion, on November 13th. The expansion contains two new continents, four additional souls, player housing, and more. Along with the news of the release date comes the ability to pre-order the expansion. While those who sign up for a year's subscription to the game will get a complimentary copy of Storm Legion, players may elect to pre-order one of the two expansion editions separately. Both pre-order editions offer special bonuses, such as early access to one of the expansion's dungeons. It's interesting to note that players new to the game can pay an additional $10 on top of the expansion price to get the original game and 30 days of play time as well. Finally, Trion's released a new expansion trailer called Features of the Storm, which highlights Storm Legion's bullet-point attractions. Take a gander after the jump! [Thanks to Marc and Memphis for the tip!] Continue reading RIFT: Storm Legion targets November 13th, begins pre-orders RIFT: Storm Legion targets November 13th, begins pre-orders originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 04 Sep 2012 22:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Storm Legion website

ArenaNet's Regina Buenaobra on Guild Wars 2, Reddit, and community Posted: 04 Sep 2012 07:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Bugs, Interviews, Launches, News items, Guild Wars 2, Massively Interviews ArenaNet has, understandably, been receiving a whole lot of publicity in the days following the launch of Guild Wars 2, due in large part to notable events such as the "ask why you're banned" thread on the r/GW2 subreddit. Not everyone, however, is thrilled with the idea that ArenaNet is conducting so much of its customer support and community interaction on Reddit and social media sites such as Facebook rather than on official forums or a well-established community site. If you're someone who has been wondering exactly why ArenaNet focuses so much effort on Reddit and social media, then we're here to shed some light on the issue. We reached out to Guild Wars 2's North American Community Team Lead, Regina Buenaobra, to get the official point-of-view. If you'd like to know about ArenaNet's community and customer support teams (and the differences between the two), click on past the cut for the Q&A. Continue reading ArenaNet's Regina Buenaobra on Guild Wars 2, Reddit, and community ArenaNet's Regina Buenaobra on Guild Wars 2, Reddit, and community originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 04 Sep 2012 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Glitch status report discusses the impending relaunch Posted: 04 Sep 2012 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Game mechanics, Patches, News items, Free-to-play, Browser, Sandbox, Housing Once upon a time, there was a game called Glitch. This game launched, and it made several people very happy, but it made its designers sad because it didn't feel ready for launch. So the designers called backsies on launch and took the game back to beta for more development and refinement. It's been nine months since then, and according to the latest developer update, the game is almost up to the point it should have been during its first launch... but not quite. The blog post explains that there were three core things that the design team wanted in the game before the official relaunch: a better introduction for new players, imagination and upgrades as a core advancement system, and a better land and housing system. While those features are in place, they've just brought on new challenges for the designers and new updates that need to be added. The overall takeaway is that if you're not playing now, you will be able to soon, as the game is almost as the designers want it, and then we can all live happily ever after. Glitch status report discusses the impending relaunch originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 04 Sep 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Progress Report: End of Summer

Blizzard unveils launch events for World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria Posted: 04 Sep 2012 05:00 PM PDT Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Expansions, Launches, News items If you're a fan of World of Warcraft, you're buying Mists of Pandaria. We all know that. But are you just going to buy the game, or do you want to be part of an entire event surrounding the launch? If it's the latter, you'll be happy to know that the official launch event for the game's fourth expansion release has been confirmed for the 24th near the Blizzard Entertainment offices in Irvine, California. The event starts at 9:00 p.m. PDT and will include stage presentations, special guests, and giveaways for fans in attendance. As with previous launches, even if you can't get out to California for the launch event, several retailers are opening at midnight for retail release of the game as soon as it's possible. It's all heady stuff for the new expansion, and fans will definitely want to take a look at what's going on and attend if possible. Blizzard unveils launch events for World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 04 Sep 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Official MoP launch events

Champions Online celebrates its third anniversary Posted: 04 Sep 2012 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: Super-hero, Contests, Free-to-play, Champions Online, Anniversary Has it already been three years since Cryptic Studios launched its second superhero MMO? It must be because Champions Online is riding high on the smell of birthday cake and fun events. Cryptic has several anniversary activities planned for the next couple of weeks, including a leveling contest that's running from now until September 6th. Every character that you level up to 40 during this period will give you a shot at several prizes, including a $250 Amazon gift card and custom art. The studio's also collecting Champions fan art in exchange for special unlocks and Facebook publicity. Further anniversary events in September will be announced at a later date, but Cryptic did hint that there will be giveaways, community hang-outs, and big sales. Champions Online celebrates its third anniversary originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 04 Sep 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Champions Online

Flameseeker Chronicles: Guild Wars 2's launch week in review Posted: 04 Sep 2012 03:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Bugs, Economy, Events, real-world, Launches, Opinion, Guild Wars 2, Flameseeker Chronicles It's been quite the week in the world of Guild Wars 2. Launch, issues, near-daily server updates, fixes, and launch parties have likely kept the entire team high on adrenaline and low on sleep. If you're one of the folks in attendance at one of ArenaNet's launch parties, you likely saw a lot of very tired but very happy people. If you're not hounding the Guild Wars 2 Twitter account or subreddit, it's easy to miss a lot of communication, and even if you do, it's a lot to sort through. So what's been going on? A great deal. Continue reading Flameseeker Chronicles: Guild Wars 2's launch week in review Flameseeker Chronicles: Guild Wars 2's launch week in review originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 04 Sep 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

BioWare dev blog talks SWTOR's 1.4 balance changes Posted: 04 Sep 2012 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, Classes, Game mechanics, MMO industry, News items, Star Wars: The Old Republic BioWare senior designer Austin Peckenpaugh has a tough job. Star Wars: The Old Republic's class gameplay balance is basically his responsibility, and as such he's penned a new dev blog intended to keep players in the loop on the upcoming changes in game update 1.4. The patch looks to be an extensive one in terms of gameplay tweaks, and Peckenpaugh has plenty to say on crowd control and resolve changes, ability adjustments, and changes to SWTOR's stealth gameplay. Read all about it at the official SWTOR website. BioWare dev blog talks SWTOR's 1.4 balance changes originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 04 Sep 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Dev blog

We want your most creative City of Heroes character! Posted: 04 Sep 2012 01:30 PM PDT Filed under: Super-hero, City of Heroes, Contests, Culture, Free-to-play While we at Massively are certainly disheartened to hear of City of Heroes' imminent closure, we also feel like celebrating the great run that this title had. As part of our tribute to City of Heroes, we want to gather some of the most creative character designs that the players have come up with over the years for possible use in a future column. Think of it as the ultimate costume contest! So if you're proud of a superhero that you whipped up in CoH or want to see him/her/it immortalized, listen up! Send in your absolute best screenshot of that character (minimum of 600 pixels wide) along with the name and a story of your time playing that superhero to justin@massively.com with the subject line "My City of Heroes superhero." Please note that due to the potential volume of submissions, we're asking just for one character per person -- so make it your best! We want your most creative City of Heroes character! originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 04 Sep 2012 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

The Game Archaeologist: Is Ultima Online 2 a doomed prospect? Posted: 04 Sep 2012 01:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, MMO industry, Ultima Online, The Game Archaeologist, Sandbox When it comes to classic MMOs that have strong nostalgic pull with veterans, the topic does arise from time to time what a sequel to any given game would look like and how it would be received in the current gamer climate. We've already talked about updating graphics here in The Game Archaeologist, but I'm talking about more than a new coat of paint -- I'm talking about a new game entirely. A Star Trek: The Next Generation to the classic Star Trek. A One Direction to the New Kids on the Block. A Madden '13 to a Madden '12. I'm stretching here. In a recent franchise producer's letter, Mythic's Jeff Skalski gave fans of Ultima Online a teeny tiny glimmer of hope that Ultima Online 2 might one day be a reality. Depending on your read of it, it could've just been a "stop asking about UO2 already" plea, a shameless way to promote Ultima Forever, or one fan talking to another about something that could happen if both parties work toward a common goal. Considering the troubled past of Ultima Online's sequels, we have to wonder: Is this more false hope than real hope? Is there any conceivable way that this 15-year-old MMO could one day be granted the same honor as EverQuest, Asheron's Call, Guild Wars, and PlanetSide by getting a sequel that actually launches? I have some thoughts on all this, which is good because otherwise there would be a whole lot of white space after the jump. Continue reading The Game Archaeologist: Is Ultima Online 2 a doomed prospect? The Game Archaeologist: Is Ultima Online 2 a doomed prospect? originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 04 Sep 2012 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

PAX Prime 2012: Hammerpoint shows off The War Z gameplay Posted: 04 Sep 2012 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Horror, Trailers, Video, Game mechanics, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Free-to-play, MMOFPS, Sandbox The War Z has generated a significant amount of fan interest since its initial hello-world announcement in July. The zombie-centric sandbox MMO boasts a large feature set and plenty of ambitious design goals. It's also generated some skepticism as to whether or not the development team can actually pull it all off. Last weekend's PAX Prime event brought the first opportunity to see for ourselves, as the team from Hammerpoint showed off alpha-state gameplay and allowed GameTrailers to film it. The resulting clip is yours for the viewing after the cut. Continue reading PAX Prime 2012: Hammerpoint shows off The War Z gameplay PAX Prime 2012: Hammerpoint shows off The War Z gameplay originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 04 Sep 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: GameTrailers

New Age of Wulin trailer released Posted: 04 Sep 2012 11:30 AM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Game mechanics, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Free-to-play, Sandbox Gamescom's been over for a while now, but apparently no one told the folks at gPotato. The firm has released a new Age of Wulin trailer that's labeled "Gamescom 2012" on YouTube. Timeliness issues aside, the three-minute video offers a breathtaking look at the martial arts sandbox's gameplay and gorgeous graphics. Age of Wulin is now accepting beta signups for its European client. The game has been rebranded as Age of Wushu for the North American market, and is scheduled to launch on October 18th. Click past the cut for the full trailer. Continue reading New Age of Wulin trailer released New Age of Wulin trailer released originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 04 Sep 2012 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: YouTube

Funcom tweaking The Secret World's lairs for casual players Posted: 04 Sep 2012 11:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Horror, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Patches, News items, PvE, The Secret World, Dungeons If you're a casual player of Funcom's The Secret World, you may not be aware of the game's lair mechanics. Lairs are basically pockets of super-powerful mobs designed for three players in endgame gear. Each adventuring zone has a lair, and each currently offers signet drops and the chance to summon world bosses on par with those in the game's nightmare dungeons. With the upcoming 1.2 patch, though, Funcom is tweaking lairs to be a bit more palatable for less dedicated players. A new blog on the official site outlines the reasoning behind the changes. "Some people don't like the intense build requirements of nightmares, or don't have the time to dedicate a few hours per night to wiping on the Ur Draug. When we launched, there was not a whole lot of focused endgame content for these players to participate in," Funcom says. "The intention going forward is that lairs should offer full endgame progression for casual players of The Secret World," the company continues. The 1.2 patch will turn lairs into 5-player affairs, and it will also add a few anima wells to lessen the traveling pains associated with wiping. New missions and loot progression are the order of the day, too. Full details are yours for the reading on TSW's website. Funcom tweaking The Secret World's lairs for casual players originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 04 Sep 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Lair blog

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