MMO Updates |
- WRUP: Best of WRUP edition
- The Daily Grind: What game has the brightest future?
- MMObility: Tynon forces players to come to grips with automatic gameplay
- Betawatch: June 29 - July 5, 2013
- Is Epic hiring devs for a Gears of War MMO?
- Storyboard: Happening before it's even happened
- Shroud of the Avatar team adds Starr Long to the mix
- Black Desert melding action combat with sandbox MMOs
- Tamriel Infinium: The Elder Scrolls Online is more than just dungeons and dragons
- Some Assembly Required: On MMOs and loss aversion
- The Repopulation's PvP explained
- Blizzard 'exploring' microtransactions in World of Warcraft
| Posted: 06 Jul 2013 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: Massively Meta, Miscellaneous  So like any show that has mined its creativity down to a level so low that diamond-tipped drills are necessary to continue digging, I am now shamelessly repeating that. Just click the link and go read that column. It's really funny. Wait! Do that after you read the rest of these instructions, because that WRUP was from last year and thus isn't applicable to what we at Massively will be playing this week. Our plans for this week are past the cut, and you let us know what you'll be doing down in the comments. So now you can go read about kitties and then come back. Continue reading WRUP: Best of WRUP edition
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| The Daily Grind: What game has the brightest future? Posted: 06 Jul 2013 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Culture, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous  Today's question is simple. What game, in your opinion, has the brightest future? Are you psyched about the options in EVE Online? Thrilled at the thought of Final Fantasy XIV's re-release? Even just excited to keep playing World of Warcraft? There's no reason to disparage anything else. Today, we just want to know what game you think has the brightest future and why. Let's be optimists for a little while.  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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| MMObility: Tynon forces players to come to grips with automatic gameplay Posted: 05 Jul 2013 07:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Culture, Previews, Opinion, Free-to-Play, Browser, Casual, MMObility  I'm not making excuses for auto-play features, but I'm not making excuses for the mindless clicking that many MMOs feature, either. As with most things, the details matter the most. In Tynon, there are almost too many details to count. Continue reading MMObility: Tynon forces players to come to grips with automatic gameplay
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| Betawatch: June 29 - July 5, 2013 Posted: 05 Jul 2013 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, MMO Industry, News Items, Opinion, Betawatch, Miscellaneous  Most of the beta world was fairly quiet this week, possibly owing to the holiday. The people who soldiered on seemed to do pretty well by it, with Dragon's Prophet getting a big beta content bump and The Elder Scrolls Online sending out another wave of testing invitations. You want more? Well, take a glance past the break and see if there's another game to strike your fancy down there. As always, let us know if something managed to sneak under our radar. Continue reading Betawatch: June 29 - July 5, 2013
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| Is Epic hiring devs for a Gears of War MMO? Posted: 05 Jul 2013 05:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, New Titles, News Items, Rumors  GamesRadar notes that its Gears of War speculation is just that, but we have to admit that it sounds both plausible and interesting.
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| Storyboard: Happening before it's even happened Posted: 05 Jul 2013 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: Culture, Opinion, Roleplaying, Storyboard, Miscellaneous  Let me rephrase. There's always some planning that goes on beforehand, usually between Ms. Lady and me. But that planning is generally a bit more abstract, a vague set of character goals. I'm not only going in with vague ideas of what will happen now; I'm going in with an answer to one of my main character's central problems as soon as the relaunch starts. It is the exact opposite of vague in every way, shape, and form. There's something to be said for knowing what path you're taking before you go in, but there are also some pretty major drawbacks. Today, I want to look at the idea of planning roleplaying events and interactions before the game has gone live, preparing for things that will happen before they actually can happen. It's a road fraught with perils, drawbacks, and disadvantages... and a few advantages despite all of that. Continue reading Storyboard: Happening before it's even happened
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| Shroud of the Avatar team adds Starr Long to the mix Posted: 05 Jul 2013 03:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Culture, MMO Industry, News Items, Shroud of the Avatar  As Garriott puts it, while there had been discussions about doing an online installment of the series, Long was the one who was insistent that Ultima Online needed to happen. He was so much the driving force behind it that Garriott points to him as the push that kept him working on the game. A formal announcement will be made on Saturday at RTX 2013 alongside a special demonstration of Shroud of the Avatar, which will be available via livestream. If you've been hoping to see some of the key players behind UO back together, it looks as if you're in luck. [Source: Portalarium press release]
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| Black Desert melding action combat with sandbox MMOs Posted: 05 Jul 2013 02:30 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Game Mechanics, Interviews, MMO Industry, New Titles, News Items, Sandbox, Black Desert  The interview touches on various gameplay aspects including PvP -- Black Desert is not an RvR game, according to Kim -- housing, and action combat. "Unlike other MMORPGs, we have attempted to facilitate greater variety in action combat sequences beyond simply pressing number keys," Kim explains, while also noting that he's a big fan of Street Fighter, Final Fight, and Samurai Showdown. "In action games, the timing of pressing a key and a mouse click, as well as a monster's reaction against the user's attack, is extremely important. We are trying to develop our game so that players must purposefully control their character and so that objects or monsters react in a more complex manner." [Thanks Dengar!]
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| Tamriel Infinium: The Elder Scrolls Online is more than just dungeons and dragons Posted: 05 Jul 2013 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Classes, Game Mechanics, Lore, New Titles, PvE, Opinion, Dungeons, The Elder Scrolls Online, MMORPG, Tamriel Infinium  Despite diligently scanning my spam folder every day this week, I am still without a beta invite. I think ZeniMax is playing hard to get. I promised I won't divulge any secrets; I just wanna make my Khajiit Nightblade. Is it asking too much to get a chance to explore the Tamriel dungeons? Obviously, it is. However, we did get a taste of ESO dungeons in a blog this week. And it looks as if we have an exciting combination of RIFT-style classes and Guild Wars 2 combat to look forward to. Hopefully, it's the best of both without the flaws. Continue reading Tamriel Infinium: The Elder Scrolls Online is more than just dungeons and dragons
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| Some Assembly Required: On MMOs and loss aversion Posted: 05 Jul 2013 01:00 PM PDT Filed under: Culture, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, Opinion, Some Assembly Required, Sandbox, Crafting  We can also see principles of loss aversion at work in MMOs. In fact, I'd go so far as to posit that loss aversion is a large, if indirect, reason why many people play MMOs in the first place. It's also a major reason why sandboxes, virtual worlds, and games that feature some sort of tangible risk/reward mechanic have been in such dire straits since MMOs went mainstream. Follow me past the cut and see if you agree. Continue reading Some Assembly Required: On MMOs and loss aversion
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| The Repopulation's PvP explained Posted: 05 Jul 2013 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, New Titles, PvP, News Items, Sandbox, The Repopulation  The post delves into the game's nation system, it touches on sieging and contested regions, and there are some bits about PvP-specific roles. Halls also talks about The Repopulation's flexible combat system, which offers the ability to toggle between "simulated FPS-style combat" or a traditional RPG hotbar mode. Finally, The Repopulation will feature two distinct server rulesets. The specifics are still being finalized, but the "hardcore" version will remove safe areas and allow non-consensual PvP.
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| Blizzard 'exploring' microtransactions in World of Warcraft Posted: 05 Jul 2013 11:00 AM PDT Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Business Models, Culture, Patches, News Items, Subscription  Zarhym's posts specifically state that Blizzard is "exploring the possibility" rather than definitely adding a microtransaction store, but it seems the most likely outcome. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but sooner rather than later. No word on what this means for the future of the game's business model or how much will change from the game's current system with an online storefront, but it's certainly surprising to see one of the last games without an in-game store taking steps toward adding one.
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