MMO Updates |
- Age of Wushu merging servers next week
- Scott Hartsman on leading Trion Worlds out of the woods
- Black Gold Online changes business model for NA
- Tamriel Infinium: The one where we talk about the Elder Scrolls Online's payment model
- Storyboard: That was a poor decision
- The Daily Grind: How would you define 'massive'?
- Gamescom 2013: Watch Blizzard's Diablo III presentation
- The Think Tank: How did you get into MMO blogging?
- The Summoner's Guidebook: Advice on buying League of Legends champions
- ArenaNet offering GW2 Heroic Edition
- Champions Online Cybermind alert is now live
- DUST 514 1.4 update to bring usability changes, taxes
- Celebrate Fury of the Feywild's launch with a trailer full of lore
- Gamescom 2013: Roberts demos Star Citizen's hangar module
- Gamescom 2013: New dev video discusses Destiny's world, weapons, and characters
- The Mog Log Extra: Starting an Arcanist in Final Fantasy XIV
- Gamescom 2013: Firor says ESO's sub will ensure players get '100% of the game' (except for the parts in the cash shop) [Updated]
- World of Warcraft could 'end up being free-to-play'
- Ask Massively: Grand conspiracies
| Age of Wushu merging servers next week Posted: 23 Aug 2013 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, News Items, Free-to-Play, Age of Wushu  To answer questions and help prepare players for the merge, Snail Games has created a FAQ post, which includes such tidbits as all school positions and guild territories will be reset. To help prepare the servers, there will be an hour-long special maintenance for those two servers only on Monday, August 26th starting at 1:01 a.m. EDT. The merge will then take place on Wednesday when maintenance begins at 4:00 a.m. EDT.
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| Scott Hartsman on leading Trion Worlds out of the woods Posted: 23 Aug 2013 09:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Business Models, Interviews, MMO Industry, News Items, Free-to-Play, RIFT, Miscellaneous, ArcheAge, MOBA, Defiance, Buy-to-Play  We spoke to Hartsman as he was in the second week of a two-month period of evaluation, meetings, and decision-making. Instead of sounding tired or stressed, Hartsman came across as upbeat, enthusiastic, and brimming with good things to say about his team and the studio's future. So why did Hartsman return to the Trion fold now, and what does it portend for the studio and its many titles? The full story is more interesting than you might think. Continue reading Scott Hartsman on leading Trion Worlds out of the woods
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| Black Gold Online changes business model for NA Posted: 23 Aug 2013 08:30 AM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Business Models, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, New Titles, News Items, Free-to-Play, Black Gold  The studio insists that Black Gold's time save system is a completely optional bonus to supplement game progression; players can still acquire all equipment and materials from normal in-game means of questing, drops, and auctions. This system will not affect PvP or PvE rankings. The system appears to work this way: The game will auto-save the player's loot index (which is based on your actions during that saved time) every hour, and players can claim that loot index -- through either the free saves or purchased ones -- in the form of a vial of time that can be traded for credits or opened for the random loot within.
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| Tamriel Infinium: The one where we talk about the Elder Scrolls Online's payment model Posted: 23 Aug 2013 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Business Models, MMO Industry, New Titles, Opinion, Consoles, Mac, The Elder Scrolls Online, Subscription, MMORPG, Tamriel Infinium  But I was floored when the ESO team announced it will be a subscription-based game.
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| Storyboard: That was a poor decision Posted: 23 Aug 2013 07:00 AM PDT Filed under: Culture, Opinion, Roleplaying, Storyboard, Miscellaneous  Despite all of that information, he still runs right up to her and pounces on her, then acts completely shocked when she smacks him to the ground and hisses with anger -- as if this outcome was not only unexpected but somehow cruel. I've talked before about the importance of making bad decisions with a character, but it's hard to gain the necessary immersion in a character's mind to make decisions that are meant to be believable while still missing the forest for the trees. So instead of offering positive advice, I want to give advice on how to make dumb and short-sighted choices that will later explode in your character's face due to poor reasoning. Think of them as reverse life-hacks. Continue reading Storyboard: That was a poor decision
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| The Daily Grind: How would you define 'massive'? Posted: 23 Aug 2013 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Culture, MMO Industry, Opinion, Massively Meta, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous, MMORPG  But many gamers are convinced they know exactly where the line in the sand must be drawn between the massives and the nots. So today, let's assume you, the readers, get to decide for the genre what "massive" means. How many people does it entail -- and how and where and in what numbers precisely must they interact -- for a game to be "massive" enough to merit the term MMO? And how many old school MMORPGs would fit that definition?  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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| Gamescom 2013: Watch Blizzard's Diablo III presentation Posted: 22 Aug 2013 09:30 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Events (Real-World), Expansions, MMO Industry, News Items, Diablo III, Buy-to-Play  And speaking of the Reaper of Souls expansion set, there are some fresh screenshots from the update on the Diablo III Facebook page. Head past the cut for the Gamescom video. Continue reading Gamescom 2013: Watch Blizzard's Diablo III presentation
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| The Think Tank: How did you get into MMO blogging? Posted: 22 Aug 2013 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: Opinion, Massively Meta, Miscellaneous, The Think Tank  But where exactly did we get our starts? This week I asked the team members to share a bit about their individual origins in the MMO blogging world. Continue reading The Think Tank: How did you get into MMO blogging?
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| The Summoner's Guidebook: Advice on buying League of Legends champions Posted: 22 Aug 2013 05:00 PM PDT Filed under: Opinion, Free-to-Play, Guides, MOBA, League of Legends, The Summoner's Guidebook  This week, we'll look at some of my favorite bargain bin picks and which roles they are good for. I'll also be talking about Dominion roles since there are some picks that work very well for that mode. Continue reading The Summoner's Guidebook: Advice on buying League of Legends champions
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| ArenaNet offering GW2 Heroic Edition Posted: 22 Aug 2013 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Business Models, MMO Industry, News Items, Guild Wars 2, Buy-to-Play  These items include legacy armor, 10 XP boosters, and an 18-slot mithril box. The Heroic Edition will set you back $49.99. Guild Wars 2's free trial runs from August 23rd through August 25th. [Source: ArenaNet press release]
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| Champions Online Cybermind alert is now live Posted: 22 Aug 2013 03:30 PM PDT Filed under: Super-hero, Events (In-Game), Patches, News Items, PvE, Free-to-Play, Champions Online, MMORPG  The content is tuned for level 40 heroes. Those who are triumphant will earn rewards in the form of resources, costume pieces, and in-game collectible action figures. Also new in Champions today are laser swords, which can be used by freeform characters and are most definitely nothing like lightsabers. The laser sword and its use are discussed in depth on the official Champions Online blog, or you can grab yourself a freeform character slot and learn the intricacies of this elegant weapon by slashing bad guys in the face. Your call.
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| DUST 514 1.4 update to bring usability changes, taxes Posted: 22 Aug 2013 03:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, EVE Online, Patches, PvP, News Items, Free-to-Play, MMOFPS, DUST 514, Sandbox, MMORPG  And because this is CCP we're talking about, DUST 514 players can also look forward to the addition of corporation taxes. Simply put, player corporations can set their tax rates to whatever they please, and members of those corporations will see the proper amount of ISK deducted from end-of-battle rewards. As in EVE, corporations are free to spend tax revenue in whatever manner they see fit; corps that exist in both DUST and EVE will have one tax rate for both games. It's worth noting that tax rates will be publicly available to players searching for a corp, only rewards greater than 100,000 ISK will be subject to taxation, and NPC corps will have 0% tax rates.
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| Celebrate Fury of the Feywild's launch with a trailer full of lore Posted: 22 Aug 2013 02:30 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Trailers, Video, Expansions, New Titles, Patches, PvP, News Items, PvE, Free-to-Play, Neverwinter, MMORPG  Cryptic and Perfect World have marked the launch by releasing an all-new trailer detailing the lore of Fury of the Feywild; you can see it yourself just after the break. Continue reading Celebrate Fury of the Feywild's launch with a trailer full of lore
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| Gamescom 2013: Roberts demos Star Citizen's hangar module Posted: 22 Aug 2013 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, Video, Events (Real-World), Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, New Titles, News Items, Sandbox, Star Citizen, Buy-to-Play  Cloud Imperium is rolling out bits of Star Citizen in a modular fashion reminiscent of Minecraft's staggered release. Roberts and company are reminding everyone that next week's hangar bay represents a tiny portion of the game in a pre-alpha state, but the firm is nonetheless excited to offer its crowdfunding backers a hands-on progress report. Star Citizen's hangar module will initially be available in basic, business, and deluxe versions depending on customer ship pledges. Roberts says that eventually CI will add additional types including pirate hangars. For the first release, SC pledgers will be able to walk around and inside each of their ships. In other Star Citizen news, Roberts recently told Eurogamer that he no longer needs traditional investor money to make the game. "I'm actually not taking money from investors now. The budget for what we're delivering is about $20 million, and we're almost there [via crowdfunding] -- we'll probably be there before the end of the year," he said. Don't forget to click past the cut to view the video! Continue reading Gamescom 2013: Roberts demos Star Citizen's hangar module
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| Gamescom 2013: New dev video discusses Destiny's world, weapons, and characters Posted: 22 Aug 2013 01:30 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, Video, Events (Real-World), New Titles, News Items, MMOFPS, Events (Massively's Coverage), Destiny  The video includes a fair bit of previously unseeen game footage and is worth a look if you're excited or curious about Destiny. Check it out after the break. Continue reading Gamescom 2013: New dev video discusses Destiny's world, weapons, and characters
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| The Mog Log Extra: Starting an Arcanist in Final Fantasy XIV Posted: 22 Aug 2013 01:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Launches, Opinion, Consoles, Final Fantasy XIV, The Mog Log, Guides  Despite that fact, once I finally did get to Limsa, I poured myself into playing Arcansit as if it was my job. Which it sort of was. And I found that to my pleasant surprise, despite the fact that the class is everything I usually dislike in a class, I was having an absolute blast. I wouldn't say it's my favorite class in Final Fantasy XIV, but it's up there. But you don't care too much about that, do you? You want to know how to play one. Luckily, I can tell you that, too. Continue reading The Mog Log Extra: Starting an Arcanist in Final Fantasy XIV
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| Posted: 22 Aug 2013 12:30 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Events (Real-World), MMO Industry, New Titles, News Items, Events (Massively's Coverage), The Elder Scrolls Online, Subscription, MMORPG  Speaking with Eurogamer, Firor walked through ZeniMax's reasoning in choosing subscriptions as TESO's primary method of generating revenue. He listed two primary motivators: one, to ensure monetization did not interfere with the traditional Elder Scrolls experience, and two, to keep money flowing for future content. When you're in an Elder Scrolls game, you're in a world. We don't want players to hit monetization fees when they're in the world. It's like, I go into a dungeon, if I don't have access to the dungeon it pops up a window: you don't have access to this, go buy 50 credits. We didn't want that experience. That's not an Elder Scrolls experience.Instead, Firor believes charging a monthly subscription ensures players have "100% of the game" and never run into payment walls. He also explained that the forecastable revenue stream created by subs helps the team better plan for content updates. ZeniMax is aiming for new content releases "every month or six weeks, for as long as people want to play the game." Firor mentioned the addition of the Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood quest lines as examples of content players can expect, saying, "And those are 15 hours of content a piece. We're talking major new stuff, which is going to be coming out constantly." Make of that what you will. In the meantime, check out new screenshots from Gamescom in our TESO gallery: [Update: Reader Pavel points out a German-language interview from Gamescom that claims Firor indicated there will be a cash shop selling at least "fun items and character services like character renames" in the game. Here's the exact sentence untranslated: "Laut Matt Firor wird es in The Elder Scrolls Online einen Itemshop geben, wo ihr Spaß-Items und Charakterservices wie eine Umbenennung des Charakters kaufen könnt."]
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| World of Warcraft could 'end up being free-to-play' Posted: 22 Aug 2013 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, MMO Industry, News Items, Free-to-Play, The Elder Scrolls Online, MMORPG, Buy-to-Play  In an interview with NowGamer, Chilton talked a bit about whether the subscription model is dead (it isn't) and whether or not World of Warcraft will go free-to-play (it might). I definitely think that free-to-play MMOs will be around for a very long time. At some point it's possible that World of Warcraft could end up being free-to-play, but I do think there's always room for there to be subscription games.Chilton continued by expressing that he believes subscription MMOs can still work as long as devs keep content coming to players on a regular basis and make it worth that monthly credit card charge. I do think that as time goes on subscription MMOs might evolve toward becoming a little bit more dynamic and making sure that within a month time span it feels like new events and new episodes happen to keep it fresh.Quite a few new-ish MMOs have launched with subscriptions only to turn free-to-play within a few months; we'll get a chance to see how the sub model fares again when The Elder Scrolls Online hits the market in 2014.
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| Ask Massively: Grand conspiracies Posted: 22 Aug 2013 11:00 AM PDT Filed under: MMO Industry, Opinion, Massively Meta, MMOFPS, Ask Massively, Miscellaneous, MOBA, MMORPG  That's what our Soapbox is all about: writers talking about game-related things they're interested in or passionate about. It's a soapbox mounted by a different author every week, not a notarized declaration of the site's purpose and intent. We've intentionally collected a team with diverse opinions, and we rarely all agree on every opinion published on the site, especially the Soapbox, and that's the whole point. If we all agreed, we'd be boring. Plus I'd never get to waste an afternoon debating video games with Eliot in chat, which is tremendous fun, incidentally, and I highly recommend it. This week in Ask Massively, I want to address the conspiracy theory proposed in the wake of that Soapbox as well as a few other bits and bobs from our comments. Continue reading Ask Massively: Grand conspiracies
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