MMO Updates

---

• Captain's Log: An interview with Star Trek Online's artists
• Google's Ingress adopts achievement system, awards badges
• Get a look at Darkfall's Duelist in action
• The Stream Team: Hoarder no more edition, September 16 - 22, 2013
• The Daily Grind: What future MMO trends would you like to see?
• MMO Week in Review: The curse of success
• EVE Evolved: Fitting Heavy Assault Cruisers in Odyssey 1.1, part 2
• Hyperspace Beacon Extra: SWTOR's expansion 'refunds'
• Stick and Rudder: On Star Citizen's so-called 'feature creep'

Captain's Log: An interview with Star Trek Online's artists Posted: 16 Sep 2013 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, Interviews, Patches, Opinion, Star Trek Online, Free-to-Play, Captain's Log This week I will be (yes I know, finally) finishing up with my series of interviews with the developers of Star Trek Online. I traveled to Cryptic Studios last July and had the opportunity to meet with several of the people responsible for the game, especially the new expansion, The Legacy of Romulus. In this column I'll be outlining my conversation with three Star Trek Online artists: Environment Artist Nick (Tumerboy) Duguid, User Interface Artist Thomas (TheCrypticCat) Marrone, and Ship Artist Ian (JamJamz) Richards. So join us past the jump to see what it took to bring the look of Legacy of Romulus to life. Continue reading Captain's Log: An interview with Star Trek Online's artists Captain's Log: An interview with Star Trek Online's artists originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 16 Sep 2013 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Google's Ingress adopts achievement system, awards badges Posted: 16 Sep 2013 09:00 AM PDT Filed under: Real-Life, Patches, News Items, Mobile It's been a while since we have heard any news about Google's mobile alternate-reality MMO Ingress. But that silence has broken: A new update is rolling out and should be available to all players in the course of a few days. This update includes scanner performance updates as well as a new system of badges that players can earn to show off their achievements. This new achievement system -- not unlike the famous merit badges earned by scouts -- awards players for such things as exploring, building, and hacking. Ingress also recognizes players for more unique achievements with such badges as Mind Controller and Seer. [Thanks to SpaceCobra for the tip!] Google's Ingress adopts achievement system, awards badges originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 16 Sep 2013 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Engadget, Google+

Get a look at Darkfall's Duelist in action Posted: 16 Sep 2013 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Video, Darkfall, Classes, PvP, Subscription A new skirmisher class, the Duelist, is coming to Darkfall this week. It hits hard and quick, although it's also not as tough as some of the other classes, so players will need to be mindful of this when taking one out for a test drive. The class is able to use skills like flurry, lacerate, lunge, pummel, and uncanny focus in taking down its foes. You can check out the Duelist in action, including its core abilities, in a new video after the jump! Continue reading Get a look at Darkfall's Duelist in action Get a look at Darkfall's Duelist in action originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 16 Sep 2013 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Duelist video

The Stream Team: Hoarder no more edition, September 16 - 22, 2013 Posted: 16 Sep 2013 07:00 AM PDT Filed under: Polls, Massively Meta, Livestream, Miscellaneous, The Stream Team Thank you, thank you all for your intervention! I think I can safely avoid checking myself into some virtual support group for MMO hoarders now that's I've gone through and given my hard drive a good scrubbing out. I know most people equate big deep cleaning projects with spring, but what better way to get ready for the holiday season (and possibly new games) than with a nice fall cleaning? And from the looks of the other poll, it appears more of of you could benefit from the same! Taking your advice (and a few other things into account as well), I have stripped a hefty chunk of games off my system and found a quite a cache of gigabytes left in their place. Oh, those glorious shiny free GBs; they shall come in handy soon, I just know it! Until I they do, I will entertain myself with the variety of shows put on by The Stream Team this week on Massively TV. Who knows, maybe something will pique my interest enough to install it myself... Continue reading The Stream Team: Hoarder no more edition, September 16 - 22, 2013 The Stream Team: Hoarder no more edition, September 16 - 22, 2013 originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 16 Sep 2013 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

The Daily Grind: What future MMO trends would you like to see? Posted: 16 Sep 2013 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, Opinion, The Daily Grind, EverQuest Next, WildStar MMO design trends are curious things. For a while there, it seemed like every new title was hyping its story angle. Recent years have also seen a rash of action combat games as well as plenty of, ahem, "dynamic" events. Today though, we'd like to hear your thoughts on possible future trends. Will EverQuest Next start a voxel revolution? Will WildStar show everyone how housing's done and spawn a bunch of imitators? Let us know! 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 future MMO trends would you like to see? originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 16 Sep 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

MMO Week in Review: The curse of success Posted: 15 Sep 2013 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: Massively Meta, Week in Review, Miscellaneous At the end of every week, we round up the best and most popular news stories, exclusive features, and insightful columns published on Massively and then present them all in one convenient place. If you missed a big MMO or WoW Insider story last week, you've come to the right post. Final Fantasy XIV's got the kind of problem every game wants to have: too many players trying to play it. This week, the game has been battling server congestion, tweaking difficulty, ticking off Android users, and promising free PS4 game upgrades for PS3 players. And Massively released both a dungeon guide and the first part of a critical not-a-review of the game's relaunched edition. Read on for a look at the rest of this week's top MMO stories. Continue reading MMO Week in Review: The curse of success MMO Week in Review: The curse of success originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 15 Sep 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

EVE Evolved: Fitting Heavy Assault Cruisers in Odyssey 1.1, part 2 Posted: 15 Sep 2013 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, EVE Online, Classes, Expansions, Game Mechanics, Patches, PvP, Opinion, Hands-On, EVE Evolved, Guides, Sandbox, Subscription EVE Online recently revamped all of the Heavy Assault Cruisers in its Odyssey 1.1 update, in addition to buffing active shield boosters and armour repairers and rebalancing medium beam lasers and railguns. Last week I put together a new brawler setup for the recently revamped Deimos, a sentry drone sniper fitting for the Ishtar, an extremely effective anti-frigate Cerberus setup, and a sadly underwhelming railgun Eagle. This week I've turned my attention toward the Amarr and Minmatar HACs, with some surprising results. The Zealot and Sacrilege are still as powerful as ever, and the Muninn may see some use as a tactical frigate sniper, but this patch could see many players retiring their Vagabonds. The nano-fit Vagabond was once the unrivaled number one ship for lone pirates, able to speed-tank anything larger than a frigate and still deal over 500 DPS. It engaged safely from outside web range, moved too fast for turrets to track, and absorbed any attacks that did hit with its sizable buffer tank. When CCP made warp scramblers knock out microwarpdrives, Vagabond pilots adapted with dual propulsion module fits that use a microwarpdrive to approach the target and an afterburner to orbit. Unfortunately, the Vagabond didn't fare well in the Odyssey 1.1 patch and players aren't sure if they can adapt this time. In this week's EVE Evolved, I put together PvP setups for the at the Zealot, Sacrilege, Muninn, and Vagabond Heavy Assault Cruisers. Continue reading EVE Evolved: Fitting Heavy Assault Cruisers in Odyssey 1.1, part 2 EVE Evolved: Fitting Heavy Assault Cruisers in Odyssey 1.1, part 2 originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 15 Sep 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Hyperspace Beacon Extra: SWTOR's expansion 'refunds' Posted: 15 Sep 2013 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, Business Models, Expansions, Opinion, Free-to-Play, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Hyperspace Beacon, Subscription, MMORPG On Thursday, BioWare gave all Star Wars: The Old Republic subscribers the Rise of the Hutt Cartel expansion for free. From that moment forward, if you subscribe to Star Wars: The Old Republic, you can level to 55 as well as participate in Makeb planetary content and endgame content like operations Terror from Beyond and Scum and Villainy. By doing this, BioWare increased the value of its subscription, which it has been struggling to do all this year. Disgruntled subscribers will be happy about paying their $15 a month, right? Well, not exactly... As expected, most subscribers already own Rise of the Hutt Cartel. In fact, the most loyal players pre-ordered the expansion early this year and have been paying a subscription for the full six months prior to the expansion's being given away. BioWare also announced that the subscribers who bought the expansion within the last month will receive 1050 Cartel Coins, credits to the in-game cash shop equal in value to the price of the expansion -- kind of like a refund. This seems to be a reasonable compromise, right? So why are players split on the issue? Why do some players believe that this a perfectly reasonable compromise while others are readying their hatchets and pitchforks? I think it is directly related to how players define the game. Is SWTOR a product or a service? Continue reading Hyperspace Beacon Extra: SWTOR's expansion 'refunds' Hyperspace Beacon Extra: SWTOR's expansion 'refunds' originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 15 Sep 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Stick and Rudder: On Star Citizen's so-called 'feature creep' Posted: 15 Sep 2013 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, Business Models, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, New Titles, Opinion, Sandbox, Crowdfunding, Stick and Rudder, Star Citizen, Buy-to-Play I'm going to address the allegations of "feature creep" in Star Citizen this week before misperceptions get further out of hand. If you haven't been following the sci-fi space sandbox in recent weeks, note that Chris Roberts and Cloud Imperium unveiled the title's $20 million stretch goal several days ago. Said goal is FPS combat on select lawless planets, but to hear some armchair developers tell it, Roberts is jumping the shark and gunning for PlanetSide 2 instead of simply adding some instanced bells and whistles onto what's affectionately known as the best damn space sim ever (BDSSE). If you're a Star Citizen backer or enthusiast, you already know everything I'm about to type. If you're casually lurking on the periphery of the game's fandom, though, join me after the cut for the most complete SC crash course that 1,700 words can buy. Continue reading Stick and Rudder: On Star Citizen's so-called 'feature creep' Stick and Rudder: On Star Citizen's so-called 'feature creep' originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 15 Sep 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

You are subscribed to email updates from Massively To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610