MMO Updates

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• The Game Archaeologist: WAR's biggest battle was with itself
• WRUP: Grand Theft Auto V does exist edition
• The Daily Grind: What games do you like even though you didn't play them much?
• MMObility: Battle Dragons and Tiny Tycoons make for light fun
• Betwatch: September 21 - 27, 2013
• Storyboard: Sharing the spotlight
• Second Wind: Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, part two
• Neo's Land voxel-based building demo now available
• Roberts debunks Star Citizen 'feature creep' theories, announces next stretch goal
• SOE removing EverQuest II's F2P item restrictions
• Trion teases RIFT Mayhem in Mathosia details, hosts bonus XP weekend
• Tamriel Infinium: Hybrid penalty, Elder Scrolls Online?
• Dragon Ball Online has reached its final form
• Drakensang Online lands in Southeast Asia

The Game Archaeologist: WAR's biggest battle was with itself Posted: 28 Sep 2013 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, MMO Industry, PvP, Warhammer Online, The Game Archaeologist, Anniversaries, Subscription, Sunsets Who would have thought that on WAR's fifth anniversary and just days after I dropped a few favorite things about the game, Mythic would be announcing a closure instead of an exciting celebration? While we can all say it that Warhammer Online's upcoming sunset was expected, nobody predicted that the news would go down on its fifth birthday. Maybe someone over there likes order more than chaos and sees a nice symmetry in this. Personally, I think it felt a little bit mean to do that to the remaining community that was patiently sitting there hoping that the studio would toss them even a small bit of recognition. But facts are facts, and after December 18th, the game of public quests, the Tome of Knowledge, "bears, bears, bears," Slayers and Marauders, RvR and scenarios, exploding squigs, and drunken Dwarves will be no more. There are a few months left to experience the game if one so desires, but the end is finally here. It's caused many of us who were invested in the game back in 2008 to take stock of our memories and deal with the last chapter of this strange, wild rollercoaster that started with a strong IP, a studio steeped in PvP MMO development, and a pair of white sunglasses. In the end, WAR's biggest battle was with itself -- and it lost. Today, let's look at the whys, the what ifs, and the community reaction. Continue reading The Game Archaeologist: WAR's biggest battle was with itself The Game Archaeologist: WAR's biggest battle was with itself originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 28 Sep 2013 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

WRUP: Grand Theft Auto V does exist edition Posted: 28 Sep 2013 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: Massively Meta, Miscellaneous So, Grand Theft Auto V. It's a thing. You can ride bikes and shoot at people, you can cause mayhem, there's criminal stuff going on. I guess that's a thing? I mean, the gameplay is more refined than ever, but I've been pulling people out of cars and then driving those cars on the sidewalk since back in 2001. People love it and I don't know how to muster much more than shrugging acknowledgement. Maybe Saints Row IV spoiled me on the promise of mayhem without a dubstep gun and superpowers, I don't know. Statistically speaking, you are probably playing Grand Theft Auto V right now, so you probably don't care what I have to say. That's fine; WRUP is about the entire staff of Massively and what we're playing for the weekend. Check it out past the break, and let us know what you'll be up to down in the comments. Continue reading WRUP: Grand Theft Auto V does exist edition WRUP: Grand Theft Auto V does exist edition originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 28 Sep 2013 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

The Daily Grind: What games do you like even though you didn't play them much? Posted: 28 Sep 2013 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Culture, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous I only played Warhammer Online seriously for the six weeks of my first Choose My Adventure stint. There's no way I could call myself a big fan without being a liar. But despite that -- and despite the fact that the game had been in a steady downward trajectory ever since the first day I started working at Massively -- I still had a lot of affection for the title. I was sad to hear it would be shutting down, because it appealed to me, even if I didn't want it to be my main game. I think we've all had a game or two that we tried or played for a little while without really falling for it. Sometimes we move on peacefully, and other times we still cheer for the game from the sidelines. So what games do you like even without being a big-time player? Are they games you used to play that you eventually moved on from or ones that just strike you as somehow worthy? 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 games do you like even though you didn't play them much? originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 28 Sep 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

MMObility: Battle Dragons and Tiny Tycoons make for light fun Posted: 27 Sep 2013 07:00 PM PDT Filed under: Game Mechanics, New Titles, Previews, PvP, Opinion, Free-to-Play, Casual, First Impressions, MMObility This week I would like to mention two titles that only recently came across my desk, Battle Dragons by well-known mobile MMO developer Spacetime Games and Tiny Tycoons, a semi-social, real-world game that is published by The Tap Lab. Which is possibly the cutest company name, ever. Both games shine a light on the current mobile market, even though they do not represent every genre that is popular on mobile devices right now. Both games show off just how well-made many mobile games can be and both design's help illustrate why mobile gaming has gained such a large piece of the gaming pie. We'll start with Battle Dragons, the more MMO-like game of the two. Perhaps because it was created by a studio that has dominated the mobile MMO space for the last several years, Battle Dragons works perfectly on a mobile device. Continue reading MMObility: Battle Dragons and Tiny Tycoons make for light fun MMObility: Battle Dragons and Tiny Tycoons make for light fun originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 27 Sep 2013 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Betwatch: September 21 - 27, 2013 Posted: 27 Sep 2013 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, MMO Industry, News Items, Betawatch, Miscellaneous Playing a beta means you're going to see your progress evaporate. So it can't come as much of a surprise to Hearthstone players that everything is getting wiped away with all real money spent on the game being reimbursed. Still, you can't help but feel a little twinge of regret at the hours of progress gone in a moment's notice. After being told that Black Desert was nearing its test stage, we've finally got a date of October 17th for the first Korean closed beta. And while we mostly cover games rather than expansions in here, it's worth noting that Lord of the Rings Online was giving away beta codes for the game's next expansion on Facebook. It's first-come first-served, so they might still be there, even! Oh, and there's the list past the break like always. As usual, if something has slipped in a cash shop without us noticing, please let us know so we can check it out ourselves. Continue reading Betwatch: September 21 - 27, 2013 Betwatch: September 21 - 27, 2013 originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 27 Sep 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Storyboard: Sharing the spotlight Posted: 27 Sep 2013 05:00 PM PDT Filed under: Culture, Opinion, Roleplaying, Storyboard, Miscellaneous We roleplayers tend to be a little... self-centered. Kind of the nature of the game, seeing as how you're creating a persona and then trying to flesh out an entire life story for that persona. It's natural that you'd want to be on the center stage a little more often. The problem here is obvious. Heck, you can see it in day-to-day life. If only one person thinks, "I'm the star," everything flows fine. If everyone thinks that, you're surrounded by a screaming cacophony of people who all think that their individual problems are more important than anyone else's problems. You have a band full of lead guitarists and no one on drums, a full team of pitchers without anyone at second base. You need to learn how to step away from the spotlight. To let someone else be important for a bit. To give up the spotlight and be the supporting cast for a while. So how and why do you do that? I'm glad you let me assume that you asked. Continue reading Storyboard: Sharing the spotlight Storyboard: Sharing the spotlight originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 27 Sep 2013 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Second Wind: Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, part two Posted: 27 Sep 2013 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Opinion, Final Fantasy XIV, Second Wind Welcome back to Second Wind, one and all. You may remember that a couple of weeks back, I published part one of my impressions on the recently released Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. If you didn't read it, either because you didn't care (but for some reason care about part two) or because it was too long (sorry), you missed out on most of my feelings about Disciple of War and Magic progression in FFXIV, but not quite all of them. So here in part two, I'll be summarizing my seemingly endless thoughts on that subject as well as my thoughts on gathering and crafting, which should wind all this up and let me stop analyzing the game and start playing it. Maybe. At any rate, if you'd care to know more about high-level adventuring progression (which I've found to be markedly different from the low- and mid-levels) or the time-honored crafts of the Disciples of the Land and Hand, click past the cut and I'll do my best to satisfy your wonder. Continue reading Second Wind: Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, part two Second Wind: Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, part two originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 27 Sep 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Neo's Land voxel-based building demo now available Posted: 27 Sep 2013 03:30 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, New Titles, News Items, Sandbox, Crowdfunding Did our Neo's Land preview whet your appetite for voxel-based MMO creativity earlier this month? If so, you'll want to know that starting today, you can log into the game's website and play around with a set of editing tools that allow for dungeon creation, terrain sculpting, house construction, and more! Though the building demo is web-based, developer NeoJac notes that the full game will feature a traditional client/server model when it launches in 2014. Don't forget that you can help fund Neo's Land via its ongoing Kickstarter drive. [Source: NeoJac press release] Neo's Land voxel-based building demo now available originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 27 Sep 2013 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Roberts debunks Star Citizen 'feature creep' theories, announces next stretch goal Posted: 27 Sep 2013 03:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, New Titles, News Items, Sandbox, Crowdfunding, Star Citizen, Buy-to-Play Star Citizen's crowdfunding total is chugging steadily past the $20 million mark. As such, Cloud Imperium boss Chris Roberts has authored a new letter from the chairman that outlines the next stretch goal and addresses a host of other interesting topics. The goal in question is realistic facial capture technology, which will officially unlock at the $22 million mark. Roberts also took the time to debunk allegations of "feature creep" regarding Star Citizen's ambitious and expanding gameplay functionality. There are two types of stretch goals, he explained. The first are goals that involve features we already have planned or have implemented, but we couldn't create content because of budgetary constraints. The first-person combat on select planets is a great example of this type of goal. We already have FPS combat as part of the game in ship-boarding, and we already have most of this already functional thanks to CryEngine, as we essentially have Crysis3 functionality out of the box. But creating all the environments and assets to fill them is a huge task, so we were planning on not doing any planetside combat initially, simply because of its cost, with the idea that we would slowly roll it out once the game is live. But with the additional funds we can now afford to create some of this content earlier rather than later. The second sort of stretch goal is typified by the facial recognition functionality, "where [the devs] identify technology and equipment that will make the game better and allow us to be more nimble and economically efficient in continually creating content," Roberts explains. In both cases, he says, "we don't commit to adding features that would hold up the game's ability to go live in a fully functional state. Also remember that this is not like a typical retail boxed product -- there is no rule that all features and content have to come online at the same time!" Roberts debunks Star Citizen 'feature creep' theories, announces next stretch goal originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 27 Sep 2013 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Letter from the Chairman

SOE removing EverQuest II's F2P item restrictions Posted: 27 Sep 2013 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, EverQuest II, Business Models, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, News Items, Free-to-Play SOE is changing up EverQuest II's membership benefits on October 1st. First off, F2P and Silver-level accounts will no longer feature item restrictions or item unlocking. Also, Gold-level members will see permanent increases to both coin loot (15 percent) and mount speed (10 percent). Furthermore, the devs are also parting out features from the game's Age of Discovery expansion to the item store, so if you've yet to experience the dungeon maker, mercenaries, tradeskill apprentices, reforging, or the Beastlord class, you can now pick and choose the particular functionality you'd like to unlock. [Thanks Zjeven!] SOE removing EverQuest II's F2P item restrictions originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 27 Sep 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Announcement

Trion teases RIFT Mayhem in Mathosia details, hosts bonus XP weekend Posted: 27 Sep 2013 01:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Events (In-Game), Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, News Items, Free-to-Play, RIFT Trion has posted a bit more info about RIFT's upcoming Mayhem in Mathosia events. "Instead of an event that remains the same for several days, Mayhem in Mathosia will now travel through zones -- each phase will last two days and carry unique objectives, achievements, and loot including Lavender Hellbug and Sapphire Ki Rin mounts, Hellbug companion pets, and more," the company says. Phase one starts Friday, October 4th in Silverwood/Freemarch. In other Telaran news, there's currently a patron appreciation weekend happening, so be sure to log in and help celebrate the 2.4: Beyond Infinity release and soak up the 50 percent XP bonus! Trion teases RIFT Mayhem in Mathosia details, hosts bonus XP weekend originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 27 Sep 2013 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Announcement

Tamriel Infinium: Hybrid penalty, Elder Scrolls Online? Posted: 27 Sep 2013 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Classes, Game Mechanics, New Titles, PvP, PvE, Opinion, Dungeons, The Elder Scrolls Online, Subscription, MMORPG, Tamriel Infinium The Elder Scrolls Online intends to do some shaking up of the traditional MMO combat system. Other MMOs have done this same thing in the past with varying degrees of success. Class balance, however, seems to be the ever-present issue with any game that has to deal with cooperative or conflictive multiplayer gameplay, even more so if the game attempts to do both like most MMORPGs. With the fast-action, limited ability, skill-based combat system ESO intends to produce, how do the developers at ZeniMax best prevent one of the most dreaded by-products: the hybrid penalty? Continue reading Tamriel Infinium: Hybrid penalty, Elder Scrolls Online? Tamriel Infinium: Hybrid penalty, Elder Scrolls Online? originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 27 Sep 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Dragon Ball Online has reached its final form Posted: 27 Sep 2013 11:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, MMO Industry, News Items, Miscellaneous, Sunsets, MMORPG Dragon Ball Online is officially on its way to the other world, as NetMarble has announced that the game will be shutting down in its two remaining territories. Korea's Dragon Ball Online server went offline September 26th and the Taiwan server is set for closure on October 31st. Once Taiwan goes dark, the Dragon Ball MMO will officially be no more. Dragon Ball Online launched in Korea in 2010, followed by releases in Taiwan and Hong Kong in 2011. The game took place 216 years after the Dragon Ball manga series and was under the creative control of original Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama. Dragon Ball Online has reached its final form originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 27 Sep 2013 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: MMO Culture

Drakensang Online lands in Southeast Asia Posted: 27 Sep 2013 10:30 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Launches, MMO Industry, News Items, Free-to-Play, Browser, MMORPG Players in Southeast Asia will now be able to leap into the world of browser-based dungeon-crawler Drakensang Online. Bigpoint announced the expansion of Drakensang's market today, noting that the release marks the first time a Western European developer has worked with Southest Asia's Friendster social gaming platform. Drakensang Online will be offered as part of the Friendster X-Clusive series, which puts Bigpoint directly in contact with 115 million registered users across the region. The game has already launched in over 200 countries and boasts 19 million registered users. Here's Bigpoint chief business officer Jeronimo Folgueira from the announcement: As a region with increasing internet use and online gamer penetration, Southeast Asia comes with one of the most significant free2play markets worldwide. As a game changer in the region's business, Friendster is the right partner to deliver high-quality games to a sophisticated gaming community. [Source: Bigpoint press release] Drakensang Online lands in Southeast Asia originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 27 Sep 2013 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

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