MMO Updates |
- EQN's Steve Klug talks voxels and making editing fun
- Star Citizen unleashes the Next Great Starship design contest
- Some Assembly Required: A dev's-eye view of Dragon's Prophet's frontier system
- Looking for Guild: Even more FFXIV
- The Daily Grind: Does your MMO character reflect you or the other way around?
- 3000AD partners with DC for Line of Defense comic
- Earn free tanks during World of Tanks: Xbox 360 beta event weekend
- Watch Cloud Imperium's CitizenCon livestream right now
- MechWarrior Online looks forward to the next month
- Players successfully petition to change ArcheAge's business model
- Court sides with Acti-Blizz, Vivendi split moves forward
- Prime World devs tackle gender issues, hero prices
- RIFT's Autumn Harvest begins October 17th
- CCP responds to EVE Online favoritism scandal
- Samuel L. Jackson voices the objectively best announcer pack for Heroes of Newerth
- Diablo III polls players about expansion prices
- The Guild Counsel: Speed up those slogging raids
- Perfect Ten: Consequences of living in an MMO world
| EQN's Steve Klug talks voxels and making editing fun Posted: 11 Oct 2013 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Game Mechanics, Interviews, MMO Industry, New Titles, News Items, PvE, Free-to-Play, EverQuest Next, Sandbox  "There are many different approaches to rendering voxels, but they all boil down to what amounts to a three dimensional pixel," Klug explains. "Using voxels allows for a very editable world. They allow for meaningful destruction during combat situations. They also allow you to build the castle or dungeon of your dreams." Klug also says that players will have access to the same building tools that SOE's developers use. The company is attempting "to make all aspects of editing really fun," Klug says. "So we like to think of them more as games unto themselves than just plain tools."
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| Star Citizen unleashes the Next Great Starship design contest Posted: 11 Oct 2013 09:00 AM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, Contests, MMO Industry, New Titles, Sandbox, Crowdfunding, Player-Generated Content, Star Citizen  The modding contest will see three-person teams compete for a grand prize of $30,000, the inclusion of the winning ship design in the game, models of the ship, 3D modeling software, and more. Registration runs from October 31 through December 31 with the grand prize being announced in June. Check out the video after the cut and the main site for more information. [Source: Cloud Imperium press release] Continue reading Star Citizen unleashes the Next Great Starship design contest
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| Some Assembly Required: A dev's-eye view of Dragon's Prophet's frontier system Posted: 11 Oct 2013 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Interviews, PvP, Endgame, Free-to-Play, Some Assembly Required, Housing, Dragon's Prophet, Player-Generated Content  On top of that, I got to hear Senior Producer Todd Carson and Associate Producer Rod Haza detail different aspects of this system that melds PvP and housing in Dragon's Prophet. Dubbed the Frontier System, this combination puts PvP on the housing islands of Auratia. However, the implementation is probably not quite what players envisioned when they first heard about it. Luckily, I got a pretty good look at how it all works from my invulnerable perch and can share that with you. Continue reading Some Assembly Required: A dev's-eye view of Dragon's Prophet's frontier system
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| Looking for Guild: Even more FFXIV Posted: 11 Oct 2013 07:00 AM PDT Filed under: Guilds, Final Fantasy XIV, Miscellaneous, Looking for Guild  Here on LFG, we're also getting quite a few players looking to play with more people in the fantasy-based MMO. It's almost like some enterprising young guild leader could come by and swoop these folks up for a Massively reader guild of their own. Read on past the cut for this week's list (consisting entirely of FFXIV submissions) and don't forget to submit your own for next week! Continue reading Looking for Guild: Even more FFXIV
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| The Daily Grind: Does your MMO character reflect you or the other way around? Posted: 11 Oct 2013 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Culture, Events (Real-World), MMO Industry, News Items, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Roleplaying, Miscellaneous  Setting aside the obvious implication that playing a sexed-up toon in an MMO might temporarily darken our mental health, I have to wonder what other bad habits we might be learning from our characters. How much control do we really have when we roll up a new avatar in an MMO? Did I choose to roleplay a snarky pirate in that last game because it would be fun or because I have a problem with authority and a rude attitude I needed a way to express? Worse, did her negative traits and wardrobe rub off on or change me? Do you think your MMO character reflects you, or do you think you subconsciously reflect your MMO character? Have you ever found yourself picking up or dwelling on the attributes of your characters?  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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| 3000AD partners with DC for Line of Defense comic Posted: 10 Oct 2013 07:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Sci-Fi, MMO Industry, PvP, News Items, Free-to-Play, MMOFPS, Miscellaneous  While the Line of Defense comic is mostly stuck in the digital world, a limited edition printing of the first story, Payback, will be available as a free giveaway at DC Comics' booth during New York Comic-Con. Ten thousand copies will also be distributed to comic book stores; Line of Defense fans who can't make the con can pick up a free copy October 16th at their local nostalgia dungeon. The Line of Defense game, meanwhile, continues its cruise through a very extended beta. [Thanks to Saucelah for the tip!]
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| Earn free tanks during World of Tanks: Xbox 360 beta event weekend Posted: 10 Oct 2013 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Historical, Events (In-Game), War, Free-to-Play, Consoles, World of Tanks, Promotions, MOBA  Players can earn an M22 Locust Tier III premium tank by completing 50 matches in this time span, and a Ram II Tier V premium tank will be given to everyone who engages this weekend as long as 10,000 players log in simultaneously. Wargaming is also handing out XP bonuses for the first win on ever tank a player owns and 2,500 gold for use during the beta process. An Xbox Live Gold account is needed to join in with this beta. [Source: Wargaming press release]
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| Watch Cloud Imperium's CitizenCon livestream right now Posted: 10 Oct 2013 05:30 PM PDT Filed under: Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, New Titles, News Items, Anniversaries, Crowdfunding, Star Citizen, Buy-to-Play  To celebrate the one-year anniversary of the announcement, Cloud Imperium is hosting its inaugural CitizenCon In Austin, Texas. Click through the links below to watch the Continue reading Watch Cloud Imperium's CitizenCon livestream right now
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| MechWarrior Online looks forward to the next month Posted: 10 Oct 2013 05:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, Game Mechanics, Patches, Previews, News Items, Free-to-Play, MMOFPS, MechWarrior Online  Slated for release this month are the Locust, the Hero Atlas, and the Champion Spider, along with the Shadow Hawk, Thunderbolt, and Battlemaster 'Mechs for Phoenix package owners. The game will also drop a new map and a new paint pattern. Meanwhile, the team is working hard on optimizing game performance and UI accessibility. The letter closes by examining where several proposed pieces of the Community Warfare are in the development process. Dedicated MechWarriors will want to take a careful look at what's coming up next and probably start blasting away in preparation.
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| Players successfully petition to change ArcheAge's business model Posted: 10 Oct 2013 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Business Models, Culture, MMO Industry, New Titles, News Items, ArcheAge, Sandbox  MMO Culture reported on the brouhaha last week, and most of the outrage was directed at the fact that Mail.ru's initial model gave major in-game advantages to players with fat wallets. "A rich Russian player [could] get his whole guild to level 50 within a day," the site said. After a mass player outcry, the publisher is now offering players a choice of how to move forward. Option one involves refining the current model, option two would use the same free-to-model found in the Korean version of ArcheAge, and option three would use both models simultaneously. Trion is slated to publish ArcheAge in the West, but thus far no business model information has been forthcoming. [Thanks Mikey!]
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| Court sides with Acti-Blizz, Vivendi split moves forward Posted: 10 Oct 2013 03:30 PM PDT Filed under: Business Models, MMO Industry, News Items  With the legal obstacles now removed, Activision-Blizzard expects to complete the deal by October 15th.
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| Prime World devs tackle gender issues, hero prices Posted: 10 Oct 2013 03:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Patches, PvP, News Items, Free-to-Play, Mobile, MOBA  Perhaps the most interesting tidbit is Nival's decision to nix all gender features from the game. Prime World has been the subject of some controversy due to its treatment of gender; male and female characters have different abilities that operate in relation to their gender and the gender of other heroes, and player hero choice is determined by the gender established either on the player's Facebook page or Prime World account. Nival explained that the decision to remove gender-specific features will soon be discussed in greater detail in a separate post. [Thanks to Dengar for the tip!]
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| RIFT's Autumn Harvest begins October 17th Posted: 10 Oct 2013 02:30 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Events (In-Game), News Items, PvE, Free-to-Play, RIFT, MMORPG  Look for Halloween masks, grab bags, and supply crates in the RIFT store and collect spectral reward tokens by completing Autumn Harvest events. Spectral reward tokens can be spent to purchase rare loot and spectral mounts. It would also be wise to keep an eye out for Atrophinius, RIFT's harvest master, as he has a number of special tasks related to the harvest including the slaying of vampires and werewolves and the reclaiming of loot back from nefarious thieves. Autumn Harvest goes live on October 17th.
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| CCP responds to EVE Online favoritism scandal Posted: 10 Oct 2013 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, EVE Online, Economy, Events (In-Game), MMO Industry, PvP, News Items, PvE, Sandbox, Subscription, MMORPG  After a few days of fan caterwauling, CCP has issued a lengthy and detailed response built to clarify what happened, why it happened, and what it means. First, CCP explained that the Ishukone Watch Scorpion is a promotional item with no value beyond that which is created by its rarity. The studio also noted that only 132 ships exist, all of which were handed out by CCP to community contributors. CCP explained that giving away the ships to fansites and contributors was meant to be a continued initiative but is now on hold. Continue reading CCP responds to EVE Online favoritism scandal
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| Samuel L. Jackson voices the objectively best announcer pack for Heroes of Newerth Posted: 10 Oct 2013 01:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Culture, News Items, Free-to-Play, MOBA  Jackson's announcements are... well, pretty much exactly what you'd expect from the terms "Samuel L. Jackson announcer pack." You can check them out past the break, although we should warn you that if your workplace or home has an issue with shouted profanity, you might want to turn down the volume. For everyone else, click past the break and enjoy the new pack. Continue reading Samuel L. Jackson voices the objectively best announcer pack for Heroes of Newerth
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| Diablo III polls players about expansion prices Posted: 10 Oct 2013 12:30 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Expansions, Diablo III  The studio is polling players to see what they think of potential pricing for different editions of Reaper of Souls as well as how they rank the different features that the expansion will bring. The two price tags mentioned as possibilities for Reaper of Souls are $29.99 for the standard edition and $49.99 for the collector's edition. The expansion is slated for a 2014 release.
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| The Guild Counsel: Speed up those slogging raids Posted: 10 Oct 2013 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: Guilds, Opinion, The Guild Counsel  Ironically, one of the things that separates good raiding guilds from everyone else is their use of time. Cutting-edge gear and high DPS parses are fine, but even average guilds can progress quickly by making the best use of their time during the raid. And in addition, slow, monotonous raids suddenly feel vibrant and fun. Let's take a look at how to speed things up in this week's Guild Counsel. Continue reading The Guild Counsel: Speed up those slogging raids
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| Perfect Ten: Consequences of living in an MMO world Posted: 10 Oct 2013 11:00 AM PDT Filed under: Opinion, Humor, Perfect Ten, Miscellaneous  But there's always that next level of escapism where the mind starts to fantasize about leaping through the monitor and living in these vivid, exciting worlds. Consider the amount of homework or responsibilities or job tasks you have on your plate, and then consider dropping it all to spend your life as an adventurer in Azeroth, Norrath, Tyria, or Eorzea. Wow, that would be such a relief, wouldn't it? Nay, say I -- it would be a nightmare from which you would be unable to escape. You would most likely star as an ironic mishap victim in a Twilight Zone episode. Today we're going to look at 10 consequences of trading the real world for a virtual one. Continue reading Perfect Ten: Consequences of living in an MMO world
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