MMO Updates |
- The Road to Mordor: Ranking LotRO's expansions
- Shroud of the Avatar shows off crafting sigil and more
- WRUP: Five seven five edition
- The Daily Grind: What else do you do while you play MMOs?
- Storyboard: What are you scared of?
- Betawatch: October 12 - 18, 2013
- EverQuest Mac shutting down (again)
- Garriott talks 'selective multiplayer' at NYCC
- New SWTOR dev blog sorta talks about Galactic Starfighter
- SOE to run EQNext Landmark for all regions, offers beta sign-ups
- Yep, Star Citizen's still raking in the money
- Return to DUST 514, get free dropsuits
- TUG prepares Survival Games servers
- Archlord 2 launches in Korea
- MMObility: Checking in on location-based MMO Life is Magic
- Blizzard wins its case to shut down World of Warcraft bots
- RIFT frees up inactive character names
- Plan your EVE Vegas weekend with this final schedule
| The Road to Mordor: Ranking LotRO's expansions Posted: 19 Oct 2013 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Expansions, Free-to-Play, The Road to Mordor  But any time that we're anticipating a new expansion, there's a natural desire to want to look back and see where we've been in Lord of the Rings Online. It amazes me just how big this game's gotten since 2007, and now that we're on the cusp of seeing a full Rohan, I feel like I'm almost at the summit of an important mountain in the game. So for fun and debate, I'm going to rank LotRO's four expansions to date, from best to worst, and share what I liked and disliked about them. This list comes with a caveat that I've never been much of a dungeon runner, so instances and raids do not factor into this ranking. Continue reading The Road to Mordor: Ranking LotRO's expansions
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| Shroud of the Avatar shows off crafting sigil and more Posted: 19 Oct 2013 09:00 AM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Previews, Crafting, Housing, Shroud of the Avatar  The crafting sigil is made of three rings (inner, middle, and outer) that hold five skills apiece. The inner ring is devoted to crafting, the middle to refining, and the outer to production. This setup is not just for eye candy, but provides a visual representation of the crafting process as items are made by going from the inner ring to the outer. The update goes on to tease male avatar armor, a story sneak peek, Shroud of the Avatar swag, and several screenshots of housing exteriors, interiors, and basements. Yes, basements: truly the most requested MMO preview aspect ever. Please try not to wet your pants. Actually, they are kind of cool, so disregard that sarcasm.
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| Posted: 19 Oct 2013 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: Massively Meta, Miscellaneous  Why do I bring this up? Because I told the entire Massively team to write their WRUP entries in Haiku this week, and for some reason the majority of the team actually complied with that request. Despite this oddity, the article past the break still contains a good shot of what the team will be up to this weekend. Let us know what you're going to be doing down in the comments, and if you can do so in haiku, so much the better. Continue reading WRUP: Five seven five edition
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| The Daily Grind: What else do you do while you play MMOs? Posted: 19 Oct 2013 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Culture, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous  You might argue that if I'm playing a second game during part of the first game, I'm not really enjoying myself, but it's something I like to do. I made my way through many books playing Final Fantasy XI, I've watched movies while farming in World of Warcraft, and playing City of Heroes gave me plenty of reason to read through old comics. There's nothing wrong with splitting your attention a little. I suspect most of us do it to some degree. Do you listen to Pandora while the game is on? Chat with people on Steam? Browse the web? What else do you do while you play?  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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| Storyboard: What are you scared of? Posted: 18 Oct 2013 07:00 PM PDT Filed under: Culture, Opinion, Roleplaying, Storyboard, Miscellaneous  Unfortunately, fear is also difficult to address in a logical fashion. Fear itself isn't logical. From a logical standpoint, there is nothing serious that a spider can do to me. I'm thousands of times larger (no fat jokes please) and have access to a variety of tools; it just has eight legs and poison that's generally harmless to me. That doesn't mean I'm not scared of them, despite the fact that logic dictates that I should be more scared of seeing a bear in the woods. So I'm not going to talk about that. What I will talk about is giving your characters fears that feel real, making sure that you're afraid of things that work, and portraying those fears in a consistent way. After all, even if fear isn't logical, it certainly is understandable with a bit of effort. Continue reading Storyboard: What are you scared of?
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| Betawatch: October 12 - 18, 2013 Posted: 18 Oct 2013 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, MMO Industry, News Items, Betawatch, Miscellaneous  Other games have been a bit more active. Excalibur has finished porting its sidescrolling mobile take on the MMORPG genre to the iOS platforms, while Blood & Jade kicked off its first testing phase on the 14th. Heva Clonia Online kicked off its first open test event and second overall beta, and with no more wipes before launch it's one cash shop away from "launch." We don't cotton to soft launches in these parts. There are other games still in testing, and you can find the full list of them just past the break. As always, if a game has a cash shop or has opened testing without our noticing, please, let us know in the comments so we can investigate. Continue reading Betawatch: October 12 - 18, 2013
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| EverQuest Mac shutting down (again) Posted: 18 Oct 2013 05:30 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, EverQuest, Free-to-Play, Sunsets  "After much review and consideration, we have made the decision to sunset EverQuest Mac," the studio posted. "EQMac was originally scheduled to sunset in early 2012, but we kept the game up and running following the passionate feedback received from the community. As we align development resources towards our upcoming slate of games, we cannot justify the resources required to continue to support EQMac. The remaining EverQuest titles (EverQuest, EverQuest II, EverQuest Next, and EverQuest Next Landmark) will not be affected by this closure. We appreciate all of your contributions over the years and hope to see you in other EQ games." SOE President John Smedley added his condolences: "Please know that this was not a decision that was taken lightly. It was a hard call to make, but we know it's the right thing to do." EQMac is a Mac-only version of the game that's been effectively frozen in time since the Planes of Power expansion. You can read our history as well as veterans' stories of the title. The last EverQuest game to be shut down was EverQuest Online Adventures in March 2012.
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| Garriott talks 'selective multiplayer' at NYCC Posted: 18 Oct 2013 05:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Video, Events (Real-World), Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, New Titles, News Items, Sandbox, Shroud of the Avatar, Buy-to-Play  He compared SotA's blueprint with traditional MMOs, which typically feature large numbers of players who either ignore each other or who are sharded away from one another on different servers. Garriott's aim is to make a single shard game that fills player instances first with preferred friends and then with strangers, while maintaining "ad hock private instances for storytelling." You can watch the full panel video after the break. Continue reading Garriott talks 'selective multiplayer' at NYCC
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| New SWTOR dev blog sorta talks about Galactic Starfighter Posted: 18 Oct 2013 04:45 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, Expansions, MMO Industry, PvP, News Items, Free-to-Play, Star Wars: The Old Republic  This particular entry doesn't contain much in the way of gameplay info, unfortunately, but Backus says that more details will be forthcoming in the future.
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| SOE to run EQNext Landmark for all regions, offers beta sign-ups Posted: 18 Oct 2013 04:30 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, MMO Industry, New Titles, News Items, Free-to-Play, EverQuest Next  Since we are delivering an entirely new and unique approach to MMO game design and development with EverQuest Next Landmark, and given that SOE's Player Studio program is one of the cornerstones of EverQuest Next Landmark, SOE will directly manage EQNL and Player Studio for all regions.Players in all regions wanting to get in on Landmark's beta will use the same the same sign-up form. Beta for EverQuest Next, however, is still split into regions; EU players can sign up at either the EU site, the UK site, or the German site, while those in North America and all other regions head to one page.
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| Yep, Star Citizen's still raking in the money Posted: 18 Oct 2013 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, Business Models, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, New Titles, News Items, Sandbox, Crowdfunding, Star Citizen, Buy-to-Play  Roberts also announced the game's $25 million stretch goal, which is basically a wider alpha testing net that will ensure extra servers and worldwide infrastructure for the game's early testing. The company will also be expanding the number of remaining alpha user slots.
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| Return to DUST 514, get free dropsuits Posted: 18 Oct 2013 03:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, Interviews, MMO Industry, PvP, News Items, Free-to-Play, DUST 514, Promotions  Gifts include 100 copies of the Black Eagles Scout dropsuit and 100 copies of the Quafe Scout dropsuit. The blurb also mentions various in-game improvements since last May's Uprising 1.0 patch. In other DUST news, Polygon interviewed new executive producer Jean-Charles Gaudechon, who says his first order of business is to amp up the new player experience. "If I would want to push the game somewhere right now," he explained, "it would be to really focus on that kind of visceral gameplay -- that intense first few hours, first few days of playing the game -- and making sure that we can engage more people into that world, into that fiction, and show you how deep and rich that universe is."
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| TUG prepares Survival Games servers Posted: 18 Oct 2013 02:30 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Previews, PvP, Sandbox  The Survival Games servers are a prelude to TUG's survival mode in which players are thrown onto a map and challenged to be the last man or woman standing. In addition to straight-up combat, these maps contain enemy NPCs and crafting resources. The shrewd survivalist might be able to fashion a weapon or trap on the fly to help gain an edge. As players engage in the Survival Games, the TUG team will be changing the rules constantly and allowing players to implement their own mods in order to develop the best final product. "No name handles, no global chat, and dead is dead," the team described the servers. "Expect some serious trolling from us in these matches... FOR SCIENCE!"
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| Posted: 18 Oct 2013 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Launches, PvP  The greatest prize of the game isn't mere loot but the title and position of Archlord. This supreme ruler of the game will be decided through many realm-vs.-realm battles. Archlord 2 offers over 40 battlefields, racial specialties, and a soundtrack done by God of War composer Cris Velasco. We first heard about this title during Webzen's E3 presentation this past summer. [Source: Webzen press release]
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| MMObility: Checking in on location-based MMO Life is Magic Posted: 18 Oct 2013 01:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Real-Life, Game Mechanics, Previews, PvP, PvE, Opinion, Free-to-Play, Mobile, Hands-On, Casual, MMObility  Luckily there are a lot of great titles to choose from, games like Arcane Legends from Spacetime Studios or Grepolis from Innogames. There are also games like this week's Life is Magic, a neat location-based MMO that comes from Red Robot Labs. It leans a bit more to the pseudo-MMO side but is still a lot of fun when you want some turn-based action. Continue reading MMObility: Checking in on location-based MMO Life is Magic
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| Blizzard wins its case to shut down World of Warcraft bots Posted: 18 Oct 2013 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Culture, MMO Industry, News Items, Legal, Subscription  Ceiling Fan Software issued a statement saying that the company lost its fight to allow people to play World of Warcraft as they chose (although the method of playing in question, it should be noted, involved no actual play of the game). This is the second such time that Blizzard has targeted people creating software directly contrary to the game's basic user agreements and also the second victory the company has acquired in that same arena.
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| RIFT frees up inactive character names Posted: 18 Oct 2013 11:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Culture, News Items, Free-to-Play, RIFT  Any players with characters flagged as inactive will be sent a letter stating that the characters in question are in danger of losing their names. If it's a mistake, you can just log in on that character and you'll be fine. If you legitimately don't play the character, then someone who does use the name will be able to use it. Everyone wins -- assuming that there aren't two active characters with the exact same name, in which case we're back to the default situation where someone wins and someone loses.
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| Plan your EVE Vegas weekend with this final schedule Posted: 18 Oct 2013 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, EVE Online, Events (Real-World), MMO Industry, News Items, MMOFPS, DUST 514, Sandbox, Subscription  If you aren't one of the virtual pilots able to attend the event live, you can still watch the various seminars and talks from both the developers and members of the community via CCP's official Twitch channel. For the times of each event, see the schedule below or visit the official site. Continue reading Plan your EVE Vegas weekend with this final schedule
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