MMO Updates |
- Massively Speaking Episode 269: Pairing up
- The Soapbox: Free-to-play wasn't our idea
- NCsoft sued by 64-year-old woman over $28,000 sword
- Dress for success in RIFT's Halloween costume contest
- ArenaNet lifts the veil on Guild Wars 2's Tower of Nightmares content release
- New movie to feature The Secret World
- Turbine addresses DDO True Heart controversy
- The Daily Grind: What role would you eliminate from the trinity?
- Not So Massively: Elite's Panther LX, PoE's launch week, and Blizzard All-Stars' new name
- Chaos Theory: Follow the Filth as TSW's Whispering Tide Event moves on
- Cube World developer confirms development continues
- Black Desert's open PvP detailed
- Warface launches in Europe and North America
- Star Trek Online dev blog outlines new Solanae Dyson Sphere adventure zone
- You asked, ZeniMax answered: Another TESO AMA is here
- The Nexus Telegraph: Examining the Granok of WildStar
- Producer's letter details DCUO 'remastered'
- Forsaken World adds its first new class since launch
- Piecing together the details of LEGO Minifigures Online with the Funcom team
| Massively Speaking Episode 269: Pairing up Posted: 22 Oct 2013 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Podcasts, MMO Industry, News Items, Massively Meta, Massively Speaking, Miscellaneous  Have a comment for the podcasters? Shoot an email to podcast@massively.com. We may just read your email on the air! Get the podcast: [RSS] Add Massively Speaking to your RSS aggregator. [MP3] Download the MP3 directly. [iTunes] Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. [Stitcher] Follow the podcast on Stitcher Radio. Listen here on the page: Read below the cut for the full show notes. Continue reading Massively Speaking Episode 269: Pairing up
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| The Soapbox: Free-to-play wasn't our idea Posted: 22 Oct 2013 09:00 AM PDT Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Aion, EverQuest, Lord of the Rings Online, Business Models, Opinion, Free-to-Play, MMOFPS, MMORTS, Star Wars: The Old Republic, TERA, The Soapbox, Miscellaneous, The Elder Scrolls Online, Subscription, MMORPG, Buy-to-Play  Free-to-play's growth has created a world in which non-free games are the exception, not the rule. Of the most popular MMOs and online games as of my typing these words, the vast majority are free-to-play. Games that are bold enough to buck the trend and launch with a sub fee are met with derision and suspicion from the online gaming community; the many thousands of words dedicated to ZeniMax Online's decision to require a subscription for The Elder Scrolls Online are likely the most recent and high-profile examples of this trend in action. When players complain about a game launching with a subscription, their opinions are often countered by a self-appointed gaming elite who believe that things were better in the good old days, when games cost money and poor people didn't ruin everything by demanding free stuff. The argument summarized is something like, "I am sick and tired of lazy, entitled gamers wanting everything for free." There's just one problem: Lazy, entitled gamers didn't invent free-to-play. Studios did. Continue reading The Soapbox: Free-to-play wasn't our idea
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| NCsoft sued by 64-year-old woman over $28,000 sword Posted: 22 Oct 2013 08:30 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Lineage, Events (Real-World), MMO Industry, News Items  Unfortunately, the plaintiff's game log showed that she bought special items to improve her odds at enchanting and she continued to enchant other items even after the destruction of the rare sword. The court's ruling was not in the player's favor, noting that even if it was a mistake, NCsoft was not required to restore the item.
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| Dress for success in RIFT's Halloween costume contest Posted: 22 Oct 2013 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Contests, News Items, Free-to-Play, RIFT  The top 10 finalists will be highlighted on Trion's livestream November 15th where first, second, and third place will be decided. Prizes for first place include 15,000 RIFT store credits, all the Halloween masks, and a reaper mount. Additionally, the winning outfit will go on sale in the RIFT store with the entrant's name attached. Second place will take home store credits, the masks, and a mount while third also wins store credits. All 10 finalists will receive a special title.
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| ArenaNet lifts the veil on Guild Wars 2's Tower of Nightmares content release Posted: 22 Oct 2013 07:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Patches, News Items, Guild Wars 2, Family, Buy-to-Play  Tyria's heroes will have access to a new skill, Antitoxin Spray, which can be used by any character to heal and cleanse debuffs from herself and her allies. Completing the meta achievement for Tower of Nightmares will also allow players to earn their very own krait obelisk shard for their home instance, although we're not convinced that plunking one of those down within reach of pets, small children, or anyone ever is such a great idea. You can catch a preview of the event during a developer-hosted livestream on October 28th at 3 p.m. Eastern Time (noon PDT). The Tower of Nightmares content release will go live on October 29th.
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| New movie to feature The Secret World Posted: 22 Oct 2013 06:45 AM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, Video, MMO Industry, The Secret World  A new Swedish film opening this Friday features Funcom's modern-day MMO The Secret World. Starring Valter Skarsgård (son of Stellan Skarsgård, known for films such as Good Will Hunting, The Avengers, and Thor), IRL is a movie that revolves around the life of a teenage boy and girl who meet in the story-driven MMO, eventually deciding to meet in person."This is a story about being a teenager in the parallel world of social media and online gaming which is increasingly challenging reality," says director Erik Leijonborg. "A world where you can hide your real identity and be appreciated for who you really are, or be exposed and mistreated." Be sure to check out the official trailer embedded after the jump. [Source: Funcom press release] Continue reading New movie to feature The Secret World
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| Turbine addresses DDO True Heart controversy Posted: 22 Oct 2013 06:30 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Culture, Patches, Free-to-Play  "The prices on Lamannia are not final," Senior Producer Erik Boyer wrote. "Inspired by the Lamannia feedback, the Heroic Heart of Wood will be greatly reduced from the price displayed in the bartershop today. We'll be looking at your additional feedback and how players play through sagas, and adjust the costs appropriately. We expect the average player to, upon reaching the minimum level requirement, spend additional hours to obtain a Heart of Wood -- but never hundreds of hours. Boyer also said that the Twelve barter NPC will continue to sell Hearts of Wood in Issue 20. Players who were upset at the original changes to the acquisition of the item have been staging an "Occupy Stormreach" protest on one of the city's bridges. [Thanks to Robert for the tip!]
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| The Daily Grind: What role would you eliminate from the trinity? Posted: 22 Oct 2013 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Classes, Game Mechanics, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous  This might not seem like much of a question, but think about it. Without a tank, all DPS and healing players would have to pay attention to what's going on, and there would be room for things like distinct pulling, crowd-control, or burn roles. Without healing, survivability takes on a different role, and without DPS, groups become smaller and focused on a wider gap between tanks and healers. Time is running out. What would the face of World of Warcraft look like with no tanks? What is Final Fantasy XIV without healers? If you could remove one role from the trinity, what would you pick?  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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| Not So Massively: Elite's Panther LX, PoE's launch week, and Blizzard All-Stars' new name Posted: 21 Oct 2013 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Video, Expansions, Game Mechanics, Launches, New Titles, Patches, PvP, News Items, PvE, Free-to-Play, Dev Diaries, Miscellaneous, Not So Massively, Sandbox, MOBA, League of Legends, Firefall, Crowdfunding, Star Citizen, Elite: Dangerous, Path of Exile  League of Legends extended the deadline for achieving the necessary ranks to earn the various Season 3 rewards to November 11th, and this week players discovered a series of Soraka support bots that were farming account levels in co-op mode. Blizzard All-Stars has been renamed yet again and is now back in development under the name Heroes of the Storm. Path of Exile began gearing up for its official launch this coming Wednesday with the release of a deluge of new information on what the patch contains and the first of a brand-new season of the popular Build of the Week series. Firefall developer Red 5 Studios released a new development update with details on plans to revamp everything from the user interface to crafting and character progression. And Russian MOBA Prime World asked its community to come up with a set of guidelines for players to abide by.
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| Chaos Theory: Follow the Filth as TSW's Whispering Tide Event moves on Posted: 21 Oct 2013 05:00 PM PDT Filed under: Horror, Real-Life, Events (In-Game), Opinion, The Secret World, Guides, Dungeons, Chaos Theory, Buy-to-Play  If you've already been in-game, you've noticed that the latest two phases have been very similar to the first two. In fact, they follow the same pattern: start with powering up a generator using crafting materials then move into an instance to clear out the filth. However, even though they are similar and some phases are moving slowly, there's a chance folks might miss out. And if there's one thing I don't want to see, it's others missing out! To prevent that and to keep my fellow TSW fans from floundering in the dark, here's phase two of The Whispering Tide Event guide, with tips and tricks for grabbing the lore, getting the goodies, and even preparing for forthcoming phases. Continue reading Chaos Theory: Follow the Filth as TSW's Whispering Tide Event moves on
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| Cube World developer confirms development continues Posted: 21 Oct 2013 04:30 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, News Items, Sandbox, Buy-to-Play  In July earlier this year, indie developer Picorama's part-Minecraft, part-Diablo sandbox title Cube World made its way into a paid alpha stage of development, granting players access to the game's alpha in exchange for an early purchase. Despite some missteps, there were plenty of eager fans willing to surrender their cash for some hands-on time with Cube World. Many of those fans, however, became a bit worried when updates from the developers on the game's future grew silent. So of course, they took to the internet and bombarded developer Wollay's Twitter in search of an answer. And an answer is what they got. Wollay updated his Twitter for the first time since August 19th with the short message, "Don't be concerned, we're still working on Cube World. We just have a lot of additional work to do at the moment." Wollay elaborated to Kotaku, "At the moment there's just a lot of work going on behind the scenes, like customer support, server/website development, and [Picorama is] currently moving to a new [apartment] with more space for our development studio." He goes on to say that "the new update is coming along nicely," adding that the update is aiming to add "an option for a smaller user interface," plus reconfigurable controls and "a few new creatures." The team will also be making some balance adjustments to "make it easier at lower levels and harder at higher levels." Finally, he states that the team is "experimenting with some major changes," although he's unsure which will be included in the next patch. If you want all the details on Cube World's ongoing development, click through the link below for the full piece.
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| Black Desert's open PvP detailed Posted: 21 Oct 2013 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Video, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, New Titles, PvP, News Items, Sandbox, Black Desert  While the systems are subject to change given that this is an early beta test, Steparu says that right now Black Desert's PvP is pretty unforgiving due to its free-for-all nature and the possibility of item and XP loss. Click through the links below for the full article, and don't forget the videos after the cut. [Thanks bdo!] Continue reading Black Desert's open PvP detailed
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| Warface launches in Europe and North America Posted: 21 Oct 2013 03:30 PM PDT Filed under: Game Mechanics, Launches, MMO Industry, New Titles, PvP, News Items, War, Free-to-Play  As for what you can expect, Warface is a free-to-play class-based multiplayer FPS powered by the CryEngine. Aw heck, just watch the video after the break, will ya? Continue reading Warface launches in Europe and North America
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| Star Trek Online dev blog outlines new Solanae Dyson Sphere adventure zone Posted: 21 Oct 2013 03:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, Patches, News Items, Star Trek Online, Free-to-Play, Dev Diaries  Members of the United Federation, the Klingon Empire, and the Romulan Republic alike ought to be polishing their phasers and preparing their away teams because the best and brightest of all three factions are going to be needed to fight back the Voth in Star Trek Online's new Solanae Dyson Sphere adventure zone. Which, as it happens, is the subject of the latest developer diary from the folks at Cryptic Studios. In this new adventure zone, which our own Teri Shull covered in her most recent column, players will board a massive Dyson Sphere in which the Romulan Republic has established a base of operations, but of course they're not alone. The Voth have brought in an armada of their own in hopes of claiming the Dyson Sphere themselves, and naturally it falls to the players to put an end to their nefarious machinations. Players can take part in a number of variable missions across the three major zones of the sphere in order to attain precious Dyson Marks and Commendations, which can in turn be taken to the Dyson Joint Command faction for valuable rewards. If you're looking for more intel on this vital mission, you can check out the full post over at STO's official site.
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| You asked, ZeniMax answered: Another TESO AMA is here Posted: 21 Oct 2013 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, New Titles, News Items, Dev Diaries, The Elder Scrolls Online, Subscription, MMORPG  The ZeniMax team also dodged hard answers on a couple of questions. According to the post, veteran system rewards may or may not remain cosmetic-only and players who become werewolves or vampires may or may not be able to cure themselves and switch sides. Make of that what you will.
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| The Nexus Telegraph: Examining the Granok of WildStar Posted: 21 Oct 2013 01:30 PM PDT Filed under: Lore, Opinion, Races, WildStar, The Nexus Telegraph, Subscription, Buy-to-Play  Heck, the Granok are more Exiles by practice than anything. The Granok that we know aren't lending their support to the Exiles for nothing; these are mercenaries by trade, first and foremost. At a glance, you could easily see these men and women fighting alongside whichever of the two factions paid better. They certainly don't care about Nexus in particular. But they do care about a lot more than beer and a good scrap, and when you understand the race a bit more, that punch-drunk attitude starts to look a little thin. Continue reading The Nexus Telegraph: Examining the Granok of WildStar
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| Producer's letter details DCUO 'remastered' Posted: 21 Oct 2013 01:00 PM PDT Filed under: Super-hero, Launches, Patches, News Items, Free-to-Play, Consoles, DC Universe Online, Dev Diaries, MMORPG  According to Liberty, the bulk of Update 31 focuses on preparing DCUO for its impending PS4 launch. Changes include graphics upgrades like higher resolution textures and area redesigns, along with a "remastering" of the core leveling experience. Leveling from 1-30 has seen special attention; Liberty noted that new players should see a smoother progression of content with less chance of being stuck without a mission. Update 31 is tentatively scheduled for a November launch on PC and PS3. The game's PS4 release is still on track to match up with the console's release window.
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| Forsaken World adds its first new class since launch Posted: 21 Oct 2013 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Classes, Expansions, Patches, Previews, News Items, Free-to-Play  The new class is dubbed Blood Reaper (possibly not the final translated name) and focuses upon crowd-control. It's exclusive to the Lycan race and appears to be part of the game's next major expansion, which will also increase the game's level cap to 90. Given Perfect World Entertainment's track record, it shouldn't be a significant delay before Western players can begin exploring this new addition to the game.
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| Piecing together the details of LEGO Minifigures Online with the Funcom team Posted: 21 Oct 2013 11:00 AM PDT Filed under: Game Mechanics, Interviews, New Titles, PvP, PvE, Kids, Family, Miscellaneous, Player-Generated Content  Continue reading Piecing together the details of LEGO Minifigures Online with the Funcom team
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