MMO Updates

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• The Soapbox: Stop hurting the people that love you
• Flameseeker Chronicles: The Guild Wars 2 expansion blues
• Massively Speaking 267: The night MJ went crazy
• Darkfall Unholy Wars updates the balance of power
• The son also rises in Guild Wars 2's Blood and Madness content update
• Heva Clonia Online moves into open beta on October 17th
• The Daily Grind: How much do mounts matter to you?
• EB Expo 2013 - The EBX-Perience!
• EB Expo 2013 - Psykopig's video impressions
• Not So Massively: Elite dev diary, Garen revamp, and SMITE adds Mercury
• Chaos Theory: Exciting times in The Secret World
• Elite: Dangerous newsletter talks weapons, dev diaries, and more
• Captain's Log: More Star Trek Online new user tips - bridge officers
• Final Fantasy XIV sums up its Tokyo Game Show letters
• The Nexus Telegraph: Examining the Mechari of WildStar
• City of Titans reaches its Kickstarter goal after five days
• The Elder Scrolls Online opens a grab bag of questions

The Soapbox: Stop hurting the people that love you Posted: 08 Oct 2013 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Betas, Business Models, Launches, Opinion, Free-to-Play, The Soapbox, Miscellaneous, Crowdfunding, MMORPG Over the last few years, we have been witness to dramatic shifts in the way the video game business does its...erm...business. Crowdfunding appeared out of nowhere and turned people like Chris Roberts into money tornadoes. Digital distribution created an environment in which anyone with an internet connection and a laptop can create and release a game. Here in the MMO niche, early access, paid betas, founders packages, and extended soft launches became the norm. My opinion on soft launching and paid betas has been well established on this site. I dislike the idea that players must jump in to aid a flailing development team while it buys time on a project the team clearly should have reigned in. I also hate the environment soft launching creates in which studios are not accountable for their mistakes; a game like Firefall can have its entire PvP system wiped while its developers say, "Oops, our bad, beta! But thanks for all the money." However, there is another enormous problem with the prevalence of the soft launch system. Namely, it kills fans. Continue reading The Soapbox: Stop hurting the people that love you The Soapbox: Stop hurting the people that love you originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 08 Oct 2013 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Flameseeker Chronicles: The Guild Wars 2 expansion blues Posted: 08 Oct 2013 09:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Opinion, Guild Wars 2, Flameseeker Chronicles, Buy-to-Play It's the beginning of autumn at last. In the past few months, Guild Wars 2 fans have cleaned some clocks, gone back to school, and beat up on Tequatl the Sunless. At the moment, we're trying to kick Scarlet Briar out of Twilight Arbor. We've been busy! ArenaNet has continued to toss content our way at lightning speed, and unlike many of the previous releases, much of the content in the past month has been in the form of permanent adjustments to the game. It might seem nuts to complain about lacking an expansion for a game where content releases happen every two weeks, but for some reason the GW2 community seems to be feelin' that vibe lately. Popular YouTube personality and lore expert WoodenPotatoes created a video about it. Threads criticizing the living story and arguing for expansions are common on the official forums. Admittedly, I'm feeling a little restless for a change in the air myself. But what's so important about an expansion, and what isn't the living story offering? Continue reading Flameseeker Chronicles: The Guild Wars 2 expansion blues Flameseeker Chronicles: The Guild Wars 2 expansion blues originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 08 Oct 2013 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Massively Speaking 267: The night MJ went crazy Posted: 08 Oct 2013 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: Podcasts, MMO Industry, News Items, Massively Meta, Massively Speaking, Miscellaneous Astute listeners might notice that there's a 43-minute gap in the middle of today's episode. That's because MJ, having stayed up a record 98 hours, decided that we were all pod people and the only solution was to gas the studio. Fortunately, she used Lysol, so we merely had to evacuate while everything got much better smelling. And then we went back to talking about the news, because that's what kind of pros we are. 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 267: The night MJ went crazy Massively Speaking 267: The night MJ went crazy originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 08 Oct 2013 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Darkfall Unholy Wars updates the balance of power Posted: 08 Oct 2013 07:30 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Darkfall, Classes, Game Mechanics, Patches, News Items It was a couple of weeks ago that the development team behind Darkfall Unholy Wars first discussed the issue. Warriors in the game were just too good, meaning that the class meant as the easiest to first pick up was also the easiest to absolutely crush your enemies with. So the team stepped back, examined the problem, and put together a comprehensive set of changes meant to make all of the game's roles more appealing. The three major changes put into effect were an increase to damage mitigation for non-Warrior armors, more normalized stats for every role, and a slight reduction in Warrior armor against the relevant damage from specialized damage types. The net effect should be that weaker classes now stay up longer and can deal more damage to Warriors, allowing more skilled players to pull ahead in battle. For more details including revamps to the wobble mechanics and individual ability tweaks, take a look at the full list of balance changes. [Thanks to Jane for the tip!] Darkfall Unholy Wars updates the balance of power originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 08 Oct 2013 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Combat gameplay update

The son also rises in Guild Wars 2's Blood and Madness content update Posted: 08 Oct 2013 07:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Events (In-Game), Guild Wars 2, Events (Massively's Coverage), Buy-to-Play Remember when the citizens of Tyria thought Mad King Thorn was just a goofy old legend, and he rose up from the Underworld through a portal beneath the Lion's Arch fountain to prove us wrong? Good times! On October 15th, the Thorn family will be returning to wreak havoc in Guild Wars 2's Halloween content update, bringing their uniquely psychopathic touch to our holiday festivities. King Thorn's son, Bloody Prince Edrick Thorn, has taken over part of his father's realm -- and he's following in his footsteps by being scary and evil. We thought kids were supposed to rebel. Couldn't he have grown up to be a veterinarian or something? Players will see several popular activities returning as well, such as Lunatic Inquisition, haunted door trick-or-treating, the legendary Mad King's Clock Tower jumping puzzle, and the proud tradition of doing whatever an undead tyrant tells you to so he'll give you a hat. In addition to the new and improved Halloween content and spooky rewards, this release will contain a number of highly anticipated profession balance changes and quality of life improvements. ArenaNet will be offering a preview livestream on Monday, the 14th at 3 p.m. EDT (noon PT). The son also rises in Guild Wars 2's Blood and Madness content update originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 08 Oct 2013 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Heva Clonia Online moves into open beta on October 17th Posted: 08 Oct 2013 06:30 AM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, News Items, Free-to-Play The first Heva Clonia Online beta test went well. Quite well, in fact. So well that the team has decided that it's time to move straight into open beta. It's a bit like having a good date and then volunteering to move into the other person's home at the end of the evening. On October 17th, the game opens up to everyone who signs up for another round of testing, with no date announced for the close of testing. If you've been holding off for the usual fear of having none of your progress matter, you can take heart that no further progress will be wiped between now and the conclusion of testing. Whether or not this will be the final test phase or an interim step is not announced. But test away, knowing that the only difference between now and launch will be the addition of the cash shop. And presumably some bugfixes along the way. [Source: OGPlanet press release] Heva Clonia Online moves into open beta on October 17th originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 08 Oct 2013 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

The Daily Grind: How much do mounts matter to you? Posted: 08 Oct 2013 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Culture, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous Do you know how much mounts matter in Star Wars: The Old Republic? Here's a hint: they do not. They are mounts. They make you go faster. There is no reason to spend hours agonizing over which character has which sort of mount. There is definitely no reason to try and ensure that no two characters have the same style of mount except when one character is directly related to another. And there's really no reason to construct elaborate in-character reasons for a given character using one mount over another. Do you know what I have done? All of that. For some players, mounts are just a tool in MMOs to make your characters go faster. For others, mounts are unexpectedly serious business that require a lot of consideration. In some games, specific mounts do matter, like the various modes of transport in Fallen Earth. So how much do mounts matter to you? Are mounts just a tool to you, or are they serious business? Do you spend time and effort getting just the right mount or do you just ride whatever is either cheapest or offers the most bragging rights? 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: How much do mounts matter to you? originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 08 Oct 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

EB Expo 2013 - The EBX-Perience! Posted: 07 Oct 2013 07:30 PM PDT Filed under: Video, Culture, Events (Real-World), MMO Industry, Events (Massively's Coverage) David "Psykopig" Desi is coming to you not-live from 2013's EB Expo in Sydney, Australia! Check out the EBX-Perience video after the break to get a guided tour around the show floor. Continue reading EB Expo 2013 - The EBX-Perience! EB Expo 2013 - The EBX-Perience! originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 07 Oct 2013 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

EB Expo 2013 - Psykopig's video impressions Posted: 07 Oct 2013 07:00 PM PDT Filed under: Video, Culture, Events (Real-World), MMO Industry, Humor, Events (Massively's Coverage) When gaming conventions happen down under, you can count on Psykopig being there with camera and microphone in hand. Massively's David "Psykopig" Desi descended on Sydney's EB Expo last weekend to check out The Elder Scrolls Online as well as all the usual cosplay con shenanigans. Check out the video after the break for a taste of the show floor and some fan reactions. Continue reading EB Expo 2013 - Psykopig's video impressions EB Expo 2013 - Psykopig's video impressions originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 07 Oct 2013 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Not So Massively: Elite dev diary, Garen revamp, and SMITE adds Mercury Posted: 07 Oct 2013 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Trailers, Video, Business Models, Game Mechanics, Launches, Patches, News Items, Opinion, Free-to-Play, Giveaways, Dev Diaries, Not So Massively, Sandbox, MOBA, Diablo III, Crowdfunding, Star Citizen, Elite: Dangerous, Path of Exile David Braben talked us through the impressive Elite: Dangerous trailer and showed how putting the trailer together has helped development considerably. Star Citizen showed concept art for its in-station MobiGlas user interface, and the game's crowdfunding total is about to cross the $21m mark. Blizzard responded to reports of item duplication and hacking on the console versions of Diablo III and admitted that it is working on a way to let players move from one act to another via the waypoint system. And Path of Exile announced that it will officially launch on October 23rd in a large update that includes a new Steam release. Competitive League of Legends team SK Telecom 1 battled its way to the million-dollar top prize at this year's League of Legends World Championship, and the tournament's end signals the release of Patch 3.12. Third-person MOBA SMITE added new speed-based assassin character Mercury, Messenger of The Gods, to its growing pantheon. And Russian MOBA Prime World officially launched on Steam this week and released a spotlight on its new blood-drinking characters Vampire and Dahaka. Continue reading Not So Massively: Elite dev diary, Garen revamp, and SMITE adds Mercury Not So Massively: Elite dev diary, Garen revamp, and SMITE adds Mercury originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 07 Oct 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Chaos Theory: Exciting times in The Secret World Posted: 07 Oct 2013 05:00 PM PDT Filed under: Horror, Real-Life, Events (In-Game), Lore, Opinion, The Secret World, Chaos Theory, Buy-to-Play Do you feel it? That electric buzzing in the air of The Secret World (not to be confused with the sounds of buzzing heard by the bee-blessed)? I don't know about you, but I sure can. It's a very exciting time to be a fan of this Lovecraftian-horror-conspiracy-flavored game. Why, you ask? I am more than happy to share my reasons with you. It's exciting because things that had been slowly building up have kicked into higher gear and are gathering speed; long-anticipated things are just barely out of reach but will soon be within our grasp. We are also this close to getting Issue #8 with its scenarios, augment systems, and Venice. And there's a new issue cover with a name and date to prove it! We are also inching ever closer to getting -- for the very first time ever -- a whole new region in the game, replete with new missions, new nooks and crannies to explore, and new foes to face. Oh, and new lore! But that's not even all. We have a long-term event going on now as well as the return of a favorite very soon. So if you haven't been in The Secret World lately, now would surely be a good time to jump back in. Continue reading Chaos Theory: Exciting times in The Secret World Chaos Theory: Exciting times in The Secret World originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 07 Oct 2013 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Elite: Dangerous newsletter talks weapons, dev diaries, and more Posted: 07 Oct 2013 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, New Titles, News Items, Sandbox, Crowdfunding, Elite: Dangerous Still haven't signed up for Frontier's Elite: Dangerous newsletter? That's OK, because we have and we're happy to share our perusal of it with you, dear space sim fans. This is issue number 12, and there's a fair bit of ground to cover including last week's dev diary video (which you can see after the break) as well as bits of fiction and bobs relating to both planetary and weapon design. This last one gets a fair amount of virtual ink, as Frontier has plenty to say on customizable rail guns, gimbal-mounted tracking and targeting systems, and more. Continue reading Elite: Dangerous newsletter talks weapons, dev diaries, and more Elite: Dangerous newsletter talks weapons, dev diaries, and more originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 07 Oct 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Issue 12

Captain's Log: More Star Trek Online new user tips - bridge officers Posted: 07 Oct 2013 03:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, Patches, Opinion, Star Trek Online, Free-to-Play, Captain's Log Before I dive into the next installment of my new player tips, I'd like to let everyone know that the Star Trek Online site has issued a few new dev blogs hinting at some of the cool news about the upcoming Season Eight: The Sphere. There are some great new blogs featuring the concept art of the new Dyson Sphere space adventure zone, too. But back to the original topic. Last week's column that provided a basic outline to the Star Trek Online user interface proved to be surprisingly popular and generated far more emails from readers than I had anticipated. Many of the readers have asked that I continue on with the new user tips and I think it's a great idea. So if you've always wondered about the very basics of STO Bridge Officers, join me past the jump to learn more! Continue reading Captain's Log: More Star Trek Online new user tips - bridge officers Captain's Log: More Star Trek Online new user tips - bridge officers originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 07 Oct 2013 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Final Fantasy XIV sums up its Tokyo Game Show letters Posted: 07 Oct 2013 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Patches, Endgame, News Items, Consoles, Final Fantasy XIV, Housing, Subscription Final Fantasy XIV has been playable for just about a month. Gamers being what we are, a lot of us are already asking about what comes next for the game, because there's slightly less unexplored content than there was before. But fear not; the official live letters from producer and director Naoki Yoshida have been translated and the highlights recapped on the official site, giving everyone a closer look at what's coming from housing, PvP, and the new Crystal Tower. Yoshida explains that Crystal Tower is meant to be easier than the Binding Coil of Bahamut currently accessible, although it is still inteded to be high-end content (he mentions the possibility of requiring relic weapons). Housing will be launched for Free Companies first, with the team closely examining the strain caused by these before putting in individual houses. Players can also expect every craft to be involved in providing decorations for housing rather than just a few, helping to make everyone's contributions relevant. Take a look at the full roundup for all the details, although the team remains mum on the price of houses. Final Fantasy XIV sums up its Tokyo Game Show letters originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 07 Oct 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Letter from the Producer LIVE at TGS

The Nexus Telegraph: Examining the Mechari of WildStar Posted: 07 Oct 2013 01:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, Lore, Opinion, Races, WildStar, The Nexus Telegraph, Subscription, Buy-to-Play Who's afraid of the big bad Mechari? As it turns out, a lot of people. Possibly for good reason. Of all the races in WildStar, the Mechari represent the biggest question mark. Part of that is by design; when you have a race of sapient machines controlling the information flow of an entire empire, you aren't supposed to know everything there is to be known about them. But there are a lot of questions that pose themselves based on what we do know. Starting with the fact that they don't exactly make sense. I've touched on this briefly before, but the fact is that the stated purpose of the Mechari is at odds with what we know of their creation and behavior. They're intelligence gatherers that don't actually have obvious tools for that role. They're left in the dark in ways that don't make sense, and they are altogether a race of contradictions if you accept everything at face value. Continue reading The Nexus Telegraph: Examining the Mechari of WildStar The Nexus Telegraph: Examining the Mechari of WildStar originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 07 Oct 2013 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

City of Titans reaches its Kickstarter goal after five days Posted: 07 Oct 2013 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Super-hero, City of Heroes, MMO Industry, Crowdfunding After launching its Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign on October 2nd, City of Titans has met and exceeded its $320,000 funding goal. The self-proclaimed spiritual successor to City of Heroes still has 27 days left in its campaign as over 2,200 backers chipped in to see the project become a reality. Community Manager Lauren was thrilled at the news: "Well, that'll brighten up a Monday! As a special thank you to everyone for your support, your patience, and everything you've done for us, we've decided to unleash the beard! Everyone who backs us in the Kickstarter will be given a very, very special costume piece: The one, the only Nate 'Doctor Tyche's' beard, complete with animated eyes. Wear it with pride in Titan City. Thank you, guys. Watch this space for stretch goals and heartfelt thank yous from our developers. You are all amazing. Never let anyone tell you differently." Future stretch goals for the title include an Android port of the avatar builder at $350K, an iOS port of the avatar builder at $400K, and a MacOS version of the game for launch at $450K. [Thanks to Zjeven for the tip!] City of Titans reaches its Kickstarter goal after five days originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 07 Oct 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: City of Titans Kickstarter

The Elder Scrolls Online opens a grab bag of questions Posted: 07 Oct 2013 11:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Game Mechanics, News Items, Community Q&A, The Elder Scrolls Online, Subscription Sometimes questions don't fit together in a nice theme. The Elder Scrolls Online often bunches questions together with an overarching element, but the most recent round of questions is a real grab bag. It covers everything from resurrection and PvP environments to mixing and matching armor, from weapon styles to disguises. So there's plenty to unpack, in other words. The discussion of Veteran Points and the corresponding Veteran Ranks is probably the most meaty part, shedding light on a system that's only been discussed in brief elsewhere. In essence, Veteran Points serve as a new form of leveling after a character has reached max level, awarded for tasks completed rather than simply slaying enemies. While players still gain stat increases for improving Veteran Rank, the major benefit is the continued acquisition of skill points, allowing players to broaden their abilities even after reaching the apex of power. You can read the full set of answers on the official site. The Elder Scrolls Online opens a grab bag of questions originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 07 Oct 2013 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: AMA Variety Pack

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