MMO Updates

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• Dragons take flight in EQII's Tears of Veeshan today
• EVE Rubicon streaming live this Thursday
• Massively Speaking Episode 272: Hanging with my Gnomies
• Bring an end to nightmares in today's Guild Wars 2 content release
• The Daily Grind: Are you a game recidivist?
• Not So Massively: Dota 2's Diretide fiasco, D3's Adventure Mode, and HoN's Rift Wars
• Trion: Non-combat features 'provided a needed dose of RPG' in RIFT
• Chaos Theory: My favorite Secret World NPCs, part 1
• DCUO offers a glimpse of Game Update 31
• DayZ still not ready for release
• The Stream Team: Playing Pandora Saga with a little developer help
• CCP unveils revamped EVE Online character selection screen
• Neverwinter debuts new item refinement system
• The Nexus Telegraph: Winter in WildStar
• Final Fantasy XI celebrates 11 years 11 ways
• Take a look at Diablo III running on the PlayStation 4

Dragons take flight in EQII's Tears of Veeshan today Posted: 12 Nov 2013 09:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, EverQuest II, Expansions, Interviews, News Items, Opinion, Free-to-Play, Dungeons It's all about the dragons. You just can't get more quintessential fantasy than dragons, and EverQuest II's newest expansion is all about dragons. Sure, there are goblins and bow-wielding healers as well, but you can't miss that the focus of Tears of Veeshan is on those massive fire-breathing beasts. From dragons attacking Qeynos and Freeport to the evil dragon arch-enemy bent on destroying all time and space to the dragon afterlife, it is all about the dragons. Heck, even the new AAs are from dragons! So it's safe to say if you aren't a really a fan of wyverns in all their forms (be they live or dead!), you might want to skip this expansion. If, however, you love them in all their scaly glory, you've got plenty to look forward to. While waiting for ToV to take flight on live servers, I got to tour the highlights of the expansion with Producer Holly Longdale, Creative Director Akil Hooper, and Game Designer Carlos Mora. And from them I learned a few interesting new tidbits about EQII's 10th expansion. Want to know how you, too, can get Qho killed? I thought that might get your attention. Continue reading Dragons take flight in EQII's Tears of Veeshan today Dragons take flight in EQII's Tears of Veeshan today originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 12 Nov 2013 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

EVE Rubicon streaming live this Thursday Posted: 12 Nov 2013 08:00 AM PST Filed under: Sci-Fi, Video, EVE Online, Expansions, MMO Industry, Previews, Sandbox, Player-Generated Content Are you excited for the upcoming EVE Online: Rubicon? CCP aims to charge you up even more by showing off some of the best tidbits of the expansion in an upcoming livestream. CCP Guard and CCP Seagull will talk EVE Online's second decade, while CCP Fozzie and CCP Rise will discuss the upcoming ship balance. CCP Paradox and CCP SoniClover will follow up with info on player-owned customs offices, the new Mobile Siphon Unit, and more. Plus, the new Rubicon trailer will be debuting during the stream. Tune in at 19:00 UTC (14:00 EST) this Thursday, November 14th on CCP's Twitch.tv page. EVE Rubicon streaming live this Thursday originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 12 Nov 2013 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: EVE Online dev blog

Massively Speaking Episode 272: Hanging with my Gnomies Posted: 12 Nov 2013 07:00 AM PST Filed under: Podcasts, MMO Industry, News Items, Massively Meta, Massively Speaking, Miscellaneous Despite a busy week of news, this week's podcast will be boiled down to two looming topics: our EverQuest Next Landmark hands-on and BlizzCon 2013. For these stories, we've got roving reporters MJ and Jasmine on the show to bring us first-hand tales of these events. 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 272: Hanging with my Gnomies Massively Speaking Episode 272: Hanging with my Gnomies originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 12 Nov 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

Bring an end to nightmares in today's Guild Wars 2 content release Posted: 12 Nov 2013 06:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Patches, News Items, Guild Wars 2, Buy-to-Play Today ArenaNet will release the latest Guild Wars 2 content update, The Nightmares Within, so get ready to enter the sinister Nightmare tower and take pollution down to zero. In addition to new encounters and the continuation of GW2's living story plot, the update will also feature some nifty rewards: toxic Krait miniatures, a toxic spore backpack skin, and gas mask and air filtration system headgear skins. Help corrupt the surrounding area with your backpack while keeping your lungs safe from the consequences! Now that's what we call having the best of both worlds. For more details on today's update, be sure to check out the GW2 official release page and tune in to ArenaNet's Twitch channel tomorrow, November 13th, at 3 p.m. EST (noon PST) for a developer-led look at the new content. Bring an end to nightmares in today's Guild Wars 2 content release originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 12 Nov 2013 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

The Daily Grind: Are you a game recidivist? Posted: 12 Nov 2013 05:00 AM PST Filed under: Culture, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous We like to talk about when we leave games; we don't like to talk about when we come back to the same games yet again. Speaking for myself, I've left and returned to World of Warcraft at least five times, and I know there's probably one or two times that I'm forgetting. And it isn't alone -- City of Heroes clocked up three separate returns over the years, Final Fantasy XI clocked up four, and even Final Fantasy XIV arguably saw me leave and return at one point. Sometimes you return to find that nothing has changed and you leave again before too long. Sometimes you always come back for at least a few months, but you'll happily leave for a while as well. And the legend goes that some of you leave and then genuinely remain gone, not returning no matter what the next expansion promises you. Are you that legend? Or are you a game recidivist, always finding yourself going back to the games of yesterday sooner or later unless they shut down completely? 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: Are you a game recidivist? originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 12 Nov 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Not So Massively: Dota 2's Diretide fiasco, D3's Adventure Mode, and HoN's Rift Wars Posted: 11 Nov 2013 05:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Video, Business Models, Events (Real-World), Expansions, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, Patches, PvP, Endgame, News Items, PvE, Free-to-Play, Consoles, Casual, Dev Diaries, Not So Massively, Sandbox, MOBA, League of Legends, Diablo III, Star Citizen, Path of Exile Several new experimental game modes are on their way to League of Legends, starting with the interesting One For All mode that gives every player the same champion. Valve defended its decision to silently cancel Dota 2's Diretide event but has agreed to release the event as part of a huge upcoming gameplay update. And Heroes of Newerth has now released its chaotic new Rift Wars game mode that spawns players with a completely random set of abilities. New details on Diablo III's upcoming Reaper of Souls expansion were revealed this week at BlizzCon 2013, including an Adventure Mode that makes the endgame a lot more like classic Diablo II. The expansion will also introduce the Nephalem Rift mode that creates randomised game maps for farming loot, and a hilarious console feature that sends deadly monsters to kill people on your friends list. Path of Exile will soon be coming to Asian regions thanks to a new partnership with Asian publisher Garena Online. And Star Citizen announced its plans to support AMD's proprietary Mantle graphics API, an alternative to OpenGL and Direct3D that's optimised for Radeon graphics cards. Continue reading Not So Massively: Dota 2's Diretide fiasco, D3's Adventure Mode, and HoN's Rift Wars Not So Massively: Dota 2's Diretide fiasco, D3's Adventure Mode, and HoN's Rift Wars originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 11 Nov 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Trion: Non-combat features 'provided a needed dose of RPG' in RIFT Posted: 11 Nov 2013 04:30 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, News Items, PvE, Free-to-Play, RIFT, Housing RIFT's dimension system is one of the genre's better player housing implementations, and Trion has authored a dev blog designed to give players a peek behind the curtain on its development. It all started with the enthusiastic player response to the game's wedding features. "People didn't just show up; we saw a genuine spike in subscriptions. It was clear that we'd provided a needed dose of RPG in our MMORPG," the blog explains. Housing was the next logical step for non-combat content. Click through the links below to read about various development challenges and how Trion solved them. Trion: Non-combat features 'provided a needed dose of RPG' in RIFT originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 11 Nov 2013 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: The first dimension

Chaos Theory: My favorite Secret World NPCs, part 1 Posted: 11 Nov 2013 04:00 PM PST Filed under: Horror, Sci-Fi, Lore, Opinion, The Secret World, Chaos Theory, Buy-to-Play As a sort of companion piece to my previous column covering why I consider The Secret World to be the industry's best storyteller, I wanted to elaborate on my love for the game's characters. TSW is not a game full of forgettable muggles but a place where bizarre personalities and incredible backstories collide. There was nothing, and I mean nothing, more exciting to me than to advance through the game and meet a new NPC for the first time. So I want to share with you my favorites. I also want to mention that making this list just about wrenched me in twain because I want to list about 70% of the game's NPCs as my favorites. There are so many that are terrific for different reasons, and whether I found myself laughing with them, at them, or against them, they've been burned onto my consciousness. Continue reading Chaos Theory: My favorite Secret World NPCs, part 1 Chaos Theory: My favorite Secret World NPCs, part 1 originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 11 Nov 2013 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

DCUO offers a glimpse of Game Update 31 Posted: 11 Nov 2013 03:00 PM PST Filed under: Sci-Fi, Super-hero, Galleries, Screenshots, Patches, Previews, Free-to-Play, DC Universe Online As DC Universe Online prepares to make its way to the PlayStation 4, SOE is hard at work on Game Update 31 as the foundation for the console launch. Today we've got several screenshots that give us a glimpse into the update, including pictures of Earth from orbit and lava spewing out of a city zone. SOE devs are calling GU31 "the biggest technical update [they] have ever done." The update will include significantly improved graphics, many design improvements, and a smoother leveling path. It should be releasing any day now, but you can get an advance look in the gallery below. DCUO offers a glimpse of Game Update 31 originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 11 Nov 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

DayZ still not ready for release Posted: 11 Nov 2013 02:00 PM PST Filed under: Betas, Horror, News Items, MMOFPS, Post-Apocalyptic, Miscellaneous You can't really call what's happening to DayZ a series of delayz, since the game haz never formally announced a release date. But a lot of potential playerz are still waiting patiently for the standalone version to see the light of day. Lead developer Dean Hall took to Reddit recently to respond to player questionz regarding the long-awaited standalone and explain why the game still isn't out. In short, it isn't the game itself; it's the strain of keeping the game going around a large enough number of people. According to Hall, the big element holding the game back iz the continued work on ensuring client stability and framerate with a large enough number of playerz and zombiez. Hall cites 15 FPS az a bare minimum for the game to function, something that haz yet to be achieved even with existing optimizationz. Not that thiz will assuage those looking forward to playing the standalone version of the zombie survival simulator, but at least it clearz up the reasons for the wait. DayZ still not ready for release originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 11 Nov 2013 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Hall on DayZ delay Via: Rock Paper Shotgun, Polygon

The Stream Team: Playing Pandora Saga with a little developer help Posted: 11 Nov 2013 01:00 PM PST Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Video, Game Mechanics, Interviews, PvP, PvE, Opinion, War, Free-to-Play, Hands-On, Humor, First Impressions, Community Q&A, Livestream, The Stream Team Beau hasn't stepped foot into Pandora Saga in a long, long time, so if you want to see him attempt to fight monsters and players as he chats with three members of the development team -- GM Cornflakes, GM Excellen, and GM Grapefruit -- then check out this stream! If you enjoy Final Fantasy XI-style graphics, massive monsters, tiny dwarves with huge hammers, and watching Beau die a lot, hit play! Game: Pandora Saga Host: Beau Date: Monday, November 11th, 2013 Time: 4:00 p.m. EST Enjoy our Steam Team video below. Continue reading The Stream Team: Playing Pandora Saga with a little developer help The Stream Team: Playing Pandora Saga with a little developer help originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 11 Nov 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

CCP unveils revamped EVE Online character selection screen Posted: 11 Nov 2013 01:00 PM PST Filed under: Sci-Fi, EVE Online, News Items, Dev Diaries, Sandbox, Subscription, MMORPG The folks over at CCP today previewed one of the smaller EVE Online changes set to debut with November 19th's Rubicon expansion: a prettier and easier-to-use character selection screen. As is CCP's custom, the reveal is accompanied by an in-depth dev blog that discusses every change in granular detail, but the basic gist is that the new selection screen loads faster and provides more useful information about each of your characters so you spend less time waiting and deciding and more time playing. EVE's item redemption interface has also been streamlined, with more obvious prompts and drag-and-drop functionality that allows you to deposit redeemables directly into a character's inventory. CCP unveils revamped EVE Online character selection screen originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 11 Nov 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: The New Character Selection Screen

Neverwinter debuts new item refinement system Posted: 11 Nov 2013 12:30 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Game Mechanics, Patches, News Items, PvE, Free-to-Play, Dev Diaries, Neverwinter, MMORPG Cryptic has taken a long look at Neverwinter's enchanting system, and after listening to feedback from players, is planning major changes to the way fusing, runestones, and other components of the system function. For starters, you'll now be able to upgrade enhancement items while they're still equipped, and you'll no longer need four of the same kind of stone to strengthen an enhancement. The new system, which Cryptic is referring to as "refining" rather than "fusing," enables item enchantments to gain refinement points as you play; once an enchantment has enough refinement points, you can use reagents to rank the enhancement up to the next level. Additionally, unslotting enchantments and runestones now costs gold instead of astral diamonds. Refinement stones, which are effectively large bundles of refinement points, have also been added. They'll drop from skill nodes and bosses, albeit rarely. The changes are live on the Neverwinter test server -- Cryptic is asking all players to check them out and offer feedback before they deploy. Neverwinter debuts new item refinement system originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 11 Nov 2013 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Item Progression System

The Nexus Telegraph: Winter in WildStar Posted: 11 Nov 2013 12:00 PM PST Filed under: Betas, Sci-Fi, Classes, Opinion, WildStar, The Nexus Telegraph, Subscription, Buy-to-Play Another round of beta testing is almost here for WildStar, after what seems to have been forever and a day. And that's with the promise of upcoming class reveals after a several-month-long information drought on the game, something that I suspect all of us felt pretty acutely. No more waiting! There's information that will be coming fast and furious, even if the developers are going to start off with a refresher of the information we already have. Thus far, there's not a whole lot to react to. We have a clearer picture of the Warrior, we have a peek at a new build from the livestream, and we've seen some hoverboard footage. It's not what I would call a coherent picture just yet. But we can suss out a few new bits here and there, as well as some things that might not be worth getting all that excited about just yet. Yes, I'm saying it might not be worth getting excited about something. You read that right. Continue reading The Nexus Telegraph: Winter in WildStar The Nexus Telegraph: Winter in WildStar originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 11 Nov 2013 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Final Fantasy XI celebrates 11 years 11 ways Posted: 11 Nov 2013 11:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Final Fantasy XI, Events (In-Game), News Items, Consoles, Anniversaries, Subscription Final Fantasy XI is 11 years old this year (11 years and six months at this point, but that's nitpicking). So it seems appropriate that the title is kicking off a big anniversary event on November 11th. Except that it's really kicking off not one big anniversary event but 11 smaller ones. You see the theme at work. Whether you've been around for all 11 years or just 11 days, there's plenty of rewards available for everyone. Seal drop rates are improved for all characters in a party during the anniversary timeframe, as are are double synthesis skill increase rates and several seal-based battlefield rewards. Players will also earn double experience, doubled Salvage drops, doubled Monstrosity experience, doubled Shining Stars in Mog Gardens... the list goes on. Almost anything you choose to do between now and November 25th will see a significant boost, so take a look at the full list of bonuses and get ready to enjoy 11 bonuses for the next 14 days. (They can't all line up perfectly.) Final Fantasy XI celebrates 11 years 11 ways originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 11 Nov 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Eleventh Anniversary Campaign

Take a look at Diablo III running on the PlayStation 4 Posted: 11 Nov 2013 10:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Video, Expansions, Previews, News Items, Diablo III Have you enjoyed being able to play Diablo III on a console? Do you want to be able to get even more monster-stomping fun on what amounts to even more console? Are you ready to take to the comments to explain that a next-gen console is not, strictly speaking, more console? Do you just like watching footage of heavily armored knights making monsters explode? If any of the above applies to you, then yes, we've got the video for you past the cut. So what's the video? Diablo III's expansion running on the PlayStation 4 -- specifically, the Crusader class wading through monsters the way one might normally wade through knee-high mud and making various demons explode into bloody body parts. So pretty much exactly what you'd expect, only more so. If you don't fall into any of the categories listed above but still want to see that, well, good news; The break's right down there. Continue reading Take a look at Diablo III running on the PlayStation 4 Take a look at Diablo III running on the PlayStation 4 originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 11 Nov 2013 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: YouTube

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