MMO Updates |
- Age of Conan unchains three dungeons in overhaul
- Lord of the Rings Online posts Helm's Deep release notes
- The Art of Wushu: Rewarding good and bad deeds
- Choose My Adventure: On such a Neverwinter's day
- The Daily Grind: Are you enjoying an expansion this fall?
- The Stream Team: Channeling my inner healer in EverQuest II
- RIFT's single most engaged in activity is artifact harvesting
- Check out Lineage II's newest race, the Ertheia
- Use your car as a bomb in APB: Reloaded
- Tree of Savior preview sparks imagination with complex class combos
- Jukebox Heroes: Helm's Deep's soundtrack
- Novus AEterno announces Kickstarter campaign, expected to launch in 'next six months'
- Star Citizen passes $28 million, 300K backers
- Flameseeker Chronicles: Guild Wars 2's tower flower power hour
- Elder Scrolls Online beta keys are going out now
- Marvel Heroes now has PvP
- The Stream Team: Diving into FFXIV's Tam-Tara Deepcroft
- 'Classic MMORPG' Arcane Hearts launches
- Hyperspace Beacon: Getting started with SWTOR Galactic Starfighter
- Blade and Soul adds servers in China
- The Soapbox: Instant high-level characters are a terrible, horrible, very bad, no good idea
| Age of Conan unchains three dungeons in overhaul Posted: 20 Nov 2013 08:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan, News Items, Free-to-Play, Dungeons  Age of Conan players wanting more challenge in their dungeons have three more choices on the Unchained circuit. The Halls of Eternal Frost, The Scorpion Cave, and The Caravan Raiders Hideout have all received a major overhaul and have new Unchained modes to up the difficulty ante. Of course, new modes means more endgame loot! Besides what raiders and dungeon-divers will find in the dungeons themselves, those who a complete the full tier of Unchained dungeons are rewarded with a chance at some of the best dungeon loot in the game courtesy of a new mastery quest. Additionally, more treasures can be found in a variety of other dungeons throughout Hyboria.
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| Lord of the Rings Online posts Helm's Deep release notes Posted: 20 Nov 2013 07:30 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Expansions, Launches, News Items, Free-to-Play  The tidbits of information you'll find range from music to housing, classes to travel, and stats to crafting. For instance: music files to play now load properly on a Mac; players can send bags of coins through shared storage instead of the mail; housing chests can be expanded; stat caps have been adjusted; and monster players have access to six additional corruption slots. And that's just scratching the surface. There's even a category of known issues to give players a heads-up. So stroll on through the notes and prepare for the ride through Western Rohan.
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| The Art of Wushu: Rewarding good and bad deeds Posted: 20 Nov 2013 07:00 AM PST Filed under: Historical, Patches, PvP, Opinion, Free-to-Play, Age of Wushu, The Art of Wushu, MMORPG  However, I do have something more fun to talk about, and that's killing other people. You guys may have noticed, but I like PvP a lot. Infinite Scrolls released a new system called Big Jianghu that rewards people for open-world PvP. I have wanted more consequences for PKing for a long time, so I was really excited about this feature. Unfortunately, as with many things in the new expansion, I was bound to be disappointed. Continue reading The Art of Wushu: Rewarding good and bad deeds
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| Choose My Adventure: On such a Neverwinter's day Posted: 20 Nov 2013 06:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, PvE, Opinion, Free-to-Play, Hands-On, Choose My Adventure, Neverwinter, Player-Generated Content  One of my favorite tools is the dialogue tree. There are a few limitations on what dialogue can affect, but if you think outside the box as some creators have, you can actually make varying levels of difficulty for your dungeons or even allow players to bypass some content. Today's Choose My Adventure is a bit different from the norm. I've included the first half of my script for the quest after the break. There is no poll this time, but that doesn't mean that I don't want your input. After all, we are making this Neverwinter quest together. After you've read through the script, give your suggestions on possible changes in the comments -- I will certainly consider all of them. Enjoy! Continue reading Choose My Adventure: On such a Neverwinter's day
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| The Daily Grind: Are you enjoying an expansion this fall? Posted: 20 Nov 2013 05:00 AM PST Filed under: Culture, Expansions, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous  That's a lot of new content to explore, but only if you're in those particular games. So sound off: Are you enjoying an expansion this fall?  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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| The Stream Team: Channeling my inner healer in EverQuest II Posted: 19 Nov 2013 06:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, EverQuest II, Classes, Expansions, Free-to-Play, Massively Meta, Livestream, The Stream Team  Game: EverQuest II Host: MJ Guthrie Date: Tuesday, November 19th, 2013 Time: 9:00 p.m. EST Enjoy our Steam Team video below. Continue reading The Stream Team: Channeling my inner healer in EverQuest II
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| RIFT's single most engaged in activity is artifact harvesting Posted: 19 Nov 2013 05:30 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, News Items, Free-to-Play, RIFT, Dev Diaries  Said report tells Trion "how a game is doing day-to-day, week-to-week, but it also breaks down every in-game activity by user." The post also provides a couple of interesting case studies as well as the answer to what is RIFT's single most engaged in activity (harvesting artifacts).
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| Check out Lineage II's newest race, the Ertheia Posted: 19 Nov 2013 05:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Trailers, Video, Lineage 2, Expansions, Free-to-Play, Races  NCsoft officially revealed the Ertheia today, showing the fleet-footed "mystical" people to the entire world. So who are the Ertheia? Let's go to the official press release for help on that: "While a lot is still unknown about Ertheia and the impact they will have on the world, it can be rightly assumed that they will be quickly drawn into the ongoing conflict in Aden." Wait, that's no help at all. The Ertheia won't be released until next year to coincide with Lineage II's 10th anniversary in North America. You can watch the reveal trailer after the jump. [Source: NCsoft press release] Continue reading Check out Lineage II's newest race, the Ertheia
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| Use your car as a bomb in APB: Reloaded Posted: 19 Nov 2013 04:30 PM PST Filed under: Real-Life, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, PvP, News Items, Free-to-Play, All Points Bulletin  Read all about it at the official APB Reloaded dev blog.
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| Tree of Savior preview sparks imagination with complex class combos Posted: 19 Nov 2013 04:00 PM PST Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, New Titles, Previews  Steparu.com has translated a recent interview with IMCGames to pull some of the details about this Korean title. Tree of Savior has an interesting package that might be worth checking out above and beyond the intricate character development and its attractive visuals. The game will feature large maps, over 200 monster types, and automatic party formation and disbanding. Tree of Savior is scheduled to start limited focus testing in February 2014 in South Korea as the developer continues its hunt for a publisher. If you haven't already, you can check out the official trailer to get a feel for what this title has to offer.
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| Jukebox Heroes: Helm's Deep's soundtrack Posted: 19 Nov 2013 03:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Expansions, Free-to-Play, Jukebox Heroes, Music  But that's what happened, and I am very much not complaining. While the esteemed Chance Thomas did not compose the second part of the Rohan saga, the studio did make the effort to create an original score in-house instead of just rehashing previous tracks. The result is an album of 25 new tunes for us to evaluate in anticipation of the next chapter of LotRO. So I threw out my original plans for this week's column, microwaved up some coffee, and gave the new score a listen. It was difficult narrowing the field down to six standout tracks, but the coffee was strong and so was my will. Let's take a listen through Helm's Deep, shall we? Continue reading Jukebox Heroes: Helm's Deep's soundtrack
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| Novus AEterno announces Kickstarter campaign, expected to launch in 'next six months' Posted: 19 Nov 2013 02:30 PM PST Filed under: Sci-Fi, News Items, MMORTS, Sandbox, Crowdfunding  Taitale Studios has announced today that its upcoming MMORTS, Novus AEterno, is nearing completion and is "expected to launch within the next six months." In order to gather funding for the final stages of the game's development, the studio has launched a Kickstarter campaign that aims to raise $200,000 US over the course of the next 30 days. Of the campaign, Taitale CEO Nick Nieuwoudt states that the studio is "excited to make the supportive gamer community part of the [development] process and part of our success." If Novus AEterno sounds like the kind of game at which you'd like to throw some of your money (in exchange for some nifty backer rewards, of course), you can check out the official Kickstarter at the link below. And of course, to learn more about the game itself, just head on over to the official site. [Source: Taitale Studios press release]
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| Star Citizen passes $28 million, 300K backers Posted: 19 Nov 2013 02:00 PM PST Filed under: Sci-Fi, Business Models, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, New Titles, News Items, PvE, Sandbox, Crowdfunding, Star Citizen, Buy-to-Play  CIG chairman Chris Roberts marked the latest milestone with a new installment of his traditional producer's letter. In it, he announced a new starter ship (the Mustang) and a bit of a change in the way further stretch goals will be handled. We are constantly asked where the additional money goes. Surely new mocap hardware or a new starship design doesn't cost a million dollars. The answer is that the stretch goals are an example: One big thing we will be doing with some of the money. Every additional million means that we're hiring additional artists and programmers, equipping the team with better development tools and increasing the size of the talented outsource groups being trusted with aspects of Star Citizen's development. It means more actors and time for mocap studios, more reference for designers, greater variety in game characters, more options in clothing and armor and a large array of ship items and weapons.
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| Flameseeker Chronicles: Guild Wars 2's tower flower power hour Posted: 19 Nov 2013 01:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Endgame, Opinion, Guild Wars 2, Flameseeker Chronicles, Buy-to-Play  It's pretty awesome. That might sound strange, but when everything comes together the tower plays like a big, magnificent dungeon where parties can form on the fly. It follows, then, that it's a lot less painful when approached as a dungeon rather than as a zone where the goal is to race to the instance at the end. Continue reading Flameseeker Chronicles: Guild Wars 2's tower flower power hour
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| Elder Scrolls Online beta keys are going out now Posted: 19 Nov 2013 12:30 PM PST Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, PvP, News Items, PvE, The Elder Scrolls Online, Subscription, MMORPG  If you didn't receive a key, don't worry -- ZeniMax will be sending more out in the near future.
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| Posted: 19 Nov 2013 12:05 PM PST Filed under: Super-hero, Patches, PvP, News Items, Free-to-Play, Marvel Heroes, MOBA, MMORPG  Defeating giants and other players rewards runestones that can then be traded for buffs and other utilities. If you're curious about Fire and Ice, check out last week's dev-hosted livestream of the new game mode on the official Marvel Heroes Twitch channel.
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| The Stream Team: Diving into FFXIV's Tam-Tara Deepcroft Posted: 19 Nov 2013 12:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Video, Hands-On, Final Fantasy XIV, Livestream, Dungeons, The Stream Team  Game: Final Fantasy XIV Host: Jasmine Hruschak Date: Tuesday, November 19th, 2013 Time: 3:00 p.m. EST Enjoy our Steam Team video below and a highlight of the dungeon's boss! Continue reading The Stream Team: Diving into FFXIV's Tam-Tara Deepcroft
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| 'Classic MMORPG' Arcane Hearts launches Posted: 19 Nov 2013 11:30 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Launches, New Titles, Free-to-Play, Browser  Arcane Hearts is a self-described "classic MMORPG" that mixes medieval settings and mythological motifs. The free-to-play title works in a browser and challenges players to explore the world from an isometric perspective with three classes: Warrior, Mage, and Shaman. Among the standard features are guild battles to establish dominance, an auto-hunting function that allows you to "level efficiently" without the grind, and party teleport so that members can meet up with each other easily. G4Box is celebrating the launch with in-game events and giveaways. [Source: G4Box press release]
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| Hyperspace Beacon: Getting started with SWTOR Galactic Starfighter Posted: 19 Nov 2013 11:00 AM PST Filed under: Sci-Fi, Expansions, Game Mechanics, PvP, Opinion, Free-to-Play, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Guides, Hyperspace Beacon  I've realized that not everyone jumping into SWTOR's new expansion will know what to do when getting started. I don't think I have to go over the basics like how to hop into your first match, but there are some things a person of average intelligence should know before tackling his first dog-fight. He should also set some goals for his first upgrades. I intend to help you out with that. Continue reading Hyperspace Beacon: Getting started with SWTOR Galactic Starfighter
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| Blade and Soul adds servers in China Posted: 19 Nov 2013 10:00 AM PST Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, PvP, News Items, PvE, Rumors, Blade & Soul, Miscellaneous, MMORPG  No new info is available for western gamers waiting for Blade and Soul. The last update on the official site is dated December 5th, 2012 and claims that details will be delivered "when the time is right." NCSoft and Team Bloodlust are working on the western version of the title.
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| The Soapbox: Instant high-level characters are a terrible, horrible, very bad, no good idea Posted: 19 Nov 2013 09:30 AM PST Filed under: Game Mechanics, Opinion, The Soapbox, Miscellaneous  In last week's Soapbox, Massively's Mike Foster advocated instant leveling by saying, "There is no downside to giving players a chance to skip to the start of new content." With much love and respect to my fellow Massively writer, I think Mike is completely wrong on this front, as are others that are giving a thumbs-up to any MMO that allows players to jump past content and into a high-level character. It has nothing to do with elitism and ego, as was suggested, but has everything to do with cheapening our mutual experience and the very foundation of MMOs. There are many, many downsides to this disturbing trend, and I need to get this off my chest so that at least I've said it somewhere.
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