MMO Updates

---

• Smartphone MMO Avabel Online releases new content
• Infinite Crisis trailer introduces Robin
• R2Games goes retro with Magic Barrage
• ArcheAge Korea trailer confirms library dungeon
• The Mog Log Extra: Final Fantasy XIV's great housing fiasco
• Jagged Alliance Online starts Spanish open beta
• The Stream Team: The night is dark edition, December 16 - 22, 2013
• Mythos Global shutting down January 22nd
• The Daily Grind: What's your least favorite thing about your favorite MMO?
• MMO Week in Review: The heavy-hitters of 2014
• EVE Evolved: Three exploitable game features
• Star Wars: The Old Republic reveals second anniversary rewards
• Molten Games is building something called Blunderbuss
• Stick and Rudder: Star Citizen and The Phantom Menace

Smartphone MMO Avabel Online releases new content Posted: 16 Dec 2013 09:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Classes, News Items, Mobile While it didn't impress too much in the beginning, Avabel Online is hoping its latest major content update changes a few minds. A mobile 3-D action game available on both Android and iOS smartphones, Avabel Online offers both PvE content and PvP. The newest update adds six advanced classes (each with four new skills) to the 12 already available. Additionally, characters can now equip items in their left hands, from daggers to guns to fist weapons. Players can also roam new maps. See what's in store in the trailer below. You can try the game and try it out for yourself by visiting Apple's AppStore, Google Play, or Amazon. [Source: ASOBIMO, Inc press release] Continue reading Smartphone MMO Avabel Online releases new content Smartphone MMO Avabel Online releases new content originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 16 Dec 2013 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Infinite Crisis trailer introduces Robin Posted: 16 Dec 2013 08:30 AM PST Filed under: Betas, Super-hero, Trailers, Video, Classes, New Titles, PvP, News Items, Free-to-Play, MMORTS, Infinite Crisis While full of plenty of superheroes to play, Infinite Crisis has not forgotten about the sidekicks that fight alongside them. The latest playable hero to join the MOBA's roster is none other than Robin, based on Tim Drake. Cast as (what else) a melee support role, Robin benefits his team with skills such as This Guy, Bo Master, and Dynamic Duo, each skill offering various team buffs and enemy debuffs. Robin's ultimate, Emergent Leader, combines AoE damage with team buffs. Gather some hints and tips for utilizing Robin in the reveal trailer below. Folks interested in playing Robin -- or any of the other heroes -- for themselves, can sign up for closed beta on the official site. [Source: Turbine press release] Continue reading Infinite Crisis trailer introduces Robin Infinite Crisis trailer introduces Robin originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 16 Dec 2013 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

R2Games goes retro with Magic Barrage Posted: 16 Dec 2013 08:00 AM PST Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, MMO Industry, New Titles, News Items, Free-to-Play, Browser If smooth graphics have lost their luster and you yearn for the days of yore with pronounced pixels, you should take a look at Magic Barrage, developed by Gameguyz. The new free-to-play browser game will open its beta doors tomorrow, December 17th at 10:00 a.m EST, and invites all those who want to re-experience the 8-bit, early 90s console game feel of classic dungeon crawlers merged with bullet hell games to jump in. Though retro, Magic Barrage still offers plenty of standard MMO features like guilds, crafting, PvP, and pets. To play, simply sign up on the official site. [Source: R2Games press release] R2Games goes retro with Magic Barrage originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 16 Dec 2013 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

ArcheAge Korea trailer confirms library dungeon Posted: 16 Dec 2013 07:30 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Trailers, Video, Patches, News Items, ArcheAge, Sandbox, Dungeons Only teased before, XLGAMES has now confirmed that the library dungeon will be part of ArcheAge Korea's 1.0 update coming in January. Filled with unique new mobs, this dungeon contains four themed areas, each with its own levels. The update also introduces a new NPC antagonist, an Elf wizard. Additionally, 1.0 brings changes to how players earn Labor points, adding the ability for free-to-play players to earn the points while online. Quietly peek through the library in the trailer below, then check out more images of the different levels and new mobs at MMO Culture. Continue reading ArcheAge Korea trailer confirms library dungeon ArcheAge Korea trailer confirms library dungeon originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 16 Dec 2013 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Library dungeon trailer, F2P changes

The Mog Log Extra: Final Fantasy XIV's great housing fiasco Posted: 16 Dec 2013 07:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Culture, Economy, Patches, Opinion, Consoles, Final Fantasy XIV, The Mog Log, Housing, Subscription This past Saturday morning, Final Fantasy XIV announced free company housing prices in its patch notes for 2.1. These prices did not explicitly include an upturned middle finger and looping sounds of laughter, but they may as well have. This was not a positive move by Square-Enix. With the patch scheduled for release on Tuesday, players had an enormous part of their enjoyment kneecapped immediately and almost arbitrarily. One of the major features of this patch that has been announced and discussed repeatedly is housing, and nearly every free company I spoke with said that this announcement more or less killed any dream of having housing accessible to the players on my server. And they're not the only ones. To say that this has been disheartening is an understatement. Final Fantasy XIV has had an immensely strong relaunch, and this debacle -- and the complete lack of communication from the community team on the issue -- is absolutely astounding. These are not launch woes that almost every game suffers from; this is a result of failing to consider so many basic elements of playstyles and the playerbase. Continue reading The Mog Log Extra: Final Fantasy XIV's great housing fiasco The Mog Log Extra: Final Fantasy XIV's great housing fiasco originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 16 Dec 2013 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Jagged Alliance Online starts Spanish open beta Posted: 16 Dec 2013 06:30 AM PST Filed under: Betas, War, Free-to-Play Jagged Alliance Online's community has expanded to include our Spanish-speaking gaming brethren, as the open beta has started today for Spanish and Latin American markets. The Spanish beta has been tailored to provide localized translation, community management, and customer service. IDC/Games will be publishing the Spanish version of Jagged Alliance Online. The company reported that 300,000 players "showed interest" in the two-week closed beta period. If this is of interest to you, you can sign up for the open beta on IDC/Games' website. [Source: IDC/Games press release] Jagged Alliance Online starts Spanish open beta originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 16 Dec 2013 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

The Stream Team: The night is dark edition, December 16 - 22, 2013 Posted: 16 Dec 2013 06:00 AM PST Filed under: Polls, MMO Industry, Massively Meta, Livestream, Miscellaneous, The Stream Team And so full of terrors! Or is that streams? If you've seen some of The Stream Team's antics, you'd most likely say it is a combination of the two! With Winter Solstice this week, we will soon enjoy the longest night of the year here up north, so what will you be doing while it is dark for so long? Here's an idea: How about dive into some live shows on Massively TV mingled with a heaping helping of reruns? There's no better way to pass the time until more light starts creeping back into our days than with your favorite hosts in your favorite games. Check out what we're playing this week and join us. Continue reading The Stream Team: The night is dark edition, December 16 - 22, 2013 The Stream Team: The night is dark edition, December 16 - 22, 2013 originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 16 Dec 2013 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Mythos Global shutting down January 22nd Posted: 16 Dec 2013 05:30 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, News Items, Mythos, Free-to-Play, Sunsets T3Fun, publisher of the free-to-play fantasy title Mythos Global, has announced that the game will be shutting down on January 22nd of next year. As a result, the in-game cash shop will be shut down during maintenance on December 18th, and the post notes that "A Compensation Model is currently at work mainly for users who made recent purchases." Game shutdowns are rarely fun for those involved, but Mythos has certainly had a rocky history of constant death and resurrection, so this might be just another turn of the wheel. In any case, Mythos will be around for a bit longer, so fans can jump in for one last hurrah before the game goes dark. You can check out the full shutdown announcement at the Mythos official site. [Thanks to Mehighlow for the tip!] Mythos Global shutting down January 22nd originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 16 Dec 2013 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Mythos Global -- Shutdown Announcement

The Daily Grind: What's your least favorite thing about your favorite MMO? Posted: 16 Dec 2013 05:00 AM PST Filed under: Super-hero, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, Opinion, Free-to-Play, The Daily Grind, DC Universe Online My favorite MMO -- for the moment -- is DC Universe Online. That doesn't mean it's perfect or that it's my favorite MMO ever, mind you. It's just that for now, it's the one I'm playing and enjoying most often. What it would take to elevate DCUO from current favorite to bestest ever? That's hard to say, but we'd have to start with that consolized UI, chat system, and inventory. Yuck! What about you, Massively readers? What's your least favorite thing about your favorite MMO? Or if you're feeling especially contrarian, what's your favorite thing about your least favorite MMO? 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: What's your least favorite thing about your favorite MMO? originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 16 Dec 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

MMO Week in Review: The heavy-hitters of 2014 Posted: 15 Dec 2013 05:00 PM PST Filed under: Massively Meta, Week in Review, Miscellaneous At the end of every week, we round up the best and most popular news stories, exclusive features, and insightful columns published on Massively and then present them all in one convenient place. If you missed a big MMO or WoW Insider story last week, you've come to the right post. This week, a massive press embargo lift for WildStar led to an avalanche of articles on housing, character creation, and the most recently revealed classes, the Engineer and the Medic. Not to be outdone, The Elder Scrolls Online raised its bet by announcing an official release date of April 4th of next year (not an April Fools' joke) and a brand-new ask-us-anything on character progression. Oh yeah, 2014's going to be fun. Read on for a look at the rest of this week's top MMO stories. Continue reading MMO Week in Review: The heavy-hitters of 2014 MMO Week in Review: The heavy-hitters of 2014 originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 15 Dec 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

EVE Evolved: Three exploitable game features Posted: 15 Dec 2013 03:00 PM PST Filed under: Sci-Fi, EVE Online, Bugs, Game Mechanics, PvP, PvE, Opinion, EVE Evolved, Sandbox If there's one thing EVE Online players are good at, it's finding ways to get an advantage over each other. The hyper-competitive PvP sandbox breeds players with an investigative streak who will constantly figure out ways to bend and abuse new features to make ISK or get an edge over other players in combat. The most obvious cases include abusing bugs, as happened in 2009's starbase exploit that corporations used to generate valuable tech 2 materials out of thin air and 2010's MonkeySphere exploit that let players hide themselves from the local chat channel and sneak up on unsuspecting victims. Most cases of abusing features for profit or advantage aren't as clear-cut as these obvious exploits, as some have negative consequences but still use completely legitimate game mechanics. When players figured out how to abuse Faction Warfare's kill LP rewards to farm five trillion ISK, for example, they did so using in-game mechanics that just hadn't really been thought through. Many more subtle cases of broken game mechanics that undermine EVE's core design ethos still exist, some of which have been recently introduced and others that have managed to remain unchallenged for years because there isn't really a good alternative. In this week's EVE Evolved, I look at three features in EVE Online that I think fundamentally break the design ethos of the game but don't have very clear solutions. Continue reading EVE Evolved: Three exploitable game features EVE Evolved: Three exploitable game features originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 15 Dec 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Star Wars: The Old Republic reveals second anniversary rewards Posted: 15 Dec 2013 01:00 PM PST Filed under: Sci-Fi, News Items, Free-to-Play, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Anniversaries The 20th of this month marks the two-year anniversary of Star Wars: The Old Republic, and BioWare is bestowing upon players a couple of gifts to celebrate the occasion. On December 17th, players who have an active Star Wars: The Old Republic account created on or before December 16th, 2013, will receive a pair of exclusive paint jobs (one for the Empire and one for the Republic) for their Galactic Starfighter ships plus faction-specific fireworks that players can set off for an impromptu pyrotechnics show. While all players with an active account will receive these rewards, the paint jobs can be used only if you have access to the Galactic Starfighter expansion. While subscribers gained access to the feature earlier this month, Preffered Status players will have to wait until January 14, 2014, and Free-to-Play members will gain access on February 4th, 2014. For the full details on the anniversary rewards or to sign up for an account, head over to the Star Wars: The Old Republic official site. Star Wars: The Old Republic reveals second anniversary rewards originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 15 Dec 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Star Wars: The Old Republic -- Second Anniversary Rewards Coming December 17th!

Molten Games is building something called Blunderbuss Posted: 15 Dec 2013 12:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, MMO Industry, New Titles, News Items, Free-to-Play Remember last summer when Molten Games sent out a press release saying that it had picked up ex-Blizzard and SOE personnel as well as a substantial chunk of funding courtesy of NCsoft? Well, the company has revealed the name of its project, though not much beyond that. The concoction is called Blunderbuss, and according to 2P it is an Unreal 4-powered title that is "expected to launch with [a] free-to-play model in the summer of 2015." The genre is still unknown, though the source article says it's a "core game" designed for e-sports. What's a core game? Your guess is as good as mine, since that's basically a marketing term that could mean anything from hardcore to softcore to Andrea Corr. OK, maybe not that last one, even though MOBAs with Irish pop musician heroes should be a thing. [Thanks Zedrick!] Molten Games is building something called Blunderbuss originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 15 Dec 2013 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments 2P

Stick and Rudder: Star Citizen and The Phantom Menace Posted: 15 Dec 2013 11:00 AM PST Filed under: Sci-Fi, Culture, MMO Industry, Opinion, Sandbox, Stick and Rudder, Star Citizen, Buy-to-Play It's May 1999 and nearing midnight. My best friend and I are standing in a swollen, sweat-soaked line of humanity that snakes through a movie theater lobby, out into the overstuffed parking lot, and around back of the palatial building. Imperial stormtroopers mill through the crowd. Kids armed with plastic lightsabers duel their friends, their parents, and armies of imaginary opponents. Nerds share pizza deliveries with strangers, and the whole enterprise is steeped in an air of electric expectation more akin to a championship football game than an evening at the cinema. And then my buddy turns to me and says, "What if it sucks?" Continue reading Stick and Rudder: Star Citizen and The Phantom Menace Stick and Rudder: Star Citizen and The Phantom Menace originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 15 Dec 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

You are subscribed to email updates from Massively To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610