MMO Updates |
- The Road to Mordor: Helm's Deep calls!
- WRUP: A spectacular week edition
- The Daily Grind: What frustrates you about official game sites?
- EVE Fanfest 2013 day two: World of Darkness, Odyssey, and EVE Virtual Reality with the Oculus Rift
- Betawatch: April 20 - 26, 2013
- MMObility: Revisiting The Lost Titans
- EVE Online plans major mining and industry revamp for Odyssey
- Storyboard: Villainy afoot
- Star Trek Online's newest Ask Cryptic takes aim at revamps and Romulans
- LotRO player council selected
- Some Assembly Required: Community as content
- Infinite Crisis introduces Doomsday and Gaslight Batman to the roster
- Mythic community manager bids a sorrowful farewell
- Players commemorate City of Heroes' 9th anniversary
- Camelot Unchained explains stealth
- The Cathar arrive in SWTOR's next update
- Massively's Neverwinter early access launch diary: Day one
| The Road to Mordor: Helm's Deep calls! Posted: 27 Apr 2013 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Expansions, Free-to-Play, The Road to Mordor  The other issue is that Turbine's abandoned the "[something] of [place]" title structure it's had ever since Shadows of Angmar. A vain, egocentric part of me thinks that this might've happened because a developer read my expansion prediction column and decided to spite me. With that out of the way, let's digest the official announcement and see what we'll be doing this fall when LotRO's fifth expansion hits! Continue reading The Road to Mordor: Helm's Deep calls!
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| WRUP: A spectacular week edition Posted: 27 Apr 2013 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: Massively Meta, Miscellaneous  Given the pattern of the past couple weeks, I fully expect for everything I love to burst into flame over the course of the next several days. Right now, it's time to stop thinking about the week that's past and focus on WRUP, wherein all of the Massively staffers let you know what they'll be up to for the weekend. Check out the rundown past the break, and let us know your plans in the comments! Continue reading WRUP: A spectacular week edition
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| The Daily Grind: What frustrates you about official game sites? Posted: 27 Apr 2013 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Culture, MMO Industry, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Humor, Miscellaneous  Pretty much every MMO requires you to go through the official site on a semi-regular basis, which means that any minor problems start to become continual irritations given enough time. So what frustrates you about official game sites? Wonky graphic placement? Poor font choices? Too many separate logins? For that matter, what official game sites do you think have pretty much gotten the formula correct?  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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| EVE Fanfest 2013 day two: World of Darkness, Odyssey, and EVE Virtual Reality with the Oculus Rift Posted: 26 Apr 2013 09:30 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, Video, EVE Online, Economy, Events (Real-World), Expansions, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, Previews, PvP, Endgame, News Items, PvE, Opinion, Events (Massively's Coverage), World of Darkness, Dev Diaries, Sandbox, Anniversaries  The day got off to a good start with the highly anticipated World of Darkness talk. Most fans were probably expecting to see more airy game design ideas and another shiny trailer, but this year CCP just came out and put all its cards on the table. We saw that the game is still firmly in pre-production, with much of the previous work going into developing the engine and cool content creation tools and shaders. While I was initially disappointed at the lack of gameplay progress or shiny cinematics, I found this approach of being open and direct with fans very refreshing. As I told WoD art director Thomas Holt, honest beats shiny every time. Read on for a full run-down of the EVE reveals from the second day of EVE's tenth anniversary Fanfest, including in-depth details of the Odyssey expansion's features.
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| Betawatch: April 20 - 26, 2013 Posted: 26 Apr 2013 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, MMO Industry, News Items, Betawatch, Miscellaneous  Long-time browser-based darling City of Steam scored a major coup by getting listed on Steam Greenlight this week, and the early access beta is starting on May 10th, ramping up to a full open beta not too long after that. Neverwinter founders are already getting to enjoy the game's early access to the open beta, which begins next week. But there's more testing afoot always, and we've done our best to compile all of that into the list just past the cut. Notice something that we've missed? Feel free to let us know about it down in the comments. Continue reading Betawatch: April 20 - 26, 2013
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| MMObility: Revisiting The Lost Titans Posted: 26 Apr 2013 05:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Screenshots, Video, Events (In-Game), Game Mechanics, Interviews, Previews, PvP, Opinion, Free-to-Play, Browser, Casual, Family, Livestream, MMObility, Dungeons  Still, I cannot deny that some browser-based games do indeed suck. In fact, the last time I played The Lost Titans live, I found myself so bored I almost could not finish the stream, but I thought I'd try again with a fresh perspective. Despite finding many of the same issues I had before, I was surprised at how much further the game has come. I sat down with ZQGame's Laura Stephens during this latest livestream to talk about the game. Continue reading MMObility: Revisiting The Lost Titans
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| EVE Online plans major mining and industry revamp for Odyssey Posted: 26 Apr 2013 04:30 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, EVE Online, Economy, Events (Real-World), Expansions, Game Mechanics, Patches, News Items, PvE, Events (Massively's Coverage), Sandbox  Miners will find their ice belts have been moved from static locations to hidden exploration sites that have to be scanned down, but to compensate it will now mine at double the normal rate. Normal asteroid mining in lowsec and nullsec is also due for a buff with the addition of large quantities of low-end minerals. Hidden asteroid belts will no longer need to be probed down but can be quickly located with the new Discovery scanner, and to top it off there'll even be new high quality ore sites that can only be found in prime areas of nullsec. Outpost industrial infrastructure is due for an update with new purchaseable upgrade paths expanding factory, office and research lab capabilities to the same level as fully-fledged empire stations. Lastly, moon minerals are finally being addressed with a redistribution of rare materials and several new reaction paths to bypass current bottlenecks. A lot of value will be moved from Technetium back to rarer materials like Thulium, Neodymium, Promethium and Dysprosium, and new supplies of all four will be distributed randomly into moons across the universe. Re-scan all of your nearby moons when Odyssey lands because it could suddenly be worth a fortune!  Whether you're a die-hard fan of internet spaceships or just a gawker on the sidelines, EVE Fanfest is the EVE Online event of the year (and the key source of new DUST 514 and World of Darkness scoops!). Follow Massively's Brendan Drain as he reports back on this year's Fanfest starpower, scheming, and spoilers from exotic Reykjavik, Iceland.
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| Posted: 26 Apr 2013 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: Culture, Opinion, Roleplaying, Storyboard, Miscellaneous  The thing about villains in roleplaying is having a character solely meant as A Villain generally doesn't work as well, simply because no real people are as malicious as that might require. Instead, you wind up with several people serving as the villains in a particular timeframe. So we need to define what we mean by villains, what role they can play in roleplaying, and what the pitfalls are in the first place. Continue reading Storyboard: Villainy afoot
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| Star Trek Online's newest Ask Cryptic takes aim at revamps and Romulans Posted: 26 Apr 2013 03:30 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, Expansions, Patches, News Items, Star Trek Online, Free-to-Play, Community Q&A  Other topics of discussion include the long-anticipated revamp to Exploration, which is being moved over toward encouraging the use of the Foundry to fulfill a similar niche. Klingon progression will be improved with a full leveling path, including episodes ported over and heavily tweaked from the Federation line as well as unique bits of content just for KDF characters. For the usual buffet of questions and answers you can check out the full installment on the official site.
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| Posted: 26 Apr 2013 03:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Free-to-Play  These players are said to represent "many play styles, countries, and walks of life" and will work to facilitate feedback between the dev team and the rest of the playerbase. But as community manager Rick "Sapience" Heaton reminds us, these council members "cannot discuss their actions or activity as a member of the council." We'd like to throw out a hearty congratulations to everyone selected!
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| Some Assembly Required: Community as content Posted: 26 Apr 2013 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: Culture, MMO Industry, Opinion, Miscellaneous, Some Assembly Required, Player-Generated Content  After tugging at my heartstrings for a while, that experience made me reflect on how much our communities are really a cornerstone of player-generated content. How often have you attended or participated in an event or run a mission created by someone other than yourself? And yet, when discussing important tools and elements needed to support player-generated content, we often overlook the necessity of a vibrant community. It's like trying to bake a cake without adding the flour. Or how about this analogy: You can give folks a giant tool box full of a shiny implements and tell them to build a house, but not much will happen without the actual wood and materials! So to foster PGC, games need to foster building communities. Continue reading Some Assembly Required: Community as content
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| Infinite Crisis introduces Doomsday and Gaslight Batman to the roster Posted: 26 Apr 2013 01:30 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Super-hero, Video, Classes, Free-to-Play, MOBA, Infinite Crisis  We've got a video for each of these characters for you to check out after the break. Discussion: Which of these two would win in a fight, do you think? [Source: Turbine press release] Continue reading Infinite Crisis introduces Doomsday and Gaslight Batman to the roster
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| Mythic community manager bids a sorrowful farewell Posted: 26 Apr 2013 01:00 PM PDT Filed under: Dark Age of Camelot, MMO Industry, Warhammer Online, News Items, Ultima Online, Free-to-Play  I am very sorry to say that I was informed that my position was no longer needed. Though I had many titles I was handling for Mythic, I grew to love and appreciate all the communities and only wish I could have had more time or resources to get more involved with them. Though I had only been in the position for a little over a year, I will miss a great many of you and hope that you keep in touch.The news is of particular concern for Warhammer, which also lost its lead developer earlier this week. Ultima Online, by contrast, assured players of its continuing operation in a producer's letter last week. [Thanks to Fozee for the tip!]
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| Players commemorate City of Heroes' 9th anniversary Posted: 26 Apr 2013 12:30 PM PDT Filed under: Super-hero, City of Heroes, Culture, Free-to-Play, Anniversaries  On the CoHTitan boards, the call has gone out for players to share specific City of Heroes favorite aspects over a "This isn't a time for negativity," the post's author writes. "This is about celebrating what was and what could have been. Join me in this celebration of love towards our beloved City of Heroes."
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| Camelot Unchained explains stealth Posted: 26 Apr 2013 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Classes, New Titles, PvP, Sandbox, Crowdfunding, Camelot Unchained  Mark Jacobs explained in the latest update blog that being killed by a stealther generates the most rage and angry email from players. But with Jacob's "bat-s**t crazy" idea regarding stealth, most of the frustration should be alleviated. The idea revolves around the concept of the Veil, which in simple terms is another dimension that exists alongside our own. Players can become VeilWalkers, moving in and out of the Veil and traversing over and through objects undetected by most players. But VeilWalking comes with consequences of its own in the form of VeilStalkers, players who cannot enter the Veil but can pull Walkers out of it by using skills and placing traps. Jacobs explained, "The Veil holds mysteries and power, but it comes with a price." What do you think? Is he bat-s**t crazy?
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| The Cathar arrive in SWTOR's next update Posted: 26 Apr 2013 11:30 AM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, Trailers, Video, Patches, News Items, Free-to-Play, Races, Star Wars: The Old Republic  Producer Cory Butler explained that Cathar can be unlocked for 600 Cartel Coins on an account for subscribing, preferred, and free-to-play players alike. Previous species unlocks have been per server only. When asked why BioWare implemented the cat-like race, Butler told SWTORFace, "One of the reasons we chose Cathar is because they are new and unfamiliar to many of our players -- in much the same way as Rattataki and Chiss -- but have been well-received by our players." Check out the announcement video after the cut. Continue reading The Cathar arrive in SWTOR's next update
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| Massively's Neverwinter early access launch diary: Day one Posted: 26 Apr 2013 11:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Previews, Opinion, Free-to-Play, Hands-On, First Impressions, Neverwinter, Neverwinter Days  While I've participated in two of the beta weekend events and have been following Neverwinter for a few months now as part of my column coverage, much of the game is virgin territory to me. I like going into a launch relatively unspoiled (or as unspoiled as a writer who covers MMOs can be), so this launch diary isn't going to be the voice of great experience. It's going to be the voice of experiences. See what I did there? Noon on April 25th finally arrived... and we were off to the D&D races! Continue reading Massively's Neverwinter early access launch diary: Day one
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