General Gaming Article

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• Build a Crysis 3 PC on a Budget
• Kingston Explains the Manufacturing Process Behind RAM and Solid State Drives
• Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos Explains His $250 Million Purchase of The Washington Post
• Secret AMD Roadmap Suggests End of the Line for FX Processor Lineup
• Acer's Pint Sized K132 DLP Portable Projector Beams Big Size HD Images
• SteelSeries and Valve Roll Out Siberia V2 Dota 2 Edition Headset and Mousepads
• Newegg Daily Deals: Creative Sound Blaster Z 5.1 Sound Card, Samsung 23.6-inch LCD, and More!

Build a Crysis 3 PC on a Budget Posted: 06 Aug 2013 02:53 PM PDT We attempt to build the best PC for Crysis 3 without suffering a financial crisis When the original Crysis dropped six years ago, it quickly became the gold standard for visual splendor—and enthusiast agony. Gamers the world over fired up the demo, only to find their previously potent GPU coughing and sputtering. Thus began The Great Upgrade Rush of 2007, as we all upgraded just to play Crysis, and the game became the benchmark for PC gaming for years to come. Whenever a new GPU arrived, the first question on everyone's mind was, "Will it run Crysis?" When Crysis 2 came along it was a console port, and somewhat scaled-back technologically. The environments were small by PC standards, and developer Crytek didn't expose advanced settings for us to mess with. With Crysis 3, though, Crytek has claimed it would make your PC its bitch, and we must say after benchmarking it that we agree; bitches will be made. So, for this month's Build It, we set out to tame the beast by putting together a bang-for-the-buck Crysis 3 machine, settling the question of whether or not you need a $500 video card or CPU to run the game at 40-plus frames per second at 1080p. It sounds like a tall order, but we'll talk you through the build, explain all the choices we made, and what mistakes we almost made. The rugged C70 case makes our Crysis 3 system look battle-ready. Let's Get Sorted At Maximum PC, we get a steady trickle of $5,000-plus systems that would handle Crysis 3 just fine. But we won't be using any of them for this project since it would be cheating. It would also be easy to go with a Core i5-3570K system, stuffed into a Z77 motherboard. That would perform well out-of-the-box, and the CPU is overclockable. There's just one problem: Intel's next generation of desktop CPUs, Haswell, just arrived, which means that Z77 is kind of a dead end for enthusiasts at this point. Sure, it would last us a few years but our upgrade options would be slim. Or we could go with an AMD build. Its FX CPUs look impressive on paper, but they have consistently fallen short of a 3570K in most of our benchmarks. The answer then, both for performance and longevity, appears to be X79, aka Socket LGA 2011. It takes the smokin'-fast Sandy Bridge-E CPUs (and Ivy Bridge-E CPUs, expected in late 2013). It also provides enough PCIe lanes to handle multiple GPUs without a bottleneck. With our socket chosen, we settled on the "entry-level" Core i7-3820 CPU for less than $300. We wanted Gigabyte's GA-X79-UD3 mobo, for its combo of price, features, and build quality, but it was in short supply, so we tapped its big brother, the GA-X79-UP4, to act as a stunt double. For the GPU, we picked an MSI GeForce GTX 670 Power Edition for its balance of performance, price, quiet operation, and features (Note: This is the video card we went with at time of print, but we now would recommend going with the GeForce GTX 770). AMD didn't have quite what we wanted for this build. We chose the Corsair Vengeance C70 for a case, and Cooler Master provided a snazzy Silent Pro M2 720w power supply. We loaded our OS and game files onto a Corsair Neutron GTX SSD, and cooled our CPU with an old standby after abandoning a more ambitious cooling plan. INGREDIENTS PART URL Price Case Corsair Vengeance C70 www.corsair.com $120 PSU Cooler Master Silent Pro M2 RS720 www.coolermaster.com $120 Mobo Gigabyte GA-X79-UP4 www.gigabyte.com $250 CPU Intel Core i7-3820 www.intel.com $290 Cooler Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo www.coolermaster.com $30 GPU MSI GTX 670 PE (Update: We now recommend going with the GTX 770) www.msi.com $375 RAM Corsair 4x 2GB Vengeance www.corsair.com $50 SSD Corsair Neutron GTX 240GB www.corsair.com $210 HDD Seagate 1TB Barracuda www.seagate.com $70 OS MS Windows 7 64-bit OEM www.microsoft.com $100 Total     $1,615 1. The X Factor The X79's i7-3820 is an ideal choice because it has more features than the  i7-3770K for about the same price. For example, the latter's Z77 chipset doesn't support more than 16 PCIe 3.0 lanes, while X79 chipset can handle up to 40 PCIe lanes. That gives us enough headroom to add a second GPU without hitting a ceiling. As for AMD, we considered the FX-8350 for its eight unlocked cores and 4GHz stock clocks. But in testing, it's just not as fast as the Core i7s, and its 990FX chipset doesn't support PCIe 3.0, which has twice the bandwidth of PCIe 2.0. Admittedly, the lane thing is irrelevant for a single GPU. A Z77 or 990FX board will have plenty of room for every modern GPU, but we prefer an expandable system. 2. Casing the Joint We gave Corsair's Vengeance C70 a good review a few months back (8 Verdict), so we decided to give it a shot for our Crysis box. The NZXT Phantom 410 was also considered, but we needed to move this case around the office a few times, and the C70's all-metal housing and built-in carrying handles were better suited to the task. Plus, the side panels are latched, so we didn't have to worry about losing thumbscrews. It's also perfectly suitable for our build , with its modest cost and military aesthetic. It's blessed with large fan mounts, quiet stock fans, and lots of airflow, so it should help us with overclocking. We also like that both drive cages can be removed, giving our intake fans an unobstructed path to the parts that need to chill. By default, the two front fans are mounted on the cages. We moved those into the front bezel and removed the top cage. The bezel also has cutouts to feed the fan wiring back inside the cage. We left the bottom cage in place because it was easier to manage the SSD and HDD that way. 3. The Juice is Loose Cooler Master's Silent Pro PSUs are known for running quietly and reliably, so we wanted to try one for this build. The RS720 model we used is the sequel to the original, and has the same great features, including a 135mm fan that dynamically adjusts its speed according to conditions instead of running full-blast all the time. We also like its flat cables, which are more flexible than standard rounded cables. Otherwise, it offers the same high-quality specs, plus four PCIe connectors instead of two, making it easier to run dual GPUs when Crysis 4 arrives. The flat cables made for an easier build, but be warned that this model still uses rounded cables for the motherboard and CPU power. 4. Taking a Chill Pill One Downside  of having a motherboard that supports quad-SLI is there is very little space between the first PCIe slot and the CPU socket. In fact, we discovered while building this rig that we were unable to use a CPU heatsink bigger than 120mm, which torpedoed our plans to use an NZXT Havik 140 cooler. The Havik 140 is a massive cooler with dual fans in a push-pull config, so we figured it would let us overclock to our heart's content and stay quiet about it. But in practice, it was just too damned big. Sure, we could have installed the Havik, but it would have meant rotating the heatsink 90 degrees, which means that its fans would have been sucking air straight off a sweltering GPU, instead of the cooler air entering the case from the front intake—not a great idea. Undaunted, we decided to use our favorite low-cost CPU cooler, the always-popular Hyper 212 Evo from Cooler Master. It's not sexy but it gets the job done and is quiet, sort of like an intern. 5. The GPU War Update: We originally recommended the GeForce GTX 670 at the time of print, but we now recommend the GeForce GTX 770 for this build's GPU. MSI kind of nailed it with its GeForce GTX 670 Power Edition. Its core clock is bumped up from 915MHz on the stock card to 1,020MHz, which is a slightly higher clock than that of a GTX 680, though the memory clock is left alone. Its boost clock speed of 1,080MHz is also higher than the GTX 680, which lets it keep pace with its big brother despite costing about $100 less. Its proprietary "Twin Frozr IV" cooler has dual fans and a huge heatsink with copper pipes, and it let us overclock the board even further to 1,100MHz core and 1,700MHz for the memory. We could have gone with a Radeon HD 7970, but most of them are voltage-locked and noisy. The GTX 670 Power Edition, meanwhile, is fully tweakable, and we know from past testing that this card will not give us any troubles since it's always been quiet and reliable. So, there's a low potential for frustration, a high potential for performance, and a lack of excessive noise and heat. And since we're playing at 1080p, the HD 7970's additional gigabyte of VRAM and wider data bus aren't significant enough factors to bring us to team Red this time around. 6. Going for a Drive An SSD is not the cheapest choice for storage, but when you can turn on your computer and be in the desktop in less than 20 seconds (as opposed to just staring at a boot screen while your HDD thrashes around), it's kind of a big deal. Of the current generation of drives, we have the OCZ Vector and Samsung 840 Pro alone at the top, and they cost a pretty penny at around $250–$275 for the 256GB versions. Corsair's Neutron GTX, though, hovers around $200 for the 256GB drive, despite offering nearly the same performance as the class leaders as well as the same 5-year warranty. It's our opinion that once you get to these speeds, you simply won't feel a subjective difference between the top-tier SSDs and the second tier, so why not save a little money? As a bonus, the Corsair's C70 case features slide-out drive trays with mounts for SSDs, so we didn't even need any 3.5-inch conversion kits. It's all over except for the Crysising Perhaps we over-prepared. Our plan was to maintain over 40fps in Crysis 3 using the game's "High" graphics setting. As it turns out, we nearly hit that mark on "Very High" without even needing to overclock, though we were using 4x SMAA instead of 4x MSAA. The latter did not seem to have an improvement in visual quality that would justify the loss of about 5fps. The machine was also whisper-quiet throughout our testing. You could hear the 670's fans crank up a little, but it wasn't distracting, even when pushed to 1,100MHz core clock (nearly 200MHz above the reference board clock). However, if we were running a 2560x1600 display, the GTX 670 would not cut it. We'd have to get a second GPU for SLI action, as there's simply no way a single GPU other than a GTX Titan could run this game at high settings at that resolution.  Otherwise, the system was a pleasure to build and test. The C70 chassis was roomy, cool, and quiet, though the thumbscrews on the PCI slot covers required a screwdriver to loosen, which kind of defeats the point. Having the intake fans on the drive cages instead of flush against the chassis also doesn't make a lot of sense since they are set back from the front of the case by several inches. But moving those two 120mm units into the front bezel was fairly painless. We'd like to point out that the Hyper 212 Evo CPU cooler let us take our Core i7 CPU from 3.6GHz to an overclocked 4.25GHz without breaking a sweat or making a peep, despite using just a single 120mm fan. Stock temps were around 30 C idle, with temps dipping into the mid-50s under load. The GPU hovered around 70 C when overclocked—not bad for a core clock running 17 percent faster than stock speed. MSI's copper heat pipes and dual fans helped there, for sure. Overall, we rate this system a success both in terms of performance gained and money spent. And unlike most of our lab experiments, we do recommend you try this at home. A gaming system with these specs will last you at least until Crysis 4 comes out, when we'll do this all over again. Benchmarks   Stock Speeds Overclocked Percent Difference Crysis 3, "Very High" (fps) 38 42 +10% Catzilla, 1080p 8,529 9,257 +8% 3DMark 11 Extreme 3,280 3,449 +5% 3DMark 11 Performance 9,204 9,702  +5% 3DMark (2013) Extreme 3,035 3,298 +8% Note: This article originally appeared in the May 2013 issue of the magazine.

Kingston Explains the Manufacturing Process Behind RAM and Solid State Drives Posted: 06 Aug 2013 11:23 AM PDT A rare inside look at how PC components are made It's easy to take for granted the parts that we put inside our PCs, but have you ever stopped to wonder about what's involved to build each piece? The manufacturing process of different components is rather fascinating, though for one reason or another, we rarely catch a glimpse of how it's done. Many of the factories are overseas, which presents a logistics problem for inside looks, and some companies are super secretive with their operations. However, Kingston allowed the folks at GamerNexus to take a look at how RAM and SSDs are made, and if you're a fan of technology, it's a must-read article with accompanying video. Kingston and GamerNexus give readers a walkthrough of the company's SMT (Surface-Mount Technology) lines along with the memory testing and assembly process. The neat thing about SMT lines is that the same ones can be used to produce different products, such as RAM and motherboards. After inspecting the PCBs (printed circuit boards), they're placed in a machine that plops on-module components onto the sticks, such as caps and resistors, using suction pressure. Eventually DRAM is placed onto the modules, cooked, and sent out for testing. Interestingly, Kingston said it takes about 15 to 30 minutes for a one-sided memory module to get through the SMT line, and about 4 hours to complete the entire assembly process, including testing, from start to finish and out the door. Check out the full article for more geeky details and a bunch of pics. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos Explains His $250 Million Purchase of The Washington Post Posted: 06 Aug 2013 10:41 AM PDT The Washington Post changes hands First off, 'Wow!' That's the only appropriate reaction to what just went down, which is an agreement between Jeff Bezos to acquire The Washington Post for $250 million. As the founder and chief of Amazon, and subsequently one of the richest men in the world (19th, to be exact), Bezos can certainly afford the transaction, the question is what does he want with it? Furthermore, what does he plan to do with his new acquisition? Bezos addressed those questions in an open letter to employees of The Washington Post, ensuring them that the values of the newspaper will not change, and that it'll continue to work hard to not make mistakes, yet own up to them when/if they do happen. He also told employees he won't be their daily figurehead. "I won't be leading The Washington Post day-to-day. I am happily living in 'the other Washington' where I have a day job that I love," Bezos stated in his letter. "Besides that, The Post already has an excellent leadership team that knows much more about the news business than I do, and I'm extremely grateful to them for agreeing to stay on." That doesn't mean there won't be change. On the contrary, Bezos flat out said there would be, citing a need to "invent" and "experiment." What exactly all that entails isn't yet known, but give it a few months and we should have a better idea of which direction the newspaper is going. One thing that's interesting is that the acquisition was made by Bezos and not Amazon. A person could speculate all day along about what Amazon would want with a major newspaper, especially with Amazon taking on political issues like online taxation. This isn't about Amazon, however, at least not directly, though we're sure the online retailer and its investors don't mind one bit that Bezos is the new owner. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Secret AMD Roadmap Suggests End of the Line for FX Processor Lineup Posted: 06 Aug 2013 08:30 AM PDT Will there be another FX processor beyond the FX 9590? We're a little hesitant to fan the flames on this one, but according to a series of documents AMD supposedly handed out to OEMs "behind closed doors," the end of the road for the Sunnyvale chip designer's FX Series might be fast approaching, if not already here. Should AMD ultimately decide to retire its FX Series sooner than later, the FX 9590 could end up being the brand's swan song. Don't shoot the messenger -- this information comes courtesy of VR-Zone, which claims to have obtained and combed through the secret documents. You can't see them, and neither can we because VR-Zone is opting not to post the images publicly due to heavy watermarking. It would be a curious move by AMD to retire the FX Series after having broached 5GHz, earning the company a bit of bragging rights. The 5GHz feat did not, however, earn AMD the performance crown, which is held firmly by Intel and its Haswell architecture at this point. Another alternative is that AMD could skip an FX refresh for all or most of 2014 and launch new chips either at the end of the year or sometime in 2015. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Acer's Pint Sized K132 DLP Portable Projector Beams Big Size HD Images Posted: 06 Aug 2013 08:00 AM PDT Fits in your palm Can you hold your giant screen HDTV in the palm of your hand? Unless you have hands like Paul Bunyan, it would take several palms to create a sturdy enough human base for your HDTV. But if you were to pick up Acer's new K132 DLP portable projector, you'd find that its pint sized stature belies the display technology that sits tucked inside. Though it measures just 5.5 inches (L) by 4.6 inches (W) by 1.6 inches (H) and weighs less than a pound, it's capable of beaming an HD resolution with 500 ANSI lumens brightness. "Compact and user-friendly, the Acer K132 is a convenient, compact device to showcase visuals almost anywhere," said Frank Chang, director of product management, Acer America. "With the ability to project HD content, this tiny projector provides vibrant image clarity that's perfect for making compelling presentations in the boardroom, while the long lamp life provides a solid return on investment." It supports 16:10, 16:9, and 4:3 aspect ratios and has an HDMI connection. Other notable features include a 10,000:1 contrast ratio, support for 3D image output, 30,000-hour rated lamp life, and Instant Pack technology, which allows you to store it right away after use without a cool down period. The Acer K132 DLP is available now in the U.S. for $499 MSRP. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

SteelSeries and Valve Roll Out Siberia V2 Dota 2 Edition Headset and Mousepads Posted: 06 Aug 2013 07:30 AM PDT Comes with exclusive in-game item Gaming peripheral maker SteelSeries has teamed up with Valve, developer of Dota 2 and creator of The International Tournament, to announce the "Siberia v2 Illuminated Gaming Headset Dota 2 Special Edition" and two new SteelSeries QcK+ mousepads featuring artwork from the game. Starting with the headset, gamers will receive an exclusive in-game item, Scythe of Vyse for Nature's Prophet. The headset glows red on the outside of each earcup and is customizable with half a dozen different modes, which can be assigned to behavior and game specific profiles through the SteelSeries Engine. Options include Active Mode (pulsing to sound effects, music, and voice), Slow Pulse, Fast Pulse, High Bright, Low Bright, and Off. SteelSeries claims the circumaural earcups wrapped in soft leather are lightweight and comfortable, while the design increases passive noise reduction. It also comes with a noise-cancelling microphone. The headset and mousepads will be available to purchase later this summer for $120 and $20, respectively. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Newegg Daily Deals: Creative Sound Blaster Z 5.1 Sound Card, Samsung 23.6-inch LCD, and More! Posted: 06 Aug 2013 07:15 AM PDT Top Deal: There's no shame in using your motherboard's onboard audio these days, but there's no glory, either. If you already splurged on a high-end speaker set or pair of headphones, why not go the distance with a discrete audio solution? If that's the path you're headed, check out today's top deal for a Creative Sound Blaster Z 5.1 Channel 24-bit PCI Express Sound Card for $90 with free shipping (normally $120). It offers 116dB SNR, a Beamforming microphone, quad-core Sound Core3D audio processor, and other audio goodies. Other Deals: Samsung S24B150BL Glossy Black 23.6" 5ms (GTG) Widescreen LED Backlight LCD Monitor 200 cd/m2 Mega Infinite DCR (700:1) for $130 with free shipping (normally $150 use coupon code: [BTSMNR14]) G.Skill Ripjaws Z Series 16GB (4x4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 2133 (PC3 17000) Desktop Memory for $130 with free shipping (normally $170 use coupon code: [GAMNGWK16]) Asus Z87-Deluxe/Dual LGA 1150 Intel Z87 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard for $320 with free shipping (normally $350 use coupon code: [GAMNGWK11]) Thermaltake TR2 TR-700 700W ATX 12V V2.3 & EPS 12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply for $60 with free shipping (normally $65 - use coupon code: [GAMNGWK4]; additional $20 Mail-in rebate)

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MMO Updates

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• The Soapbox: Community or comments
• Psychologist asks designers to shorten quests to fight addiction
• SOE Live 2013: SOE and Wikia unveil The Lab and new EQ Next site
• The Daily Grind: What do you spend and what do you hoard?
• SOE Live 2013: The lore of EverQuest Next
• Camelot Unchained status update outlines weekly progress
• Not So Massively: Star Citizen's hangar module, Elite's black markets, and the Dota 2 world championship
• WoW player levels Pandaren to 60 without picking a faction
• Massively Speaking Episode 258: EverQuest Next!
• Chaos Theory: Advantages of The Secret World's contemporary setting
• Dark Relic wants to bring back classic roleplaying
• The Phoenix Project developers talk passion, grieving, and moving forward
• The Nexus Telegraph: Courting PvP in WildStar
• Guild Wars 2 announces the winner of the Captain's Council Election
• Activision Blizzard facing lawsuit from shareholder over going independent
• LotRO connectivity issues outside of Turbine's control
• World of Warcraft sews together realms to solve population issues
• Massively Exclusive: Episode 6 of Mabinogi the Saga: Iria

The Soapbox: Community or comments Posted: 06 Aug 2013 09:00 AM PDT Filed under: World of Warcraft, EVE Online, Opinion, Guild Wars 2, Star Wars: The Old Republic, The Soapbox, WildStar, MMORPG If there's one thing gamers love doing, it's insult games they don't play. Any news item, editorial, hands-on, review, or general pile of text dedicated to a few key games -- normally those with high profiles -- receives an instant and visceral response from a collection of commenters who seem to exist only to insult a particular game and berate its fans. Much of the time, these commenters have no actual experience with the game in question. Here on Massively, EVE Online and World of Warcraft seem to be the biggest magnets for such tomfoolery. Guild Wars 2 and Star Wars: The Old Republic attract these behaviors as well, and WildStar is well on its way to becoming the next troll-favorite comment piñata. There's nothing wrong with not liking a game, of course. And a little conflict is good; why allow comments if everyone's going to have the same opinion? There's just one problem: If your opinion of a game is based on preconceived notions and not actual experience, that opinion is adding nothing to the dialogue. In short, you are trolling. Continue reading The Soapbox: Community or comments The Soapbox: Community or comments originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 06 Aug 2013 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Psychologist asks designers to shorten quests to fight addiction Posted: 06 Aug 2013 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: Culture, MMO Industry, News Items, Miscellaneous It's impossible to play video games without noticing that some people have downright unhealthy gaming habits. Addiction to games is discussed a great deal, often without solutions being offered. Dr. Zaheer Hussain does propose a solution in a recent study, however, arguing that game designers need to cut down on the length of quests to prevent people from forming unhealthy habits. He suggests that designers need to look at the structure of the game and how mechanics might encourage pathological behaviors. You may feel like it's a good suggestion or you may feel like it's comparable to fighting alcoholism by selling beer in smaller bottles, but the study goes into more detail than that simple suggestion. The study, which was published in the Addiction Research and Theory journal, recommends steps be taken before games see the sort of government administration as seen in countries such as China and South Korea. It ultimately concludes that anywhere between 7-11% of all gamers suffer from "pathological" behavior. The full paper can be purchased by those interested for closer review. Psychologist asks designers to shorten quests to fight addiction originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 06 Aug 2013 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Psychologist calls on developers to shorten quests

SOE Live 2013: SOE and Wikia unveil The Lab and new EQ Next site Posted: 06 Aug 2013 07:00 AM PDT Filed under: Launches, Events (Massively's Coverage), EverQuest Next If there's one thing we learned about EverQuest Next over the weekend, it's that we all have a zillion questions and are eager for more information. Thankfully, Wikia is prepared to help fill that void with the official arrival of the Wikia Lab, a community-driven project that allows fans to access a growing repository of information. Wikia sites have been a valuable resource across many of SOE's titles, and this weekend saw the arrival of a brand new EverQuest Next Wikia site. Read on for a closer look at the Wikia Lab, and an update on what they've already put together this weekend at SOE Live to help fans get the answers they seek! Continue reading SOE Live 2013: SOE and Wikia unveil The Lab and new EQ Next site SOE Live 2013: SOE and Wikia unveil The Lab and new EQ Next site originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 06 Aug 2013 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

The Daily Grind: What do you spend and what do you hoard? Posted: 06 Aug 2013 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Culture, Game Mechanics, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous On most MMOs, my inventory is a sea of consumables. Every little boost I get -- stat boosts, healing items, resource items -- gets squirreled away to be used only when the situation is dire enough to warrant that item going away forever. The net result, of course, is that I have a level 5 stim on my level 55 character in Star Wars: The Old Republic, an item that saw its time come and go long before now. By contrast, if I'm crafting, I go through crafting materials with abandon. There's no time to stop and think that I might use these Cotton Bolls in Final Fantasy XIV in a future recipe; I'm too busy turning all of them into thread. Which isn't exactly better, since I still wind up needing more of these things if they ever become relevant again. I think everyone tends to hoard and spend differently, so today I'm asking how so. What do you spend and what do you hoard? Do you acquire huge piles of money but spend your tokens as soon as you can? Carefully measure out your class resources but go nuts with cooldowns? What are your thrifty habits and what habits... aren't? 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 do you spend and what do you hoard? originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 06 Aug 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

SOE Live 2013: The lore of EverQuest Next Posted: 05 Aug 2013 09:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Lore, New Titles, Free-to-Play, Races, Events (Massively's Coverage), EverQuest Next In the lead up to the big reveal for EverQuest Next, one note that gave a number of fans pause was that the world will be re-imagined for this iteration of the EverQuest franchise. The next Norrath will be familiar, but definitely not the same. But just how different is different? That question was on the lips of lore enthusiasts (who can most likely recite the entire history of the pantheon) and casual players (who've grown comfortable with their surroundings) alike. Thanks to SOE Live, we now have a partial answer to that very query. During a dedicated lore panel, attendees were treated to a Norrathian History 101 class. Those in attendance heard the philosophy behind the lore design of EQ Next as well as a sketch of the history leading up to the start of the game. And now you can benefit from the class notes! Continue reading SOE Live 2013: The lore of EverQuest Next SOE Live 2013: The lore of EverQuest Next originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 05 Aug 2013 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Camelot Unchained status update outlines weekly progress Posted: 05 Aug 2013 07:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, New Titles, PvP, News Items, Crowdfunding, Camelot Unchained Mark Jacobs has posted a new update to Camelot Unchained's Kickstarter page. It's quite an epic wall of text, but thankfully he's also included some new environmental concept art and a couple of shots from CityState's UI/web interface. There's also a bit of lore regarding the Stormriders and of course a status report to catch us up on last week's road map. Click through the links below to see all that the dev team has accomplished in recent days. Camelot Unchained status update outlines weekly progress originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 05 Aug 2013 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Update

Not So Massively: Star Citizen's hangar module, Elite's black markets, and the Dota 2 world championship Posted: 05 Aug 2013 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Video, Business Models, Economy, Events (Real-World), Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, New Titles, Patches, PvP, Endgame, News Items, PvE, Free-to-Play, Casual, Dev Diaries, Miscellaneous, Not So Massively, Sandbox, MOBA, League of Legends, Diablo III, Crowdfunding, Star Citizen, Elite: Dangerous, Infinite Crisis, Path of Exile Star Citizen fired a shot across the bow of game publishers this week as it hit $15 million US in crowdfunding. The game's hangar module has now entered code lockdown and will soon be available to owners of every ship type except the cutlass. Elite: Dangerous teased players with details of trading and black markets in a massive new development newsletter, and revealed two new luxury passenger liner style ships. Dota 2 kicked off its third annual world championship tournament, The International, with a record-breaking prize pool of $2.8 million and growing! League of Legends' smaller but still incredibly popular $100,000 EU LCS Summer Split tournament also got underway this week ahead of the colossal upcoming patch 3.10. The patch will include nerfs to champions Elise and Twisted Fate, and the removal of the popular Runic Bulwark item. Diablo III's gold economy showed further signs of runaway inflation as developers increased the size of gold stacks on the real money auction house from 10 million for $0.25 to 50 million for the same price. Blizzard also asked players for feedback on the idea of adding a Diablo II style ladder system, and announced that it has big news about the game to be revealed in Gamescom later this month. And Path of Exile showed off its new Reave skill for Shadow characters ahead of upcoming patch 0.11.4. Continue reading Not So Massively: Star Citizen's hangar module, Elite's black markets, and the Dota 2 world championship Not So Massively: Star Citizen's hangar module, Elite's black markets, and the Dota 2 world championship originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 05 Aug 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

WoW player levels Pandaren to 60 without picking a faction Posted: 05 Aug 2013 05:00 PM PDT Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Video, Culture, Subscription As we all know, when a baby panda grows up to be a big-boy or big-girl panda, he or she leaves the roost and sides with either the Horde or Alliance. It's just the way things go. However, World of Warcraft player Doubleagent said "nuts!" to that and has refused to leave home. Since 2012, he's slowly but surely leveled his Pandaren Shaman from 1 to 60 without leaving the Wandering Isle. Once he finished the starter quests and outleveled the mobs, he's had to rely completely on herbalism and inscription for his XP influx. He isn't using heirlooms and said he won't play the character unless it has rested XP. The end result is a level 60 Pandaren that's completely faction-neutral -- and can talk to both sides. You can check out his latest leveling video after the jump. Continue reading WoW player levels Pandaren to 60 without picking a faction WoW player levels Pandaren to 60 without picking a faction originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 05 Aug 2013 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: BlizzPro Via: WoW Insider

Massively Speaking Episode 258: EverQuest Next! Posted: 05 Aug 2013 04:30 PM PDT Filed under: Podcasts, MMO Industry, News Items, Massively Meta, Events (Massively's Coverage), Massively Speaking, Miscellaneous While there was plenty of exciting news coming out of SOE Live this past weekend, one story is dwarfing all of the rest: EverQuest Next. MJ joined us from Las Vegas yesterday to give us the first-hand scoop on all of the juicy details. 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 258: EverQuest Next! Massively Speaking Episode 258: EverQuest Next! originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 05 Aug 2013 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Chaos Theory: Advantages of The Secret World's contemporary setting Posted: 05 Aug 2013 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: Horror, Sci-Fi, Opinion, The Secret World, Chaos Theory, Buy-to-Play One of the greatest aspects of The Secret World that I love is the fact that it's set in today's world. Well, OK, it's some parallel universe version of Earth where every conspiracy, cryptozoological creature, and bizarre myth is able to simultaneously exist without a majority of the population knowing, but it's still home. Contemporary settings in MMOs are few and very far between. Fantasy takes the top spot, of course, followed by science fiction, historical (think pirates and period pieces), and geek genre settings like steampunk and post-apocalyptic. But to play a game set in today's world? It's just not done, not really. Except in The Secret World. From where I'm sitting, this gives TSW several major advantages that it can and does wield over the competition. Just because the game world resembles our own (with a few more zombies and werewolves, natch) doesn't mean it is stripped of fascinating allure. Actually, it opens doors that just aren't present in your typical fantasy game and paves the way for pop culture references that -- for once -- aren't anachronistic. Continue reading Chaos Theory: Advantages of The Secret World's contemporary setting Chaos Theory: Advantages of The Secret World's contemporary setting originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 05 Aug 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Dark Relic wants to bring back classic roleplaying Posted: 05 Aug 2013 03:30 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, New Titles, Sandbox If you're often yearning for the "good old days" when roleplaying actually meant something more than "making hit points disappear," then Triad Game Studios would like to make your acquaintance. The studio is working on bringing the spirit of classic RPGs back to MMOs with its upcoming sandbox Dark Relic. Dark Relic is based on a Dungeons and Dragons campaign called The 6th Aspect from the early 1990s. The developers liken the project to Choose Your Own Adventure books where players can pick the path that interests them the most. Crafting is given a strong emphasis for players who would rather stay at home and tinker instead of venturing out into the world. The project is still on the fourth stage of 12 planned prior to launch. There are currently four classes and four races planned. Dark Relic: Prelude will be the first of a proposed series set in the game universe. Dark Relic wants to bring back classic roleplaying originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 05 Aug 2013 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Dark Relic

The Phoenix Project developers talk passion, grieving, and moving forward Posted: 05 Aug 2013 03:00 PM PDT Filed under: Super-hero, Culture, Interviews, News Items, Crowdfunding When life hands you lemons, you make lemonade; when life kills your favorite game, you make a better one in its honor. That's the philosophy behind The Phoenix Project, and a recent interview with the team behind Missing Worlds Media talks about what it's like to try making a new game after the closure of City of Heroes. And one of the game's core design principles has come about precisely because of that closure, because the team wants to make sure that even if the game isn't a major hit it can keep running in maintenance mode. Kickstarter is not the last chance for the project, as the team has no plans to shelve it if funding goals are not met, but no outside sources have been approached yet. The interview also stresses that the game is not meant to simply be a clone of City of Heroes, with a development focus on including the best parts of the game rather than simply copying everything. For a deeper look behind the scenes, read through the full interview. [Thanks to Asteria for the tip!] The Phoenix Project developers talk passion, grieving, and moving forward originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 05 Aug 2013 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: The Phoenix Project interview

The Nexus Telegraph: Courting PvP in WildStar Posted: 05 Aug 2013 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Sci-Fi, Culture, Game Mechanics, PvP, Opinion, WildStar, The Nexus Telegraph PvP is pretty darn problematic for modern MMOs. Part of this is a balance issue. Creating a PvP environment that's actually fair is a challenge all by itself, and creating one that's unfair does not exactly foster a spirit of lively competition. But part of this is the nature of players. You have players who run the gamut, from people who don't want anything to do with PvP (mostly due to players on the other end of the spectrum) to players who assume that PvP is a mandate to do nasty things to unaware participants (especially people on the other end of the spectrum). WildStar is stepping into this minefield, and as we all know the game is trying to provide something for everyone from the top down. So today I want to look at what we know about the game's PvP and how various camps can be courted with the overall mechanics of the game. Continue reading The Nexus Telegraph: Courting PvP in WildStar The Nexus Telegraph: Courting PvP in WildStar originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 05 Aug 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Guild Wars 2 announces the winner of the Captain's Council Election Posted: 05 Aug 2013 01:30 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Culture, Events (In-Game), Lore, News Items, Guild Wars 2, Buy-to-Play The votes have been tallied and Guild Wars 2 players have elected Ellen Kiel! Yes, that means that Evon Gnashblade will have to wait for another day for his time to shine. Whether you wanted Kiel in place because of the promise of new content or because you thought Gnashblade was kind of a jerk, voting for her meant you backed the right horse... by giving her lots of support tokens. Rather than resting on her achievement, Kiel is already working on fulfilling her campaign promises, starting with a reduction in waypoint travel prices for four weeks. She's also pushing for the expansion of Fractals into Thaumanova Reactor, introducing a rotating schedule of activities such as Southsun Survival, and reducing the mill rate in Lion's Arch by 7%. Players probably won't care about that last one, but they can still look forward to seeing what other impacts Kiel's newfound station will have in the future. Guild Wars 2 announces the winner of the Captain's Council Election originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 05 Aug 2013 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Captain's Council Election Winner!

Activision Blizzard facing lawsuit from shareholder over going independent Posted: 05 Aug 2013 01:00 PM PDT Filed under: MMO Industry, News Items, Legal, Miscellaneous Last week's announcement of Activision Blizzard separating from Vivendi might have made you unhappy, but it didn't make you as unhappy as Todd Miller. He's filed suit against Activision, the board of directors at Activision, and former parent company Vivendi on counts of unnecessary waste, breach of fiduciary duties, and unjust enrichment. Miller stresses that the sale nets an immediate windfall for CEO Bobby Kotick and entrenches him in a position of power within the company while failing to provide any benefit to the company as a whole or the individual shareholders. He also claims that the Activision board members are conflicted due to their previous positions within Vivendi and have no reason to resist this move, resulting in a net detriment for holders of the company's stock. Miller is calling for the purchase order to be rescinded and for Activision to institute controls so that this situation is not repeated in the future. Activision Blizzard facing lawsuit from shareholder over going independent originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 05 Aug 2013 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Shareholder Sues Activision Via: The Escapist

LotRO connectivity issues outside of Turbine's control Posted: 05 Aug 2013 12:30 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Bugs, Free-to-Play Access denied? Some Lord of the Rings Online players have felt as though they were being kept out of the Middle-earth club lately as connectivity issues plagued the game. Turbine has been investigating log-in issues and came back to report that the problem is outside of the studio's direct control. "This morning we have received word that one of our affiliated connection providers is taking steps to re-route services around certain areas of the internet that are experiencing issues we believe are the root cause of the reported issues," CM Rick Heaton posted. Turbine says that the issue should be resolved shortly, but in the meantime the studio encourages players to try many of the workarounds that the community has come up with. LotRO connectivity issues outside of Turbine's control originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 05 Aug 2013 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Connectivity issues

World of Warcraft sews together realms to solve population issues Posted: 05 Aug 2013 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Patches, Previews, Dev Diaries, Subscription Instead of simply merging some of its lower population servers, World of Warcraft is going a different way. Starting in patch 5.4, Blizzard will introduce connected realms: servers that are functionally joined together with other servers to share population and resources. While the affected realms will remain technically independent, the lines between the two connected realms will be blurred. These realms will be able to share population, have one linked auction house, and allow players of both servers to group, guild, and PvP together. So why not just merge? Blizzard's official answer reasons, "Other alternatives such as merging realms would require us to force character name changes if there were conflicts, and could lead to confusion for returning players who'd log in to find their realm missing from the realm list. Some players also feel strong ties to their realm's name or history, and we don't want to erase that." The list of what servers will be connected has yet to be released. World of Warcraft sews together realms to solve population issues originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 05 Aug 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Connected realms preview

Massively Exclusive: Episode 6 of Mabinogi the Saga: Iria Posted: 05 Aug 2013 11:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Video, Lore, Free-to-Play, Mabinogi Following the nail-biting fifth episode which followed the acclaimed fourth episode which followed the Emmy-winning third episode which followed the controversial second episode which followed the incredible first episode, the sixth episode of Mabinogi the Saga: Iria is here. And let me tell you something: It is a wonder to behold. Episode Six is called Swarm of Demons: Truth, and it may be the darkest hour for our heroes yet. Even without mouths, these characters call to our very souls as they struggle against a dude in a red beard that likes to pop out of smoke portals. Check out the action after the jump! Continue reading Massively Exclusive: Episode 6 of Mabinogi the Saga: Iria Massively Exclusive: Episode 6 of Mabinogi the Saga: Iria originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 05 Aug 2013 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

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