| Tamriel Infinium: The Elder Scrolls Online holiday special Posted: 13 Sep 2013 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Events (In-Game), New Titles, Opinion, The Elder Scrolls Online, Subscription, MMORPG, Tamriel Infinium While scouring the interwebs to find different stories and trending topics, I ran across an older article on Tamriel Foundry that asked a question about events in The Elder Scrolls Online. MMOs and events go hand in hand; that's one of the amazing perks of playing a game with active developers. Usually these events coincide with real-life events, Halloween, and winter holidays are usually the most active among the various MMO developers. Of course, since most MMOs take place in a fictional universe, you can't come right out and say " World of Warcraft celebrates Easter!" Besides alienating all those people who don't happen to celebrate Easter, you'd also blatantly break the imaginary fourth wall. So instead, WoW celebrates the feast of Noblegarden, which contains many western springtime traditions without explicitly calling the event an Easter event. Of course, World of Warcraft isn't the only one to do this. Guild Wars 2 has Wintersday for a pseudo-Christmas and the Shadow of the Mad King for Halloween. Both of the Star Wars MMOs ( Star Wars: The Old Republic and Star Wars Galaxies) celebrated the much-detested Wookiee Life Day. Inspired by the Tamriel Foundry article, I set out to find my own holidays that I think would be fun to celebrate in in ESO in conjunction with real life holidays. Here are my top five that were not mentioned by the other article. Continue reading Tamriel Infinium: The Elder Scrolls Online holiday special  Tamriel Infinium: The Elder Scrolls Online holiday special originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 13 Sep 2013 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| CCP's rewording of EVE Online TOS causes uproar Posted: 13 Sep 2013 09:30 AM PDT |
| Get your Blizzcon virtual tickets today Posted: 13 Sep 2013 09:00 AM PDT |
| Gloria Victis shows off latest update in screenshots Posted: 13 Sep 2013 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Historical, Galleries, Screenshots, Game Mechanics, New Titles, Free-to-Play, Sandbox The last Gloria Victis update expanded the landmass for adventuring. And now the newest update makes that land more interactive than ever. Not only can players harvest crops (including picking mushrooms), but they can also use doors, gates, and levers -- actions that will be integral to utilizing castle traps and siege machines. There are also revamps to structures and character creation. You can get the full scoop on the forums. In addition, the new website -- with more in-depth information about crafting, lore, combat, and nations -- is almost complete. A teaser for the site is seen above, and the new screenshots of the game are in the gallery below. [Thanks to Liting Zhu for the tip!] Gloria Victis shows off latest update in screenshots originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 13 Sep 2013 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Storyboard: Trigger-happy Posted: 13 Sep 2013 07:00 AM PDT Filed under: Culture, Opinion, Roleplaying, Storyboard, Miscellaneous Graham Chapman passed away on October 4th, 1989, leaving behind a legacy of work that included the groundbreaking Monty Python oeuvre. To avoid having his funeral service become a media circus, the five surviving members of the comedy troupe held a separate service on December 4th, two months later, memorializing their friend and fellow creator. John Cleese delivered a eulogy for Chapman, and after claiming how many people would be sad for the loss of such a creative and talented soul, said the following: "Good riddance to him, the freeloading bastard; I hope he fries." To some people, this might seem like the epitome of disrespect. To others, it's the finest possible testament to the life of a man who loved making jokes and pushing boundaries on acceptable topics. The problem is that in a roleplaying environment you can wind up pushing the boundaries without realizing it, making someone uncomfortable or broaching subjects that someone feels are beyond the pale. And you have to deal with these situations quickly before OOC inevitably creeps into what's going on. Continue reading Storyboard: Trigger-happy Storyboard: Trigger-happy originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 13 Sep 2013 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| The Daily Grind: Should governments meddle in MMO business models? Posted: 13 Sep 2013 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Business Models, Culture, Events (Real-World), MMO Industry, News Items, Opinion, Massively Meta, The Daily Grind, Legal, Miscellaneous Last year, we wrote about a Japanese government crackdown on free-to-play games that used a gambling-centered crafting mechanic. This past summer, the German high court effectively barred advertising for virtual items sold within free-to-play MMOs (because won't someone think of the children). Like it or not, governments are becoming more and more interested in how games, especially "free-to-play" games, conduct their business. And that makes it our business. Some of us like subs, some prefer buy-to-plays, and some genuinely prefer a la carte free-to-play games. But I'm pretty sure none of us likes exploitative cash shops, even if we'd disagree precisely on which ones those are. And that brings us to today's question: Do you think governments should be deciding what constitutes an exploitative F2P mechanic or microtransaction practice and outlawing its implementation accordingly?  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: Should governments meddle in MMO business models? originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 13 Sep 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| The Think Tank: How do you define 'massive'? Posted: 12 Sep 2013 07:00 PM PDT |
| Some Assembly Required: Community dictates development path of Neo's Land Posted: 12 Sep 2013 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Economy, Game Mechanics, Interviews, MMO Industry, New Titles, Opinion, Some Assembly Required, Sandbox, Crafting, Housing, Crowdfunding Sandbox aficionados, are you ready for another contender in the fight to be your next virtual world? Well, ready or not, here one comes! And now that the cat (or Kickstarter, as it were) is officially out of the bag, we can take stroll through this new development project and see just how things are shaping up. The name of this virtual playground-to-be? Neo's Land. With the number of crowdfund-hopefuls coming and going, you might be wondering what -- if anything -- distinguishes this game from all the others also vying for your attention and support. What exactly makes this project different and worth a look? It's not the various sandbox features like skills, an open world, and building homes; you can find those in other games that are out there or in the works. No, what sets Neo's Land apart is the different approach to development it is taking. Instead of building a game using the studio's ideal features, NeoJac Entertainment is quite literally soliciting the feature set directly from the players before implementing. In this case, Some Assembly Required also refers to the game itself! Can it be done -- can a game truly be built to honest-to-goodness player specs? During an exclusive interview with CEO and President Jacques Rossouw, I got to walk along the development path of Neo's Land and see what the game is about. Continue reading Some Assembly Required: Community dictates development path of Neo's Land Some Assembly Required: Community dictates development path of Neo's Land originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 12 Sep 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| The Summoner's Guidebook: Quick League of Legends advice Posted: 12 Sep 2013 05:00 PM PDT Filed under: PvP, Opinion, Free-to-Play, Guides, MOBA, League of Legends, The Summoner's Guidebook I can't play League of Legends right now. In the most dire of circumstances, I had to send my gaming laptop back to the manufacturer to be repaired. While I frustratingly pined over not being able to play, I looked over the shoulder of my roommate while he played. He's usually pretty good; he's a better mid player than I am, and he sometimes makes genius plays. On the other hand, he makes lots of little mistakes and is not very good at certain things. While I sat around backseat driving, I made a lot of little advice points, most of which he just whined about sucking at. He came back to me later claiming he was getting better, and of course, like the wise mentor I am, I told him that he wasn't actually trying to improve at any of the things he was performing poorly at. "You have to make an effort to improve," I said. "You can't just play and get better; you have to focus on getting better." Continue reading The Summoner's Guidebook: Quick League of Legends advice The Summoner's Guidebook: Quick League of Legends advice originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 12 Sep 2013 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Champions Online suffers from an invasion... again Posted: 12 Sep 2013 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: Super-hero, Events (In-Game), Patches, News Items, Free-to-Play, Champions Online Attention players of Champions Online: Millennium City is being invaded! Wait, what do you mean by "again"? Yes, the city does get invaded on a fairly regular basis as this is a superhero game, but this time it's serious! It's robots! Specifically, robots that appear to be controlled by Dr. Destroyer, also known as the guy who ruined Detroit (like, more than now) and who has long been presumed dead. We know, normally an invasion of the city by any sort of robot elicits little more than a yawn and an inquiry about what to do for lunch, but there are rewards to be had too. The Drifter is collecting the cores of these Destroids in an effort to learn whether or not these are a knockoff of Dr. Destroyer or the genuine article. So log in and start defending Renaissance Center, and get ready for the Mega-Destroids slated to attack Champions HQ later in the month. Because of course they are. Champions Online suffers from an invasion... again originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 12 Sep 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Wanna buy an MMO? Copernicus assets for sale 'soon' Posted: 12 Sep 2013 03:00 PM PDT Filed under: MMO Industry, News Items Remember Project Copernicus? Of course you do! 38 Studios may have imploded some 18 months ago, but the ongoing fallout has kept its fledgling MMO and its Kingdoms of Amalur IP in the news ever since. Now, Copernicus assets are about to be auctioned off to the highest bidder via an unnamed website that is currently under construction. "The process is taking longer than we anticipated for a variety of reasons including the complexity of the game itself," attorney and court-appointed receiver Richard Land told WPRI news yesterday. Land also told the news station that he has been working directly with "interested parties," though he declined to comment on a possible sale price. Wanna buy an MMO? Copernicus assets for sale 'soon' originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 12 Sep 2013 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Age of Wushu previews its winter content Posted: 12 Sep 2013 02:30 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Historical, Patches, Previews, News Items, Free-to-Play, Sandbox, Age of Wushu Winter is coming. Literally. We're almost halfway through September. Age of Wushu is using the oncoming winter not as an ominous portent of doom but as a chance to introduce a bunch of new content to the game, starting with school instances. No matter how benevolent your school may be on the surface, there's always more going on underneath. Within the depths of these instances lie not only money and glory but perhaps ever more powerful techniques that have been lost to time. Both secret scripts and new ultimate scrolls will be added to the game, with the latter offering true mastery over a school. The secret scripts once threw the realm into chaos, but deciphering these arts will be the mark of a true master. And if you've had your fill of all that, you can always take advantage of the upcoming marriage system and settle down for in-game domestic bliss. It's a lot of new content for the game, and all players need to do is wait for the winter. Age of Wushu previews its winter content originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 12 Sep 2013 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Raging League of Legends players win 35% fewer matches than average Posted: 12 Sep 2013 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Video, PvP, News Items, Free-to-Play, MOBA, League of Legends Riot Games recently pushed live an interesting, stats-driven look at the way players in League of Legends win games, and the conclusion is simple: Teams that work together tend to do better than those that do not. According to the video, "sportsman-like players" win over 1.7 million more games each day than average players. The video also explains that "rage doesn't win games," noting that the win rate for zero-rage teams is 54%, while teams with three keyboard-smashing players sink to 46%. The numbers get worse from there. Players who avoid flaming in chat and instead work to refocus their team see higher win rates overall. Riot also tracked the way individual players rank based on behavior. Players with a positive record of behavior win 10% more games than average players, while players with a history of community reports win 35% fewer. The decline generally starts with one loss, which starts the raging, which in turn causes more losses. Check out the video after the break to see the stats in action. Continue reading Raging League of Legends players win 35% fewer matches than average Raging League of Legends players win 35% fewer matches than average originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 12 Sep 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Final Fantasy XIV combats server congestion Posted: 12 Sep 2013 01:30 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Final Fantasy XIV, Dev Diaries, Subscription Square Enix Producer Naoki Yoshida wants to assure players suffering from the heartbreak of server congestion that sunny days are indeed ahead for Final Fantasy XIV. To lessen the crush that players have put upon the game, the studio has added new worlds, instance servers, and a third duty finder group. "Even with the previously discussed measures in place," he wrote, "there remain several overpopulated worlds that may still be subject to peak-time login and character creation restrictions." Yoshida said that if all goes well through the weekend, Final Fantasy XIV's digital sales will resume. Future plans include relaxing restrictions on simultaneous logins and going forward with world transfers. Final Fantasy XIV combats server congestion originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 12 Sep 2013 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Hi-Rez CEO: Without SMITE, Tribes would have 'closed down' Posted: 12 Sep 2013 01:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, MMO Industry, PvP, News Items, Free-to-Play, MMOFPS, MOBA Hi-Rez co-founder and CEO Erez Goren took to Reddit yesterday to deliver a message about his studio's history and its plans for the future. Discussed in the post were challenges of making a profitable game ( Global Agenda, for example, lost money throughout its lifespan) and some of the reasoning behind recent decisions made by Hi-Rez about its biggest titles. On the subject of Tribes Ascend, Goren explained that the decision to go free-to-play was made in an effort to give fans easy access to the game. Goren noted that the game broke even "at best," though some financial concerns may have been the result of poor monetization strategies. According to Goren, Tribes Ascend launched to good reviews and a positive community response, but nothing Hi-Rez did could stop players from leaving the game over time. Goren also answered calls for mod tools and accusations that Tribes development was shuttered due to the success of the studio's new MOBA, SMITE. Goren explained that Hi-Rez's development platform does not support modding and that developing the feature set would represent a massive cost to the company, and noted that without the successful development of SMITE, Tribes likely would have been shut down along with the studio itself. According to Goren, the success of SMITE is "very unusual" but has allowed Hi-Rez to expand its team and to find financial stability. Hi-Rez feels as though the future of SMITE is bright, and is dedicated to making it "the best MOBA game in the world" through continued development and partnerships with publishers like TenCent. Hi-Rez CEO: Without SMITE, Tribes would have 'closed down' originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 12 Sep 2013 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Firefall disabling PvP for retooling Posted: 12 Sep 2013 12:30 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, PvP, Free-to-Play, MMOFPS, Dev Diaries The current iteration of Firefall's PvP mode is not long for this world. Red 5 Studios CEO Mark Kern wrote a letter to the community stating that the studio is displeased with the current PvP state in the game and wants to "regroup, rethink, and deliver the best PvP system [it] can." Kern said that less than 3% of the player population in the game engages with PvP: " Firefall started with PvP. We have gone through several iterations, and for some time, pursued the controversial e-Sports route. As many of you know, its not working very well." As a result, Red 5 will be shutting down the PvP side of the game in the "near future" to retool and relaunch the system. Firefall disabling PvP for retooling originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 12 Sep 2013 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Watch BioWare's lightsaber-fueled live-action SWTOR ad Posted: 12 Sep 2013 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Video, News Items, Free-to-Play, Star Wars: The Old Republic, MMORPG Live-action trailers for MMOs (and games in general) are sort of hit and miss. On the one hand, a live-action video can be so over-stylized and vague that it leaves viewers saying, "Uh, what?" On the other hand, a well-made live-action advertisement has a way of drawing new interest toward a game and its world. If you're looking for a live-action trailer that falls in the "uh, what" category, it's hard to beat this head-scratcher for Guild Wars 2. But if you want to see a live-action that more successfully integrates real-life and video games, BioWare's new commercial for Star Wars: The Old Republic is pretty spot-on. The ad accompanies BioWare's announcement that new players, active subscribers, and lapsed subscribers who reactivate between today and October 20th will receive a JA-3 Subversive Battle Droid Mini-Pet and a JA-3 Subversive Speeder. Additionally, the studio confirmed that Game Update 2.4, slated for October 1st, will include new 4v4 Warzone Arenas and PvP tweaks. Check out the new ad after the break, and don't miss our coverage of SWTOR Game Update 2.4. Continue reading Watch BioWare's lightsaber-fueled live-action SWTOR ad Watch BioWare's lightsaber-fueled live-action SWTOR ad originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 12 Sep 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Black Desert bracing for Korean closed beta test Posted: 12 Sep 2013 11:00 AM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, News Items, Sandbox It's been a long time coming, but Korean sandbox title Black Desert is finally getting ready to move forward with beta testing. Testing was delayed almost three months ago as Pearl Abyss wanted to add a bit more shine to the game, but it appears that the game is acceptably shined and ready to open the gates. Soon, anyway; the official site is displaying a 19-day countdown until applicants are accepted, not necessarily until the test itself starts. Unfortunately, American fans with a working knowledge of Korean will still have to sit this one out, as the first test will be IP-locked and will not allow non-Korean players to participate. But it at least means the game is closer to seeing its domestic release and that much closer to a possible localization. So it's good news, even if you're going to have to sit this first round of testing out. [Thanks to WNxArcticwolf for the tip!] Black Desert bracing for Korean closed beta test originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 12 Sep 2013 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| World of Warcraft reveals the next Warchief of the Horde Posted: 12 Sep 2013 10:30 AM PDT Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Culture, Lore, Patches, News Items, Subscription If you have even a peripheral interest in World of Warcraft, you've caught wind of the fact that Garrosh Hellscream has not been a very good leader of the Horde. He's managed it so badly that he's the final boss of the expansion for both factions, which is not the sign of a capable leader. And his ultimate defeat means it's time for a new Warchief to step forward... a leader named... Basic campfire? You didn't think we were going to spoil this right here on the front page, did you? If you're still playing the game and want to see the end on your own, that's fine. If you would rather just find out the answer now, though, you can find the answer buried within our sister site WoW Insider's considerate-of-spoiler-warnings post right over here. (It's actually a Sickly Gazelle riding on a Spectral Tiger mount, but that's just a placeholder model.) World of Warcraft reveals the next Warchief of the Horde originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 12 Sep 2013 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Thirteen scary games for your Friday the 13th
Sound pioneer passes away
Bigger performance, same small box
Better airflow, less dust
