General Gaming Article

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• PC Gaming: The Cause of My Joy
• CyberPower Zeus Evo Thunder 3000 SE Review
• Acer Co-Founder Stan Shih Returns to Struggling PC Maker After Record Loss
• Maingear Adds AMD Chip Options to Customizable Nomad 17 Gaming Laptop
• Underground Hacking Economy Values Your Identity at $25
• Intel Talks Next Generation Atom Processors Codenamed SoFIA and Broxton
• Newegg Daily Deals: Western Digital Blue 1TB HDD, Rosewill Blackhawk Blue Case, and More!

PC Gaming: The Cause of My Joy Posted: 22 Nov 2013 02:56 PM PST Examining the uniqueness of PC gaming The strengths of computer gaming are found at the extremes. It does two things very well: It enables hardcore users to get the best possible performance out of high-end games, and it allows small developers to deliver individualistic and quirky projects direct to users. Both of these qualities are important, but the future of PC gaming as a unique platform is found in the latter rather than the former. Slender may not be the greatest game ever, but it's a true PC experience, nonetheless. "Unique platform" is the operative phrase there. The console tail is wagging the design dog, and as even consoles gets battered by mobile gaming and the economy, we can expect further shifts. People played PC games because they weren't console games. They were different, mature, sophisticated, fresh. You cannot measure the level of my indifference to the idea of yet another Call of Duty game, but show me a rough freebie like Slender and I get excited. Is Slender any good? By most traditional standards, probably not, but it works because it does what it sets out to do. A slight game element provides some drive, but it's really just a mood piece. Its goal is to create mounting tension and then scare the hell out of you. And it does that in spades. It's uneven and flawed and brilliant at what it does, like the best kind of indie horror movie. Gone Home is a uniquely PC game. PC gaming is overflowing with this kind of small greatness. Monster Loves You is a charming interactive story-cum-adventure game that is unlike anything I've seen. Reus performs a dandy mashup of side-scroller, puzzler, and god game. And can you imagine the design-by-committee process of a big publisher turning out the kind of dazzling and detailed personal vision found in Monaco, the best game of the year so far? Antichamber, Dust, Night of the Rabbit: All of them have flaws, yet all of them have something else: a unique and personal way of looking at the world, a different design sensibility, a pulse. It's what PCs do best.

CyberPower Zeus Evo Thunder 3000 SE Review Posted: 22 Nov 2013 01:57 PM PST CyberPower Zeus Evo Thunder 3000 SE: Just call it Zeus Not everyone can afford a $16,500 Dream Machine. In fact, not many people could afford even half of what we spent to build this year's Dream rig. Well, actually, most people probably wouldn't even spend a third of that on a new rig. This CFI chassis features mini doors to access the drives. Enter CyberPower PC's new Zeus Evo Thunder 3000 SE. Or if you prefer, Zeus, Zeus Thunder, or just ZET3KSE, if you're into the whole brevity thing. CyberPower is one of those vendors that has long had us wondering how it could pack so much hardware into a box so cheaply. Example: Purchased full retail, the parts in the Zeus add up to about $2,200. The price of the Zeus with a warranty and support? $2,200. The Zeus is packing Intel's new 3.5GHz Core i7-4770K overclocked to 4.2GHz. That chip is joined by 16GB of Corsair Vengeance DDR3/1600 and a pair of EVGA Superclocked GeForce GTX 770 cards. The cards and processor are powered by a Cooler Master Silent Pro Gold 1,000-watt PSU. The enclosure features a CFI-A8007 design that's new to us. Case enclosures tend to be about as different as refrigerators: There's a door on the left and a door on the right. The CFI-A8007 has the typical compartment for the mobo and PSU but, uniquely, the storage section gets its own little swing-out doors. To extend the fridge metaphor, sorry, it's like the little doors that let you reach in to get just the milk. For a medium-size case, CyberPower does a very nice job tucking and hiding the wiring out of sight, too. One thing we're not so enamored with is the storage config the company picked. The PC comes with a 64GB Corsair Neutron SSD and a 2TB HDD. We thought the SSD was used as a caching drive but CyberPower actually configured it as a stand-alone for the OS. We know you get the most performance that way, but 64GB doesn't go very far, and we'd much rather see caching using the Z87's SRT feature. Configured as such, we ran out of space just running our benchmarks. In performance, the rig represents well against our zero-point, with its SLI 770 cards amazingly out-doing the single GeForce GTX 690 card our zero-point runs. The Haswell CPU also slams the zero-point's six-core SNB-E in Stitch.Efx and ProShow, but then itself gets slammed in the multithreaded workloads of Premiere Pro and x264—no surprise. Up against something more modern, such as this month's Build It PC, the Zeus is pretty close in the CPU-limited benchmarks. Not so in the graphics department, where the Build It rig is about 26 to 28 percent faster due to its overclocked and SLI'd GTX 780 cards. Of course, there's also a big difference between the two in price, with the Build It pushing $3,700. We'll note, however, that our Build It has the added amenities of a custom paint job and much beefier storage. And storage is actually our No. 1 ding against the Zeus. The box really should have a larger SSD, or caching enabled. This ultimately hurts its score, but still, we have to give CyberPower props for delivering so much performance at such a good price. $2,200, www.cyberpowerpc.com

Acer Co-Founder Stan Shih Returns to Struggling PC Maker After Record Loss Posted: 22 Nov 2013 01:31 PM PST Stan Shih faces some tough challenges A recurring theme in the tech industry is that sometimes you have to look backwards in order to move forward. Apple did it when Steve Jobs came back to lead the Cupertino company into a new era of unprecedented riches, Dell's doing it with Michael Dell returning in an attempt to return the No. 3 PC maker back to glory, and now Acer's following the blueprint by bringing in company co-founder Stan Shih after a quarter of record losses. News of Shih's return comes not even three weeks after former chief J.T. Wang announced his resignation, who stepped aside to make way for Jim Wong, while Shih was to serve on an advisory committee. Something happened between then and now, as both Wang and Wong have decided to step down, though they will remain as advisers, The Wall Street Journal reports. Confused? The bottom line here is that Shih is back in charge. He will serve as Acer's interim president until an "appropriate candidate" is found, at which point there could be yet another round of management musical chairs. In addition, Shih will be offering his services pro bono. "Due to the situation that now faces Acer and my personal social responsibilities, I must stand up and take the reign without salary," Shih said in a statement. Like other PC makers (save for Lenovo, which wields a magical formula for success, apparently), Acer's challenge is in finding a way to cash in on mobile devices without giving up on traditional PC sales. The problem there is that the mobile sector is dominated by Samsung and Apple, along with established competitors like Amazon (Kindle Fire). Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Maingear Adds AMD Chip Options to Customizable Nomad 17 Gaming Laptop Posted: 22 Nov 2013 10:06 AM PST The Nomad 17 now plays both sides of the fence So, you're AMD guy or gal, is that it? If you've been losing sleep at night wondering why Maingear's Nomad 17 gaming laptop doesn't have an AMD option, get ready to snooze like a baby tonight. The custom notebook line is now truly customizable, in that you can choose to build around an Intel or AMD foundation. One advantage of going with an AMD configuration is that it's cheaper than the Intel alternatives. The Nomad 17 is broken down into four baseline configurations labeled "Good,", "Better," "Best," and "Ultra." AMD lays ownership to the Good configuration starting at $1,289. For that, you get an AMD A10-5750 APU with Radeon HD 8970M graphics, 8GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3-1600 RAM, 500GB Seagate solid state hybrid drive, 8X DVD burner, GbE LAN, 802.11n Wi-Fi, 2MP webcam, and Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit all wrapped in a Nomad 17 "Performance Chassis" with DynAudio sound and backlit keyboard. "The Nomad 17 now with AMD options answers what our customers have been asking for, performance and affordability wrapped into one powerful and stylish laptop," said Wallace Santos, CEO and founder of Maingear. "We are excited to offer our first AMD based laptop that bears the Maingear name." Maingear's Nomad 17 with AMD (or Intel) inside is available to customize and order now. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Underground Hacking Economy Values Your Identity at $25 Posted: 22 Nov 2013 09:22 AM PST It's surprisingly cheap to purchase stolen credit card details and full blown identities Your identity is worth around the cost of two movie tickets, or a pair of tickets and a bucket of popcorn, depending on where you live. That's according to a menu of items available in the underground market, a place where you can purchase someone's Visa or MasterCard details, including CCV code, for a mere $4. Fancy yourself an American Express gent? That runs $7, versus $8 for stolen Discover Card details. These are just some of the prices revealed by Joe Stewart, Director of Malware Research for the Counter Threat Unit (CTU) at Dell SecureWorks, and David Shear, an independent researcher, who together dove into the dark underground marketplace to investigate what's being sold and for how much. It's not really a surprise that so much stolen digital data is easily accessible with a little digging, but the low prices are certainly eye opening.  If you want banking login credentials for someone with between $70,000 and $150,000, it'll cost $300 or less. It 2011, $300 only netted you a bank account with $7,000 in it. Going down the list, 1,000 infected computers is just $20, and the more you buy, the better the deal (5,000 infected PCs go for $90, 10,000 for $160, and 15,000 for $250). You can also purchase malware and exploit kits, as well as DDoS attacks and more. "For the most part, it does not appear that the types of hacker services and stolen data for sell on the hacker underground have changed dramatically in the past several years. The only noticeable difference is the drop in price for online bank account credentials and the drop in price for Fullz or Personal Credentials," the researchers concluded. As always, take a moment to make sure your security and computing habits are up to snuff. If you're a business owner, that also includes educating your employees on computer security. For more, check out the full report. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Intel Talks Next Generation Atom Processors Codenamed SoFIA and Broxton Posted: 22 Nov 2013 08:44 AM PST Intel outlines a new strategy It's no secret that Intel fell behind in the mobile race. Even though Intel is the largest semiconductor company in the world, most smartphones and tablets run on ARM hardware. Intel chief Brian Krzanich told analysts and investors at a meeting this week that he's "a little embarrassed" at how he and his company "seemed to have lost our way" in terms of its mobile portfolio. "We're paying a price for that right now," Krzanich said, according to VR-Zone. Though Intel might have lost its way, the chip maker isn't about to throw in the towel. Far from it, Intel is continuing with plans to increase its presence in the mobile sector, and perhaps even dominate the way it does on the desktop and server markets. In order to do that, Intel feels it needs to boost mobile GPU performance by a factor of 15 and CPU performance by a factor of 5 by the end of 2015. That's where Broxton comes in. Boxton is a next generation Atom platform aimed at the performance segment and due to arrive in the middle of 2015. One unique feature of Broxton is that it will have a "chassis" that can be replaced by an upgraded model whenever Intel introduces new features. Intel didn't explain exactly how this will work, but color us intrigued. For the value segment, Intel is planning to launch SoFIA, an entry-level Atom platform that Intel is outsourcing so that it can arrive to market quicker. SoFIA will have a 3G baseband initially, and will be upgraded to LTE in 2015. And unlike its original plans to use ARM for SoFIA, Intel now says it will be a x86 chip. SoFIA and Broxton will both be 64-bit parts built on a 14nm manufacturing process. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Newegg Daily Deals: Western Digital Blue 1TB HDD, Rosewill Blackhawk Blue Case, and More! Posted: 22 Nov 2013 06:23 AM PST Top Deal: Storage is a bit like cash, in that it never hurts to have a little extra lying around. Also like cash, the more storage you have, the more ways you find to utilize it. Maybe you're tired of deciding which vacation photos get to stay and which get deleted because you're running out of room, or perhaps your SSD nearly full. There's the cloud, and be sure to say 'Hi' to the NSA while you're up there. Alternately, today's top deal is for a Western Digital Blue 1TB Hard Drive for $60 with free shippping (normally $100 -- use coupon code: [PREBLKFR83]). This bare drive sports a SATA 6Gbps interface, 7200 RPM spindle speed, and 64MB of cache. Other Deals: Rosewill Blackhawk Blue Edition Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case for $80 with free shipping (normally $100 use coupon code: [PREBLKFR180]; additional $20 Mail-in rebate) Western Digital WD Blue WD10EZEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5-inch Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive for $60 with free shipping (normally $100 use coupon code: [PREBLKFR83]) Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model BLS8G3D1609DS1S00 for $55 with free shipping (normally $70) Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard for $125 with free shipping (normally $145 use coupon code: [PREBLKFR125]; additional $20 Mail-in rebate) Noctua NH-D14 120mm & 140mm SSO CPU Cooler for $75 with free shipping (normally $100)

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MMO Updates

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• Final Fantasy XIV's 2.1 patch coming December 17th
• MMObility: Battle Command is similar in a good way
• League of Angels starts closed beta on December 4th
• Tamriel Infinium: Where does ESO fit in Elder Scrolls history?
• The Daily Grind: Is the mystique of MMO questing lost for good?
• Defiance's Arkbreaker DLC due December 10
• Hartsman: ArcheAge getting substantial progression and economic tweaks
• The Stream Team: Going stag to The Secret World's scenarios
• Sixteen games that ease the MMO level gap -- and how they do it
• The Guild Counsel: How to keep your guild from disintegrating when you need a break
• Alter Ego: Issue #3 - DCUO's Streets of Fear
• Albion Online unveils Player-vs-Player and Guild-vs-Guild details
• Allods Online revamping its Dominion PvP
• Neverwinter's Shadowmantle module coming December 5th
• The Summoner's Guidebook: Cutting your losses in League of Legends
• Blade & Soul opens the beta doors in China November 28th

Final Fantasy XIV's 2.1 patch coming December 17th Posted: 22 Nov 2013 09:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Game Mechanics, Patches, Previews, News Items, Consoles, Final Fantasy XIV, Community Q&A, Dev Diaries, Dungeons, Subscription During Final Fantasy XIV's live producer's letter that aired this morning, Naoki Yoshida offered players a look at a variety of new features coming in 2.1 and dropped the date and name for the patch. A Realm Awoken will hit servers on December 17th in Japan (which could translate to December 16th in the West, depending on the time of day). Throughout the stream, Yoshida fielded player questions while discussing the upcoming content, which includes, but is not limited to, new gear, the Crystal Tower content, new hard-mode dungeons, extreme primal battles, veteran rewards, and Dragoon adjustments. You can read up on the answers in the Q&A thread available on the forums. An additional look at 2.1, including the PlayStation 4 version, is coming in the next live producer's letter on December 14th. We'll update you with the full recording as soon as the official Q&A summary goes live! Final Fantasy XIV's 2.1 patch coming December 17th originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 22 Nov 2013 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments 2.1 date announced

MMObility: Battle Command is similar in a good way Posted: 22 Nov 2013 08:00 AM PST Filed under: Sci-Fi, Video, New Titles, PvP, Opinion, War, Free-to-Play, Hands-On, Casual, MMORTS, MMObility Spacetime Studi.. er I mean Spacetime Games has been branching out lately. This time, they are working on a new way to kill hours with your mobile device. Instead of controlling a literal avatar by pressing on-screen buttons, the company's newer titles will have you building defenses and raising mighty armies to smash your enemies. To keep with tradition, they have found a working formula in the form of Battle Dragons. I enjoyed the game before but now that I see Battle Command, essentially a re-skin of the dragon-based former title, I wonder if a switch of graphics will make a difference? It sort of does. I liked the "tower-defense-in-reverse" mechanic of Battle Dragons but it is pretty cutesy. Battle Command puts you in command on miniature, futuristic armies instead and I have to admit to getting into it a bit more because of the switch. It's still the same game as Battle Dragons, though. Is that a bad thing? Continue reading MMObility: Battle Command is similar in a good way MMObility: Battle Command is similar in a good way originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 22 Nov 2013 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

League of Angels starts closed beta on December 4th Posted: 22 Nov 2013 07:00 AM PST Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Galleries, Screenshots, MMO Industry, New Titles, News Items, Free-to-Play, Browser Who doesn't need a guardian angel watching over their party at times? In the upcoming turn-based League of Angels, players get just that -- a literal angel as a member of the party providing buffs as well as firepower. If that sounds intriguing, you don't have long to wait before you can check it out for yourself; today, GTArcade announced that closed beta testing will commence on Wednesday, December 4th. Additionally, the studio will be providing daily updates on the game's progress starting this week. Some of the features of this browser-based game include mounts with buffs, fishing (which provides soulstones that can enhance your heroes), a daily match-three game that can net you gems for gear enhancement, and dragon races. For a look at some artwork and screenshots of the game, check out the gallery below. Then for a chance to test out the dynamics, sign up for beta on the official site. [Source: GTArcade press release] League of Angels starts closed beta on December 4th originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 22 Nov 2013 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Tamriel Infinium: Where does ESO fit in Elder Scrolls history? Posted: 22 Nov 2013 06:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Culture, Lore, New Titles, PvP, The Elder Scrolls Online, Subscription, MMORPG, Tamriel Infinium Where does the Elder Scrolls Online fit in the Elder Scrolls universe? I could tell you that it starts 2E 583, but in the grand scheme of things that really doesn't mean anything unless you're a huge Elder Scrolls lore nut. If I told you that it was 324 years before the start of the classic Elder Scrolls era, that might mean more to you. If I told you that it was 723 years before Arena or 757 years before Oblivion or 958 years before Skyrim, it might mean a bit more to you. But those dates are really distant and don't have any real relevance to your character. No one alive during ESO lives to see Skyrim's timeframe except the immortals. MMOs with existing intellectual properties, like Lord of the Rings Online or Star Wars: The Old Republic, struggle with keeping the game engaging for those who are interested in the lore and keeping it from interfering with the established timeline. LotRO interweaves the MMO plot with the classic story of Frodo and the fellowship traveling to Mordor to destroy the One Ring. SWTOR takes a similar approach to ESO by setting the MMO far in a past that contains very little established lore. However, unlike these other MMOs, Elder Scrolls Online actually plays a significant role in the history of Tamriel. To understand this significance, we have to talk about Tiber Septim and the eight Divines. Continue reading Tamriel Infinium: Where does ESO fit in Elder Scrolls history? Tamriel Infinium: Where does ESO fit in Elder Scrolls history? originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 22 Nov 2013 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

The Daily Grind: Is the mystique of MMO questing lost for good? Posted: 22 Nov 2013 05:00 AM PST Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, EverQuest, Culture, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, Opinion, Ultima Online, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous World of Warcraft is often credited with inserting questing into MMORPGs, but veterans know that classic MMOs like Ultima Online, EverQuest, and Asheron's Call all featured quests, be they simple escort quests for gold or elaborate multi-week quests for epic weapons that required a few dozen of your mates to lend a hand. Those ancient quests weren't designed as "content," exactly; they were a means to an end, and the reward was the point. Quests were just a unique way to gather money or special loot when you weren't hunting or camping in dungeons working on skills and levels. What WoW did was popularize the idea that quests should be the primary method of leveling up through an MMO. WoW's quests provide experience above all else; few WoW quests award gear worth using at endgame, and most rewards are vendor trash. Now, as quests have slowly become core content across many themepark and sandbox MMOs, we even hear gamers refer to "quest grind," when the reality is that quest-driven leveling was intended to replace something far more boring: mob grind. By turning something special into something mundane, have MMO developers shattered the mystique of The Quest as a roleplay and storytelling element? Are you sick to death of quests (and dynamic-events-that-are-really-just-quests) as a character development prop? Can designers make questing feel epic once again, or is it simply too late? 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: Is the mystique of MMO questing lost for good? originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 22 Nov 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Defiance's Arkbreaker DLC due December 10 Posted: 21 Nov 2013 08:00 PM PST Filed under: Sci-Fi, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, Patches, PvE, Dungeons, Defiance, Buy-to-Play Trion has updated its Defiance website with news of the game's Arkbreaker DLC pack. The content includes a new mission line, interior arkfall instances, and cold fire weapons. There's also a new Volge Warmaster boss fight designed for 20 players as well as an array of spikes, stims, and a new favorite item inventory tweak. Arkbreaker releases on December 10th for consoles and PC. Defiance's Arkbreaker DLC due December 10 originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 21 Nov 2013 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Announcement

Hartsman: ArcheAge getting substantial progression and economic tweaks Posted: 21 Nov 2013 07:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Economy, Game Mechanics, Interviews, MMO Industry, New Titles, News Items, ArcheAge, Sandbox, Crafting Well, there's good news and bad news with regard to ArcheAge's western release. And I know you, you want the bad news first, right? Well, here it is: the game's still quite a ways off. Trion hasn't said as much, but if you read between the lines of CEO Scott Hartsman's latest interview, it's hard to come away with any other impression. Hartsman spoke with fansite ArcheAge Source, and he said that "XL can only work on so many things at a time while they strive to constantly improve their live Korean service." This means that ArcheAge's partnered launches outside of Korea are worked on "serially," and the western release is a couple of spots down in the pecking order. The one piece of good news there is that the western release will benefit from all of the stuff XL has learned from launching the game in other markets. Hartsman also mentions substantial progression and economy improvements that will find their way into the sandpark game before it reaches western shores. "The economic game of ArcheAge is a big part of what attracted a lot of us to this game," he said. "XL will be implementing improved balance between crafting, farming, and trade, [with] the goal being to promote a more vibrant economic game that produces more valuable and more frequently used items than what the original version launched with." [Thanks to all our tipsters!] Hartsman: ArcheAge getting substantial progression and economic tweaks originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 21 Nov 2013 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments AA Source

The Stream Team: Going stag to The Secret World's scenarios Posted: 21 Nov 2013 06:00 PM PST Filed under: Horror, Real-Life, Hands-On, The Secret World, Livestream, Dungeons, The Stream Team, Buy-to-Play There's been quite a fuss made about The Secret World's new scenarios lately. Some folks think they are great, some don't really like them, and some just find them too difficult -- especially on the solo setting. Massively's MJ doesn't doubt that last claim, but to date, she has taken viewers through scenarios only with the help of friends. So this time, she's going stag! Afterward, she'll reward herself with an Elite dungeon (and quite possibly revel in the ease of it after the solo ordeal). Join us live at 9:00 p.m. EST for a side-by-side comparison of scenarios and dungeons. Game: The Secret World Host: MJ Guthrie Date: Thursday, November 21st, 2013 Time: 9:00 p.m. EST Enjoy our Steam Team video below. Continue reading The Stream Team: Going stag to The Secret World's scenarios The Stream Team: Going stag to The Secret World's scenarios originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 21 Nov 2013 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Sixteen games that ease the MMO level gap -- and how they do it Posted: 21 Nov 2013 05:00 PM PST Filed under: Culture, Game Mechanics, PvP, Opinion, Miscellaneous There's nothing I hate more than logging into an MMO, running across a friend, and being hit by the wall of levels that separates us. She might act as if she's OK hanging out with a newbie, but the truth is that she'd rather be off doing high-level things with her high-level buddies. If only there were a way for us to jump into combat (or anything else) together from the get-go! In many MMOs, that level gap is not an issue. There are a lot of creative ways to get around the problem, and some MMOs meet players more than halfway. Of course, there are a lot of MMOs that force players into a level-encased tunnel of grind, but today we want to shine some light on some of the ways MMOs help salve the level gap sting. Continue reading Sixteen games that ease the MMO level gap -- and how they do it Sixteen games that ease the MMO level gap -- and how they do it originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 21 Nov 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

The Guild Counsel: How to keep your guild from disintegrating when you need a break Posted: 21 Nov 2013 04:00 PM PST Filed under: Guilds, Opinion, The Guild Counsel, Miscellaneous Let's face it, everyone needs a little MMO break from time to time. The open-endedness of MMOs gives a lot more freedom than a fixed-content single-player game, but after a while, that freedom begins to feel grindy. For a guild leader, taking a small break is a dicey prospect, and many leaders have returned only to find that the guild they carefully pieced together and managed is now empty and defunct. The thought of losing the guild has even led many guild leaders to press on and continue playing even though their hearts aren't in it. Can a guild leader take a vacation and have a happy guild upon returning? This week's Guild Counsel suggests a few ways to do just that. Continue reading The Guild Counsel: How to keep your guild from disintegrating when you need a break The Guild Counsel: How to keep your guild from disintegrating when you need a break originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 21 Nov 2013 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Alter Ego: Issue #3 - DCUO's Streets of Fear Posted: 21 Nov 2013 03:00 PM PST Filed under: Super-hero, Galleries, Screenshots, Lore, MMO Industry, PvE, Free-to-Play, Comics, Roleplaying, DC Universe Online, Alter-Ego Previously in Massively's DC Universe Online webcomic, Kid Critical suited up with a little help from Oracle and learned to harness his new exobyte powers after escaping from Brainiac's deadly harvester ship. Now, he must assist the Gotham vigilante known as Batman as he tracks the nefarious Scarecrow through the city's East End. Can Kid Critical and the Bat family stop Scarecrow's deadly fear gas before it blankets the entire city? Find out in Alter Ego #3: Streets of Fear. Continue reading Alter Ego: Issue #3 - DCUO's Streets of Fear Alter Ego: Issue #3 - DCUO's Streets of Fear originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 21 Nov 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Albion Online unveils Player-vs-Player and Guild-vs-Guild details Posted: 21 Nov 2013 02:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, PvP, News Items, Mobile, Dev Diaries, Sandbox Berlin-based studio Sandbox Interactive released a new dev blog today revealing a number of details regarding Player-vs-Player and Guild-vs-Guild combat in its upcoming title Albion Online. In Albion, much of the game world will be up for grabs, and guilds can claim territories in order to harvest their resources and build shelter for their members in the midst of Albion's wilderness. While guilds can capture as many territories as they like, they'll also be required to defend these territories from opposing guilds who would take their lands. In order to keep Guild-vs-Guild combat fair and balanced, each land-holding guild will be required to choose "a number of times during the day at which their territory will be 'open' to attack." At these times, both the attacking and defending guilds will field a team of five players who will act as champions in the battle, thereby ensuring that no one guild can ensure victory by overwhelming numbers. Those who wish to reap the benefits of holding land without getting their own hands too bloody can instead put a bounty on their enemies' heads and let mercenaries (presumably other players) do the work for them. To learn more about Albion Online and to sign up for the game's upcoming closed beta, head on over to the official site. Albion Online unveils Player-vs-Player and Guild-vs-Guild details originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 21 Nov 2013 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Albion Online -- Dev Blog: GvG

Allods Online revamping its Dominion PvP Posted: 21 Nov 2013 01:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Patches, PvP, Free-to-Play, Allods Online Dominion battles will get a lot more interesting -- and fair -- when the December update hits Allods Online. The Wind of Changes update will feature a top-down reworking of the Dominion system in order to keep large guilds from constantly, er, dominating. Now there will be two stages that will take place on a weekly basis: All against all battles will pit champion groups against similarly ranked enemies, followed by an auction for the privilege of fighting in a raid vs. raid melee. With the patch, Allods Online will be tossing in two new Allods, Enoch and Koch Itzmahl, to keep Dominion fresh. The dev team's also tweaked the tabard system to give guilds better chances of finding matched opponents. Allods Online revamping its Dominion PvP originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 21 Nov 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Dominion update

Neverwinter's Shadowmantle module coming December 5th Posted: 21 Nov 2013 12:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Patches, Free-to-Play, Neverwinter Neverwinter's Shadowmantle update will be arriving in plenty of time for the holidays. Today Cryptic announced that the game's module 2 will arrive on December 5th. "We're incredibly excited to share the release date of Shadowmantle -- our second free expansion," said Cryptic Studios Executive Producer Craig Zinkievich. "With Neverwinter, our plan has always been to release massive regular updates that provide new unique online experiences with exciting new content for players to explore." Shadowmantle will include the Hunter Ranger class, new paragon paths, the Dread Ring zone, and the artifact system. If you're unfamiliar with it, get up to date with the changes by reading our preview of the module. Neverwinter's Shadowmantle module coming December 5th originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 21 Nov 2013 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Date announcement

The Summoner's Guidebook: Cutting your losses in League of Legends Posted: 21 Nov 2013 11:00 AM PST Filed under: PvP, Opinion, Free-to-Play, Guides, MOBA, League of Legends, The Summoner's Guidebook When a team loses a teamfight in League of Legends, it's fairly common for the losing team to have a chance to back out, frequently with near-empty health bars and several dead teammates. Sometimes a fight can't be won, and it's important to identify when a fight is won or lost as soon as possible and take the appropriate actions to minimize loss or maximize gain. Additionally, it's important to know how to confirm on a play a team member has made. It's easy to see a Lux binding land and want to go all-in. However, sometimes that's not a good play, especially if the enemy has counter-initiation available. Continue reading The Summoner's Guidebook: Cutting your losses in League of Legends The Summoner's Guidebook: Cutting your losses in League of Legends originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 21 Nov 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Blade & Soul opens the beta doors in China November 28th Posted: 21 Nov 2013 10:00 AM PST Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Video, New Titles, News Items, Free-to-Play, Blade & Soul The final closed beta for the Chinese version of Blade & Soul got rolling just over three weeks ago, but Tencent is already preparing to throw the beta doors wide open to any and all who want to check the free-to-play fantasy game out. Steparu.com discovered that open beta, scheduled to launch next week on November 28th, will not have an IP block, meaning folks from other areas can also get in on the martial-arts action. The client is available for download starting today, which is helpful to all those who want to get a head start by participating in the special character creation event on November 23rd and November 24th. While you wait for your download, take a look at some in-game emotes courtesy this video from Steparu: Continue reading Blade & Soul opens the beta doors in China November 28th Blade & Soul opens the beta doors in China November 28th originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 21 Nov 2013 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Open beta

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