MMO Updates |
- Choose My Adventure: Get along little EQ Froggy
- Check out FFXIV on the PS4 through new screenshots, trailer, and dev video
- Lord of Ultima shutting down in May
- MMO Mechanics: Three old mechanics I want back
- The Daily Grind: Do login incentives work on you?
- The Stream Team: Of Tears and valentines in EQII
- Jukebox Heroes: Elf music
- World of Tanks patch pits nation vs. nation
- SOE's Smedley: Sandbox gaming is 'at the core of everything we're doing'
- Neverwinter prepares population for PvP patch
- New Blade & Soul video goes to Hell
- Pantheon summons the spirit of the Shaman class
- Hyperspace Beacon: The 2014 spring roadmap for Star Wars: The Old Republic
- Dark Age of Camelot gives free week of game time to lapsed accounts
- The Stream Team: FFXIV's haunted Haukke Manor
- The Soapbox: Old content should stay relevant
- The Elder Scrolls Online offers a look at making dark anchors
| Choose My Adventure: Get along little EQ Froggy Posted: 12 Feb 2014 09:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, EverQuest, Opinion, Free-to-Play, Choose My Adventure  As per your latest votes, I moseyed along instead of galloping through the content; I checked out all the nooks and crannies of my areas, poking my striped nose into places it may or may not have belonged. This appealed greatly to the explorer in me, so thanks! I also grouped up when I could, which made everything that much more enjoyable. And I took special care to follow your final instructions: slaughter everything! And to tell you the truth, this past week EQ has grown on me more than ever before. I have had some of the funnest experiences this past week! Continue reading Choose My Adventure: Get along little EQ Froggy
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| Check out FFXIV on the PS4 through new screenshots, trailer, and dev video Posted: 12 Feb 2014 08:00 AM PST Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Galleries, Screenshots, Trailers, Video, News Items  If you own a PS4 and you'd like to test the game out, you can join A Realm Reborn's beta for free. The first phase is currently scheduled for February 22nd through March 3, 2014, and the second test will be April 4 though April 7, 2014. On April 11th, all players who own the game on PS3 will be able to transfer their accounts for free. [Source: Square Enix press release] Continue reading Check out FFXIV on the PS4 through new screenshots, trailer, and dev video
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| Lord of Ultima shutting down in May Posted: 12 Feb 2014 07:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, MMO Industry, News Items, Free-to-Play, Browser, MMORTS, Sunsets  [Thanks to all who sent in tips!]
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| MMO Mechanics: Three old mechanics I want back Posted: 12 Feb 2014 06:00 AM PST Filed under: World of Warcraft, EverQuest, Game Mechanics, Opinion, Humor, Neverwinter, MMORPG, MMO Mechanics  I'm particularly fond of game mechanics that make real-world sense. Real life would not reward you for falling off cliffs, running headlong into a crowded room of enemies, or stumbling off the well-beaten track into the untamed wilderness. Consequences in real life can feel rather scary, so I really enjoyed the fear factor of some older MMOs because this allowed for a much more thrilling -- and ultimately rewarding -- gaming experience. I am going to talk about just three older mechanics I particularly enjoy that have fallen out of fashion, but feel free to lengthen my list by adding your favourites in the comments below. Continue reading MMO Mechanics: Three old mechanics I want back
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| The Daily Grind: Do login incentives work on you? Posted: 12 Feb 2014 05:00 AM PST Filed under: Culture, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous  I've seen these gifts in RIFT, Trove, and Lord of the Rings Online, as well as a particularly insidious gift system in Neverwinter that doles out rewards every hour. Soon we'll be hiring employees to just sit at our desks to keep our characters logged in while we sleep; mark my words. So do these login incentives work on you? Do you make a round between MMOs that have these, even if you're not playing them as much?  Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
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| The Stream Team: Of Tears and valentines in EQII Posted: 11 Feb 2014 06:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Video, EverQuest II, Free-to-Play, Livestream, The Stream Team  Game: EverQuest II Host: MJ Guthrie Date: Tuesday, February 11th, 2014 Time: 9:00 p.m. EST Enjoy our Stream Team video below. Continue reading The Stream Team: Of Tears and valentines in EQII
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| Posted: 11 Feb 2014 05:00 PM PST Filed under: World of Warcraft, Lord of the Rings Online, Vanguard, Runes of Magic, Miscellaneous, ArcheAge, Jukebox Heroes, Music  For whatever reason, Elves bring out the magic and talent in MMO composition. Elven themes are quite often among the best that a particular OST has to offer, particularly if you like airy, magical, ethereal tracks that are big on imagination and almost devoid of percussion. I've been noting the trend of excellent Elf music for years and figured I might as well devote a week to it here before going back to my Elf-bashing ways. Continue reading Jukebox Heroes: Elf music
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| World of Tanks patch pits nation vs. nation Posted: 11 Feb 2014 04:00 PM PST Filed under: Patches, PvP, War, Free-to-Play, World of Tanks, MOBA  The Confrontation mode groups vehicles from a specific nation against similarly tiered vehicles from another nation to see who ends up the victor. Wargaming was quick to point out that it had yet to balance this mode and that Japanese and Chinese vehicles are not available in these fights. There's more to Update 8.11 than the Confrontation mode, however. The team's added Windstorm, a new European winter-themed battle arena, and revamped the Ruinberg and Himmelsdorf maps. [Source: Wargaming press release]
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| SOE's Smedley: Sandbox gaming is 'at the core of everything we're doing' Posted: 11 Feb 2014 03:00 PM PST Filed under: Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, PvE, Sandbox  Even if you're not a sandbox fan, it's still worth a read if only to understand why the company that created the ultimate grindpark is turning its back on content treadmills in favor of emergent, player-driven worlds. "We're going to take the idea of sandbox gaming and we're putting it at the core of everything we're doing," Smedley says. "We'll obviously still be making awesome stuff for players to do, but we're going to aim very high in terms of letting players be a part of the game systems. The more emergent sandbox style content we can make the less predictable the experience will be."
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| Neverwinter prepares population for PvP patch Posted: 11 Feb 2014 02:30 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Patches, Previews, PvP, Free-to-Play, Dev Diaries, Neverwinter  The team posted a developer blog to briefly discuss the upcoming patch. The biggest change is the addition of a Tenacity stat to PvP equipment. This stat will increase resistance to crowd control spells, stuns, critical hits, and (of course) damage. Cryptic sees Tenacity as being essential to those who want to mount a strong defense in PvP. Neverwinter will also be tweaking the prone effect so that it will be shorter and affected by control resist. The team also teased new PvP gear, although it said that details about the gear will have to wait for another day.
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| New Blade & Soul video goes to Hell Posted: 11 Feb 2014 02:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Trailers, Video, Patches, PvP, News Items, PvE, Blade & Soul  NCSoft has released a new video featuring the latest addition coming to Blade & Soul Korea: a combination PvE and PvP zone appropriately named Hell. While you won't find any lakes of fire in this incarnation of Hell (they're more like puddles), you better believe there's going to be plenty of weeping and gnashing of teeth as players in the zone have to contend with the usual unholy abominations, malicious demons, missile-barrage-firing mechs (yes, really), and of course, nefarious schemes of opposing players. The full video features nearly seven minutes of shiny, explosive, and occasionally bizarre PvE and PvP combat throughout the new zone. They say diplomacy is the art of telling someone to go to hell in such a way that he looks forward to the trip, so if you're curious about how diplomatic NCSoft can be, click on past the cut for the full trailer. Continue reading New Blade & Soul video goes to Hell
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| Pantheon summons the spirit of the Shaman class Posted: 11 Feb 2014 01:30 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Classes, PvE, Races, Crowdfunding, Subscription, MMORPG, Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen  The Shaman has two specializations from which to choose. Ritualist enables the Shaman to dance and chant in order to summon spirits that can be commanded to action, while Spirit Warden gives the Shaman the ability to buff teammates with the power of his spirit. Shaman players can choose between Ogre or Dwarf; more options may be made available if the game reaches one of several stretch goals that involve adding new races. Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen is currently at $365,667 raised of its $800,000 funding goal with 10 days remaining.
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| Hyperspace Beacon: The 2014 spring roadmap for Star Wars: The Old Republic Posted: 11 Feb 2014 01:00 PM PST Filed under: Sci-Fi, Expansions, Patches, PvP, Endgame, PvE, Opinion, Free-to-Play, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Hyperspace Beacon, Dungeons, MMORPG  I recently started a series of articles about roleplaying a Sith, and I promise that I will get back to that, but this producer's letter gave us too much timely news to pass up. The biggest piece, of course, was buried at the bottom in a paragraph that would likely be skipped if a person just skimmed the article. "We are moving to a 9 week cadence for the major content updates," Maclean says. He explains that this cadence will be more beneficial to the game because it gives the team more time to squash the bugs, but I suspect it's more that his team just cannot produce what it wants to this year without a bit of extra time. With SWTOR earning $139 million last year, you'd think that EA could toss in an extra developer or two to help keep up the current six-to-eight-week cadence. Where is that six weeks or more of extra time going this year? For that, we turn back to Maclean's roadmap. Continue reading Hyperspace Beacon: The 2014 spring roadmap for Star Wars: The Old Republic
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| Dark Age of Camelot gives free week of game time to lapsed accounts Posted: 11 Feb 2014 12:30 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Dark Age of Camelot, PvP, Promotions, Subscription  The Return to the Realms promotion is crediting a week of game time to any account that hasn't been used for more than 60 days. This game time includes access to the test server, where Patch 1.115 is being brewed and refined. Dark Age of Camelot and Ultima Online were recently acquired by the newly formed Broadsword Online Games.
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| The Stream Team: FFXIV's haunted Haukke Manor Posted: 11 Feb 2014 12:00 PM PST Filed under: PvE, Final Fantasy XIV, Livestream, Dungeons, The Stream Team  Everyone could use a good scare once in a while and Final Fantasy XIV has just what the doctor ordered. Haukke Manor, a mid-level dungeon, brings creepy monsters, ominous music, and an overall eerie atmosphere. Join Massively's Jasmine Hruschak live at 3:00 p.m. as she explores every dusty, mysterious room! Game: Final Fantasy XIV Host: Jasmine Hruschak Date: Tuesday, February 11th, 2014 Time: 3:00 p.m. EST Enjoy our Stream Team video below. Continue reading The Stream Team: FFXIV's haunted Haukke Manor
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| The Soapbox: Old content should stay relevant Posted: 11 Feb 2014 11:00 AM PST Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, EverQuest, Expansions, Endgame, Opinion, Guild Wars 2, The Soapbox, MMORPG  Exploring old content for the sake of experiencing it is not enough of a motivator for many players since this content simply cannot present the same challenge as it once did. Although you can technically go back and play through old dungeons, they will never be as fulfilling when tactics become optional and you can solo once-formidable opponents. In this week's Soapbox, I will mourn the loss of fantastic older content that was rendered obsolete through vertical progression, using WoW as a key example. I'll go on to suggest a solution that I think might allow for both old and new content to exist together in relevancy without significantly compromising the themepark MMO's existing progression mechanics. Continue reading The Soapbox: Old content should stay relevant
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| The Elder Scrolls Online offers a look at making dark anchors Posted: 11 Feb 2014 10:00 AM PST Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Game Mechanics, News Items, The Elder Scrolls Online, Subscription  Originally, anchors were smaller in scope, but the team wasn't happy with the idea that these were local things. As a result, steps were taken to ensure that Dark Anchors were visible from far away and had wide-ranging effects, giving players a solid indication that something Very Bad was taking place. If you want to gaze deeper into designing the yawning maw of darkness, take a look at the full development blog for more details on how the anchors took shape.
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