MMO Updates |
- Chaos Theory: Funcom flubbed it with The Secret World's mankinigate
- Elite's premium beta starts today, expands May 30
- Wurm testing 64x64 kilometer non-instanced mega-server
- World of Tanks makes more per user than LoL, GW2, and everyone else
- Defiance's fifth DLC to release on April 15
- The Daily Grind: What do you hope to see at this year's PAX East?
- World of Tanks shows off new game modes for 2014
- SMITE now features Bastet, the Goddess of Cats
- SOE's H1Z1 is a zombie-flavored sandbox after all
- Leaderboard: Are you looking forward to The Crew?
- Make your own kind of music in Guild Wars 2
- Fallen Earth nodes to get less 'willy-nilly'
- EA's Dawngate MOBA gets open beta, new trailer
- HD Streaming for EVE Fanfest now on sale
- The Stream Team: Jumping on the (literal) Landmark rollercoaster
- WildStar's elder gem system to get post-launch love
- Entropy lets players fight over star systems
- SOE All Access changes go into place on April 23rd
- Diablo III's 2.0.4 patch makes resplendent treasure feel more resplendent
- Black Gold's closed beta getting 'major changes,' new classes
- ArcheAge alpha is officially underway
- Blizz shows off WoW's actual female Draenei revamp
| Chaos Theory: Funcom flubbed it with The Secret World's mankinigate Posted: 10 Apr 2014 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Horror, Real-Life, MMO Industry, Opinion, The Secret World, Chaos Theory, Buy-to-Play  Mankinigate. Last week during the notable first of April shenanigans, The Secret World poked fun at the fact that female outfits in games (including TSW) are stereotypically skimpy while males get adventuring gear. The item store offered the "Gender Equality" clothing pack: full scuba gear for females and a mankini for males. As hideous as I think the mankini is, I appreciated this obvious jab at stereotypes, not to mention the fact that Funcom listened to players who've requested revealing attire for their male avatars. But then with no real explanation given at the time, the makinis were yanked not only from the store but from players inventories as well. Continue reading Chaos Theory: Funcom flubbed it with The Secret World's mankinigate
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| Elite's premium beta starts today, expands May 30 Posted: 10 Apr 2014 09:00 AM PDT Filed under: Betas, Sci-Fi, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, New Titles, News Items, Sandbox, Elite: Dangerous, Buy-to-Play  Prior to that, the devs will roll out the fourth and final phase of Elite's alpha, wherein the sci-fi sandbox title will expand with two new modes of faster-than-light travel as well as the full Milky Way galactic map featuring 400,000,000,000 star systems. You can read the full press release after the jump. [Source: Frontier press release] Continue reading Elite's premium beta starts today, expands May 30
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| Wurm testing 64x64 kilometer non-instanced mega-server Posted: 10 Apr 2014 08:30 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Events (In-Game), Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, Wurm Online, News Items, Sandbox  You can join in if you like, as the Wurm devs are looking for anyone and everyone to see how many players the server can simultaneously support. No registration is required for the test. Lead developer Rolf Jannson says that 50,000 critters will be roaming the fantasy sandbox title's wilderness during the test, which is actually "a fairly low population in Wurm terms." Jannson also says that no other MMO has launched a modifiable map of this scale, and "running this many players in one game zone is pretty unusual in itself and will be an interesting experience." [Thanks bdew!]
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| World of Tanks makes more per user than LoL, GW2, and everyone else Posted: 10 Apr 2014 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: Historical, Business Models, Economy, MMO Industry, News Items, War, Free-to-Play, World of Tanks  In fact, World of Tanks generated more ARPU than any other major F2P title, according to Superdata. "There's World of Tanks, which has a monthly active user base of around 9.1 million and makes $4.51 per month per user. And there's League of Legends, with 58.5 million average monthly actives over the past twelve months, and a $1.32 spend per user. Five times the audience, but less than [a] third of the earnings per player," Superdata says. After WoT, the top five includes Team Fortress 2, Guild Wars 2, War Thunder, and PlanetSide 2.
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| Defiance's fifth DLC to release on April 15 Posted: 10 Apr 2014 07:00 AM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, Expansions, Patches, War, Defiance, Buy-to-Play  Arktech Revolution introduces an EGO rating cap increase, new perks, new enemy difficulty tiers, dynamic event scaling, expert co-op maps, and much more. PC and Xbox 360 players can grab the DLC on April 15th, while PlayStation 3 players will only get it that day if they have a PlayStation 3 Season Pass. The DLC will be available in the PlayStation store on April 29th for North American players and April 30th in the European store.
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| The Daily Grind: What do you hope to see at this year's PAX East? Posted: 10 Apr 2014 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Events (Real-World), MMO Industry, Previews, Massively Meta, The Daily Grind, Events (Massively's Coverage), Miscellaneous  So what are you looking forward to seeing out of PAX?  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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| World of Tanks shows off new game modes for 2014 Posted: 09 Apr 2014 08:00 PM PDT Filed under: Historical, Trailers, Video, Game Mechanics, Patches, Previews, News Items, War, Free-to-Play, World of Tanks  That's not the least of the additions being made, however, as Historical Battles are also incoming. While this game mode has been in discussion for a long time, due to massive differences in tank capabilities, it's been tricky to create battles with an equal chance of victory for both sides. The solution is asymmetrical team composition, a rebalancing of stats for this specific game mode, and respawning lighter support tanks. Take a look at the video past the cut for a more in-depth examination of these changes. [Source: Wargaming.net press release] Continue reading World of Tanks shows off new game modes for 2014
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| SMITE now features Bastet, the Goddess of Cats Posted: 09 Apr 2014 07:00 PM PDT Filed under: Video, Classes, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, News Items, Free-to-Play, MOBA  The clip also features plenty of in-game scenarios showing off said abilities, so click past the cut if you want a preview of Bastet in action. [Thanks Soren!] Continue reading SMITE now features Bastet, the Goddess of Cats
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| SOE's H1Z1 is a zombie-flavored sandbox after all Posted: 09 Apr 2014 06:20 PM PDT Filed under: Historical, Horror, Game Mechanics, New Titles, PvP, News Items, Free-to-Play, Post-Apocalyptic, Sandbox, MMORPG  How is the game different from the multitudes of other kill-or-be-killed post-apoc zombie sandboxes already in existence? Smed says it's a persistent MMO with thousands of players and different rulesets, a strong economy, open looting in PvP, access to devs, an emphasis on "player ownership and building," and cool tech borrowed from PlanetSide 2. The studio plans to have a player-playable version within four to six weeks; it will fall under the $15 All Access Pass and have microtransactions but will not be P2W. Have a look at the first released screenies below. The Game Talk Live stream is now over. [Source: SOE press release]
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| Leaderboard: Are you looking forward to The Crew? Posted: 09 Apr 2014 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: Real-Life, MMO Industry, New Titles, Opinion, Leaderboard  While The Crew may not be an MMO in the massive numbers of players sense, it certainly does feature a massive open world, quests, and plenty of character progression to go along with its sweet, sweet car porn. How about it, Massively gear heads? Are you looking forward to The Crew? Vote after the cut!  Ever wish that you could put to rest a long-standing MMO debate once and for all? Then welcome to the battle royal of Massively's Leaderboard, where two sides enter the pit o' judgment -- and only one leaves. Vote to make your opinion known, and see whether your choice tops the Leaderboard!Continue reading Leaderboard: Are you looking forward to The Crew?
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| Make your own kind of music in Guild Wars 2 Posted: 09 Apr 2014 05:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Game Mechanics, News Items, Guild Wars 2, Music, Player-Generated Content, Buy-to-Play  The first five skill buttons have five unique drum sounds respectively. Each sample can be triggered individually so the drum can perform like our previous instruments in free-play mode. The only difference is the drum will quantize beat events so that they always sound good to you - and in rhythm. If you push the sixth or seventh skill slot, you put the drum into "loop-record" mode. If this is the first time you've pushed it, you'll hear a nice little click-track (that only you can hear!) that gives you an idea of where the "global" pulse is. Think of it like a count off: "A one, a two, a one two three four!" Then, when you push the drum sample set skill buttons again, they'll actually loop back on themselves. You can build up ever more complicated and funky grooves.We just have one question: Where's our Bard class?
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| Fallen Earth nodes to get less 'willy-nilly' Posted: 09 Apr 2014 04:30 PM PDT Filed under: Fallen Earth, Free-to-Play, Post-Apocalyptic, Dev Diaries, Crafting  Fallen Earth's new state of the game post for April has a word or two to say about how the team is moving around gathering nodes to fit the environment better. "What this will look like is an increase in hand-placed nodes that reflect the setting and environment better and fewer nodes scattered willy-nilly," said Producer Marie Croall. The post also talks about new armor suits and cosmetic gear recipes that are coming soon as part of the rewards for controlling the Outpost.
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| EA's Dawngate MOBA gets open beta, new trailer Posted: 09 Apr 2014 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Trailers, Video, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, New Titles, PvP, News Items, MOBA  If you're still not sure, you can have a look at Dawngate's "Break the Meta" trailer after the cut. Don't forget our hands-on impressions while you're at it. Continue reading EA's Dawngate MOBA gets open beta, new trailer
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| HD Streaming for EVE Fanfest now on sale Posted: 09 Apr 2014 03:30 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, EVE Online, Events (Real-World), News Items, Subscription  Buying the stream gets you access to three days of high-definition coverage, the pre-convention livestream from developers, your choice of one of four industrial ship skins, subscriber-only giveaways, and a digital version of the Fanfest shirt for 2014. Sound good to you? Then head on over and drop your money! Or you can just watch the festivities streamed for free on Twitch, but you'll have to put up with normal definition footage, like an animal.
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| The Stream Team: Jumping on the (literal) Landmark rollercoaster Posted: 09 Apr 2014 03:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Video, Free-to-Play, EverQuest Next, Livestream, The Stream Team, Player-Generated Content, Landmark  Game: Landmark Host: MJ Guthrie Date: Wednesday, April 9th, 2014 Time: 5:00 p.m. EDT Enjoy our Stream Team video below. Continue reading The Stream Team: Jumping on the (literal) Landmark rollercoaster
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| WildStar's elder gem system to get post-launch love Posted: 09 Apr 2014 02:30 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, Launches, Patches, WildStar, Subscription  Carbine Studios Product Director Mike Donatelli churned out a good-sized post on the forums this morning concerning WildStar's elder gem system and what the studio has planned for it after the game's launch. He said that what's currently in-game is "only half of the intended final system," and while the team can't get in the full deal by release, the rest will be included in the first major post-launch patch. Elder gems are a type of currency that players will earn with XP once they hit the level cap. There's a weekly limit to the number of gems that can earned, and players can use these gems to buy gear and items from special vendors. Future plans for the system include the ability to buy amp and ability tier points that haven't been procured elsewhere and weekly and daily quests to earn more gems.
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| Entropy lets players fight over star systems Posted: 09 Apr 2014 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Sci-Fi, Patches, PvP  The space sim launched its first major update today called Hostile Takeover. The core feature of the patch is a three-faction PvP system that allows players to fight over, conquer, and protect outlying star systems from their enemies. Factions must destabalize an enemy system in order to cause a crisis -- a limited window of opportunity to swoop in and cripple the enemy's space station. If this is done, then the system changes hands. "With support for up to a hundred players in the same match, we expect some truly epic battles," said Artplant Producer Jack Wulff. Entropy is currently available through Steam Early Access.
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| SOE All Access changes go into place on April 23rd Posted: 09 Apr 2014 01:30 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, EverQuest, EverQuest II, PlanetSide, Business Models, Free-to-Play, DC Universe Online, EverQuest Next, PlanetSide 2, Sandbox, Dragon's Prophet  According to the revised FAQ, the new membership plan will include "top-tier" access to SOE's entire library, a monthly stipend of 500 Station Cash, a 10% discount on marketplace purchases, and other promotions. The cost will be $14.99 a month with discounts for multi-month packages. SOE said that all current memberships will be automatically transitioned into the new All Access plan and that details concerning Dragon's Prophet benefits are forthcoming.
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| Diablo III's 2.0.4 patch makes resplendent treasure feel more resplendent Posted: 09 Apr 2014 01:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Classes, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, Patches, News Items, PvE, Crafting, Diablo III, Buy-to-Play  There are a few itemization changes, too, including an adjustment to to treasure drops from resplendent chests. "The treasure from Resplendent Chests has been improved to feel more resplendent," Blizzard says.
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| Black Gold's closed beta getting 'major changes,' new classes Posted: 09 Apr 2014 12:30 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Classes, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, New Titles, News Items, Free-to-Play, Steampunk, Black Gold  The game's UI, graphics, battlefields, and vehicles will be tweaked, and Snail says that "major" combat system, quest line, and PvE changes are already happening. While there's no date on the closed beta just yet, today's press release reveals that it will feature four new classes. You can click past the cut to read the full notice. [Source: Snail Games press release] Continue reading Black Gold's closed beta getting 'major changes,' new classes
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| ArcheAge alpha is officially underway Posted: 09 Apr 2014 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Trailers, Video, News Items, ArcheAge  You don't believe it? That's fair. Don't take our word for it; take it from the trailer just past the cut that's being used to advertise the start of testing. Admittedly, it isn't showing off in-game footage, but it is in English. Besides, it's cool. The long wait for English ArcheAge fans won't be quite so long now, especially as press (like us) has the testing NDA dropped and can start talking about our experiences in the client. [Source: Trion Worlds press release] Continue reading ArcheAge alpha is officially underway
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| Blizz shows off WoW's actual female Draenei revamp Posted: 09 Apr 2014 11:00 AM PDT Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Expansions, MMO Industry, News Items, Subscription  Still, it's worth seeing where Blizz is going in Warlords of Draenor, and you can do so via World of Warcraft's official website.
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