MMO Updates

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• PAX East 2014: PlanetSide 2's Higby on weekly updates
• PAX East 2014: Landmark's current tools and future crafts
• WRUP: Gesundheit
• The Daily Grind: Are kids MMOs in danger of dying out?
• Age of Wushu celebrates anniversary with events, expansion info
• Betawatch: April 5 - 11, 2014
• PAX East 2014: WildStar's panel is all about the endgame
• ArcheAge stream tours the in-game world
• Elder Scrolls Online lowers the banhammer
• Camelot Unchained discusses resource systems, BOP gear, and housing
• Smedley talks H1Z1's map size, population density
• The Stream Team: Beginning ArcheAge's alpha
• PAX East 2014: Hearthstone reveals Naxxramas single-player adventure
• PAX East 2014: First impressions of Warlords of Draenor

PAX East 2014: PlanetSide 2's Higby on weekly updates Posted: 12 Apr 2014 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, Game Mechanics, Interviews, Free-to-Play, MMOFPS, PlanetSide 2 It's been three months since PlanetSide 2 started updating once every week, if you don't count one update that was pushed back simply because it wasn't quite ready. As creative director Matt Higby put it to me at this year's PAX East, the schedule comes second to making sure that every update is the best it can be. But it's still been quite a ride, and it means that the game has kept up a schedule that's astonishingly fast. More than a year out from launch, Higby has a lot to say about the game's development process as well as the updates it's already undergone. It's not an unmitigated success story, but it's filled with a lot of lessons and improvements. And like any MMO, the game's development is far from finished. In PlanetSide 2's case, it's a complex process that requires supporting new players, veterans, casual gamers, and professional gaming, sometimes in unconventional fashions. Continue reading PAX East 2014: PlanetSide 2's Higby on weekly updates PAX East 2014: PlanetSide 2's Higby on weekly updates originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 12 Apr 2014 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

PAX East 2014: Landmark's current tools and future crafts Posted: 12 Apr 2014 09:00 AM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Game Mechanics, Interviews, Sandbox, Landmark We've all seen what gamers are capable of making in Minecraft. A quick search online turns up replicas of everything imaginable, sublime works of art, even inexplicable cat fountains. According to Dave Georgeson, this is exactly what led to the creation of Landmark, and by his own admission the development team owes Notch a Christmas card solely because of that. Without that limitation, Landmark wouldn't be what it is now, nor would it be developing into what it will eventually be. At this year's PAX East, Georgeson explained to me that as much fun as Minecraft is, it lacks something crucial: a way for players to see all of these creations. Landmark, by contrast, is designed from the ground up not just to allow that sort of interaction but to actively encourage it. And that's only the beginning; the game's current status as a sort of super-Minecraft is the simplest core expression of the game's promise. By the time it's done, the whole point is to make a game that can be anything, a game for all seasons and tastes. Continue reading PAX East 2014: Landmark's current tools and future crafts PAX East 2014: Landmark's current tools and future crafts originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 12 Apr 2014 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

WRUP: Gesundheit Posted: 12 Apr 2014 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: Massively Meta, Miscellaneous Welcome back to Massively's What Are You Playing, the game where we tell you what we're playing this weekend and you try to convince us that H1Z1 doesn't sound like a four-syllable sneeze. Seriously, say it aloud. It could give Final Fantasy XI: Treasures of Aht Urhgan and EverQuest: The Legacy of Ykesha a run for their money. Continue reading WRUP: Gesundheit WRUP: Gesundheit originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 12 Apr 2014 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

The Daily Grind: Are kids MMOs in danger of dying out? Posted: 12 Apr 2014 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Culture, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Kids, Family As a parent of toddlers, I have often wondered what games I will be playing with them when they get old enough to want to dive into MMOs (if they ever want to, that is). Considering that during this past year we've seen several kid-friendly titles shut down, I'm worried that there might not be any left in a few years. Recall that Clone Wars Adventures, Free Realms, Pirates of the Caribbean Online, and Toontown Online have been terminated in the past 12 months and answer me this: Are kids MMOs in danger of dying out? I can take heart that KingsIsle is still going strong and that LEGO Minifigures Online is in development, but I don't see a lot of interest in studios making MMOs for the much younger set. What do you think? 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: Are kids MMOs in danger of dying out? originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 12 Apr 2014 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Age of Wushu celebrates anniversary with events, expansion info Posted: 11 Apr 2014 07:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Events (In-Game), Expansions, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, Patches, PvP, News Items, PvE, Free-to-Play, Sandbox, Anniversaries, Age of Wushu Snail has unveiled a new page on its Age of Wushu website dedicated to celebrating the martial arts sandbox's anniversary. It contains links to various social media events as well as info on in-game activities including special world bosses, XP boosts, and more. The festivities run through April 24, 2014. The firm has also published a letter from AoW game director Hao Han that summarizes the upcoming Tempest of Strife expansion. Snail plans to launch said expansion on May 7th. Age of Wushu celebrates anniversary with events, expansion info originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 11 Apr 2014 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Anniversary page

Betawatch: April 5 - 11, 2014 Posted: 11 Apr 2014 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Business Models, MMO Industry, Massively Meta, Betawatch, Miscellaneous Venus Rising's internal alpha officially kicked off this week, and we're sure you can't wait to log in and do... whatever it is people do in there. Take totally platonic baths, maybe. What else is new in the world of MMO betas this week? Trion announced that ArcheAge is officially in alpha! The NDA's down, too. WildStar unleased an enormous beta patch, complete with character customization improvements. Elite: Dangerous' premium beta has begun for... premium... people. Argo Online returned to beta testing yesterday. The Crew announced a fall 2014 launch window. EA MOBA Dawngate hopped into an open beta it's calling a community beta. And sandbox Gloria Victis is now in alpha for donors. Read on for the complete Betawatch roundup. Continue reading Betawatch: April 5 - 11, 2014 Betawatch: April 5 - 11, 2014 originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 11 Apr 2014 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

PAX East 2014: WildStar's panel is all about the endgame Posted: 11 Apr 2014 05:30 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, Game Mechanics, Endgame, Events (Massively's Coverage), WildStar, Subscription, Buy-to-Play So what happens when when you reach the end of WildStar? You've got a while to think about it, obviously, the game isn't even out just yet. But it's an obvious concern. People are going to hit the level cap, and what are they going to be doing then? Staring at the walls, singing songs, perhaps clawing desperately at the metaphorical walls in the hopes of getting the next major patch somewhat sooner? According to the WildStar panel at PAX East, the development team is hoping to launch with a fairly robust endgame no matter what you're hoping to do. The panel went through pretty much every part of the game, from items to PvP to solo story questing, all of which is intended to work together to create an environment wherein you don't run out of things to do and don't find yourself forced out of what you find fun. How well it will work remains to be seen, but there's certainly a lot on the table to start with. Continue reading PAX East 2014: WildStar's panel is all about the endgame PAX East 2014: WildStar's panel is all about the endgame originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 11 Apr 2014 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

ArcheAge stream tours the in-game world Posted: 11 Apr 2014 05:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Video, Lore, Free-to-Play, ArcheAge Trion is certainly gung-ho about ArcheAge these days, so if you've come around to accepting that it's coming to the West this year, the studio has a lengthy stream devoted to introducing you to the game's world and the story behind it. The stream starts out with the new CGI story trailer and is followed up with a discussion about the locations and lore of ArcheAge. "There is so much lore in this game that it is absolutely amazing," one of the devs mentioned, going on to say that XLGAMES sent Trion a 200-page summary to help the team understand it. You can check out all of the goodness after the break. [Thanks to Kari for the tip!] Continue reading ArcheAge stream tours the in-game world ArcheAge stream tours the in-game world originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 11 Apr 2014 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: YouTube

Elder Scrolls Online lowers the banhammer Posted: 11 Apr 2014 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Legal, The Elder Scrolls Online, Subscription Elder Scrolls Online cheaters beware! ZeniMax is taking aim at your head with its mighty banhammer. Community Manager Jessica Fulsom posted an announcement today of the studio's opening shots against evil-doers: "Today, we made our first major strike against those who choose to cheat in ESO, permanently banning thousands. This is only the beginning of our ongoing efforts to keep the game free from botters, speed hackers, and gold spammers. We want to thank everyone who has sent in-game reports about these individuals in ESO -- your reports helped us identify many of the accounts we banned today." Elder Scrolls Online lowers the banhammer originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 11 Apr 2014 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Taking action against cheaters

Camelot Unchained discusses resource systems, BOP gear, and housing Posted: 11 Apr 2014 03:30 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Historical, Game Mechanics, News Items, Community Q&A, Sandbox, Crafting, Housing, Camelot Unchained, Player-Generated Content The Camelot Unchained devs have just released issue seven of their Piercing the Veil series, blog posts dedicated to answering player questions about the upcoming PvP sandbox. The highlights? Not every tree in the game will be harvestable, but the devs are considering (not promising!) a dynamic resource ecosystem. There will be expandable storage, but inventory management annoyances will be downplayed. The team isn't planning NPC cities beyond the starter cities. The players will be creating that part of the world. Bind-on-pickup gear "does not make good sense for [the] game given that all but the starter gear will be crafted, rather than dropped." Housing will differ in format based on whether it's in the open world or safe zones, and you won't need to be a crafter to set up a basic home yourself. Non-stat player clothing will be in the game. The devs will most likely put limits on guild sizes. Solo play will probably be a viable option. You can read the complete Q&A on the official site. Camelot Unchained discusses resource systems, BOP gear, and housing originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 11 Apr 2014 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Piercing the Veil #7

Smedley talks H1Z1's map size, population density Posted: 11 Apr 2014 03:00 PM PDT Filed under: Horror, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, New Titles, PvP, News Items, Free-to-Play, Sandbox, H1Z1 SOE CEO John Smedley's not done talking about zombie sandbox survival MMO H1Z1. Earlier this afternoon on Reddit, Smed posted a lengthy comment addressing questions about the game's map size. Rather than summarize it for you, I'll just go ahead and leave the whole thing here. I've seen a bunch of people asking questions about the map size. Forgelight is built to handle arbitrarily sized worlds. Our plan is simple -- we're building the core of "anywhere USA". When we first open it up to users the map will be huge, but nowhere near as big as it's going to be in short order. Our map editing system allows us to quickly add massive areas. We want to make sure we clearly understand how the players are playing the game before we do that. On PlanetSide 2 we made a mistake by making multiple continents before we had a strong enough idea of what worked and what didn't. This game is different. We're doing it smarter. When we open up the early access there will be a massive map for players to enjoy. Over time (very quickly) they'll magically just be able to keep going further than they've gone before. It's a very unique way of doing it, but we actually think this is a better way to go. So not to worry. Zombie Apocalypse isn't going to be any fun if it's like Disneyland on Spring Break and super-crowded. We want remote... haunting... being scared when you see someone. Your first instinct needs to be to hide. If there are 20 players in your view it's not a very convincing Apocalypse. So how many players per server? Who knows. As we add more land the number of people we can hold on a server goes way up. So we're excited. We have a ton of zombies for you to fight too. You'll be seeing hordes, oh yes you will. Smedley talks H1Z1's map size, population density originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 11 Apr 2014 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Reddit

The Stream Team: Beginning ArcheAge's alpha Posted: 11 Apr 2014 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Video, New Titles, Free-to-Play, Livestream, ArcheAge, Sandbox Believe it or not, the chance to play ArcheAge in the West is finally here! No, we aren't kidding. And Massively's MJ is going to jump in and give you a preview of what you can expect in this sandpark's alpha. Want to see how involved character creation is? What about the combat and beginner quests? She'll dive into it all, so join us live at 4:00 p.m. EDT to get your first taste of ArcheAge in English. Game: ArcheAge Host: MJ Guthrie Date: Friday, April 11th, 2014 Time: 4:00 p.m. EDT Enjoy our Stream Team video below. Continue reading The Stream Team: Beginning ArcheAge's alpha The Stream Team: Beginning ArcheAge's alpha originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 11 Apr 2014 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

PAX East 2014: Hearthstone reveals Naxxramas single-player adventure Posted: 11 Apr 2014 01:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Patches, Previews, Free-to-Play, Trading Card Games, Hearthstone Hearthstone is planning to revisit one of Azeroth's most notorious locations in the card game's first single-player adventure: Curse of Naxxramas. Blizzard announced at PAX East that a new single-player mode for the game will be coming "soon" starting with a romp through the necropolis of Naxxramas. In it, players will journey through five wings of a dungeon, accumulate new cards, and fight bosses with their own unique abilities. Thirty new cards and nine class challenges will come with the adventure as well as a Naxxramas-themed game board. Once it's released, Curse of Naxxramas will slowly unlock its wings over the course of five weeks. The first wing will be free, with the remaining four requiring purchase. It will release on all platforms simultaneously. Massively's on the ground in Boston during the weekend of April 11th to 13th, bringing you all the best news from PAX East 2014. Whether you're dying to know more about WildStar, Landmark, or any MMO in between, we aim to have it covered! PAX East 2014: Hearthstone reveals Naxxramas single-player adventure originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 11 Apr 2014 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Curse of Naxxramas

PAX East 2014: First impressions of Warlords of Draenor Posted: 11 Apr 2014 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: World of Warcraft, Betas, Fantasy, Game Mechanics, Opinion, First Impressions, Events (Massively's Coverage), Subscription The biggest problem that Warlords of Draenor is facing right now is one of first impressions. This isn't a mark against World of Warcraft so much as it's the nature of the beast. I wrote a while back about how World of Warcraft can't really be back, all things considered; it's too firmly a part of the establishment to ever shake the image that it's created over the past several years. You know what it is. You know how it plays. Odds are good that you've played it. Warlords of Draenor also features no new races, no new classes, no overhaul of the talent system, and in the build I got to play, very few of the new models. That's where the first impression problem crops up. A lot of the things that are being baked into the expansion just don't show up at first glance. That isn't to say that the first glance is bad, just that it overwhelmingly sends the message of "this is still World of Warcraft; no need for elaboration." Continue reading PAX East 2014: First impressions of Warlords of Draenor PAX East 2014: First impressions of Warlords of Draenor originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 11 Apr 2014 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

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