MMO Updates

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• Dino-survival: Hands-on with Beasts of Prey's early access alpha
• TERA's level cap to hit 65, new continent on its way
• Guild Wars 2 selling well in China
• Chaos Theory: The Secret World anniversary celebration, take two!
• The Daily Grind: Do you tend to believe dev statements?
• Path of Exile comic books hint at upcoming expansion
• Dark Age of Camelot brings back character and guild searches
• Choose My Adventure: Adventuring in ArcheAge
• PAX South tickets go on sale
• The Elder Scrolls Online's third update lands in August
• Has the free-to-play bubble burst?
• Leaderboard: What should I play for fun?
• Infinite Crisis refocuses development on new player experience
• Richard Bartle predicts that free-to-play will decline
• WildStar offering a free mount to players with 2-step verification
• LotRO's Paths of the Dead coming July 14

Dino-survival: Hands-on with Beasts of Prey's early access alpha Posted: 10 Jul 2014 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Bugs, Game Mechanics, Previews, PvP, PvE, Opinion, Hands-On, First Impressions, Post-Apocalyptic, Crafting, Buy-to-Play When I first dived into the horror-survival genre, I knew there would be zombies, but I never expected dinosaurs. You don't get much bigger than a T-Rex stomping around your neighborhood (though I am still waiting for an underwater survival game that randomly has blue whales unintentionally ruining your kelp fort as they hunt for krill). When dinosaurs started to replace zombies, I knew that my inner child would drag me in, even if I once again had to pay for alpha. It's this very idea of "paid alpha" that inspired me to tackle not one but two titles from the newly spawned dino-survival based genre. Apologists will say that it's just alpha, but the reality is that you get only one launch, and to me, launch is you start letting people buy your game and don't hold them under an NDA. With this in mind, I decided to try my hand at both Beasts of Prey and The Stomping Land to see which, if either, feels the most deserving of my time (and money). Today, I'll start with BoP. Continue reading Dino-survival: Hands-on with Beasts of Prey's early access alpha Dino-survival: Hands-on with Beasts of Prey's early access alpha originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 10 Jul 2014 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

TERA's level cap to hit 65, new continent on its way Posted: 10 Jul 2014 09:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Patches, TERA Bluehole Studio and En Masse Entertainment have announced today that their fantasy MMO TERA will be receiving a level cap increase and expand into a new continent later this year. The level cap will increase to 65, adding new skills and glyphs in the process. Along with this will come the Northern Arun continent and the world's fourth largest city, new instance dungeons, quest guide, enchanting system improvements, and more. Mention of a special competition for seasonal guild housing is also in the notes, and players are speculating in the forum thread about what this might mean. While Korea will get this new content in late July, En Masse says that the goal is to make it available for North American players by the end of the year. [Thanks to Leiloni for the tip!] TERA's level cap to hit 65, new continent on its way originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 10 Jul 2014 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Forum Thread

Guild Wars 2 selling well in China Posted: 10 Jul 2014 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Business Models, MMO Industry, News Items, Guild Wars 2, Buy-to-Play Chinese MMO players love Guild Wars 2, according to an NCsoft census that was translated on Reddit. The two-year old fantasy MMO has eclipsed 3.8 million Chinese users, which indicates far faster growth than the game has exhibited in the rest of the world. The title launched in August of 2012 and topped the 3.5 million sales mark a year later. China's 3.8 million sales happened in just two months. GamesIndustry.biz posits that GW2's Chinese success is an indication of a lucrative and untapped market for Western developers as well as evidence that buy-to-play business models can succeed in an area dominated by F2P. [Thanks 7BitBrian!] Guild Wars 2 selling well in China originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 10 Jul 2014 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Reddit Via: GI.biz

Chaos Theory: The Secret World anniversary celebration, take two! Posted: 10 Jul 2014 07:00 AM PDT Filed under: Horror, Real-Life, Events (In-Game), The Secret World, Guides, Anniversaries, Chaos Theory, Buy-to-Play It's that time of year again: time to celebrate another anniversary in The Secret World! And that means taking on world bosses, soaking up oodles of AP, and collecting lore, clothes, and (the best part) pets. Yep, definitely sounds like a party. The birthday bash lasts through July 17th, but the double AP portion of it ends on the 11th, so if you have new builds you want to test and you like the feel of all that AP popping up every few steps, now is the time to get into the game. If you attended last year's Guardians of Gaia celebration, you're no doubt familiar with the set up of the event; you may have even completed everything. If not, you now have the chance to catch up on everything, including collecting all the lore and pets. On top of that, there are new goodies to collect this time around. There's even a new achievement involving all the pets! Here are some tips and tricks for getting the most out of TSW's second anniversary celebration. Continue reading Chaos Theory: The Secret World anniversary celebration, take two! Chaos Theory: The Secret World anniversary celebration, take two! originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 10 Jul 2014 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

The Daily Grind: Do you tend to believe dev statements? Posted: 10 Jul 2014 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Culture, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, PvE, Opinion, Free-to-Play, The Daily Grind, Dungeons Lord of the Rings Online community manager Rick Heaton created a stir recently when he said that raiders are few and far between in Middle-earth. After he explained that Turbine's data show raiders, PvPers, and forum posters as tiny fringe groups, he ended his announcement with the following statement. "I fully appreciate and understand you won't believe a word of this. That's perfectly fine. It doesn't change the facts of the matter." Predictably, a slew of comments ensued in which Heaton was accused of lying. Plenty of commenters, both on the Turbine forums and here on Massively, then posited that of course there are no raiders because LotRO's raid content sucks, Turbine's definition of "raider" is different from the commonly accepted definition (whatever that is), and dozens of other reasons. Which leads to an interesting question regarding official dev statements. Do you tend to believe them? Even when they irritate you or don't align with your personal wishes for a given game? 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: Do you tend to believe dev statements? originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 10 Jul 2014 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Path of Exile comic books hint at upcoming expansion Posted: 09 Jul 2014 07:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Expansions, Lore, Free-to-Play, Path of Exile We all know that you haven't made it as a video game unless you're immortalized in a comic book. Path of Exile has joined that very select club as it announced today that it will be the focus of an official comic book mini-series. The four upcoming Path of Exile graphic novels will be based on the lore of the game and penned by Dynamite Entertainment. The comics are slated for some time this summer and will be 22 pages apiece, with a compilation release in early 2015. So other than the cool factor, why should players care? Well, not only will the comics feature a lead-in to the game's unannounced expansion, but each issue will have codes for in-game goodies such as cosmetics. Path of Exile comic books hint at upcoming expansion originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 09 Jul 2014 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Comic book announcement

Dark Age of Camelot brings back character and guild searches Posted: 09 Jul 2014 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Dark Age of Camelot, Culture, Subscription Looking for a particular person or group in Dark Age of Camelot? Fortunately for you, Broadsword has made it that much easier to track those people down for a hopefully not-at-all-creepy reunion. The devs announced that they have brought back character and guild searches to DAoC. Currently, these searches are limited to the Ywain server but will expand to other servers in the future. The team also said that it's going to be adding more in-game lists for realm point earners and champions of the realm in the near future. Character and guild search used to be in DAoC until Mythic took it down several years ago. Dark Age of Camelot brings back character and guild searches originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 09 Jul 2014 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Character and guild searches

Choose My Adventure: Adventuring in ArcheAge Posted: 09 Jul 2014 05:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Polls, Video, Free-to-Play, Choose My Adventure, Livestream, ArcheAge, Sandbox, The Stream Team Although ArcheAge has many different things to do, you decided that Massively's MJ should continue her adventures with quests, so that's what she's been doing. After showing off her favorite spot in game and brilliantly demonstrating death by jellyfish, she's been running to and fro delivering notes, assembling statues, and killing whatever vermin are bothering the locals. And there's certainly no lack of vermin! During those questing adventures MJ has come across a dungeon, and she's looking forward to taking you inside. Hopefully she'll find other in-game companions to enter with her as well, else she'll surely experience death in a new and spectacular way! If she's alone, will you still have her enter? Join us live at 7:00 p.m. to decide her fate live! And don't forget to participate in the next vote to decide which crafting profession MJ should pursue next week. Game: ArcheAge Host: MJ Guthrie Date: Wednesday, July 9th, 2014 Time: 7:00 p.m. EDT Enjoy our Stream Team video below. Continue reading Choose My Adventure: Adventuring in ArcheAge Choose My Adventure: Adventuring in ArcheAge originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 09 Jul 2014 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

PAX South tickets go on sale Posted: 09 Jul 2014 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: Events (Real-World), MMO Industry, Miscellaneous The newest PAX has finally opened its virtual doors to registration! PAX South tickets are now on sale on the official website, although at the time of this writing there was a queue to purchase them. Attendees can buy one-day passes for $30 or a three-day pass for $65. PAX South is limiting purchases to four badges per person, with children six and under admitted free with a paying adult. There are no refunds. The convention will take place in San Antonio, Texas, from January 23rd through the 25th, 2015. PAX South tickets go on sale originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 09 Jul 2014 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Ticket store

The Elder Scrolls Online's third update lands in August Posted: 09 Jul 2014 03:30 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Video, Game Mechanics, Guilds, Patches, Previews, News Items, The Elder Scrolls Online, Subscription ZeniMax says that The Elder Scrolls Online's next patch, which includes the preliminary veteran rank system changes and balance fixes previewed in yesterday's dev blog, is officially on the way next month. The patch is coming in early August and introduces armor dyes, guild tabards, public guild store locations, a new difficulty mode for Trials, and plenty of fixes and improvements. You'll be able to personalize your look more than ever before, represent your guild, and charge with them into a new level of challenge. The team has posted a preview video focusing on the many changes to guilds due in the patch. Wanna join our guild? We have tabards, yo! Enjoy the video below. Continue reading The Elder Scrolls Online's third update lands in August The Elder Scrolls Online's third update lands in August originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 09 Jul 2014 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Dev blog

Has the free-to-play bubble burst? Posted: 09 Jul 2014 03:00 PM PDT Filed under: Events (Real-World), MMO Industry, Free-to-Play Richard Bartle isn't alone in thinking the free-to-play bubble is soon to burst. Talking at this week's Develop Conference in Brighton, UK, three mobile game designers with an expertise in free-to-play discussed the negative direction that F2P titles are headed and why that may be coming to an end. "I would rather have 10,000 people who play my game for two years, than a million people who only play for a short time," Matthew Wiggins of mobile studio Jiggery Pokery states. The discussion, as reported by Gamasutra, focused on the unsavory practices of quick in-and-out publishers who were only out to make gobs of cash as quickly as possible. But one industry vet thinks that the F2P bubble has burst. "I think we're moving away from the aggressive initial monetization," CSR Racing studio boss Jason Avent says. "Those people who love your game are happy to pay for it. It's getting people into that longer game... We need to move away from exploiting a small number of people, and instead work to make lots of people stick around." Has the free-to-play bubble burst? originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 09 Jul 2014 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Gamasutra article

Leaderboard: What should I play for fun? Posted: 09 Jul 2014 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: MMO Industry, New Titles, Opinion, Miscellaneous, Leaderboard Holy cow, folks, I have a problem! Admittedly it's a first-world problem, but it's a problem nonetheless. See, I have limited time. And there are just too many interesting games either out right now or coming out later this year or releasing meaty updates in the near future, etc. Even if I retired tomorrow, I wouldn't have time to scarf up all of this awesome gaming goodness. Maybe you can feel my pain in this regard and maybe you can't. Regardless, you can click past the cut and boss me around narrow my focus for the remainder of 2014. Care to help a brother out? 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: What should I play for fun? Leaderboard: What should I play for fun? originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 09 Jul 2014 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Infinite Crisis refocuses development on new player experience Posted: 09 Jul 2014 01:00 PM PDT Filed under: Super-hero, MMO Industry, Dev Diaries, Infinite Crisis The dev team behind DC-Comics-based Infinite Crisis has come to a realization: there are a lot of MOBAs out there. So to set themselves apart from the rest, Creative Director Cardel "Annuvin" Kerr has penned a post on the official forums detailing how the devs will be putting some new content on hold to focus on revamping the new player experience. Luckily for us, the major tasks have been bullet-pointed: We will be holding back new Champions until the September Update -- We're still building Champions behind the scenes, and will resume their normal release schedule starting in September. Balance patches will be released as we iterate on design improvements -- You can expect these updates about once a month. We will continue to focus on the iterative cycle that is the foundation of good balance. Technical patches will be released with balance updates to make the game more stable and less prone to crashes. Crashes lead to more AFKs, and that quite frankly, sucks - so we'll continue to push out fixes. Credit -- err, Bug Stomping -- We will continue to fix bugs that you file, and that we find on our own. Expect an even larger presence on the Forums -- We're working on a lot of stuff, and much of it is based on what we've seen you all doing and saying. As a result, you can expect even more posts from developers asking and answering questions! Be sure to check out the entire post for more details on the team's plans with Infinite Crisis over the next few months. Infinite Crisis refocuses development on new player experience originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 09 Jul 2014 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Director Letter

Richard Bartle predicts that free-to-play will decline Posted: 09 Jul 2014 12:30 PM PDT Filed under: Business Models, MMO Industry, News Items, Free-to-Play Free-to-play as a business model stirs a lot of passionate opinions in both gamers and developers. According to Richard Bartle, well-known gaming researcher and co-creator of the first MUD, free-to-play as a business model has a certain half-life and is going to hit a point when it's just not viable any longer. Bartle spoke on the topic at the Develop conference in Brighton, explaining that the lack of standardization across the industry is part of what will hamper the model, with different games placing different cash gates at varying levels of restrictiveness. Bartle went on to state that the model also relies upon a fixed number of people willing to pay a large amount of money to make up for the users who pay nothing, and designers themselves will be unhappy with developing content for free-to-play titles. It's undeniable that the free-to-play model has had a massive impact on MMOs; whether it's a temporary thing or a consistent feature of this particular genre is still up for debate. Richard Bartle predicts that free-to-play will decline originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 09 Jul 2014 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: GameIndustry.biz

WildStar offering a free mount to players with 2-step verification Posted: 09 Jul 2014 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, News Items, Promotions, WildStar, Subscription, Buy-to-Play Do you have 2-step verification on your WildStar account already? The team at Carbine Studios really wants you to, since the added layer of security helps ensure that no one steals your stuff. So you're getting a little added incentive starting on July 10th -- a free bike! The Retroblade mount is free to all accounts with 2-step verification starting tomorrow, while everyone without 2-step verification will simply have to stare at your new ride with envy. Or, you know, get verified. This bonus is in addition to the existing benefits offered by the verification process, which includes a cosmetic headpiece, a title, and a 2% experience boost on all characters. Plus confidence that your account won't get stolen, which is also fun. The announcement has more details about the process if you haven't already gotten in on the verification train; all you'll need is a smartphone and a few moments to log in. WildStar offering a free mount to players with 2-step verification originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 09 Jul 2014 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: New Mount Available with 2-Step Verification

LotRO's Paths of the Dead coming July 14 Posted: 09 Jul 2014 11:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, Patches, News Items, PvE, Free-to-Play Got MMO plans for next week? If you're a Tolkien buff you might want to reconsider them, since Turbine is publishing Lord of the Rings Online's Paths of the Dead update on Monday. The firm has unveiled a new section of the game's official website that details all the Update 14 content. It includes a level cap bump to 100, the continuation of the epic story, a new essence system, and three new regions that expand the game's footprint into Gondor. Paths of the Dead is free for VIP players or available for purchase via the West Gondor quest pack in the game's cash shop. Don't forget to check out Massively's hands-on preview for more specifics! LotRO's Paths of the Dead coming July 14 originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 09 Jul 2014 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Announcement

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